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                         Page 3399

                           The Senate
                Michigan Technological University
            Minutes of Special Meeting No. 4 of 1992

Special Meeting No. 4 of 1992 was called to order at 7:04 PM on
1992 April 15 in Ballroom B-2 of the Memorial Union Building.

I.     Roll Call
       24 Senators or alternates were present.
       Absent:  P. Tampas, W. Bulleit, J. Daavetila, J. Lukowski,
                P. Laks, J. Fynewever, J. Ellis, T. Shipley, G.
                Pliska-Matyshak

II.    Visitors
       B. K. Whitten
       F. H. Erbisch
       R. E. Blevins

III.   Minutes
       The minutes for Special Meeting No. 3 of 1992 were approved
       with the changes made on page 3384 regarding the report of
       the computer executive committee.

IV.    President's Report
       President Julien made a short statement about evaluations of
       President Tompkins and about rumors circulating.

V.     Vice-President's Report
       No report.

VI.    Committee Reports
       A.  Budget Liaison Officer
           A financial report was given by R. Blevins (cash
           position) and W. Powers (1992-1993 budget).

           1.  Cash Position
               R. Blevins gave a report about the MTU cash position
               for 1988 through the first quarter of 1992.  These
               data are plotted in Appendix A, Figure 1.  He has
               retrieved the total cash data but has not examined
               individual items.  He is devoting his time to
               current accounts.  Senators urged some attention to
               historical data to avoid repeating the negative cash
               position of Summer and Fall 1991.  He also showed a
               comparison with the cash position model and the
               actual cash position.  These data appear in Figure
               2.  As of mid-March, we are very close to the model
               prediction even though the results for the period
               January 1992 to March 1992 show that the actual cash
               was always $2 million to $4 million less than the
               model prediction.  This was explained by paying
               debts sooner then planned.


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          2.  1992-1993 Budget
              W. Powers gave a summary of the 1992-1993 budget.
              The information is contained in Tables 1 and 2 in
              Appendix A.

          3.  Contingency Plan
              W. Powers presented two plans to be implemented if
              the State of Michigan fails to make the June 1992
              payment of $4.5 million.  These plans are shown in
              Table 3 of Appendix A.

              Plan I:  Borrow $4.5 million for two years.
                       The repayment plan items are listed in the
                       approximate order if priorities.
                       a)  Defer a $10 million reserve fund.
                       b)  Rolling reserve.
                       c)  Increase tuition without increasing
                           scholarships by the same amount as the
                           tuition increase.
                       d)  Do not purchase equipment with state
                           funds; delay purchase orders greater
                           than $5000; do not provide matching.
                       e)  Reduce research excellence funds from
                           $750,000 to $450,000.
                       f)  Defer the $500,000 contribution for the
                           health benefit enhancement or part of
                           it.
                       g)  Defer restoring the 4% salary reduction.

              The sense of the Senate was that the academic
              departments should not be cut any more.

         B.  Fringe Benefits Committee
             1.  A new draft of augmented medical benefits was
                 presented.  A copy is attached as Appendix B.

             2.  B. Whitten discussed prefunding the long term
                 liability for retirement benefits.

         C.  Curricular Policy Committee
             The committee report and two proposals were attached
             to the call for the meeting.  The committee asked that
             proposals 10-92 ( Definition and Role of Certificate
             Programs) and 11-92 ( Certificate in International
             Business) be received for action at the next Senate
             meeting.  The report is attached a Appendix C.

             Moved by D. Hubbard; seconded by L. Leifer.

             Proposals 10-92 and 11-92 be received for action at
             the next meeting.

 

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             Passed Unanimously.

         D.  Institutional Evaluation Committee
             1.  Evaluation of the MTU administration for feedback
                 purposes will go ahead.  Regular test scoring
                 sheets will be used.  The process will be
                 initiated by the administration by sending out the
                 questionnaire and forms.

             2.  Revised proposal 2-92, 3-92, 4-92, 5-92, 6-92,
                 7-92, 8-92, and 9-92 were introduced.

                 Moved by M. Vable; seconded by W. Shapton.

                 Motion is given on following page.

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Motion

     The MTU Senate shall submit proposals 2-92 through 9-92 for
approval of the faculty.  Should any of these proposals receive
approval by a simple majority of the eligible faculty, the Senate
will forward those proposals to the administration recommending
implementation for the 1992-93 academic year.  The 1992-93 academic
year shall be a trial period for all approved proposals.  During
this trial year, Departments/Colleges/Schools will be asked to
follow the approved proposals.  Should any unit decide to modify a
proposal, that unit will inform the Senate in writing of:

     1.  The enacted modification or modifications.

     2.  The reason or reasons necessitating any modifications.

     Following the trial year, the Senate will reconsider these
proposals using all information supplied by the unit.  Changes that
impact faculty governance will require additional referendums.
Following any modification, the Senate will initiate the process
necessary to include the substance of any approved proposals into
the faculty handbook.


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         The discussion included the following amendments.
             On page 11.  Add to item 1--Search Committee--
                          the following sentence inserted
                          before the last sentence in that item.

                          "Candidates for the position are not
                           eligible to serve on the search
                           committee."
             On page 15.  The same change as for page 11.

          There were also some editorial changes on pages 4 and 6.

          The motion passed (unanimous).

          The complete text of the proposal including the editorial
          changes but not the amendments is attached as Appendix
          D.

          The vote mentioned in the motion will be carried out by
          the election committee and will be completed by May 5.

VII.   Reports From Affiliated Committee
       A.  President's Cabinet
           1.  There was discussion in the Cabinet about
               inconsistencies in the promotion and tenure process.
               The Cabinet recommends that the Senate examine the
               promotion and tenure policy and recommend changes.

           2.  The Cabinet has the perception that MTU is losing
               some of the best and brightest faculty members.
               They recommend that the Senate study attrition of
               faculty--reasons, trend, etc.

VIII.  Old Business
       The budget discussion was included in the budget liaison
       officer report.

IX.    New Business
       A.  Proposals 10-92 and 11-92 were introduced as part of the
           curricular policy committee report.
       B.  President Julien suggests a special discussion of Task
           Force findings by subcommittee chairpersons.

X.     Adjournment
       The meeting was adjourned at 10:10 PM.


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APPENDIX A.


               Budget and Cash Position Discussion


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Pages

3404 Appendix A     Budget and cash position discussion
3405
3406
3407
3408
3409
3410
3411 Appendix B     Modified retirement medical benefit program
3412 Appendix C     Curriculum policy committee report
3413
3414
3415 Missing page
3416 Missing page
3417 Missing page
3418 Missing page
3419 Appendix C     Proposal 10-92
3420 Appendix C     Proposal 11-92
3421
3422 Appendix D     Documents on faculty governance
 to
3456

These pages are avilable to be read in the MTU Library.
.