FACULTY SENATE MEETING
Minutes
University Center, Concho Room
March 6, 2002
Attendance:
Rasheed, A., Nussbaum, C., Kribs-Zaleta, C.,
Formanowicz, D., Maher, D., Reinhartz,
D., Patrick, D., Estes, E., Gintole, G., Liu, H., Courtney, H., Amster, H.,
Clark, J., Priest, J., Porter, L., Rouse, L., Rosado, L., Eakin, M., Jones,
M.E., Bond, M.L., Spindler, M., Lehmann, P., Clements, P., Elmasri, R., Shoults, R., Burke, S., Hunter, S.,
Maizlish, S. (Secretary), Kleiser, S., Ingram, T., Sol, A. Vice President D. Dunn,
Assistant Vice President M. Moore, and Chair T. Chrzanowski.
Call to Order:
2:35 p.m. Senate Chair Thomas Chrzanowski called
the Senate to order.
Approval of Minutes:
The minutes of the March 6, 2002 meeting were
approved unanimously.
Remarks by the Chair:
The Chair apologized for not posting the
previous minutes and agenda sooner, due to computer password problems. Sen. Chrzanowski and Sen. Reinhartz attended
the UT System Faculty Advisory Council meeting February 28 and March 1. An excerpt from Vernon's Civil Statutes was
circulated indicating that the state must provide salary and benefits at least
equal to those at comparable institutions.
It is not yet known what effect, if any, this will have on UTA
salaries.
The FAC "To Do" list was
reviewed. No senators were aware of any
tenure/tenure track faculty who had their salary reduced.
One of the issues addressed concerned the link
between tenure and salary with the potential for reduction of salary. Sen. Reinhartz stressed the importance of
accurately reporting the salary reduction issue, and asked senators to check
within their units for any instances of this on our campus. Sen. Courtney stated that this was
accomplished at the local level by reduction of teaching loads.
Promotion and Tenure recommendations have been
received from President Witt.
Twenty-two cases were considered, and 21 of 22 were agreed upon. It is unclear how many were approved. The Chairman will request this information
from the President's office.
The administration has expressed concern
regarding the upcoming mass transit election and wants to encourage students to
register and vote in favor of the mass transit proposition, which will benefit
UTA.
Remarks by the President:
President Witt was in Washington, D.C. and
therefore had no remarks.
Remarks by the Provost:
Provost Wright was in China, and therefore had no remarks.
Committee Reports:
The
Council of Faculty Senates: Sen. Porter presented
the Roundup Report on UTA issues and activities and Sen. Amster summarized
issues being dealt with on other campuses from the Council of Faculty Senates
meeting March 1-2, 2002. Copies of both
reports are attached.
Equity:
Had no report, but is up to date on their projects.
Academic
Freedom and Tenure:
Sen. Priest provided a handout of the Draft Model of Academic
Receivership Policy. The Chairman
explained that this document was drafted in response to events at UT San Antonio. Most other UT system units are considering
such a policy. A motion was made by
Sen. Priest and seconded by Sen. Reinhartz that the policy be approved.
A lengthy discussion ensued regarding the exact
intent and meaning of the draft policy. The Chairman defined academic
receivership as occurring when an academic unit is placed under the supervision
of a faculty member from within the university, but not from within that
unit. Senator Priest noted that this
policy was designed to protect our faculty.
Sen. Reinhartz noted that there is a diversity of structures within the
university system and that this document allows for as broad a definition as
possible.
It was agreed that the fourth paragraph of the
document which begins Academic Receivership may also include..." should be
made a fourth bullet.
Sen. Maizlish made a motion to approve Sen.
Courtney's suggested version, which would add the word "specifically"
before "Academic Receivership".
The motion was seconded by Sen. Estes.
Other suggested changes included: Sen. Amster suggested changing of the
phrase "includes" in Paragraph 2 to "exists when". It was agreed to move Paragraph 7 to precede
Paragraph 6. It was agreed that the term "Faculty Governance
Organization" should be changed to "Faculty Senate" wherever it
appeared.
The vote was unanimous in favor of adopting the
policy with the agreed upon amendments.
