MINUTES OF MEETING NUMBER 83
OF The
Senate OF mICHIGAN tECHNOLOGical university

17 September 1975

(Senate Minute pages: 1045-1057)

Meeting No. 83 was called to order on Wednesday, September 17, 1975 at 7:03 p.m. in the Faculty Lounge by President R.S. Horvath.

The roll was called by the Secretary, H. F. Nufer. Twenty-seven members or alternates were present. Absent were ElRite (PE), Doane (IMR), and Stebbins (VP).

 

The Minutes of Meeting No. 82 were approved as distributed.

 

The President's Report was delivered by President Horvath, with discussion interspersed from the floor as follows:

  1. He read a report submitted by L. Rakestraw, describing his Sabbatical Leave. His purpose in submitting the report to the Senate was that he felt that this information would be of value to the faculty at large and that the report would receive wider than usual distribution. He also said that some clarifications are needed in regard to the Sabbatical Leave Policy. He went on to make some specific suggestions which might improve the system; for example, that recipients of leave give an account of their achievements to the faculty as a whole. He also suggested that the Senate set up a Committee on Professional Standards and Development, to take an overview of the whole matter (See Appendix A - Available by Request from the Senate Office).

    [President Smith commented that this past year maintaining a Sabbatical Leave Policy in the state of Michigan has been very difficult. There is a feeling in the House and Senate that the universities should absorb of cost of leaves].

  2. President Horvath read a report which he and A.S. Weaver received from R.L. Hennessy regarding a Dormitory Council Survey concerning the academic calendar. On May 5 at the evening meal hour in all three MTU dorms the following question was asked: "Which academic calendar would you prefer at MTU? Late start - late finish, no broken term or early start - early finish, a broken term?" A total of 1035 students responded: of the total, 996 (96.2%) preferred early start, and 39 (3.8%) preferred late start (See Appendix B - Available by Request from the Senate Office)

Election of Officers

Weaver read the report of the Nominations Committee. There were no additional nominations from the floor for the offices of president, vice president, or secretary, and the nominations were closed.

The ballots were counted, with the following results announced by the out-going President:

President:             L.M. Julien 17,     R.K. Miller, 10
Vice President:    P.A. Nelson, 14,  C.R. Baillod, 13
Secretary:             E. Erickson, 18,    E. Booy, 9

While the ballots were being counted, President Horvath went on with the meeting by turning to the next item on the agenda.

 

Reports on Meetings of the Academic Council and the Board of Control

  1. Julien said that he had missed the last Board of Control meeting.

  2. He reported on the Academic Council meeting of September 16:

    1. There was discussion of the implementation of the new course change policy which the Senate has passed and which has been approved. It was discussed that there should be a standardization of course change. A copy of the format for changing a particular course should be coming through the departments shortly.

    2. There was discussion of the Long Range Academic Plan, and of setting up of committees for reviewing academic planning and the curriculum for five, ten, and fifteen year periods of time.

    3. Signatures on legal agreements was discussed - who should sign for the university?

    4. There was an announcement of a teacher exchange program by HEW which should come out shortly. There was discussion about whether this would take the place of sabbaticals? This question was not settled. There was also comment about faculty exchange within the state of Michigan, as to whether this should take the place of a sabbatical or whether it would just be an exchange. This question was not settled.

    5. There was a report on NSF having a student oriented studies program; the deadline for this program is November 15.

    6. There was a question of records on faculty in terms of foreign nationals as faculties. The U.S. Labor Department is becoming curious in terms of whom we hire on as foreign nationals.

    7. NSF is looking for solicitations for cooperative agreements for education.

      [At this point, President Smith made some comments on the Board of Control meeting which Julien missed. The most significant thing discussed was long-range planning. We are up for 1977 North Central Accreditation and we have to make a self-analysis. A self-analysis has to do with planning. There will be Senate and student input into this; we will be checking with the President of the Senate and the President of the Student Council.

      On the issue of hiring non-citizens, President Smith commented that it is becoming a very touchy problem. Horvath wondered where the trouble is coming from. President Smith responded that labor unions are examining US Immigration policies because of unemployment in our country].

    After the conclusion of Julien's report, out-going President Horvath turned the meeting over to the new president and officers, who conducted the remainder of the meeting.

