The University Senate
of Michigan Technological University
Amended Minutes of
Meeting 521
12 September
2012
Synopsis:
1)
Presentation
on “Welcome Back and Thoughts for the Upcoming Year” by
Provost Max Seel
1. Call to order and roll call. President Bill Bulleit
called the University Senate Meeting 521 to order at 5:30 pm on Wednesday, September
12, 2012. The Senate Secretary Brian Barkdoll called roll. Absent were
representatives of Army/Air Force ROTC and Materials Science and Engineering.
Recognition of visitors. Guests included
Max Seel (Provost’s Office), Stacy Kukkonen (Daily
Mining Gazette).
2. Approval of agenda. Bulleit
asked if there were any changes; there being none Bulleit declared the agenda
stood approved.
3. Approval of minutes from Meetings 519 and 520. Bulleit
asked if there were any changes; there being none Bulleit declared the minutes
stood approved.
4. Presentation on “Welcome
Back and Thoughts for the Upcoming Year” by Provost Max Seel
Seel
welcomed everyone back and thanked the senators for their willingness to serve. He gave a summary of the four areas of budget,
enrollment, programs, and marketing. In
regards to the budget, there was a shortfall last year due to increased health
care, retirement, and financial aid costs along with a reduction in the state
budget and research overhead that needs to be gotten under control. Seel also
gave an update on freshman enrollment, stating that it is up, but that graduate
student enrollment is under the projected number. To help contain costs the administration will
look at low enrollment programs and new programs must be analyzed for
cost. Increased marketing of the
university will also be performed to increase the number of applications. Financial aid costs will be kept under
control but only after the current obligations are met since financial aid has
been increased 15% for the last two years while tuition has been increase by
only 7.5% and 3.5%. Vable asked if it is
possible to separate these costs over the years to analyze them better and
asked if we are losing students due to high tuition? He highlighted that student debt is rising. Seel agreed and reemphasized the need to get them
under control. Seel also emphasized the
need to communicate possibly contentious issues such as the proposed smoking
policy, the upcoming parking charges, and the health benefits package clearly
and early. He mentioned that the SFHI budget
has been reduced by about half as well to contain costs. External research funding may be reduced due
to difficulties in the federal budget situation. Mullins asked if that meant we should stop
building buildings, especially if it means increased costs for the university
in upkeep and staff. Seel stated that
the state will not accept capital outlay requests for 2014 and that the university must
submit 5-year plans. In addition, he
stated that continuing issues will be the general education discussion and the CATPR
recommendation regarding the early tenure policy. He stated that Mike Meyer has
been appointed as the Director for the Center for Teaching and Learning and we
may be going to online teaching evaluations.
Also, the faculty handbook will be cleaned up and updated. Another thought being investigated is to have
‘plateau’ tuition for 12-16 credits. Also,
there needs to be changes to the units’ charters to comply with the senate
policy adopted last year, especially for tenure and promotion. In addition, a college Dean’s evaluation procedure
is also being looked at.
In
the question period after Seel’s talk Bulleit stated that the University
President will be asked to come to the next Senate meeting and asked how the
dollar amount was chosen for health care allocations in the university
budget. Seel stated that the numbers for
fringe benefits must be decided ahead of time, thereby making it hard to plan so a
number has to be chosen early. Onder
stated that a smoking policy committee was previously formed and the issue was also
discussed at the Senate Executive Committee meetings which concluded that there
was no support for an additional smoking ban, so why are we going ahead. Seel answered that another committee was
formed after that. Onder stated that he resigned due to questionable data being
used. Seel stated that there was already
a senate proposal regarding smoking to which Bulleit gave the official proposal
number as Proposal 16-94 and that it was for buildings only. Onder stated that we don’t have to follow
other universities’ leads for smoking or parking. Seel stated that the main reason was parking
costs was cost containment. He also
pointed out that students are currently charged, so now staff and faculty
should be charged to get it off the general fund. Barr asked if off-campus parking will also be
charged for to which Seel stated that they do pay a small fee for parking
costs, as well as gas costs to come to campus.
It may be that parking may be charged using hang tags in the future. He stated that he will give this feedback to
the appropriate people, at least for better communication on the issue. Christianson stated that it would be nice if the
BLG shared with campus what they are considering. Seel understands but it is difficult since
the committee needs time for consideration and that some matters are
confidential. Mullins brought up that
the total faculty and staff compensation has fallen for the last 5 years. Seel stated that it was looked at and it
hasn’t fallen. Mullins disagreed stating
that raises have not been up to inflation and that benefits have been cut. Seel reminded him that some benefits were
transferred to salary. Mullins worried
that not enough was transferred, citing severe cuts in TIAA-CREFF and health
care benefits, especially difficult for staff.
He asked if it was appropriate for the senate to discuss this
issue. Seel stated that the external realities
are beyond our control and that the university has increased faculty lines and other
improvements. Mullins said that the
revenue has increased for the university.
Seel said that any increase has gone for financial aid and other worthy
causes. Bulleit said that the reasons
for these things can be discussed in the senate, and that, even though the senate
has no say, it should be told why. Onder
stated that since parking cost recovery was not enough to overcome the budget
shortfall and since it will cause discontentment, it should not be
charged. Nooshibadi thought that parking
is not that important.
5. Reports
a. Senate President
Bulleit
stated that he is on the Tobacco Committee and that the new policy is planned
to be put in place without senate discussion.
A Senate representative on the committee is needed to which Onder
declined. Bulleit further stated that
the Senate should be more vocal and ask for info before issues come up.
b. Senate Standing Committees
6. Old Business:
none.
7. New Business:
Approve meeting
dates: every two
weeks. Approved.
Standing
committee membership: Approved.
8. Adjournment.
President Bulleit adjourned the
meeting at 6:23pm.
Respectfully submitted
by Brian Barkdoll
Secretary of the University Senate