THE university SENATE OF
MICHIGAN TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

 

Minutes of Meeting 420

 16 March 2005

Synopsis: 

The Senate heard a report on the budget progress from Provost Reed.

1.     CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL

President Monson called the University Senate Meeting 420 to order at 5:31 pm on Wednesday, 16 March 2005, in Room B45 EERC.

Secretary Glime called roll.  Absent were at-large Senators Cindy Selfe and Marty Janners and representatives from Army/Air Force ROTC, Education, Fine Arts, Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, Social Sciences, KRC, Academic Services - Non-Engineering, Auxiliary Enterprises.  Liaisons in attendance were Becky Christianson (Staff Council) and Wayne Bell (USG).  Academic Services – Engineering currently has no elected representatives.

2.     RECOGNITION OF VISITORS

Guests included Dave Reed (Provost) and Randy Harrison, Ph. D. candidate in Rhetoric and Technical Communication.

3.     APPROVAL OF AGENDA

There was no quorum, so no motion on the agenda was entertained.

[Appendix A. NOTE: Only official senate and library archival copies of the minutes will contain a full complement of the appendices.]

4.     approval of minutes from meeting

There was no quorum, so approval of minutes was postponed to the next meeting.

5.     Committee business/reports

        President’s Report

1.       The Board of Control approved the new University Senate Constitution at its February 25 meeting.  We are now the University Senate and not the PAC.

2.       The Senate Finance Committee met and asked the Senate President to determine if President Mroz or Dan Greenlee would be willing to meet with the Committee to discuss the University’s budget plans for the coming fiscal year.

President Mroz indicated that Deb Lassila, Provost Reed, Dan Greenlee and he (or some subset) would meet with the committee to explain the process and explain the progress to date on tightening up our processes.   He indicated that the budget’s design parameters were the same as those from his fall forum, which he reiterated at the last Senate meeting.   His response also indicated that:

a)       Progress on the budget continues daily.

b)       The budget will be discussed widely after review by the Vice Presidents, Deans and the Senate.

c)       Discussion should be substantial, based on relatively reliable estimates of revenue. 

d)       Release of a hypothetical budget or budgets at this time would be irresponsible because of uncertainties at the State level.  They can fuel speculation, rumor, and worry that have no basis in fact.    

e)       There is likely to be a prolonged budget debate in Lansing that will test the collective leadership skills and patience of everyone in the University.

3.       The Senate officers met with Provost Reed and, among other items, discussed the budget.  Provost Reed accepted an invitation to provide further information on the budget and answer questions at tonight’s meeting.

4.       Several people will be making presentations to the Senate in our last three meetings.  Scott Amos will discuss plans for distance learning; Warren Perger will discuss recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Committee on Information Technology; Les Cook will discuss last summer’s reorganization of Student Affairs and progress on enrollment; Barry Solomon will discuss progress of the Provost Search Committee; and Ingrid Cheney will discuss activities of the Benefits Liaison Group.

5.       The Senate Task Force on Professional Staff Development submitted several proposals last fall that never came to the Senate.  The Chairs of this Committee will review these proposals this summer and resubmit them next fall.  The postponement will allow the larger professional staff Senate representation to discuss these proposals.

6.       President Monson sent the Executive Committee and the Professional Staff Committee a suggested plan to reorganize the professional staff constituencies.  There will be 12 unit representatives instead of 11 plus 2 at-large.  Most staff constituencies would be unchanged with the exceptions of some adjustments in professional staff representation in the Administration Building.  He encourages the Professional Staff Committee to make a final determination on the professional staff constituencies as soon as possible so that elections can be held this spring.

7.       Please send any nominations for next year’s officers to Erik Nordberg, the Chair of the Senate Elections Committee.   Monson will not run for re-election for the coming academic year.  He expressed that he enjoyed serving the Senate/PAC this current year but, unfortunately, now finds that he needs to devote more energy to research so that he can retain his academic qualifications for the business school’s professional accreditation.

6.     Unfinished business

Provost Reed reported on the ongoing budget process.  A reduction for $855,600 from the base budget this year is in the executive order from Governor Granholm, but it was not approved by the legislature.  Reed stated we should be able to weather the reduction because of our increased enrollment, and cost reductions and increased efficiencies on the administrative side.  However, the loss from the base will decrease our flexibility for the next year.  The state constitution requires a balanced budget, so the governor has to comply.  There will probably be no decision before the Board Finance Committee meets in April.  The legislature probably won't act until after the Revenue Estimating Conference in mid May.  Therefore there will probably be no state budget before the June meeting when the Board needs to approve the 05-06 budget.  Therefore they must base their approval on the best available knowledge at the time.  The state fiscal year runs October to October, whereas the university budget runs July to July.  This makes it our presentation problem. 

To attain a balanced budget, there will probably be some sort of compensation increase with no across-the-board budget reductions, but there will be some re-allocations.

Senator Nordberg asked if Reed had any comments on what will come from auxiliaries.  Reed responded that the auxiliaries group had looked at the situation and approximated that about $.25 million per year can be given to the general fund.  We don't want to compromise their ability to maintain and expand. 

President Monson asked about other non-base transfers.  Reed responded that in the last fiscal year that amounted to $4.9 million.  The next amount will be smaller.

Senator Pollins asked about current enrollment prognosis.  Reed indicated that the statistics are difficult to interpret at this point.  Pollins added that he was concerned that we are unable to tell how much we will need to discount tuition.  Reed responded that the budget proposed by the Governor restricts changes to financial aid.  He added that the graduate student enrollment this spring was up by 50 from last spring. 

7.     nEW BUSINESS

A.     Senator Waddell reminded the Senate of two proposals, passed last year.  One was to encourage new degrees (Proposal 8-04).  Another was to enhance the campus community to attract more students (Proposal 9-04).  President Mroz has appointed a committee.  There is now a web site where persons can make suggestions.  Ideas include easier access to waterfront property, improved classroom design, and protection of historic nature of the residential area. 

B.    Senator Vable introduced the revised Proposal 20-05. 

[Appendix B]

Senator Sutter had suggested several revisions and Vable had reached agreement of incorporating these except for one.  Briefly, in #2, schools and colleges have the same procedures.  #9 on page 3 provides for input from the college dean.  In #7 on page 2 has been modified.  In #13 on page 4, the Provost will resolve the problem if the disputing parties cannot.

Monson stated that the Provost had not yet looked at the new proposal.  Monson will circulate the likely amendment from Sutter so that the proposal can be considered at the next meeting.

Senator Beck pointed out that #7 on page 2 is not currently addressed in the department charters.

C.    Monson presented Proposal 24-05. 

[Appendix C]

It changes the requirement for a Senate quorum from 2/3 to 1/2 and would be based on the number of elected Senators, not on the number of representation units.  He reminded the Senate of the strong statement made last time by Senator Sloan to support changing to a quorum of 1/2.

D.Monson presented Proposal 25-05,

[Appendix D]

which assigns to the Senate Professional Staff Committee the task of defining the composition of the professional staff units.  Since there will be 12 instead of 11 professional staff senators, we could divide some of the larger units. 

Monson stated that a proposal will be coming on the U* and E* grades (failing ungraded courses for academic integrity reasons) to be like those of F* grades.

Senator Wagner stated that there will be add-drop and academic calendar proposals coming.

8.     Adjournment

The meeting closed at 6:12 PM.

 

Respectfully Submitted by Janice M. Glime

Secretary of the University Senate