George Mason University
Approved Minutes of the Faculty Senate
April 11, 2001
Senators Present: E. Blaisten-Barojas, D. Boileau, R. Conti,
R. Ehrlich, E. Elstun, D. Gantz, M. Holt, R.C. Jones, A Kolker, L. Rockwood,
A. Sofer, P. Story, C. Sutton, P. Stearns
Senators Absent: K. Alligood, K. Avruch. W. M. Black, L. Bowen,
B. Brown, L. Brown, P. Buchanan, R. Carty, J. Censer, S. Cheldelin, R. Coffinberger,
S. deMonsabert, M. DeNys, R. Diecchio, T. Domzal, P. Feerick, J. Flinn, M. Ford,
T. Friesz, K. Gaffney, H. Gortner, M. Grady, L. Griffiths, E. Gunn, G. Hanweck,
K. Haynes, M. Krauss, D. Kuebrich, L. Lederman, C. Mattusch, A. Merten, J. Moore,
R. Nadeau, E. Price, L. Rigsby, L. Rickard, R. Rubenstein, S. Ruth, J. Sanford,
J. Scimecca, L. Seligmann, P. So, D. Struppa, C. Thomas, P. Wilkie, J. Zenelis,
S. Zoltek, S. Sanchez
Guests Present: O. Lenehan, R. Herron
I. Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 3:00 by Chair, Don Boileau.
II. Approval of Minutes
The minutes of March 21, 2001 were approved.
III. Announcements
A hearing was held April 11, 2001 at 11:00 on moving the Doctor of Arts in Community
College Education located in the Graduate School of Education to the College
of Arts and Sciences. (Further information under New Business.)
The next Faculty Senate meeting will be held on May 1, 2001 (Tuesday) in 138
Thompson Hall at 3:00 pm. The date set for a continuance of this meeting, if
required, is May 9, in 106 Fine Arts Building at 3:00.
The next meeting of the Board of Visitors will be held May 9, 2001.
IV. Unfinished Business
None
V. Senate Committee Reports
Executive Committee – Don Boileau
The Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate met on April 9, 2001. The position
of Faculty Ombudsman was discussed. Sara Looney briefed the Committee on her
duties in this position which she held for 10 years. She encouraged the Senate
to
propose reinstating the position and filling it with a tenured faculty member
preferably at the rank of full professor. She worked with approximately
100 cases per year and was able to resolve 99.9% of these herself, without presenting
them to the President.
An All University announcement polled the faculty concerning problems with the
way that Summer School assignments are being implemented. Faculty in two units
reported problems. D. Boileau will speak to Jim Conant, Assoc. Dean, Fiscal
Manager, CAS seeking a resolution. Dr. Stearns discussed giving priorities in
Summer School to junior, lower-paid faculty.
The Provost has proposed a new policy for tenure clock exceptions to standard
procedure. The Provost also has proposed a clarification on untenured faculty
members. He has proposed a 3-year initial contract in an effort to make all
initial appointments
uniform.
Academic Policies Committee – Esther Elstun
E. Elstun called on Pat Story to present the Committee’s two motions.
Pat Story moved for the committee that:
Academic Calendar Motion One:
Background: Classes that meet on the Wednesday preceding Thanksgiving Day experience
excessive absenteeism: that is the busiest travel day of the year. In addition,
in recent years the governor has closed state offices, including GMU’s,
at noon on that day.
Motion: The Academic Policies Committee MOVES the following:
Beginning in 2002, in the fall semester academic calendar the Tuesday of the
existing Columbus Day recess shall be eliminated in favor of creating a new
recess day on the Wednesday preceding Thanksgiving Day.
Rationale: The Columbus Day recess will thereby be reduced by one day to only
the Monday after Columbus Day. For that same week, Monday classes will meet
on Tuesday and Wednesday classes will therefore meet as usual. (In other words,
we will abandon the practice of having Monday classes meet once on Wednesday,
and begin the practice of having Monday classes meet once on Tuesday.) Therefore
even though the Wednesday before Thanksgiving will become a recess day, the
number of Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays in the semester remains the same.
Pat Story moved for the committee that:
Academic Calendar Motion Two:
Background: The Registrar reports that in January of this year a number of administrative
offices discovered that eight days is not a long enough period to provide essential
services to students in the transition from fall to spring semester. Offices
especially affected include the Registrar, Admissions, Financial Aid, and Student
Accounts. Similar difficulties were experienced in the offices of departments
and other local academic units. Current academic calendar policy (as adopted
by the Senate last year) reads a follows: Commencing with the Spring 2001 semester,
classes will begin on Tuesday following the third Monday in January, i.e. the
day following Martin Luther King Day. To accommodate missed Monday classes in
January, the reading day now scheduled for Monday immediately following the
semester's last day of classes in May would be utilized as a class day. Final
examinations would begin on the following Wednesday.
Motion: The Academic Policies Committee MOVES the following
exception to current policy:
When January 1 falls on a Saturday, Sunday or Monday, the spring semester that
year will begin on the fourth Monday in January (one week after Martin Luther
King day). The semester's classes will be followed by two Reading Days on a
Monday and Tuesday; final examinations will begin at 4:30 pm on that Tuesday.
