The Faculty Senate of Eastern Kentucky University met on Monday,
April 2, 2001 in the South Room of the Keen Johnson Building. Senator Taylor
called the seventh meeting of the academic year to order at 3:30 p.m.
Jill Allgier,
Nick Bertram, Karen Sue Cain, Rita Davis, Margaret Dean, Jim Kenkel, Linda
Kuhnhenn, Diana McGregor, Stephanie McSpirit, Emily Ann Montgomery, Marshall
Myers, Meredith Reed, Jennifer Rogers, The Eastern Progress, Karen
Rudick, Aaron Thompson, Elizabeth Wachtel, and John Wade.
APPROVAL
OF THE MINUTES:
The March 5, 2001 minutes were approved with no corrections.
REPORT
FROM THE PRESIDENT: Senator Kustra
Dr. Kustra mentioned that the Strategic Planning Committee met recently
and there will be forums scheduled soon to discuss the outcome of that meeting.
Dr. Kustra expressed his support for establishing a minimum wage policy
for faculty at Eastern. He indicated that this will be the first year in
Eastern's history that a salary equity line has been listed in the proposed
budget, and if all goes accordingly, $100,000 will be available to begin
making faculty salary adjustments, pending approval of the proposed policy.
REPORT
FROM THE CHAIR: Senator Taylor
Senator Taylor encouraged the Senate members to attend the Strategic Planning
forums in order to discuss what direction the university should take in
the future.
OLD
BUSINESS:
Faculty
Minimum Wage Proposal: Senator Taylor re-introduced the proposed
minimum wage salary proposal, which was moved for approval and postponed
at the previous meeting. The proposal reads as follows:
- The
Faculty Senate recommends that the following minimum wage requirements
be enacted:
- Professor
($54,000) - Requirements: terminal degree, tenure, and 15 years
of EKU experience
- Associate
Professor ($45,400) - Requirements: terminal degree and tenure
- Assistant
Professor ($36,800) - Requirements: terminal degree
- Instructor
($27,100)
- This
minimum would be implemented after determining the current faculty member's
contract at 3 percent (50 COLA raise/50 merit).
-
Funds to implement this policy should be provided through the "Faculty
Salary Equity Pool" proposed in the current budget at an allocation
of $50,000.
-
Additional funding (approximately $30,000) should be added to this pool
by:
- Requesting
$30,000 from the "Action Agenda" fund which is subject to CPE approval
OR
- Limiting
the three percent raises of all EKU personnel holding tenure/faculty
rank to no more than $2,100. The amount the faculty member would have
received beyond the $2,100 amount will be added to the "Faculty Salary
Equity Pool."
- After
this minimum wage policy has been implemented, any remaining funds should
be held for either resolving other salary inequities as specified by
a university wide salary equity policy when approved by the EKU Faculty
Senate or for continued implementation of this policy in the budget
period of 2002-2003.
Senator Siegel
moved to amend the motion and delete item "4b" from the proposal, seconded
by Senator Carter. The Faculty Senate members approved deletion of item
"4b" with a vote of 32 in favor of deletion.
Senator Maclaren moved to forward this proposal to the Ad Hoc Committee
on Salary Inequities for further study. Seconded by Senator Harley. Senator
Banks requested to make a friendly amendment to the motion on the floor
to request a firm deadline for the committee to have a report by April 30.
Senator Maclaren accepted the friendly amendment to his motion provided
that it was understood that the committee would not be making a final report,
but would only be giving a status report by April 30. The motion in its
amended state to send the minimum wage proposal to the Ad Hoc Committee
on Salary Inequities was approved by the Senate members with a 38 to 13
vote.
REPORT
FROM THE PROVOST: Senator Marsden
Student Retention Proposal. Senator Marsden indicated that the Student
Retention Proposal which was included with the Faculty Senate attachments
was provided as an informational item for the senators.
Mid Term Grade Proposal. Senator Marsden, seconded by Senator Lifland,
moved acceptance of the mid term grade proposal which states:
- Faculty
will provide mid-term grades via the Banner system for all students
in full semester courses by the end of the seventh week, or one week
before the withdrawal deadline. In the case of non-standard courses,
faculty will enter mid-term grades by the mid-point of the course and
before the course drop date.
Senator A. Jones
moved to amend the motion to include more class offerings beginning mid
point in the semester. Senator Marsden agreed to accept the amendment as
a friendly amendment to include with the original motion.
