APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES:
The October 6, 2003 minutes were approved as written.
REPORT FROM THE PRESIDENT: Virginia Underwood reported
for Senator Glasser
The President encouraged everyone to vote on election
day. President Glasser will be requesting a meeting with the newly
appointed governor as soon as the election is over.
CPE continues to focus on accountability from the institutions.
The President has also learned that the legislature will be focusing
a great deal of time on the accountability issue as well.
The President will be attending a SACS conference with
a faculty team in Nashville in early December to begin preparation
for the SACS accreditation and site visit.
Black Issues in Higher Education, a national
magazine, recently featured the University along with four other leading
institutions. The article recognized EKU's increased enrollment this
semester of African-American students as well as EKU's increased efforts
to improve marketing to a more diverse student body.
This past Saturday EKU launched a region-wide television
advertisement throughout the Eastern two-thirds of Kentucky to promote
the next Spotlight Day on November 8.
The President has been invited to address two professional
conferences on the vital role of development. In December she will
join CPE President, Tom Layzell, at the Council for Advancement and
Support of Education in Kentucky at a conference in Lexington to discuss
the importance of postsecondary funding in the Commonwealth. In February,
the President will address the CASE District III Southeast US Annual
Conference in Atlanta. While there she will also be meeting with EKU
alumni.
The President's recent postsecondary education piece,
which was distributed at the last Senate meeting, was published in
the Lexington Herald Leader, the Kentucky Post, the
Grayson County News Gazette, the Richmond Register and
the Eastern Progress. Within the next couple of weeks it will
also be published in the Louisville Business First Newspaper
and the Education issue of Back Home in Kentucky magazine.
The National Rankings Task Force appointed by the President
continues to examine opportunities to increase EKU's visibility among
magazines such as US News and World Report, Money and
Barron. Research indicates that an institution's ranking in
such publications leads to increased enrollment, better fundraising,
and the attraction and retention of outstanding faculty.
The President's Centennial Celebration Committee met last week to
begin planning for the University's 100th anniversary in 2006. Faculty
with suggestions on symposia, events and programming may contact Marc
Whitt, chair of the committee.
The President will be traveling to Chicago on Thursday
for an Alumni reception and to participate, along with three EKU Honors
students, on a panel entitled "Rudeness and the Electronic Media.
REPORT FROM THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE CHAIR: Senator
Johnson
Senator Johnson reported that the Executive Committee met on October
20, 2003.
The Executive Committee discussed alternates for senators
who are unable to attend meetings. It was the consensus of the Executive
Committee that senators may have an alternate attend in their place,
but the alternate would not have voting rights. It is the senator's
responsibility to notify the chair and/or secretary if an alternate
will be attending a meeting.
The Executive Committee discussed the process previously
approved by the Senate to review the President. The Institutional
Research Office has agreed to send out an e-mail tomorrow containing
a letter explaining the review process. A link will be provided at
the bottom of the letter to an electronic questionnaire. The questionnaire
will remain active until Friday, November 14. The raw data will be
given to the Executive Committee to be compiled and then forwarded
on to the President and the Board of Regents for their review. All
information received will be kept confidential.
On behalf of several concerned faculty, Senator Johnson
met with the Arlington Board and suggested that the Board consider
establishing different tiers of membership to make it more affordable
for faculty and staff to join. The Board appointed an Ad Hoc Committee
to consider the matter further.
Senator Johnson reported that he has discussed the
parking situation on campus with the President, Vice President Conneely
and the Parking Committee Chair and has been told that a comprehensive
plan is currently being developed to address the situation.
REPORT
FROM COSFL: Senator Siegel
Senator Siegel reported that COSFL met on October 18,
2003 for the mini-conference co-sponsored with the Kentucky Chapter
of AAUP. The conference was held at the CPE in Frankfort.
Dr. Jane Buck, President of AAUP and conference keynote speaker addressed
the subject of "The Use and Abuse of Contingent Faculty." Contingent
or part-time faculty currently make up the largest portion of faculty.
Dr. Buck views their increasing numbers as an indirect attack on tenure.
She emphasized that all threats to tenure, whether direct or indirect,
undermine academic freedom and shared governance.
The second speaker, Tom Layzell, CPE President, addressed
"The Next Stage of Kentucky's Postsecondary Education Reform." CPE President.
Layzell noted the significance of the changes resulting from HB1 (1997).
He stressed the importance of maintaining the focus on the goal of raising
the education attainment levels of Kentuckians, despite three major
transitions in play (political, financial, and operational).
The conference concluded with a roundtable discussion
on "Collegial Governance 2003: Advisory Role of Faculty in the Development
of Policies and Procedures."
Senator Siegel expressed thanks to Tucker Landy of KSU
for his excellent meeting minutes. Dr. Buck's presentation in PDF format
and an audio transcript of President Layzell's remarks are available
online at http://www.louisville.edu/org/aaup/.
COSFL's next meeting is scheduled for November 15 with
CPE President Tom Layzell at Young Library, UK.
