University of North Carolina
125th Session of Faculty Assembly
November 21, 2003

• Download these minutes in Rich Text Format
• Download a summary of these minutes for your colleagues

Present: Paul Gates (ASU); Mark Venable (ASU); Kristen St.John (ASU): David Domermuth (ASU); Rick Niswander (ECU); Brenda Killingsworth (ECU); Purificacion Martinez (ECU); Samuel Moore (ECSU); Richard Ellis (FSU); Blanche Radford-Curry (FSU); Alvin Keyes (NCA&T); Lorna Harris (NCA&T); Bill McCord (NCSA); Deroy Percy (NCSA); William Lawrence (NCCU); Mike Simpson (NCCU); Harriette Griffin (NCSU); Philip B. Carter (NCSU); Stephen Lilley (NCSU); Paul Williams (NCSU); Richard Bernhard (NCSU); Donald Lisnerski (UNCA); Bonnie Yankaskas (UNCCH); Steve Bachenheimer (UNCCH); Judith Welsh Wegner (UNCCH); Carol Pardun (UNCCH); Diane Holditch-Davis (UNCCH); Jeff Passe (UNCC); Dawson Hancock (UNCC); Rosemary Booth (UNCC); Meg Morgan (UNCC); Yogi Kakad (UNCC); Nancy Fogarty (UNCG); Gerald Ponder (UNCG); Bonnie Kelley (UNCP); Dick Veit (UNCW); Jimmy Rees (UNCW); Mary Anne Nixon (WCU); Mary Adams (WCU); Marie Huff (WCU); Lozie Meachum (WSSU): Francine Madrey (WSSU);

First Plenary Session

Chair Passe called the meeting to order at 10:37am. The minutes of the April 25, 2003 meeting were approved as submitted.

Chair Passe explained priorities for the year, the two roles of the Faculty Assembly and urged members to deliberate and ask questions. Board of Governor’s priorities include non-residence admissions. Faculty Assembly priorities include HBCU caucus, the athletics task force, increased political activity, and increased inter-campus communication using Faculty Assembly website. Passe also announced that he is eager to visit campuses to talk about issues relevant to Faculty Assembly and to recruit new members as well as to meet with campus administrators and/or state legislators.

Chair Passe introduced President Molly broad and congratulated her on getting the Alexander Micklejohn award.

1. President Broad Address.

President Broad recapped the 203rd legislative session by saying that the legislature funded the highest priorities of the University: enrollment growth and focused growth. “Greatest disappointment” was lack of meaningful funds for faculty and staff salaries, although BOG has made salaries a high priority.

President Broad discussed enrollment growth, focused growth, distance education, high school admission rates to UNC and affordability. She reviewed the University’s strategic directions.
.
She answered questions regarding funds from Homeland Security, non-residence student enrollment and tuition, projected state economic growth, the University’s plan for elearning, intellectual property, financial aid for need-based students, and focused growth institutions.

2. Senior Vice-President For Academic Affairs Gretchen Bataille Remarks.

Bataille said that the University is 12.8% behind its goal for faculty salaries. The Legislature would need over $60 million to make up this percent. She also urged the Faculty Assembly Athletics Taskforce to consult with campus Athletic Directors.

3. Associate Vice-President for Academic Affairs Betsy Brown and Alan Mabe Remarks.

They discussed ways to calculate faculty workload using a University of Delaware system that takes into account activities other than student credit hours generated. According to Mabe, the focus of the Delaware study is at the department level. The University needs an accounting system to show what faculty do beyond teaching. The Delaware system was discussed last year with campus CAOs. This year, it will be brought to the Faculty Assembly and then back to the CAOs in the spring.

4. Senior vice president for University Affairs J.B. Milliken Remarks.

Milliken solicited questions from delegates based on his previously submitted report. In response to questions about salaries, he noted that recently, in most cases, the only legislative add-on has been in enrollment growth. Now, campuses are struggling with how to fund administrative systems. This year, faculty salaries will be at the top of the list, but enrollment will be funded first. In response to the actions that faculty can take to make changes, Millliken said to connect with legislators at a local level, Board of Trustees, campus administration, and business leaders with an interest in a campus to let them know about salary concerns. He referred delegates to Chronicle of Higher Education survey.

Second Plenary Session

1. Mary Adams gave an overview of Faculty Assembly website and urged delegates to visit it. http://www.ncfaculty.com/

2. Committee Reports

1. Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee. Chair Francine Mabrey reported that the committee discussed these points:

• Classroom-based free speech. Recommended that Leslie Winner come to next Faculty Assembly meeting to discuss academic freedom and to respond to delegates’ mailed-in questions.
• Sexual harassment: What is the appropriate language to use in the classroom?
• What is “financial exigency” as it relates to tenure and non-reappointment of non-tenured faculty?
• How much pay for outside work is appropriate? What are the legal limitations?
• What about distinguished professors who become administrators: what happens to their research money and their faculty mentoring duties?
• What are post-tenure review policies across campuses?
  
