D R A K E U N I V E R S I T Y
Minutes of the Faculty Senate meeting March 17, 2004

The regular meeting of the 2003-2004 Faculty Senate was called to order at 3:30 p.m. by President Nancy Reincke. The following senators were present for all or part of the meeting: Alexander, Allen, Bartschat, Clapham, Courd-Houdi, Dougherty Gillespie, Lovell, Lyons, Morrow, Rankin Reed, Reincke, Soltis, Vitha

Absent: Esposito, Petersen, Rozycki, Schaefer, Shulman, Wade

The February 2004 minutes were accepted with two corrections.
(one spelling correction - page three - 'incite' not 'insight' and Senator Allen was in attendance)

Report from President Maxwell -
-- President Maxwell thanked the Senate for the positive comments and sentiment which were expressed at the last Senate meeting concerning the administration's handling of the subpoena incident.

-- He gave an update on the progress with the classroom/lab inventory report which was prepared by a group headed by the Dean's Council. The submitted report has become a needs list with dollars attached to the various items and the fundraising will begin. This aspect includes a recent visit to the Carver Foundation by President Maxwell and others. There was a favorable response to this meeting. There will be continued discussions which may result in a matching funds arrangement. President Maxwell is hopeful that our needs and their mission will produce favorable changes to the learning spaces.

-- Another report from Deans Council concerned the enrollment capacity issue. From the administrative issue and board venue, we are no longer looking at cutting funds. We are at a discussion stage of producing various projection models of what various student increases rates would mean. There is a philosophic statement which several groups have seen and agree with that one of our strengths is our size and we do not want to hurt that strength. Initial modeling results indicate that Drake could handle 850 new first year students each year.

-- The Board of Trustees Buildings & Grounds Committee met recently and had good conversations concerning the present status of the Drake campus and the neighborhood environment. Robert Craig, Professor of Art, is the faculty representative on this committee. David Courard-Hauri, Assistant Professor of Environmental Science and Policy and Larry James Jr. (LW 2001) Board of Directors officers of the Drake Neighborhood Association were also in attendance.

Three questions were submitted to President Maxwell prior to today meeting. He addressed each question.

1) What is the current status of the faculty/staff center? President Maxwell indicated that this is considered an urgent issue and some progress is being made, but there is nothing to actually report yet.

2) Is there a plan to purchase passenger vans for transporting students to various off campus endeavors? This issue will be reviewed by the President and Vice President Vicky Payseur

3) Is there any report from the University Diversity Committee? The National Board has met. President Maxwell reminded the body that one of the items from the Diversity Audit was that campus improvement will take involvement from all persons at Drake. To make Diversity happen at Drake, we must have an institutional wide commitment. He requested that any comments or suggesting be emailed to him or President Reincke.

Report from Provost Troyer
--Provost Troyer announced that the Self Study Committee preparing for the accreditation has met and has begun its work. He pointed out that this will be his third experience of a full visit. The Committee and the Provost know that the success of a plan is not only the plan itself but its implementation. This includes the need to have some young, committed faculty to participate in this process. It is a great way to know the institution. The committee has chosen four themes upon which to focus. They are: a) future orientation of the organization and how 5-10 year planning; b) Drake as a learning focused organization, the intellectual climate of the campus; c) the connectedness of the organization, our serving the common good; d) how distinct is the organization, more than just data but the self-reflecting portion of the data. Senator Clapham asked for clarification as to who had established these themes. Provost Troyer replied that these originate from the Higher Learning Commission.

Report from President Reincke
Committee Report from IPRC presented by Chair John Edwards. He reminded the body that the purpose is to be an advisory body to the President. He outlined the major topics which have come before committee such as: an upcoming academic integrity audit, the budget, enrollment capacity, strategic planning, tuition rates and various accreditations.

Unfinished Business:
The topic from the Student Senate regarding Academic Regalia, specifically honor cords has been withdrawn from the agenda. President Maxwell was asked and he commented that he had met with the students advocates of this change and listened to their position. The decision is his and he was concerned about the overkill that this recognition would be vs. the egalitarian feel of the absence of honor cords. He expressed that he based his decision on his past experiences at various commencements and comments received from other students and faculty. He welcomed Senators to send him their thoughts.

New Business:
Senators Rankin moved and Courard-Haurdi second motion 04-05;
amend the Academic Charter Section II, Academic Rank, paragraphs D & E

Section II of the Academic Charter, as revised, would read as follows:

II. Academic Rank
D. Adjunct Professors. Individuals who agree to teach part-time may be considered for appointment to the appropriate rank of "Adjunct Instructor," "Adjunct Assistant," "Adjunct Associate," or "Adjunct Professor." This title will be granted upon the request of a department, school or college faculty and approved by the Dean.

