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EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING
Thursday, April 13, 2006
CSU 204
Approved Minutes

In attendance: Stephen Bohnenblust, Paul Hustoles (recorder), Stewart Ross, Sonja Meiers, Gwen Griffin, Jim Petersen, Anne O’Meara, Dick Swanson, Don Descy, Daardi Sizemore; Theresa Salerno, Gerald Schneck, Evan Rusch, Ron Nickerson, Brock McMillan, Jim Grabowska, Avra Johnson, Linda Underwood (for Penny Knoblich), Marie Pomije

Guests: Linda Duckett, Dan Cronn-Mills

President Bohnenblust called the meeting to order at 3:06 p.m.

1.    Minutes of March 30, 2006—Schneck/McMillan moved to approve.  Passed.
    
2.    Call for Additional Items/ Reordering of Agenda—Pomije: The Working Group for academic programs not housed in departments has a report.

3.    President’s Report—Bohnenblust: Let us first recognize outstanding service given to the Exec Committee (awards given to): Dick Swanson, Brock McMillan, Sonja Meiers, Stewart Ross, Gwen Griffin, Barb Bergman, Jim Grabowska, Jim Peterson and Marie Pomije.
    a.    Sub Meet Chair Election—Bohnenblust: You need to elect your chairs if you haven’t done so already.    
b.    Doctoral Program Spring Retreat (Thursday, April 20, 2006; Midwest Wireless Center; 10:00 to 1:00 p.m., lunch provided)—Bohnenblust: We have invited reps from each of the programs affected to be there.  We need to decide who from us should be going.  Certainly Graduate Submeet Chair; Swanson, Grabowska and  Meiers are interested; and new chair Scott Paige.  The whole Graduate Submeet.  Perhaps someone from UCAP.  We need to find out what we know and what we need to do.  We might have answers but we will need to raise questions.  We will have the Graduate Submeet go and any others send an email to Blom.  
c.    FA Sponsored Spring 2006 Picnic (Tuesday, May 9, 2006 from 11:30 to 1:30 p.m., Open Mall)—Just a reminder.
d.    Faculty Association Retreat (All Committees and Administrators for Lunch, Tuesday, August 22, 2006, Old Main Village)
e.    Faculty Association General Meeting (Tuesday, August 22, 2006, CSU 253-4-5)
f.    Faculty Association New Faculty Social (Wednesday, August 23, 2006, 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., Social Time; 5:30 p.m., Buffet Supper, Applewood)—Bohnenblust: We have expanded the social hour.  All Exec members will be invited.  It was wonderful last year.  This is a great way to meet new faculty.
    
4.    Treasurers Report (distributed)—Bohnenblust: We are in very good shape.

5.    IFO Committee Recommendations
    a.    Minnesota Online Council – Roland Nord, Mary Hadley—Bohnenblust: Currently there is not a representative from every university.  We did ask to have reps from all the state universities because every one of us has a strong interest. We are able to nominate one from each campus at this time. Schneck/Pomije moved to nominate Mary Hadley.  Passed.
        
6.    FACULTY ASSOCIATION COMMITTEE APPOINTMENTS NEEDED AS OF 1/19/06
a.    College of Business Needs Representation on the following: General Education; Institutional Review Board
b.    International Programs Committee (1 Faculty Member Needed)

7.    New Spring 2006 - APPOINTMENTS
    a.    Learning Roundtable (LTR) Steve Smith as replacement for Nina LeNoir (A&H)
    b.    Learning Roundtable (LTR) New Appointments (Select 1 from each unit – 3 year appointment) – A&H – Terry Flaherty; AH&N – Angela Monson; Sandra Eggenberger; Educ – J. Patrick McKinzie; Lib/Unaf – Peg Lawrence; George Corey
    c.    General Education Committee – A&H 1 year replacement for D. Liebendorfer – Brandon Cooke
    d.    Faculty Development Committee – A&H 1 year replacement for K. Cady – Marshel Rossow
    e.    Budget Committee – A&H – Fall Semester 2006 replacement for N. LeNoir – Randall McClure
    f.    Family Weekend Planning Committee – Nancy Sprengeler (Lib/Unaf)
    g.    General Education Chair – 2006-2007 – Ron Nickerson
    h.    Graduate Chair for 2006-2007 – Scott Page
    i.    Planning Chair for 2006-2007 – Linda Duckett
    j.    UCAP Chair for 2006-2007 – Dan Cronn-Mills
    k.    State IFO Negotiator – Jim Grabowska
    l.     Faculty Development chair: Paul Brennan
Hustoles/Grabowska moved the slate except for b above. Passed. Eggenberger and Lawrence were elected to serve on the LTR.  Hustoles/Grabowska moved Flaherty and McKinzie also be approved.  Passed.

