MINUTES OF MEETING NUMBER 110
OF The
Senate OF mICHIGAN tECHNOLOGical university
23 January 1980
(Senate Minute pages: 1671-1686)
Meeting No. 110 was called to order at 7:05 p.m. on Wednesday, January 23, 1980 in the Faculty Lounge of the Memorial Union by Senate President O. David Boutilier.
The roll was called by the Secretary. Twenty-five members or alternates were present. Absent were Koss (MY), Adams (IWR), Agin (PH), Hauge (S), Kapp (PE), Rivard (AROTC), R.E. Miller (NU), Wilkinson (Grad. Student Council), and Sprague (KRC).
Acknowledgement of Visitors: Staff member Jim Escamilla operated the recording equipment.
The Minutes of Meeting No. 108.
In response to an item in the report of the Meeting of the Board of Control on October 12, 1977, M. Sloan read the following statement: Page 1641, item 8, of the Minutes of Meeting 108 contains a statement "Stein reported that the result of the investigation of discrimination (initiated by Martha Sloan on behalf of some MTU female employees) was the clearing of the University on all counts, and he estimated MTU legal costs as $20,000 to $30,000." This statement, as reported contains a number of errors. The complaint filed by Martha Sloan with the Office of Federal Contract Compliance on March 24, 1974 dealt with two charges of racial discrimination -- one involving the hiring of a white male in preference to an apparently better qualified Hispanic male, and the second of a pattern and practice of racial discrimination, prior to the date of filing of the complaint. It was not filed on behalf of or in consultation with any MTU female employees other than the complainant. The determination letter of September 24, 1979 justified the hiring of the white male on other grounds and did not specially address the issue of racial discrimination prior to 1974, while finding the University in current compliance.
President Stein said a reply would be given at the next Senate meeting.
Minutes of Meeting No. 109. The minutes were approved as written.
President's Report
Boutilier presented the President's Report (Appendix A - Available by Request from the Senate Office).
Report on Meeting of the Academic Council.
Reynolds presented a report on the meeting of the Academic Council held on January 8, 1980 (this is attached as Appendix B - Available by Request from the Senate Office). There has been a decline in the percentage of students taking foreign language courses, with a resulting deletion of nineteen such upper division courses. Vice President Gale has been asked to look into the possibility that institutional barriers may be contributing to this decline.
A report on the lack of sufficient preparation in pre-calculus mathematics of a large percentage of freshman students who enroll in MA 150 in the fall term of their entering year has led to a decision to give placement tests earlier so that there is time to make a proper placement. Vice President Gale noted that, on the basis of having passed both the algebra and trigonometry placement tests, the percentage with sufficient preparation was in fact 75 percent.
The recommendation by Dean Yerg, the Graduate Council and the Graduate Student Council that the GTA quarterly stipend be raised to $1500 and be reviewed annually has been accepted.
Reports on Meetings of the Board of Control.
Reynolds presented a report on the Board of Control meeting held on December 14, 1979. This is attached as Appendix C (Available by Request from the Senate Office). A thirteen and one-half percent increase in faculty salaries was requested. President Stein emphasized that he thought such an increase was justified in light of the difficulty in filling faculty positions.
Proposal 6-79, previously passed by the Faculty Senate and tabled at the last Board meeting, remained on the table. President Stein still supports this proposal.
Eleventh Annual Report to the Faculty - Nelson announced that the report is now completed and will be printed and distributed shortly.
Annual Report of the Sabbatical Leave Committee
Boutilier distributed the report on behalf of the Sabbatical Leave Committee chairman B.K. Whitten, who was unable to attend the meeting. The report is attached as Appendix D (Available by Request from the Senate Office).
Committee Reports
A. Curricular Policy - No Report.
B. Instructional Policy
M. Sloan, chairperson; R. Heckel, N. Hutzler, P. Tampas, P. Beckwith, E. Carlson. Sloan presented the report. The committee has met, at the request of Vice President Lucier, to review the 1981-82 and 1982-83 calendars. They will meet soon with a representative of the Registrar's Office to discuss the length of the drop period. That office appears to support the present six-week drop period so that students will have ample time to find out the results of their first tests. A consequence, however, is that there have been enrollment drops to the point where not as many sections are needed as originally scheduled. An alternative to shortening the drop period may be closer attention to over scheduling of courses by students.