  After some discussion and several changes, a motion was made and seconded to accept the following resolution. The motion passed unanimously.

  Whereas, the Performance Review of Tenured Faculty, adopted by the Board of Governors in May 1997, is intended "to support and encourage excellence among tenured faculty,” and

  Whereas, the post-tenure review policy states that the process is designed to recognize and reward exemplary faculty performance, provide for a clear plan and timetable for improvement of performance of faculty found deficient, and for those whose performance remains deficient, provide for the imposition of appropriate sanction, which may, in most serious cases, include a recommendation for discharge, and

  Whereas, campus policies and procedures vary in several ways, such as the means by which faculty are selected for review in a given year, the selection and composition of the peer review committee, the materials to be submitted for review, and the procedure for monitoring the development of faculty found deficient, and

  Whereas, the Innovation in Faculty Work Life (IFWL) Committee has asked questions about the (a) nature and responsibility of the peer review committees, (b) the adequacy of follow-up after reviews, and (c) the adequacy of administrative support and resources of the process, and

  Whereas, the Office of Academic Affairs of the University of North Carolina, working with the IFWL Committee, is developing a plan for comprehensive campus and system-wide review of policies, procedures, outcomes, benefits, and is composing a set of questions to be answered by faculty members and academic administrators on each campus about how to make post-tenure review at UNC more effective, and

  Whereas, several UNC campuses have already volunteered to pilot the evaluation in spring semester 2004

  NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the UNC Faculty Assembly express its support of the efforts of the Office of Academic Affairs of UNC to evaluate the post-tenure review process for all campuses and urge that full participation of all campuses, and further

  That each campus develop evaluation procedures to explicitly solicit and incorporate particular concerns of faculty and academic administrators on their campuses and to report on changes to policies and procedures to ensure a more effective review process.

2. Budget Committee. Chair Harriet Griffin reported that the committee discussed the following:

• acquiring financial information for faculty through the FA web page with a link to the UNC web page
• setting up links to Faculty Senate or Council pages at 16 campuses.
• tuition increases (legislature-, BOG- or, campus -initiated) with the possibility of a resolution in January about tuition and salary increases
• enrollment changes based on 12-grid and updated each year
• centralizing indirect costs/overhead information.

3. Faculty Development: Chair Bonnie Kelly reported that the committee discussed role of post-tenure review with Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee. Met with the Technology Committee to discuss TLT conference. Discussed Merlot peer review with Technology Committee and Betsy Brown.
4. Faculty Welfare and Benefits. Chair Don Lisnerski announced:

• Steve Bachenheimer as vice chair.
• 900 responses to senior faculty survey about retirement
• response rate in high 30 percentile to a survey about phased retirement
• new effort by the Office of the President to survey middle level faculty about retention
• committee will look at recent changes in benefits legislation, and at possible changes regarding the optional retirement plan
• committee discussion of how to provide additional benefits to the state health care plan. Urged Office of the President to talk to legislature about health care and delegates to talk to campuses about health care.

5. Planning and programs: Chair Diane Holditch-Davis reported that the
   committee discussed nursing education and teacher education issues and caps on out of state students.
6. Technology Committee. Chair Yogi Kakad introduced the following resolution, with a motion to accept moved and seconded. After some discussion and changes, the resolution passed.

   Whereas the University of North Carolina expends tens of millions of dollars per year on computer software for faculty use, and

   Whereas centralized software licensing and distribution may lead to significant economies of scale through reduced software support costs and per-user licensing fees, and

   Whereas such centralization may also lead to increased opportunities for faculty to utilize software not otherwise affordable and may increase software access and availability to faculty across the University of North Carolina, and

   Whereas centralization may provide for grater currency of software tools,

   Therefore be it resolved that the Faculty Assembly requests that the UNC Teaching and Learning with Technology Collaborative conduct a survey of all 16 constituent campuses to assess the current usage and future software requirements of faculty and departments for purposes of investigating the feasibility of implementing a centralized software licensing and distribution system.

7. Governance Committee: Chair Richard Veit announced that the goal of the committee this year is to conduct a survey about governance practices at 16 campuses. He distributed a draft of shared governance survey that the committee endorsed. Once in its final form, it will be administered to chairs of faculty senates or councils.
   
   The committee proposed an enabling motion: for Faculty Assembly to allow the Governance Committee to conduct this survey when its done and send it to the 16 chairs of faculty senate/councils.

   Motion was second. Passed unanimously.

New Business

A motion was made that the Faculty Assembly endorse the use of University of Delaware out of classroom activity survey as a means of collecting information on department activities not as a substitute for individual annual reports. Seconded. Passed unanimously.

Move to adjourn. Seconded. Meeting adjourned at 5:00.

Submitted,

Meg Morgan
Secretary to the Faculty Assembly.