The Chairman expressed his thanks to Sen. Priest and his committee for
their hard work and will forward the policy to President Witt immediately.
Operating
Procedures: Had no
report, as Sen. Silva was absent. The Chairman reported that at the last
meeting, a proposal to amend the bylaws regarding TCFS representation was
made. The only issue is the timing of
the election of representatives. It was
suggested that alternate terms be established.
A motion to accept this proposal was made by Sen. Shoults and seconded
by Sen. Kribs-Zaleta. The vote was
unanimous in favor of approval.
A new
charge was made to Operating Procedures by the Chairman to revise the Promotion
and Tenure documents to more accurately reflect the reality of the process on
our campus. The committee was asked to
work with the Provost's office for facts on the existing P&T process.
Research
& Development:
Sen. Eakin had no report.
The Chair reported that R&D were working on
reapportionment and suggested revisiting the issue to clarify the proper
meaning of "comparable unit" in the Handbook of Operating
Procedures. Sen. Eakin was asked to
adjust the verbiage to match the existing situation on our campus. Dr. Dunn suggested, "program with
degree-granting authority" be used.
Sen. Jones sought clarification on whether numbers of tenure/tenure
track faculty was the guideline, since instructors are allowed to vote on
departmental issues in some units. The
Chairman clarified that for university business, only tenure/tenure track
faculty were allowed to vote, regardless of any voting privileges granted to
them within their own departments.
Sen. Porter expressed concerns regarding the
English Department, which has 70 faculty members, but only 14 who are
tenure/tenure track. A lengthy
discussion was held on the seriousness of this issue.
The Chairman noted that the intent of Faculty
Senate is to represent long term, career faculty. This does not mean others should be ignored, but that they should
come to their senators with their issues.
He suggested that perhaps a committee should be established to review
this issue, and asked senators to discuss this with their constituents before
the April meeting.
Sen. Amster suggested that a parallel
organization be established for non-voting faculty and that joint meetings be
held as needed. Sen. Maizlish agreed
that the issue needed study, and suggested that one or two adjuncts might be
elected to Faculty Senate.
A senator who preferred to remain anonymous
raised the issue of the shortage of funds for faculty salaries, while more
administrative positions are being created.
The Chairman suggested this item be addressed in New Business.
Budget Liaison had no report.
Academic
Liaison and Student
Services Liaison: Sen. Porter
reported that these groups are meeting regularly to revise the Faculty
Guide. The web page has been updated to
advise faculty where hard copies are available. Information that changes more frequently will be added to the web
site, as requested.
Ethics
had no report, as Sen. Barrett was absent.
Special
Projects: Sen.
Fincher was absent, but another committee member reported that nominations for
Professor Emeritus were going well.
Old Business:
The Chair reported that the Periodic Reviews of
Academic Administrators are both preparing drafts of a final document. The review of the Provost should be
concluded soon, as the draft report is expected next week. The review of Vice President Williams is
expected to produce a draft by March 11th.
New Business:
The Chairman appointed a Nominating Committee to
bring a slate of officers to the April 24th meeting. Members are: Senators Rasheed, Liu, Sol, Amster and Bond.
Sen. Amster indicated her willingness to serve
only if service did not preclude her from being nominated for office.
A Chair-elect must be elected and will function
as Vice Chair in the coming year.
Senator Reinhartz has heard that some
administrators received raises during the academic year and expressed concern,
as faculty are ineligible for such raises.
The Chairman pointed out that faculty are "contract labor",
unlike administrators.
Sen. Amster suggested that summer pay be changed
from 1/10 of salary to 1/9 of salary, that $10,000 be allocated to the Speaker
of the Faculty Senate, that an orientation be established for new senators, and
that the salary equity issue have language added to include adjuncts who are
underpaid and overworked.
Announcements: There were no
announcements.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:10 p.m.
/lln
ROUNDUP REPORT (presented to TCOFS)
UT ARLINGTON March 6, 2002
Harriett
Amster and Laurin Porter, Elected Representatives to the TCOFS
1. Enrollment
is up: Spring 2002 enrollment at UTA is
up 6.3% over last spring, making this the ninth consecutive semester the
university has posted an increase in students.
