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WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

FACULTY SENATE MINUTES

Regular Meeting –May 23, 2005

Jim Stewart, President Pro Tem, held Roll Call at 4:07 pm when the first official meeting of the 2005-2006 Faculty Senate was called to order.  Thirty-seven (37) people were present including twenty-eight (28) Senators, one (1) recorder and one (1) legislative liaison, five (5) guests and two (2) ex officio members.  (See attached roster).  Chairs of Senate Standing Committees were welcomed.

Approval of Minutes of May 16, 2005

Senators approved the minutes of May 16, 2005 as written. 

Items from the Chair

Ø     President Stewart reported six candidates had applied for Ombuds.  He reported that the selection process would take place in the next few weeks, with input from the University President and Provost.  The list of candidates will be made available to the Senate. The final candidate chosen will seek Senate confirmation.

Ø     Stewart and 05-06 President Bill Lyne attested that new faculty lines and faculty salaries are the number one priority for them while sitting on the Presidents’ Planning and Resource Council.

Ø      Stewart reminded Senators of the President’s Dinner which will be held in SMATE immediately following the meeting. 

Items from the Administration

Ø     University President Karen Morse thanked Stewart for the excellent way he had enhanced open dialogue between faculty and administration during his tenure as Senate President.

Ø     Morse distributed an abstract of results of a bicycle utilization study from Vice President Pierce.  Senators expressed continued interest in addressing bicycle use on campus, and continued concern about the lack of adequate bicycle paths and covered bike racks.

Ø     Morse described the most recent meetings of the PPRC.  The President and Provost plan to address the decline in teaching faculty by hiring up to 15 new FTE faculty each year of the biennium.  The number of faculty required to maintain current the student/faculty ratio is 8-1/2 faculty per year.  The Provost suggested that realistically we can expect it will not be fifteen, but we will fight for as many new faculty as possible in the budget allocation.

Ø     Morse explained the process used in evaluating administrators, as well as a university policy on the subject derived from WAC rules. 

Item from Wendy Bohlke, Assistant Attorney General

Wendy Bohlke, Assistant Attorney General at Western, followed up on Morse’s discussion on the WAC rules regarding processes used in evaluating administrators.  Bohlke pointed out that an immunity can only be guaranteed to those persons who are asked, appointed, or assigned to review. 

ACTION ITEMS

Reading of Standing Committee Minutes (Exhibit B)

Senators accepted  the following Standing Committee minutes:

University Planning Council, 4/20/05, and reviewed items related to AIC, the Budget, and the Strategic Plan.

REPORTS FROM CHAIRS OF STANDING COMMITTEES:

 Academic Coordinating Commission,  Thoms Downing, Chair

¨  Senators learned from Chair Downing that the ACC had spent time seeking ways to improve the General Studies major, now one of the most heavily subscribed majors on campus.  ACC admitted it was unable to reconcile the competing goals of making the major more academically sound while at the same time serving the purpose of an alternative for students who late in their career at Western encounter difficulty in completing a traditional major.  The Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education is expected to assist with specific proposals by Fall Quarter..

¨  ACC spent time putting finishing touches on the new GURs, as well as attempting to characterize the notion of “first-year student” for GUR purposes.  An Ad Hoc Committee to review the FIG program is expected to deliver a final report at the May 25^th meeting.

¨  At its final meeting this year and continuing into Fall quarter the ACC will discuss the difficulties arising from current Add/Drop practices.  ACC will also discuss “Grade Inflation” with a consideration that the ratio of “A” and “Aminus” to total grades is too high.

A.     Comments:  Proposals came forward regarding the General Studies (GS) major that had some resource implications; one proposed have the GS major be developed within the colleges.

B.      

C.     Academic Technology Committee, David Bover, Chair

¨  David Bover, Chair of ATC, reported to Senators on ATC as a valuable communication channel between faculty and various bodies on campus responsible for planning and managing campus technology.  The Committee has discussed issues of network security and has supported a campaign on password hardening for all users of campus community systems.  ATC has also considered the increasing problem of “spam” and provided advice to the Senate on options to combat this menace.

¨  The Committee met frequently during winter quarter to make recommendations on the Student Technology Fee proposals. 

¨  ATC discussed emerging technologies and products with potential for utilization on campus, including Open CMS web content management, and software to support e-portfolios.  The committee has initiated liaisoning with UPC for classroom technology discussions. 

¨  During spring quarter the committee considered and formulated conceptual recommendations for the Senate on the committee and advisory structure for campus technology.

Comments:  Computer system network security has been a major concern along with how well the university manages lab upgrades within the priorities of student tech proposals; also general technology advisory structure for the campus.  One faculty members was concerned about student access to Blackboard and if banner passwords had been hardened.

University Planning Council – Rick Osen, Chair

The main topics addressed by this year’s UPC have included the following.

¨  Peer Institution Review:  UPC reviewed, revised and recommended a list of peer institutions that Western may use for various internal analyses and to be helpful as a comparison when working with state policy and funding entities.

