Minutes of September 2, 2004 Meeting
MSC Faculty Senate

SENATORS: Barbara Borst, Tom Acker, Jill Cordova, Larry Madsen, Rick Ballard, Tim Casey, Tim Hatten, Phil Kavanagh, Rich Cowden, Ellie Baldwin, Cindy Thomas, Bill McCracken

MINUTES SECRETARY: Jessica Cowden

GUESTS: Tim Foster, Carol Futhey, Vicky Moyle, Gary Looft, Bill Tiernan, Brenda Wilhelm, Anne Spalding, Craig D. Dodd, Allen Learst

I. ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Assessment Committee led by Myra Heinrich is currently mapping out course content for general education requirements. The committee will reassess what is currently required to determine whether or not amendments are necessary and if it matches up with general education requirements elsewhere.

John Sluder will attend the next Faculty Senate meeting to address new IT policies.

Michael Gizzi is finishing the Senate by-laws and examining how they tie into the policies and procedures manual as there are no guidelines in the handbook governing committee structure. Committee structure will most likely not change.

Curriculum Committee concerns will be addressed at the next Faculty Senate meeting.

II. HIRING MINUTES SECRETARY FOR SENATE

Phil Kavanagh reported that he had spoken to many Senate members and non-members on the issue of hiring a Faculty Senate Minutes Secretary and the general consensus was to hire an exempt staff member rather than classified to avoid issues with overtime pay. Instead, a separate contract would be offered in the amount of $1000 for the year. A motion was made, seconded and passed that the Faculty Senate appoint Jessica Cowden as the Minutes Secretary for the 2004 - 2005 year for the sum of $1000. (Thomas/Acker)

III. MEETING MINUTES

No one was designated to take minutes for the last Faculty Senate meeting, which took place on May 6, 2004. Mary Zimmerer was unable to attend due to illness. Phil Kavanagh has attendance records as well as his own notes and the tape on which the meeting was recorded. Plans were made to draw up minutes based on those resources and get them approved.

IV. ISSUES FOR THE UPCOMING YEAR (President Foster, Vice President Futhey)

Vice President Carol Futhey reported that, following the handbook revisions, it had been determined that a group should be assembled to construct an additional policies and procedures manual to address issues that did not fit into the handbook, but that it would take some time. Phil Kavanagh expressed the Senate's desire to suggest faculty members for the committee.

President Foster reported that salary arrangements are being made to off-set health costs, which are slated to rise sometime around January. The range would be determined by faculty and staff on the lower end of the pay scale. It could be a 1 - 1.5% increase. This increase would initially be non-base building until further issues with the TABOR amendment could be resolved. The main goal is to not allow take-home pay to decrease. Pat Doyle is currently looking into the issue.

President Foster then noted that, following the tuition increase, students are now taking more credit hours and have logged no complaints. Furthermore, he is currently talking to the students about how they would react to raising the tuition per credit hour minimum from 11 to 12 credit hours or decreasing the maximum from 21 to 18 credit hours.

Other changes on the horizon include the college taking a more active role in the Student Fee Allocation Committee. In the past, the committee made their recommendations and then the college could reallocate after the fact. The proposal is for the college to get involved from the beginning to avoid that situation.

Updates on the Strategic Planning Process: Colorado demographics are being analyzed to determine where growth is going to occur and whether or not, based on that information, MSC should grow or stabilize. Considering that MSC serves an undereducated region in relation to the rest of the state, it must grow in order to accommodate increasing educational demand.

The main concerns facing the college are: Academic, Athletic, Housing, Library, Student Center and Parking. These issues are being addressed and plans are being made. In the area of parking, there are four houses that will be knocked down for more parking. The college and the city are also considering closing a number of streets to allow more parking opportunities.

V. FACULTY HANDBOOK

VPAA Futhey reported that she had taken the comments from the Faculty Senate Retreat to the attorney, Betty Bechtel, who is researching the legal language of the various issues. Her recommendations are currently posted on the website. The Board of Trustees will act on the document when they meet on September 15, 2004. Any further concerns to be brought to the attorney needed to be submitted by Friday, September 3. Concerns of a non-legal nature needed to be forwarded to VPAA Futhey no later than September 7.

Phil Kavanagh handed out a list of issues the Faculty Senate still had with the handbook revisions and discussion ensued on which had been resolved, which should be taken to the attorney and which should be addressed to the Board directly.

Issue #1: Probationary Status
Tenure-track faculty are classified as temporary, at-will employees. In the old version of the handbook there was a deadline for notification of discontinued employment, a policy which is line with most other schools. Carol Futhey stated that the change was intended to simplify the issue by standardizing the language used as there were, in the past, inconsistencies in wording between the two handbooks. The proposal was made the that attorney draw up two different versions to present to the Board of Trustees distinguishing more of a difference between temporary, at-will employees and tenure-track faculty members. Many Faculty Senators expressed concerns for future recruitment and retention of faculty based on this policy, especially as compared to the policies of other schools.

It was agreed that the suggestions for rewording would be written up and delivered to the attorney the next day.

Issue #2: Academic Freedom
It was agreed that this issue had been satisfactorily addressed in the handbook revisions.

Issue #3: Search Committees
Concerns were expressed over the word may in regards to whether or not search committees would be formed when hiring tenure-track faculty. Tim Casey stated that the biggest argument for changing the wording from may to shall is that, in keeping with the Affirmative Action requirements, there are tasks assigned specifically to the AA officer as well as the search committee chairman. If the wording were to remain, the handbook would be inconsistent with AA policy.
It was agreed that this issue needed be on record as a concern held by the Faculty Senate for the Board to consider.

Issue #4: Purpose of Evaluation
It was agreed that this issue had been satisfactorily addressed in the handbook revisions.

Issue #5: Rank at Time of Appointment
It was proposed that Master's degree or Ph.D.s be required except in certain disciplines and those exceptions should be made in consult with the faculty from that area. If this basic requirement is not adhered to and widespread standards are lowered, it could threaten accreditation.
It was agreed that this issue be on record for the Board's consideration.

Issues #6 and #7:
It was agreed that these issues had been satisfactorily addressed in the handbook revisions.

Issue #8: Proficient Ranking
It was agreed that it is illogical to use the term "proficient" to designate work that would merit further review, but it was agreed that it was not going to be brought to the Board.

Issue #9: Extra year when denied tenure
The argument to grant an extra year of employment to those denied tenure will be addressed to the Board in person. Argument based on industry standards as well as the fact that the decision is made so late in the year that an additional year is necessary for denied faculty to find alternate employment.

Issue #10 was a typo that had been fixed.

Issues #11 and #12:
It was agreed that these issues had been satisfactorily addressed in the handbook revisions.

Issue #13: Guarantee of pay raise with promotion
It was agreed that this issue had not been resolved in the revisions and that it should be addressed directly with the Board. Argument for may to be changed to "shall receive a raise with promotion…" because it is the standard and could lead to recruiting and retention problems especially considering that MSC faculty pay is lower than the state average, there are no cost of living raises and that other schools specify the exact amount and/or percentage of each raise.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:25.

Respectfully submitted,

Jessica Cowden, Minutes Secretary