EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
MEETING
Thursday, November 30,
2006
CSU 204
Approved
Minutes
In attendance:
Stephen Bohnenblust, Roger Severns, Paul Hustoles (recorder), Mary
Visser, Glen
Peterson, Anne O’Meara, Pat McKinzie, Daardi Sizemore, Theresa
Salerno, Wayne Allen, Jean Haar, Gerald Schneck, Paul Brennan,
Ron
Browne, Scott Page, Linda Duckett, Steve Gilbert, Cheryl Radeloff, Dan
Cronn-Mills
President Bohnenblust
called the meeting to order at 3:06 p.m.
1. Minutes
of
November 2, 2006—Schneck/Sizemore
moved to approve. Passed.
2.
Call
for Additional Items/ Reordering of Agenda—Bohnenblust: We will add an IPSEL update under discussion items. I
did try to include those items most likely to go to Meet and Confer,
which will
be the last one of the semester.
3.
President’s
Report
a.
FA Executive Spring Retreat (January 11, 2007, 8:00 a.m.
to 1:00 p.m., Heritage Room,
CSU)—Bohnenblust: This is a longer time than maybe we thought. We’ll
have
breakfast and then maybe not meet on January 18 as
originally
planned.
b.
Enrollment Management—Bohnenblust:
Thanks to Salerno, McKinzie, O’Meara and Schneck for their attendance.
We did
talk about making sure that we get a bang for the buck if we do make
any
changes. Haar: What are the
consultant’s backgrounds? Bohnenblust: One was a professor at Ohio
State but
they all have university experience. They seem pretty perceptive.
O’Meara: One
worked in financial affairs for 35 years. Haar: Are they together as a
group?
O’Meara: No, they are individual. I urge you to look at the website. There were a lot of Student Affairs
people there. We are not well represented. If
you have time, it would help to give feedback.
4.
IFO/MnSCU
Committees
a. MnSCU's
Spring Diversity Conference Planning Committee (1 Needed Statewide)
b. Board
of Trustees Academic & Student Affairs Policy Council (1 Rep from
State
University System)
c. Instructional
Management System (IMS) Advisory Council
5.
FACULTY
ASSOCIATION COMMITTEE APPOINTMENTS NEEDED
a. College
of Business Representation on the following: General Education (2 Years)
b. General Education 1Year
Replacement
for Education
6.
2006
FALL APPOINTMENTS
a.
Parking
Advisory – Autumn Benner
b. Academic
Calendar Committee — Paul Hustoles (A&H); Gregg Marg; Youwen Xu
(SET)(Confirmed by electronic vote 11/15/06)
c. Health
& Wellness Committee – Sue Fredstrom; Penny Knoblich; Judith
Luebke;
Mark McCullough; Mary Visser
d. Affirmative
Action Council – Scott
Granberg-Rademacker
e. Presidential
Scholarship Group – Anne Dahlman (Educ)
O’Meara/Schneck moved
the
slate. Passed.
7.
Discussion
Items
a.
IPSEL Update:
Cronn-Mills: We have over 100 applications from over 90 faculty. We
have 42 to
give out. Bohnenblust: What have you heard around campus? Visser: Some
people
complained about the timeline but the committee is doing a great job.
Cronn-Mills: We knew that this would be a very tight timeline. It is interesting to note that there
are a lot of senior faculty involved. Bohnenblust: FYI this has not
been
popular on other campuses at all. This is a big issue with our
Negotiating
Team. This is under the umbrella of performance pay. I believe that the
faculty
are interested in incentive pay. Peterson: Would it make sense to go
back
through MnSCU to find out if there is any money left? We should request
it? Severns: We have talked about
ranking the rejected applications just in case of the possibility of
more money
coming in. Cronn-Mills: All proposals are being rank ordered. Duckett: Can you talk about collective
proposals? Brennan: In the past, some applied separately for a joint
initiative. Cronn-Mills: We will give the $5,500 per faculty member so
joint
proposals can be funded to the number of faculty members in there. Hustoles: I would be one that would
disagree with this incentive pay concept.
