Meeting Minutes
ACADEMIC SENATE MINUTES
January 10, 2011
Call to Order
The meeting of the Academic Senate, held on January 10, 2011, was called to order at 3:04 by James E. Metherall, Senate President. The meeting was held in room 115 C. Roland Christensen Center.
James Metherall gave a couple of administrative announcements regarding the off cycle work from the Personnel and Elections Committee to establish two faculty committees. The first, the Faculty Committee on Governmental and Community Relations has been inactive for a few years. The committee will provide faculty perspective in the legislative process as well as city and community relations. This committee will jointly report to the Senate and the new Vice President, Jason Perry. The second committee, the Student Course Feedback Oversight Committee, will be created as required in Policy 6-100, to establish procedures for implementing new features of the course evaluation system obtaining and publishing student feedback. Anyone interested in serving on either of these committees should contact Nancy Lines.
Roll:
Stephen Alder, Peter Alfeld, Lisa Aspinwall, Amanda Barusch, Tami Beck, Joanna Bettmann, David J. Bjorkman, John Bowman, Francis H. Brown, Neil Vickers for David Carrier, Steve Carson, Doug Cartwright, George Cassiday, Kuan Chen, Vincent Cheng, Margaret Clayton, Ronald Coleman, Eva Comollo, Suzanne Darais, Larry DeVries, Lee Dibble, Kristina Diekmann, Richard Dorsky, Nadja Durbach, Richard Ernst, Jaimee Farrer, Richard Forster, Robert Fujinami, Bruce Gale, Timothy Garrett, April Cobb for Gwyndolynn Gentry, Michael Goodman, Chuck Grissom, Sandra Hasstedt, Henryk Hecht, Vladimir Hlady, Lauren Holland, Harriet Hopf, Martin Horvath, Howard Horwitz, Tom Huckin, Eric Hutton, Douglas Jones, Keith Keddington, Wen Kuo, Sharee Lane, Stephen Lessnick, Anthea Letsou, Joelle Lien, Karl Lins, Laurence Loeb, Kim Martinez, Teri J. Mauch, Chad Metcalf, Joseph Metz, William C. Michel, Ann Mooney, Ryan Morrison, Allyson Mower, Erik Brunvand for Chris Myers, Rachel Nardo, Chris Nelson, Chad Nielsen, Lester Partlow, Kumi Boike for Sean Redmond, Alison Regan, Steve Reynolds, Kristina Rodriguez, Nelson Roy, Sonia Salari, Janet Shaw, James Sibthorp, Joseph Sin, Paula Smith, Alexa Doig for Sandra Smith, Randall Stewart, Jeff Stratman, David Viskochil, Norm Waitzman, Bryce Williams, Brie Gonzalez for Chase Winder, Angela Yetman
Excused: Gwyndolynn Gentry, Chris Myers, Sean Redmond, Sandy Smith, Michael K. Young
Excused w/out proxy: Bob Allen, Richard Barton, David Blair, Reaz Chaudhuri, Chase Jardine, Chris Peterson, Andrea Rorrer, Orest Symko
Ex-officio: A. Lorris Betz, Robert Flores, John Francis, James Graves, Pat Hanna, Nancy Lines, James Metherall, Paul Mogren, Susan Olson, Octavio Villalpando
Others: Ann Floor, Donna White, Robert Payne, Scott Folsom, Platte Nielson, George Hepner, Rubio Fernando, Patty Davis, Gage Williams, Steve Roens, Kris Hale
Approval of Minutes
The minutes of the Academic Senate meeting on December 6, 2010, were accepted following Robert Flores editorial corrections on a motion from Larry DeVries which was seconded by Bob Fujinami. A motion to approve the minutes as amended was made by Larry DeVries, seconded by Bob Fujinami and unanimously approved.
Request for New Business
Professor Norm Waitzman posed a question regarding guns on campus, which has been under discussion as a result of a recent incident involving campus police protocols. The question—as it is illegal under federal law to carry in a federal building, could the University, since it receives Federal funds, be classified as a federal building. Associate General Counsel Robert Payne was in attendance and was asked about this concept. He explained that a clear answer could not be given without some opportunity to study the law. A motion from Larry DeVries, seconded by Steve Alder, to request the Counsel’s office to consider this issue, was unanimously approved. Robert Payne agreed to discuss the issue with the General Counsel, and to arrange to have the Senate leadership informed if there seemed to be something worth pursuing on this issue..
**Note: Upon further investigation, University General Counsel provided the following definition from United States Code 18 U.S.C. 930(g)(1): The term ‘Federal Facility’ means a building or part thereof owned or leased by the Federal Government, where Federal employees are regularly present for the purpose of performing their official duties.” Consequently, university buildings do not qualify as Federal Facilities and the university cannot justify using the federal guidelines/laws applied to Federal Facilities for campus facilities.
