Minutes of Regular Meeting
February 13, 2012
Full Meeting
Student Senators: E. Nicoll, B
Hambley, M. Lewis,
Staff Senators: A. Slatkin, M. Miller
The full meeting of the full senate
convened at 3:15 PM, Kendall-Cram
Room, LBC. 47 members were
present.
Senators at Large: V. John, M. Kahn, J.
Tasker, A. Gajda,
Presiding: The chair, President
Cowen.
Absent Voting Senators:
Attendance:
Ex Officio: S. Cowen, M. Davies, M.
Bernstein, B. Sachs, T. Lorino, C.
Adams, C. Lane, J. Wiese
Deans: L. Query, R. Marksbury, C.
Haber, P. Buekens, N. Altiero,
A. B. Freeman School of Business: H
Sujan, M Sujan,
Newcomb-Tulane College: M. Kalka
Architecture: None
Continuing Studies: L. Green
Y. Jones, I. Solomon, J. MacLaren, K.
Swartz, D. Meyer, R. Marks, J.
McFarland, G. Owen, W. Redfield, J.
Carriere, H. Sullivan, Z. Pursell, H
Andersson, H. Zhang, P. Colombo, N.
Maples, L. Levy, L. Myers, J. Friedman,
L. Byers
Minutes:
The minutes of the Dec. 5th meeting
were approved without amendment.
The final amended minutes are posted
on the Senate Wiki under both the
December and February meeting
agendas.
Law: R. Scalise, C. Hancock,
Liberal Arts: F. Smith, M. Yun, H.
Howard, V. Mayer, M. Thompson
Introduction of New
Members
Medicine: D. Mushatt, L. Morici, R.
Reitan, A. Betancourt
There were no new members to
introduce.
Public Health and Tropical
Medicine: H. Long, N. Mock, S. Hassig,
J. Lefante
ELECTIONS
Science and Engineering: C. Walker,
D. Mullin, K. Johannesson, J. Ruscher,
Nominations were opened for Vice
Chair of the Senate.
Social Work: L. Pearlmutter, M. Lewis
A nomination for John Verano was
made. There were no additional
nominations.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
President Cowen provided the
following report.
The higher education landscape:
The criticism of higher education has
been robust for the following reasons.
The first is the notion of affordability
given the rising costs of tuition. What
is often neglected is the fact that many
state budgets have reduced funding
for higher education, necessitating
subsequent tuition increases. In sum,
the costs of higher education have
increased, while the funding from
national/state levels have reduced.
The second issue regards the value of
a college education. Even though the
literature supports higher life-time
earnings for those with a college
degree, pundits argue that this value
should be provided at a lower cost.
A question was raised regarding “debt
burden.” President Cowen noted that
pundits point to a lower tuition as a
solution.
A question was asked regarding the
implications for private institutions.
President Cowen noted that private
institutions are not as effected, but are
subject to the same criticisms and
challenges.
Fall 2012 Admission Update:
The application season is now over.
The overall applications will be down
by 20% by intention. We have
invested in tools to target those
students that we feel will be
successful at Tulane, and to increase
the overall quality of the class.
The class size will be reduced. We will
accept 1500 fewer students than last
year, which was 1500 fewer than the
year before. Advanced deposits are
twice what we have had last year, so
the potential class size could be higher
than intended.
The quality is at an all time high. The
Math/Verbal SAT for the accepted
pool averages at 1370; this number
may change based upon which
students actually enroll.
Marc Kahn noted that we have over
10,000 applications for the medical
school; quality (MCAT’s) is improved.
It was announced today that Tulane
will be part of a new conference
beginning 2013-14. The Mountain
West Conference and Conference USA
will come together for a conference
that will be between 16 and 24 teams.
Yesterday, non-binding letters of
intent were signed. If this goes
forward, all television contracts will
eventually have to be re-negotiated.
Funding for the new football stadium
is being raised privately; the
University has already raised $40
million. The goal is to have all of it
paid via private donations, and not out
of University budgets. It was noted
that these gifts are usually gifts
specifically designated for athletics,
which means that this is not a drain on
other University fund-raising efforts.
The track and tennis stadium will be
relocated; the location for these has
not been identified yet.
The goal is to have the stadium open
(as an opportunistic goal) by the fall of
2014. Tony Loreno, Yvette Jones and
Rich Dickson will be overseeing the
project.
In the last five years, we have invested
close to $500 million dollars in capital
improvements on campus. It is likely
another $250 million will be invested
over the next five years. These
projects are financed ideally via
donations; the second most preferred
method is self-financing (i.e., the
housing fees for housing); the third
method is grant funded (i.e., the
downtown JBJ building, or the primate
center expansion). The fourth method
is taking from operations, which is the
least attractive option, but sometimes
necessary.
The financial performance of the
University was discussed. For fiscal
year 2012, the University is right on
budget. The final touches are being
put on the budget for 2013. While
there are millions of dollars in
requests that exceed resources each
year, the budget for 2013 will likely be
slightly larger than 2012.
The University took on another Posse
Foundation which is in New Orleans.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
There was no unfinished business.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
1. Libraries
Brian provided a report from the
Library committee.
The committee met on February 6th. A
renovation of HTML will begin this
summer for a renovation of the
heating and AC system, and for
relocation of the government
documents section.
The library is improving its metrics
(compared to peers), particularly with
respect to collections and retention of
monographs. We rank 105th in
staffing; but 77th in serials and
collections.
The cost of serials has increased. It
was noted that there is currently a
boycott of Elsevier on the part of
many researchers nation-wide. This is
based upon Elsevier’s increased prices
that correspond to their larger market
share.
The Matas library recently went
through the accreditation process,
with solid marks given for its
performance.
NEW BUSINESS
There was no new business.
ADJOURNMENT
Having no additional new business,
the meeting was adjourned at 4:07
PM.
Respectively Submitted,
Jeff Wiese, MD
Secretary, Tulane University Senate
Secretary’s Note: All written reports
mentioned in the minutes, together
with the full text of approved
Handbook revisions and other policy
changes, are available on the Tulane
University Senate Wiki located at:
tulanesenate.pbworks.com