It makes sense to add to the base if we could.
Some of us are working so hard, we don’t even have time to
apply. Visser: Some of us work
very hard and still really worked hard to get the grants in. Severns: Economically, I agree with
Hustoles, but there are some things that you are going to have trouble
to have
MnSCU fund. Most of these grants are things we would like MnSCU to do
but wont
normally happen. Brennan: What seems to be most important is how good
you are
at writing your proposal. Maybe there are some departmental things that
might
be worked into a grant.
b.
Graduate Faculty Status—Bohnenblust:
Page and Dean Blackhurst and colleagues have spent a lot of time on
this. It is
time to give the group feedback.
It is my understanding that this has not yet gone to Academic
Council.
Page: We sent out a draft and got about 35-40 comments. Then we sent
out
several more drafts through the IFO. We were concerned about the review
process. Schneck: If this is approved, how will this be implemented? Page: That’s the discussion we are
going to have on Monday. We are thinking that we would grandfather
everyone in
and focus on the new doctoral faculty. We donÔt want everyone to
go through the
review process this spring. We
want to go with our regular four-year cycle. Cronn-Mills: It is going
to be a
challenge the first time around in this cycle.
Page: The standards are very similar for what you do
for tenure and promotion. Cronn-Mills: But someone who has been here
for 20
years might not have published in the last year or two. Page: We had
one person
state that the research level should be based upon their entire career
rather
than in a four-year cycle. But we decided that they should really be
current in
their field. Cronn-Mills: A slight
change perhaps: The line that begins ÒRegular Graduate Faculty
Status is
intendedÉÓ seems to be a slight to those who are already
established. Page:
Give me some language. Sizemore: The way I interpreted it is that each
department makes a recommendation, so you would not be penalized by the
timelines of your discipline. Severns: One of the areas that could be a
challenge is in Business as the accreditation standards in the college
do not
square with the standards that you have written. Page: We understand
that the
colleges have different emphases. Bohnenblust: I’m assuming that this
would be
a minimum requirement. Page: It is. Browne: For promotion and tenure,
are your
faculty looked at differently (in Business)? Radeloff: Some of us
junior
faculty members are concerned about if we don’t achieve graduate
faculty
status, will that affect tenure and promotion? Bohnenblust: We had a
meeting
with the new faculty and there were some who were very concerned about
this
from one college. We did hear from VP Olson that there has not been a
significant shift in promotion requirements. He will be talking to Dean
Alessio
about this. Bohnenblust: Maybe this should be discussed at Meet and
Confer.
Cronn-Mills suggested an edit on page 1. Severns suggested a change on
page 4.
Schneck: Some individuals are hired into programs that are solely at
the
graduate level—if they don’t achieve this, they couldn’t teach.
Cronn-Mills: I’m wondering about the ex-officio members and what
privileges
that they have. Page: The same as regular graduate faculty. They could
serve on
a committee or on a sub meet. Cronn-Mills: I just think we could spell
these
out. Page suggested a change to clarify. Schneck: On page 7, Emergency
Clause,
why is it just for a new person?
Sizemore: In an emergency you can’t always know who would be
available.
Page: We will take out the word “new.”
Browne: In regards to the compensation, what feedback have you
received?
Page: We can’t require this so we felt more comfortable putting in
recommendations. Severns/Cronn-Mills moved that the Executive Committee
approve
this document with the changes. Sizemore: I would like to thank the
Graduate
Committee for all their hard work on this. Cronn-Mills: And thanks to
Page who
has been the focal point for a lot of grief! Motion
passed.
