Present: Albanese Alligood Blaisten-Barojas Boileau Censer Conti Crockett Dinan Elstun Gantz Hamburger Hammond Jensen Krauss Metcalf Oates Rosenblum Rosenzweig Rossini Sanford Spikell Tabak Taylor Thomas Tongren Torzilli Travis Wood Zoltek

Absent: Buckley Carty Chang Fulmer Fuchs Hurt Johnson Lont Manne Mellander Potter Ruth Sage Sofer Todd Wright

I. Call to Order

The Chair, Anita Taylor called the meeting to order at 3:04 P.M.

II. Approval of Minutes

The minutes of the September 14, 1994 meeting were amended by replacing "Bylaws Committee" with "Organization and Operations Committee" in lines 4 and 5 of the fifth paragraph of Announcements. The minutes were approved as amended.

III. Announcements

Ms. Taylor announced four faculty vacancies on the Student Union Advisory Board and three faculty vacancies on the Student Funding Board. She invited Senators to volunteer to serve.

Ms. Taylor informed Senators of the new state travel policy (see the October 20, 1994 issue of the Mason Gazette). The policy affects all University accounts; Foundation accounts are exempt. It was pointed out that the limitation on number of travelers and the $500 minimum are independent; no more than two non-exempt travelers are permitted regardless of cost to the state.

Ms. Taylor announced that she would attach Council Notes from The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (Attachment A) and Meeting Update from the Commission on the Future of Higher Education in Virginia (Attachment B) to the minutes. She also announced that minutes of Executive Committee meetings are available in the Senate office.

Mr. Censer announced that Faculty Grassroots is on line. Mr. Fletcher announced that commentary regarding renewal, promotion and tenure as described in the new Faculty Handbook is available on ListServe. Faculty are invited to submit comments.

IV. Unfinished Business

Ms. Rosenblum requested an update on progress of the document codifying terms of employment and grievance procedures for administrative faculty. Mr. Rossini responded that he, the Executive Vice President for Administration and the Executive Vice President for Finance and Planning were developing the document. He expects it to be completed by the end of the academic year. The Senate will be consulted where needed.

V. New Business

A. Senate Committee Reports

1. Executive Committee
Ms. Taylor reported that cost of the tele-communications infrastructure contract as described in the October 13, 1994 issue of the Mason Gazette has raised some faculty concerns. There was no additional report beyond that discussed under announcements and the report of the Academic Policies Committee.

2. Academic Policies Committee
Ms. Travis reported that the Committee was in the process of reviewing the proposal to establish New Gunston College. She indicated that a straw vote within the Committee showed strong support for the proposal. Ms. Oates led an extended discussion on the floor. Issues included (a) name ("college" is a reserved term in the new Faculty Handbook; "Gunston" has several connotations, including both a place of reflection and a place of slavery); (b) integration of the new curriculum and those of existing disciplinary programs; (c) flexibility for transfer students; (d) advising and student selection; (e) program assessment; (f) need for a more complete report from the Committee, including illustrative programs of study; (g) experiential learning; and (h) differences between speciali- zations as they are presented in the proposal and traditional disciplinary majors. Mr. O'Connor distributed a draft of a potential student's program, and Ms. Travis invited further discussion at the next Academic Policies Committee meeting at noon, November 1 in Room C-116 of College Hall. Senators are also encouraged to read the Clark report.

3. Faculty Matters Committee
Mr. Wood reported that the Committee was discussing ways to increase the response rate of the Faculty Evaluation of Administrators. Two continuing items from last year are also under review.

4. Organization and Operations Committee
Ms. Elstun reminded Senators that new items should be sent initially to the Organization and Operations Committee to be recorded and assigned to the appropriate Senate committee. She also reported that the Committee has drafted procedures to elect members to promotion and tenure committees in cases where a local academic unit has too few members to fill such a committee. The proposal will be submitted to the Senate for its November meeting. The Committee has started work on a manual to compile all working documents of the Senate at the request of the Senate Chair.

5. Facilities and Support Services Committee
Mr. Spikell reported that the Committee is reviewing policies by which facilities are assigned for teaching. The Committee is also continuing to examine parking issues.

6. Nominations Committee
Mr. Rosenzweig, reporting for the Committee, nominated Mr. Jim Henry (ENGL) to complete the unexpired term of Ms. Martha Francescato on the Committee on Effective Teaching. The nomination was approved by voice vote without dissent.

7. Handbook Committee
There was no report.

B. Other Committees
There were no reports of any other committees.

VI. Other New Business

There was no other new business.

VII. Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 4:17 P.M.

Respectfully submitted,

James F. Sanford
Secretary

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