The
Regular session – October 11, 2004 - 3:30 p.m. - Jacobson Faculty Hall 102
office: Jacobson Faculty Hall 206
phone: 325-6789
e-mail: facsen@ou.edu web site:
http://www.ou.edu/admin/facsen/
The Faculty Senate was called
to order by Professor Valerie Watts, Chair.
PRESENT: Barker,
Blank, Bozorgi, Bradford, Burns, Catlin, Cintrón, Civan, Dewers, Dohrmann, Draheim,
Driver, Elisens, Fincke, Forman, Frech, Geletzke, Gutierrez, Halterman, Havlicek,
Hayes-Thumann, Henderson, Houser, Kauffman, C. Knapp, R. Knapp, Lai, Lewis, Liu,
Magnusson, Penrose, Raadschelders, Rupp-Serrano, Scherman, Schwarzkopf, Striz, Taylor,
Vieux, Watts, Wheeler, Wood, Wyckoff
Provost's office representative: Mergler
UOSA representative: Johnson
ABSENT: Biggerstaff,
Brown,
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Announcements:
2004 Student Satisfaction Report
Reception in appreciation of Athletics Director and
coaches
Senate Chair's Report:
Health insurance enrollment
Academic integrity
Faculty development award
Dream courses
Student alcohol abuse
Regents’ policy manual—placement of Financial Emergency section
Campus Tenure Committee review of hire-with-tenure cases
State of the University address by President David Boren
Post-tenure review policy
________________________________________________________________________________
The Faculty Senate Journal
for the regular session of September 13, 2004 was approved.
The
2004 Student Satisfaction Report is available in the Faculty Senate office.
The Norman campus faculty is
invited to attend a reception sponsored by University Libraries and the Norman
campus Faculty Senate on Wednesday, October 13, 2004, 2:00-3:30 p.m., in the
Great Reading Room of Bizzell Memorial Library in appreciation of Athletics
Director Joe Castiglione, Football Coach Bob Stoops, Women’s Basketball Coach
Sherri Coale, and Men’s Basketball Coach Kelvin Sampson for their generous
support of University Libraries.
“I
want to remind everyone that the annual enrollment for health benefits will
occur from October 18 though November 5 (a list of the information sessions was
available at the meeting).
“On
Tuesday, October 19, Dr. Donald L. McCabe of
“Greg
Heiser from the provost’s office is asking faculty to fill out the survey on
academic integrity that you should have received by e-mail. The faculty response rate is less than 10
percent, to date. Please urge your
colleagues to participate in this survey.
“The
Faculty Senate will be sending out a call for proposals for the Faculty
Development Award later this month.
There is enough funding to grant as many as ten awards up to the amount
of $2,500 each. Proposals in the areas
of teaching and research are eligible for consideration. Please urge your colleagues to apply.
“In
addition, you should have received an e-mail from the provost’s office
announcing funding that is available for ‘dream courses.’ The fund allows faculty to bring in speakers
for their courses.
“Finally, the nature of OU
freshman Blake Hammontree’s death has been of great concern to us all. The president asked that any suggestions you
have, which might help alleviate the problem of alcohol abuse on campus, may be
forwarded to either the Faculty Senate office or Vice President Nick Hathaway.”
Prof. Watts explained that a
change had been made in the Regents’ Policy Manual for purposes of
clarification by including the Financial Emergency section in the Severe
Sanctions section, with an asterisk indicating that it was a valid reason for
termination of employment but not a severe sanction. In the final version (attached) a
sub-paragraph was inserted that lists two scenarios where termination of
employment may occur but are not considered severe sanctions: 1) financial
emergency and 2) changes in the University’s educational function. The motion to endorse the revision was
approved on a voice vote.
The Campus Tenure Committee (CTC)
recommended discontinuation of its review of hire-with-tenure cases (attached). Prof. Watts said the CTC believes the
committee need not review files when it has already been decided to offer a
position with tenure. Hires with tenure
are typically senior hires. The higher
administration, department, and dean of the college must be willing to tenure
when the offer to hire is extended. CTC
does not feel it has “a genuine or authentic role to play” if a decision has
already been made when the dossier is presented to CTC. These types of dossiers are often presented
during the summer months when many CTC members are away from the campus. The CTC motion was seconded.
