Minutes
Faculty Senate Meeting
May 2, 2012
Professor Girard called the meeting to order at 2:25 PM
Present: Professors Jim Girard, Leigh Riddick, Barlow Burke, Melissa Becher, Phil Brenner, Joe
Dent, Christine DeGregorio, Bob Jernigan, Jonathan Loesberg, Stacey Marien, Sarah MenkeFish, Candice Nelson, Gemma Puglisi, Shalini Venturelli, Lacey Wootton, Provost Scott Bass
and Phyllis Peres
Welcome and Introduction, Jim Girard
Professor Girard welcomed everyone to the last meeting of the academic year 2011-2012. He
also welcomed the new senators who were able to attend to their first meeting and thanked them
for their future service on the senate. He also stated that there was a small change to the agenda
and that there will be a presentation from Assistant Vice President for Facilities and Real Estate,
George Abud who will be giving the senate an update on all the building activity that has begun
and will be beginning this summer.
Facilities Update, Vice President of Facilities and Real Estate, George Abud
Vice President Abud stated that in March of 2012, the District of Columbia’s zoning commission
approved the University’s campus plan which is the first step in improving the facilities over the
next few years. The plan includes WCL coming back to campus plan properties, housing for
1300 new students on main campus which comes with housing requirements to house 2/3rds of
undergraduate students on campus. He stated that the university is currently not in compliance
with this requirement due to the growth of our undergraduate population, but the he said that the
good thing is that the zoning commission approved phasing in this requirement so that it is not
fully affective until Fall of 2016.
VP Abud stated that the plan consists of 12 projects totaling 1.2 million sq.ft. This will be about
a 30% increase in the building area of the university. An Additional two hundred thousand sq.ft.
of this space is for underground parking locations to accommodate about 600 cars. The
university is reducing the surface parking spaces for future buildings but will increase the
number of underground spaces to provide sufficient spaces for the future.
VP Abud stated that the planning process in the District is a two-step process. First the overall
plan is approved and then individual projects are approved individually. Often some individual
projects are considered as a group. This was just done for five construction projects totaling
900,000 Sq. Ft. Along with the approvals come additional requirements such as off campus
student behavior management and off campus parking enforcement. These are two that are
currently in place and have been modified to entail greater requirements. A new requirement is
the monitoring of traffic on the streets surrounding the AU campuses which must be done
Faculty Senate • May 2, 2012 Minutes
Page 1 of 5
annually to include more reporting to the nearby community as well as the District agencies.
Noise coming from Jacob’s field is also a source of friction with the community and has been for
quite a while. The noise problem got a lot of attention at the zoning meetings and there are now
increased requirements that need to be followed. A new community liaison process will also be
put in place and VP Abud stated that he felt this would benefit AU in many ways. It will provide
an alternative dispute resolution process if we come to an intractable impasse with the
community on a particular issue. In the past disputes ended in a stalemate.
VP Abud stated that there are four housing projects on the main campus, Nebraska Hall, South
Hall, North Hall and East Campus. There are also a number of academic facilities planned
including the expansion of the Beeghly Building for the sciences and the East Campus, which
will also have three academic administrative buildings associated with its development. Student
activity focused space will be added to Mary Graydon including the closing of the tunnel and
turning that into additional space an addition for the sports center for recreational activities. An
addition to Kay Spiritual is also planned. On the Tenley Campus the plan includes demolition of
Congressional Hall and Federal and Constitution buildings and replacing them with two new
buildings that will be linked to Capital Hall which is a historic structure and will be retained..
This will form a 300,000 sq.Ft. facility for the law school.
VP Abud stated that there are also a few projects that will be starting shortly that did not need the
zoning board’s approval. The McKinley renovation will start soon and hopefully be complete in
18 to 24 months. The university is also purchasing another building at 4401 Connecticut Ave.
which will house WAMU and administrative offices that need to be moved from the Tinley
campus for professional and executive educational programs that are expanding and need space
off the main campus. This project is expected to begin later this summer and to be completed
about this time next year. There will also be an addition to Nebraska Hall which will provide
housing for approximately 150 additional students in apartment style housing which is projected
to open in 2013. North Hall, which is just west of the President’s office building, is slated to
house 360 students in suite style arrangements that do not include kitchens. These are also
projected to open in the fall of 2013. The Law School at Tenley Campus will include two new
buildings with an underground connection that will roughly expand the space for the law school
by 50% and include about 400 spaces for underground parking. This project is expected to start
in about one year and is to be complete in the fall of 2015. East Campus, which will be built on
the Nebraska parking lot, will consist of 6 buildings, housing 590 students, class rooms and
administrative offices.
VP Abud stated that starting this summer and during the next year so there will obviously be
impacts that will affect the main campus. Students will be inconvenienced especially in regards
to the walking paths around the back of McKinley. The other impact will be the closing of the
road in front of McDowell. This will be done as soon as students move out is complete this year
and will be opened temporarily for the move in cycles. It will remain closed all other times.
