George Mason University
Approved Minutes of the Executive Committee Meeting
October 9, 2002
Present: J. Bennett, L. Brown, P. Buchanan, R. Coffinberger,
M. DeNys, E. Elstun. D. Kuebrich
Chair Jim Bennett opened the meeting at 12:06 pm.
I. Approval of Minutes
The Minutes of the October 2, 2002 Executive Committee meeting were approved
as amended.
II. Announcement
Dr. Bennett announced that Vernon Smith was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics
this week.
Mark Grady will be giving the eulogy for Dr. Liebeler, a GMU law professor,
at today’s full Senate meeting, and a moment of silence will be held for
the passing of Margaret Howell, a long-time GMU staff worker.
III. Reports from Senate Standing Committee Chairs/
IV. Agenda Items for October 9, 2002 Faculty Senate Committee
A. Academic Policies
It was mentioned that there may be intense discussions on the motions that will
be introduced this afternoon since the Committee did not accept all of the Task
Force on Teacher/Course Evaluation recommendations. Another issue discussed
is the division of responsibility and oversight between the University Committee
on Effective Teaching and the Center for Excellence in implementing and enforcing
the motions if passed.
B. Facilities & Support Services & Library
The Committee has received both an oral and written report from ITU concerning
the viruses currently circulating on GMU’s computers.
C. Faculty Matters
There was only a 19% return on the Faculty Evaluation of the Administration,
rendering the data statistically meaningless. The Committee is doing a lot of
work on strengthening, tightening, and revising the evaluation tools so that
future evaluations will be valid.
D. Ad Hoc Budget Committee
Dr. Coffinberger reported on a budget briefing held by Dr. Scherrens that he
attended last Friday.
It was noted that there is a lot of contradictory information circulating about
the role of the Deans’ budgetary meetings. It is important that faculty
members know the specifics about the cuts in their school or college and department.
The Executive Committee concurred that the Senate’s responsibility is
to continue to request information and disseminate it in the best way possible
for faculty use.
III. New Business
A. Proposal for a Faculty Senate Task Force on Academic Standards & Integrity
Dr. Bennett distributed a draft proposal to establish a University Task Force
on Academic Standards & Integrity. Members were asked to submit comments
and suggested changes as soon as possible for discussion at next week’s
Executive Committee meeting and submission of a final proposal at the October
23rd full Senate meeting.
B. Revision of Charge of University Grievance Committee to cover Research
Faculty
The Committee is waiting for Dr. Rossell, Associate Provost for Personnel and
Budget, to clarify “term” faculty before they will know if the Grievance
Committee’s charge needs to be changed.
IV. Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 1:24 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Debi Siler
Clerk, Faculty Senate