3:30 p.m., CSU 204
(Faculty Chair)
NOTES
Attendance:
Faculty: Stephen
Bohnenblust, chair, Roger Severns, Wayne Allen, Don Descy, Pat Earle,
Paul J.
Hustoles, recorder, Barbara Keating, Donald Larsson, Gregg Marg, Sonja
Meiers,
Stewart Ross, Richard Swanson, Mary Visser
Management: Richard
Davenport, Scott Olson, Lori Lamb, Denise Schlake, Dean Trauger, John
Winkworth
FA
President Bohnenblust began with introductions of all the members.
1.
Reorder/Additions: None.
2. FA
President's
Report (FA) (Standing Item): FA
President Bohnenblust: Being
new to the job, I have no significant accomplishments to report yet. I have been visiting the various
administrators with the expectation of establishing a strong working
relationship.
3. President's
Report
(AD) Standing Item): President
Davenport: I, also, do not have a lot to report. We had a successful retreat with 70
faculty, staff and students. We
talked about a lot of issues and covered a lot of ground.
The minutes are on the President's home
page. It was very helpful to get
input from so many different groups.
We also hosted the Minnesota Rural Summit for the first time
ever. About 400 people, including the
Governor, attended. It helped with
our public relations. Many of you
heard my University address. What
I tried to do was to focus on some of our immediate goals and the
concept of
the Modern University. We are in a
pretty good position to accomplish much of what we want to do. The faculty will play a key role.
One question I heard was about
ÒreviewingÓ programs. I am
not
talking about cutting or laying off people. I
was talking about preventing institutional drift. How
can we enhance what we offer, or
size some things down to put the emphasis where we really need to? I put the challenge out there.
This type of plan is the kind of thing
that comes from the faculty.
4. Academic
Affairs
Vice President's Report (AD) (Standing Item): Vice President Olson:
Having recently come from another state, I bring you news from
the
outside. Things look pretty good
here at MSU. a. American
Democracy Project
(handout):
How can we build a more involved, engaged democracy here on
campus? Maybe a group of 20 faculty
members
could discuss this issue. There might
be money from the American Association of State Colleges and
Universities
(AASCU) to help develop this. I'm
hoping the FA will talk about this and about how to engage faculty. b. Strategic
Priority V (handout): The other four
task forces have already issued reports.
This one hasn't really gotten off the ground.
Please react to the handout. I have
no preconceived idea as to what this will be but my
real desire is that it will be something so vital, that it becomes
something
that energizes the campus. This
would be our year of brainstorming and, by this spring, we would lay
out
goals. We need to get going.
5. MnSCU/Legislative
Relations (AD/FA) (Standing Item): President
Davenport: This is a little early
in the year for a report. I can
tell you that we (MnSCU) Presidents have sanctions about what we can
lobby
for. We do have permission for
Trafton so I will be working hard on this. I
can also lobby for the general support of our
institution. Union bargaining is
going on and we will be reviewing our capital projects.
Trafton was ranked 22 out of 32
projects. We may come in under the
wire. If this project is funded,
it will be the largest project funded by MnSCU ever (at $50 million). I'm encouraged, but cautious.
Vice President Trauger: This year
we actually ranked second but
carryovers from previous years came before us. The
project is a good one. FA:
When will
be the next opportunity to float a new classroom building?
President Davenport: It will be two
years from now. But we should talk about
this in our
next capital campaign. I'm
advocating that a new classroom building be one of the major goals or
at least
be a high priority within it. We should
at least get the pre-planning started.
Optimistically, we could get this funded within three years. Vice President Trauger:
Yes, if the planning money is not
approved, we would want to do this ourselves to secure the construction
money.
6. Budget
(AD/FA)
(Standing Item): Vice
President
Trauger: The Budget Sub Meet met
yesterday and we talked about how we want to proceed.
FA: What is the
student enrollment? President
Davenport: We enrolled 2,400 new
freshmen, 300 more than expected.
We do have 16 students in the lounges and 60 on a waiting list. We have had a conversation if we should
have a freshman residency requirement, but that wouldn't leave a lot of
room
for the rest. FA: What
about all of the new private
housing? Vice President
Schlake: We need to take this into
consideration. It was not
considered in the residence hall master plan. This
is an area we need to be working on.
7. Recurring
Items
(AD/FA): a. Consultants: Vice
President Olson: Dean Michael
Miller has talked about a review of the Aviation Program.
Perhaps there would be two consultants,
but we just learned about this today.
b. Administrative
Searches (report attached): President Davenport: The
Affirmative Action position is
ready to be advertised nationally.