Consent Calendar
The resignations, retirements, faculty appointments, auxiliary, limited term, and emeritus appointments, appearing in the Appendices dated December 20, 2010 and January 10, 2011, received unanimous approval to forward to the Board of Trustees as proposed by Larry DeVries and seconded by Steve Alder.
Executive Committee Report
Pat Hanna, Executive Committee Secretary, summarized her written report of the December 20, 2010, Executive Committee meeting.
Report from Administration
- Loris Betz, Senior Vice President of Health Sciences, announced that the Legislative session will begin in two weeks. The opening salvos on the budget from the Governor proposed a budget that will require no further cuts to Higher Education. The one-time money that was used last year to limit the level of the cuts is running out and the Governor proposes the acceleration of collection of taxes from businesses to bring in enough money to cover the deficit. The Legislature, however, does not appear to agree with the Governor’s proposed acceleration of collection of taxes on businesses. Some of the presidents of the State universities will be meeting with legislators in a couple of weeks to describe how to deal with a proposed 7 percent cut.
The administration is hopeful that there won’t be any additional cuts and is virtually certain that there won’t be any legislative funding for salary increases. The administration is very concerned after having gone two years without salary increases and will be looking at other non-legislative funding sources that could be used. The salary guidelines will not be out until after the legislative session is over.
The senior vice president commented on the open-carry gun issues that have recently been reported in the news. He stated that the University’s policy is consistent with state law in that it allows individuals with lawful permits to carry concealed weapons on campus. University policy does not allow weapons to be carried openly or intentionally displayed by anyone on campus, other than law enforcement officials. He reaffirmed the right of University security personnel to verify an individual’s authority to carry a weapon if the individual displays the weapon. Dr. Betz contended that this Policy was also consistent with state law, but also pointed out that some state bills have been introduced to clarify the rights to openly carry a weapon. He also stated that openly carrying a weapon has a deleterious effect on the educational environment that we need to foster at the University.
Report of ASUU
There was no report from ASUU.
Notice of Intent
Robert Payne, Associate General Counsel, explained the set of proposed policies and procedures recommended or required by Federal law following the 2009 Clery Act federal audit of the University. Policy 1-011 regarding Campus Security, with its accompanying Procedure 1-011A, will provide the appropriate policies and procedures for reporting, collecting and maintaining information about crimes on campus. The proposed Policy 1-012 addressing Student Sexual Assault Prevention and Response replaces the interim rule 5-210 that was put into effect in November 2009 on an expedited basis to address deficiencies in complying with Federal law. Larry DeVries recommended that the proposed policies be amended to address the problem of false accusations being made. A motion to include the recommended provision regarding false accusations was made by Larry DeVries and seconded by Bob Fujinami and approved. A second motion to move this proposal from the Intent to the Debate Calendar was made by Larry DeVries and seconded by Bob Fujinami and approved.
Debate Calendar
There was no further discussion on Policy 1-011, Procedure 1-011A, Policy 1-012 and the repeal of Interim Rule 5-210. A motion from Larry DeVries to approve the proposed policies, as amended to include the provision regarding false accusations, and forward to the Board of Trustees for final approval was seconded by Bob Fujinami and approved unanimously.
George Hepner, chair of the Geography Department, gave a short précis on the proposed discontinuation of the Geography Teaching Degrees. Because of more strict regulations and a lack of student involvement and decreased departmental resources, the department decided to request its discontinuation. There will be no students impacted by the discontinuance. A motion from Larry DeVries to approve the request and forward to the Board of Trustees for final approval was seconded by Alison Regan and approved unanimously.
Fernando Rubio, chair of the Department of Languages and Literature, presented a short synopsis for the proposed Minor in Portuguese and Brazilian Studies. Of the 21 languages taught in the department, only 11 of those qualify for degrees. The department feels that this minor would benefit a large population in Utah, strengthen our ties with Brazil, and be critical in getting a national research center. BYU currently has the largest program in the nation. John Francis added his support for this proposal. Larry DeVries made a motion to approve the proposed request and forward to the Board of Trustees for final approval which was seconded by Suzanne Darais and approved unanimously.
Information Calendar
There were no questions on the approved emphases in the departments of Anthropology, Biology Majors, Special Education, and Theatre, nor the Undergraduate Council Review of Environmental Studies or the Graduate Council Review of Geography.
New Business
Kris Hale, co-chair of the University’s Child Care Task Force, requested the Senate be informed of the approved Child Task Force Needs Assessment Survey that will be going out on-line. The purpose of the survey is to describe the child care needs of students, staff and faculty, perceptions of met and unmet needs, and levels of satisfaction with available child care resources. Participation is voluntary and no identifying information will be collected about respondents. If you have any questions, please contact Joanne Yaffe (joanne.yaffe@utah.edu).
Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 3:45 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Nancy Lines