September 26, 2001

Faculty Senate Minutes

September 26, 2001

Present: Jim Acheson, Thomas Brann, Kathrine Carter, Steve Cohn, Eric Conrad, Richard Cook, Scott Dunning, Richard Eason, Bill Farthing, Ed Ferguson, Alla Gamarnik, Paul Grosswiler, Brett Hall, Don Hayes, Dianne Hoff, Peter Hoff, Dana Humphrey, Keith Hutchison, Edward Jadallah, John Jemison, Melvin Johnson, Joseph Kelley, Robert Kennedy, Carol Kim, Dennis King, Roger King, Irv Kornfield, Judy Kuhns-Hastings, Diana Lawson,Ngo Vinh Long, Daniel Lux, John Maddaus, Chuck Maguire, Ivan Manev, Stephen Marks, Jim McClymer, Kim McKeage, Charles Moody, Suneeti Nathani, Howard Patterson, Bryan Pearce, Glenn Reif, Robert Rice, Linda Rottman, Douglas Ruthven, Christa Schwintzer, Frederick Servello, Phillip Silver, Owen Smith, Stylianos Tavantzis, Sarah Vidito, Jim Warhola, Dave Yarborough, Ryan Harvey

Absent: David Batuski, Douglas Bousfield, Dan Dwyer, Charles Forshee, Sandy Gardner, Diane Haslett, Mike Howard, Richard Jagels, Harvey Kail, Dorothy Klimis-Zacas, Phil Locke, Kathleen March, Ali Ozluk, Dan Sandweiss, Bruce Segee, Andrew Thomas, Roy Turner, James Wilson

I. Welcome and Signing in:

The meeting was called to order at 3:15 with a period of silence in memory of Shawn Walsh. President of the Senate, John Maddaus, welcomed members of the senate and asked that each member introduce him/herself.

II. Approval of Minutes from May 9th meeting:

John Maddaus asked that someone make a motion to adopt the minutes of May 9th. Steve Cohn moved that the minutes of May 9th be approved. It was seconded byMinutes were unanimously approved.

III. Announcements by President John Maddaus:

A) There will be a Board of Visitors meeting on campus Thursday and Friday October 11 and 12. The meeting will take place in the Gallery Room of the Memorial Union at 1:30 P.M. to 2:30 P.M. The Senate needs representatives at that meeting. Sign up if interested.

B) Funeral Mass for Shawn Walsh will be held Saturday, September 29, 2001, at St John’s Catholic Church at 207 York Street, Bangor. Friends can pay their respects to Shawn Walsh and his family on Friday September 28, 2001, from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. also at St John’s in Bangor.

C) A photographer is present at today’s meeting to take pictures for President Peter Hoff’s breakfast presentations. Copies may also be used in the future for other purposes.

D) Please update the Membership list being circulated and sign the roll call sheet.

E) John Maddaus reviewed the jurisdiction, committee structure, and procedures of Senate for new members.

F) The Senate FirstClass conference folders have been set up with John Maddaus and Rose Weller as controllers. All members are contributors and all users are readers, with two exceptions: 1) Committee folders are restricted to committee members only. 2) Board of Trustees folder is open to all members as contributors.

Questions to Administrators

Ques. By Christa Schwintzer: Where are we in fixing the library steps and Maine Center for the Arts? Mark Anderson, Interim Chief Financial Officer, said a number of roofs were being repaired on the Maine Center for the Arts building this summer. Roof repair is continuing to ensure that there is no additional water damage. The University is also looking for a contractor to remove the bug-infested rug but has had difficulty finding one because the job is too large for a small contractor and too small for a large contractor. As far as the Library steps are concerned, he would like to do some research work on that issue. As he understands it, separation of storm drainage from the roof from the sanitary sewer is currently being done. This is located in the area of the steps but is a separate project will have to be done before the steps will be repair. President Hoff indicated that quotes to rebuild the library steps ran between $700,000 -$800,000 and we do not have available funds for this project. President Hoff said the university had hoped to include expansion of the library in the bond before the voters this November. If so, replacement of the steps could have been part of that project. Unfortunately, the library expansion did not get included. Current hopes for correcting the situation are to get the library expansion included in the next bond to be put before the voters or to get private donors to contribute the money needed to replace the steps.

