Onda Bennett, Occupational Therapy; Sue Cain, Developmental Education; Jim Clark, Government Relations; Jim Conneely, Student Affairs; Mary J. Hall, Student Government Association; Ken Johnston, Finance; Cassandra Kirby, The Eastern Progress; Diana McGregor, Academic Advising; Aaron Thompson, Enrollment Management; and Elizabeth Wachtel, Academic Affairs.

Senator Johnson announced that a new bookstore committee is being formed, and one or two faculty members are needed to serve on the committee. Anyone interested in serving on this committee should contact Senator Johnson.

FACULTY REGENT’S REPORT: Senator Schlomann Senator Schlomann announced that the next Board meeting will be on April 25, 2003.

Senator Schlomann discussed concerns surrounding the issue of the Senate Bill 152 motion which will be presented later in the meeting.

REPORT FROM COSFL: Senator Siegel
Senator Siegel reported that COSFL will meet later this month. One of the items on the agenda will be Senate Bill 152.

PROVOST’S REPORT: Senator Wasicsko
Senator Wasicsko reported that a recommendation has been made to the President to ask the Board to reverse their decision on the change in tuition policy for this fall. This does not include the original 9.3% tuition change which was approved over a year ago, but rather the modifications considered for this year only. The issue may be re-addressed in the fall after further review.

Senator Wasicsko encouraged the senators, as well as all faculty, to attend the campus forums with the Provost candidates. There are still two candidates left to interview.

Senator Wasicsko stated that the President has been working diligently with the budget council to establish general guidelines to use for next year's budget. Those guidelines should be available soon. Senator Wasicsko further stated that Kentucky seems to have faired slightly better in the legislative process than some of the surrounding states.

REPORT FROM STUDENT GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION: Mary J. Hall
Ms. Hall expressed her appreciation to the senators for their continued support throughout the year.

Spring Fling is scheduled for Tuesday, April 8 from 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. in the Powell Center. There are roughly 45 booths scheduled to participate.

Ms. Hall reported that there will be a presidential/vice presidential debate on Tuesday, April 8 at 6:30 p.m. in the Student Services Building auditorium. Everyone is invited to attend.

SGA Elections are scheduled for April 15, 2003 from 8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Students may either vote in the Powell Building or online.

SGA's annual banquet will be on Tuesday, April 22, 2003 at 6:00 p.m. in the Stratton Cafe. The Senate members are invited to attend as guests of SGA. If you plan to attend, please R.S.V.P. to Ms. Hall.

SGA's constitution revisions are finished and will be presented to the Board of Regents on April 25, 2003. The bylaw revisions for all three areas have been approved already.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Budget Committee: Senator Wade gave a brief background on the advising fee motion which will be presented later in the meeting.

Senator Wade reported that he has drafted a motion regarding the Athletic Committee report for the committee to review and hopefully bring forward to the Senate in the near future.

Rights and Responsibilities Committee. Senator Callahan distributed a handout to the senators for their review. The two questions addressed in the handout are 1) Does EKU need a university ombudsman and, if so, what duties should they be assigned and 2) With the growing crime of identity theft, should a policy be instituted at the university to limit the use of faculty social security numbers? Any comments regarding the handout should be e-mailed to either Senator Callahan or one of the other committee members.

Elections Committee: Senator Johnson reported for Senator Everett. Departments should notify the elections committee of senate replacements as soon as possible.

Senator Everett has asked department chairs to distribute a letter from the Elections Committee to part-time faculty regarding nominees for a new part-time faculty representative replacement for the Senate. Once nominees are received from departments, an election will be held sometime during mid-April. Election results should be available by the May meeting.

Committee on Committees: Senator Wolf reported that faculty recently received an e-mail notice for online self-nominations to University Committees for the 2003-2004 academic year. The committee will meet on Monday, April 14 to review the responses. Individuals may still access the form and make submissions through April 14. The online form is available at the following web address: http://www.eku.edu/academics/facultysenate/2003nominations/.

Faculty Welfare Committee: Senator Rahimzadeh reported that the committee has met twice within the last month. The committee is currently in the process of gathering data to work out an equity adjustment process.

REPORTS FROM AD HOC COMMITTEES

Plus/Minus Grading: Senator Fisher reported that the committee has met once since the last Senate meeting. The next meeting is scheduled for April 21. Data was collected through April 1.

All of the benchmark universities', as well as all of the other state universities', phone interviews have been completed. In addition, all of the faculty survey data has been entered into the database. The open-ended responses are now being included and should be completed within the next couple of days.

Student surveys are being scanned and the open-ended responses are being entered. The timeline for completion of this stage is by April 11. Three committee members have volunteered to begin analyzing that data next week with the preliminary findings to be reported at the April 21 committee meeting. An interim report should be available to the Senate at the May meeting. The final committee report isn't due until October, 2003.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS:

EKU Medical Leave Policy. Senator Wasicsko moved, seconded by Senator Siegel, at the last Senate meeting to approve the proposed EKU Medical Leave policy. As the issue was substantive, Senator Johnson deferred the motion to today's meeting. The motion to accept the Medical Leave Policy was approved by the Senate.