1. Adjunct Professors will normally be assigned a specific task for a specific period of time.
2. Adjunct Professors will not be eligible for tenure.
3. Adjunct Professors may receive compensation for the completion of a specific assignment.
E. In addition to adjunct professors, the Teaching staff may also include visiting, lecturing, or other temporary appointees. Such appointees are not eligible for tenure.

Sue Wright, Associate Provost for Institutional Research presented the reason for the additional changes to the portion of the Academic Charter which was reviewed in January 2004. The changes were to further clarify the naming of persons for hiring and benefit purposes. There were neither questions nor discussion.

Motion passed on a voice vote as presented.

Senators Alexander moved and Vita seconded motion 04-06:
Discontinue the Information Resource Policies and Issues Committee
IRPI is responsible for recommending academic information resource policy for the University. The Committee is concerned with, but not necessarily confined to, library and computer services as well as the development and use of an appropriate information and technology infrastructure for the University. The membership shall consist of three faculty, two administrative users, one library representative, a dean, two students and one person serving ex-officio from the computing center.

AND create the Instructional Technology Policy Committee
This Faculty Senate committee will work on strategic planning for instructional technology. It would recommend policies on instructional technology to the Faculty Senate, and to other groups (Deans' Council, SAC, etc) and individuals (Cowles/Law Librarians, Chief Information Officer (CIO)) when appropriate. It would work to foster close ties between the Center for Digital Technology and Learning, the Libraries, the Drake Telemedia Center (DTC), the school/college technology committees and the Office of Information Technology (OIT). The committee would oversee the implementation of the recommendations of the Instructional Technology Task Force, and update those recommendations as needed.

Due to the rate of change in the Information Technology area and the implementation of projects usually over the summer, members will need to be willing to work on a year-round basis.

The Faculty Senate Executive Committee shall appoint at least four faculty to serve two year staggered terms. The principle of broad representation shall be honored. The Dean of Cowles Library, the Director of the Center for Digital Technology and Learning, the CIO and the Director of the DTC will serve on the committee.

Without discussion, the motion was approved.

Senator Alexander brought to the attention of the Senate the Virus Protection and Network Administration Policy as proposed by CIO Paul Morris. This policy has gone to the Dean's Council and has been made available for comment by the Provost via his weekly announcements. The policy will soon be presented to the Senior Advisory Council. Senator Alexander encouraged all Senators to read the policy and review how it will or will not affect their computers. Windows, not Macintosh, machines are affected by the policy. There are three parts to the policy. The first two portions are not seen as controversial. The portion which will be the most sensitive is the reality of faculty to no longer having administrator control over their computers.

Mr. Morris spoke in general concerning the need for the policy. Currently approximately four staff FTE resources are spent fighting viruses. Virus protection is only so successful and more direct protection for students is being examined. Mr. Morris needs to balance an individual's need for flexibility at their desktop with the need to protect the network and individual machines.

Some concerns were raised about the timeliness of centralized technical assistance both at Drake and in general. The policy affects faculty and staff but students are the overwhelming majority of persons doing the downloading of various software. There were comments in favor of the policy but also several Senators requested that serious consideration be given to including factors in the policy which would allow individuals to become exempt and have administrator rights to their own machines.

Bruce Gilbert, Chair of the University Benefits Committee (UBC) distributed a handout as he began his report. He credited the entire committee and the Human Resources staff for their good work in these past months.

The first page of the handout was an outline of the committee report and the second was the set of numbers for the upcoming year's medical and dental premium.

1) The UBC enhanced the existing health plan.
2) Mr. Gilbert outlined the fiscal year 2005 (FY 05) Health Premium rates which will be announced campus wide after spring break. There will be an average 6% rate increase. This compares to double digit increases in the past two years and the national average. Senator Bartschat asked about the difference between the Wellness and non-Wellness rates. Mr. Gilbert indicated that the differences are related to the usages of these plans. He stated that over 90% of the Drake workforce uses the Wellness option.
3) The UBC is beginning the planning and review timeline of the tier/pay rate survey. Mr. Gilbert indicated that what comes after the planning will prove to be the hardest and that is how to present these issues to the campus community.

The Emeriti Task Force will engage themselves in first learning about Emeriti Consortium as much as possible and then will look at other options. Once this in depth level of understanding exists, the Task Force expects to present options. He reminded the body that the Emeriti Consortium themselves have a March 31st deadline to have 30 institutions enrolled.

Senator Alexander asked what will be some of the Task Force's decision points. Mr. Gilbert gave the following three examples: a) how to offer a transition for the persons employed after 1994, b) at what age of an employee will the institution begin to put in monies, noting that the earlier the age; the less Drake puts into the account; and c) is the participation voluntary for an employee since this decision has tax implications for everyone.

The meeting adjourned at 4:45 p.m. Submitted by Secretary, Nancy Geiger