Rationale: The proposed exception provides that in the future there will be
at least two weeks’ time for the administrative transition from fall to
spring semester. Nevertheless, it would still accomplish the goal of not having
classes on Martin Luther King Day. Classes will start either the next day or
the next week. Also, no change to the existing three-year calendar
would be required, as the years 2002, 2003 and 2004 start on days other than
Saturday, Sunday or Monday.
Esther Elstun continued the Academic Policies report. She stated that the Committee
expects to have a recommendation on the agenda for the May meeting concerning
cell phones and pagers in classroom. There will also be an action item concerning
Course Evaluations by students. Additionally, an action item will address the
double counting of courses for concentrations, etc. The issues here are restrictions
on double counting and policies for the use of reserved terms such as major,
minor, concentration, track, etc. The next Committee meeting will be on April
23; interested persons should contact Roberta Conti concerning course evaluations
and Patrick Wilkie concerning the double counting of courses.
Faculty Senate Facilities, Support Services, and Library Committee –
Stanley Zoltek
Meeting Summary (March 20, 2001)
Present: Stanley M. Zoltek, Harold F. Gortner, John G. Zenelis
The University Librarian presented brief reports on the items summarized below.
I. New Library Resources Acquired
Recent electronic resource acquisitions include some 1,500 full-text electronic
journals and some 12,000 electronic books, across a variety of academic disciplines.
II. Fenwick Renovations
Selected renovations of Fenwick library are planned for this spring and summer.
III. Arlington Phase II
Pending state funding for the Arlington II building project, library staff will
be working with Facilities Planning to address space requirements for a new
general Arlington Campus Library in the new building.
IV. Library staffing
The University Libraries currently has about an 18% vacancy rate. Library administration
is working diligently to facilitate filling these vacant positions.
V. Fenwick Fellows, 2001-2002
Research proposals are currently being accepted and inquiries are being answered.
VI. SACS reaffirmation of accreditation visit
University Libraries is prepared for the visit of the SACS reaccredidation team
in April.
A. Library Support of Distance Learning
A newly hired librarian, whose responsibilities include distance education and
outreach activities, is coordinating the development of a libraries service
component for distance learning.
Organization and Operations Committee – Estela Blaisten-Barojas
The Committee to act as liaison with the Board of Visitors was presented their
charge which is as follows:
1. Foster working relations between the faculty and the BOV;
2. Facilitate the exchange of information and views on issues related to the
life of the university;
3. Act in a consulting capacity to members of the BOV on academic and faculty
matters.
Composition: 5 members, three of whom should be senators.
With no voiced objections, the charge was approved.
VI. Other Standing Committees
External Academic Relations Committee – Ariela Sofer
No report
Faculty Senate of Virginia – Esther Elstun, Don Gantz, Ariela
Sofer
All GMU delegates of the Committee, E. Elstun, D. Gantz, A. Sofer attended the
joint meeting of the Faculty Senate of Virginia and AAUP on March 23, 2001.
Karl Schilling, Deputy Director of SCHEV gave a briefing at the morning session
that was followed by a discussion of the disappointing fate of Bill 2377, “Faculty
Representatives on College Boards,” and of ways to ensure passage of this
bill when it is reintroduced in the fall. GMU was used as a model for how to
contact legislators. A.
Sofer, Chair of our External Relations Committee, is scheduling lunches between
local legislators and GMU senators; she has invited eight legislators and three
have accepted so far. The speaker at the joint lunch with the Virginia Chapter
of the AAUP was Iris Molotsky of the AAUP. She spoke on the Corporatization
of Higher Education. The AAUP has prepared a brochure on this subject that E.
Elstun recommends to faculty.
The Virginia Senate elected next year’s officers. A motion was passed
to plan and sponsor a Fall Forum, to which political candidates will be invited
to discuss educational issues and candidate stands. The forum will be held in
Richmond. Individual institutional senates are pledging up to $1,000 each to
support the forum. A motion was passed to encourage individual schools to extend
benefits to domestic partners. A. Sofer stated that we need volunteers to help
with the Fall Forum.
VII. New Business
D. Boileau reported there were no objections to the move of the Doctor of Arts
in Community College Education from the Graduate School of Education to the
College of Arts and Sciences raised at this morning’s hearing. Four issues
were raised:
1. Clarification of grievance procedures for students was questioned. Students
would grieve through CAS as the local academic unit.
2. Internal GMU faculty are eligible to apply for the Director’s position.
Currently this is an external search for Director.
3. The Program Faculty are currently not an identified body, but this will change
after the transition. The management of the program will be taken over by a
standing committee.
4. Faculty appointed to the new program would have their tenure in the appropriate
departments. Should they have a grievance, it would be handled through their
department.
The Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate receiving no objections, will
recommend this transfer to the Provost.
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) will be at GMU the week
of April 16. D. Boileau will meet with them for 45 minutes on the governance
of the Senate on April 18. D. Boileau asked that any Senator with opinions or
ideas about governance contact him. R. Ehrlich requested the Executive Committee
consider meeting on the Fairfax campus for all meetings as this years meeting
at Prince William led to lower attendance than normal and that even the Senators
who teach
at Prince William did not attend the meeting on their campus.
The meeting adjourned at 3:50 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Lorraine Brown
Secretary, Faculty Senate