D R A K E U N I V E R S I T Y
FACULTY SENATE MEETING MINUTES
February 16, 2005

The regular meeting of the 2004-2005 Faculty Senate was called to order at 3:30 p.m. by President Klaus Bartschat. The following senators were present for all or part of the meeting. Alexander, Allen, Bartschat, Clapham, Courard-Hauri, Dore, Esposito, Frank, Freeman-Miller, Gilbert, Gillespie, Lyons, Morrow, Pandit, Petersen, Reincke, Rozycki, Sanders, Simpson, Tice, Wade.
Absent: none

The January 2005 minutes were accepted with corrections.

President Maxwell’s Report

• There has been a candidate on campus for the Vice President of Admission and Financial Aid position. There may be others yet this spring.
• As Drake continues its discussion of the future of the University, President Maxwell brought to the attention of the body of a national level discussion on the Social Compact of Higher Education. It is an engaging discussion which relates well to the Provost’s recent announcements. He continued with the statement that these philosophical discussions are appropriate as we think about Drake and who we are.
• Senator Frank asked if there was any discussion at the Board of Trustees meeting concerning the January retreat issue. President Maxwell replied that there had been such a discussion. Klaus Bartschat, Faculty Senate President, and David Miles, Board of Trustees Chair, presented the body’s concerns in a constructive manner, stated President Maxwell. It was also cited that Drew Gulley, Student Body President, had presented an articulate follow up letter containing students concerns. President Bartschat indicated he did not think that there would be a Board of Trustees retreat before June 2006.

Provost Troyer’s Report

• The process of outlining the Strategic Improvement Initiatives is moving forward.
• Provost Troyer indicated that the recently announced Carver Foundation monies are only the beginnings of the fundraising efforts which will be used to transform the internal campus and directly affect faculty, students and instruction.

President Bartschat’s Report

There is expected to be a detailed report of the Sabbatical Survey coming out next month. He did report that there were an overwhelming percentage of respondents who preferred to maintain the current salary percentages for sabbaticals.

Unfinished Business

Senator Gillespie moved from the table and Wade seconded motion 05-06:
Senator Simpson moved to amend motion 05-06 and Sanders seconded the following:

A student may not graduate/earn a degree from Drake University with an "I" (Incomplete) or an "IP" (In Progress) notation on his/her transcript.

Implementation: This rule will take effect for the Spring 2005 semester registrations.
Thus all students in the Spring 05 semester and in future semesters/terms will not graduate until any "I" or "IP" has been changed to a grade for those semesters. This rule does not apply to the semesters of enrollment prior to Spring 05.

Students who are new to Drake and enrolling for the first time beginning with the Spring 05 semester are subject to this rule and may not graduate from Drake with an "I" or "IP" on their transcripts.

Senator Reincke asked if the Student Senate seen the amendment. Student Body Drew Gulley indicated that they had not seen nor separately discussed the amendment. Senator Simpson reminded the group that the matter of an ‘I’ hanging at the point of graduation was discussed at the last meeting. She continued stating that this amendment clarifies the outcome of the motion.

Senator Frank received a clarification that this would not be a retro-active motion or amendment.

A previous question procedure was called on the amendment. The amendment passed on a voice vote.

Senator Frank expressed her concern about the attempt the limit the ‘I’ to extraordinary cases. She noted that there are many ways to define extraordinary and this will constrain the faculty.

Senator Frank moved to amend and Simpson seconded the following: to strike the words listed below in italicize:

The mark “I” (Incomplete) indicates a student has not submitted all evidence required for a final grade, due to extraordinary circumstances (e.g., a serious illness or a death in the immediate family).

The amendment passed on a voice vote with dissentions.

The main motion as amended passed on a voice vote with a dissenting vote.

New Business

Senator Sanders moved and Wade seconded motion 05-07

The Faculty Senate endorses the recommendation of the Retiree Benefits Task Force and the University Benefits Committee that Drake University switch all Medicare-eligible participants to the "Humana Gold Choice" plan for health insurance coverage,
Effective 1 June 2005
The three five page full report is available at: http://www.drake.edu/lib/rbtf-recommend.pdf

President Bartschat noting that since this issue is not just a faculty concern; he invited to the table and introduced the All Staff Executive Council members in attendance, Suzanne Brown, Patti Verlengia and Jan Wise. Also invited to the discussion and introduced were Lon Larson, Task Force Co-Chair, Vanessa Marco, Human Resource Director and the University’s benefits consultant.

