Minutes for April 30, 2001
The Faculty Senate of Eastern Kentucky University met on Monday, April 30, 2001 in the South Room of the Keen Johnson Building. Senator Taylor called the eighth meeting of the academic year to order at 3:30 p.m.
The following members of the Senate were absent:
| A. Banks* | K. Breeden | K. Dilka |
| S. Fister* | M. Hodge |
*denotes prior notification of absence to the Faculty Senate Secretary
Visitors to the Senate were: Connie Callahan, Mark Chambers, Rita Davis, Louisa DeBolt, Dominick Hart, Charlotte Hubbard, Jim Kenkel and Rob Weise
APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES:
The April 2, 2001 minutes were approved with no corrections.
REPORT FROM THE PRESIDENT: Senator Kustra
President Kustra indicated that the Council on Postsecondary Education recently met and began discussions on the issue of requiring Kentucky institutions to charge a per credit hour fee. Eastern has traditionally been a flat rate tuition charge institution. There are arguments for and against the change, and a decision was postponed for further study.
President Kustra encouraged faculty to participate in the upcoming activities scheduled for the Governor scholars program which will begin on June 29.
President Kustra expressed his appreciation for faculty involvement in the open house recruitment receptions that were scheduled throughout the semester.
REPORT FROM THE CHAIR: Senator Taylor
Senator Taylor thanked the Senate for the opportunity to serve as Chair of the Faculty Senate and expressed his thanks for the committee members' for their hard work during the past year. He also expressed his appreciation for the services of Dr. Robert Miller as Parliamentarian and Pauletta King as Secretary.
NEW BUSINESS:
University Research Committee. Senator Huebner presented the committee's report to the Senate. She indicated that the committee would like the Senate to consider approving the following motion:
"Be it resolved that the Faculty Senate of Eastern Kentucky University strongly supports the University Research Committee's recommendation to approximately triple the funding for faculty research for 2001-2002 academic year to $113,000 to be nearly commensurate with our benchmark institutions.
The motion will be presented to the Senate for a vote at the September meeting.
REPORT FROM THE PROVOST: Senator Marsden
New Summer School Format. Senator Marsden mentioned, as an informational item only, the new proposed format for summer school 2002. He indicated that the university will be doing a variety of summer school terms which will include four weeks, six weeks, and eight weeks of coursework. Colleges are required to submit their final or next to final schedule to the Provost Council by January 22 of 2002, in order to better coordinate these sessions and ensure that students have a full load when they arrive for a six week term or an eight week term. Transcripts will be run after the fourth, eighth and twelfth weeks.
General Education Committee Update. Senator Marsden circulated a report to the Senate from the Ad Hoc Committee on General Education. It is the committee's hope to present one or two action items to the Senate in the fall semester.
Administrator Evaluations. Senator Marsden remarked that the evaluation of the Deans was proceeding accordingly. Dr. Marsden recently received his personal evaluation from the President and expressed thanks to those faculty who participated in the evaluation process.
New Position Appointments. Senator Marsden announced that Dr. Dominick Hart has been appointed as the new Dean of Arts and Sciences.
Dr. Bankole Thompson, from the College of Justice and Safety, has been appointed as the new Dean of Graduate Studies.
Dr. Douglas Robinson, the new Director for the Teaching and Learning Center, recently met with the advisory committee to discuss the Center's agenda for the next couple of years.
Retirement Transition Program. Senator Marsden announced that there will be eight or nine individuals taking advantage of the recently approved Retirement Transition Program beginning in the fall.
August Commencement Speaker. Senator Marsden announced that Dr. Robert Miller would be giving the August Commencement address.
REPORT FROM THE FACULTY REGENT: Senator Thompson
Senator Thompson stated that the following items were approved by the Board without any significant comments: Promotion and Tenure applications, Foundation Professors nominations, candidates for degree, program changes from the Council on Academic Affairs and Faculty Emeritus nominations.
The Department Chair Handbook was endorsed with the sabbatical leave section to be added later.
A special, flat tuition rate of $695 per credit hour was approved for a new on-line Masters program in Loss Prevention and Safety.
A request was approved from Model Lab School to apply for an alternate model for school based decision making. This would allow Model to have site based decision making for P-12, rather than separating the elementary and the high school.
A two-year strategic plan for improvement and maintenance of residential facilities was approved.
