THE
university SENATE OF
Minutes of Meeting 236
19 April 1995
Synopsis: The Senate
(1) Accepted President Bornhorst’s recommendation that the Executive Committee make recommendations on membership of Senate standing committees
(2) Heard statements from professional staff on their reasons for wanting to be in the Senate.
(3) Heard historical reasons from Bert Whitten on the structure of the current retirement health benefits plan.
(4) Discussed the proposal on tenure, promotion, and reappointment.
1. CALL TO
ORDER AND ROLL CALL
President Bornhorst called the Senate meeting to order at 5:30 pm on Wednesday, 19 April 1995, in Room B37 of the Electrical Energy Resources Center.
Vice President Glime called roll. Absent were at-large Senator Grimm, representatives from Army and AF ROTC, and NAGroups 2 & 3. Liaisons in attendance were Brian Whitman (GSC), Aaron Dufrane (USG), and Ted Soldan (Staff Council).
2. RECOGNITION OF VISITORS
Guests included Becky Christianson (TQE Coordinator), Mike Gilles (Research Services), Barbara Filer (Director of Career Center), Jane Berner (Administrative Computing), Kelly McLean (Staff Council), Dave Nelson (Chair of task force to revise promotion and tenure policy), Carol MacLennan (former Chair of Academic Tenure Committee and member of task force), Marcia Goodrich (Tech Topics), and Fred Dobney (Executive Vice President and Provost).
3. AGENDA ADJUSTMENTS
President Bornhorst added as New Business, items 8A, proposal 35-95: Support of continuing financing of self funding for TIAA-CREF retiree medical coverage, and 8B, proposal 36-95: Scientific misconduct policy statement.
Carstens MOVED to approve the agenda adjustments; Mroz seconded. President Bornhorst said that if there were no objections the agenda would stand approved. There were no objections. Motion CARRIED. (Appendix A. NOTE: only official Senate and Library archival copies of the Minutes will contain a full complement of appendices.)
4. approval of minutes: meeting 233
There were no changes, and Roblee MOVED to accept the minutes as written. Filer seconded and the motion CARRIED on a voice vote.
5. REPORT FROM SENATE President
A. Proposals 23-95 Conflict of
Interest and 27-95 Academic Integrity Policy and Procedures were submitted to
the Administration (Appendices B & C).
B. Gary Campbell, chair of the
committee to review the re-appointment of Dean Max Seel
of the College of Sciences and Arts, will send the Senate a copy of the
procedures used in the review process.
C. The Senate officers answered
questions at a forum 13 April, 1-3 PM, hosted by Staff Council to discuss the
constituency issue in Senate proposal 22-95.
D. Harold Evensen
and Christa Walck have been elected
senators-at-large.
E. Nomination forms for Senate
officers have been mailed. Any
constituent may nominate. Only senators
may vote.
F. There will be a special meeting
at 5:30 PM 3 May, immediately before the regular Senate meeting, for the
election of Senate officers. New and
returning Senators must attend the special meeting.
G. President Bornhorst
suggested that making recommendation for standing committee assignments should
be a function of the entire Executive Committee. There were no objections, so the 1994-95 Executive Committee will make preliminary
committee assignments for next year to be brought to the full Senate at its
first meeting in fall quarter.
H. President Bornhorst
suggested an editorial change to the Grievance Policy Statement, Proposal
34-95. The last paragraph was re-worded to
read, “This policy shall be administered in accordance with procedures
recommended by the Senate and approved by the Executive Vice President and
Provost.” Roblee
MOVED to approve this as an editorial change; Mroz
seconded; the motion CARRIED by voice vote.
(Appendix D)
I. President Bornhorst
introduced the policy portion of the Scientific
misconduct policy statement as Proposal 36-95.
With the exception of the addition of the last paragraph, the text
remains as it was passed by the Senate.
