George Mason University
Approved Minutes of the Executive Committee Meeting
April 16, 2003
Present: J. Bennett, L. Brown, P. Buchanan, R. Coffinberger,
M. De Nys, E. Elstun, D. Kuebrich
Chair Jim Bennett opened the meeting at 12:55 pm.
I. Approval of Minutes
The Minutes of the April 9, 2003 Executive Committee meeting were approved as
distributed.
II. Announcements
Sadly, Larry Bowen passed away this week. Dean Jeffrey Gorrell will be asked
to give a eulogy at the next Senate meeting.
The minutes of the AY2002-2003 Executive Committee meetings will be on the Faculty
Senate website by the end of the week.
The Executive Committee spring luncheon will be at the Heart-in-Hand Restaurant
on May 9th at 12:00 noon.
Senate Standing Committee annual reports are due electronically to the Faculty
Senate office ([email protected] or [email protected]) by April 23, 2003.
III. Old Business
There was no old business.
IV. Reports from Senate Standing Committee Chairs
A. Academic Policies
The Committee will give a report on a catalogue wording change concerning pre-
and co-requisite courses.
B. Facilities & Support Services & Library
No report.
C. Faculty Matters
The Committee will submit a motion concerning compensation for summer school
lab instructors at the next Senate meeting.
Marty De Nys will also remark on the anxiety that has been expressed over the
confidentiality of the Faculty Evaluation of Administrators survey.
D. Nominations
The Committee will present a slate of nominees for the Task Force on Midterm
Grading at the next Senate meeting.
E. Organization & Operations
The Committee has sent the recommendations of the Effective Teaching Committee
to the Faculty Matters Committee for action. It was noted that the Effective
Teaching Committee, who presented its annual report at the last Senate meeting,
did a wonderful job and submitted an impressive and helpful report. The work
that was accomplished by the Effective Teaching Committee and the Task Force
on Teacher/Course Evaluations is one of the highlights of the Senate this year.
V. New Business
Per the Senate Bylaws, the Chair of the Faculty Senate for the AY2003-2004 year
will be elected at the May Senate meeting.
It was noted that the Senate needs to follow-up with the administration concerning
possible raises and how they will be distributed. This issue is being handled
by the Faculty Matters Committee, so all proposals should be sent to them for
consideration as they are formulating the Senate’s position.
Esther Elstun reported that the Virginia Tech Faculty Senate gave a presentation
on their Computer Privacy Task Force at the Faculty Senate of Virginia meeting
on Saturday. George Mason doesn’t have a policy on faculty computer privacy,
even though the Senate passed a motion (September 2001) concerning this issue.
It was agreed that the Senate should follow-up on this matter. The Clerk will
distribute Virginia Tech’s report to the Executive Committee members and
Bob Nadeau, the former Chair of the Challenges to Academic Freedom and the Right
to Privacy Ad Hoc Committee.
VI. Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 1:30 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Debi Siler
Clerk, Faculty Senate