Minutes for May 7, 2012

Senator Vice moved approval of items 1-9, seconded by Senator Summers.  Motion carried.

Senator Vice moved approval of items 10-41, seconded by Senator Nelson.  Motion carried.

Senator Vice moved approval of item 42, seconded by Senator Barracca.  Motion carried.

Senator Vice moved approval of item 43, seconded by Senator Spock.  Motion carried.

GENERAL & STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT: Senator Noblitt

This past year, the Executive Committee reviewed a series of policies, faculty handbook changes, and budget decisions, some of which are summarized below.

The Executive Committee reviewed the Tobacco-Free Campus Policy. This policy originated through the Healthy You at EKU Committee led by Leanna Bowles. The Chairs Association has already shared comments on the proposed policy. Please share this policy with department constituents and address any comments or concerns to Val Parks.

Members of Senate are also continuing to work on Policy 4.6.5, Review of Non-Tenured Tenure-Track Faculty. This policy will attempt to streamline the annual review process and provide clarification of the faculty appeal process. A policy on review of non-tenure-track faculty, Policy 4.6.10, will also be drafted next year.

This month Senator Noblitt has continued to serve as the Faculty Senate representative to the Implementation Team. The Provost will share the detailed results of the work of this committee in her report. One of the conclusions of this committee was that the university needs to form a committee of faculty to work on student retention issues. While university administrators can provide student support services, it is ultimately the faculty who have daily contact with students and can best identify and assist in student retention programs that will work for EKU students.

This Faculty Implementation Team will not be expected to “reinvent the wheel.” There are already a great deal of program review and data available to this potential group. Several administrative and student support departments are ready to assist this group in making decisions and implementing programs to increase student retention. The faculty who serve on this committee will be asked to review university data, best practices in student retention programs, and other information to propose how EKU can raise student retention while maintaining academic quality and rigor. While this task may seem impossible at first glance, research demonstrates that universities that empower faculty to make deliberate changes to classroom practices can have dramatic improvements in student retention.

The Executive Committee also reviewed the recent work of the FPC/SPC Joint Council in proposing the 2012-13 university budget. Recent enrollment decline, along with decreased state appropriations, have left the university with an over $8 million budget shortfall.

As government funding decreases, the university becomes increasingly dependent upon student tuition for its operating budget. With this in mind, the university must focus on carefully spending student tuition in a manner that supports the primary mission of the institution. The institution must ask how each dollar spent supports student success. Money spent on classrooms improvements, faculty, and student services easily promotes this mission. Funds spent on other areas must be carefully reviewed.

REPORT FROM FACULTY REGENT: Senator Frisbie

A sizeable portion of the April Board meeting concerned university finances. VP Barry Poynter provided the Board with a financial update for the current year (FY 2011-12). There is a $3M shortfall in revenue generated by tuition this year. Mr. Poynter projects that there will be an operating deficit of $2.3M by the end of the fiscal year. This will reduce the uncommitted fund balance to about $4.5M.

Looking ahead, the Board approved a 5% tuition increase for 2012-13. However, the university is trying to be a bit more strategic in its tuition structure, so there are some variances from the 5% number. For instance, the “targeted tuition” rate for certain counties in neighboring states is being phased out.  This means there will be a single out-of-state tuition rate which will be lower for those in formerly non-targeted counties, but higher for those in formerly targeted counties. This is being done incrementally, so the rates will not be identical next year. The lower overall out-of-state rates should make EKU more competitive beyond KY’s borders and result in increased out-of-state enrollment. Another place where tuition is being adjusted is in online courses and programs. The cost of online graduate courses is being decreased so that EKU is more competitive, but there will be an approximate 5% increase in the cost of online programs. The Board also approved increases of 3.5% and 5% for meal plans and housing, respectively.

The Board also voted to keep in place salary rates for promotions, part-time and summer employment, graduate assistants, and student employees.

The Board approved guidelines for the 2012-13 university budget. This is a broad outline of revenues and expenditures for the budget. The Board will see the detailed proposed budget at its June meeting. To begin the budgeting process, the $4.6M loss in state appropriations and the $3 M shortfall must be factored in.  Against these losses, the budget guidelines include $2.7M in increased revenue from the tuition increases. (Undergraduate tuition will generate $4M, but adjustments in graduate tuition will cost $1.8M. However, the model being used to build the budget is conservative in that it assumes no enrollment growth. The budget will also utilize a one-time “gift” of $500,000 from housing. On the expenditure side, financial aid will increase by $1M, and benefit costs will increase by $1.9M. Factoring in all increasing costs, there is a hole of about $8.3M that must be plugged.