Prof. Knapp said he planned
to vote yes but was a little concerned about taking the CTC out of the loop. Prof. Bradford pointed out that he came to OU
with tenure. He put together all of the
materials to be hired but then had to go through an entirely different process
for tenure. Because of the delays, he almost
turned down the offer. Prof. Raadschelders
asked how often someone was hired with tenure in comparison with overall hiring. Senate coordinator Sonya Fallgatter said
there were about three or four hire-with-tenure cases per year. Prof. Cintrón commented that tenure was perhaps
the most crucial faculty duty. She said
she thought it was important to keep faculty involved in decisions about
colleagues who will be with us for many years.
Prof. Raadschelders noted that the faculty is involved at the unit
level. The exception requested by the CTC
regards people who have already made a name and have several years’ experience. Prof. Striz said the
President David Boren introduced
Stephen Bentley, Chair of the Board of Regents.
He said Mr. Bentley had been a regent eleven years and served as chair twice. He was one of the first members of the board to
ask to give comments to the senate. President
Boren said he hated to see Regent Bentley’s term end this spring because had
been a tremendous, positive influence on the university. He gives priority to faculty compensation,
recruitment and retention of the faculty, the library budget, and other key
academic parts of the university. Regent
Bentley thanked the faculty for his time here.
He said he appreciated what the faculty had done for the university
during troubled budgetary times when we had holds on faculty salaries. He said the regents made a good choice as the
OU president ten years ago. President Boren
thanked Regent Bentley for his generosity.
On November 17, President Boren will have been at the university ten
years. Former President George Cross,
who was President Boren’s mentor, told him that the continuity of the
institution was the faculty. The
president’s role is to support the faculty and listen to what the faculty has
to say.
Discussing where we have come
the last ten years, the president said the donor base had grown from 17,000 to
84,000. We have reached $990 million in
private fundraising since November 1994, and our endowment has increased from
$200 million to $634 million. This year,
we crossed the $210 million mark in total research from outside grants. In ten years, ACT scores of our entering
class have increased an average of about three points. Our goal was to equal the University of Kansas
in library rankings; we passed them and are now second in the Big 12 in terms
of the size of the library collections. The
regents adopted a ten-year goal of increasing the library endowment by one million
dollars a year. New programs include honors,
expository writing, religious studies, faculty in residence, cousins, and international
programs. The Dallas Morning News reported on the recommendations of a commission
studying the
President Boren said a
positive outcome on the state questions was very important to the university. The governor committed more funding for
common education to pay for teacher health insurance. Other commitments include the Oklahoma Higher
Learning Access Program (OHLAP), hospital reimbursement, trauma centers, and cancer
center. If new sources are not available
to meet these commitments, it will create a huge hole in the state budget. Forty-five percent of the lottery question (State
Question 705) would go to K-12 education.
Another 45 percent could be used for other education programs, for
example, endowed chairs, tuition grants like OHLAP, and physical
facilities. That means lottery proceeds could
fund a higher education bond issue, which would take care of 90 percent of our physical
facility list. OHLAP now comes out of
any additional money for higher education.
During 2003-04, OHLAP cost $10.3 million, this year the cost will be
about $18 million, and by 2007-08, the cost is estimated to be $41.7 million. Last year, all of higher education only
received $23 million in new money. State
Question 712 (gaming) would provide about $4-5 million for OHLAP. OHLAP is a separate state commitment and
should not come out of operating budgets for colleges and universities. State Question 713 (tobacco tax) would bring
the state’s tobacco taxes to approximately the regional average. The tax would be used for health care. Our state has one of the largest uninsured
populations in the nation. When
hospitals are not reimbursed, health costs for the rest of us go up. The tax would provide about $7 million a year
for the cancer center at the
President Boren spoke of the
tragic death of a student due to alcohol abuse and underage drinking. He closed the fraternity involved for the
rest of the academic year. What is
frustrating is we have had the most robust alcohol education program this
university has ever had. Almost 7000 students
went through alcohol training sessions this fall, and our alcohol education
programs are continuing. We have been
stepping up our spot checks of Greek houses.
