Present: Jon Harbaugh, Diana Maltz, Mark Siders, Barbara Scott, Petey Young, George Converse, Peg Sjogren, Greg Gassman, Margaret Dibb, Kavinda Arthenayake, Doug Chapman, Gudrun Gill, John Sollinger, Susan Walsh, Marianne Golding, Barbara Scott, Connie Anderson, Michael Naumes, Garth Pittman, John Fitton, Dale Vidmar, Sherry Ettlich, Linda Wilcox Young, Marc Levy, Marianne O’Sheeran, John Uto. 

Guests: Dr. Zinser, Charles Lane, Mike Corcoran, Bud Rose, Jackie Perry, Sib Farrell, Judith Ginsburg, Kevin Talbert, Phil Campbell, Susan Waldo, Ken Kempner, Neil Kunze, Ed Battistella, Mara Affre, Joseph Graf, Sandra Coyner, Kansas Callaway, Parvaneh Scoggin, Ron Bolstad, Joshe Wilpioth (??could not verify??), Bill Danley, CL Law (??). 

Approve minutes of October 1, 2001 (4:00)

Motion – Doug Chapman, George Converse – 2nd – no discussion, approved unanimously. 

Announcements (4:02)

Peg plans to order twice as many cookies. Running out too often. 

Remarks from the President (4:10)

Dr. Elisabeth Zinser

• Handed out copies of “modest revision” of draft mission statement.
• Invited questions about challenges of budgetary issues, shared last week by all-campus email.
• Had already begun to look at savings of 2½% prior to hearing from Governor – who has warned of cuts up to 10% per campus.
• Ron Bolstad – all state agencies being asked to look at budget reduction ideas.
• How do we define non-recurring vs. recurring reductions? 1^st biennium addresses first category, 2^nd biennium addresses latter. Dr. Zinser suggests we look at both up front so that we can plan ahead and not be “shocked” as we head into the 2^nd biennium.
• What is the process for deciding on cuts? It should not be across the board – we should try to be focused and strategic. General first principles have been put out by Governor, and others suggested by OUS. Executive Council discussed some of these already.
• Ron - 1^st deadline for a draft for this biennium is this coming Friday. Our primary mission is dedication to undergraduate education.
• Dr. Zinser – Not being completely specific in this 1^st draft – e.g., not needing to identify specific areas or personnel. Might suggest broad cuts, such as so many “clerical” or so many hours reduced from a particular job class.
• The budget we thought we were going to get we haven’t yet received. When it comes, it will be reduced by 2½ %. Does not include the tuition revenue. This will also be reduced by 2%.
• Re: Insurance coverage contribution to the budget problem. Exact numbers hadn’t been figured into original budget figures. It’s taking a bite out of our revenue now.
• Still have to settle up with OUS because of not reaching our OUS target even though our absolute numbers are up.
• Greg Gassman – acknowledged Dr. Zinser for spending a night in a residence hall. She recommended the experience to all faculty/staff.  

Remarks from the Provost (4:15)

Dr. Judith Ginsburg, Associate Provost

§         Thanked Charles Lane and Neil Kunze for their mentoring during her transition.

§         30% of job description is Affirmative Action (AA) officer for faculty/staff – her goal is to take look at policies, procedures, and processes with the AA committee.

§         Affirmative Action at SOU is the plan and process of affirmative steps in the recruitment and retention of a diverse university community.

§         Encouraged faculty/staff to look at our AA policies on the Provost’s web page (www.sou.edu/provost/policies/index.html)

§         Also, look at the statements on sexual harassment, and on consensual relationships and potential conflicts of interest between faculty and students, and between supervisors and subordinates. 

Remarks from the Student Senate (4:20)

John Uto, Student Senate President Pro-Tem

What we’re working on…

§         Voter registration – dream goal of 750, realistic goal of 500. Seems like everyone is registered already. Asked us to invite them to come to our classes to appeal to students.

§         Other Student Senate goals – campus safety, availability of classes, disability access &  related issues, building campus community between students, students & faculty/staff, and community groups.

§         Peg question – re: class availability? Concerns about some classes being offered only one time/year, sometimes two important classes always scheduled at same time.  

Action Item (Constitution Committee, Sherry Ettlich) (4:25)

Bylaws - Housekeeping items:

§         Section 7.122(c) - number of copies of sabbatical application changed to two.

§         Section 4.210 - Add sabbaticals to list of dept. responsibilities along with applications for promotion & tenure.

§         Section 7.440 - correct OAR number to 580-21-0330 (no action required). 

Linda move to accept changes, George Converse 2nd. No discussion, Unanimously passed all changes.

Discussion Items: 

Honors program - Neil Kunze, Sandra Coyner (4:30)

§         Request for formation of an action committee to develop a university-wide honors program. See attached handout for major points of the rationale and proposed role and membership makeup for this committee.

§         Context – no money, and great school to work in. Already have quality patterns in place, e.g., contact with professors, small class sizes, in tact opportunities for enrichment, tendency of profs to work more with students who “want more” already. Need to tie this into recruitment and retention – it’s a draw. Also need to tie in with fundraising, and look at private monies to offer incentives (e.g., scholarships) to come to SOU, as other Oregon schools do.

