Minutes for December 1, 1997

The Faculty Senate of Eastern Kentucky University met on Monday, December 1, 1997 in the South Room of the Keen Johnson Building. Senate Chair Karen Janssen called the fourth meeting of the academic year to order at 3:30 p.m.

The following members of the Senate were absent:

^*denotes prior notification of absence to the Faculty Senate Secretary

Visitors to the Senate were: Ms. Julie Clay, Eastern Progress

Announcements

Dr. Gary W. Cordner, acting Dean of the College of Law Enforcement, has replaced Senator Ricks as ex officio senator from the College of Law Enforcement.

Approval of the Minutes

Senator Janssen called for additions or corrections to the minutes of the November 3, 1997 meeting. There being none, the minutes were approved as distributed.

Report from the President: Senator Funderburk

President Funderburk reported on recent Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) activities. The CPE has submitted their budget recommendations to the Governor's Office for the 1998/2000 biennium. It calls for a 2.8% increase for 1999 and 2.9% increase for 2000. In addition, the budget request calls for the funding of all six trust funds for the biennium. The CPE has recommended to the Governor a new method of funding some of the trust funds that calls for the selling of bonds and using the state appropriation for debt service.

Dr. Funderburk mentioned how some of the trust funds will directly affect Eastern. First, a Center of Excellence at Regional Universities Trust Fund. The CPE has recommended six million dollars for each of the next three years, with an additional one million dollars for each to be used for the selling of bonds for endowed professorships. In addition, to be able to utilize these funds institutions must be able to match the state appropriation with private money. The President stated that EKU must be able to raise $2.4 million from the private sector as a match. Second, a Technology Trust Fund which is recommended to be funded at eight million dollars the first year and twelve million dollars the second year of the biennium. The Distance Learning Advisory Council component of the trust fund did not meet until after the CPE made its recommendations to the Governor. Several distance learning models are being considered at this time. Third, a Physical Facilities Trust Fund in which $29 million for the second biennium has been recommended for future capital construction and deferred maintenance projects. A fourth trust fund, Student Financial Aid, will affect EKU students.

The current status of EKU programs of excellence proposals were discussed by President Funderburk. The two EKU programs--Justice and Safety and Occupational Therapy- -are being reworked before they are submitted to the Board of Regents in January. The CPE still has not asked institutions for request for proposals for the programs of excellence.

Report of the Executive Committee: Senator Janssen

Senator Janssen reported that the Executive Committee met on November 17. Due to the illness of Senator Janssen, Senator Rink presided at the meeting. The committee received progress reports from the chair of the Budget and Faculty Rights and Responsibilities Committees. Senator Sowders reported on the COSFL meeting and the resolution on post- tenure review that was mailed with the December agenda.

Senator Janssen reported on a recent luncheon at the Governor's Mansion for Faculty Regents and Chairs of Faculty Senates. After listening to Governor Patton reiterate his plan for postsecondary education, the group had an opportunity to express their appreciation and concerns in an open dialogue with the Governor. Many of his staff and CPE members and staff stayed to talk to the group after the Governor left. The group requested increased faculty input in decision-making and flexibility in the criteria for the distribution of funds to universities.

An item came to Senator Janssen's attention after the meeting of the Executive Committee that is related to postsecondary educational issues. Eastern awards academic credit for learning acquired through military training and experience. The American Council on Education also provides a service which recommends college credit for civilian workplace training. With a noticeable increase in nontraditional student population at Eastern, Senator Janssen suggested that there may be a need to look at a system for providing credit to those students who have received relevant training through a corporation or governmental agency.

Senator Janssen reported that she had received one response to her request for Faculty Senators' opinions about the adequacy of the present meeting room and room arrangement. She chose to interpret the lack of response as indicating that senators are pleased with the current room arrangement.

Motion

Senator Taylor moved that the Faculty Senate Chair appoint an ad hoc committee to study whether EKU should participate with the American Council on Education's "College Credit Recommendation Service." Senator Nelson seconded the motion which was approved.

Report of the Faculty Regent: Senator Freed

Senator Freed reported on three items of interest. First, the Presidential Search Committee is well into the selection process. A large number of applications have been received, and the committee members have put forth the effort needed for close and careful evaluation of all the applicants. The Search Committee will meet again on December 18 in order to narrow further the list to between six and eight candidates.

Second, Senator Freed reported on a November 13 luncheon hosted by Governor Patton. The significance of the meeting was twofold: first, by inviting faculty to the Governor's Mansion, Governor Patton recognized formally the importance of faculty in future discussions of higher education issues and specifically the planning process. Equally important was the fact that the Governor talked to the group of Faculty Regents and Faculty Senate Chairs at some length and asked for their input. Jim Ramsey and Merle Hackbart, the faculty representative on the CPE, also attended the meeting.

Third, at the last Board of Regents meeting, on November 1, Senator Freed suggested for consideration, as a potential idea for Eastern's Center for Excellence, a draft sketch for a Center for Excellence in Teaching. This "concept" draft that he presented was the result of a conversation with several colleagues that had taken place in an informal discussion a few days before the Board meeting and a conversation with President Funderburk, who suggested that Senator Freed present the idea to the Board. Senator Freed noted that the CPE has constantly shifted deadlines for proposals for the regional university's Centers for Excellence; thus all proposals have been conducted under great time constraints. Senator Freed mentioned that it became apparent to him that his idea was not developed enough to be worth discussing with the two other fully developed proposals that were also presented at the Board meeting by Vice President Enzie. Senator Freed concluded by stating that while the concept for a Center for Teaching Excellence was not appropriate for submission as a CPE funded Center at this time, it seems to have support from many quarters among the Eastern administration and faculty. He expressed hope that this idea will continue to be discussed and ultimately acted on.

