n.b.: Attendance list is unavailable; but a quorum was attained.
Agenda: Phil Troyk (BME), chair of the University Faculty Council, announced that the Faculty Council had called the meeting in accordance with Appendix A of the Faculty Council. He announced time limits associated with the individual agenda items. The agenda itself and the associated time limits were approved by acclamation.
Council leadership brought forth a proposal for a modification of paragraph I, Article V of Appendix A in the Faculty Handbook. This paragraph characterizes the membership and duties of the University Library Committee. The proposal for this modification was approved by general consent.
Phil Troyk introduced a set of proposed changes to the Faculty Handbook associated with election and terms of officers of the Faculty Council and the President of the University Senate. These are modifications of articles IV.D., IV.F., IV.L., VI.B., V.D, and V.E. of Appendix B of the Faculty Handbook. A faculty member proposed restoring the language to Article IV.D., explicitly prohibiting Deans or Directors from selecting the Faculty Council representatives. Other faculty members asserted out that the new language explicitly defines the process as involving an election by the voting faculty of the academic unit, so that selection by a dean or director would be excluded anyway. Carlo Segre (BCPS) asked other language questions, involving use of the terms "re-elect" and "chair-elect." Another faculty member asked about the language in the section about the Faculty Senate. Howard Eglit (Kent) asked that the various segments of the proposal be voted on separately. Hearing no objections, Phil brought the individual sections up for discussion and vote.
The first section considered was Article IV.D. The faculty approved,
by voice vote, the following language for that article:
D. Elections at the academic unit level for seats on the UFC
shall be held no later than April 15.
The voting faculty of each academic unit shall determine the
method and criteria for electing its representatives..
The next item discussed was Article IV.F.
After some discussion about the role and significance of the vice-chair
of the University Faculty Council, the faculty decided that the
proposed language involving a "chair-elect" should not
be included in this article.
Accordingly, the faculty approved by voice vote
the following language for this article:
F. The UFC shall elect a chair for a two-year term from among the
tenured faculty of the university.
As needed, the UFC shall elect a vice-chair from among those
individuals who will be UFC members in the forthcoming session of the Council
to serve for the first year of the chair’s two-year term.
The UFC shall elect a secretary from among those individuals who will
be UFC members in the forthcoming session of the Council.
The regular election of officers shall be held in May,
and they shall take office with the commencement
of the next session of the Council on August 15.
The Chair shall be a regular voting member of the UFC.
The faculty then considered the changes proposed for articles IV.L. and VI.B. related to the Faculty Senate. After a brief discussion, the following language was approved. It differs from the original proposal only in that the word elect rather than the word select in Article VI.B:
[IV.]L. No later than April 1 of the year in which the Chair of the Faculty Senate expires, the UFC shall nominate a new Chair of the Faculty Senate. The UFC will inform the Faculty Senate of the nomination no later than April 7 of that year. If no more than fifteen members of the Faculty Senate object to the nomination, the nominee is accepted by the Faculty Senate as its Chair for a term of two years. If fifteen members of the Faculty Senate express objections to the nominee, then the UFC shall conduct an election by members of the Faculty Senate to elect a new Chair.
[VI.]B. The Faculty Senate shall elect a chair for a two year term, in an election conducted by the UFC pursuant to Article IV.L above.
The final set of changes proposed for the Handbook relates to two committees mandated to report to the University Faculty Council, namely, the Main Campus Committee and the Downtown Campus Committee. The proposal was to delete article V.D., establishing the Main Campus Committee, and Article V.E., establishing the Downtown Campus Committee. By acclamation, the faculty approved deletion of these two paragraphs.
A revision of the Aerospace Engineering BS Degree program was set forth for consideration by the Faculty. After a brief discussion, Jack Snapper (HUM) moved for approval of this degree program in the form approved by the Undergraduate Studies Committee and the Faculty Council. Chris White (BCPS) seconded this motion. It was determined, however, that there was no longer a quorum, so action on the proposal was not finalized.
Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at approximately 1:50p.m.