12 December
2002
3:00
p.m.
CSU 285
NOTES
Attendance:
Faculty: Georgia Holmes,
chair, Roger Severns, Paul J. Hustoles, recorder, Melodie Andrews, Pat Earle,
Jim Kapoun, Barbara Keating, Donald Larsson, Gregg Marg, Winifred
Mitchell, Richard Swanson, Mary Visser, Karen Willette-Murphy
Management: Richard Davenport, Karen Boubel, René Hersrud, Dean
Trauger, John Winkworth
1. Reorder/Additions —None.
2. FA President’s Report (FA) (Standing Item)—FA President Holmes is going to a lot of meetings. Last week the FA Presidents from the various MnSCU Universities had a joint meeting with the Presidents along with Chancellor McCormick and IFO President Jim Pehler to get a dialogue going. Generally it was successful. The next one is scheduled for 6 January 2003. The main agenda is to discuss issues of mutual concern. After the meeting some FA members went to the House Majority fundraiser. This was an interesting experience for some normally Democratic faculty. Most of the discussion was about our contract. Representative Sviggum said that the House would probably approve the contract if we took out the domestic partners clause. Since that time, IFO council Russ Stanton and President Pehler had another meeting with Representative Sviggum and that issue was confirmed. The next issue for us is whether or not we have to vote on this deletion as a union. We also had some discussions about the budget. There is a $400 million shortfall that is going to hit MnSCU quite hard. In the meantime, faculty are quite busy trying to finish off the semester. We have some questions about our on-going Aviation Management situation and FA President Homes and FA Vice President Severns would like to meet with President Davenport briefly after this meeting to discuss this issue. The FA will host a retreat on 9 January 2003. We will be reviewing priorities for the year. We have invited President Davenport to attend.
3. President’s Report (AD) (Standing Item)—The meeting with the IFO Presidents was a positive first step in getting to know one another. I was surprised to see that this was a "first." This is the right path to take in order to move forward, especially during challenging times. The Strategic Plan is now out on the web and we have sent a copy of it to the Deans and Department Chairs. I know that you are busy, but I have tried to expedite the process so that each of the task forces will have a clear direction in which to proceed. We will use as many existing bodies that we have in place in order to carry out as much of this work as possible. We need to be realistic and focused. These goals are very relevant. I want to thank everyone here for the work on this. Now we have to go to the next level.
FA President Holmes read the article about the Aviation Management Program in The Free Press and queried the President about it. President Davenport: We are losing enrollment. We need to get a surge in the enrollment to get it back on track. There are a lot of unhappy students and they are discouraging other students from attending. We had 180 applications this year but just over 40 matriculated. Our reputation has been tarnished because of bad publicity. We have a contract with Mankato Aviation that has been part of the problem. Hopefully, we could renegotiate that contract if things become too bad. If we continue to lose students like this, the program is in great jeopardy. I will do everything we can to keep this program afloat. I have exercised every legal option I can and have even considered breaking the contract but that would result in a major lawsuit. The timing is very bad. In the meantime we are doing whatever we can. I’m trying to meet with students individually to help resolve their issues. Financial aid is a big difficulty, especially with Federal money (going through a bank is a different issue). We also have a concern about grading. We are picking away at this.
We have issued an RFP for a PR Marketing Plan. They are on campus today. Also there is a holiday party this Monday (16 December 2002) and we encourage you all to attend.
4. Senior Vice President’s Report (AD) (Standing Item)—Sabbatical recommendations have just left the Vice President’s office for the President to consider. That has to happen in the next week. Also recommendations for the Teaching Scholars for this summer have been forwarded. The Commission on the Status of Women had a good retreat with Bernice Sandler this week. She is a world-renowned expert and she is helping the Commission on a plan for a survey that the Commission would like to do. Keating: In fall of 1982 we did a classroom climate survey (Institutional Research should still have this). FA President Holmes: There is a MnSCU-sponsored study on salary equity being conducted by the Hay Consulting Group that will be presented in the spring. (Do not believe it is a chilly climate survey).
