Minutes of the Faculty Senate
Virtual Meeting
April 16, 2020
Present: Senators Zhao, Wright, Oden, Lowther, T. Schroeder, S. Schroeder, Tucker, White, Wise, Fanning, Wilson, Shirey, Hurdle, Logan, Boumtje, Hurdle, Huang, Stanford
Ex-Officio: Jennifer Rowsam, Trey Berry, David Lanoue, Donna Allen, Roger Giles, Amanda Anderson, Robin Sronce, Karen Landry, Shawna Reed, Sarah Jennings, Sheryl Edwards, and John Schneiderwind
Proxies:
none
Call to Order at 3:42
I. Approval of Minutes:
Minutes from February 20, 2020 [motion – White, second – S. Schroeder]
II. Special Orders of the Day
Dr. Trey Berry shared the following information:
-He thanked the faculty for their flexibility during the transition to on-line learning.
-Overall students have had a smooth transition. There have been a few issues–some students have had some tech issues, but they have worked through them. He thanked the faculty, again, for their hard work.
-Higher education is facing the biggest crisis financially since the Great Depression. He explained that SAU was already preparing for a tight budget year, but this is going to be more monumental than expected. There is a $2.4 million dollar decrease in state funds.
-When students were asked to move off campus, they were given refunds for room/ board.
-Projected fall 2020 enrollment is anticipated to be 300 students down from fall 2019. Students and their families are facing hardships because they are losing jobs.
-SAU will probably not be able to raise tuition/fees because of tuition/fee freeze in AR.
-Currently, 24% of the budget is funded from the state of AR. The anticipation is that it will soon be only 10% funding from the state due to current circumstances.
-Budget committee will reconvene when there is a clearer picture of what the budget is going to be. Then, the budget will be adjusted.
-There is $4 million federal stimulus money coming to SAU and $2 million of that allocation will go to the students.
-He explained that he was outlining the best case scenario. The worst case scenario is that SAU will be completely on-line in the fall. This will devastate universities all around the nation. Without the room/board revenue, SAU will face a $10-$11 million budget shortfall.
Dr. Lanoue shared the following information:
-He said that he appreciated the work of the faculty in very trying circumstances.
-The ACT test has been cancelled, and many students have contacted SAU wondering what is going to happen to their admission status. There is a proposed revision allowing students to enter with a 2.3 or higher high school GPA without the ACT for admission. Students with a high school GPA of 2.0-2.2 GPA will be considered for admission with conditions.
-All classes are on-line this summer.
-Course evaluations are not happening this semester in order to be fair to the faculty. Students are experience hardships and that shouldn’t be reflected negatively on the faculty.
-Wednesday, April 29 is the Faculty Assembly.
Senator Tucker asked that the administration consider conducting course evaluations, but not count them toward faculty evaluations because his department wanted the data and feedback from students about on-line learning.
Dr. Lanoue said that is a consideration as long as it would not be counted with tenure and promotion.
President T. Schroeder agreed with Senator Tucker.
Senator S. Schroeder agreed with Senator Tucker, and he wanted to ask a question to Dr. Lanoue about admissions. She asked if there would be special tracking for students who have lower GPA’s and are being admitted.
Dr. Lanoue said that they are specifically looking at developmental classes and have multiple measures in the classes since there will not be ACT scores. Previously, students have been admitted at that GPA level.
Dr. Rowsam said that for students who are admitted at a conditional status–there are requirements that they have to meet.
Sarah Jennings shared that SAU is required by the state to have placement tests in place. The students are tracked.
President T. Schroeder asked about courses in which an ACT score is a prerequisite.
Dr. Rowsam said that there are placement exams that can be administered because there could be a handful of high-performing students who have not taken the ACT–that will help with courses such as Trigonometry.
President T. Schroeder – thanked Dr. Lanoue and Dr. Rowsam and asked if there was anything else.
They did not have additional information to share.
President T. Schroeder asked for budget committee reports.
Senator S. White did not have a report.
President T. Schroeder asked for parking committee reports.
There was silence – no response.
President T. Schroeder asked for handbook committee reports.
Senator S. Schroeder said that the Handbook Committee does have a report. She shared the screen to display the handbook motions.
Level 3 The Handbook Committee deemed each of the Level 3 changes substantive enough to merit separate motions.
