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Page 5715 Minutes of Senate Meeting 241 13 Sept 1995
THE SENATE OF MICHIGAN TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
Minutes of Meeting No. 241
13 September 1995
Synopsis: The Senate
(1) Created an Ad Hoc Committee for Professional Staff Issues.
(2) Amended and approved Proposal 4-96, Conflict of Interest Statement for
the Board of Control.
(3) Approved Proposal 2-96, Fringe Benefits Committee.
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1. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL
President Bornhorst called the Senate meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. on
Wednesday, September 13, 1995, in Room B37 of the Electrical Energy
Resources Center.
Vice President Walck called the roll and will serve as Secretary in
Janice Glime's absence. Absent were representatives from Mathematical
Sciences, and Fine Arts, and At-large Senators Robert Filer and Janice
Glime. Liaisons in attendance were Yadu Dar (GSC), David Henke (USG) and
Ted Soldan (Staff Council).
2. RECOGNITION OF VISITORS
Guests included Bruce Seely (Social Sciences), Fred Dobney (Executive
Vice President and Provost), Marcia Goodrich (Tech Topics), Bruce Barna
(Chemical Engineering), and Jim Pickens (School of Forestry and Wood
Products).
3. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Carstens MOVED, with Arici's second, to approve the agenda. The motion
CARRIED. [Appendix A. NOTE: only official Senate and Library archival
copies of the Minutes will contain a full complement of appendices.]
President Bornhorst requested that the Senate return to the issue of
Senate officers. Soldan had MOVED, with Sandberg's second, to retain the
slate of Senate Officers as is, suspend the bylaws for 1995-96, and select
an ex officio vice president from a unit other than an academic degree-
granting department. Vichich MOVED, with Soldan's second, to amend "ex-
officio" to "pro tem", which CARRIED on a voice vote with dissent. Soldan
MOVED to amend, with Vichich's second, to delete "suspend the Bylaws for
1995-96", which CARRIED on a voice vote. The amended motion, "to retain
the slate of Senate officers as is and select a pro tem vice president from
a unit other than an academic degree-granting department", CARRIED on a
voice vote.
4. REPORT FROM SENATE PRESIDENT
A. Proposals 30-95, Revision of Proposal 17-94, Policy on Academic Freedom,
and 36-95, Scientific Misconduct Policy Statement were submitted to the
Administration [Appendices B & C].
B. The following proposals are pending Administration approval: 13-95,
Faculty Grievance Policy and Procedures; 23-95, Conflict of Interest
Policy; 26-95, Undergraduate Academic Progress; 27-95, Academic Integrity
Policy; 30-95, Revision of Proposal 17-94, Policy on Academic Freedom; and
36-95, Scientific Misconduct Policy.
C. Provost & Executive Vice President Dobney reported on Departmental
Charters. He stated that he hopes to have charters approved in the fall; a
memo is going out to Deans regarding modifications that are necessary to
bring charters into congruence across campus.
D. President Bornhorst reported that the Optional Retirement Furlough
Program will terminate on May 18, 1996.
E. The search for the Senior Vice President for Advancement and University
Relations has moved forward.
F. President Bornhorst stated that the Administrative Evaluation Commission
has requested [Appendix D] that the Senate add 2-3 members to represent the
new professional staff constituency. Hearing no objections, he ruled that
the Senate add three more members, and he will ask the professional staff
constituency for nominees.
5. COMMITTEE BUSINESS/REPORTS
A. Chair Sloan presented a personal statement
[Appendix E], concluding that the Senate should reconsider its action of
last spring, which barred 1994-95 Finance Committee members from serving in
1995-96; Sloan stated that she would not serve on the 1995-96 Finance
Committee. Whitt MOVED, with Arici's second, that the Senate afford equal
treatment to the 1994-95 Senate Finance Committee membership in assignments
to this year's committee. After some discussion on the floor of the
Finance Committee Report, Keen MOVED, with Beck's second, to TABLE this
motion temporarily until Committee Assignments (5B) could be discussed.
Motion CARRIED with dissent.
B. President Bornhorst suggested creating an Ad Hoc Committee for
Professional Staff Issues, with Senators from both professional staff and
academic degree-granting departments, to deal with the following issues
relating to the addition of professional staff to the Senate constituency:
(1) composition of the nine professional staff units (2) whether the Senate
constitution should be amended to list issues that pertain only to
professional staff, and (3) other professional staff policy issues, for
example, the creation of a staff handbook. Whitt MOVED, with Soldan's
second, to form an ad hoc Senate committee focussed on issues concerning
professional staff, assignment to which would be equivalent to assignment
to a Senate standing
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Page 5716 Minutes of Senate Meeting 241 13 Sept 1995
committee. With discussion at an end, the motion CARRIED with voice vote.
