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Meeting: |
Faculty Senate Meeting, 12
October 2005, Wooten Hall Room 322 |
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Absent: |
Gopal, Grable, Hill, Levin,
Pirtle |
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Guests: |
Miguel Blanca, Student;
Gene Wright, Faculty Ombudsman; Doina Farkas, Professor; Emily Hughes,
Visitor; Jamaal O’Neal, NT Daily; Matt Zabel, Denton Record-Chronicle; John
Price, Vice Provost, UNT Dallas Campus; Andrea Patrick, UNT Bookstore; Robney
Davison, UNT Bookstore; Randy Guttery, UNT Bookstore; Chris Klement, SGA;
Celia Williamson, Special Assistant to the Provost; Howard Johnson, Provost;
David Hall, SGA President; Kay Selby, Director, Academic Publications; Brian
Weinberg, SGA; Elizabeth Murphy, SGA; Haj Ross, Professor; Dan Peak,
Professor; Terrance Pohlen, Professor; Mary Thibodeaux, Associate Dean, COBA;
Michael Drought, Interim Dean, SOVA; Michelle Hale, InHouse Editor; Paul
Dworak, Office of Compliance |
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Opening: |
Frances van Tassell, Chair
of the Faculty Senate, called the meeting to order at 2:05 PM |
Introduction of new senators: Senator van
Tassell introduced: Rebecca Glover,
Counseling, Development and Higher Education, Group VI; James Swan,
Gerontology, Group VII, and; Russell Elleven, Technology and Cognition,
At-Large Assistant Professors.
Additionally, Robert Pirtle, Biology, has accepted a one-year temporary
term to serve in Marry Harris’ seat while she serves as interim chair.
Announcement: Senator
van Tassell announced that Sue Young, Faculty Senate Administrative Assistant, has
announced her resignation. The senators
gratefully acknowledged her service to the Senate.
Special Presentations of Certificates to Interim
Deans:
Michael Drought, Interim
Dean, School of Visual Arts
Samantha Hastings, Interim
Dean, School of Library and Information Sciences
Mary Thibodeaux, Interim
Dean,
Presentation by John Price, UNT
Approval of Minutes: The minutes of the 14 September 2005 meeting were
presented. Upon motion by Senator Coy, the
minutes were approved as corrected (Senator Johnston’s name was misspelled).
Comments by Senate Chair: Senator van
Tassell thanked all senators for their hard work and stressed that all senators
must follow the policies and procedures of the Faculty Senate as set out in the
Charter and Bylaws.
Committee Reports:
A. Committee on Committees: Senator Thomsett-Scott asked for approval of
write-in candidates for committee nominations. Point of Order was called by
Senator Booth: How can the Committee on Committees be operating since the
Committee on Committees has not yet been formulated? (The Senate Bylaws state
that the term of each member of the Committee on Committees shall be from the
September to the beginning of the following September meeting.) Senator van Tassell indicated that
traditionally the Faculty Senate Executive Committee provides the charges to
the Committee on Committees in the late spring semester so that senate
subcommittee memberships can proceed in a timely fashion. Senator Booth pointed
out that this process was not provided for in the bylaws, and asked if the
Charter and Bylaws Committee could consider the process and assure that the
actions of the Executive Committee were appropriately linked to the bylaws.
Motion by Senator Pelton:
“Approve
write-in candidates as nominated by the Committee on Committees.”
Motion
passed unanimously.
B. Fine Arts Committee: The “UNT Fine
Arts Series Status Report” was presented as a motion and approved unanimously.
C. University Tenure Committee: Dr. Gus
Seligmann distributed copies of the “2005 Report of the UTC to the Faculty
Senate”, summarizing the 2004-2005 activities of the UTC. Dr. Seligmann addressed several questions[V3] . (1) The UTC maintains its authority to base its
decisions on both substantive and procedural issues. (2) In each of the tenure
denial hearings conducted by the UTC during 2004/2005: (a) Dr. Seligmann
characterized the procedural flaws as serious; (b) except for a single
reviewing individual in one of the five appeals cases, all recommendations
forwarded to the Provost were unanimously positive for tenure; and (c) while
outside letters were not as clear cut, none of the external letters could be
considered clearly negative.
Motion by Senator Turner:
“The
Senate recognizes the receipt of the report of the committee.”
Motion
passed unanimously.
Motion by Senator (name of Senator was
not noted for the minutes):
The Faculty Senate Charter and Bylaws
should be modified such that the University Tenure Committee reports annually to
the Senate.”
Motion
passed unanimously.
D. Charter and Bylaws Committee:
Point of
Order was called by Senator Mueller: Has the committee resolved the wording of
the resolutions proposing amending the Faculty Senate Charter and Bylaws to
alter the method of electing officers and removing officers? Has the committee
met to discuss the wording or to elect a Chair?