c. Campus Dining—Bohnenblust: It looks like
we may
be in a situation with both dining and the Pepsi contract where there
are going
to be some tight interpretations of the rules. We
received a document that, during the Meet and Confer,
became a “draft” document. I
looked through the Sodexho contact. Again someone is signing contracts
that
seem to have no input from the faculty. As a starting point, maybe they
should
bring in Cindy Janney and ask her to explain what it is that they think
we can
or cannot do. Faculty are not
being properly consulted. I would
also suggest that if the rules are in effect, we find out what the
punishments
would be. Hustoles: We have quite a concessions business in the
Performing
Arts. Why aren’t we consulted on these issues? Bohnenblust: There is a
lack of
consultation. Mid-level manager
decisions are killing us. We are
going to have our annual gathering at the FA office and we are not
using
Sodexho. Sizemore: In general, this information is not new but carries
over
from previous contracts. However, there is different enforcement. I
don’t think
anyone has the right to come into my office to tell me what pop I can
drink. If
we are buying things out of non-MSU monies, who should care? Duckett:
We did
talk about contacts that should come to the Planning Submeet. McKinzie:
We
sponsored an event in Ostrander and we did ask them to match the price
that we
could get from Dominos or Hy-Vee and Sodexho did match the price. But
we are
really talking about contracts. Before they make one, they need to make
it
right. Schneck: Are contracts reviewed by Carol Stallkamp?
She used to, but not any more. Allen:
We are so supportive of
international students and diversity; we need to make sure that they
are
allowed to do their own thing.
Visser: It is too late for our review if a contract is in its
final
stages. We need to participate at the beginning. Bohnenblust:
Again, it sounds like we should put this on
Meet and Confer. Gilbert: Could contracts be folded into the Policy on
Policies
group? Bohnenblust: That could be
the focus of the discussion at Meet and Confer.
d.
Affirmative Action Committee—Bohnenblust: We did receive
this at Meet and Confer but it
has been slightly revised. One of the co-chairs is also on our
Executive
Committee (Duckett). Duckett: We
need to participate in this. Hustoles/Cronn-Mills moved to
support this
initiative. Passed.
e.
Safety Committee—Bohnenblust:
This goes back to last spring. This is one that we knew nothing about.
We asked
last spring for a committee charge and that we have some
representatives from
Trafton, from the Athletic complex and one general faculty member. We did hear yesterday that VP Straka is
concerned about the length of time it takes to write a charge. We will put this on Meet and Confer.
f.
Van Rates—Bohnenblust:
Is this taken care of? Haar: I’m
not sure. We looked at this with
VP Straka and it looked like things were equaling out. Salerno: There
was a huge
increase for Biology. I sent a
letter to VP Olson and have not received a reply. Severns:
Did the letter come to the Budget Committee? Haar:
Are other departments affected?
Hustoles: We discovered that it was close to a wash for us.
Cronn-Mills:
But some departments don’t even know about this. Bohnenblust: I could
send out
something to all faculty. Duckett:
It would be interesting to see how this breaks out for Athletics. McKenzie: It does seem to favor longer
trips. Bohnenblust: I will send a
memo requesting feedback.
g. Departmental Web Pages—Bohnenblust: there is some
difficulty
in changing departmental web pages.
Schneck: I had been doing content pages, when they switched to
the new
template. Now you have to have a
designated person. There’s some training that’s associated with it. Cronn-Mills: The biggest issue is how
big your website is. Browne: Does
this agenda item stem from the College of Allied Health? There’s more
to it
than web pages. IT was to put into
effect a better flow of information. There are fees being charged that
we don’t
have access too. Schneck: They are
charging for certain services.
Severns: Are they going to change individual changes? Browne: It
was for
departmental web pages and also the flow of information.
We want to seek input from the other
College Reps. Do you have college technology committees? Could this be
developed into a Meet and Confer item?
Bohnenblust: You have raised some issues. We need to find if
these are
widespread. Would it be appropriate
to ask your committee to get a list of concerns and ask the faculty for
a
response? Browne: They are meeting
with VP Schneider next week and, depending on that, the summary will be
based.
Schneck: The other problem is with budget. Departments
have not been prepared for this. McKinzie: This
goes back to the van rates too. When they change things that impacts
budgets,
they don’t take it into consideration and increase the budgets to pay
for the
change.
h.
Athletics—Bohnenblust:
This is becoming a big issue. The NCC has dissolved.
We have to figure out which direction we are going. There
will be pressure to move some sports to Division I. There is going to
be a
variety of other proposals that are going to be out there.