The budget guidelines include some “tell the truth” adjustments that deserve comment. In the past there has been a bad habit here of failing to adjust budget lines, and then expecting to actually spend more than the unrealistic budgeted amount. Therefore, the budget lines include some adjustments to certain line items for this reason. The budget guidelines call for adding $1.2M in salary money to the $4.8M that was budgeted last year for part-time and summer salaries. For several years, athletics has spent $900K more than has been budgeted ($1.8M). The budget guidelines call for adding $695K to the budget line. This actually represents a budget cut, if Athletics is held to that budgeted amount. VP Street indicated that there is an expectation that Athletics will have trouble realizing that full cut in one year, but that the FPC/SPC did not want to budget more in the Athletics line to make it clear that this was the target budget. Similarly, the Center for the Arts had a $443K contingency budget line this year, and has had access to $505K in non-reoccurring state money. The budget guidelines call for the $443K contingency line to be continued next year and to add $459K to the Center’s budget to make up for loss of the $505 K in one-time money. The budget guidelines also call for adding $600K (for a total of $800K) to the line item for the university marketing campaign, “You can get there from here”.

The Board heard several construction-related updates. The Stratton Building addition is all but done (99% complete as of the end of April). Demolition work has begun to make room for the new dormitory complex. That project is a $21M endeavor that will provide for 260 beds. That project does not use state appropriations, but is financed by revenue generated by Housing. The Board also heard a description of a proposed addition to the student recreation center. The SGA is pushing for this project, and proposes to fund it with a student activity fee. In order to pursue this project, state authorization would be needed, even though the project would be self-financed. The Legislature declined to authorize universities to pursue self-financed projects over concern about the overall state-level debt.

Outgoing VP Conneely and new VP for Enrollment Management, Marketing, and University Relations Libby Wachtel reported on enrollment-related progress over the last year or so. A couple of highlights from that report: The overage in student employment expenditures that has been tracked for several years has now been eliminated. The discount rates for new freshmen and transfers have been reduced from ~27% to 17%, largely through fine-tuning KCTCS scholarships and through elimination of the ineffective Beacon scholarships.

The Board approved 14 retiring faculty members for emeritus status, approved 40 continuing faculty members for tenure and 65 for promotions. In addition, the Board approved 55 program revisions, 3 new minors, and the doctorate program in Occupational Therapy. Revisions to the staff grievance policy were approved and a new policy was passed to create a Student Assistance and Intervention Team. The SAIT is a group that will coordinate efforts to help students who are experiencing difficulties of one sort or another and to try and head off potentially violent situations on campus. The Board also approved a scope of services document that will be used to solicit proposals from consultants to help the university assess its current status, think about its strategic directions, and develop budgeting priorities. Finally, the Board approved a revised organizational chart for the university which reflects recent reorganization (e.g., elimination of the executive VP position and redistribution of some university functions that were under that position, creation of the enrollment VP position and redistribution of some university functions there, elimination of the chief of staff position and creation of the executive assistant position).

The EKU Board will next convene for a regular quarterly meeting on June 11. A primary focus of that meeting will be adoption of the detailed university budget for 2012-13.

REPORT FROM COSFL: Senator Summers

The AAUP of Kentucky and the COSFL had their third academic conference in April at the Council on Postsecondary Education.  Following are the four topics presented at the meeting:

1. AAUP – The Benefits  of Membership, Dr. Peg Pittman-Munke
2. “The Politics Of Higher Education” By The AAUP-Tennessee Dr. H. Coleman “Coley” McGinnis,
3. Budgeting And Higher Education: How Can I Speak A Language Without Knowing I Can Speak It”, by Dr. John Taylor
4. A discussion of the book, “The Fall Of The Faculty: The Rise Of The All-Administrative University” moderated by Dr. Doris Pierce.