C. Institutional Evaluation
This committee has just been reactivated. Hauge will serve as chairperson; other members are Crowther, Hennessy and Kuipers. The committee has been charged with determining faculty sentiment on the question of department heads or department chairpersons.
D. Elections Committee - No Report.
E. Joint Committee on Relations Between the Senate and Faculty Association
Pintar presented the report (Appendix E - Available by Request from the Senate Office). A draft proposal, on the sharing of AMCF membership costs between MTU and the MTU Faculty Association, was submitted. The proposal will be assigned the number 6-80 and will be brought up for consideration at the next Senate meeting.
F. Promotional Policy and Professional Standards and Development - No Report.
G. Faculty Handbook. - No Report.
H. Faculty Fringe Benefits
Reynolds reported that the committee supports Proposal 5-80 which is up for consideration at this meeting.
Old Business
No report on University liability insurance coverage of faculty who serve on safety committees, drive field trip busses, etc. is yet available, but it will be forthcoming at the next meeting.
New Business
A. Winter Carnival Week Exams
Lide asked whether there was Senate policy regarding exams during Winter Carnival Week and, if there was, to whom do students bring their complaints when faculty members are in violation of the policy. The question of exams is covered by Senate Proposal 3-75, the essence of which is that, during Winter Carnival Week, there shall be no exam after 6 p.m. Tuesday that requires major student preparation time or shall determine a significant portion of a student's grade. Successful complaints have been made in the past to various members of the administration.
B. Proposal 5-80, Fringe Benefits and Optional Pay Plans
BACKGROUND:
The Faculty Fringe Benefits Committee believes that the policy entitled "Optional Pay Plan for Regular Academic Faculty" initiated at the beginning of the current academic year is faulty because it ties the fringe benefits of sick leave to the number of pay periods rather than the period actually worked. Rather, the policy should be equal benefits for equal work. Several members of the MTU Board of Control have already questioned this policy: (The following is taken from the Senate Report of the meeting of the MTU Board of Control on August 17, 1979 prepared by Martha Sloan):
Those professors who choose to be paid over nine months will accrue sick leave only during those nine months while professors who continue to have their pay spread over twelve months will accrue sick leave all year. Harwood and Caserio questioned the rationale for this. Koepel indicated that many years ago when payments over twelve months were adopted, allocating sick leave for twelve months was considered a quid pro quo for the University's having the salary money for a longer period. Caserio questioned not having annual signed agreements with faculty on salary and fringes and stated that the University should have signed agreements with faculty who choose either pay allocation, clearly informing them of the difference in sick leave. Koepel stated that he did not believe this would be a problem because the people who indicated a preference for payment over nine months had research in the summer and would accrue sick leave from that.
This Senate proposal affirms that sick leave accrual or any other fringe benefit for Academic Faculty working under a three-quarter contract will not be affected by any method of payment of the employee's salary. It should be noted that only about 24 academic faculty members have elected payment over 18.9 rather than 26 periods. Thus, the adoption of this proposal will not have any significant impact on the University budget.
PROPOSAL:
Fringe benefits for the Academic Faculty should be based on conditions of service to the University without regard to the number of pay periods elected by the employee.
Considerable debate followed because of ambiguity in the language of the proposal. There was however a consensus on the intent of the proposal and it was suggested by President Stein that the question might best be brought less formally before the Board of Control at its next meeting. The recommendation was accepted and the proposal was withdrawn.
C. Change in the Procedures Manual
According to the policy as presently given in the Procedures Manual, no differentiation is made in fee assessment of GTAs and GRAs on the basis of residency since the two classes are lumped together into the single category of GSA. Vice President Gale stated that the manual is in the process of being changed so that it will accurately describe the policy in place; namely, GTAs are assessed at the in-state rate (with tuitions paid out of University funds), whereas tuition for GRAs (which is paid by the individual student, by the department, or by research funds) will be assessed according to the student's residency.
D. The Valentine Question
As a fund raiser for their sorority, members planned a valentine sale at the Union on February 14 that would include delivery of the valentines during the first five minutes of classes meeting on that day. In a straw poll, the Senate overwhelmingly rejected their request for such use of class time.
The meeting adjourned at 8:07 p.m.