2011 - 2012
Minutes of the February 28, 2012 Meeting
President DiBiasio called the meeting to order at 11:00 a.m. in the nearly full Activities Room of McIntosh Center.
While attendance isn’t taken at these meeting, the later vote total shows that this was probably the most attended meeting since the vote on semesters.
Ray Person offered the invocation. President DiBiasio asked for a moment of silence to offer support and prayers for the students of Chardon High School. ONU has several students on campus who are from Chardon HS, along with others who have applied to come to ONU in Fall 2012.
Despite pleas of being unprepared, Jon Smalley was elected as University Faculty Secretary to fill the unexpired term of Leslie Riley. Heartfelt thanks are extended to Julie Hurtig for the loan of paper and pen.
Minutes for the January 2012 meeting were distributed just prior to the start of this meeting. Motion (Vickie Motz,
John Lomax) to postpone the approval of January’s minutes to March. Motion approved.
There was no unfinished business.
President DiBiasio announced a few items before opening the floor to questions.
a. The order of items on the agenda will be changed so that New Business will come after the University Council report to accommodate Michael Milks needing to get to his noon class.
b. President DiBiasio read the list of individuals promoted and tenured at the February board meeting.
Promoted to Professor: Rob Alexander, Bruce Frohnen, Sandra Hrometz, Michael Lewis, Jason Pinkney, and Andrew Roecker.
Promoted to Associate Professor: John Paul Kanwit, David Kosmyna, Tarek Mahfouz, Hui Shen, Amy
Stockert, Jeff Talbot, Jennifer Walton, and Jake Zimmerman.
Promoted to Assistant Professor: Jennifer Kunkler.
Granted tenure: Bruce Frohnen, John Paul Kanwit, David Kosmyna, Michael Lewis, Tarek Mahfouz,
Kenneth Reid, Hui Shen, Amy Stockert, Jeff Talbot, Jennifer Walton, Robin White, and Jake Zimmerman.
c. President DiBiasio offered his appreciation to the committee members for their efforts in producing The
Sustainable Program and Financial- Based Review report. All are encouraged to write concerns or offer their views of the pros/cons to the president during the open comment period and are asked to keep the level of discourse as civil as possible. Following the comment period, a workplan will be developed from the final recommendations and a “scorecard” will be utilized to track progress on its implementation. Periodic updates will be provided. Tom Finn stated that, while he appreciates the comment period, he is concerned that one of those weeks is during the spring break and asked that the president consider an extension to the comment period. In response to a Tom Hunt question, President DiBiasio indicated that written comments are preferred.
Sherry Young, as Chair of University Council, reported that the council has been handling several matters from the
Academic Affairs Committee, including: credit articulation policy, summer session scheduling, the affirmation of the extra-disciplinary seminar theme of globalization, and International Baccalaureate diplomas. Sherry and Jeff
Allison attended the recent Board of Trustees meeting. During the various committee meetings, budget discussions focused on recognizing the need to protect student affordability and providing raises for faculty and staff salaries.
Absolutely no discussion of financial exigency occurred even though we have been facing budget difficulties.

2011 - 2012
As an item of new business, Michael Milks addressed the concern that faculty voices have become faint on our campus and moved (Tom Finn second):
WHEREAS Section 2.1 of the Faculty Constitution of Ohio Northern University, which was approved by the
Board of Trustees on April 3, 1982, states that “[t]he Administration of the University discusses with elected and appointed committees all matters properly brought before them.”; and
WHEREAS Section 1 under Article III - Educational Policy of the Faculty Constitution of Ohio Northern
University, states that the “[f]aculty of the University has the responsibility of making policy recommendations concerning academic matters and may make policy recommendations concerning the general welfare of the
University to the Board of Trustees through the President.”; and
WHEREAS the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) principles for sound governance of academic institutions clearly articulate the importance of shared responsibility and decision-making on the part of faculty,
BE IT RESOLVED that the Faculty of Ohio Northern University reaffirms that the essential tenets of selfgovernance require vital joint ownership of all significant decisions made by and for the University involving the academic program.
WHEREAS there are few decisions more crucial to the academic health of an institution than the appointment of the Provost/Vice President for Academic Affairs;
WHEREAS the Provost/Vice President for Academic Affairs is in immediate succession to the President of the
University in the event of incapacitation or removal of the President, and exercises all of the ordinary powers of the
President whenever the President is not on campus; and
WHEREAS the 1966 Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities of the AAUP articulates the foundational principles of faculty participation and requisite input in the selection and retention of academic administrators; and
WHEREAS many faculty have felt disenfranchised by the University Administration’s unilateral appointment of
David Crago as Provost/Vice President for Academic Affairs without open and adequate discourse, without a thorough national search, and without an opportunity for faculty input and careful deliberation;
BE IT RESOLVED, that the faculty expresses its profound concern about this egregious evisceration of faculty governance at Ohio Northern University.
Discussion followed:
Dave Retterer asked whether the two resolutions should be considered separately. Milks and Finn agreed to the suggestion. Apparently this was sufficient to divide the question since there was no statement from the parliamentarian to the contrary. Discussion on the first resolution followed.
Scott Gerber noted his concern that the Provost/VPAA and Associate VPAA were appointed with no faculty input and that the law school interim dean and associate dean for 2012-13 were also appointed with no faculty input.
He expressed concern that he was not permitted to review the SPFB College of Law case statement.
John Lomax noted that the word “may” in the second paragraph is a permissive choice of language and that faculty cannot be denied the right to participate.
Sherry Young agrees that if the administration had denied a faculty request, that would be a violation of the
Handbook. However, no committee or individual faculty member was denied and that the faculty has the responsibility to provide input.

