Minutes for November 3, 2003

The Faculty Senate of Eastern Kentucky University met on Monday, November 3, 2003 in the South Room of the Keen Johnson Building. Senator Johnson called the third 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: James Conneely, Student Affairs; Ken Johnston, Finances; Cassondra Kirby, The Eastern Progress; Erin Michalik, SGA; Kristina O'Brien, SGA; Matt Schumacher, SGA; Aaron Thompson, Enrollment Management; Daniel Thorne, Accounting, Finance, Information Systems; Virginia Underwood, Equal Opportunities; John Wade, College of Arts & Sciences; and Marc Whitt, Public Relations & Marketing

APPROVAL OF 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.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT: 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:

REPORT FROM STUDENT GOVERNMENT: 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.

1. Faculty development funds should primarily be used to support participation in professional conferences, seminars, workshops or other venues of scholarly or creative activity.
2. 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.
3. 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.

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