§         Idea of an “H” designated classes with separate CRNs where they would get extra time with prof. and in their “enriching” activities.

§         Believe that advanced students are negatively affected by their perception that they are being placed with substantial number of students who don’t share their level of academic interest.

§         During a quarter, prof. offers 5 1-hour one-on-one sessions with prof each quarter.

§         Current honors program board (Churchill program) is staffed by current Churchill program faculty. Needs a broader representation for new program. Would not replace current Churchill Honors program board.

§         Reports of last 2 years work available on Honors website at www.sou.edu/honors/.

§         Comments –

o        Kavinda – role of community member? Private money.

o        Linda W Y – how about opening up faculty membership to others aside from curriculum committees and senate

o        Sherry E. – could actually be two committees – one to work on implementation / curriculum, and one to work on recruitment and fundraising. Would like to boost it up to two general faculty members rather than one.

o        Neil – could have the base group of 12, then subcommittees as needed.

o        Connie – do honors student enrollment bring more dollars per student like graduate student enrollment. Zinser – not certain, but can have significant impact on general recruitment and retention that will definitely help our bottom line in the long run.

o        Garth P. – timeline? Nov. 1 – have committee convened. January - have initial plan in place and be ready to implement first phase of the program by Fall of next year.

o        Barbara S. – will faculty be paid, reimbursed, load balanced differently in order to assist? Sandra – look at Math dept. model where they seem to do a student-centered, enriched model already. There is not a plan ready for presenting to general faculty that would be immediately inviting. Hopes that the committee will recommend such plans.

o        Mara A. – Admissions can delay a few pieces about this in their recruitment campaign, but would like to get the word out by January in order to draw graduating H.S. seniors. 

Year-End General Faculty Committee Reports (4:55)

§         Peg - For reasons of continuity, reflection, and reference, would like to suggest that we do year-end, written reports, with one copy to the committee, and one to Senate.

§         Connie – suggests a template for consistency – perhaps limited to 2-3 pages of primary points, decisions, unfinished business, membership for that year, etc.

§         Sherry – look at it going into 1.232 of Bylaws.

§         To be voted on next meeting. 

Mission Statement Discussion (5:00)

§         Dr. Zinser distributed a “Revised” form of proposed Mission Statement (see attachment). Discussion ensued about any conceptual or semantic suggestions for changes.

§         Walsh – is the inclusion of “graduate programs” unintentionally misleading because it implies broader program reach than we actually have? After discussion and clarification, decided that placement of wording okay as is.

§         Pittman – perhaps remove “and beyond” in first paragraph, as we do not go outside of Oregon goals elsewhere at beginning of statement.

§         Kavinda – like the reference to the “University” rather than “Southern.”

§         Maltz – end of first paragraph, change double usage of word “inspired.”

§         Ettlich – suggested “nurtured” for one, Walsh suggests “motivated,” Maltz recommends “ informed.”

§         “Nurtured” may be too “motherly,” say some. 

IFS report (Bill Danley) (5:20)

§         Instead of a series of presentations this time, representatives of the legislature and Diane Fines of OUS were invited to come and participate throughout the day. An historian discussed “cheap progressivism” – The fact that, historically, Oregonians have had many good ideas without willingness to put resources behind them. Some sample stats – 75% of 18-24 year-olds have HS education –lowest in US. 53rd in spending for the arts – behind Guam. 5th least accessible state in the nation to higher education. Rep. Kelly Worth and Burnhardt –Legislature thinks we’re well-funded. We need to break that denial bubble.

§         Restructuring OUS and Chancellor’s office – having fewer universities, having individual chancellors on campuses, going private vs. public as institutions.

§         Implications of Joe Cox leaving as Chancellor – we’re pushing to have IFS representation or at least faculty members on the search committee for a new Chancellor.

§         PERS, actuarial updates – real problems regarding benefits package. PEBB is in serious trouble. Hard to find alternatives, and IFS is working to develop some ideas.

§         Levy has been nominated for the position of Secretary on the IFS Executive Council.

§         Danley has been nominated for President-Elect, pending review of funding support from SOU administration.

§         A link to IFS minutes is always posted on the SOU Senate web page. Or you may link directly to http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~ifs/ifs.html. 

Committee Reports (5:25) 

Constitution Committee

§         If you cannot come to October 26th meeting, please contact colleagues we know at other higher education institutions – please ask whether they offer part-time tenure positions and how they handle the logistics of that – requirements, etc.

§         Sherry will send email to Levy & Danley to be forwarded to IFS Senators with same question. 

Committee on Committees (Pittman)

§         We’re now on the web. 

Elections Committee (Chapman)

§         We’re committed to having meetings.

§         Re: a guide for future elections. B. Scott has some draft ideas 

Representative to Technology Council (Dale Vidmar)

§         Wilcox Young went as alternate – has specific membership that is filled, but some subcommittees are still open. RFPs are expected to come out toward end of October with deadline of December 7th.

§         Used to be lab vs. non-lab proposals. Now there are more general guidelines. But still special guidelines for smart classrooms. 

Announcements

§         Affre - “It may seem minor, but it’s your major,” new event to help students look at available majors. Will send email to ask faculty to announce in their classrooms. 

Adjourn (5:30)