Synopsis: The Senate
(1) heard a list of priorities and proposals from the CICC on 14- and 15-week calendars and suggestions for dealing with half-day holidays.
(2) passed a motion for a half-day suspension from classes to celebrate Martin Luther King Day.
(3) introduced Proposal 9-98, M. S. in Environmental Engineering Science.
(4) passed Proposal 8-98, Revision of Scientific Misconduct Procedures (approving editorial changes suggested by the Administration).
(5) passed Proposal 7-99, Faculty Distinguished Service Award, with no amendments.
Secretary Glime called roll. Absent were at-large Senator David Reed and representatives from Army/Air Force ROTC, Chemistry, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Mining Engineering, Institute of Materials Processing, and Keweenaw Research Center. Liaisons in attendance were Ted Soldan (Staff Council), Pratima Ungarala (GSC), and Anthony Moretti (USG).
2. RECOGNITION OF VISITORS
Guests included Fred Dobney (Provost), Marcia
Goodrich (Tech Topics), Bill Kennedy (Director, Center
for Teaching, Learning, and Faculty Development),
Stephen Bowen (Vice Provost for Instruction), Sharron
Paris (OSRR), Beth Kampschror (Daily Mining Gazette),
and students Kevin J. Walker (BSA/USG), Christian Woods
(BSA), Todd Gingrass (IFC), Marc Plotkin (IFC), Marcus
Gioe (Pres. USG), John DeVol (VP USG), Rebecca Enz
(USG), Megin Agostinelli (USG), Meghan Davis (USG),
Sean Havera, and Marlina (Kookie) Wiggins.
3. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Pegg MOVED and Prince seconded the motion to
approve the agenda as presented. The motion to approve
PASSED on voice vote with no dissent. [Appendix A.
NOTE: Only official Senate and Library archival copies of
the minutes will contain a full complement of
appendices.]
4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM MEETINGS 304
AND 305
Senator Carr requested that his statement in the next
to last paragraph on page 7830 (Minutes of Meeting 305)
be changed from "They have suggested only a 2-week
break at Christmas" to "They have opposed only a 2-week
break at Christmas."
Shapton MOVED and Ouellette seconded the motion to approve the minutes of Meetings 304 and 305 (as amended). The motion PASSED on voice vote with no dissent.
5. OPEN MOTION ON PROPOSAL 8-99, SEMESTER
CALENDAR
President Seely opened the discussion by explaining
that the CICC has been discussing the points raised by
Senators and visitors at the last meeting. He suggested
that the piecemeal approach to the calendar was not
profitable and that a better strategy was to develop several
calendars that emphasized different priorities. To that end
he had requested that Senator Shapton withdraw his
motion to reinstate K-Day.
Shapton withdrew the open motion to amend Proposal 8-99 to include K-Day.
Seely stated that the Calendar Issues Clarification Committee had considered the following items:
1. If we drop the intensive period, we can get a summer term with a 14- or 15-week calendar.
2. A week-long holiday at Thanksgiving should be preserved, considering travel safety issues.
3. We should talk in weeks of instruction, not days. Cancellation of classes has a detrimental effect on multisection labs. In chemistry, with 44 sections, Monday is used for setup, Tuesday through Thursday for instruction, and Friday for taking down the lab. Therefore, they are forced to cancel an entire week of labs for K-Day and Winter Carnival. Physics and biology have similar problems.
4. There is a desirability to match other state schools.
Matching other schools precisely is not an issue; there are at least three major calendars among the state schools.
The committee identified the following priorities:
1. length of instruction
2. counting weeks instead of seat time
3. continuity of traditions
4. considerations of a summer end date, Christmas vacation start date, Martin Luther King Day, and Good Friday; start and end dates are often a convenience
Seely expressed concern about the Senate amendments to Proposal 8-99 and the treatment these have received in the media. The Senate has not yet chosen a calendar; it is debating the issues by following the procedures in the Constitution. The media have misinterpreted this process.
Seely has asked the CICC for several calendars from which to choose, with consideration for the concerns raised by Senators.
Seely presented calendars, prepared by the CICC, for 14-and 15-weeks in sample years. [Appendix B] He pointed out that positioning of the 14-week calendar is more flexible and the fall semester can end at least a full week before Christmas. However, to achieve this without starting in August we would need to eliminate half-day holidays. He suggested that K-Day could be on Friday and homecoming dismissal could be at 3 p.m.
Senator Snyder pointed out that starting classes the week before Labor Day means the faculty would start 2 weeks before Labor Day.