PROVOST REPORT: Senator Vice

 Senator Vice shared a list of accomplishments for the Implementation Team and related outcomes which came about because of their work.  Two important changes that were directly related to the Implementation Team efforts included the re-structuring of developmental education by the Math Department and the re-structuring of the first year Orientation course.  Faculty played a large part in both of these initiatives. (supporting attachment for SPC/FPC)

 Mr. James Street shared the following information to help explain Eastern’s budget shortfall:

• The Commonwealth funded three buildings – New Sciences, Center for the Arts, and Manchester Regional Campus Center – but chose not to fund the M&O, which traditionally has been added to state support. $3.8 million was lost as a result of this failure to fund the operations of these facilities.
• A reduction in state support of 6.4 percent for fiscal year 2012-2013 resulted in a loss of $4,547,300 in state support. This reduction is permanent.
• EKU enrolled 300 fewer students from 2010 to 2011, which resulted in a loss of $3,916,113 in annual tuition and fees.
• Also included in the Commonwealth’s budget was an unfunded mandate to increase employer contributions to the KTRS and KERS retirement funds in an annual amount for FY 2012-2013 of $902,270, or almost $1 million.
• EKU’s fixed costs will increase and include $500,000 in increased utilities for new buildings, $100,000 for insurance, $68,000 in service contracts, and $1,000,000 for health insurance premiums.
• This budget adjusts (or includes adjustments to) areas that have historically expended more money than allocated. Part-time faculty salaries, the summer-school salary pool, and Athletics have been budgeted less money than the units required for several years.
• In the inaugural season of the EKU Center for the Arts, the Center began with a $505,000 carry forward (accumulated from several biennia of $200,000 per year that the Legislature allocated to the University for funding the preliminary operations of the Center’s community board and associated administrative functions) and $443,000 additional funding included in the fiscal year 2011-2012 Budget for a total of $998,000. Historically, this funding would have been addressed in Legislative M & O increases that accompany new buildings but were not included for the Manchester Center, the New Science Building, and the EKU Center for the Arts. This year’s budget recommendation includes $675,662 in total for supplementing the operations of the Center, which represents a $272,338, or 27 percent, decrease from last year’s total allotment. The Center must make up the difference with fund-raising and sponsorships.

Senator Vice shared the following information on the financial cuts proposed by the Academic Affairs unit.

• Academic Affairs  reduced its budget by $1 million in personnel (representing 1 percent reduction) and $943,353 in M&O (8 percent).
• Personnel lines – In deciding which lines to hold, the Deans first listed their priorities. All Deans reviewed all vacant lines, giving consideration to accreditation needs, enrollment trends, entrepreneurial goals, and program growth.
• Faculty positions were given higher priority than staff positions. A total of 8 faculty lines are currently being held across seven academic departments. As retirements and attrition occur, those vacancies will continue to be strategically reviewed.
• M & O reductions – The Deans also collectively reviewed the 4-year spending patterns in M & O to determine appropriate cuts.

Mr. Street shared the following benefit reductions based on recommendations received from the Benefits Committee.

• Recommended benefit changes include: (1) Reducing the Wellness budget by $50,000, (2) Modifying the Pharmacy benefit plan (fewer points of service with our discounts, yet no employees would have to travel further than one-half mile from where they currently get prescriptions filled and all employees would utilize step therapy), (3) Postponing the charge to premiums for the medical plan reserve, (4) Moving to Mandatory Mail Order for all maintenance prescriptions, (5) Reducing the dental plan to preventative care only, and (6) Raising the coinsurance from 95/5 to 90/10 on the high option.
• Because of concern about the financial and morale impact on employees, the following items were discussed but did not receive support from either the President or the Council: fees for parking, reductions in tuition reimbursement, eliminating the dental insurance.  

Dr. Pam Schlomann shared a list of topics for further review this summer by the Council:

• Tuition structuring: Review of per-credit-hour tuition
• Academics: possibility of a Winter J-term; summer-school revenue sharing; role of part-time faculty
• Enrollment: address areas that have experienced a drop in or have low enrollments (COE and Regional campuses)
• Salaries: equity adjustments, part-time faculty salaries, competitive wages
• Benefits: how to restructure to maximize savings, morale, and positive outcomes for individuals and University
• Cell phone policy
• Vacation leave and flex-time policies
• Athletics: role in the University and appropriate levels of support