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Minutes for March 19, 2008
A meeting of the University Senate was held at 4:15 p.m. on DAY, 19 March 2008, in Maxwell Auditorium.
Present were: Chancellor Cantor; Senators Alcoff, Alston, Anderson, Arnold, Arvas, Bennett, Breese, Bulman, Burak, Caldwell, Carter, Cihon, de Berly, DeCorse,
Donovan, Dudczak, Ewing, Ferri, Gallacher, Gates, Gilman, Hollenback, Horacek, Hurd, Isik, Jeneault, Johnson, Keck, Kucharavy, Kwasnik, Lantier, Letterman, Lewandowski, Lipson, MacInnes, Mager, Marcoccia, Maroney, McConnell, Middlemiss, Moon, Mountz, Mulliken, Murphy, Olson, O’Rourke, Pellow, Rosenzweig, Schell, Schiff, Sherman, Smith (C.J.), Smith (C.R.), Smith (D.), Spencer, Srinivas, Strodel, Tankersley, Teres, Thorin, Tucker, Turner (N.), Tussing, Ware (E.), Wasylenko, Webber, Witucki, Zhang.
Presiding Officer: Chancellor Nancy Cantor
The Chancellor called the meeting to order, proposed that the minutes of
the February 13th meeting be approved as written, and the body concurred. She told senators that she needed to attend another meeting at 5:15, and might need to turn the chair over to Agenda Committee Chairman Prof. Can Isik later in the meeting. She then called Prof. Isik to make the report of the Agenda Committee. Isik began with a motion to change the order of the published agenda, moving the report from the Chancellor’s Task Force on Campus Smoking to the end, after Report of the Committee on Administrative Operations. The motion carried. He made a motion to approve the following dates for Senate meetings in 2008-9:
10 September 2008
8 October 2008
5 November 2008
3 December 2008
14 January 2009
4 February 2009 (open forum)
11 February 2009
18 March 2009 [ 25 March 2009 - extra meeting if needed ]
15 April 2009
All meetings to be held at 4:15 p.m. on Wednesday, in Maxwell Auditorium.
The motion carried.
The Chancellor called Prof. Eric Johnson to present the report of the Committee on Curricula, which included a motion to approve new programs from: Arts and Sciences, Management; a new minor from Arts and Sciences; program changes from Arts and Sciences. The motion carried.
The Chancellor called on Prof. Ian MacInnes to present the report of the Committee on Appointment and Promotions, which included a list of the following retiring faculty members who were to be honored with the title Emeritus, to be added to the rank at which they retired:
Stanley Alten, Professor, public communications
John Briggs, Associate Professor, education
John Jones, Professor, public communications
Thomas Martin, Associate Professor, information studies
John Mercer, Professor, geography
Robert Smith, Professor, engineering
A. Dale Tussing, Professor, economics
A motion to recommend the list to the Board of Trustees carried. Prof. MacInness then reported as follows:
This year the committee received a letter from a faculty member appealing a
negative tenure decision. In the course of our investigation of the appeal, we
found one violation of procedure in the process used to evaluate tenure
candidates last year. Our investigation found that a faculty member considered
for tenure in May 2007 had his process suspended by the Office of Academic
Affairs prior to a final decision being made and that a new 3-year contract was
issued that enabled reconsideration for tenure.
This action contradicts the University policy stated in the Faculty Manual that
"Candidates for tenure are considered only once for tenure . . . . After the formal
review process has begun, candidates for tenure may not withdraw from
consideration and subsequently reapply for tenure." Thus, we have concluded
that this action violated University procedure.
In the discussion, a senator rose to ask about the impact of the violation. Prof. MacInnes said that under Senate rules, a letter was sent to the candidate and it was reported to the Senate. Another senator rose to ask that the Vice Chancellor respond. In the absence of the Vice Chancellor, Associate Vice Chancellor Kal Alston responded that there had been discussion between the Vice Chancellor and the the committee and disagreement about interpretation of the rule. Another senator commented that the AAUP redbook should be consulted. In response to a question, MacInnes told the body that the complaint had come from someone (not the candidate) who had appealed a tenure case. This person had not had a negative outcome. A senator asked that the Senate be given a rationale, and that the Vice Chancellor respond at the April Senate meeting. The Agenda Committee chairman said that he would bring the matter to the Agenda Committee.
The Chancellor called Prof. Harvey Teres to report for the Academic Affairs committee in the absence of its chairman. Prof. Teres told the body that the report was part one of the Provost’s statement on tenure affirming the importance of tenure, academic freedom, and a fair and transparent process. He made a motion as follows:
The the Senate approves the new language for the faculty manual (See report) which would replace Section 2.27 in the current faculty manual.
In the discussion, the questions raised and comments made included:
- whether the new language would preclude a case such as the one mentioned
earlier by the Promotions committee;
- that the new language was dramatically longer; senator wondered about the point of the extra language;
- that incoming faculty could only be granted tenure by departmental approval,
but that probationary faculty did not require action by the department;
- that the intent of the new language was to put faculty control back in, that the
Provost had always had discretionary power to override departments or deans.
A senator rose to make a motion to refer, saying that the new language needed more work (e.g., it did not clearly state that probationary faculty were incumbants). The motion was seconded, and the body voted to send the proposal back to the Academic Affairs committee for reworking.
The Chair called Prof. David H. Bennett to present the report of the Committee on Administrative Operations. Bennett presented highlights of the committee’s work, which included committee discussions with the directors of: Parking and Transit Services; Facilities Support Services; Campus Planning, Design, and Construction; Public Safety; the Associate President for Human Resources; and the directors of Auxiliary Services; and Housing, Meal Plan and ID Card Services. He expressed appreciation to the administrators who had come to the committee, but chagrin over the fact of the Senate not being told beforehand about new building construction. In the discussion, a senator raised the question of what was being done to prepare the University community in the case of a shooting or similar incident on campus. After extensive discussion, Vice President Eleanor Ware told the body about the Safety and Security Committee that she sat on, and that it was studying the matter very carefully.
Due to the late hour, the chair entertained a motion to postpone discussion of the report on smoking to a future meeting. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
Teresa Gilman
University Senate Recorder
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