Motion 5
VIII.C Strike “No fewer than 80 percent of the teaching positions will be on a tenured track.” The Handbook Committee moves we replace this language with “No fewer than 2/3 (66.7 percent) of teaching positions will be on the tenure track. Here, “teaching position” designates faculty at any rank above adjunct but below the level of dean and excludes athletic coaching positions.
President T. Schroeder asked for discussion and asked for a vote.
Vote: The motion to accept Motion 5 passed unanimously.
Motion 13
X.VII.B.1. Adds a schedule for initiating the Mediation Committee’s review after termination: “by informing the Vice President for Administration and General Counsel in writing of his or her desire to do so within five (5) working days of receiving the notice of termination.”
President T. Schroeder asked for discussion and asked for a vote.
The motion to accept Motion 13 passed unanimously.
Motion 14
Modify X.VII.C. to read “Members of the [Faculty Appeals] hearing committee deeming themselves disqualified for bias or interest shall remove themselves from the case (to be replaced by their previously elected alternates agreed upon by the President of the Faculty Senate and President of the University).”
President T. Schroeder asked for discussion and asked for a vote.
The motion to accept Motion 14 passed unanimously.
Motion 15
Modify X.VII.C “If the hearing committee concludes that adequate cause for dismissal has been established but that an academic penalty less than dismissal would be appropriate, the hearing committee will so recommend without by providing supporting reasons.”
President T. Schroeder asked for discussion and asked for a vote.
The motion to accept Motion 15 passed unanimously.
Motion 16
Corrects X.VII.C “Procedures for Imposition of Sanctions Other than Dismissal.” The text reads, “If the faculty member believes that a major sanction has been incorrectly imposed or that a minor sanction has been unjustly imposed, the faculty member may petition the Mediation Committee of the Faculty Senate.” The section will read “may petition the Faculty Appeals Subcommittee.”
President T. Schroeder asked for discussion and asked for a vote.
The motion to accept Motion 16 passed unanimously.
Motion 17
XI.D.6 Revises membership guidelines for search committees. “a. Every effort should be made by the administration to reflect the makeup of the department, as relates to the number of tenured, tenure-track, and non-tenured faculty in that department.” NOTE: This collapses a, b, and f into one statement and prioritizes diverse representation on such committees.
“b. If the committee lacks minority representation or gender diversity, the initiating individual shall recommend the appointment of additional members to rectify such a situation.
c. In the case of b, or if an insufficient number of faculty within the department are willing or able to serve, faculty from related disciplines may be added to the committee.
d. The unit may add one student representative to the committee.
e. The unit, the President, or the Provost and VPAA may add non-academic community members whose perspectives would be valuable to the work of the committee and/or in the best interest of the University.”
President T. Schroeder asked for discussion and asked for a vote.
The motion to accept Motion 17 passed unanimously.
Motion 18
Motion Eighteen (18): XI.E.3/3.b Delete “including whether or not the salary range is acceptable” and “for example, blind calls” from early in the search process.
President T. Schroeder asked for discussion and asked for a vote.
The motion to accept Motion 18 passed unanimously.
Motion 19
XI.E.5 Rephrase this item as follows: “The search committee selects one or more finalists, but no more than three, to visit the campus and receives approval to bring the candidates to campus from the Office of Human Resources and the Provost and VPAA. Search committees allowed to invite candidates to campus may assume that the search will not be cancelled; that is, all other factors remaining constant, they will be allowed to hire a viable candidate out of that pool. Exceptions may be made for good cause approved by the Office of Human Resources and vice president for academic affairs. In addition, it may be advisable to ascertain if the candidate considers the proposed salary range to be adequate before inviting the candidate to campus. While the search committee should also be made aware of the salary range, such a conversation with the candidate should only be initiated by the dean.”
President T. Schroeder asked for discussion and asked for a vote.
The motion to accept Motion 19 passed unanimously.
Motion 20
Motion Twenty (20): XI.E.7 Strikes “Agendas should be posted for all campus visits with the final agenda posted as soon as possible” and replaces it as follows: “Before the day of the campus visit, an itinerary for the candidate’s visit should be shared with the applicant, search committee, department, and any administrator included in the interview process.”