Senator Jones moved to divide the motion into two parts with the posting
of mid-term grades being the first motion considered. The Faculty Senate
members approved dividing the issue into two parts and considering the original
motion first. The mid-term grade report was approved by the Faculty Senate.
Senator Marsden indicated that the administration is sensitive of the needs
for additional courses beyond the standard course offering, and is committed
to working with the deans and chairs to meet that need. In light of this
statement, Senator Jones withdrew the motion to require more mid term courses.
Adding
a Question to the IDEA Course Evaluation. Senator Marsden, seconded
by Senator Wasicsko, moved to approve an additional question to be added
to either the IDEA Evaluation Form or the departmental evaluation form which
states:
- Did your instructor provide you with written information regarding
your progress in the course at least once prior to the midpoint of
that course?
Senator Marsden withdrew the motion after Senate discussion.
Promotion
and Tenure Status Report. Senator Marsden indicated that there were
49 applicants this year with 26 applications for tenure and 34 applications
for promotion. Twenty-four of the applications for tenure were approved
and 32 of the applications for promotion were approved.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Health Insurance Coverage. Linda Kuhnhenn reported that the Option
2000 and Option 2000 Advantage health coverage plans will not be available
next year. So employees need to be sure to attend the open information sessions
which will be scheduled in late April to become familiar with the new plans
available. She did mention that the benefits on the blue preferred which
is the HMO will not change; however the premiums will be adjusted. The University
will continue to pay for single coverage for employees. Single coverage
costs have increased approximately 23% from last year. Additional information
will be mailed to faculty and staff as soon as it becomes available.
NEW
BUSINESS:
Board of Regents. Senator Thompson
Senator Thompson reported that the Board had a special called meeting last
week to look at the procedures to use in searching for a new President.
The Board also decided on a consulting firm, A.T. Kearney, to help with
the search process. Jan Greenwood will be the consultant working with the
Board.
The next Board meeting is scheduled for April 1.
COSFL
Report. Senator Falkenberg
Senator Falkenberg mentioned that a position paper on University Governance
was included in the Faculty Senate attachments. This document was adopted
by COSFL at the March 24 meeting and COSFL has asked the Senate to consider
endorsing the position paper.
Student
Government Report. Nick Bertram
The Student Senate has passed a proposal to remove the social security number
from the student identification cards.
A proposal from the Student Senate was recently presented to the Board of
Regents requesting to take money out of the student activity fee and place
in a fund for organizations that currently do not have a budget.
The Student Senate constitution has been amended to incorporate counsels
in Student Government at each of the extended campus sites, and they will
become part of the legislative action of the Student Government beginning
as early as next year.
An Ethnic Studies minor has been approved by the Student Senate.
The Student Government is working closely with the Student Success Institute
on administering diversity training for all faculty, staff and student orientation
programs. This should be in place beginning in the fall semester.
Mr. Bertram encouraged the Senators to remind students about the upcoming
student elections.
STANDING
COMMITTEES:
Ad Hoc Committee on Faculty Workload. Senator O'Connor reported that
the committee would like to make the following recommendations:
- That
the current policy on faculty workload be widely circulated to both
faculty and administrators.
-
That Eastern move in the direction of reducing teaching loads. Furthermore
it is proposed that if a department, or discipline within a department,
wishes to have a reduced teaching load, that they formulate a plan regarding
scholarly activity and teaching load. This plan would include the plans
of individual faculty in the department regarding research and scholarly
activity. The plan would be submitted for approval to the Dean of the
College and the Vice President of Academic Affairs. On approval the
plan would provide the framework for decisions regarding the allocation
of workload in the department or discipline.
- That
a benefit-cost analysis of the role of technology in the university
be undertaken to examine the effectiveness of technology in enhancing
instruction and its cost in monetary expenditures and faculty time.
- That
the policy regarding advising be examined as it relates to the treatment
of undeclared advising relative to advising majors.
Committee
on Elections: Senator McAdams reminded the Senators that the ballots
for Faculty Regent are due on Friday. She also reminded the Senators that
names of new senators need to be submitted to her before the second meeting
on April 30.
Senator McAdams asked for nominations for the Faculty Chair position for
the 2001-2002 academic year. Senator Jackson nominated Senator Pam Schlomann.
Senator Falkenberg nominated Senator John Flanagan. The two nominees will
give a short presentation at the second meeting on April 30.
ADJOURNED:
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 5:30 p.m.
Meetings