2011 - 2012
Kevin Hill noted that three of the last four Vice Presidents for Academic Affairs were appointed in the same way
(having served first as interim) as the current appointment of Dean Crago, which dates all the way back to Dale
Wilhelm. He expressed concern that the second resolution is worded in such a way that it would provide the wrong impression to the Board.
Lisa Robeson said that she had no knowledge that a VPAA appointment was being considered. She expressed her concern that annual performance evaluations were not done for Dean Crago or Julie Hurtig.
Terry Sheridan noted that three years ago we had a public search for a VPAA.
Terry Keiser noted that Michael Milks is greatly respected and is an alumnus. He stated that the administration has often made it very clear that ONU does not subscribe to the standards and policies of the AAUP. He recalled that faculty had indicated they did not support VP Wilhelm, yet he was appointed anyway and that VP Lippert was appointed without faculty input. Faculty can voice their opinions, but the cabinet appointments are with the president and the Board. Faculty do have significant input for the dean positions.
President DiBiasio stated that the VPAA will have regular evaluations from this point forward.
Ray Person called the question on the first resolution. Motion approved to close discussion.
Lisa Robeson called for a secret ballot. Ballots were distributed and collected by the secretary and the parliamentarian. Motion passed by a vote of 93 For, 59 Against and 4 Abstentions.
Discussion on the second resolution followed.
Sarah Waters asked what action was the intended result of this resolution. Michael Milks responded that he wants to make sure the faculty has direct input in the future in these types of matters.
Kevin Hill asked what the term disenfranchisement is meant to convey. Does it mean that the faculty should vote for the VPAA? Or is it rather that the faculty was disempowered? Michael Milks indicated that his intended meaning was disempowerment.
Sherry Young indicated she felt this is a slap in the face when all we needed to do was talk with President
DiBiasio. What does this resolution accomplish? A message is being sent to the Board of Trustees that we are at the “end of our rope” with the President. Sherry indicated President DiBiasio has always been willing to talk and listen to the faculty. She requested that the faculty review the evidence of what the president has done and what the
VPAA has done in the past three years during these times of budget crisis and declining enrollment. She stated that there is no current “war” between the President and the faculty. She also noted that having been privy to the Board’s discussion, the Board supports that the president can select the cabinet.
Donnie Sullivan wondered how we had come to a point where such a resolution would come to us. He noted that the president met with fraternities and sororities but has not yet met with college faculty.
President DiBiasio responded that he would have welcomed doing the typical new president circuit of meeting and greeting the community, but that decisions in forming a senior management team required time that would have normally been used for a more traditional presidential transition. He noted the VPFA search and the SPFB report had faculty input. He indicated he sought to gather informal faculty input regarding the VPAA by consulting the deans and faculty representatives. The President said that ONU needs the strongest management team possible, and that has taken time away from meeting with faculty. The President noted there did not seem to be much guidance in the Faculty Handbook on these matters, but he welcomes working with the faculty to develop and implement changes.

2011 - 2012
Druann Bauer noted that she is concerned that the SPFB report mentions no administrative accountability, yet focuses on faculty accountability. She views the report as a threat to the tenure system.
Sarah Waters moved to postpone action on this motion until the next faculty meeting. Motion approved.
A motion to adjourn was accepted by the President at 12:03 p.m., but Nancy Woodley managed to get in one announcement that Science Day is March 24 and to contact her if you are interested in serving as a judge.
Submitted by,
__________________________
Jonathan Smalley
Secretary