The AA Officer will continue to report to the President. c. Campus
Master Plan:
President Davenport: We will have a
meeting in a few days
with Perry Wood and H. Roger Smith along with athletics, the student
center and
others to make sure the campus is well represented.
We spent last year cleaning up a mess, but I feel pretty
good about the way the plan looks right now. We
spent a lot more money on this than we should have.
It was almost unintelligible for the
layman. We forced them to clean it
up. FA: What
is the status of the Peters' development? President
Davenport: The parking discussion is off
the
table. As for the tax increment
financing, they are talking about putting up a fence down Stadium Road
and
there is consideration of an underground passageway for the
intersection of
Stadium Road and Warren Street.
Vice President Trauger: We
want to get involved in the planning because we are talking about a lot
of
money. President Davenport:
There are challenges that would have to
be settled but they haven't really talked to us yet about this. FA: What about a
traffic light? Vice President Trauger: There was going to be one at Monks, but the
city delayed its
implementation. President
Davenport: The City has also
talked about a regional athletic center (like the Civic Center). We have a real shortage of soccer and
high school football fields. We
have an outdoor track, but it is not usable. We
have an agreement with District 77 to use their
track. FA: Is
there a mass transit
discussion? President
Davenport: We have not really
discussed this, although Student President Rhys Gaffer is talking about
this
issue. Also, the Vikings are
sending out RFP's to nine different institutions. We'd
like to keep them here, but we are not going to write
out a check for $900,000. We will
let the City respond to the RFP.
We will rent our facilities, not give them away.
We will not put a monetary deal
together. We think our training
camp is one of the best in the country.
If they can get a better deal, they will. FA: Last year,
a week before classes, we discovered that all our locks on our
classrooms were
changed (due to the camp).
President Davenport: We can
do a better job of letting Human Performance in on the planning. d. Accreditation Update:
Vice President
Olson: We are beginning
the planning for the 2005-2006 site visit of the Higher Learning
Commission
(formerly North Central Association).
Dr. Don Larsson and Dean Susan Coultrap-McQuin are leading the
preparation process. We are also
preparing for the 2004-2005 site visit for NCATE. Dr.
Maureen Preen and Dean Michael Miller are leading the
preparation process. Disciplinary
accreditation visits are scheduled for:
Curriculum & Instruction, Educational Foundations,
Educational
Leadership/Experiential Education, Library Media Education,
Rehabilitative
Counseling, Social Studies, Special Education, and Art and Interior
Design. Program Reviews are
scheduled for: Affirmative Action,
Anthropology, Biological Sciences/Clinical Lab Sciences/ Environmental
Sciences, Economics, Gerontology, Humanities, Physics & Astronomy
and
Sociology/Corrections. e.
Parking: FA
President Bohnenblust: The faculty
gold permit is now a regular item.
We will be looking for a new FA representative to the committee. FA: Is
parking working out? VP Schlake: I
have not heard about any concerns yet. FA
President Bohnenblust: David Cowan has
heard some complaints. But there does not
seem to be anything
outside of the ordinary. FA:
City bus schedules are still on summer
schedule until Labor Day. The
timing does not work well for MSU.
We should ask the City to adjust this next year.
Vice President Trauger: We will do
this. f. Electronic
Campus:
Vice President
Olson: In an effort to both reduce expenditures
in a time of decreasing
financial support, as well as to save time and effort, and to improve
record
keeping, the University is exploring ways to increase the appropriate
use of
e-communication and decrease the amount of paper communication. Examples already in place include the
move to on-line billing for tuition, communicating to students about
other
financial aid issues through e-mail, making the graduate bulletin
on-line only,
and no longer printing a course schedule for registration.
Possible future plans could include
moving to an on-line undergraduate bulletin, submitting forms (such as
curricular proposals and personnel documents) electronically, and using
e-mail
as the official mode of University communication (with the exception
for items
bound by contractual requirements).
The Learning Technology Roundtable (with representation from all
bargaining units and administration) will coordinate this process. President Davenport: We
did get a complaint from the
Chancellor's office (from a student) about our on-line bulletin. However, at the MnSCU booth at the
State Fair they did have laptops.
FA: There was a challenge
getting access to the MSU website because the server was off line. Vice President Olson: That
was because of the virus. FA: The website seems to often be inaccessible. Vice President Olson: The
LRT will discuss this. President Davenport: This virus was very serious.
Our staff got on top of this right
away. They deserve a lot of
praise. FA: Our
new faculty are very impressed with
the computer help they have received these past two weeks.
8. Faculty
Orientation
for Fall 2004 (AD): Vice
President
Olson: We want to get the faculty
response to how we did. A
preliminary schedule for fall 2004 was distributed for FA feedback. President Davenport: We
will ask the new faculty how things
are going on 5 November 2003.