President Bartschat thanked the University Benefits Committee (UBC) and the Task Force on Retiree Health Benefits for their hard work and all their time spent on this important issue.

Senator Gilbert, Co Chair of the Task Force began his remarks by thanking members of task force and the entire UBC. He noted this has been an effort which lasted over fifteen months. They have strived to keep in mind the big picture for employees as well as the University. He noted that the Task Force has worked hard to carry out their charge.

He continued with the reminder that any retiree benefit change would be an administrative decision. With this proposal, Drake would be moving to a fully insured product instead of Drake being self insured.

Senator Frank asked the extent of the incentive or dis-incentive to use a pharmacy instead of the mail-order process for drugs. Mr. Larson indicated that in the proposal the mail order option allows for a two month payment for three month drug supply.

Senator Tice distributed an informational article from the Wall Street Journal concerning mail order drugs and a four point argument against the Humana plan. He appreciated that this is a complicated issue and thanked all who have worked on this task force. He also thanked the Human Resource department for asking the firm about taking out the mail order option. The firm would not allow the option to be taken out of the proposal. He promoted that using a method of fulfillment that is not local, promotes less contact between the patient and the pharmacist, a member of their health care team. He stated that he was against fragmenting health care. He distributed a set of five points for discussion and possible addition to the proposal.

1. Allow a prescription drug benefit audit
   This is really the only way to know how we are faring
   This can be done at no cost to the University.
2. Send representatives from Drake (HR?) to the march 24, 2005 conference “Emerging Trends in Benefit Design” Washington D.C. (?)
3. Monitor retiree conversion to mail order (and possibly satisfaction with and results of any medication problems causing to utilize more costly forms of health care).
4. Monitor effects plan implementation on pharmacy alumni giving to the University
5. Allow written correspondence on an annual basis from college of pharmacy on why it is important to have a relationship with and utilize a local pharmacist/pharmacy.

Senator Clapham indicated that she sees some flexibility with potential providers in this plan. There was a reminder that the mail order purchase of drugs is not mandatory, but rather an option. The drug benefit audit was explained. It is a very useful tool for the self insured business but may not be as applicable if Drake had a Humana relationship, stated Mr. Larson.

President Maxwell indicated that he did not see anything problematic in the document. The document was accepted as a friendly amendment. Senator Rozocki questioned supporting an amendment which mentions a conference without much information about its benefit or purpose.

There was a question concerning the out-of-pocket maximum. Ms. Macro stated that this is a huge change for Drake. This would most likely happen when there were multiple (4) individual hospital stays in one calendar year for the insured.

Senator Sanders stated that the amendment did not mandate anything; rather it gave to those in charge of the evaluation some guidelines. He continued that in his opinion this gives a sense of what the Senate believes.

Motion passed on voice vote with one dissenting vote.

Senator Esposito moved and Sanders seconded motion 05-0

Approve the recommendation from the University Curriculum Committee to grant official university recognition to the Global Ambassador certificate program

The motion passed on a voice vote without discussion.

Senator Esposito moved and Sanders seconded motion 05-09

Approve the recommendation from the University Curriculum Committee that after successful completion, academic concentrations and certificate programs shall appear on the student's transcript. These academic concentrations and certificate programs are officially approved by their home college or school or, in the case of an interdisciplinary offering, approved by Faculty Senate.

The motion passed on a voice vote without discussion.

Senator Simpson moved and Pandit seconded motion 05-10

Approve 2006-2007 and 2009-2010 calendars with the following amendment
(to become active in Summer 2005 term) to the
GUIDELINES FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE DRAKE UNIVERSITY CALENDAR Section 2.D.

The Summer session is organized into two five-week terms. The beginning of the first five-week term shall be determined in reference to the closing dates of the public schools in the Des Moines Metro area. Summer four and five-week terms will end on Sundays at 6:00 p.m.
The changes are indicated in bold.

Senator Frank inquired as to the purpose for making the change. Senator Gillespie offered that this change will help the course offerings especially in the School of Education on the weekends. Linda Krypel, University Curriculum Committee Chair, noted that the administrative system is so date driven that this simple solution is needed for courses to be offered through the whole of the summer term.

The motion passed on a voice vote.

The body adjourned. at 4:45 p.m.

Secretary, Nancy Geiger