GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY
MINUTES OF
THE FACULTY SENATE
NOVEMBER 2, 2005
Senators present: Ernest Barreto, Jim Bennett, Rei Berroa, Alok Berry, Russ Brayley, Phillip Buchanan, Richard Carver, Julie Christensen, Rick Coffinberger, Lloyd Cohen, Bob Ehrlich, Karen Hallows, Susan Hirsch, Mark Houck, Kristin Johnsen-Neshati, Matthew Karush, Richard Klimoski, Jim Kozlowski, Dave Kuebrich, Julie Mahler, Linda Monson, Jean Moore, Robert Nadeau, Paula Petrik, Jane Razeghi, Kenneth Reinert, Jim Sanford, Joe Scimecca, Suzanne Slayden, Peter Stearns, Cliff Sutton, June Tangney, Tojo Thatchenkery, Ellen Todd, Susan Trencher, Iosif Vaisman, John Zenelis, Stanley Zoltek.
Senators absent: Sara Cobb, Jose Cortina, Warren Decker, Charlene Douglas, Jeffrey Gorrell, Lloyd Griffiths, Kingsley Haynes, Bruce Johnsen, Dan Joyce, Menas Kafatos, Jane McDonald, Alan Merten, Ami Motro, Patricia Moyer-Packenham, Lisa Pawloski, Peter Pober, Daniel Polsby, William Reeder, Larry Rockwood, Christine Smith, Daniele Struppa, Shirley Travis, Phil Wiest, James Willett, Mary Williams.
Guests present: Pat Donini (Employee Relations Director/Deputy Director – Human Resources – Payroll), Gary Galluzzo (Co-Chair of the President’s Library Task Force and Professor, CEHD), Dolores Gomez-Moran (Ombudsman – Student Academic Affairs), Robin Herron (Editor – Mason Gazette, Creative Services), Susan Jones (University Registrar), Mark Kidd (Associate Dean, University Life and Director of Student Activities), Marilyn McKenzie (Associate Provost for Education Programs), Bridget Miller (Head, Serials and Periodicals/Microforms, Libraries), Bob Smith (Chair, Dept. of Psychology, CAS).
I. Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 3:01 p.m.
II.
Approval of
Minutes: The minutes of October 12, 2005 were amended to add: Section II:
Approval
of Minutes: “that the minutes of September 7, 2005 were
approved as amended.” The minutes of
October 12, 2005 were then approved as amended.
Richard Klimoski,
Dean of the School of Management, delivered a eulogy for Ellen Fagenson Eland,
Associate Professor of Management, who died Sunday, September 25, 2005 after a
long illness. She was recognized as an impressive teacher, scholar, and mentor of
women’s affairs in the world of work.
Her outstanding contributions to the field of management were recognized
by the Academy of Management in 2003, when she was granted the distinguished
Mentoring Best Practices award. The memorial service held at GMU on October 21st
was very well attended. She will be missed.
The deadline to
submit suggestions for the proposed Teacher/Course Evaluation forms is this
Friday, November 4th. Please
send any comments to Laurie Fathe (lfathe@gmu.edu)
or by university mail to Laurie at the Center for Teaching Excellence, MSN
4D6. The Ad Hoc Committee on the
Teacher/Course Evaluation Pilot Project will consider the revisions
received. The final form will be
distributed with the agenda for the November 30, 2005 Faculty Senate meeting and
a full discussion and vote will take place.
A. Resolution on Freedom of Speech and Assembly – Jim Bennett, Lloyd Cohen, and Bob Ehrlich Faculty Senate Resolution on Freedom of Speech and Assembly
WHEREAS the University is committed both to freedom of speech, and the right of peaceful assembly free of disruption and harassment; and
WHEREAS an incident occurred in Johnson Hall that has been characterized as either a violation of the right of free speech of a student or alternatively disruptive behavior of a peaceful assembly by that student;
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the Faculty Senate emphatically supports free expression and nonviolent protest by members of our community, subject to reasonable time, place and manner restrictions that are not viewpoint based, are consistently enforced, and are no more burdensome than necessary to effectuate the purpose of preserving, to the greatest feasible extent, the rights of everyone (whether protester, object of protest, or third parties) to freedom of speech, peaceful assembly and private enjoyment of public spaces free of disturbance, disruption and harassment.