President Bornhorst stated that he had hoped that last year's Executive
Committee would have completed preliminary assignments before the beginning
of the 1995-96 Academic Year. Bornhorst stated that he had agreed not to
put a list of committee assignments forward until the issue with the
Finance Committee was resolved. In the past, Senate Officers prepared the
preliminary list of committee assignments after requesting first, second,
and third choices, and avoiding more than one representative from a single
unit being on the same committee. Bornhorst asked for input on a different
process for committee assignments. There were no suggestions. Hearing no
objections, Bornhorst then stated that a list of committees will be
forwarded to all Senators and Alternates to indicate their first, second,
and third choices for committee assignments, and the Senate officers will
prepare a preliminary committee assignment list to present to the Senate at
its next meeting.
Sandberg MOVED, with Keen's second, to take the motion off the table.
Motion CARRIED. By a secret ballot, 26 voted yes and 9 voted no; Whitt's
motion CARRIED.
C. President Bornhorst referred Senators to the report in Tech Topics on
the July 21, 1995 Board meeting. Keen asked for the record whether, as
alleged in a report in the Lode, Provost Dobney censored Tech Topics.
Goodrich from Tech Topics denied this.
D. President Bornhorst presented a list of University Committees requiring
nominations for representatives from the Senate. The Senate approved
William Shapton and Pete Tampas for the Capital Projects Planning
Committee, and Dave Reed for the Computer Executive Committee. After
discussion, it was agreed that Senators would ask for nominees from their
constituents and nominations would be also be solicited by posting the
committee list in Tech Topics. [Appendix F]
6. OLD BUSINESS
A. PROPOSAL 4-96, CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT FOR THE BOARD OF CONTROL
[See minutes, page 5710 for a copy of this proposal.] Seely reported that a
Board of Control Subcommittee had met and agreed with the Conflict of
Interest statement, requesting only a change on p. 3 to insert "President"
after "The University" so that the policy would read "The University
President shall designate a Conflict of Interest Coordinator."
Bradley MOVED, with Caspary's second, to consider Proposal 4-96 as an
emergency proposal. By secret ballot, 29 yes to 6 no, the motion CARRIED.
Carstens MOVED, with Sloan's second, to approve Proposal 4-96.
Whitt MOVED to amend, with Thayer's second, by inserting at the end of
p. 3, Category V: "This also includes persons or firms serving as
consultants to the University, who may not combine the role of adviser and
provider of a service." President Bornhorst asked if there were any
objections to the voting units (full Senate). There were none. After
discussion ended, the motion CARRIED by a voice vote, with dissent.
Hearing no objections, President Bornhorst ruled this change and the
insertion of "President" noted above by Seely as editorial changes.
Caspary MOVED, with Carstens' second, to amend p. 3, Category V by
inserting "Other" before "Outside professional" to read "Other outside
professional", and to amend p. 3, section entitled Annual Report, by
inserting "reportable" so that it would read "include a summary of
reportable conflict of interest activities." After discussion ended,
motion CARRIED unanimously. President Bornhorst ruled these changes as
editorial.
Hearing no further discussion, the motion CARRIED to approve Proposal
4-96 as amended by a voice vote.
Seely stated that procedures to implement the conflict of interest
policy would be brought to the Senate for discussion and approval.
B. PROPOSAL 2-96, FRINGE BENEFITS COMMITTEE
[See minutes, page 5713 for a copy of this proposal.] Arici MOVED, with
Caspary's second, to consider Proposal 2-96, as an emergency proposal. On
a secret ballot, the motion CARRIED unanimously. Mroz MOVED, with Chavis'
second, to approve Proposal 2-96. There were no objections to voting by
full units of the Senate.
Provost Dobney noted his concern that the Senate Constitution allowed
proposals to go to only one Committee before returning to the Senate floor,
and suggested that it would be useful to have the ability for proposals to
go before several committees before returning to the Senate.
After discussion ended, the motion CARRIED with a voice vote without
dissent.
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President Bornhorst asked that we move discussion to agenda item 6D.
D. PROPOSAL 7-94, SCHEDULING OF EVENING EXAMINATIONS [Appendix G]
Arici MOVED, with Melton's second, to approve this proposal. Several
objections were raised. Brokaw MOVED, with no second, to adjourn. Keen
MOVED, with Leifer's second, to table the motion until the Senate meeting
in October.
Brokaw MOVED, with Thayer's second, to adjourn. Motion CARRIED. The
meeting adjourned at 7:30 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted by Christa L. Walck
Vice President of the Senate
.