Faculty Senate Minutes

Monday, November 28, 2016

Clinton Hall 126, 3:30PM-5:00PM

Senators Present: Ahmed, Anderson, Asaduzzaman, Babnih Bolin, Brooks, Bryant, Castro, Chand, Chopra, Close, Cramer, Deker, Dehner, Deibel, Ewing, Hendry, Koehn. Johnson, Lancaster, Mdahapatro, Moore-Jansen, Myose, Price, Pulaski, Rife, Rilllema, Rokosz, Ross, Shaw, Solomey, Walker, Wehebe, Willis Yildirim

Senators Absent: Barut, Birzer, English, Kreinath, Muthiahareon, Shukae

Members Excused: Hull, Mosack, Woods

Summary of Actions:

1. The rules committee recommends that the Senate uphold the current policy and prohibit probationary faculty from being in the grievance pool. Motion failed
2. Retain current practice that included probationary faculty in the grievance pool, but with a clearly communicated opportunity to opt out, with no questions asked, by making such a request by X date to the Provost. Motion approved.
3. All employees who have teaching/library responsibilities of 50% or more and .5 FTE or greater will be eligible for membership in the Faculty Senate, including: temporary faculty, probationary faculty, tenured faculty, contingent unclassified professionals, provisional unclassified professionals, and regular unclassified professionals. These employees all have the e-class designation of FA or F2. Motion approved
4. All teaching employees who are eligible for the faculty senate would be available for the grievance pool. Motion approved.
5. The rules committee recommends that membership on the Faculty Affairs Committee and the Faculty Support Committee be reserved for probationary and tenure faculty only, and that the two At-Large positions on the University Tenure and Promotion Committee be reserved for tenured faculty. Motion approved.


II. Call to Order 鈥� Meeting called to order at 3:30PM by President Yildirim

III. Informal Statements and Proposals - None

IV. Approval of Minutes
1. Minutes of the November 14, 2016 meeting were accepted.

V. President's Report
1. KBOR Meeting
i. Process for AP scores will continue, CLEP scores will be what the legislature has accepted.
ii. Sabbatical position at KBOR 鈥� the Council of Senate Presidents is discussing a faculty representative to bring issues to KBOR.
iii. Weapons Policy 鈥� The Governance Committee does not want to ban weapons anywhere on campus unless the location has 鈥渁dequate security measures.鈥� Tasers are allowed, stun guns are not allowed, guns do not need to be concealed if there is an incident (currently not defined and is a question to ask General Counsel Moses) on campus, and the regents want to clarify handguns in faculty offices. Privately owned buildings on campus are excluded from this policy.

2. PET Meeting
i. WATC merger 鈥� WATC will merge as a branch campus instead of a school. WATC will be under the WSU umbrella and will continue as is. The merger will mean that WATC is still eligible for Title III grants. Senior Associate Vice President Rick Muma stated that this will be the same model that KU and KU Medical Center have, with separate administrative structures. The WATC- WSU merger raised the following questions:
Q: Will WATC retain autonomy over their courses? R: Senior Associate VP Muma 鈥� WATC will control their own curriculum. With articulation process we currently accept their general education courses.

Q: Will WATC discussion come to the faculty senate for a vote in favor or not? R: President Yildirim stated he did not know, but was hopeful.
Q: Why are we doing this? R: Senior Associate VP Muma 鈥� WATC is still merging into our system and can offer 4 year degrees.
Q: What is the upside? R: Senior Associate VP Muma WATC could offer more technical courses for us.
Q: Is the degree theirs? R: Senior Associate VP Muma 鈥� No, the degree is ours.
Q: How is this benefitting WSU? R: Senior Associate VP Muma gave an example of a KU program which provides more than one entry into a degree program. President Yildirim shared that WATC students would have access to WSU dorms and the campus.

Senior Associate VP Muma stated that before the application goes to HLC all of these issues would need to be ironed out and the faculty senate will have input. The application goes to the HLC May 1st. There was a general concern that the application would be submitted before faculty have input. President Yildirim stated we need to have opportunities to discuss the merger. Several faculty spoke to the need to have input before the application was submitted.

3. Budget Committee 鈥� The membership of the budget advisory committee has not been finalized. The committee will include: the three Senate Presidents, a student government representative, the Provost, the VP for Finance and Administration, two faculty representatives, and maybe more. The first meeting has not been set. There is an anticipation of weekly meetings. President Yildirim reminded members of the senate that this is a way for our body to provide creative ideas, feedback, and better solutions.
4. Ad-hoc Committees
i. Advancement of Teaching Faculty 鈥� President Yildirim is looking for four to five individuals to serve on an ad hoc committee which will create a model/career path for teaching faculty. This committee will provide input to the senate's Faculty Affairs Committee. If anyone is interested or would like to nominate someone let President Yildirim know. President Yildirim stated there would be at least one person on the committee who is a teaching faculty/instructor. There was a recommendation that information go back to the individuals affected by the policy.
ii. Academic Honesty 鈥� President Yildirim is looking for four or five faculty members to be on an Academic Honesty Policy ad hoc committee (the committee will also include a dean).
Q: Why do we need the committee since we have a policy and procedures in place? R: President Yildirim 鈥� It is hard to track repeat offenders across colleges. Dean Livesay stated we have policies that span different groups; however, we don't have a unified policy or even a generalized policy. We need a rational, cogent policy to deal with the issue. Student Conduct has been asking for this as well.

