Minutes of the Faculty Senate Meeting October 21, 1998 The regular meeting of the 1998-99 Faculty Senate was called to order by Judy Allen at 3:30 p.m. The following Senators were present for all or part of the meeting: Allen, Brady, Buising, Gilbride, Heaston, Herman, Hunter, Morrow, Myszewski, Petersen, Phillips, Reincke, Sisk, Spencer, Stratton, Strentz, Walker, Winebrenner, Wright, Zivin Absent: Pomeroy Minutes of the Previous Meeting: Upon proper motion and second, the minutes of the previous meetings were approved. Report from President Ray: The selection process for an interim provost is proceeding and expect to have an announcement soon. President Ray indicated he was looking to expand the sphere of influence of the faculty. There will be more information on this later. Report from Provost Gitenstein: The Faculty Senate President is now attending the President's Cabinet. And at the next Board of Governors meeting, the Academic Affairs Committee and Business Committee will have representation from the faculty. The University Strategic Planning Council (USCP) members have all been added to the Administrative Council's membership. Recently at the annual Deans Council retreat, a draft plan for program review was worked on as requested by the USCP. The Provost offered her congratulations to the Law School for the Justice Rehnquist visit, to Jane Rankin for her outstanding Stalnaker Lecture and for Parent/Family Weekend faculty activities which were attended in record numbers including Professor Pandit's presentation. Barbara Decker recently received the Eugene J Paul Award for Excellence in Human Resource Management from the Central Iowa chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management. This prestigious award is named for a former Drake professor of management, Eugene Paul. Executive Committee Report: The campus wide referendum on the Drake Curriculum is over and the proposal passed. Soon the First Year Seminar Committee and Advising Committee will be named. Please indicate your interest or someone else's interest in either of these committees. Currently the General Education Committee does not have a Fine Arts nor Social Sciences representative. President Allen requested assistance in filling those positions. Educational Policies and Issues Committee (EPI) has been forwarded the concern of the proliferation of the title Dean. Senator Zivin made a report concerning the question from the September meeting as to what was an authorized student absence from class. The faculty manual language from 1974 was quoted. The issue has been referred to EPI due to the vagueness and age of the policy language. There is interest in having a clearer definition of legitimate absences. Provost Gitenstein reminded the body that the athletic schedules are distributed to the Senate as an information item. Unfinished Business: None New Business Senator Strentz moved and Gilbride seconded Motion 99-02: Amend section 3 (Elections) of the Senate Rules and Regulations to add paragraph #6: Elections conducted by the Faculty Senate shall be structured by the Senate Executive Committee to assure appropriate representation across disciplines and colleges particularly when those elected will serve university-wide interests and needs. Their motion included striking the word "particularly" for the motion's wording as presented in the October agenda. Senator Strentz spoke in favor of the motion indicating this presented no new power to the Executive Committee. Elections should present broad-based campus representation. Senator Morrow moved to amend and Reincke seconded to: Change appropriate to appropriately and Substitute "by diverse representation." after "assure" and delete the remaining words. There was a discussion of writing rules to elect a diverse body as opposed to electing from the whole. Senator Morrow indicated the wisdom of the Executive Committee should be used to appropriately run elections. Senator Gilbride liked the more specific language of the original motion noting that this was being presented because last year's Executive Committee need for executing an election on short notice with little guidance. Senator Morrow indicated he was not as fearful as others were about his colleagues. On a voice vote, the amendment failed. Senator Morrow spoke against the motion believing that a person in a different college can not represent someone in another college. Senator Sisk spoke in favor of the motion. The motion passed with one no vote. President Allen opened the discussion on the Short Paper on Shared Governance. She indicated she had taken from AAUP documents and wanted to put this topic of promoting interaction of faculty with administration and governing boards before the full faculty senate and hopefully the full faculty. She sought ideas on the various parties working for the good of Drake University. President Allen requested an informal discussion as she did not want to presume that all senators shared her experiences and opinions on this topic. Senator Petersen indicated that if this is truly a joint effort then what is the problem with sharing this document with others outside the Senate. Senator Morrow suggested that an effort to include faculty would be the college faculty meetings. Senator Spencer indicated he agreed with the points in the paper. Senator Strentz indicated there was support for the paper in the Executive Committee. He cautioned that the difference between shared governance and shared administration should be kept clear and the interest is in the shared governance not having each daily operation receive faculty approval. Senator Sisk noted that persons currently on the Senate are the converted on this issue. He saw many good points in the paper and hoped there would be a good culture in place when the new president joins Drake. He indicated there are encouraging events going on around campus and these needed to be shared around campus. Senator Zivin expressed interest in the faculty assembly idea noting that faculty need to be involved and interested in the large and critical issues. Senator Hunter offered his favor towards the previous faculty governance setting over a decade ago. There was a general discussion of the importance of committees and faculty time and effort serving on such groups. The concern was raised about committee work and any value the output actually has. President Allen emphasized that she wanted this discussion to be constructive and productive. The faculty does not want to make decisions but wants to give perspectives. Senator Buising moved and Wright seconded motion 99-03: To distribute to the full faculty the Short Paper on Shared Governance and have a full faculty open discussion President Ray indicated he was working on various aspects of relationships with the Board of Governors and the faculty and students. Provost Gitenstein shared that an association of governing boards has been looking at these issues for other perspectives and she will share this information with President Allen. President Allen emphasized she did not want this to be seen as adversarial and create problems for the current administration. Senator Strentz suggested a preface or a cover letter stating the context of the discussion. Senator Winebrenner supported the meaning of the paper although he thought some of the language used was strong. President Allen requested comments and suggestions and would have a recommendation in place for the November meeting. President Ray indicated he would go over various points in the document with President Allen and offer suggestions of other persons who may be interested in these matters. The motion passed unanimously. On proper motion and second the meeting closed at 4:30 p.m. Submitted by, Nancy Geiger, Secretary