PROVOST REPORT: Senator Cook
Senator Cook reported that CPE has requested a budget for EKU of $66
million in base funding. If that funding is approved, EKU would receive
approximately $4.5 million new dollars from the Commonwealth. In addition,
CPE recommended two building projects for EKU--phase II of the Business
and Technology Building and a Manchester Center. CPE also put forth
a rudimentary performance funding model.
Senator Cook distributed a handout on the General
Education Transfer Policy from the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary
Education. Senator Cook has charged the General Education Committee
with the following three tasks:
- Review the current General Education policy and determine the
effectiveness or noneffectiveness of the current policy in accordance
with SACS requirements;
- Review the existing general education curriculum and find a configuration
among the courses already approved that easily fit into the model
CPE has asked us to adopt.
- Create a policy regarding Associate degrees that will be reasonable
for transfer students, and still treat our native students fairly.
REPORT FROM STUDENT GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION: Kristina
O'Brien
SGA is participating in a charity drive beginning today and continuing
through December 15. Donations of clothing, toys and food will be accepted
for the next two weeks. Prizes will be given to the top three organizations
who collect the most donations.
Unity week begins on November 22 and runs through December 1. The International
Student Association Banquet will be on November 22 at 6:30 p.m. in the
Keen Johnson Building. Tickets are $10 and the event is open to the
public.
A poster competition revolving around Diversity will be held on Monday,
November 24. It is open to all students and awards will be given for
the top three posters. All posters will be on display through December
2 in the Powell building. The lighting of the tree outside Keen Johnson
will bring Unity Week to a close on December 1. All student organizations
will be given ornaments to decorate the tree. In addition, there will
be Christmas caroling and hot chocolate served.
Ms. O'Brien expressed the students appreciation to the Ad Hoc Committee
on Plus/Minus Grading and to the Faculty Senate for their work on the
plus/minus grading issue.
COMMITTEE
REPORTS:
Rules
Committee.
Senator M. Yoder stated that, as reported earlier, alternates are allowed
to attend meetings in place of senators, but they are not allowed voting
privileges. Also, if a senator is unable to attend several meetings
in a given semester, a replacement should be elected from the individual's
department.
The
Rules Committee is currently reviewing the faculty regent election process.
A motion on the faculty regent procedure should be coming to the Senate
in the near future.
The committee was also charged with determining if the Regent election
process should be handled online. The committee is transferring this
charge to the Elections committee.
Rights & Responsibilities Committee. Senator Dunston reported
that the committee is still reviewing the Ombudsman issue. The committee
members are currently looking at indicators of shared governance at
EKU and are examining an AAUP instrument regarding that issue.
Faculty Welfare Committee. Senator G. Yoder reported that the
committee met on October 29 to discuss the survey results and the committee's
recommendations on the faculty development funds process. A handout
was distributed listing the three recommendations for disbursing the
funds.
- Faculty
development funds should primarily be used to support participation
in professional conferences, seminars, workshops or other venues
of scholarly or creative activity.
- Faculty
development funds should also be used to support a variety of other
activities that are designed to enhance an individual faculty member's
knowledge or skill that is critical to the performance of the individual
in their job, particularly in regard to teaching.
- The
University should seek to provide further sources of research support,
apart from the provost's funds, and then aggressively advertise
criteria for earning that support.
UNFINISHED
BUSINESS:
Sabbatical
Leave Motion. At the October 6 Senate meeting, Senator Cook moved,
seconded by Senator Sexton, to approve the Sabbatical Leave Motion.
Senator Johnson ruled the motion as substantive and deferred further
discussion to today's meeting. The majority of the Senate were in agreement
to approve the sabbatical leave policy.
Senator
P. Black moved, seconded by Senator Reed, to recommend adding the following
statement from the old policy to the new policy under "Purpose and Principles",
last sentence in the second paragraph, "without the expressed consent
of the Dean of the faculty member's college prior to submitting the
request". The recommendation failed for lack of support.
Senator
Cooper moved, seconded by Senator Cook, to recommend creating a number
5 statement under "Funding and Salary Payment" to read as follows: "5.
Librarians will submit Sabbatical requests to the Library Dean. The
library faculty will comprise their own academic unit and follow the
same procedures outlined in this document for the colleges." The recommendation
was approved by the majority of the Senate.
After
lengthy discussion on 2A under "Faculty Rights During a Sabbatical,"
Senator Johnson suggested that Human Resources might review and re-write
2A for clarification.
Senator
Reed moved, seconded by Senator A. Jones, to recommend changing the
word "publish" to "submit for publication" in the last sentence on number
one under "Faculty Obligations After a Sabbatical". The recommendation
was approved by the majority of the Senate.
Plus/Minus
Grades Final Report. At October's meeting, Senator Flanagan moved,
seconded by Senator Dunston, to accept the report and the recommendations
made by the committee. Senator Johnson ruled the motion substantive
and deferred further discussion to today's meeting. The majority of
the Senate were in agreement to approve the recommendations made by
the committee to discontinue plus/minus grading.
ADJOURNMENT:Senator
Cook moved to adjourn at approximately 4:50 p.m.
Meetings