Minutes
Faculty Senate Meeting
May 1, 2013
Professor Burke called the meeting to order at 2:35 PM
Present: Professor Barlow Burke, Candice Nelson, Jim Girard, John Douglass, Todd Eisenstadt,
Artur Elezi, Bryan Fantie, Mary Hansen, John Heywood, Bob Jernigan, Gwanhoo Lee, Nanette
Levinson, Stacey Marien, John Nolan, Gemma Puglisi, Jerzy Sapieyevski, John Smith, Shalini
Venturelli, Patricia West, Lacey Wootton, Elizabeth Worden, Provost Scott Bass and Dean
Phyllis Peres
Welcome and Minutes Approval – Barlow Burke
Professor Burke welcomed everyone to the meeting. He stated that, in addition to the agenda
items, he wished to add that the Executive Committee offered Lacey Wootton the position of
Vice Chair for the upcoming year. He stated that he hoped that the Senate would vote to approve
this offer by acclamation. The Senate VOTED unanimously in favor of Professor Wootton being
Vice Chair.
Professor Burke stated that in the visitors' seating area were some of the new elected senators for
the upcoming two years. He asked them to stand and introduce themselves: Professor Glenn
Moomau, Department of Literature, Professor Arturo Porzecanski, SIS, Alex Hodges, University
Library, did so. Professor Burke welcomed them all.
Professor Burke asked for the approval of the minutes from April 3, 2013. The Senate VOTED
and the minutes were approved unanimously in favor.
Chairs Report – Barlow Burke
Professor Burke stated that the Term Faculty Committee needs the charge renewed and approval
of a new member. He asked Professor Wootton to discuss this matter. Professor Wootton stated
that the committee will be working through the summer and into the fall semester on governance
and participation across the university, as well as on posting materials for term faculty on the
DAA’s website. Additionally, the committee would like to add Glenn Moomau as a new member
in the fall. The senate VOTED to continue the work of the Committee, to approve its summer
tasks, and to add Glenn Moomau to its membership -- all approved unanimously in favor.
Professor Burke stated that the usual practice at the last Senate meeting of the year is to have the
Senate committees report. Due to the gravity of the items already on the agenda, Professor Burke
stated that he delayed these reports until the fall. He also stated that at the last meeting there was
a request from the Senate to provide a case load from the Grievance Committee. Over the course
of the last academic year, the committee had three (3) section §18 (of the Faculty Manual)
actions, two (2) §19 actions, and one additional action in its early stages.
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Professor Burke stated that the Budget and Benefits Committee has provided a resolution to the
Senate which comes from two groups in the undergraduate student bodycalling for the
establishment of a committee on Socially Responsible and Fossil Free Investing. The Budget and
Benefits Committee felt that another committee was not a good idea, especially since the Senate
has no direct involvement on the university’s investments. The resolution simply suggests that
the Board of Trustees explore the potential benefits and drawbacks of this type of investing.
Professor Burke called for a vote on the resolution for Socially Responsible Investing and the
senate VOTED and was passed, 19 in favor, 0 opposed, and 2 abstentions.
Professor Burke stated that the Ad Hoc Committee of the Senate on MOOCs will not report to
the Senate this month. The Executive Committee reviewed the Committee's report on
preliminary regulations and found, after discussing it with the Provost, that the Provost would
agree to issue guidelines for faculty on line activities permitted while the moratorium remained
in effect. The Senate's Committee on MOOCs will be reconsitituted in the fall to further
investigate faculty activity with regard to MOOCs.
Provost’s Report – Scott Bass
Provost Bass stated that the University and the newly authorized union for adjunct faculty have
reached a tentative agreement, subject to ratification by its adjunct faculty members, and if
ratified, effective sometime this summer. He thanked Bill LeoGrande who was his designee on
the committee. He stated that he and the University Counsel would soon brief chairs, program
directors, deans, and associate deans on the agreement. He reminded all that the policy for the
last five years has been an attempt to reduce adjunct use and hire either full time tenure track or
term faculty with full benefits.
Provost Bass stated that the University has moved ahead to create a graduate enrollment and
recuitment system, including a new assistant or associate dean for graduate studies. This position
will be filled by an internal candidate. The system will be housed in our existing enrollment
management system, reporting to VP Sharon Allston and will eventually (in two to three years)
be used for both undergraduate and graduate enrollment. The first schools to begin working with
the system will be the College of Art and Sciences (CAS) and the School of Communications
(SOC). Provost Bass stated that the first step that he took was to purchase the computer program
to run the system; a contract for it has been signed. The second step is to have OIT prepare to
work with CAS and SOC. Posting for the new decanal positon should soon follow.
Provost Bass stated that he will be forming an oversight committee for the system to meet
monthly and be composed of administrators and three faculty members, one of whom will come
from the Senate. The rest of the members will be associate deans from all the schools and
colleges, and administrators (e.g., IT, Enrollment Management, and graduate program
employees). The committee will begin work over the summer.
Family Work Life Balance – Candice Nelson
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Professor Nelson stated that the ad-hoc task force that the Senate formed in November has been
meeting. Its report, presented to the Senate, proposed that:
•
The BOT approve contracting with an emergency care provider. The expectation
is that this will be in place starting in the fall.