A mandatory meal plan was approved for all new full time students and freshmen transfers who are required to live in the residence halls. The plan takes effect Fall 2002.
The endowed directorship of the Honors Program was named after Dr. Bonnie Gray.
The University budget was approved for the coming year. The budget approved listed monies to address salary inequities, including $150,000 for classified staff, none for contract staff, and $50,000 for faculty, with additional monies requested through CPE pending.
The Domestic Partnership Proposal was postponed until the new Human Resources Director has an opportunity to verify cost data and review the procedures for implementation.
COSFL Report: Senator Falkenberg
Senator Falkenberg gave the COSFL report and asked for the Senate's endorsement on the position paper on University Governance. Senator Flanagan made a motion to endorse, seconded by Senator Thompson, and the motion was approved by the Senate.
STANDING COMMITTEES:
Budget Committee. Senator Rink gave the committee's final report for the year. The main problem encountered with the budget during the year was the budget shortfall. Senator Rink indicated that as he understands it, the goal being aimed for in the next budget is $4 million dollars in the fund balance, and the re-establishment of $1.1 to $1.5 million in the contingency fund.
Committee on Elections. Senator McAdams announced that Merita Thompson was voted to continue on as the Senate's representative on the Board of Regents.
Committee on Rules. Senator Yoder made the following motion, which was seconded by Senator Marsden and then approved by the Senate:
In the Rules of the Faculty Senate, part B: Membership of the Faculty Senate, section 3. Part-time Faculty Representative, part "b" currently reads:
- "The part-time faculty representative shall serve for a one year term and no more than two terms in succession."
We move that it be changed to read:
"The part-time faculty representative shall serve for a two-year term. While the part-time faculty representative is elected to a two-year term, continuing representative is contingent upon the part-time representative's being contracted by the University to teach again. The part-time faculty representative's election in no way may be construed as guarantee of employment beyond their current contract."
AD HOC COMMITTEES:
Faculty Handbook. Senator Huebner gave the committee's final report. She noted that while the committee did find some inconsistencies in the handbook, the changes can be handled effectively through the existing Faculty Handbook Committee and the offices responsible for updating different sections of the handbook.
Lecturers/Part-Time Lecturers. Senator Everett gave the committee's report. The committee recommended the creation of a teaching associate position at EKU under certain conditions. A motion to this effect will be forthcoming in the fall.
Promotion and Tenure. An interim report was handed out to the Senators from the Ad Hoc Committee on Promotion and Tenure. Senator Taylor mentioned that there should be a motion from this committee in the fall semester.
Salary Inequities: Senator Lifland gave the report for this committee and indicated that another committee should be assigned to handle any further issues on salaries inequities.
Senator Johnson made a motion to bring the minimum wage proposal back before the Senate for consideration. The motion reads as follows:
- "The Faculty Senate recommends 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
- 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 Taylor suggested that the newly formed committee on Compensations and Benefits look at this issue. The members of the committee are Kevin Rahimzadeh, Kim Naugle, Allen Engle, Kevin Minor, Elaine Waters, and Gary Barksdale. Senator Taylor suggested Keith Johnson be added to the committee to serve as historian from the previous committee.
Senator Jones made an amendment to the motion to state that if the above policy is approved, that it is with the understanding that a committee be assigned to look at the following issues and report their findings back to the Senate by December: The committee will provide a more complete proposal which will include the following: a statement on addressing the merit system, the compression/exceedance issue, appropriate market salary adjustments, recommendations for funding, and how rank figures into the salary figures. Senator Falkenberg, with Senator Jones' consent, made a friendly amendment to the amendment to state that the Executive Committee make the final decision on the committee assignment. The amended amendment was approved by the Senate.
The main motion with the amendment was approved by the majority of the Senate, with the understanding that the monies available would be used beginning at the Assistant Professor level and working on upward as funds permit.
ANNOUNCEMENTS/OTHER INFORMATION:
Senator Miller presented Senator Taylor with an engraved gavel and thanked him for his service as chair of the Senate for the past year.
ADJOURNMENT:
Senator Marsden made a request to adjourn at 4:35 p.m. for a ten-minute recess before the organizational meeting convenes.
click here for printable version of minutes
You will need to have the Adobe Acrobat Reader plug-in installed on your computer in order to view and print a hard copy of the minutes.