University Faculty Council Meeting:
12 December 2003

University Faculty Council members present: Ralph Brill (Kent), George Schipporeit (Arch), Ken Schug (BCPS / Secretary pro tem), Phil Troyk (BME / MCFC Chair), Miles Wernick (ECE), Michael Young (Psych / UniFC Chair), Judith Zawojewski (MSED).

Absent: Glenn Broadhead (HUM), Joel Goldhar (Stuart), Howard Chapman (Kent), Andy Howard (BCPS / Secretary), Ken Schug (BCPS), Xian-he Sun (CS), Dan Tarlock (Kent).

MCFC members present: Jeff Budiman (CAE), Kevin Cassel (MMAE), Joyce Hopkins (Psyc), Jay Schieber (ChEE), and Geoff Williamson (ECE).

Visitors: Howard Eglit (Kent), Ellen Mitchell (Psyc), Mary Anne Smith (Counsel).

The University Faculty Council meeting convened at 12:43 pm following the adjournment of the Main Campus Faculty Council meeting.

Committees

COPT Procedures: (Schug)
The committee to discuss procedures relating to promotions and tenure is still being formed; wide representation is discussed.

Action Items

Proposed Faculty Handbook Revision

Howard Eglit, Ellen Mitchell, Mary Anne Smith, and Geoff Williamson constitute the Handbook Revision Committee. They reminded the UniFC that their mission was to update the handbook in order to

  1. achieve congruence with current and proposed organizational changes, specifically, the re-establishment of the Provost's position and the merging of the two campuses into one entity, with concomitant creation of a single, all-University faculty council;
  2. reflect current practices; and
  3. improve continuity and consistency.

The committee further informed the UniFC that during their many hours of deliberation they identified many additional issues that they feel deserve attention, and have submitted several memos outlining these issues. They urged the Council to approve an updated version that can go into effect within months and to continue work on other issues on a long-term basis.

Specific issues are shown below; motions that arose regarding these issues are given at the end of this section.

  1. Active professors emeriti: There was a lengthy discussion of statements in the handbook that provide voting rights to "active professors emeriti" [Appendix A; Article II, section 2]. Concern was expressed that no definition of "active" was provided, which could lead to disparity between academic units with possible abuse, and that if strictly interpreted could make it more difficult to obtain a quorum at meetings. Several suggestions were made on how such individuals could be identified and credentialed; ultimately the UniFC decided to delay action on this issue until the next meeting.
  2. meeting of Council with Provost and President: The current handbook specifies that the President and Provost shall meet each semester with each of the Faculty Councils. The proposed revision removed this rule and merely said that the parties would meet "as appropriate." The Council in general expressed a concern that this might result in no such meeting occuring in some academic years. A motion to require at least one meeting each academic year with either the Provost or the President was passed.
  3. category II faculty: There was a strong consensus that the entire faculty should decide on any proposal to establish any new Category II faculty position.
  4. representation on a single Faculty Council: It was agreed to reword this section so that the total membership of the University Faculty Council should be 25 without specifying the number of "additional" positions; this number would be the difference between 25 and the number of academic units with representation on the Council and would vary with changes in the number of academic units. The method of assigning these additional seats remains as described in the revised document.
  5. student status on faculty committees: The Handbook Revision Committee members clarified the distinction between "nonvoting members" and "visitors"--namely, that visitors can be asked to leave during certain discussions whereas nonvoting members cannot be excluded. No action was taken in regard to this clarification.
  6. Provost's voting rights in GS and UGS Committees: After a brief discussion it was agreed that the Provost should be a voting member of both the Undergraduate and Graduate Studies Committees.

Motions Passed (see discussions above):

  1. No motions.
  2. [Appendix A, Article VI, Section 6]:
    It was moved (Miles Wernick) and seconded (Joyce Hopkins) to retain the proposed wording in this regard; the motion failed 4-3, with the Chair casting the deciding vote.
    It was moved (Ken Schug) and seconded (Miles Wernick) to add the sentence, "There shall be at least one such meeting each academic year." This motion was approved 6-0.
  3. [Appendix Q, Article VII]:
    It was moved (George Schipporeit) and seconded (Miles Wernick) to change "Other titles may be added to any of these categories with the approvals of the President and the University Faculty Council" to "Other titles may be added to any of these categories with the approvals of the President, the University Faculty Council, and the President." This motion was approved 6-0.
  4. [Appendix B, Article IVB (the B is in fact missing in the document as distributed]:
    It was moved (Judi Zawojewski) and seconded (George Schipporeit) that following language be added: "the University Faculty Council shall consist of 25 members, one from each academic unit with the remaining members allotted on the basis of the number of faculty in the units as detailed below." This motion was approved 6-0.
    n.b.: A careful reading of the proposed handbook as submitted indicates that the motion passed in fact is identical to that proposed. Confusion apparently arose when a member mentioned the number "9" as the number of additional seats to be allocated.
  5. [Appendix B, Articles F and G]
    It was moved (Miles Wernick) and seconded (George Schipporeit) to change the wording to indicate that the Provost is a voting (and presumably ex-officio) member of both the Undergraduate and Graduate Studies Committees, because that notion is unclear as currently written. This motion was approved 6-0.

Adjournment:

The meeting was adjourned at 1:59 p.m.