[V4] Senator Barton indicated that he was Chair last year,
and the Charter and Bylaws Committee has traditionally kept the past Chair
until a new Chair was elected, and that the Committee received[V5] the resolutions by email.
Motion by Senator Mueller:
“Remand
the issue of these resolutions until the committee meets to elect a chair and
discuss the issues.”
Motion
passed 27 for, 4 against, 1 abstention.
Unfinished Business:
A. University Writing Committee: The “Report to the Executive Committee of the
Faculty Senate – University Writing Committee Report 2005” was presented as a
motion by Senator Barton. Senator Coy
questioned the differential amounts of the awards for graduate and
undergraduate students and Senator Barton responded that amounts had been
pre-determined outside the committee.
Motion was approved unanimously.
Motion by Senator Turner:
“The
University Writing Committee should review the policy that awards differing
amounts to graduate and undergraduate students.”
Motion
passed unanimously.
B. Curriculum Committee: The “University Curriculum Committee Report” was
presented as a motion and approved unanimously.
C. Plus/Minus Grading: Senator van Tassell indicated that there was still
time to make catalog changes dealing with the issue (to implement or not to
implement). David Hall, Student
Government Association President indicated that there were multiple SGA resolutions
opposing the plus/minus system, that ballots cast indicated opposition to
plus/minus grading, that 3,476 signatures expressing concern about plus/minus
grading have been submitted, that there were many misconceptions about the
advantages and disadvantages of plus/minus grading, and that any major change
must have “buy-in” from the majority.
Mr. Hall said that the majority buy-in was lacking, and asked the Senate
to reconsider the implementation of plus/minus grading. Senator van Tassell indicated that the Dean’s
Council supported the SGA request.
Senator Turner asked for point of clarification: Was the plus/minus
system that the Senate voted to approve in 2002 and scheduled for
implementation in the EIS system in 2004 still not implemented? Senator van Tassell indicated that the
implementation had been delayed pending software modifications to allow
plus/minus grading, but now the EIS system is ready.
Motion by Senator Staff:
“Suspend
implementation of the Plus/Minus grading system and refer the issue back to the
Academic Affairs Committee for reconsideration based upon the new information
provided by the SGA.”
Senator
Sahliyeh encouraged the SGA to endorse the Plus/Minus grading system.
Senator
Goggin: Call for Previous Question.
Motion
passed 26 for, 7 against.
D. Library Budget Resolution:
Motion by Senator McPherson:
“Accept
the resolution.”
Motion
passed unanimously.
New Business:
A. Resolution
in Support of the Faculty Senate at
Motion by Senator Swan:
“Accept
the resolution.”
Call
for Quorum showed 32 senators present (31 needed for quorum).
Motion passed unanimously.
B.
Request to release election vote counts: Senator Miles indicated that there had been a
request to release the vote counts for the faculty candidates for the pending
Presidential Search Committee.
Motion by
Senator Booth with friendly amendment accepted:
“Be it resolved that all faculty election vote counts
be published to the faculty via the Faculty Senate web page.”
Motion
passed 29 for, 2 against, 1 abstention.
Report of the Office of the Provost/VPPA Howard
Johnson:
Provost Johnson’s PowerPoint
presentation will be available on the Faculty Senate web page. Dr. Johnson highlighted several points. (1) Excellence and market
adjustments for faculty salaries are intended to recognize, reward and retain
core faculty. (2) He will continue to seek additional funds next year for
market adjustments. (3) This year monies for salary adjustments are available
for an average 1% merit increase, an average 1% excellence increase, and a[V6] market adjustment of just over one million dollars.
(4) Compensation rates for summer teaching are still under consideration; if a
decision is not made in sufficient time, last year’s rates will be used for
next summer.
Faculty Senate Vice Chair’s Update:
Senator Miles’ PowerPoint
presentation will be available on the Faculty Senate web page. Senator Miles summarized the discussions the
Faculty Senate Executive Committee had with President Pohl on: (1) the
university’s master plan; (2) the status of the University Planning Council;
(3) the status of the university’s Strategic Plan, and; (4) this year’s
merit/excellence/market raises. Senator
Miles also summarized the discussion the Faculty Senate Executive Committee had
with Vice Provost Suzanne LaBrecque on: (1) faculty raises; (2) summer
teaching; (3) the status of the ongoing searches for Deans; and (4) how the
goal to increase student enrollment may have unintended consequences.
Faculty Senate Chair’s Update:
Senator van Tassell’s PowerPoint
presentation will be available on the Faculty Senate web page. Due to the late hour, Senator van Tassell
suggested that everyone look at her presentation and send her comments or
questions.
Committee of the Whole:
no actions
Group Caucuses:
Groups I, II, VI, and VII
need to select Committee on Committees representatives.
Groups III and VI need to
select Executive Committee representatives.
Senate adjourned at 4:45 PM.
Respectively submitted by Sam Atkinson