(page numbers for Special Meeting No. 4 (1991) are out of sequence for the date.) *************************************************************** Page 3297 The Senate of Michigan Technological University Minutes of Special Meeting No. 4 of 1991 (December 4, 1991) President Julien called the meeting to order at 7:06 p.m. on December 4, 1991 in room 131 of Fisher Hall. I. Roll call of regular members Twenty-eight members or alternates were present. Absent: William Shapton, Terry Shipley, Anne LaHaie, Curtis Tompkins and William Powers. II. Recognition of visitors Jean Adamson, Julie Paavola, John Shulstad, Eleanor Johnson, and John Johnson. III. Approval of Minutes A. Moved by Peter Tampas and seconded by Carl Vilmann that the minutes of meeting No. 185 be approved. Passed. B. Moved by Cynthia Selfe and seconded by Konrad Heuvers that the minutes of Special Meetings Nos. 1 and 2 of 1991 be approved. Passed. C. Moved by Cynthia Selfe and seconded by Randall Freisinger the minutes of Special Meeting No. 3 of 1991 be approved. Passed. IV. President's Report. A. Larry Julien read a letter from Diana George. A copy is attached as appendix A. V. Vice President's Report. This report comprises the Board of Control Liaison Task Force report. The task force met with the Board of Control for two hours on November 29, 1991. The meeting was reported to have been warm and cordial. It still will be necessary for the Senate to request time to address the Board at regular Board meetings. Almost all requests were granted. Granted: 1. 2. *************************************************************** Page 3298 Not Granted: 1. 2. The task force recommends operating with the present membership until the regular elections in the spring. Moved by Randall Freisinger and seconded by Theodore Bornhorst. The Board of Control Liaison Task Force continue present activities and develop procedures for a committee structure (standing committee) and function (charge) which will be implemented in the spring of 1992. Passed, with two dissenting votes. At this point, the meeting returned to the President's report. IV. President's Report (continued) B. Report from University President's Cabinet 1. President Tompkins has requested time at each Board of Control meeting for three faculty groups--Board of Control Liaison Task Force, Cabinet, and Financial Advisory Committee. 2. The Cabinet wants to form a steering committee to help in evaluating administrators--department heads through vice-presidents and president. Tompkins would like these committee members elected at large. The function of the committee is to see that the evaluations take place in a timely way. It was moved by Cynthia Selfe and seconded by Konrad Heuvers that the Institutional Evaluation Committee be appointed as Senate representatives on the steering committee. Passed. Discussion points related to this motion were as follows: a. Institutional Evaluation Committee should meet with Michael Abbott to establish links with the staff council. b. Position descriptions are needed to be the basis for any evaluation which should include self-evaluation, questionnaire, and recommendation for action. c. Larry Julien and other faculty cabinet members are instructed to ask the Cabinet to use the work of the Institutional Evaluation Committee and the corresponding staff group to avoid duplication of effort. *************************************************************** Page 3299 VI. Reports from Standing Committees A. Elections Committee A report about voting procedures for Senate elections was submitted by Peter Tampas. This report is attached as Appendix B. B. Curricular Policy Committee The Department of Social Sciences submitted a proposal to establish a M.S. degree program in Industrial Archeology. It was moved by Konrad Heuvers and seconded by Davis Hubbard that the proposal from Social Sciences for the degree program M.S. Industrial Archeology be accepted and recommended for approval by the Senate at the next meeting. Passed. This will be old business for meeting No. 186 to be held December 18, 1991. Discussion points related to this motion were as follows: a. Curricular Policy Committee recommends approval of this program. b. Support for graduate students will come from outside sources. c. Graduate student supervision will not be a big time requirement. d. Library resources for this particular program are adequate. C. No other standing committees gave reports. VII. Reports from Affiliated and/or ad hoc Committees A. Committee on search committee procedures. This committee is working to establish procedures for selecting search committees and procedures for screening candidates for vice-presidents and the provost. The committee presented a draft of proposed guidelines for the provost search. Cynthia Selfe also discussed Curtis Tompkins comments about the procedures. *There should be separate memberships for search committees for each vice-president because of more staff supervision by some than others. *Procedure for selecting the final candidate should involve reaching a consensus, and confrontations should be avoided. *A method for ranking the final candidates is needed. *************************************************************** Page 3300 A discussion of the procedures followed. The following modifications were made. Section 4.0 - a. Search committee and the President should develop lists of provisionally acceptable candidate. b. The committee and President meet and may negotiate to produce a short list of mutually agreeable candidates. c. The final candidate will be accepted after campus visits. Section 2.5 - a. Elect one representative outside engineering and science and arts. b. Elect two representatives at large. Add a facilitator to the committee membership. It was moved by Cynthia Selfe and seconded by Randall Freisinger that the committee report be accepted as modified. Passed. A copy of the modified report is included as Appendix C. B. No other ad hoc/affiliated committees gave reports. VIII. Old Business A. Vote of confidence Moved by Cynthia Selfe and seconded by James Carstens--The Senate will conduct a vote of confidence on the Provost, Vice Presidents, and Vice Provost. Passed by roll call vote, sixteen yes, and nine no. Discussion points which were mentioned in connection with this motion were as follows: *This should be a substantive vote. *There should be alternate categories besides "Yes" and "No". The other categories would be: Undecided Not enough information *This should be a referendum not an evaluation. *There can be a positive aspect to this exercise. *Each administrator should have a separate vote. *************************************************************** Page 3301 A format for the vote was developed. The final form is as follows. For each administrator to be evaluated-- "In response to the request by the Coalition for a Just University, the MTU Senate, after a poll of constituents, has agreed to conduct this vote of confidence. I have confidence in the fitness of __________________ to serve in the position of _________________________. Yes _____ No _____ Undecided _____ Insufficient information _____ Additional Comments: There will be a separate page for each person to be evaluated. The deadline for ballots to be returned will be 5:00 p.m., December 16, 1991. It was moved by David Poplawski and seconded by Carl Vilmann that the wording for the vote of confidence be accepted. Passed (one dissenting vote). B. Procedure for ballot initiatives The text of the proposal submitted was distributed along with the call for the meeting. A copy is attached as Appendix D. It was moved by Theodore Bornhorst and seconded by Carl Vilmann to table the ballot initiative proposal. Failed. It was moved by Cynthia Selfe and seconded by Carl Vilmann to accept the ballot initiative proposal but to change from 10 to 20% the number of constituents required to initiate a ballot. Passed. The meeting adjourned at 10:16 p.m. .