MSU-BOZEMAN FACULTY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
                          November 29, 2000

PRESENT:  Young, Morrill, Giroux for Sherwood, Miller, Kommers, Peed,
          Linker, Leech, Benham, Stewart, Larsen, Harkin, Nehrir,
          Mooney, McMahon, Lansverk, Levy, Dockery for Bogar,
          Jelinski, Kirkpatrick, Fisher, Prawdzienski, Butterfield,
          Scott.

ABSENT:   Hatfield, White, Anderson, Howard, Jost, Lefcort, McClure,
          Locke, Bond, McKinsey, Lynch, Griffith, Carlstrom.

The meeting was called to order at 4:10 PM by Chair Ron Larsen.  It
was determined a quorum was present.  The minutes of the November 15,
2000, meeting were approved as distributed.

Chair's report - Ron Larsen.
     - The Board of Regents met in Missoula November 16-17.
          - President Gamble attended the meeting and acted as MSU's
          representative, rather than as an observer.  Ron was
          impressed with the president's apparent willingness to work
          with faculty and his grasp of the issues.
          - MSU's  request for a higher limit on renovation costs of
          the Gardiner House was withdrawn before it came up on the
          agenda.
          - During the meeting of regents and faculty leadership
          (which President Gamble also attended), a proposed policy
          defining ownership of electronic course materials was
          discussed.  Issues raised include:
               - MSU Faculty Council had only received and discussed
               the proposal the day before the regents' meeting.
               - A definition of "electronic course materials" needs
               to be developed.
               - Why doesn't the current copyright policy cover
               e-course materials?  Is there really a need for a
               special policy?
               - Should the Montana University System be involved in
               e-course development?  Is this leading again to a
               "virtual university"?
               - What involvement by the university (time, facilities)
               constitutes university ownership?  What incentives are
               there for faculty to develop such materials?
     - During discussion of these issues by Faculty Council members,
     it was pointed out that licensing of instructor-developed and
     owned material for use by MSU students, rather than ownership,
     may be more appropriate.
          - Historically, the role of universities has been to develop
          and disseminate information.  Such a policy could make
          development and dissemination to the public of material less
          attractive to faculty.
          - Every unit of the Montana University System has an
          intellectual property policy.  This would be an MUS
          agreement.  However, the collective bargaining unit at UM
          already covers electronic delivery, so the agreement
          probably would not apply to them.
          - Should Faculty Council respond to the proposal?
     - The discussion of WebCT has been rescheduled for December 6.
     The issue is related to ownership of e- course materials.
     - The Hewlett Committee's discussion with Faculty Council of the
     Center for Excellence has been postponed until next semester.
     - Next week, Vice President McCoy will attend Faculty Council to
     report on the up-coming AJM Johnson Hall remodel.
     - A $17 million renovation of Gaines Hall does not appear on the
     Governor's Long Range Building Plan for this biennium.
          - Because of the very real health and safety problems in
          Gaines, Commissioner Crofts will try to get some funding
          added to the Governor's list.  Failing this, he plans to
          bring it up with the legislature directly.
          - No mention of the EPIcenter has been made in conjunction
          with the renovation.  Is this project dead?
          Faculty Affairs Committee report - David Scheerer.
     - Language has been added to the proposed Faculty Handbook
     Section 200 (Faculty Council) stating that faculty have the
     responsibility for upholding academic standards.  There were no
     questions about the proposed section.
     - Proposed Administrator Assessment Guidelines were distributed.
     The intent is for faculty to rate administrators' performance,
     based upon each administrator's statement of responsibilities and
     self-evaluation.  This would be similar to faculty's performance
     reviews.
          - The administrators' statements (associate dean level and
          above) would be posted on the web.  Faculty would review
          performance and route the information to the secretary of
          Faculty Council for distribution to the reviewed
          administrators and their supervisors.  Randomly-assigned
          identification numbers would be used by faculty for
          anonymity and to ensure there is no duplication of reviews.
          It was agreed safeguards for faculty to remain anonymous
          need to be highlighted.
          - It would be reported to faculty how many administrators at
          each level (vice presidents, deans, department heads) were
          rated at each level of performance (extraordinary, exceeded
          expectations, meets expectations, below expectations,
          unacceptable, not applicable).
          - During discussion, it was suggested it may be more
          effective to use an "agree/disagree" scale and then invite
          comments on each topic.
          - The Faculty Council Chair and Chair Elect presented the
          proposal to President Roark and Vice Provost Fedock today,
          and they seemed to agree the proposal could be workable.
     - Jack Jelinski moved Faculty Handbook Section 200 be approved as
     proposed.  The motion was seconded and carried.  It will be
     forwarded to the administration for their review and approval.

As there was no further business, the meeting adjourned at 5:00 PM.



Joann Amend, Secretary                           Ron Larsen, Chair