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The Senate
Michigan Technological University
Minutes of Meeting 188
Meeting 188 was called to order at 7:05 pm on 1992 March 25 in
Ballroom B-1 of the Memorial Union.
I. Roll Call
26 senators or alternates were present.
Absent: T. Shipley. J. Daavetila, J. Lukowski, P. Laks,
A. Lahaie, G. Pliska-Matyshak
II. Visitor
V. B. Watwood
III. Minutes
The minutes for Meeting No. 187 were approved as
corrected. The minutes for Special Meeting No. 3 of 1992
were distributed. These minutes will be considered at a
future meeting.
IV. President's Report
A. L. Julien made comments about promotion and tenure
activities. He also mentioned that there is a case
pending. This will be discussed under new business.
B. W. J. Powers has sent a response to the old business
item discussed at Special Meeting No. 3 of 1992. This
related to the review by the deans of promotion and
tenure actions. A letter from W. Powers discussing
this matter is attached as Appendix A. There was
further discussion of this letter. The Senate
requests that any policy matter be submitted
for consideration at a Senate meeting.
Moved by C. Selfe and seconded by R. Freisinger.
The Senate recognizes the Provost's rationale for having a
committee of deans to review promotion and tenure
decisions, but the Senate recommends that the committee of
deans review all promotion and tenure cases after the MTU
Board of Control has made a decision. The Senate furthur
recommends that any new policy on promotion and tenure be
submitted to the Senate for consideration.
Passed (no dissent)
V. Vice-President's Report
C. Vilmann attended the Board of Control meeting in
Detroit.
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This meeting was devoted mainly to the budget. A copy of
his written report is attached as Appendix B.
The request from the University Professors and
Professional Staff Alliance for information about the way
in which expense reduction decisions were reached in
November 1991 is included as part of the vice-president's
report. The Board of Control said that the questions
raised would be answered in writing at a later time.
A discussion of budget matters followed.
* Information from the President's Cabinet was that the
$250K program development item might be used for new
postions.
* The question was raised about a comparison of the MTU
and NMU budgets. How can salary increases and
retirement contributions be so much larger at NMU?
* What are the details of the $60.4M base costs?
A special Senate meeting should be devoted to this.
This item is addressed in the budget liaison officers
report.
VI. Committee Reports
A. Elections
The election for two members for the President's
Commission on Women was completed.
Candidates: Susan Martin (Soc. Sci)
Ruthann Ruehr (Hum.)
James Mihelcic (Civil)
Pat Joyce (Bus Ad)
Ruthann Ruehr and James Mihelcic were elected.
B. Budget Liaison Officer
1. The Finacial Advisory Committee has received the
budget detail. This was transmitted to the
committee in confidence.
2. A $2M cash shortage is projected for October 1992.
3. There is a 50% chance that we will not receive the
final payment from the State of Michigan. A
contingency plan is needed. Many budgeted items
might be rescinded.
4. The committee has not reviewed the AFT budget
document.
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The Senate asks for a comparison of the two--A.
Anderson and AFT--budget analyses. This will by the
main agenda item for the Senate meeting scheduled for
April 15. The discussion should cover the following
topics:
Budget
Cash flow model
Cash short fall prediction
Comparison of analyses
Transfer of funds--trade-offs
Contingency plans
R. Blevins and W. Powers will be invited.
C. Curricular Policy
No report.
D. Fringe Benefits
A group has been appointed to work on the implementation
of proposal 1-92, the retirement benefits plan. The
members are:
D. Smith R. Rogge
P. Boutilier B. Whitten
R. Brown J. Gale
The health benefits package seems to be in final form.
The annuity package is now being dicussed. Some
discussion points are:
* Is there to be equality between TIAA and
Michigan programs.
* The plan is not just for one group. There
will be some fine tuning to make the final
plans nearly the same.
* People who have elected the Michigan plan met
and devised an alternative. The committee
members are:
R. Rogge R. Hauswirth
M. Wirt D. Wiitanen
E. Institional Evaluation
The committee presented documents to be collectively
known as proposal 2-92.
1. There was a discussion of evalution of senior
administrators. This evaluation will be initiated
by those being evaluated. The results for the
trial year will be compiled using examination
grading sheets.
2. The items about governance should be voted on by the
entire faculty. The procedure could be as follows.
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a) Senators discuss the proposal in a department
meeting.
b) Everyone will be encouraged to participate.
c) There will be a general faculty open forum to
provide further information about the proposal
and to receive suggestions.
d) The entire faculty will vote on the final
proposal.
e) Filling a chairperson position should always
involve a national search.
3. The proposal as presented was not deemed suitable
for discussion.
Moved by C. Selfe and seconded by J. Pilling.
The institutional evaluation committee should edit
the document and send it to the Senators for
discussion in the departments. The edited document
should have the following features:
a) Numbered pages
b) Rearrange the sections in the following order:
1. Guide lines for department/school charter
2. Selection of interim supervisors
3. Search procedures for department chair and
dean/director of school
4. Search procedure for dean of a college
5. Evaluation for reappointment of supervisors
of academic programs
c) Make the Roman numbers on the ballot correspond
to the numbers on the sections of the document.
d) Change the wording wherever the document reads
Full Professors to read all faculty.
Passed.
Moved by W. Shapton and seconded by K. Heuvers.
The proposal should be further edited so that
each item on the ballot is a separate proposal.
Passed.
F. Instructional Policy
No report
G. Board of Control Liaison Task Force
This item was covered in the vice-president's report.
VII. Reports of Affiliated Committee
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A. Task Force on Trade-Offs
No report
B. University Computer Executive Committee
No report
C. President's Cabinet
This item was covered in the Senate president's report.
D. Departmental Governance and Selection of Supervisors
This item was done as part of the institutional
evaluation committee report.
E. Senate Constitution and Constituency
No report
VIII Old Business
Promotion and tenure discussion was covered in the
discussion of the letter form W. Powers as part of the
president's report.
IX. New Business
A. A tenured faculty member from the library has been
notified that he or she will be terminated. The matter
will be reviewed by the Academic Tenure Committee. This
review is being initiated by senior administrators.
B. Providing firearms to the public safety officers was
questioned. There is a committee of faculty
investigating the matter. Members are:
J. Glime P. Nelson
C. White M. Gopal
C. McKlennan
X. Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 9:52 pm.
Submitted by
Davis W. Hubbard
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Pages
3392 Appendix A Memo: Powers to Julien
3393 Appendix B Senate Vice-President's Report
3394 1) Draft budget for 1992-1993
3395 2) Purchase approvals including
3396 molecular beam epitaxy equipment
3397 ($425,000)
3398 3) Statement from University Professors
and Professional Staff Alliance
These pages are available to read in the MTU Library.
.