Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes
March 22, 2007

Senators: Steve Werman, Barbara Borst, Bill McCracken, Ellie Baldwin, Doug O'Roark, Judy Goodhart, Esther Broughton (for Reenie Neal), Jane Arledge, Josh Butler, Tim Casey, Bill Tiernan, Tim Hatten, Keith Fritz

Guests: Tracii Friedman, Rick Ott, Carrie McVean Waring, Nancy Conklin, Chip Thomas, Holly Teal, Cathy Barkley

Minutes Secretary: Jessica Cowden

I. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

The motion was made, seconded, and passed to approve the Curriculum Committee minutes from February 8, 2007. (Arledge/Tiernan)

The motion was made, seconded, and passed to receive the Curriculum Committee minutes from February 22, 2007. (Casey/Arledge)
Discussion: Casey suggested that the Curriculum Committee clarify their role in the program review process. Hatten agreed to add the issue to the agenda for the next Senate meeting.

The motion was made, seconded, and passed to receive the Graduate Council minutes from January 31, 2007. (Casey/Arledge)
Discussion: Arledge asked for clarification as to how continuing education courses are numbered. Casey clarified that these courses are offered mostly to teachers in the school district and are taught by experts from the field who come in to teach one to three credit pass/fail courses as continuing education courses rather than as Master's level courses and that the numbering system was established in such a way as to reflect that arrangement.

II. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT (Tim Hatten/Bill Tiernan)

" On May 3 and 4 a number of faculty workshops will be offered covering a variety of topics such as "Top Ten Teaching Practices."
" There was some discussion about the appropriate way to recognize and memorialize Gordon Gilbert. Arledge suggested that a tribute be made during this year's graduation ceremony. Casey suggested an on-campus reception for faculty, staff, and students to come together and share stories and fond memories about his life and his time spent at MSC. It was decided that the Senate would host a reception on Friday, March 30 from 3 - 5 pm in the Science Building courtyard to memorialize Dr. Gilbert's life.
" A potential partnership with CU and CSU on a general/civil engineering degree is being considered.

III. OLD SENATE BUSINESS
A. Academic Appeals Procedure
Tracii Friedman addressed the Senate on behalf of the Academic Policies Committee. A draft of an Academic Appeals Procedure policy is scheduled to go through the Academic Policies Committee at their next meeting. The proposed policy would include the formation of a committee that would consist of a number of members from the various governing bodies, including the Faculty Senate, as well as two faculty at-large representatives who would consider each appeal after the Department Head and prior to the Vice President of Academic Affairs. The task of the committee would not only be to review the appeals documents submitted by the student, but also to solicit information from the instructor. Questions remain as to whether or not the instructor should be required to document their side of the issue or simply attend one of the committee meetings to discuss the issue in person.

B. Kinesiology Request
Tracii also reported on the progress made on the catalog change request recently made by the Kinesiology Department. The proposal suggests that students be allowed to take up to 6 additional activities courses to count towards their electives requirements. The current structure requires two, but does not count any more than that. The main argument for the change involves encouraging students to maintain a more active lifestyle. The secondary argument is one of equality. No other department's courses are restricted in this manner.

Casey questioned whether or not varsity sports credits would be included in the proposed catalog change. Fritz suggested that it may be in their best interest to exclude those.

Tracii reported that the Academic Policies vote was split with two abstentions. They are open to continuing this discussion at their next meeting, but most of them feel that the proposal should be brought back to the Senate as soon as possible where there is a more complete cross section of representation.

The motion was made to vote upon the proposal that has been put forth by the Kinesiology Department. (Fritz/Goodhart)
Discussion:
" Tiernan stated that he opposed the proposal on the grounds that the Bachelor's degree should be based upon a set minimum requirement for academic work and that this would be a move in the wrong direction.
" Werman suggested that if the allowed number of elective courses were lessened to four, for example, he would be more comfortable with the proposal.
" The majority of the Senate agreed that electives should be up to the students' choosing.
" Werman also pointed out that certain degrees don't allow any room for students to take any electives. Nursing degrees, for example, don't have any room available to take any other electives besides Nursing electives.
" Arledge suggested that these courses be considered on their own merits rather than being compared to other electives, putting the fairness issue aside.
" Casey pointed out the importance of learning kinesthetically and proposed that the real issue was one of pedagogy.
" Arledge pointed out that many schools where an unlimited number of activities courses are allowed do not have a 120 credit hour limit and that without that limit, she would be more willing to pass this proposal.

The motion was made, seconded, and passed to table the motion to vote on the Kinesiology proposal. (Arledge/Werman)

C. Housing Requirement for WCCC Students - Chip Thomas
Many WCCC students, who frequently have very different situation than those of the students on the main campus in light of the fact that most of their programs are two-year vs. four-year, have a hard time complying with the policy requiring students to live on-campus during their first two years at MSC. Thomas informed the Senate that this policy has been in place since the 1970s and is written into the bond covenants that were used to build the dorms. Any new program, that is part of the MSC mission, is part of the policy and that includes WCCC. The only exemptions to the policy are those that were written into the bond covenants.
" Hatten questioned how this applies to satellite campus, such as the Montrose campus. Thomas informed the Senate that there was a rider that exempted the Montrose campus from the bond covenants because of its distance from the main campus. Hatten inquired as to the possibility of establishing a similar rider for the WCCC campus. Thomas agreed to look into legalities of the issue.
" Thomas also stated that this issue would have to go before the Board of Trustees in order to institute any formal changes. One of the sets of covenants will expire in 2009 or 10 and the Board will, at that time, have an opportunity to amend the policy.
" McCracken reiterated the importance of re-examining this policy as he believes that they have lost a number of potential students at WCCC in light of the two-year requirement.

The motion was made to extend the meeting for 10 minutes. (Casey/Baldwin)

D. Change in Grievance Procedure for EAS Students - Nancy Conklin
Nancy Conklin outlined the proposed three-step grievance procedure whereby students would go to her first, then to her supervisor, Mindy Molind, and finally to committee made up of Faculty Senate representatives.
" Casey suggested specifying that the committee would be ad-hoc, the number of members, and that it would be the Vice President who would assign said members to the committee.
" Werman pointed out that the grievance policy would not apply in the summer as the Senate is not active during that time. Cathy Barkley suggested that, during those times, the grievances could be submitted to Academic Affairs.
" Nancy agreed to make the changes to the proposal and then post it on the website.

IV. OTHER ITEMS
" Senate and faculty Board representative elections are coming up.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:12 pm

Respectfully submitted,
Jessica Cowden
Minutes Secretary