ABSTRACT of Faculty Senate November 7, 2005
Bill Lyne, Senate President, called the November 7th meeting of the Faculty Senate to order at 4:05 pm. Senators approved minutes of October 24, 2005 and Standing Committee minutes.
· Lyne reported on several items: 1) A first draft of the Parking and Transportation Services Mission Statement was presented to the Senate; 2) An advisory committee of faculty, staff and students will recommend parking fees first to the Senate before going to President’s Council; 3) After-hours parking is under review; 4) Jerry Boles will keep the Senate updated on appeals to the Justice Department against the extension of an old phone wiretap law to include email; 4) Boles reported that high long distance telephone charges currently help subsidize certain departmental data lines.
· President Morse expects to hear discussion of Whatcom County economic and population changes at the Bellingham Business Forum this week. Morse also thanked faculty who participated in showcasing Western at the “Really Big Weekend”. Morse reported that EEOC’s training on sexual harassment was extremely informative.
· Provost Bodman delivered a report on his rationale for tying the creation of a FYE seminar to the allocation of new faculty positions within departments. Bodman responded to Senator’s questions during an extended discussion.
· Senators agreed to vote next meeting on a motion to shift a charge from UPC that will give ATC responsibility for classroom podium design.
· Motion from the Executive Council: Senators unanimously approved the deletion of a sentence from the Faculty Handbook, page 28, that defined the age at which faculty retire.
· Constituent Concerns included: 1) request to provide a drop box for library books on the edge of campus; 2) request for a report on costs of parking enforcement during off hours evenings and weekends vs. revenue gains; 3) faster police response to campus alerts; 4) request to make student photos available on class rosters; 5) faculty monitoring on numbers of available parking spaces in 17G; 6) prospects for a mechanism to extend specialties of faculty to interested students via free classes;
· Senators recessed at 5:35, returned for a Faculty Caucus, and adjourned at 6:05 p.m.
REVISIONS TO THE FACULTY HANDBOOK:
On November 7, 2005 the Faculty Senate unanimously passed a motion from the Executive Council to revise page 28 of the Faculty Handbook, XIV. D. to eliminate phrasing defining retirement age (deletions struck-through, new material underlined):
XIV. Retirement (Faculty Handbook, page 28)
A., B., C. (no change)
D. A faculty member retires at the end of the academic year in
which he/she reaches the age of 70. However, aA faculty
member may elect to retire at the earliest age specified for retirement by
Federal Social Security Law. Likewise, a faculty member may be retired for
reasons of health and/or disability at an earlier age. Before making a decision
to retire or to retire early, before age 65, a faculty member
should check what benefits he/she will receive.
(remainder unchanged)