 

Committee Reports

A. Curricular Policy

Spain had another meeting and could not attend. He will bring his report to a Senate meeting when he can come.

B. Instructional Policy - No Report.

C. Institutional Evaluation - No Report.

D. Academic Calendar-Structure

Weaver asked that the Committee be dissolved since they had already brought their report to the March meeting. At the April meeting there was discussion that the Election Committee poll the faculty, and the Committee has heard that Senator Doane has a report that will be made. Miller suggested that we wait until we receive Doane's report before dissolving the Committee, and Weaver agreed that that was all right, but that once things are essentially done, that there is no sense in prolonging the life of the Committee.

E. Audio-Visual Instructional Material - No Report.

F. Elections Committee

Horvath read Senator Doane's report telling the results of the survey of the faculty regarding the calendar, the results of a May 12 repoll. A total of 191 ballots were returned; 101 favored late in - late out quarters (no split sessions) 87 favored early in - early out quarters (split winter session); and 3 ballots were not counted (See Appendix C - Available by Request from the Senate Office).

G. Elections Procedure

Horvath moved that the Committee be disbanded because there is no need to keep it. Stebler seconded the motion, a vote was taken, and the motion passed.

H. Promotion Policy Review

A copy of the general promotion policy has gone to all department heads who are to make their comments and send them back to the Vice President of Academic Affairs. Most departments are in the process of making those comments and the comments are due back in two weeks.

I. Roles of the Senate and Faculty Association

This joint committee has not met since the last report, but Stebler hopes to activate the Committee by the next meeting. The Faculty Association has tabulated the results of the survey of the faculty taken during the spring quarter; the purpose of the survey was to determine what the faculty as a whole feels the role of the Faculty Association should be. The results will be presented at the Fall Faculty Association luncheon. Stebler will activate the Committee as soon as it has access to the survey results.

At the conclusion of the Committee Reports, the Nomination Committee was dismissed, with thanks, by Julien.

 

Old Business - None

 

New Business

Stebler moved that the Senate give thanks to the outgoing officers, and a round of applause was given to this past year's officers.

A lengthy discussion took place concerning Rakestraw's letter to Horvath. There was some discussion of the Sabbatical Leave Committee and how it is appointed. Brown commented on the fact that he has had a sabbatical leave and that he feels that anyone who receives a sabbatical should give a report about the leave, voluntarily. If he does not give the report voluntarily, he ought to be requested to do so. He said that he had gone to the Faculty Forum, and went on to suggest that the report should receive wide distribution and that perhaps this could be a Faculty Association function that a person could use the Faculty Forum. Horvath commented that any report should receive faculty-wide dissemination; that he had read Rakestraw's report into the minutes and thus it will be published. Brown commented that everyone who presently takes sabbatical is expected to write a report but that there is no mention of formal distribution. Horvath said that this could be suggested to the Sabbatical Leave Committee. President Smith suggested that the Faculty Forum be used since everyone reads it. Julien said that he would speak to Heldt, head of the Sabbatical Leave Committee about people submitting a report to the Forum. Booy commented that sabbaticals and leaves of absence are two different things and that perhaps leaves of absence might come under the same committee. Julien summarized the discussion by saying that the Sabbatical Leave Committee will be asked to tell what sabbatical leave and leave of absence policies are and report at the next Senate meeting on those. Phillips commented that students might also be interested in reading about where professors go for a year; that students would be interested in reading about a professor's research in the Lode. Horvath suggested that the Lode should seek out those who have had sabbaticals, and Phillips replied that the editor could be approached about this. Julien also said that maybe this can be suggested to the Lode. Phillips wondered what is the difference between a sabbatical leave and a leave of absence. President Smith commented that there are many differences. On a leave of absence, a person will get his job back, but not accumulate credit towards tenure. On a sabbatical, one does accumulate credit towards tenure. Apparently there are some other things that are not clear when a person goes on a leave of absence.

Miller suggested that a list of guests attending Senate meetings be kept. Julien agreed that this can be done and asked that visitors to this meeting identify themselves. The following guests were in attendance: Zak, R. (Lode reporter) Quinones, J.M. (AROTC); Kauppila, R.W. (ME-EM).

 

The meeting was adjourned at 8:10 p.m.

 

E. Erickson
Secretary