Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes
April 5, 2007

Senators: Bill Tiernan, Reenie Neal, Steve Werman, Bill McCracken, Barbara Borst, Judy Goodhart, Doug O'Roark, Tim Casey, Jane Arledge, Tim Hatten

Guests: Steve Murray, Cathy Barkley, Joe Richards, Steve Bradley

Minutes Secretary: Jessica Cowden

I. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

The motion was made, seconded, and passed to approve the Curriculum Committee minutes from February 22, 2007. (Arledge/Neal)

II. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT (Tiernan)

" PERA may be instituting some changes that would do away with the policy they instituted a number of years ago requiring organizations to deal with PERA exclusively or not at all. This would allow MSC to offer employees enrollment in either the current system or in PERA. Any policy changes, however, would have to go through the legislature. There was some question as to whether or not new hires are currently eligible to enroll in PERA.
" The Kinesiology proposal was discussed especially in terms of transfer credits and how it would affect the two-year degrees.
" There was some discussion of the budget. Overall, the operating budget is in good shape. O'Roark reported that the Trustees are equally in the dark as to how much money the College will be receiving, but are optimistic overall.
" President Foster asked the Senate to discuss the definition and importance of shared governance and report back to him.

III. KINESIOLOGY PROPOSAL

Casey submitted (via e-mail) a potential amendment to the Kinesiology proposal. The amendment included a decrease from six to four permitted activities course electives as well as a system for approving each individual course through the Curriculum Committee over a two-year period of time.

" Kritz reminded the Senate that the Kinesiology department brings in a large number of ftes and, therefore, money into the College. That money then helps fund other things throughout campus. Arledge suggested that, in terms of total credit numbers, the financial aspect of the proposal would be a wash. Dr. Murray disagreed, stating that his activity courses cost less to the College vs. other electives/courses.

" Neal reported that her department's reaction centered around the academic value of these courses in an educational setting rather than the financial aspects and that, overall, they were against the proposal. Arledge's felt the same. Goodhart reported that her department was favorable. Many other departments were split, including Hatten's. No one reported receiving any response from Casey's proposed amendment.

" Neal asked Fritz how the Kinesiology Department felt about the amendment. Fritz reported that their overall sentiment was favorable if their proposal wouldn't otherwise pass.

" Fritz responded to some of the criticism that had been presented by various faculty members across campus by arguing that activity courses are, in fact, 1/3 academic and, although they are not specifically required for any degree, they are important support courses to the degree requirements. The example he offered was that a K-12 Education major should take as many activity courses as possible, including such courses as bowling, as they will be expected to teach those activities.

" Dr. Murray added that many of the activity courses are, in fact, required for the Kinesiology degrees in the sense that the skills gained in those courses are necessary to pass other courses that are required for their degrees.

" Joe Richards reported, antecdotedly, that the students he polled were opposed to this proposal and felt that the activity courses that they had taken were not actually 1/3 academic in nature.

" Casey decided to rescind his amendment as it doesn't seem to have had any effect on people's stances.

A role-call vote was taken: Baldwin - yea; Tiernan - nay; Neal - nay; Fritz - yea; Werman - nay; McCracken - yea; Goodhart - yea; O'Roark - yea; Casey - nay; Arledge - nay; Hatten - yea.
The motion carries with a tie-breaker vote of 6-5 in favor.

IV. STANDING COMMITTEE POLICY MANUAL (Tim Casey)

Casey reported several updates and policy clarifications:
" If there is a situation where there are two members of equal rank voting on promotion, the one who has been there the longest casts the vote.
" The Assessment Committee has been expanded to have one representative from each department.
" Amendments to the policy manual will be made by a 2/3 vote of the Senate.
" Arledge proposed approving the manual in its current state and amending it later.

The motion was made, seconded, and passed to ratify the Policies and Procedures manual for the Standing Committees of the Faculty Senate (Baldwin/Neal)

V. SHARED GOVERNANCE

Casey was asked to compile a faculty perspective on the issue of shared governance. President Foster would like to work towards an agreed-upon definition.

O'Roark reported that President Foster has attempted to convince the Board of Trustees to re-adopt shared governance, but they are resistant.

Several arguments were posed to support the idea that there is no current evidence of shared governance in action, especially in light of the number of decisions that have been made and rules that have been changed by Human Resources against the wishes of the faculty and Department Heads. The point of which was that shared governance can also be viewed as a way to use the faculty as a tool to avoid potential pitfalls such as the ones that have arisen in HR.

Hatten proposed inviting the President to the next Senate meeting to discuss this issue with him personally.

O'Roark suggested that this should be a two-step process starting with a discussion on what the faculty would like to see in terms of shared governance and then culminating with a discussion with the President. If he has a different perspective, then perhaps the two can be merged into an agreed upon definition.

Fritz suggested having the President compile a document reflecting his view on shared governance in order to compare it to the document that Casey has compiled.

Hatten agreed to request that the President formulate his perspective and opinions on the issue before the Senate proceeds.

VI. NEW BUSINESS

" The Senate congratulated Doug O'Roark on being elected the faculty Board representative.
" Joe Richards reported that the Curriculum Committee doesn't want back into the program review process, rather they would like a chance to informally review the reports on a voluntary basis and report their impression and reactions back to the Senate.
" Hatten also encouraged the senators to start finding nominees for the Senate positions.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:08 pm

Respectfully submitted,
Jessica Cowden
Minutes Secretary