•
Rooms on campus provided for lactation need to be clearly identified
•
A sub committee of the Senate consisting of Phyllis Peres, Candice Nelson and
Robert Jerningan be established to prepare language for the faculty manual for the
delay of tenure. Situations that might give rise to a delay of tenure are listed in
Appendix I of the Task Force Report.
•
Information on Work Life programs be made available for faculty, with clearer
descriptions of them put on the DAA’s web site.
•
The Office of Institutional Research and Assessment will be asked to survey the
faculty to better understand the work life balance issues and what related concerns
might be.
•
The Child Development Center's hours be expanded for faculty that work at night
and its facilties be expanded to accommodate younger children.
Professor Mary Hansen asked whether the terms in Appendix I were congruent with those of the
Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and whether or not taking FMLA leave could stop the
tenure clock. Professor Nelson stated that the committee did run the first question by Ann Joiner
in Human Resources; Ms. Joiner reported the only potential conflict with FLMA would be the
delay of tenure upon the death of a parent: only if this occurance led to mental stress that would
the death of a parent fall within the FMLA.
Professor Burke stated that he saw no reason why the University could not grant a delay in
situations other than those prescribed in the Act.
Professor Hansen stated that she was wondering if it could be made clear that this "death of a
parent" situation is not required by the FLMA.
Dean Peres stated that there needs to be more work done to clarify this connection.
Professor Burke asked for the Senate to endorse the Task Force's report and recommendations by
vote. The senate VOTED and the Family Work Life Balance document was accepted by the
Senate unanimously.
Conflict of Interest – Jim Girard and Jon Tubman
Professor Girard stated that the Conflict of Interest document before the Senate is proposing
procedures to implement the Conflict of Interest provisions in the Faculty Manual. Vice Provost
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Jon Tubman’s office will in the future supply a program and forms to allow faculty to disclose
situations that might lead to conflicts and to determine if faculty are participating in any
activities that would be a Conflict of Interest based on the guidelines in the Faculty Manual. If no
conflict is disclosed, the faculty member's obligation will be satisfied. If the disclosures indicate
that there is a conflict, a management plan that the faculty member will put together with his or
her dean will usually result. If such management is not possible, the activity will not be permitted
to continue.
Professor Sapieyevski stated that the explanation that was just given left out some very important
information. He stated that he felt that he was not given enough time to discuss this with his
colleagues and that it needs to be discussed or clarified. He stated that he is concerned that it will
restrict the faculty’s ability to be innovative and to express diverse ideas, that academic freedom
and tenure based could be jeopardized if a termination of tenure was one possible outcome of
these procedures. In particular, he stated that he was concerned about the broad scope of bullet
number eight in the document, which states that a conflict arises when faculty use "information
received in the conduct of university business for personal purposes."
Vice Provost Tubman stated that this refers only to the use of confidential information for
personal benefit.
Professor Sapieyevski stated that he would then like “personal information” to read "confidential
information."
Provost Bass stated that conflict of interest and conflict of commitment requirements are in the
Faculty Manual. He stated that these are routine disclosure and reporting requirements at many
universities where all faculty disclose outside earnings above a certain level. The Senate has
decided to set a higher threshold amount (below which no reporting and disclosure are
necessary) than is standard in many federal grant programs. Writing a book, or starting a
company using intellectual property, are matters already handled in the Faculty Manual. Provost
Bass also stated that the University has a patent policy: the profits of a faculty member's
patentable work are shared with the University, the faculty member getting 50% of the profits
from the patent. The University pays the costs of applying for the patent and licensing it. This
document, however, is about someone who has used University time to pursue another job when
the conflict between the two jobs cannot be managed to the satisfaction of the faculty member
and the University.
Professor Tubman stated that the examples of conflicts in the handout document are just
examples. He said that the actual questions in the reporting and disclosure forms that faculty will
be asked will be developed by a committee in a collaborative fashion to track the policies written
in the Faculty Manual; the questions will be designed specifically for our faculty. This would be
done on an annual basis through a confidential link and a third party vendor, and the answers will
be reviewed by the vendor before being passed on to the DAA's office.
Further discussion was had among the senators to clarify language in the Conflict of
Commitment policy document.
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Provost Bass stated that this document has nothing to do with academic freedom or with
restricting conversations with students. It has to do with faculty earning more than $10,000
dollars by means akin to insider trading.
Professor Venturelli stated that she would like to see better examples of Conflicts of Interest
provided.
Professor Wootton asked if this is a procedure, and if so, whether the Provost has the ability to
do this regardless of any Senate vote.
Provost Bass stated that he does have the ability to implement these procedures, but stated that
he wants the community to be a part of the decision process.
Professor Hansen asked if this was something that could be accomplished in the FARS reporting
process and if not, could it be only asked once.
Dean Peres stated that using FARS has been ruled out because of the lack of confidentiality.
Professor Burke called for a vote on the document with the friendly amendment to exclude bullet
eight.
The Senate VOTED and the document was passed unanimously in favor, with the friendly
amendment attached.
Professor Burke stated that this was his last meeting as Chair of the Senate and wanted to thank
everyone for making his tenure as Chair a very rewarding experience. The traditional passing of
the gavel to the Vice Chair took place, and the traditional closing ceremony was completed.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:30 PM
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