Official headcount enrollment is 20,842. The largest increase is among new graduate students (27.5%). Minority enrollment has also increased. African-American students by 3.9% and
Hispanic by 5.6%.
Faculty staffing,
however, has not kept pace with this increase in student population in some
colleges, notably Liberal Arts and Science.
In the College of Liberal Arts, for instance, the total number of
tenured and tenure track faculty has decreased by 30 in the last six years,
from 177 in 1995 to 147 in 2001 - a disturbing decrease of 17%. The College of Science, whose enrollment has
increased 15% in the last several years, reports that 7 out of 7 units are
understaffed. Many faculty are
concerned about a tendency to rely on adjuncts and part-time faculty to
compensate for the decline in tenure stream faculty and its potential impact on
the quality of education in these colleges.
2. Excellence
funding: UTA received excellence
funding in the last legislative budget.
This is linked to increased amounts of externally funded research and
graduate student production and is a sign of our continued growth as a research
institution. Some faculty are concerned,
however, about an over-emphasis on grant-generating capabilities in the hiring
process. The College of Science, for
example, was directed to hold an open competition for one new hire, i.e.
competition between psychology, biology, math, and physics to see which
department could attract the candidate with the most funding and best funding
potential. Only after all three
departments had advertised for new positions were they informed that only one
position would be funded.
3. Faculty
development leaves: Faculty Development
Leaves (FDLs) have increased from 10 last year to a maximum of 15 this year and
20 next year. The faculty is very
pleased at the increased support for research.
4. Periodic
review of administrators: The evaluation of upper administration initiated,
designed, and implemented by the Faculty Senate is now nearly complete. In the current cycle, the provost and the
senior vice president for finance and administration were reviewed by
committees consisting of faculty, staff, administrators, and community
representatives.
5. Compliance
procedures: Many faculty voice concerns about the increase in compliance
procedures and paperwork, feeling that it detracts from their teaching and
research time. This is particularly a
problem in the College of Science, for instance, where an increase in grants
and funded research has brought with it a concurrent increase in such things as
budget auditing, chemical safety and oversight, and animal care.
6. Review
of summer compensation: The Faculty Senate has urged administration to review
the lack of summer compensation for the supervision of graduate students.
7. New
buildings: A new science building is to
be constructed and a new fine arts annex is underway, as well as a new
dormitory and apartment complex; plans for a new library are temporarily on
hold.
Austin,
March 1 & 2, 2002
By
Harriett Amster
Major issues being worked on by Faculty Senates
Implementation of HB
1641
Salary compression
Academic Dishonesty
Faculty club (Sam
Houston St. U.)
Faculty
load is being better defined with a system for Abanking@hours for supervision
of individual students, including graduate thesis supervision, toward later
course reduction. (Tarleton St. U.)
Revamping the list of
Standing Committees (MWSU) & participating in staffing
Closing
the gaps (Teri Flack, Deputy Commissioner, TX HE Coordinating Board, speaker)
Core
curriculum (transferable all over the state) & Field of Study
(institution-adopted requirements above the core (Catherine Personeault, TX HE
Coordinating Board, speaker)
Major Accomplishments of Faculty Senates
Summer pay changed
from 1/12 to 1/9 of annual salary (UHCL)
Allocation of $10,000
allocation for the speaker of the Faculty Senate to remain for one year or more
after term ends ( TX A&M)
Salary equity
adjustment by comparable institution, discipline, longevity, and merit to begin
this spring and extend 3 -5 years. Each
department now has a published merit raise policy and the senate is to check on
its administration. (Lamar Univ.)
Representation in
selection of a new President for the University ( SW TX St.)
Orientation luncheon
for new senators (UH)
Implementation of
President=s Commission Report on thr Status of Women (UH)
Replacing faculty
because of probable state freeze on new positions (UH downtown)
Changes that may affect us
Proposed College of
Engineering ( UNT)
Donation of land in
So. Dallas to build the UNT-Dallas Campus