Ques. By Owen Smith: Can you give us an update on the Memorial Union project? Mark Anderson said, as many of you have seen, the bookstore is largely completed and opened to the public with the exception of the Atrium. Work on the new dining area is also near completion with the exception of the kitchen equipment. Dining services will be ready for opening after the students return from fall break. Ques: By Owen Smith: What are the particular problems facing these projects? President Hoff mentioned that problems with a project of this size and scope are not unusual and that we would soon be moving on to the next phase of the project, that of renovating the old portions of the Building. He also mentioned that we have numerous other projects at the University of Maine and they are all going well (inferring that the problems with the Union are not general or not related to the university procedures but specific to this project). Ques. Why do they keep building and breaking down the steps on the new wing of the Union? Ans. Mark Anderson: The contractors did not do it right so the University is making them do it over until they get it correct. Ques. Steve Cohn: What is the University doing about the lack of parking space? mentioned that he had asked Executive Assistant Scott Anchors to monitor parking availability by periodically walking around campus, and that Scott had reported spaces were generally available throughout the day and week. He pointed out that a year ago we opened up 600 new spaces, and since that time the level of complaints about parking had dropped to very few. He also pointed out that one or two lots are currently occupied by construction crews as staging areas, and as soon as they are done, even more spaces will open up. President Hoff went on to say that the basic issue was that the university has about as much parking as it can hope to have as long as we charge $25-$35 per year for decals (compared to a national average of over $200 per year.) The university does not rely on tuition, mandatory fees, or taxpayer dollars to support parking–the parking operation needs to pay its own way, and therefore it can only construct as many parking spaces as parking fees will pay for. The often-suggested “parking garage” would cost between $12,000 and $18,000 per space to construct, and therefore could never be constructed with parking decal fees at their current levels.

Ques. Knud Hermansen: When is the handbook review going to be completed?

Ans:Doug Gelinas: We are working on it and hope to have something done soon. The goal is to finish it this semester, hopefully.

V. Committee Members’ Reports:

University Environment Committee: Judy Kuhns-Hastings

Committee members are:

Thomas Brann, Alla Gamarnik, Douglas Bousfield, Richard Chapman. The committee needs someone for education. Dianne Hoff volunteered. The committee needs a student representative from student government.

Constitution and Bylaws Committee: Robert Rice

Knud Hermansen volunteered to be parliamentarian. Other committee members are: Glenn Reif, Richard Eason, and Jim McClymer.

Research and Public Service Committee: Keith Hutchison

Not filled

D) Finance and Institutional Planning Committee: Christa Schwintzer

Committee members are: Ed Ferguson, Glenn Reif, Bruce Segee, Mark Anderson, ex officio. The committee needs someone from BPPH

Academic Affairs Committee: Bryan Pearce

80% of the committee is constituted with Ed Jadallah, Kathrine Carter, Steve Cohn and Dan Dwyer as ex officio. It needs someone from BPPH.

F) Committee on Committees: Howard Patterson

Committee members are: Carol Kim, Ivan Manev, Chuck Maguire, and Dennis King. Howard Patterson reported that he is looking for members of the senate to serve on the President’s Committee.

G) Library Advisory Committee: Kathleen March

March is absent.

H) General Education Review Committee: Owen Smith

The committee is working on shared meeting hours.

Committee Members: John Maddaus, Kim McKeage, Kathleen March, Dorothy Kimis-Zacas, Knud Hermansen, Charles Slavin, Douglas Gelinas.

I) TBA Interdisciplinary Program: Jim Warhola,

Jim Warhola requests for members.

J) Board of Trustees Representative:

Dana Humphrey reported that the faculty and student representatives met with the executive committee of the Board of Trustees and discussed the following issues:

1. desirable characteristics of the new chancellor;

2. policies related to emergency situations such as student, faculty, and staff who are reservists and are called up to active duty;

3. desirable characteristics of our graduates and how to measure if the characteristics are achieved. Suggested that measurements be taken several years after graduation. (for general education the representatives referred the BOT to the outcomes of the Bethel II summit)

4. methods to enhance faculty retention.