Report from the COSFL Representative: Senator Sowders

In the absence of Senator Sowders, Senator Freed reported that COSFL met on November 15 in EKU's Distance Learning Room with links to COSFL members meeting at Western and Murray. Merle Hackbart reported on the CPE meeting of November 3. The two major issues dealt with at that meeting were the revocation of Sue Bennett College's license and the preparation of budget requests from universities for the next biennium.

Hackbart indicated that these were only requests since they must be reviewed by various agencies before the Governor presents his budget to the legislature in January. He then discussed the tuition recommendations, stating that they were the most controversial of the issues. After endorsements by student leaders and university presidents, the CPE endorsed the existing tuition policy formula which uses per capita personal income and per capita personal income in surrounding benchmark states as a basis for determining tuition. This resulted in the adoption of fairly significant increases for research universities and fairly modest increases for regional universities. Saying that the CPE would continue to review tuition policy, Hackbart asked for COSFL's suggestions on general approaches to this issue.

The second issue which Hackbart said the CPE discussed was the operating budget recommendations for 1998/2000 and the trust fund recommendations for six areas--the research universities, the regional universities, the work force (community colleges and technical schools), physical facilities, technology, and student financial aid. He next discussed CPE action on new academic program approvals, saying that the CPE believed that the strategic agenda should be completed before approving new programs but also recognized that some programs were already well on their way. Therefore, the general policy will be to move cautiously on new programs but to consider requests from schools with new programs of high priority.

In the future, Hackbart said that the CPE would be considering issues such as the request for proposals for various trust funds, the strategic agenda and implementation plan, the action on institutional performance and accountability, and the selection of a new president for CPE.

In responding to questions, Hackbart was reminded that faculty are concerned about there being only one center of excellence on each campus, about the Virtual University, and about the statewide degree program, as well as about the selection of the new CPE president.

Following Hackbart's report, there was a report on the Governor's November 13 meeting with trustees, faculty senate chairs, and faculty regents. Another report was given on the post-tenure review workshop held at UK in November, sponsored by UK and the state AAUP. COSFL members present at the meeting then unanimously approved a resolution on post-tenure review and decided to mail copies of it to the legislature's two education committees and to the chair of the CPE as well as to ask Faculty Senates across the state to approve it as well.

Motion

Senator Freed moved the following resolution: "The Coalition of Senate and Faculty Leadership (COSFL) unanimously endorse the following position on post-tenure review--(a) the review processes currently in place at Kentucky's public universities are multiple in form including reviews of faculty performance after receiving tenure and; (b) most, if not all, public higher education institutions in the state are already implementing or piloting various additional procedures for "post-tenure review" in the sense being suggested in proposed legislation and; (c) tenure as currently defined in the statutes is designed to protect academic freedom and not to protect incompetence, refusal to perform duties, or immoral behavior and; (d) efforts to adapt or enhance faculty review processes must recognize the varied missions of each institution (as outlined in the recently passed state higher education reforms). Therefore, "COSFL recommends that universities be given the opportunity to assess their pre- and post-tenure review policies and, if necessary, further adapt faculty performance review and accountability processes to the specific mission of their institutions and the expectations of the higher education reform act. Since the universities have such varied missions, COSFL opposes passage of any new legislation imposing one system of post- tenure review on all public universities." Senator Beck seconded the motion which was approved.

Reports from Standing Committees

Committee on Elections: Senator Chapman reminded any Senator who has not informed the Senate Secretary, the Senate Chair, or the Chair of the Elections Committee that she or he will not be returning for the Spring semester to do so as soon as possible so a replacement can be selected.

The Faculty Regent election will be held during the Spring semester. The Committee on Elections will be meeting during December to finalize the dates and specific procedures for the Faculty Regent election. Current Faculty Regent, Richard Freed, is not planning to run for re-election, and he is willing to discuss the position with any interested faculty member.

Committee on Committees: Senator Taylor - No report given.

Committee on Rules: Senator MacLaren reported that the committee had met and discussed the potential scheduling problem of the May 1998 Senate meeting. The committee will meet again and develop a recommendation.

Committee on the Budget: Senator Rink Senator Rink reported that the committee met in November to review the tables of data obtained for the 1997-98 EKU Budget summary report as well as earlier budget summary reports dating back to 1993-94. The committee agreed upon the charts that are to be included in its report to the Faculty Senate.

Committee on Faculty Rights and Responsibilities: Senator Rink reported that the committee met in November at the request of the Chair of the Faculty Senate to review Parts III, IV, V, and VI of the Faculty Staff Handbook, for the purpose of developing a list of issues from the Handbook that they believe need to be examined and possibly brought before the Faculty Senate.

Adjournment

Senator Enzie moved that the Senate adjourn. It adjourned at 4:03 p.m.

____________________________

Charles C. Hay III
Faculty Senate Secretary