Seely pointed out other considerations. A 15-week calendar permits us to observe more within-week holidays. Both calendars (14- & 15-week) would have a 12-week summer term. Labor Day and K-Day on the same week would minimize the impact on labs. He has heard VERY strong opinions about the loss of the half-day for Good Friday. Much of the planning by units has been based on 15-week terms (Physics and Student Services have expressed this concern). Boundary conditions are a serious issue; the Board of control has publicly committed to the boundary conditions. The students believe they will be paying more tuition for less time with faculty on a 14-week calendar; faculty will have two more weeks in the summer to earn summer salary. These are probably false assertions, but the appearance is there.
Senator Chavis stated that she would hate for this body to be her lobbyist because they have not even mentioned Martin Luther King Day. Failure to observe this national holiday could result in black students leaving this campus.
Marcus Gioe (Pres. USG) stated that it seemed shortsighted to consider a holiday as the only way to recognize Martin Luther King. He cited his experience in a class where a white professor (Professor Thomas Coe) began class with a 10-minute presentation about Martin Luther King and what he did. The class listened much more intently than they did to normal lectures. Gioe stated that it is more important to recognize Martin Luther King Day as something we should pay attention to. He felt that the whole purpose of the Martin Luther King Day is better honored by having class.
Senator Suryanarayana challenged the reconsideration of the 14-week calendar by stating that last week the Senate had considered all the issues and made a decision in good faith. He asked if it is appropriate to bring this issue up again.
Seely responded by stating that the Senate had passed amendments but had not yet acted on the whole proposal. Upon reviewing the decisions, the pieces do not fit well with the whole picture. Therefore we need to think carefully about the main proposal as it now stands.
Provost Dobney agreed that the Senate had voted in good conscience on the information presented at the meeting, but that some of the arguments were not true. He stated that they did a survey of summer school students last year and the year before and found that less than 7% of the students said they were re-taking a course in which they did poorly; 28% did it so they could obtain their degree more quickly; 23% wanted to allow for a lighter load during the academic year.
Dobney continued that the Senate had compared the calendar to those of other Michigan schools, but that there had been no comparison to benchmark schools that were most like us in being state engineering schools. He reported that the Colorado School of Mines has 74 instructional days in fall and 77 in spring; Missouri Rolla likewise has 74 in fall, 77 in spring. He is concerned that faculty were trying to make decisions in one meeting based on anecdotal information instead of trusting the judgment of the committee that looked into all this information and that had the facts.
Suryanarayana stated that the CICC did not present these data to the Senate, so they must not have considered them to be important.
Senator Gale stated that he had voted for the 14-week calendar because he thought it would start after Labor Day. He had asked various students and found that the typical response was that the students would do whatever they had to do. He found that the faculty preferred a 15-week calendar if they have to start before Labor Day with a 14-week calendar anyway.
Senator Carr read a letter from the Computer Science Department stating their unanimous opposition to ignoring the boundary conditions and changing to a 14-week calendar. [Appendix C]
Senator Tampas stated that he would like everyone to think of the calendar year instead of the academic year. We need to consider the effect of the acceleration in a 12-week summer calendar.
Senator Snyder again raised the issue of Martin Luther King Day. He presented three possibilities:
1. holiday
2. recognition by class suspension with courses requiring participation in Martin Luther King Day activities.
3. half-day class suspension
He argued that it is easier to encourage participation in the activities if there is a half-day suspension from classes.
Senator Vanden Avond asked Snyder if he is suggesting that instructors require participation. Snyder responded "Absolutely."
Senator Nordberg stated that if we don't suspend classes then no one would recognize Martin Luther King Day.
Kevin J. Walker (BSA/USG) showed a list of people who had been at Tech Tea that day to honor Martin Luther King and stated that the list would be much longer if there were no classes.
Senator Sutter stated that at Atlanta Martin Luther King Day is recognized with the slogan that they don't take a day off but instead take a day on. They treat it as an educational day like that observed by Professor Coe.
Chavis stated that if we depended on faculty to honor Martin Luther King Day not many faculty would take the time to discuss it. Martin Luther King is the only black hero to be recognized federally and a holiday is the only effective way to recognize this event.
Christian Woods (VP BSA) stated that Martin Luther King benefitted everyone. Any holiday has its traveling safety considerations, so that is not a major issue. Martin Luther King wouldn't want students to miss school, so a half-day holiday is enough. She felt that requiring attendance at any of the activities might offend some students. She compared this to a mother who forced her child to eat a food the child didn't like; this would cause the child to dislike the food even more.
Seely stated that no one is arguing against the celebration of Martin Luther King Day, but if we celebrate Martin Luther King Day with a holiday we should do it in a 15-week calendar, not in 14 weeks.
Barna stated that fall has the major calendar constraints.
Seely stated that in 2004 and 2009 Labor Day will be on 6 and 7 September. Therefore, we would need to start classes two weeks before Labor Day in order to have a reasonable end date before Christmas.