5. Potential move of Faculty Senate Office 鈥� Currently discussions are underway about moving the faculty senate office. There is a concern about the message this gives to faculty, but the discussions are going to attempt to meet the needs of the senate.

6. Accessibility changes that impact classrooms and teaching 鈥� President Yildirim will ask Assistant Counsel Molly Gordon to meet with the executive committee and the Faculty Senate in the spring.

7. Holiday Party 鈥� Monday, December 12th from 5:00PM to 7:00PM at Deano's Bar and Grill

VI. Committee Reports 鈥� None

VII. Old Business
1. Recommendation regarding the Grievance Pool (2nd reading) 鈥� The rules committee recommends that the Senate uphold the current policy and prohibit probationary faculty from being in the grievance pool. Motion failed

2. Alternative motion 鈥� retain current practice that included probationary faculty in the grievance pool, but with a clearly communicated opportunity to opt out, with no questions asked, by making such a request by X date to the Provost. Motion approved.
(this will require a recommendation to President Bardo to amend the current Policy 5.06)

3. Recommendation regarding expanding the Membership of the Faculty Senate (2nd reading) 鈥� All employees who have teaching/library responsibilities of 50% or more and .5 FTE or greater will be eligible for membership in the Faculty Senate, including: temporary faculty, probationary faculty, tenured faculty, contingent unclassified professionals, provisional unclassified professionals, and regular unclassified professionals. These employees all have the e-class designation of FA or F2. Motion approved

4. Proposal: All teaching employees who are eligible for the faculty senate would be available for the grievance pool. Motion approved.

5. Proposal: The rules committee recommends that membership on the Faculty Affairs Committee and the Faculty Support Committee be reserved for probationary and tenure faculty only, and that the two at-large positions on the University Tenure and Promotion Committee be reserved for tenured faculty. Motion approved.

The above recommendations generated a great deal of discussion specifically related to adjunct faculty and their lack of representation. The Rules Committee of the Faculty Senate will gather information on adjuncts and bring that information to the senate.

VIII. New Business
1. Cindy Claycomb, Assistant to the President for Strategic Planning, Applied Learning 鈥� Reviewed the applied learning or research experience approval form provided to the members of the senate. Feedback from the Faculty Senate Executive Committee, the Council of Deans, and the Strategic Planning Committee was incorporated into the document. On the first page, the Preamble was added, on the second page colleges/departments/programs can check one of the following boxes - 鈥渘ow鈥�, 鈥渋n one year鈥�, or 鈥渋n two years鈥�, these planning horizons were based on feedback to the committee, page three describes what students do and how it meets applied learning, and page four describes how the program meets the applied learning criteria. Senate members made the following comments and suggestions and asked questions:
i. There is ambiguity in the document remove the sentence on page 1.
ii. What does occupationally focused work mean and who determines it? 鈥� It is determined by the program.
iii. Would like to have to meet four out of six criteria. The Committee is reluctant to modify the criteria, can allow through the exception situation
iv. Concern about criteria number six - The intent is that some actual practice happens outside the classroom
v. Consider moving the words 鈥渁cross all studies鈥� - as it is across the program
vi. How will advising track them? The advising center/office for the college will track through degree works and then it will be noted on the student's transcript.
vii. What about conferences? If it is not a course you can have a form or document that goes to advising. It is up to the program.
The second reading is scheduled for the next Faculty Senate meeting, December 12th.

2. Anand Desai, Dean, Barton School of Business 鈥� Business School Koch proposal update 鈥� Dean Desai started by stating that the proposal has been submitted to the foundation, but he has not heard back. The proposal includes hiring a director who will also hold a faculty position, two tenure track faculty members, lecturers and graduate student fellow(s). The Barton School will assume the cost of fringe benefits which would be 2% of the total salary budget for the faculty hired through the program. The following questions and concerns were raised:

i. Will Koch Foundation choose faculty and the curriculum? R: Dean Desai - All hiring and promotion decisions should be done by our (Barton School of Business) faculty through the normal process. The curriculum will be designed by the faculty, there will be some elements of their (Koch) viewpoints, but they will not tell us what we can cover in the course.
ii. Will they have control over who is hired, filtering candidates? R: Dean Desai - This would be a discussion with the President, but we would turn the grant down.
iii. Why wasn't this something the faculty senate discussed before the proposal submitted? R: Dean Desai - 鈥淲ith all due respect to this body鈥� I was not aware that the senate would approve or nor not approve moving ahead with a center.鈥� The faculty from the Barton School were involved in the discussion.
iv. If this is internal to the Barton School money will not be reallocated from other colleges to pay for the fringe benefits? R: Dean Desai - No, we have a fund that will be used to pay for these fringe benefits.
v. What has the reaction been from the Barton faculty? R: Dean Desai - We have talked about it in the college committee but have not heard positive or negative comments, there is no opposition that I am aware of. opposed to being in on the discussion now
Dean Desai concluded by saying that when the grant is funded there will be a public announcement and the people who are hired and the curriculum will involve our (Barton School) faculty.

IX. As May Arise 鈥� Senator Price has forwarded a statement of condemnation of the discriminatory action following the election.

X. Adjournment 鈥� at 5:18PM