I speculated to President Davenport and
VP Olson that a big issue for the faculty is, What is going to be the
cost? Visser:
It is really going to affect us in Human Performance.
If we go to Division I, we are very concerned about
scheduling the facilities.
Bohnenblust: Do we put this on Meet and Confer? Visser: We must,
to
demonstrate our concern and to insist on being involved in the planning
process. McKinzie: Maybe MnSCU could go to the legislature to ask for
emergency
funding. Bohnenblust: I don’t
think that is going to happen. Haar: We addressed this at the Budget
Sub meet. Bohnenblust: I will be meeting
with the
coaches in a week or so and this is going to be one of the topics.
Browne:
Maybe we should figure out what we want to say in the Meet and Confer.
Should
we say that curriculum should be priority number one and that league
affiliation is not as important? Visser: And this also affects the
facilities
and the students’ time away from campus. Radeloff: A move to Division I
would
require more support services too.
And we are going to start doctoral programs that will also
stress our
resources. Visser: I have a problem with giving athletes special
services that
we don’t offer to other students. Brennan: Are the people going with
Division I
using it as an enrollment booster? McKinzie: Now teams are really
marketing
devices for a university. Severns: There are problems any way we wind
up going.
We need to have a wider discussion. I think there are gender equity
problems.
Schneck: During the process of going to Division I status for hockey,
there was
some concern about Division II even existing in a couple of years.
Bohnenblust:
We might also recommend to President Davenport that this get widespread
discussion. Cronn-Mills: If they go to Division I, it will draw from
SAC and
other SAC programs might be negatively impacted. Visser: Dean Trauger
is now a
special assistant working with Athletics. I think he is part of
building toward
Division I. Severns: But I think
Trauger really has a handle on what these actual costs are. Schneck: Would there be a squeeze on
the fitness facilities? Visser: We
would lose some access for classrooms.
Could you prepare a statement?
Bohnenblust: I will use our notes to prepare that.
i.
2008/2009 Calendar—Hustoles/Visser
moved that the Faculty supports the principle of retaining classes on
Veterans’
Day while supporting the development of and the participation in
Veterans’ Day
activities. Passed. Bohnenblust: We will
recommend this at
Meet and Confer
j.
D2L—Schneck:
There
was some concern that changes were made without consultation with
faculty. We
discussed this at LTR and now there is a group of faculty that have to
be
consulted before any changes are made. We have to continue to watch
this. Bohnenblust: These discussions are
also
happening at the statewide level.
k. Term Limits for FA
Secretary and FA
Treasurer—Bohnenblust:
Severns and I were talking about the wisdom of keeping these term
limits. We
could change the Constitution. Brennan: How about with a super-majority
vote?
Visser: I think it would be a good idea to remove them and it would
seem to me
that it would be relatively easy to do this. Cronn-Mills:
These positions require continuity. Hustoles:
I disagree with changing the
Constitution. We don’t want these positions to just become staff. We
have the
ability to install Officers if the need demands, as happened in my
case.
Visser: I support what Hustoles just said. McKinzie: Maybe we just
eliminate
term limits. Then we can elect qualified people as long as we
want.
Page: May I suggest that you put some language together so we can look
at it at
the next meeting? Bohnenblust: We
can do that.
l. Parking—Bohnenblust: We did send
this to
faculty and we didn’t receive any comment. I
will brief the new Faculty Rep on this.
8. Informational Items
a. Holiday
Gathering – Tuesday, December 5, 2006 – FACR 11:00 to 1:30 p.m.
b. Next
Executive Meeting – Thursday, January 11 @ 8:00 a.m., Heritage Room
– CSU 101
c. Next
FA/AD Meet & Confer – Thursday, February 01, 2007 @ 3:00 p.m., CSU
204 (FA Chair/AD Agenda)
d. Spring,
2007 Calendar of Meetings (UPDATED)(Terra
Green)
The meeting adjourned
at 5:04 p.m.
Paul J. Hustoles
Recording Secretary