George Mason University
Approved Minutes of the Executive Committee Meeting
February 19, 2003


Present: J. Bennett, P. Buchanan, R. Coffinberger, M. De Nys, E. Elstun, D. Kuebrich

Chair Jim Bennett opened the meeting at 12:00 pm.

I. Approval of Minutes
The Minutes of the February 12, 2003 Executive Committee meeting were approved as distributed.

II. Announcements
President Merten will address the Faculty Senate at the April 9th meeting. He will also be attending the AAUP meeting on March19th.

The Chair will send a thank you letter to Rector Meese for addressing the Faculty Senate last week and to follow-up concerning faculty representation on the Faculty and Academic Standards Committee. The Senate will continue to push for representation on the full Board.

The Provost will be holding a forum on Promotion and Tenure this afternoon.

The University Standing Committee Chairs will be asked to submit their annual reports electronically to the Clerk of the Faculty Senate. This year the reports will be divided between the April and May meetings to avoid having to call a second May meeting in order to finish committee reports.

III. New Business
A. Changes to Faculty Handbook

The Senate will hold a special meeting on the proposed changes to the Faculty Handbook made by the BOV on January 30, 2003. The Faculty Matters Committee will submit two motions concerning the changes at the special meeting. If they pass, the Secretary of the Senate will inform the Chief of Staff and the BOV. The Senators will be sent the agenda and changes by e-mail, and the general faculty will be notified that they can review the changes on the Senate’s website.

B. Faculty Standing Committee Changes
Rick Coffinberger presented a draft charge for a new Faculty Senate Standing Committee on Budget and Resource Allocation. The charge will be fine-tuned at the next Executive Committee meeting. The O&O Committee will propose this new committee and submit its charge for approval at the March or April meeting. There is still a question to whether this committee will be an additional Faculty Standing Committee or replace the Facilities, Support Services, and Library Committee.

VI. Adjournment
The meeting officially adjourned at 1:15 pm.

Respectfully submitted,
Debi Siler
Clerk, Faculty Senate

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