An advisory committee has been formed to suggest possible actions. Any suggestions may be sent in writing to the
president. The committee will report
back by December 8, and President Boren will recommend to the regents a new set
of rules for the spring semester. The
committee is surveying what has been done at other universities. Some suggestions on the table are to have a dry
campus, which creates a different set of problems, delay rush, tighten academic
requirements for initiation, and eliminate mid-week parties. Teen drinking in junior high and high school is
40 percent higher in
One of the programs initiated
late last year was dream courses, a program to bring guest speakers to the
campus. Up to $20,000 per course is
provided for special visiting scholars. Six
proposals were funded last year. When
possible, a guest could share with the general community through a round-table
dinner. The course could be team taught
but does not have to be. This program is
a way to provide additional academic enrichment and attract some of our best
students to take these courses.
Looking ahead, President
Boren said we would continue our emphasis on new interdisciplinary programs, our
new expository writing program, and dream courses and would go back to the
basics. In 1980, higher education received
18.55 percent of the state budget. Now
it is at 14.95 percent, about 3.5 percent less of the $5.36 billion in state
appropriations. From 1993 to 2005, we went
up about 1.3 percent in the amount of our operating budget coming from research
and about 2 percent in the amount from gifts and endowment. State appropriations went from 35.5 percent
to 20.3 percent of our operating budget.
Tuition and fees jumped 13.5 percent.
If we do not get the dollars from the state to have adequate
compensation for the faculty, what is likely to happen is a continued increase
in tuition and fees over the next decade.
We do not want to go downhill in terms of our standard of excellence. Almost 3000 additional students are receiving
scholarships than two years ago. The new
heritage scholarships are for students in the middle income range to help them
stay at OU. If he were given $100
million as a private gift, President Boren said he would put half in faculty compensation
and support and in areas where we have overcrowding and the other half in our scholarship
fund. As he looks ahead, those are his two
continuing priorities for private and public funds. He said, “The excellence of the university
depends upon the excellence of the interchange between faculty and students in
the educational mission.” He welcomes
faculty input into the issues facing us in the near future. He said he values the relationship,
encouragement, and good ideas from the faculty, and it has been a wonderful and
very meaningful ten years. With Prof.
Watts’ help, he plans to insert some classical music from our
Prof. Raadschelders asked
whether other states had programs comparable to OHLAP and whether the program
was only for
The committee established to
review the post-tenure review (PTR) process made two recommendations (attached). One was to clarify the numerical rating
system (2.0 or less on a 0-5 5.0 scale). The other was to eliminate the requirement
for a five-year review of the process. Reasons
for the second recommendation are there have been no serious complaints with the
PTR process, there are procedures in place that allow the Faculty Senate to
request a review of the process, and the required five-year review could invite
some outside interests to critique the process, with the ultimate goal of
eroding tenure rights. The motion of the
committee was seconded.
Prof. Barker asked for an
explanation of the idea that some outside interest could erode tenure rights. Prof. Schwarzkopf commented that when PTR was
originally passed, there was concern that the regents would try to define a PTR
procedure in such a way to make it easier to eliminate tenure. The policy was written to ensure that it was
a performance improvement program as opposed to a performance evaluation
program. When the process comes up for
review every five years, there is the chance that the regents could use the
occasion to make it a more stringent process.
The Faculty Senate could always request a review if any problems
develop. Prof. Barker said the regents
could, by the same token, request a review and make it more stringent. Prof. Schwarzkopf said the regents usually did
not bring up a policy they had already endorsed. Any change would have to go through the
Faculty Senate. Prof. Barker said he
thought there were some design flaws in the policy that had not emerged
yet. Having the ability to deal with
problems in a measured way would be an advantage, but the Faculty Senate as a
body could always decide to do that.
Prof. Burns asked whether the
AAUP had a position on the issue of a five-year review. Prof. Watts said she was not sure. She added that the PTR committee had made the
point that there was no requirement to periodically review the tenure
process. The recommendations were approved
on a voice vote.
The nominations to fill
vacancies on committees were postponed until the next meeting.
The meeting adjourned at 5:00
p.m. The next regular session of the
Faculty Senate will be held at 3:30 p.m. on Monday, November 8, 2004, in
Jacobson Faculty Hall 102.
____________________________________
Sonya Fallgatter, Administrative Coordinator
____________________________________
Roger Frech, Secretary