Discussion focused on the “whereas” paragraphs connected to the motion and focused on concerns about the nature of speech and its regulation relative to time, place and manner of restriction. Parliamentarian Suzanne Slayden clarified that the actual motion is limited to the final paragraph. It was reported that the President is forming a task force to consider issues that had been raised in discussion. Senator Bob Nadeau has agreed to serve as faculty representative. The motion was tabled pending the report of the proposed new task force now being formed. In response to a question about the time frame Provost Peter Stearns responded that there is a general agreement to generate clarifications reasonably promptly. V. Reports of the Senate Standing Committee Chairs
A. Academic Policies – Cliff Sutton 1. Undergraduate Council Proposal: Late last spring, the AP Committee received a request that an Undergraduate Curriculum Committee be established. Feedback concerning this idea was mixed, and it was agreed by those who offered the original proposal that it be withdrawn at this time. The AP committee thus recommended that the system currently in place continue (Office of the Provost identifies new programs that need additional review. s. 2, Academic Calendar Revision: Last spring, the AP Committee began its consideration of changes to the academic calendar including meetings with student government representatives seeking to ensure reading days which sometimes disappear when there is a late start date to the Fall semester. Susan Jones, (University Registrar), Linda Schwartzstein (Vice Provost for Academic Affairs), and Events Management with reference to scheduling of graduation have also been consulted. To comment, please email Cliff Sutton, Chair of Academic Policies (csutton@gmu.edu) or Peter Pober (ppober@gmu.edu).
|
|
|||||||||
|
years |
04-05 |
03-04 |
05-06 |
05-06 |
04-05 |
05-06 |
04-05 |
05-06 |
05-06 |
|
classes begin |
Mon 8/29 |
Wed 8/28 |
Wed 8/28 |
Mon 8/21 |
Mon 8/28 |
Thur 8/24 |
Sat 8/27 |
Wed 8/30 |
Tue 9/3 |
|
classes begin |
Mon 8/29 |
Wed 8/24 |
Wed 8/24 |
Mon 8/22 |
Mon 8/29 |
Thur 8/25 |
Sat 8/27 |
Wed 8/31 |
Wed 8/31 |
|
Labor Day off? |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
October Fall break |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
|
Thanksgiving week |
W,R,F |
M,T,W,R,F |
W,R,F |
M,T,W,R,F |
W,R,F |
R,F |
W,R,F |
R,F |
R,F |
|
classes end |
Sat 12/10 |
Tue 12/6 |
Fri 12/2 |
Wed 12/7 |
Fri 12/9 |
Sat 12/10 |
Fri 12/9 |
Tue 12/13 |
Sat 12/10 |
|
no. reading days immed. prior to exams |
0.33 |
0.33 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1.67 |
|
exams begin |
Mon 12/12 |
Thur 12/8 |
Mon 12/5 |
Fri 12/9 |
Mon 12/12 |
Mon 12/12 |
Sat 12/10 |
Thur 12/15 |
Tue 12/13 |
|
exams end |
Tue 12/20 |
Fri 12/16 |
Thur 12/15 |
Thur 12/15 |
Fri 12/16 |
Tue 12/20 |
Sat 12/17 |
Wed 12/21 |
Wed 12/21 |
|
exams end |
12/20 |
12/17 |
12/19 |
12/14 |
12/15 |
12/19 |
12/17 |
12/20 |
12/21 |
|
|
|||||||||
|
classes begin |
Mon 1/23 |
Wed 1/17 |
Wed 1/18 |
Tue 1/16 |
Mon 1/9 |
Tue 1/16 |
Sat 1/7 |
Tue 1/26 |
Tue 1/16 |
|
classes begin |
Mon 1/23 |
Wed 1/18 |
Wed 1/18 |
Tue 1/17 |
Mon 1/9 |
Tue 1/17 |
Sat 1/7 |
Wed 1/25 |
Tue 1/17 |
|
MLK Day off? |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Week off for Spring break? |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
start of Spring break |
3/12 |
3/5 |
3/5 |
3/3 |
3/6 |
3/12 |
3/6 |
3/19 |
3/14 |
|
no. other days off |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
classes end |
Sat 5/6 |
Tue 5/2 |
Fri 4/28 |
Wed 5/3 |
Fri 4/28 |
Tue 5/2 |
Tue 4/25 |
Thur 5/11 |
Wed 5/3 |
|
no. reading days immed. prior to exams |
1.5 |
1.67 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
|
exams begin |
Tue 5/9 |
Thur 5/4 |
Mon 5/1 |
Fri 5/5 |
Mon 5/1 |
Thur 5/4 |
Thur 4/27 |
Sat 5/13 |
Mon 5/8 |
|
exams end |
Wed 5/17 |
Fri 5/12 |
Wed 5/10 |
Wed 5/10 |
Fri 5/5 |
Fri 5/12 |
Thur 5/4 |
Fri 5/19 |
Tue 5/16 |
|
exams end |
5/17 |
5/10 |
5/11 |
5/9 |
5/7 |
5/11 |
5/4 |
5/19 |
5/15 |
|
no. M-F class days |
140 |
139 |
136 |
143 |
145 |
143 |
140 |
144 |
142 |
B. Budget and Resources Committee – Rick Coffinberger
1. Motion on Budget Allocations: A request was received last spring from Bob
Smith, chair of the Psychology Department and a former Senator, to look at the
differences in budget allocations among units given the large differentials
between the units (e.g. FTE equivalents range from $4,930 in CAS to $31,353 in
Computer Science). This resulted in the following motion.
