FACULTY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES April 19, 2000 PRESENT: Sherwood, McDermott, Kommers, Peed, Neff, Leech, Benham, Howard, Duncan, Larsen, Jost, Harkin, Nehrir, Mooney, Weaver, McClure for Amend, Locke, Lansverk, Levy, Bogar, Bond, Jelinski, McKinsey, Lynch, Monahan for Fisher, Butterfield, Scott, Griffith. ABSENT: Ag Econ, Hatfield, O'Neill, Burgess, Anderson, Francis, Prawdzienski, Carlstrom. The meeting was called to order by Chair-Elect Ron Larsen at 4:10 PM. It was determined a quorum was present. University Governance Council Nominating Committee report - George Tuthill. - Nominations for Faculty Council positions and faculty nominations for university-wide committees were announced and are listed below. Further nominations may be made by contacting the Nominating Committee or at next week's Faculty Council meeting, before the vote takes place. - Chair, Faculty Council - Ron Larsen (current Chair-Elect) - Chair-Elect, Faculty Council - John Sherwood - UGC Steering Committee (3 positions) - Jack Jelinski, Alan Leech, Wes Lynch, Mike Peed - Chair, Faculty Affairs Committee - Jodee Kawasaki - Long Range Planning Committee (2 positions) - Ken Bruwelheide, Jon Wraith - Strategic Planning and Budget Committee (1 position) - Kay Chafey, Rich Howard, Gwen Jacobs, Ed Mooney - Chair, Committee on Grievance Hearings - Martin Frick - Conciliation Committee Chair (automatic in 3rd year of membership) - Alanna Brown - Conciliation Pool (2 positions) - Janis Bullock, Brad Coon - Core Curriculum Committee (1 position) - Greg Francis - Undergraduate Studies Committee (1 position) - Harry Benham - Salary Review Committee (1 position) - Susan Capalbo - Intellectual Property Committee (2 positions) - Marty Hamilton, Rocky Ross - Equipment Fee Allocation Committee (2 positions) - Jack Hyppa, Chris Yakymyshyn) - Affirmative Action Advisory Committee (1 position) - Amy Thomas - University Facilities Planning Board (2 positions) - Lauren McKinsey - Traffic Appeals and Regulations Committee (1 position) - Amy Carver - University Marketing Committee (1 position) - Kim Scott The minutes of the April 5, 2000, Faculty Council meeting were approved as distributed. Chair's report - Ron Larsen. - The President's Executive Council budget recommendations were distributed at SPBC on April 7. - According to SPBC member Peter Kommers, the contrast in faculty and contract professional positions was accurately reported in the BOZEMAN CHRONICLE. - A primate biologist has been hired by MSU. - The MSU and UM presidents discussed the idea of a half-time retirement option with the Commissioner of Higher Education. There are many issues that would need to be settled, including changes to TRS policies, before such an option might be available. - According to Rich Howard, it would be helpful to discuss the issue with faculty in the Department of Education. The department has tried a variation of this option, and some problems are associated with such an approach. Faculty Affairs Committee report - Jack Jelinksi. - The Provost approved a change in the sabbatical application form, which was submitted to him by the Faculty Affairs Committee. - Last year, sabbatical committee members reported review results to applicants. Because of the time involved in doing so and in answering questions about the results, the reports will now be sent from the Provost's Office. That is where questions about the results will be directed. - Faculty Affairs will discuss a change to the proposed conciliation policy, which is still to be reviewed by Faculty Council. - The University Promotion and Tenure Committee has asked that there be a guideline for reviewing promotion and tenure at all levels for faculty who've been granted a number of years toward tenure when they are hired at MSU. Should these years be reviewed according to MSU's standards, should only the years at MSU be reviewed, or should some other method be used? - Discussion of the faculty review of administrators (administrative review) and how it might be improved is continuing. - The Faculty Affairs Committee, Faculty Council Chair and Chair Elect, will meet with Deans' Council May 2 to discuss post-tenure review. There will be some kind of post-tenure review, according to Ron Larsen. Earlier this year, the academic deans brought up the issue, and there is interest in knowing what the general thoughts about the policy are. - Some concerns about the policy have been expressed to Jack, and there will be time to discuss them before any vote is taken on the policy. The policy will not come to a vote until next fall. However, Faculty Affairs would appreciate input this year so changes can be considered. Budget discussion. - Ron briefly outlined the PEC budget recommendations, attached to Faculty Council members' agendas, and there was discussion of some of the recommendations. - The additional fee charged on designated accounts approved two years ago for an academic enhancement fund has been used to fund base programs. Therefore, a recommendation regarding an academic enhancement fund is made. An additional 1% charge is to be used for Banner. - It is intended that program review include base programs. - There has been no discussion of any special protection for people within three years of retirement, if there are no salary increases. - In reallocating faculty tenure-track position vacancies according to clearly stated criteria, it is Ron's understanding that postponement and other changes in allocating these positions are included by default. - Elements that indicate fiscal responsibility and control of the budget by the administration is encouraging. - SPBC recommendation. - Peter Kommers distributed recommendations to SPBC for the 2001 budget. The recommendations will probably be presented as a motion at the April 21 SPBC meeting. Another motion that may be presented at the meeting recommends 3% across-the-board cuts for all VPs and a reduction in instructional funding from 57% of the state funding to 54% over a period of time. The two motions represent different poles. - What does "protected" mean? No cuts, no across-the-board cuts, small cuts if essential, across-the-board cuts if "board" is divided into two categories, or across-the-board cuts are acceptable? - Does "instruction" mean 'academic areas'? All instruction doesn't fund academics. - Peter said that SPBC recommendations are to deal with the broad view. Progress of Lewis Hall Renovation - Vice President for Research Tom McCoy. - The renovation is part of an on-going process, started 1 ? years ago. Other buildings are also part of the renovation. Some people in LJH moved to the new Ag/Bioscience Building. Deans of Ag and L&S were to decide how space is assigned, and it then was to be allocated to department heads. - Last week, in L&S it was decided who will go where as a result of the remodeling. - In 1996 hire letters for Center for Computational Biology (CCB) faculty, certain amounts of space were agreed upon. It was to be provided in the EPICenter, but that has not become a reality, and there is not enough room in the new down-scaled project to accommodate all people the space promised them. - AJM and Lewis Hall were considered for renovation. Lewis was chosen, because the formaldehyde is the basement had to be taken care of by finding new space for the anatomy lab. The anatomy lab was moved to Linfield. This made room for CCB in the basement of Lewis. In addition, the WWAMI program has been consolidated in LJH, vacating space in the Lewis Hall basement. Another advantage to Lewis for CCB is that it is in close proximity to the Animal Research Center. - An outside consultant will advise on security in the Animal Research Center, since a primate biologist has been hired by the CCB. Hewlett Committee. - Because of the lack time, members of the Hewlett Committee will return to report on the new core. The meeting was adjourned at 5:05 PM. Joann Amend, Secretary