8.    Discussion Items
    a.    Workload Issue (handout)—Bohnenblust: We have had to deal with these issues on an ad hoc basis up to now.  Meiers: Who sent this?  Bohnenblust: Shirley Murray on behalf of Dean Lipetzki.  Swanson: Who limits the enrollment on this? Bohnenblust: It has been suggested that some faculty are making an extraordinary amount, over $200,000 on this.  That would be a virtually unlimited enrollment.  We are going to see this issue coming up multiple times in the future.  We did anticipate this in Delegate Assembly.  We did ask the Negotiating Team to work on this.  Grabowska: I offered an opinion that was against differentiating between for-credit students and non-credit students.  As far as I’m concerned, the contract covers this.  O’Meara: Are all of these online courses?  Grabowska: This is, but not necessarily for others.  Bohnenblust: And this could be both inload and overload.  Nickerson: I agree with Grabowska.  The work is on the front end.  It doesn’t make any difference how many students there are.  Bohnenblust: We have to be careful about establishing a precedent.  This would be a perfect opportunity to hold the line and force MnSCU to deal with these issues. Pomije: We have to be very cautious not to draw a distinction between front end and back end work.  It’s plenty of work either way.  We should be reimbursed the way the contract says.  Meiers: Why wouldn’t what we did with the College of Ed work here?  Bohnenblust: Because the contract speak specifically to this. Griffin/ Swanson moved that we maintain the $65 fee per credit hour according to the contract.  Swanson: Note that you could greatly increase your pension in just one year. Grabowska: This issue is on the table so that we can deal with this as a union rather than institution by institution.  Bohnenblust: Remember in the fall we asked for an overload report and that was not an issue. Motion passed.  Bohnenblust: I will respond to this memo.
    b.    Notification of Faculty of Tragedy—Bohnenblust: We have had the tragic situation of two suicides in recent weeks. There have been other tragic events.  A faculty member brought this up.  She had a class in which the individual was well known.  She found out about it just before class. VP Swatfager-Haney did say that faculty were getting notice. But it was sent thought regular mail.  McMillan: I got a letter two weeks after the death.  Bohnenblust: It would seem logical that we would be notified in a timely manner.  The Counseling Center has agreed to help in some capacity.  Would you want us to ask questions about this?  Hustoles: I think you should talk to VP Swatfager-Haney.  It should come from her office.  Sizemore: I think it should go to all faculty.  I didn’t find out about it until I read The Reporter. Descy: At the LTR, they are working on a campus-wide emergency notification system.  Schneck: But that’s just for tornadoes, fires and things.  That might not be the best way for this.  Griffin: Student Affairs has the schedule for the student.  We could recommend that the student’s current instructors and advisor be notified immediately and then a memo be sent to the rest of us.  Swanson: Why couldn’t they even call us?  It doesn’t happen that often.  Bohnenblust: I’ll talk to VP Swatfager-Haney and ask her to report back at Meet and Confer.  I will ask for a home phone call and email to those directly involved, then a general email to the rest of the faculty.  Grabowska: It is my understanding that the VPs have a limited number of “all call” emails.  It might have to come from the President.
    c.    Consensual Relationship Policy (Handout)—Swanson: Is this a change in the policy? Bohnenblust: This is a shift. Right now consensual relationships are not addressed at all.  McMillan: What does this do if a chair and faculty member are married?  Bohnenblust: Whatever duty the chair would normally do, they would step aside.  Grabowska: I am in that situation and that’s what we do. Nickerson: What does extracurricular activity mean? Petersen: The second paragraph seems very broad.  Schneck: What if you end up in a business relationship with a student?  Bohnenblust: There is no action that we would take with this but we need to share this.  If you have any comments we will carry this forth at the state level.