On the official BOT agenda the following issues were of interest:

Resolution to support the University College initiative which is intended to facilitate delivery of courses so that all degrees are offered through the seven campuses;

Approval of $10-million to purchase Enterprise Resources Planning System that will integrate financial, admissions, Human Resource Information System, development office, and student records within a single integrated software package.

Ques. What is the system’s policy on students being called into the military? Dana Humphrey: Cannot answer that. Knud: The Federal Government has a statute in place for students.

Ques. Alla Gamarnik: What is being done to retain faculty? Dana Humphrey: This is only a discussion at this point–no action from the BOT.

VI. Old Business:

No old business

VII. New Business:

John Maddaus announced that in view of the urgency of making a statement on the events of 9/11/01, the Executive Committee had issued and distributed to faculty the statement below which was brought to the Senate to be affirmed. Steve Cohn moved and Roger King seconded the statement and it was passed unanimously.

A. Statement on the events of 9/11/01

Faculty Senate Executive Committee

9/19/01

The tragic events of September 11, 2001 have shocked and saddened all of us. Many of us know people among our families and friends who have been touched directly by these events. As we seek to recover emotionally from these events, we need to keep several thoughts in mind:

The University of Maine is a diverse community in many ways, including among its members people of various ethnicities, religions and national origins. Acting on prejudice and stereotypes is never a humane way to deal with a crisis of any kind. In this particular crisis, we urge that members of the university community understand the painful circumstances that events have created for people who share a common ethnicity, religion or national origin with the people who have been identified as terrorists. We urge all members of the university community to keep in mind that such commonalities do not mean that such individuals share specific beliefs and inclinations to action. The stereotype of the Muslim or Arab religious fanatic or terrorist is precisely that. This stereotype is untrue of the vast majority of Muslims and Arabs, whether residing in this country or abroad. We urge members of the university community to behave toward Muslims and Arabs in our midst with the same respect as anyone else.

Any international event of this magnitude has a complex history, involving social, economic, religious, cultural, political, ideological and other elements. As a university community, we are dedicated to the exploration of our world, including such aspects of human experience. We urge students and faculty across the university community, regardless of discipline, to seek understanding of the many aspects of human life that have come together in this event. Furthermore, we urge that people seek to understand the many diverse perspectives on such an event that result from differences in life experiences among people of different backgrounds. We hope that an international and intercultural dialog can arise, drawing on the many human, electronic, published and other resources available to us, that will lead to greater understanding of our fellow human beings.

B. Prioritizing topics for 2001-2002

John Maddaus announced that the Executive Committee was seeking advice from the Senate on priority issues for the 2001-2002 academic year. The list of issues was circulated at the Elected Members Committee meeting, and additional copies were distributed for other Senate members to complete and return. This was a discussion item only not a motion.

Steve Cohn urged the Senate to address Math & Writing competencies of undergraduate students.

Ques. Thomas Brann asked that administrators explain the topics listed under “Other possible topics for consideration (administrator suggestions)”

1. Faculty work loads. Provost Kennedy explained that faculty work loads became an issue when considering the incentivized budgeting process last spring. The commission on incentivized budgeting will continue to examine this issue. Christa Schwintzer, chair of the committee on Finance Institutional Planning, is a member of that commission.

2. AA degree as equivalent to general education? Douglas Gelinas explained that students transferring from a community college expect that they will have met general education requirements through their AA degree. Because of the specificity of our requirements that is often not the case.

We would like to review individual colleges and make articulation agreements with each individual college as appropriate.

3. “Coaches” as a faculty category, rather than coaches as “lecturers”: Provost Kennedy explained that under union contracts coaches are considered un-represented faculty for some sports and represented faculty for other sports, and are assigned to the faculty category of lecturer. In fact, many coaches do not have any teaching responsibilities and many exceptions are made to the requirements for lecturers. Creating a separate faculty category of “coach” would eliminate the necessity of making so many exceptions. Ques. Owen Smith: if coaches are called faculty will they fall under the same standards as regular faculty? Ans: Douglas Gelinas; Coaches already have faculty status, but they are different since they are not tenured.

4. Academic Space and Facilities responsibilities and structure: Douglas Gelinas explained that there are two ad hoc committees that deal with the assignment of space and facilities renovation. He hopes to create a single committee with guidelines to work with Anita Whiry on these issues.

Adjournment:

Meeting adjourned at 4:30 P.M