�MINUTES OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
OF THE FACULTY SENATE
MARCH 27, 2006, Mason Hall, rm. D5 1:30-2:30 p.m.
Present:� Jim Bennett, Rei Berroa, Rick Coffinberger, Jim Sanford, Peter Stearns, Cliff Sutton, Susan Trencher
Absent:� Dave Kuebrich
Approval of Minutes:� The minutes of February 27, 2006 were approved as distributed.
Agenda for Faculty Senate Meeting April 5, 2006:�
Announcements:� Meeting on March 29th regarding retirement proposals attended by Provost Stearns, Maurice Scherrens, Linda Harber, Dave Kuebrich, Jim Sutton and Rick Coffinberger � may have information to share; status of faculty representative to BOV Audit Committee unknown; update on Faculty Handbook revision. Faculty will be encouraged to attend the special called meeting April 19th on salary issues; some may be unable to attend given previously scheduled committee meetings.
Reports of Senate Standing
Committee Chairs:
Academic Policies � Cliff Sutton:� Cliff will present two motions for calendar revision.� Change to the Labor Day holiday will not be included in view of strong opposition by Staff Senate and some faculty in support of their view.� A discussion took place regarding whether to send an email to all faculty (in addition to the agenda they will receive) or to senators only as a reminder of this important vote; possibly also to department heads as a reminder; links to Cliff�s webpage also to be included in the agenda for reference and feedback.�
Two weeks ago a recommendation was passed by the Virginia General Assembly regarding book orders for courses to be submitted� in a timely manner.� Tom Hennessey will devise wording with some flexibility; as newly arrived faculty or faculty assigned to teach a new course may not be able to meet some deadlines. Concern was expressed about the growing cost of textbooks, availability of old editions, resale, and profits earned by bookstores.� The recommendations are not a mandate.
Faculty Matters � Jim Sanford:� The �Faculty Evaluation of Administrators Form will be distributed within a week.� The form is identical to the one used last year; slight changes haves been made to the instructions.� On the President�s docushare website, five or six of the administrators surveys have been posted.� As he did last year, the Provost will send an email to faculty reminding them to fill out the survey.
Organization and Operations � Rei Berroa:� Letters have been sent to Deans and Directors regarding their allotment of Senators for the 2006-2007 academic year.�
New Business:� Josh Cantor, Director of Parking and Transportation, will make a brief presentation.� It was noted that complaints about trash in the garage near the Concert Hall have resulted in improvements.�
Post Agenda Discussion�
Research
Council-Proposed Policy Development/Faculty Representation/Governance Issues:
The Research Council is drafting a policy regarding copyright ownership of faculty- and student-produced research records/data by the University.� If approved, such a policy could be problematic.� If the university owns copyright, how can a Ph.D. graduate who goes elsewhere publish his or her dissertation?� Would that person have to pay to reproduce copies of the data that s/he produced?� Also, the American Psychological Association has a policy that data must be kept for at least five years so that another person, at his or her own expense, can reanalyze the data.� What happens if the faculty member who produced the data leaves the university within the five-year period?� The policy also proposes that the University owns course materials that faculty have developed.� What happens if the faculty member takes another position?
A more general question is how does the University decide what policies must be approved by the Faculty Senate?� Although there are faculty on the Research Council, the Senate is not a signatory on the proposed copyright policy.� Also, the faculty were not elected or appointed by the Senate and there are no procedures for referral by the Council.� The faculty/staff housing project approval constitutes a recent example of the need for more oversight by the Senate.� Jim Sanford will meet with Matt Kluger about some of these issues, and a suggestion was made to invite Matt to address the Senate.�
The suggestion was made to invite the faculty representative to the GMU Foundation to report to the Senate once a year as well as to obtain a brief written report from each faculty representative to the BOV Committees once a year.
Adjournment:� The meeting adjourned at 2:15 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Meg Caniano
Clerk, Faculty Senate