Barna pointed out that many schools have moved finals to January. He asked if the students realize that they are giving up a week of Christmas vacation or a week of summer to have a half-day holiday for K-Day.
John DeVol (VP USG) stated that the CICC had recommended a 3-week Christmas break for both calendars; this, with the Thanksgiving and spring breaks, but with one fewer exam weeks, would provide the same amount of time in the summer as in our present quarter calendar, permitting students to work as long as now.
Secretary Glime stated that faculty in her department had raised concern that when classes begin two weeks before Labor Day the faculty must start three weeks before Labor Day and this would not permit them to have any break between summer and fall term (if there were 14 weeks in summer term).
Seely responded that there would be a 2-week break between summer and fall if the summer term is 12 weeks.
Dobney stated that Tom Drummer had pointed out to him that changing from 15 weeks to 14 weeks would have the effect of giving faculty a 5.5% raise when calculated on a per hour basis (as is done when calculating salaries for grants). This would also cause the pay rate for summer school to go up and summer school would lose money. He won't approve any program that would lose money.
Gale asked how many finals occur on Thursday and Friday. He suspected there were not a lot so that there might be ways to work around the late fall-semester ending date.
Snyder stated that if there is a 3-week break between terms grades would not need to be turned in until January. Therefore, it is not always necessary to start before Labor Day. No one is concerned about trying to get out earlier in the spring because it is still winter here in April.
Glime added that the little bit of time in May in the two new calendars presented by Seely would permit at least a small opportunity for field work in spring semester courses.
Seely stated that he wanted to be sure Senators had a chance to lay out choices to their constituencies. Therefore, we will not try to vote tonight. He will explain the parliamentary process in a memo to lay out the means to decide between two calendar choices.
Snyder stated that Seely has laid out a case against a 14-week calendar by always having the calendar start before Labor Day. He felt there is no reason we couldn't start the week after Labor Day and still have a three-week break.
Seely stated that he had gotten a large volume of response (at least 50) from faculty protesting ending right before Christmas. There are some years where you cannot start after Labor Day.
Snyder argued that if we start in August no matter what, then the argument for a 14-week calendar is spurious. But if we have a 15-week semester we will run right up against Christmas anyway.
Senator Ouellette pointed out that the Christmas argument is a convenience argument.
Senator Pennington stated that the choice seems to be 14 weeks with no half-day breaks or 15 weeks with half-day breaks. He stated that we have to address Martin Luther King Day in this context and we need to bring that to a close today.
Snyder MOVED and Blanning seconded the motion to observe Martin Luther King Day with a half-day suspension from classes. Seely discouraged the motion, stating that we were attempting to deal with whole calendars and that these were not proposals yet, so a vote is not possible this evening.
Snyder requested a vote to determine the sense of the Senate on this issue.
Senator Long asked when Martin Luther King Day would be and if it would always be on a Monday.
Seely responded that the Martin Luther King Day holiday would always be on the first Monday after 15 January as a half-day holiday. The CICC felt it would not be worth moving the calendar forward to begin classes earlier in January just to accommodate that holiday.
Bowen (Vice Provost for Instruction) suggested a 2-hour dismissal with a 1-hour organized convocation honoring Martin Luther King. Classes would resume at 3 p.m.
Kennedy (Director of the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Faculty Development) stated that some schools shorten all classes to provide for special programs such as the Martin Luther King program.
Pennington stated that if we vote at the next meeting on the calendars as presented, then we should recognize that we still need to discuss the possibility of dismissing classes and having other forms of recognition of Martin Luther King Day.
Seely stated that we can argue that a Friday dismissal is less disruptive. We need to consider what basis we have to observe a half-day dismissal for Martin Luther King Day and lose the other half-day holidays. The committee was concerned that opening the floodgate to this observance would then open it to the other half-day holidays as well.
Chavis pointed out that Martin Luther King Day is a federal holiday.
Barna stated that fall semester will always have a Monday off (Labor Day).
Seely added that winter term will always have two days off for Winter Carnival.
Glime asked for Chavis or others to clarify why it was important to have a half-day holiday instead of the suggested 1 or 2 hours to honor Martin Luther King and his ideals.
Chavis stated that the black students have been invited to make many presentations to local schools on Martin Luther King Day. Having only one hour off is not sufficient time for them to do that.
Walker stated that few students go to the President's Convocation and therefore a convocation style of program would not be likely to attract students. They are more likely to participate in more rigorous activities such as workshops or a peace march.
Woods stated that there are too may events associated with Martin Luther King Day to fit these into one or two hours.
Senator Lutzke stated that having a one-hour observance would trivialize the event. He sees Martin Luther King as the Ghandi of America.
Vanden Avond stated that he did not think the question was meant to trivialize the event but rather to ask how we can encourage people to participate in the events.
Sloan called for the question.
