Chair Mullery called the meeting to order at 4:10 p.m. on Tuesday, March 09, 1999, in Nelson Hall East, Room 102 (Goodwin Forum)
Members Present: Allen, Boyd, Brenneman, Burke, Cheyne, Dixon, Fulgham, Goodman, Green, Haynes, Knox, Krolokke, Larson, Little, Mortazavi, Mullery, Perryman, Phillips, Potter, Smith, Thobaben, Travis, Woodward
Members Absent: Acosta, Bigg, Christensen, Giovannetti, McCrone, Moore, Tirado-Paredes, Yarnall
Proxies: Gomez for Baker; Woodward for Osborn; Greta for Sheppard
Guests: Brenda Aden, Faculty Personnel Services; Ron Fritzsche, Research & Graduate Studies; Carolyn Mueller, President's Office; Lily Owyang, Academic Affairs; Nick Tomb, Student; Richard Vrem, Undergraduate Studies
It was moved and seconded (Thobaben/Perryman) to approve the submitted minutes of February 23, 1999. Voting occurred and MOTION PASSED.
2. Announcements and Communications
Chair Mullery announced:
An Application for Market or Equity Step Increases is available to faculty interested in applying for such an increase. A copy of the application was distributed. This is an open-ended process; however, there is a timeline once an application is received. No reference to the summer session has been included yet. The language in the Application section regarding the attachment of documentation was included to allow for the possibility of such an attachment, not to require it. In the fourth line, "marked-based step increases" will be changed to "market-based step increases."
3. Committee and State Senate Reports
Educational Policies - There are two resolutions on the agenda. The joint committee has started its work on the policy for new degree major requirements.
UCC - The Committee continues its work on the ongoing items described at previous meetings.
Faculty Affairs - The Committee has two resolutions on the agenda. In addition, it is discussing the issue of whether candidates in university or college elections should provide a brief narrative regarding their qualifications; and it is considering the question of whether the language in Appendix J should be revised to require more than two classes be evaluated per year for teaching faculty.
Student Affairs - The Committee has completed its work on the student grievance procedures and will be taking it to the Senate Executive Committee, and has started its review of the draft of the Athletic Grant and Aid document.
General Faculty - Ballots for the runoff have been distributed. Copies of Appendix K will be distributed to all faculty and voted on at a later date in order to allow time for review. The three resolutions (on email usage in the RTP process, increasing terms of office for the general faculty president, secretary and treasurer, and faculty dues increase) were approved.
CFA - As reported, the Tentative Agreement (TA) was rejected by a vote of 57 percent to 43 percent. An emergency board meeting was called last weekend and the core issues to be submitted for a meeting with Governor Davis, Chancellor Reed, and the legislators before returning to the bargaining table included:
1) SSI awards are made as "satisfactory performance" merit salary adjustments for eligible faculty (and representing 13 percent of the merit compensation pool) and the FMI awards made as outstanding performance using procedures outlined in the TA (and representing 27 percent of the compensation pool). Chancellor Reed could view these two items as a 40 percent package going to "merit" awards.
2) full retroactivity of GSIs using the $7+ million that was shifted to the Faculty Development fund;
3) revise the department chair language to permissive role on personnel matters as outlined in the previous CBA;
4) change "may" to "shall" in Article 12.10 of the TA for lecturers on SSIs;
5) increase the GSI using the $10 million from the CSU Budget surplus to make the GSI 4.5 percent to address the CPEC lag.
If the contract is not extended, then imposition may be declared by the Board of Trustees on March 17. Imposition does not mean an automatic return to the last best offer of June 30, 1998; it could mean a return to the last best offer, or the rejected TA could be implemented, or anything that was on the table during the process of mediation and factfinding may be incorporated. Any deviation from this process requires mutual discussion with CFA.
Associated Students - Student representative Gomez reported that the election ballots are being compiled (including the parking structure) and packets are available if any faculty wish to announce this in class. For the first time, students will be elected to the Board of Directors for Lumberjack Enterprises, rather than appointed.
4. Resolution on Sister City Relationship with Camoapa, Nicaragua (#12-98/99-EX)
It was moved and seconded (Larson/Gomez) to place the resolution on the floor.
Senator Travis stated that students on this campus are interested in establishing a relationship with students CURC and reminded senators that this resolution is asking for an investigation of the process whereby Humboldt State University might form such a relationship. Nick Tomb, as spokesperson for the students interested in this issue, distributed a handout and stated that two people from Camoapa will be visiting Arcata in April. The intent now is to gather support from the campus community and present the information to President McCrone for his approval so that the university will be committed to exploring the establishment of an official relationship with CURC when the guests arrive in April.
Discussion comments included 1) such a relationship may foster student or faculty exchange, or may include donating outdated computers and supplies to them; 2) Humboldt does not have a sister relationship with other universities at present, but bi-lateral exchange agreements with universities in such places as Germany, China and Australia do exist and in each case it requires an interested faculty member to lead the charge and complete the appropriate paperwork; 3) the Senate is looking at this student initiated project because there needs to be an avenue for students to initiate an exploration of this kind of relationship and because of the upcoming visit in April; 4) the student club works closely with the City of Arcata on the sister city project; and 5) the faculty member who is the student club advisor should see the Interim Dean for Research & Graduate Studies.