The new paragraph reads, “The policy shall be administered in accordance
with procedures recommended by the Senate and approved by the Executive Vice
President and Provost.” (Appendix E)
J. President Bornhorst
announced that he would not call another special meeting this year unless a
senator requested it.
6. COMMITTEE business/REPORTS
A. Mroz MOVED to accept Senate Proposal 22-95, Revision of Senate Bylaws; (see minutes page 5270 for a copy of this proposal) Kawatra seconded this motion. President Bornhorst recognized members of the professional staff who had asked to be recognized to speak on the proposal. This group did not represent any specific constituency.
Christianson stressed making MTU the best it can be, that the professional staff are important links.
Gilles stated that the broadened constituency would be a positive force for both groups. Professional staff currently have no adequate representation anywhere. Most issues the Senate has considered are the same for both groups and he felt most professional staff at the forum would like to be a part of what the Senate is doing.
B. Filer cited examples where issues need professional staff input: impacts of the academic calendar on summer employment and co-ops;, comparison of job search results with new degree programs. She contended that professional staff would be able to give extra information and make implementation easier.
Berner applauded the Senate for opening the possibility of including the professional staff and for their foresight in this consideration. She concluded that this was an opportunity to increase connectivity.
Senators voiced concerns that the tiered voting structure could be divisive or that academic issues might end up being everyone’s issues by a decision by voting faculty to open the vote to the entire Senate; the meeting workload would increase; the clarity of a voice of the faculty would be lost. A suggestion to avoid some of these problems was to maintain the current faculty to staff ratio if the constituency was broadened.
Senators supported the proposal based on its power to make decisions that affect the professional staff, such as benefits, and the need for the Senate to know both sides of the issue. Several non-academic senators reassured the Senate that they did not feel they had been excluded from voting on issues important to them and that the times they had been excluded, it was appropriate.
A call for the question failed the 2/3 vote on a roll call vote, 15 yes, 9 no, 2 abstentions.
B. Sloan introduced proposal 35-95 and reported that the Finance Committee feels it needs to educate the faculty on the retiree health benefit plan. She introduced Bert Whitten, the former vice president who put the present retiree health benefit plan together for the Board of Control. Whitten stated that he would present only the history of the plan and reported that the Board would only accept the benefit plan if it had pre-funding, with the intent that the money would go into a trust. The plan permits the Board to stop the plan at any time. He said that it would be appropriate to reassess pre-funding payments because the inflation rate of medical costs have decreased exponentially and we could therefore probably pre-fund at a lower rate. The Board reviews the program semi-annually to see how well the cost of the program is tracking the model.
Dobney reaffirmed that the Board receives a report from Chief Financial Officer McGarry every six months; there is no discussion on continuation. The intention of the plan is that we could begin drawing down at some time when there is sufficient capital in the fund. (Edited transcription of comments by Les Leifer are in Appendix F.)
Action should be taken on proposal 35-95 at the next meeting. (Appendix G)
7. OLD Business
A. PROPOSAL 31-95: TENURE, PROMOTION, AND REAPPOINTMENT
Heyman MOVED to adopt proposal 31-95; Bulleit seconded it.
President Bornhorst asked for any objections to the voting units of academic degree granting units and Fine Arts. There were no objections so the voting units stood.
Several senators stated that their units considered item 1.0, Responsibilities of the Academic Unit, requiring specific inclusions in the department charter, to be micromanagement.
Items 2.2 and 4.1 should read 50% or more, not more than 50%. In item 5.2.i, the word one should be removed. Bornhorst ruled these minor editorial changes, and there were no objections.
President Bornhorst asked Senators to submit editorial changes to the Faculty Handbook Task Force on Policies and Procedures for Tenured and Tenure Track Faculty in time for inclusion with the next Senate agenda. (Appendix H)
8. Adjournment
Keen MOVED to adjourn; Roblee seconded the motion. President Bornhorst adjourned the meeting at 7:30 PM..
Respectfully Submitted by Janice M. Glime
Vice President of the Senate