Faculty Senate • May 2, 2012 Minutes
Page 2 of 5
Election of Vice-Chair for AY 2012-2013, Jim Girard
Professor Girard stated that this is the time of year to elect a vice-chair and that there is a
volunteer who has offered. Candice Nelson has volunteered and Professor Girard opened the
floor for discussion and other nominations.
Professor Loesberg stated that he moved to elect Candice Nelson Vice Chair by acclimation. The
acclimation was seconded and Candice Nelson was appointed Vice Chair of the Senate for AY
2012-2013.
Provost Report, Scott Bass
Provost Bass stated that this is the time of year where we hear from the undergraduates that are
planning on attending the university in the fall of next year. The enrollments and deposits look
great. The target was 1675-1750 and we are now just a couple of students shy of 1700. However,
the transfer population is down from last year by 10%. The Masters population last year was off
about 100 FTE’s for the fall, and the pattern this year is continuing the same with a slight
reduction. The Kogod School of Business has suffered a decline in enrollment as has The School
of Communications. We are working hard to address these issues and help reverse this decline.
Also, summer enrollment was greater than expected last year which was what helped to balance
this year’s budget. It does not appear that this summer will not have increased enrollments that
were experienced last summer. Undergraduate on line enrollment continues to grow but the faceto-face undergraduate enrollment continues to decline. Graduate enrollment is not strong either
on line or face to face compared to last year. The numbers are early and there are a lot of
interventions going on, but I wanted to deliver this information to make you aware of where the
numbers stand.
University/Distinguished Professor, Leigh Riddick
Professor Riddick began by reminding the senate that any discussion was to include feedback
from each of the senator’s discussions with their colleagues. Professor Riddick stated that this
new process will eliminate the University professor rank, and to allow no self-nomination for the
Distinguished professor rank. The floor was opened for discussion but no one had any
corrections or changes.
Professor Girard asked the senate to vote on the procedures language. The senators VOTED and
it was passed unanimously.
Professor Girard also called for a vote on the Faculty Manual language. The senators VOTED
and it was passed unanimously.
Faculty Senate • May 2, 2012 Minutes
Page 3 of 5
Grievance Committee Language Changes, Scott Parker
Professor Parker stated that he would like to discuss the rules on confidentiality in regards to the
grievance process. The current language says that everyone must maintain confidentiality until
the process is considered complete, that is when the president has made his ruling. The
Grievance Committee feels this language is not clear enough and would like to define
confidentiality by inserting adequate language to keep information confidential and only
available to those that would need to know the information such as administrators, or the
President
Professor Parker continued to propose minor word changes that would clarify current process.
He also stated that one of the major changes that he would like to discuss is the part of the appeal
process that suggests that a person that grieves a file be able to meet with the grievance
committee to discuss the final report from committee. Professor Parker stated that his concern
was for both the faculty as well as the committee as he felt this would be a very uncomfortable
situation for both parties.
Further discussion was had amongst the senators to decide at what point the faculty that is
grieving will be allowed to discuss with Grievance Committee their case.
Professor Riddick called to question the language drafted to “invite the grievant to discuss the
investigation.” The senate VOTED 14 in favor, 2 opposed and no abstentions.
The senate also VOTED on the previous language changes to clarify the confidentiality, and
minor language changes within the appeal process and the minor changes where approved
unanimously.
Annual Review Timeline for Pre-Tenure Faculty, Leigh Riddick
Professor Riddick stated that the language that was provided to the senators is new language that
specifically lays out how one would normally receive tenure and also included new language on
how a faculty member with an exceptional record may apply for tenure review prior to the sixth
year. There have been very productive faculty that have gone up for tenure early and we never
had codified language to support this process. Now we have this language and have clarified the
rest of the language. She stated that the other big change is the review tables. There has been
discussion about the annual reviews not being a part of the tenure review process, so these have
been removed from the tables. This was discussed with the Executive Committee and the Deans
and they felt annual reviews to be more of a measurement for management, not to be included in
the tenure review process. Professor Riddick opened the floor with discussion.
Professor Leosberg stated that he would like to clarify the amount of service that candidate’s
may negotiate during contract negotiations. After discussion, a solution with new language was
resolved for a vote.
Professor Girard called the vote in reference to 9.C. The Senate VOTED and the amendment
was passed 11 in favor, 4 opposed and 0 abstentions.
Faculty Senate • May 2, 2012 Minutes
Page 4 of 5
Professor Girard called for the vote of the entire amended document. The senate VOTED and it
was passed unanimously.
Professor Mary Hanson stated that the Academic Budget and Benefits Committee in the spring,
discussed changing the language of the senate by-laws to add voting representation from the
Senate Academic Budget and Benefits committee to the University Budget Committee.
Professor Girard stated the he had spoken with President Kerwin and the he approved this
change. The language was presented and the senate VOTED. The amendment was passed
unanimously.
Closing Ceremony, Passing of the Gavel
Professor Girard presented Professor Burke with the gavel and wished him the best for the year
to come. He also thanked all the members of the senate for their outstanding contributions to
another successful year.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:45 PM
Faculty Senate • May 2, 2012 Minutes
Page 5 of 5