Voting occurred and MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
6. Resolution on the Amendment to the Charge of the Professional Leave Committee (#13-98/99-FA)
It was moved and seconded (Cheyne/Perryman) to place the resolution on the floor.
Senator Cheyne stated that a revision of the charge of the Professional Leave Committee was approved last year by the Senate but was returned by President McCrone because he had questions regarding some of the language used in the revision. The document before the Senate today is a revised version of the first revision. The questions raised by President McCrone related to the definition of quality (which has been expanded and clarified), and to references to advocacy (attempts have been made to clarify that the Committee is dealing with the quality of the proposal, not the advocacy of individual faculty members). In addition, the President expressed a desire for either ranking or grouping the candidates. Since the rationale for ranking and grouping is connected to the amount of funding available for the number of sabbaticals that can be given and since it is not the job of the Professional Leave Committee to consider issues of funding, the Committee has decided to maintain the original language related to ranking or grouping.
After limited discussion regarding contractual compliance, it was accepted as a friendly amendment to change the phrase and the profession to or the profession in the third line of the attachment.
Voting occurred and MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
5. TIME CERTAIN 4:45
Resolution on the Passing Grade for Basic Subjects (#14-98/99-EP)
It was moved and seconded (Little/Brenneman) to
place the resolution on the floor.
Senator Green corrected the fourth line of the background statement indicating that "Executive Order 665" should read "Admission Requirements for Undergraduate Transfers." (attached) Senator Green also clarified that at Humboldt State University a grade of C- qualifies for credit. The two main issues behind this resolution include consistency within the CSU System and the fact that, educationally, a grade of C is more appropriate than a grade of D. If the resolution is approved, the effective date of such a change would be determined by the vice president for academic affairs; the earliest being Fall 1999. Ginny Kelly, Evaluation Supervisor, from the Enrollment Management Office, was available to answer questions.
It was offered as a friendly amendment to change the Resolve statement to read " . . . must receive a grade of C- or higher . . . ."
Discussion included 1) it is not known if Humboldt's willingness to accept a grade of C- as a satisfactory grade will cause problems for students when transferring to other institutions.
It was moved and seconded (Goodman/Gomez) to amend the resolve clause by changing " . . . grade of C or higher . . . ." to " . . . grade of C- or higher . . . ."
Voting on the amendment occurred and MOTION PASSED WITH ONE NO VOTE.
Voting on the resolution as amended occurred and MOTION PASSED WITH ONE ABSTENTION.
Appreciation was expressed to Ms. Kelly for her participation in this discussion.
7. Resolution on Application for Sabbatical Leave and Sabbatical Leave Report (#15-98/99-FA)
It was moved and seconded (Cheyne/Fulgham) to place the resolution on the floor.
A request from the chair of the Professional Leave Committee precipitated the development of this resolution. Among the concerns cited were the processing of late applications and verification that reports from previous sabbaticals had been filed. Humboldt requires that people on sabbatical leave file a report, and the Committee has encountered some difficulty in determining whether such previous reports had, indeed, been filed. Owing to the membership turnover and the difficulty in maintaining such records, it does not seem practical to provide copies of the report to the Professional Leave Committee.
The Committee determined that the above issues could be addressed by (1) adding language acknowledging the importance of meeting the deadline and noting that if the deadline is not met, the request will not be considered; (2) indicating that it is the responsibility of the individual applying for the sabbatical leave to supply either a copy of his/her report that carries the President's stamp or the letter of response from the President acknowledging receipt of that report; and (3) by amending the standards to indicate that the chair of the Professional Leave Committee is to receive the report because of contract specifications.
It was accepted as a friendly amendment to change on page 1 of the Application for Sabbatical Leave the words "eligible to receive" in the last line of the Note section to "awarded."
It was accepted as a friendly amendment to revise the last line of the Note section on page 1 of the Application for Sabbatical Leave to read " . . . will be awarded a sabbatical leave without review and recommendation from the Professional Leave Committee."
It was not accepted as a friendly amendment to revise the last line of the Note section on page 1 of the Application for Sabbatical Leave to read " . . . will be awarded a sabbatical leave without a review and positive or negative recommendation from the Professional Leave Committee."
It was moved and seconded (Fulgham/Green) to close debate. Voting occurred and MOTION PASSED.
Voting on the resolution and amended attachment occurred and MOTION PASSED.
8. Resolution on the Program Review Cycle (#16-98/99-EP)
It was moved and seconded (Little/Fulgham) to place the resolution on the floor.
Senator Green provided background to the resolution indicating that the change in the review cycle provides additional time and flexibility for program review. Such a change may be significant since movement toward review of general education is likely. The Committee added the language connected to the asterisk in order to avoid any possible negative implications when an administrator requests a program review. In addition, it is hoped that allowing administrators to ask for a scheduled review will result in a smoother process. It may be that departments will want to go through the cycle sooner than scheduled if resource allocation is tied to program review. It is understood that an administrator requesting an unscheduled review will discuss this request with the department first and explain the reasoning for such a request.
It was accepted as a friendly amendment to add the words "Among other reasons," to the beginning of the language connected to the asterisk.
Voting occurred and MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
It was moved and seconded (Fulgham/Gomez) to adjourn the meeting.
Meeting adjourned 5:25 p.m.