¨  Contingency Plan Revision:  UPC drafted a revision of the university’s Contingency Plan, which was subsequently passed by the Senate.  The goal of the revision was to provide more clarity within the plan while maintaining its flexibility of approaches.

¨  Classroom Design & Building Planning:  Rather than recommending a new committee, UPC took on the commitment to serve as a body representing faculty interests in the design of academic spaces that are not departmentally assigned:  general university classrooms, collaborative spaces, etc.  This includes organizing faculty input for the programming of these spaces and taking part in the process of implementing the program.  This is a major undertaking and there is much work yet to be done, not the least of which is shepherding through a new set of classroom design criteria that are based on faculty instructional needs.

¨  Operating Budget:  Updates and discussion of issues regarding the university’s operating budget remain a regular part of UPC’s agenda.  The UPC Executive Committee serves on the recently formed President’s Planning and Resource Council (PPRC).  Current proposals in front of PPRC include the increase of tenure-track faculty lines [lessening the student/TT faculty ratio] and faculty salary raises.

Committee on Grievance and Sanctions – Lorraine Kasprisin, Chair

The Grievance and Sanctions Committee conducted two hearings during the 2004-2005 academic year.

¨       The committee met with Wendy Bohlke and Lisa Wochos  from the Attorney General’s office several times during the year to obtain some training in procedures.

¨       The ommittee provided input, based on its experiences this year, to the writing of the new Grievance Policy.

Senate Library Committee – Sara Singleton, Chair

Accomplishment this past year:

¨       Proposals on how to encourage departments to self-assess the percentage balance between their books and journals, lest departmental budgets disappear inadvertently into journal subscriptions;

¨       Assessment of the following: 

o   patterns of distribution of library acquisitions budget; consideration of need to develop a new set of guidelines or principles for acquisitions;

o   how to increase library funding;

o   new developments affecting library resources.

¨       Continued review of student-friendly use of library space, including usability study;

¨       Continued discussion of acquisitions policies and distribution issues.

Future topics include:  Student-centered consideration of library’s mission statement;

The Senate Library Committee requests direction from the Faculty Senate regarding its priorities.  A specific report of the Senate Library Ad Hoc Committee on Acquisitions is also available.

Comment:  Some discussion has taken place in PPRC regarding funding library acquisitions, and consideration of a small student library fee, as well as one assessed to faculty,  has been postponed.

Salary and Welfare Committee – Paul Storer, Chair

Paul Storer will be back Fall Quarter 2005 to deal with salary and retirement issues, and related handbook language.

REPORT OF THE STRATEGIC ACTION PLANNING COMMITTEE

Andrew Bodman, Jeff Newcomer, Co-chairs

Senators heard Jeff Newcomer and Provost Bodman report on the Strategic Action Planning Committee.

·       Senators heard a proposed timeline (end of Winter Quarter) for review and revision of the University Strategic Plan that included submission to the campus, to UPC, and ultimately to the Senate.  The goal is to pass the review through specific committee groups with ample time for public discussion.  This is in preparation for 2008 accreditation.

·       Senators analyzed the many different issues encompassed by the quality statement, including quality of undergraduates, professional programs, research offerings.  The issues are on a par with so many other issues that it feels like the current statement has crammed in too much.

·       Parallelism of points under quality should be balanced with points under diversity. 

·       Scholarship aspect is not strongly enough reflected, and is in fact reflected primarily in the community service aspect of the plan.

BICYCLES ON CAMPUS - Motion

A Motion was made by Steve Emory, seconded by Steve Henson that “the Senate form an ad hoc committee to recommend a comprehensive campus pedestrian and bicycle safety plan.”  The motion was then amended “to request public safety to enforce current bicycle dismount and safety policies, including skateboarding and roller blading prohibitions.” 

The Motion passed unanimously.

Rationale:  Dangerous infractions of the bicycle policy have been increasing, and a policy must be put in place before the start of Fall quarter to prevent injury to pedestrians.  Senators will confer with the existing campus bicycle committee.  Jim Stewart and Bill Lyne will contact Jim Shaw. 

Ø Additional data will be collected with the possibility that the Senate will request the President to present our position to the Board of Trustees. 

Ø A committee can help change the policy, post new signs, monitor the situation and involve the students in the project.

Appointments and Elections – Jeff Newcomer, Officer

To the Faculty Senate:  David Meyer, Music, from Area D, through 2006

Vacancies:  Academic Coordinating Commisson:  2 faculty from Huxley College and the College of Business and Economics.  Assessment Committee:  2 faculty

Recess and Faculty Caucus

Senators adjourned for three minutes then moved to a Faculty Caucus at 5:30 pm.

Adjournment

Senators returned to report, and moved to adjourn at 6:14 pm to attend the President’s Dinner for the Senate held in SMATE. 

Written by Rose Marie Norton-Nader, Recorder, 5/23/05.

                                                                                                            _______________________

                                                                                                            Lorraine Kasprisin, Secretary

Roster 2005-2006 Senate