    d.    Differential Tuition (Handout)—Bohnenblust: Here is the approval form. We have a situation with the MSW program. They were a bit confused.  They key question is who would have to sign off on this?  Does the FA President really need to sign this?  Hustoles: This form is horrific.  What if four say yes and three so no?  Who has final say?  Is this a vote?  Pomije: This form is two years old, which is why it was out of date.  Nickerson: I thought this was going to be limited to Graduate Studies. McMillan: I think we have approved something at the undergrad level. (Discussion followed.)  Pomije: I was in on this. UCAP needs to be part of this. Nickerson: But we talked about limiting this to graduate programs. This is a backdoor way to get differential tuition for undergrad programs.  Bohnenblust: Do we want to reaffirm the position that we are only talking about grad programs? Sizemore: It clearly says that in #1 for on campus courses.  Grabowska: There are on campus students taking online courses. It can become cheaper to do this.  Bohnenblust: What are your suggestions?  We need to take off LTR and put Extended Learning there.  Grabowska: It also says that the guidelines are established for three years, so it is logical to look at these again and refine them.  Meiers: Why is the MSSA President sign off line here? Pomije: Don’t the students have input on tuition?  Cronn-Mills: They just make recommendations.  Nickerson: And Academic Affairs Council is not even a person.  Sizemore: Can we recommend this to one or two of our Submeets?  Bohnenblust: We can kick it back to UCAP, Grad and Extended Learning.  Nickerson/Meiers moved to do this.  Swanson: This is for next fall? Bohnenblust: Yes.  Hustoles: As your rep to the Policy on Policies Committee, please always date and take ownership of your work.  Passed.
e.    Interim AVP Selection Process—Bohnenblust: AVP Sandmann will be rejoining
the faculty. VP Olson is looking for an interim AVP. He was suggesting that the Administration comes forward with some names.  In the past, we sent forth the names then came up with feedback and we then sent back reactions as to whether we thought the candidate was acceptable or not.  We could also do some recruiting. Sizemore: Sounds like a good process.  (General consensus.)  Bohnenblust: If you know someone who would like this position, ask them about it.
f.    Work Group Report—Pomije: At Meet and Confer, we created a Work Group that would deal with programs without a department home. We identified various existing programs and then we went on to research about what other MnSCU schools do and what other schools outside of the state do.  In the long term, the Group recommends an administrative unit that carries with it a Dean, like a General College. That’s where you could have an AA degree, Honors, First Year Experience, and so one. Many schools have this model.  This would be splitting responsibilities from the current AVP position or, perhaps, taking that position and transforming it into this.  Short term: we believe that it is most appropriate to retain the current structures of Honors, First Year, AAs, Liberal Studies and Open Studies.  We also believe that Extended Studies should begin in that division.  The Extending Learning Submeet would be the place to talk about issues and that body would serve as a college curriculum committee. We also talked about the Center For Academic Success going though CSET. (More discussion followed.)  Bohnenblust: I just got the report this afternoon. I will send this out as an attachment.  Pomije: I would suggest that this be addressed at the Meet and Confer but we need to work out details in the fall. We have looked at the Honors Program and it is really an issue.  We would recommend a faculty work group to look at this as a specific issue.  Enrollment has dropped significantly. This is a very troubling trend. Bohnenblust: And the new Honors Director did come to us and is trying to revitalize the program.  McMillan: I would think we would want to come up with a unified front about what we think before we bring this to Meet and Confer.  Hustoles: I think Pomije is right in that we should put it on the Meet and Confer but we need to discuss this before we give them the report.  We also need to highlight the concern regarding the Honors Program. Bohnenblust: That’s what we’ll do.

The meeting adjourned at 4:28 p.m.

Paul J. Hustoles
Recording Secretary
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