5. MnSCU/Legislative Relations (AD/FA) (Standing Item)— President Davenport noted that we have been hitting the capital budget hard even though this is an off year. Even through the dire straits, we are hearing some Legislators talking about trying to fund the vetoed projects. We are third on the list (for Phase III) at this point. We had a Legislative Day co-sponsored with SCTC. We hosted ten Representatives and Senators and a lot of community leaders. One of them even got up and talked about funding Phase III. Senator Hottinger was the senior member there. We spent the first half of the day on our campus then had lunch at SCTC. We have a lot of work to do with the freshman legislators to educate them. FA President Holmes wasn’t quite as optimistic. She noted that there was definitely some tension between opposite party members.
President Davenport reported that the Legislators did not want to commit to anything due to the new budget figures. Prior to that time, at least the HESO money would have been restored. FA President Holmes said that Representative Howard Swenson thought that we could get along without any increases. Russ Stanton is preparing an alternate bill to oppose what the private colleges are working on. FA President Holmes brought up this issue with the state Presidents but the Chancellor did not seem to have a plan at this time.
6. Budget (AD/FA) (Standing Item)—Vice President Trauger: We have not heard anything from MnSCU regarding any cuts this fiscal year. I have started to put something together but I didn’t want to do that without getting something from them first. We don’t want rumors going around. Potential budget cut figures have ranged from $350 to $750 million. We have on reserve $3.8 million and we could put those dollars towards a cut this fiscal year. As soon as we hear anything, I will get something out. FA: Any inkling from the MnSCU Board about tuition? President Davenport: The Chancellor at first wanted to hold to the 3% line but that is now off the table. There are two primary sources of funding--state appropriation and tuition. We are going to have to prepare our students for a tuition hike. We hate to do this because we might have to price out some economic groups. FA: Did the Legislators have any feelings about the high tuition /high aid issue? President Davenport: There was no discussion today about tuition. Vice President Trauger did a fine presentation about how we are under funded compared to our sister institutions. But right now everybody is knocking at the door. Vice President Trauger: Senator Hottinger alluded to that a little bit. We are trying to get the Legislators to understand about the importance of the State funding. If we could just hold on to the appropriations we have now we could make it through this year and the modest increase requested by the Chancellor would help. There are some Legislators who are thinking they can cut because we could raise tuition. There were also some comments about vouchers. It’s hard to know where they are going to end up. A lot more money could be going to the private colleges.
President Davenport noted that our admission numbers look very good. We are approximately 800 students above where we were last year. Dr. Rene Hersrud was introduced as the new Interim Vice President for Student Affairs. FA: Are you thinking about freezing enrollment? President Davenport: I hate to use that term. When we add the impact of retention our problem is multiplied. We have two major issues. First, where do we put the freshmen? We only have roughly 3,000 beds. We have a history of wanting them to live on campus. How can we accommodate them? We have roughly 1,000 brand new apartments in the nearby vicinity opening this fall. We have readily available space that is competitively priced for upperclass students. The second issue is classroom space and faculty. We need to know how to plan accordingly. We submitted a capital budget request for Trafton and everybody knows the building needs work. If I had to do it over again, I would prioritize a classroom building as higher. We need a mega classroom building now. We have been told that it is too late for this year, but I am going to find out if it is still possible—one of the Legislators thought it was not too late to suggest this change. In a mini campaign, we might be able to raise money and put it on the fast track. FA: Private funding is the third way (in addition to State appropriations and tuition) to raise needed dollars, as happened with the Andreas Theatre. It moved quickly and we saved dollars by working outside of the MnSCU system.
7.
Recurring Items (AD/FA)
a. Consultants: RFP on public relations marketing plan, and Bernice Sandler consulting with the Commission on the Status of Women.
b. Administrative Searches: Senior Vice President Boubel distributed the current list. FA: The Affirmative Action officer ends her job this week. Who will be the AA officer during the next six months? Senior Vice President Boubel: We are hoping to have candidates here soon. President Davenport: We did have a discussion with Dr. Phyllis Wisen and Dr. Barb Carson to help us get through. Interim Vice President Hersrud: We have six finalists and we are going to have interviews scheduled by the last week of January. FA: Who will approve our current applicant pools? President Davenport: I am meeting with Dr. Carson to finalize this. We will begin a national search for a Vice President for Student Affairs in early January, with expectation for a July starting time. Diane Solinger is the Interim Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs. Senior Vice President Boubel is working to find a temporary replacement for Dr. Hersrud.
c. Campus Master Plan— President Davenport: One more meeting has been scheduled with the Deans in early January. We want to make sure they have input in the plan. I’ve asked the planning firm to consider producing a three dimensional model. It would also be nice to have available a virtual tour of the campus five years out. The Planning Sub Meet has gathered all of the comments from the open sessions and they will give some guidance and recommendations.