Nordberg asked what the impact of a half-day holiday would be.
Glime responded that it effectively kills a week of labs in some courses.
Rebecca Enz (USG) stated that some students won't recognize Martin Luther King Day at all and some will leave campus for the rest of the day if they are given an hour off.
Megin Agostinelli (USG) stated that she would be more likely to choose an activity that interests her, such as one of the Martin Luther King workshops.
The motion to observe a half-day suspension of classes for Martin Luther King Day PASSED on voice vote with no opposition.
Barna questioned the concern about the effective 5.5% pay increase if we have 14-week semesters and stated that we should be able to define the work year differently since few faculty were idle during the remaining weeks.
Dobney stated that the salary base [used for computing grant salaries] is the number of instructional days. This would increase summer school salaries as well.
Carr MOVED and Shapton seconded the motion to table Proposal 8-99. The motion to table PASSED on voice vote with no opposition.
6. REPORT FROM SENATE PRESIDENT
President Seely reported that the Senate Executive
Committee had discussed how to proceed with the
calendar and would be meeting again soon.
Seely would leave in the morning for a Board of Control meeting in Detroit.
7. NEW BUSINESS [Appendix D]
President Seely introduced Proposal 9-98, M. S.
Degree in Environmental Engineering Science.
8. OLD BUSINESS
A. Proposal 8-98, Revision of Scientific Misconduct
Procedures [Appendix E and see minutes, page 7814 for
a copy of this proposal.]
President Seely pointed out that there seemed to be
no problem with the additions to the preamble suggested
by the Administration, "These procedures shall apply to all
faculty, staff, and students involved in allegations of
scientific misconduct."
Under item 3, a sentence has been added, "Any removal of students from degree programs should follow existing applicable university policies," before the last sentence of the paragraph.
Gale MOVED and Shapton seconded the motion to remove from the table the motion to accept Proposal 8-98.
Pegg moved and Sloan seconded the motion to amend item 4, second sentence, to read "It is imperative that due process be followed including but not limited to the procedures described herein and that protection be afforded to the rights and reputation..."
Seely repeated the advice given by the AAUP, that a specific set of guidelines provides better protection than does reference to due process.
Senator Nordberg asked if this wasn't the very issue that had caused the proposal to be revised.
Seely responded that the prevailing issue had been academic freedom.
Senator Snyder stated that if we add the wording suggested by Pegg the proposal will definitely come back to us from the lawyer.
Pegg asked if we only wanted to proceed with what we felt was right in cases where we knew it would be approved.
Provost Dobney asked Pegg to define due process.
Pegg stated that he has no idea and that is why it is important to include it so the proposal would be all inclusive.
Senator Pennington stated that this proposal came back to us for editorial clarification only on what we had already passed. We shouldn't spend more than another minute on it.
The motion to amend Proposal 8-98 FAILED on voice vote with one opposing voice.
The motion to approve Proposal 8-98 PASSED on voice vote with no opposition.
B. Proposal 7-99, Faculty Distinguished Service Award
[See minutes, page 7777, for a copy of this proposal.]
Senator Nadgorny summarized the areas discussed
during proposal development. The committee decided
that the award need not be annual, that a recipient would
be eligible to receive another award after 10 years, and
that the Award Committee membership should be on a
rotation schedule. The first committee should develop
procedures for selection of the awardee. Nadgorny
recommended that the terms of the proposal be tried this
year and the first recipient be selected.
Pennington MOVED and Snyder seconded the motion to accept Proposal 7-99. [Voting Units are Academic Departments.]
Senator Gale asked what kind of service is meant.
Nadgorny responded that it refers to professional service.
Snyder added that spending a year on the NCA report would be an example.
Senator Chavis stated that limiting the award to once every 10 years seemed harsh; suppose someone continued to be really quite exceptional.
Kennedy (Director of the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Faculty Development) stated that the teaching award can be awarded only once to an individual. The purpose is to encourage others to strive for excellence.
Senator Drummer asked if the representative of the Senate (Item 4) must be a Senator.
Nadgorny responded that the representative must be chosen by the Senate but need not be a Senator.
Senator Sutter asked if the intent was to exclude emeriti/ae.
Seely responded that they have all the privileges of the faculty so they are included.
Senator Lutzke stated that he hoped to see fewer and fewer issues where only academic departments could vote. There has never been an issue that has been blocked by the staff.
The motion to approve Proposal 7-99 PASSED on voice vote with no opposition.
9. ADJOURNMENT
President Seely reminded Senators that the next
meeting of the Senate will be Wednesday evening of
Winter Carnival (3 February). It is important that there is
a quorum.
B. Reed MOVED and Ouellette seconded the motion to adjourn. The meeting adjourned at 7:20 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted by Janice M. Glime
Secretary of the University Senate