Whereas the 04-05 Mason Fact Book indicates very substantial differential E & G funding among Mason’s colleges, schools and institutes; and
Whereas these
differentials are substantial and include huge differences in resources
available for instructional support, faculty travel, office and phones,
teaching loads, amount of salary savings expected, etc.; and
Whereas the Senate and the Mason Faculty at large would like to understand the underlying principles of budget allocation which result in such large disparities; and
The Standing Committee on Budget and Resources Moves that the Provost and the Senior Vice-President provide the Senate with a written report and a presentation identifying and explaining the underlying principles used by the University to allocate budgets to the colleges, schools and institutes.
The motion passed unanimously by voice vote.
2. Summer 2005: The Budget and Resources Committee, along with the Faculty Matters Committee, recently received Summer 2005 budget data from Donna Kidd (Assistant Vice President, Budget and IRR). The summer school continues to make a nice contribution to the fall and spring terms.
3. Salaries: The committee will work with David Rossell on a May, 2005 report of special needs salary adjustments which is likely to be presented to the Senate in February.
The main item of business was discussion of changes in copyright policy. The final wording with some revisions will be sent to Matt Kluger, Vice President for Research, on Friday. Some revisions are significant.
1. Effective Teaching Committee: Jose Cortina (CAS – Psychology) and Harold Geller (CAS – Astronomy) No other nominations were made from the floor. The nominations were approved unanimously be voice vote.
2. A Task Force to look at recent university policies on the use of public space and management of persons using the spaces is being formed by the President. Bob Nadeau will serve as the faculty representative to the Task Force.
The committee met and will begin work reviewing the charges of the University and Senate Standing Committees. The committee will also present recommendations on revisions to the Faculty Senate By-Laws at our November 30, 2005 meeting.
Dave Kuebrich thanked the chairs of the Senate Standing Committees for their reports.
Professors Zenelis and Galluzzo presented a series of power-point slides illustrating the highlights of the April 2005 report, available in its entirety at http://www3.gmu.edu/facstaff/senate/President%27sLibraryTaskForceFinal(Draft)Report.pdf .
Professor Galluzzo noted that the central administration has worked to keep up with new acquisitions but sustaining this pace will be difficult. Numbers presented do not demonstrate the tremendous progress in digital access but the total number of holdings continue to be small in relation to our sister institutions. Our current collecting intensity is in the middle range of the Association of University Libraries. 23,000 journals are accessible in electronic format through various modes that create space savings but these cannot always replace paper journals. There is variability in electronic availability of current and past journals. However, some journals are not electronically available for several years after publication.; others are immediately available. Critical priorities in the report vary according to the perspective of interested parties including administrators, students and faculty. Space, relocation, access to off campus materials are among the primary areas of concern. The current renovation of Fenwick Library maximizes the available space for people, books, and technology but will be outlive its usefulness in approximately three years. We will continue to request more state funding. President Merten has requested formal input from each LAU and the Faculty Senate regarding this report. VII. Remarks for the Good of the General Faculty
Dave Kuebrich thanked Lorraine Brown, President of the GMU chapter of the AAUP, for distributing their voting guide. VIII. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 4:12 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,Susan TrencherSecretary