d. Accreditation Update —Nothing to report.
e. Parking —The FA had questions about the University Square proposal. Has the agreement been finalized? There is a bit of a disconnect from our perspective about what we have been hearing about shared governance and this project. The decision to go ahead and lease the parking spaces was made without input from the faculty. This is a sensitive issue. Vice President Trauger: This is not how we would have liked for this project to unfold. The challenge was that the owner wanted to get the gas station on the corner and didn’t want to let the word out because the property cost would have gone sky high. We did talk about this during the 14 November Meet and Confer after it hit The Free Press. This was also brought to the Budget Sub Meet and to the Parking Committee which both have faculty reps. I don’t see the downside. I will be at the next Parking Committee meeting to help clarify any of these issues. FA: Maybe the developer could have had a focus group for the faculty at the same time they brought together a student group. Vice President Trauger: We didn’t do the focus groups but I understand your concern. Student housing was briefly discussed including its potential location and how this relates to the master plan. President Davenport: I think we need to push parking out to the outer boundaries of the campus so that we can walk through campus safely and without congestion. FA: What is the timeline for the Park Square project. Vice President Trauger: The developer is still working with the City. All we have now is a letter that says that we will work with him. It will go to the City Council this Monday. The developer wants to have this up by next August. We will not do anything without coming through the Meet and Confers.
8. FY03 Equipment (AD)— Vice President Trauger: The Budget Sub Meet and the Budget Work Group have been working on this issue. We asked bargaining units for feedback on the Budget Work Group distribution plan. We were talking about a 50/50 breakdown (of $1.1 million). The FA wanted 60/40 (60% to the divisions “core block” and 40% for submittals for general University purposes). We want to have a substantial fund for classroom furniture ($80,000). I will recommend the 60/40 ratio to the President. FA: What is our relationship with JC Products regarding furniture? Vice President Trauger: They are under State contract but there is another vendor we can go to. FA: Will the equipment allocation go down? Vice President Trauger: We are sticking with $1.1 million figure this year. The Budget Work Group will come up with criteria for project submission. This will be distributed to the University community.
9. Fixed-Term/Probationary Positions (FA)—FA: We wanted to see the rational for which positions would be either probationary or converted to fixed-term. A few additional issues have been raised. Contract language says that fixed-term personnel are to be used for special needs. What priorities (e.g., academic, diversity) might have been involved to determine which positions to continue or converge? The use of fixed-term might not be effective in cost savings. The more qualified people will go for a probationary position even if there is a risk the position might be lost. There are significant issues about the time it takes to conduct the searches, to train the personnel, only to let them go at the end of the year. Senior Vice President Boubel: In 1999 we started a new category of enrollment demand dollars ($400,000 that first year). Last year we needed over $700,000 for fixed term hires to meet enrollment demand. If we are absolutely sure, then we should follow the contract. We have come to the conclusion that this year we could safely go ahead with 33 searches (with 21 new lines). Usually we have been in the low 50s. We didn’t have as many failed searches this year. I understand if some people thought we should have gone higher. FA: If the need is there every year, it is not a special need. Senior Vice President Boubel: Just the year before the first $400,000, we had a very low enrollment. I would like to remove the word “converted” or “redefine”; there is no value judgement implied. FA: But a fixed-term is fundamentally different than a probationary line. Senior Vice President Boubel: You would have preferred to do what we normally do? FA: Yes. President Davenport: Isn’t it implicit that when you search for a probationary position that there is a time commitment implied? FA: Are you anticipating retrenchment? President Davenport: I am not hesitant to hire fixed-term faculty. We don’t know what the big picture looks like yet. We might have to slow the enrollment. FA: President Davenport, earlier today you mentioned “partnerships with the community” during the legislative tour. We can’t do that with fixed-term people. The type of quality and commitment that you want will only come with ongoing faculty. President Davenport: I agree.
10. Academic Calendar 2003-04 (AD)— Senior Vice President Boubel distributed the memo from the FA regarding the change in calendar. President Davenport and Senior Vice President Boubel conferred and agreed that we will define the non-class day in the middle of fall term as a duty day for faculty but a non-class day for students. The rest of the memo will be discussed at our next meeting.
The meeting ended at 5:01 p.m.