FA: The graduate faculty
meeting conflicted with the FA retreat.
Can we reconsider this?
9. Budget/Planning
(FA): FA Secretary Hustoles:
Our Budget Sub Meet has requested that the Budget and Planning
Sub Meets
now meet separately, the way they did for so many years.
Our fear is that budget will dictate
planning. Vice President
Trauger: Maybe they could meet
less frequently. President
Davenport: But we don't want to do
the planning without the resources linked to planning.
We need to find a way to bring these
things together. Vice President
Trauger: These two sub meets are a
real large group and it doesn't really work. The
perception was that it was not productive. President
Davenport: Even though we are in difficult
times,
we can't stop our planning.
FA: One of the reasons that
they were put together was to have the faculty get more in touch with
what
Academic Affairs was doing, as they are 80% of the budget.
President Davenport: How can we set
aside money for our new
initiatives? We have to figure out
how to do that. FA: Another
difficulty is exactly what the
charge to the Planning Committee is.
We used to deal with very specific items rather than broader
strategic
goals.
10. Temporary/Interim
Appointments (FA): FA
President
Bohnenblust: The FA would like to
have some input in the selection of internal appointments.
Human Resources Director Lamb: Would
you like to develop a formal
process? FA: In
some past cases, some sort of
faculty input has been asked.
President Davenport: That
is reasonable, but sometimes time is an issue, for example, this summer. FA President Bohnenblust:
Even so, we could still provide
feedback during the summer.
FA: I am concerned about
the number of times we stick one person with two full-time jobs (e.g.,
Barbara
Carson). It is not fair to her or
her students. President
Davenport: The Affirmative Action
Officer is not a full-time job.
FA: But she is working the
equivalent, regardless of the position description.
President Davenport:
Your point is well taken.
11. Gender
Equity (FA): FA President
Bohnenblust: When a study was
done, it was found on this campus,
females were almost twice as likely to spend more time in the rank of
assistant. professors than males.
We found out that this did exist , but not why.
We are hoping that one or two
administrators join us on a task force to discover why this is the case. FA: In
another study, we discovered that the Deans were not
encouraging females to apply, it wasn't that they were being turned
down. FA President Bohnenblust: Can you have someone to us by 11
September 2003? Vice President
Olson: Maybe by tomorrow.
12.
Guns
on Campus (FA): FA
President
Bohnenblust: We did receive the
MnSCU policy (handout distributed).
We would like to have a joint resolution to present to the
Legislature
to have them change the law.
FA: We also need a clear
statement of what the rules are.
Human Resources Director Lamb:
There is a committee working on a draft of this statement that
will come
through the meet and confers.
FA: We want to change the
law. Human Resources Director
Lamb: That is something the
administration could consult about and get back to you.
13. John
Roberts' Case (FA): FA
President
Bohnenblust: We spent about half
of our general meeting with this issue.
We want to reiterate our support of John Roberts.
We implore you to try to resolve this
issue. This is a cloud that hangs
over all of us. We are committed
to whatever it will take.
President Davenport: We
have talked about this before. Any
proposals that the IFO or John Roberts would come forward with, we will
consider. Some (proposals) from
his attorney have been outrageous.
We cannot pay $900,000, not to mention the principles involved. But we would listen to reasonable proposals.
14. Space
Inventory (FA): FA Unit
Rep
Larsson: Space both for classes
and for faculty has been a continuing challenge. There
have been various inventories in the past. We
are no longer using Schedule 25 but,
again, there is the question about how the class space is being used. President Davenport: Do
we have a space czar, or is this
control divided? Vice President
Olson: The Deans have a certain
number of rooms that they control in their respective offices. This was a new way of doing it this
year. FA Unit Rep Larsson:
What I ask for is an audit. We
need to measure what is
actually being used, rather than what is being said is being used.
15. New Faculty
Positions (FA): FA
President
Bohnenblust: We were very pleased that we received 33 new probationary
positions (St. Cloud only got two).
Our budget appeared to be in the best shape of any of the other
state
universities. We want to say how
pleased we are by this. This is
important to the viability and success of our programs.
16. Summer School
Schedules (FA): This item
was not
discussed although there was a handout distributed by the
administration.
17. Policy
Review (AD): a. MSU Crime Reporting
Requirements; b. Student Records
Policies and Procedures for MSU: These items
were not discussed although
there were handouts distributed by the administration.
18. Workplace
Violence Prevention Plan (AD): This
item was not discussed although there was a handout distributed by the
administration. Human Resources
Director Lamb asked that the FA appoint one representative to serve on
a small
task force.
The
next
meeting will be 16 October 2003 at 3:00 p.m. in CSU 204.
The meeting ended at 5:03 p.m.