Faculty Senate Meeting

Attendance

The Faculty Senate met on Thursday, November 17, 2011, at 3:40 pm in Reynolds 205.  Senators in attendance were Stacy Clanton, Jan Duke, Dan May, Vikram Bhadauria, Pat Clanton, Abdel Bachri, Pierre Boumtje, Denise Moseley, Karen Ferneding, Shannin Schroeder, Tim Schroeder, Tim Daniels, Scott White, Hong Cheng, Bernadette Fincher, Jennifer Logan.

The following senators were absent with proxies: Tim Wise served for Sam Riner and Bernadette Fincher served for Mary Armwood.

Ex-officio: Dr. David Rankin, Dr. Donna Allen, Dr. Trey Berry, Roger Giles,

Visitors included:  Daniel Page, Amber Sharp, Kimberly Davis, Debbie Spooner, Jodi Cheney, Will Harris, Jamie Boyd and Dr. Linda Blake.   

Call to Order: Pres. S. Clanton called the meeting to order at 3:42 p.m.  Proxies read.

Approval of Minutes

Motion to approve the minutes by White, Daniels seconded.  Motion passed.

Special Orders of the Day   

Issues Brought before the Senate by Constituents:  In response to a request that minutes be made available to individuals outside of the Faculty Senate in a more timely manner, the Faculty Senate decided to implement electronic voting on unapproved minutes.  This will allow for approval of minutes to take place quickly and for the approved minutes to then be distributed prior to the next month’s meeting.  It was recommended that the electronic voting period be limited to three business days.

Old Business:

Allusers/Blanket-excuses: P. Clanton, chair of the Handbook Committee, drew the attention of the Senate to page 32 of the faculty handbook, which states,

“A student is responsible for notifying all instructors as soon as possible when the reason for an absence is known in advance.  A student forfeits the right to make-up credit for failing to meet this requirement, though the instructor may, for good cause, choose to allow make-up credit.  Notification by administrative or instructional staff of a student’s absence, either before or after the absence, does not relieve the student of the responsibility for personal notification.”

The Handbook Committee then recommended, “The Technology Services Committee set up guidelines and/or policies that deal with the use of ALLUSERS, and that one such policy be that ALLUSERS not be used as a means of notification of impending class absences.  The committee further recommends that a centralized Lost and Found be created (perhaps in Reynolds Center) to decrease the number of ALLUSERS lost and found messages.”  After a brief discussion, the motion passed.

Interim Status of VPAA: P. Clanton cited that pg 80 of the Faculty Handbook which reads,

“When an appointment to a position is made as an interim appointment, the search for a person to fill that position on a permanent basis must begin within one year of the date when the interim appointment was made.”

Additionally, pg 82 of the Faculty Handbook states,

“When approved by the president, the Human Resources Requisition and the job listing are submitted to the Office of Human Resources.  The Equal Employment Opportunity Affirmative Action Plan provides guidance on the type of search to be conducted (local, regional, national).  Most advertisements go to The Chronicle of Higher Education.  Other options will be explored as described in the EEO-AA Plan.”

The Handbook Committee acknowledged that the current interim vice-president is doing an excellent job and in respect for him, for the office, and for the institution as a whole, the VPAA position needs to be a permanent appointment, which, according to the Faculty Handbook, can only be accomplished by a search.  The Handbook Committee then recommended that the Faculty Senate make a resolution urging the President to abide by the Search Guidelines in the Faculty Handbook which state that “the search for an appointment to a position for an interim appointment must begin within a year of the date when the interim appointment was made and that the President report back to the Faculty Senate at the January Senate meeting concerning the matter.  Following a brief discussion, the motion passed.

Dr. Rankin’s Pay Raise/Equity Adjustments in Faculty Salaries: With the consensus of the Faculty Senate, Pres. Clanton combined these two items from the agenda.  Pres. Clanton distributed handouts showing salary adjustments over the past four years, documents which the Senate had requested during the October meeting and which Mr. Giles provided at the beginning of the meeting.  The following resolution was initially presented.

Whereas the 2011-2012 SAU Faculty Senate as ascertained the following to be true:

• the SAU Faculty and Staff were informed on multiple occasions by the University President that there would be no cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) in 2011-2012
•  the SAU Faculty and Staff were told by the University President that there was no additional state funding for COLA’s or other adjustments beyond promotions in 2011-2012
• the University President accepted a $15,000 adjustment in May 2011 to his personal 2011-2012 salary that was offered by the University Board of Trustees
• the University President raised his monthly housing allowance by $200 per month, to the maximum allowed by state law, for 2011-2012
• the University President’s salary  adjustment was  not part of the University Budget documentation submitted in May 2011
• the University President’s housing allowance adjustment was not part of the University Budget documentation submitted in May 2011
• over $119,000 in salary adjustments in addition to earned promotions and reassignments were approved by the University President in a manner that was without transparency and without clear standards

Therefore be it resolved that the 2011-2012 SAU Faculty Senate expresses extreme disappointment in the leadership and guidance provided by the University President, Dr. David Rankin.

Discussion ensued.  The Faculty Senate amended the resolution by striking the phrase “or other adjustments beyond promotion in 2011-2012,” from the second bulleted item.  Based on the comments throughout the discussion, the process of determining/providing equity adjustments in faculty salaries is widely believed to be without transparency and without clear standards.  Dr. Rankin responded, explaining that salary adjustments received careful consideration by chairs/deans and administrators.  Pres. Clanton then called for a motion to recommend the resolution.  P. Clanton motioned, D. May seconded.  T. Schroeder called for a secret ballot.  Upon calculating the votes (S. Schroeder and J. Logan), there were 11 Yes votes and 6 No votes.  The resolution passed.

Implementation of Revised Academic Integrity Policy: Pres. S. Clanton created an ad hoc committee to expand the current Academic Integrity course developed by Daniel Page and Del Duke (SAU Magale Library).  This ad hoc committee consists of the following senators: Ferneding, Wise, Duke, and Boumtje.

Request from Senate President regarding student possession of textbooks:  Pres. Clanton explained that based on past and present observations, students do not have textbooks for a variety of reasons, including problems with financial aid and a lack of understanding of the need for textbooks.  Pres. Clanton then created a committee to look into this matter and report back to the Faculty Senate.  This committee consists of the following senators: Bhadauria, Moseley, May, and Bachri.

Committee Reports

Parking Committee: Speaking for Senator Armwood, Pres. Clanton reported that the Parking Committee has reviewed several parking appeals since the start of the semester.  Some appeals were granted while others were not.  On behalf of the Parking Committee, the following recommendations were stated.  First, there should be one parking appeals committee to review appeals submitted by both faculty and students.  Second, the university should implement an increase in fines for illegal parking to discourage such actions since there is no shortage of available parking throughout the campus.  Third, that the expiration date on the parking decals be changed to August 31 to give adequate time to renew one’s parking decal.  Fourth, that the campus police be given the authority to contact towing services to address illegally parked vehicles.  The Parking Committee was then asked to follow up on these recommendations and report back to the Faculty Senate.

Next meeting will take place on Thursday, January 19, 2012 in Reynolds 205.

Adjournment:

The motion to adjourn was made by S. White and seconded by T. Schroeder.

Submitted by Jennifer Logan, Faculty Senate Secretary, November 23, 2011.