Recommendation Two: HR does not currently highlight the following in its training for searches but should do so: XI.E.10.c “If consensus is not reached, members of the search committee who do not agree with the majority recommendation of the committee may document the reasons for their disagreement by providing a written minority report directly to the President, who preserves the confidentiality of the information.”
Senator S. Schroeder said that this doesn’t require a vote, but is merely informational.
Motion 21
XI.E.10.g Add concluding language: “The process continues until a candidate who is satisfactory to all parties has been settled upon or until the search is cancelled.”
President T. Schroeder asked for discussion and asked for a vote.
The motion to accept Motion 21 passed unanimously.
Motion 22
Any amendment to Chapters V (Standing Committees), VI (Academic Policies), or X (Search Policy for Faculty and Administrators) will be final with the approval of the President. NOTE: In other words, the Board of Trustees would delegate final approval on changes to these sections to the President.
President T. Schroeder asked for discussion and asked for a vote.
The motion to accept Motion 22 passed unanimously.
Motion 23
Forms in the Appendix to the Faculty Handbook are not considered part of the Handbook itself and may be updated with approval of the President. Electronic versions of all forms will be available via hyperlink within the Handbook Appendix.
President T. Schroeder asked for discussion and asked for a vote.
The motion to accept Motion 23 passed unanimously.
Motion 24
Constitution, Article VII. This Constitution may be amended by two-thirds vote of those present at any assembly meeting, providing the amendment was publicized at the most recent meeting. Amendments may be distributed in a digital format at least two weeks before voting at a Faculty Assembly meeting, or they may be presented at the final Faculty Assembly meeting and voted on digitally one or more weeks after that meeting.
President T. Schroeder asked for discussion and asked for a vote.
The motion to accept Motion 24 passed unanimously.
Motion 25
II Constitution Bylaws: Revises All Standing Committees of the University are required to report at least annually to the Assembly, and will provide that report and all agendas and minutes to the Office of Institutional Effectiveness electronically, except; the Discipline Committee need not report the details of the committee deliberations. The Academic Affairs Committee will place provide copies of the minutes of its meetings in the hands of the members of to the faculty.
Dr. Lanoue asked for friendly amendment – “Office of Institutional Effectiveness”
President T. Schroeder asked for discussion and asked for a vote with the friendly amendment.
The motion to accept Motion 25 passed unanimously.
Motion 26
IX.I.A After “Faculty shall have access to and may obtain copies of their own files,” delete Peer evaluation records will be distributed only as “blind” copies that do not reveal the identity of the peer evaluators. A log will be kept of all accessions to the files. Add Peer and administrative evaluations will be forwarded to HR either as hard or digital copies. Annual summaries of professional activity are processed through Mentor; HR will have access to Mentor files.
President T. Schroeder asked for discussion and asked for a vote.
The motion to accept Motion 26 passed unanimously.
Motion 27
IX.V Applications should follow the outline presented below. Concise, well-organized documentation is encouraged. Applications for tenure and promotion may be submitted digitally via a shared drive.
President T. Schroeder asked for discussion and asked for a vote.
The motion to accept Motion 27 passed unanimously.
Dr. Lanoue expressed his gratitude to the Handbook Committee.
President T. Schroeder thanked the Handbook Committee. He said that there will be an update distributed and he thanked the handbook committee.
President T. Schroeder met with Faculty Senate Presidents in the fall. He said that they will hold their meeting at SAU in the fall. Although, Dr. Logan is the new president, he agreed to help with arrangements.
Senator Tucker made a motion that we collect evaluations for all classes, but they will not be used for Tenure and Promotion. Senator White seconded the motion.
Senator White suggested the chair be excluded from the course evaluation results.
President T. Schroeder said that would be a good idea that way the chair couldn’t use that information as part of the faculty performance evaluation.
Senator Tucker accepted this amendment to his motion.
The revised motion is:
For the spring of 2020, course evaluations will be collected for all classes, but those evaluations will not be used for tenure and promotion purposes or for faculty review by the chair.
Mr. Giles made a clarification that if course evaluations were done, it would be for all courses.
President T. Schroeder stated that the next faculty senate meeting is April 23rd.
Motion to adjourn
[motion – White, second – S. Schroeder]
Meeting adjourned at 4:53 p.m.
