THE MINUTES OF THE MARSHALL UNIVERSITY FACULTY SENATE MEETING HELD ON THURSDAY, MAY 10 2001, AT 10:00 A.M. IN THE ALUMNI LOUNGE OF THE MEMORIAL STUDENT CENTER

MEMBERS PRESENT: Joe Abramson, Suzanne Desai, Blaker Bolling, Laura Wyant, Glenda Lowry (Secretary), Bart Cagle, James Sottile (Vice-President), Nick Freidin, Carlos Lopez, Elaine Baker, Jonathan Cox, Jack Cirillo, Larry Stickler, Stan Sporny, Laura Adkins, Seth Bush, Matt Carlton, Denise Landry, Rebecca Appleton, Bruce Brown, Margaret Rotter, Barbara Davis, Pamela Ford, Wendy Moorhead, Gerald Doyle, Donna Donathan (President), John Szarek, Darshana Shah, Rudy Wang, Bill Rhoten, Blake Sypher, Beverly Delidow, Chuck Bailey, Dan Hollis, and Herbert Tesser.

MEMBERS ABSENT: Joseph Stone, Maudie Karickhoff, Clara Reese, Rainey Duke, Cheryl Brown, Kristine Greenwood, Pam Mulder, William Westbrook, Michael Castellani, Brian Morgan, Dan Evans, Jeff May, Mildred Battle, Dennis Moritz, Tom Linz, Robert Williams, Kenneth Guyer, David Chaffin, and Joyce Meikamp.

PARLIAMENTARIAN: Dallas Brozik present.  

GUESTS: Molly McClennen, Tamiko Ferrell, Sam Dameron, Judith Arnold, Marshall Onofrio, Bill Pierson, Larry Froehlich, Michael McGuffey, Joan St. Germain, Sarah Denman, Barbara Tarter, Frances Hensley, Audrey Kaiser, Ashok Vaseashta, Joan Tyler Mead, Steve Hensley, and one signature I could not read.  

The meeting was called to order at 10:08 a.m. by President Donathan. There was a quorum.

 APPROVAL OF MINUTES – APRIL 19, 2001 AND APRIL 26, 2001:

The April 19th and 26th minutes were approved as read.

 ANNOUNCEMENTS:

·    President Angel has approved the following recommendations—SR-00-01-(36) 77 (CC), SR-00-01-(38) 79 (BAPC), SR-00-01-(40) 81 (CC), SR-00-01-(41) 82 (CC), and SR-00-01-(42) 83 (CC).

·    President Donathan provided answers to some of the questions about the parking fee increase that were asked at the April 30, 2001 Faculty Senate meeting.

·    President Donathan announced that Dan Hollis (SOJMC) and Jim Sottile (COEHS) have had perfect attendance at Faculty Senate meetings for the past two years.

·    President Donathan presented newly elected President Jim Sottile with his gavel.

  As Dr. Angel had not arrived, President Donathan moved to Agenda Item 4.

 COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS:

SR-00-01-(43) 84 (CC): Recommends approval of the listed COURSE CHANGE for the College of Science. MOVED, SECONDED, AND APPROVED.  

SR-00-01-(44) 85 (SCWC): Recommends to the Faculty Senate that the University adopt the following revision of Section 6.F. of the Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities and approve the establishment of a process for addressing Residence Hall rules as violations of the student Housing Contract, rather than as violations of the Code. MOVED, SECONDED, AND APPROVED AS AMENDED. [Page 5, last paragraph: Appeals shall be submitted in writing.  The Senior Vice President’s decision, also in writing, will be returned to the student within five business days.  The Senior Vice President may, at his or her discretion, refer the appeal to a Hearing Panel for review and recommendation. The Senior Vice President will establish the Panel.  The Hearing Panel shall be fair and impartial and selected in a manner consistent with other University hearing panels. The decision of the Senior Vice President shall be final.

SR-00-01-(45) 86 (EC): Recommends that faculty reconsider Recommendation SR-97-98-2 (FPC) for the purpose of continuing to support the confidentiality of faculty evaluations. MOVED, SECONDED, AND APPROVED.

Dr. Angel had arrived and President Donathan returned to Agenda Item 3.

REPORT OF THE UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT:  

Dr. Angel thanked the Senators for their continued support of keeping faculty evaluations confidential. He then had several items to discuss:

·          Working hard to get peer equity this year and to establish the principle of dividing dollars among institutions in the group. They have presented three recommendations that would award Marshall more than it has received in the past. A decision by the Policy Commission should be made shortly.

·          All WV institutions have presented their tuition recommendations to the Interim Governing Board, which passed them with very little debate. MU requested a 6.9% increase, which may be reduced by the Legislature. The Policy Commission is to make recommendations to freeze the community college tuition, to place a 4% cap on all tuition increases, and that graduate tuition be no less than 110% of undergraduate tuition.

·          There is a complication in the passing of the Gray Machine Bill, which is where all the money is. The bill passed with 17 Yes votes and 2 that were paired (two people were absent--one vote counted Yes and one vote counted No). If the vote is questioned a remedy would be to call a special session to get 18 Yes votes.

·          Action on raises may be taken in another month, as there is a question as to how much money is available.

·          He was thrilled that Governor Wise signed the housing and parking bill last week while at Marshall. That bill started out as SB517 but on the last day of the session it was discovered that the Governor was planning on vetoing the bill, so a vehicle bill, SB1007, was used to restructure the funding.

President Donathan continued with the remaining Agenda Items.

STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Each liaison, except as noted, reported to-date on their respective committee.

            Research                                              Seth Bush  
            Student Conduct & Welfare                  Kris Greenwood (absent, no report given)  

REQUESTS TO SPEAK TO THE SENATE:

President Donathan thanked the Senators for their outstanding job these past two years and she hopes to continuing working with them over the next couple of years. Also, have a wonderful summer!

Nick Freidin requested to know what progress had been made on reforming the Ethics Committee. President Donathan requested that newly elected President Sottile to step in and call the committee together this summer and then to move forward. President Donathan stated that two administrative and one faculty position needs to be filled.  

Larry Stickler requested to know the status of the ad hoc committee to be formed to examine freedom of expression on campus and answers to questions about the increase of parking fees. President Donathan responded that she has answered several questions but still needs to get answers to some. She will report on these when she gets the information. He then made a motion that reads: The faculty evaluation process be referred to the Faculty Personnel Committee for review this coming fall semester. MOVED, SECONDED, AND PASSED.  

Additional parking questions are: Is there a provision for individuals processing a handicap sticker, who park in the Smith Hall garage, to pay a surface lot rate. Has there been consideration for a graduated rate for part-time faculty. Does the funding for student housing include funds for parking.  

Nick Freidin requested input about the letters distributed at the last two meetings by Dr. Taft. Dr. Taft responded that it is in fact a report and not a letter. His main reason for making the report available was to make sure the committee on ethics would get started. He also stated that he has been in contact with Charles Barkley, the producer of Under Fire. They hope to get a group of faculty together on the show to discuss higher education reform. Anyone interested in participating should get in touch with him.  

President Donathan requested that any thoughts or concerns about the faculty evaluations be submitted to the Faculty Senate office. They will be forwarded to the appropriate individuals and committee.  

A question was asked about the status of the lawsuit pertaining to the faculty evaluations and the legal issues involved.

 AGENDA REQUESTS FOR FUTURE MEETINGS:

There were none.

The meeting adjourned at approximately 11:00 a.m.