skip to main content Indiana State University University Faculty Senate Committee # 10 Approved March 15, 2007 February 22, 2007 Minutes Indiana State University Faculty Senate 2006-07 Present: Brian Ceh, Bob English, Julie Fine, Arthur Halpern, Betsy Hine, Susan Hoffman, Harriet Hudson, Larry Kunes, Linda Sperry Absent: Bill Clyburn, Tom Sawyer, Rich Schneirov Meeting was called to order by chair Hudson at 1:10. Agenda: 1. Approval of the minutes Feb. 8 meeting. Approved (LK/BC) (5-0-1) 2. Reports: Academic Affairs liaison: Bob English reported. They’ve been finishing up tenure letters. They’re going through special purpose faculty evaluations now and he was very complimentary about the contributions that this group of faculty is making. Susan mentioned that part time/temporary faculty are also doing excellent work. All agreed. Executive Committee liaison: Arthur Halpern reported that they weren’t able to meet last week because of the weather closings. Chairperson: Harriet Hudson has reported the vote on the advising issue to Executive Committee. She and Bob English have met regarding the awards charge that was returned to committee from the EC. The main issue is how to enhance the awards without involving the expense and need to bring in external reviewers. 3. Open Discussion: Question was asked about where we were with the advising document now that it has been voted on and sent to the EC. It will go through the usual channels and chair Hudson will keep us up to date on it. 4. New Business: Status of voting members other than faculty on college governance bodies: Chair Hudson distributed the part of the Faculty Constitution and University Handbook that pertains to this issue but some did not receive them through campus mail yet. Discussion on this topic followed. On the CAS Council there are 3 students who vote and they are elected by the Student Affairs Comm. of the Council. In the College of Education Congress there is an undergrad, a grad student and an Alumnus, who has never been a faculty, all with voting power. In College of Technology Council there is student member but in a speaking seat only. In the Library Faculty Assembly there is no student member. In the Health & Human Performance there is no Faculty Council, but there is a faculty and student committee where there is 1 student from each department and on this committee they are allowed to vote on student affairs issues. They would also be sitting on a committee where discussions of all kinds of faculty and academic issues that could be inappropriate for non-faculty to be involved in. College of Business does not have voting students on their council. College of Nursing has speaking seats for students but they are not voting members. All the college/library constitutions were approved by the senate, apparently without discussion at the time of their approval. In the Faculty constitution there is a definition of faculty and a definition of voting faculty and those definitions are carried through to the College/Library constitutions. Only tenured and tenure track members of the faculty shall be voting members according to the University Faculty Constitution. It also asks that each College/Library have a separate constitution that is consistent with the University document. In the cases mentioned above this apparently has not always been followed. Are these individual constitutions unconstitutional? Do we consider that those constitutions not in compliance were approved in error or in spite of the University Faculty Constitution? Are only those faculty defined in the University Faculty Constitution as voting members the only voting members allowed in College councils? Amending the University Faculty Constitution is very laborious; We could ask that each College/Library revise their constitutions to either eliminate students as voting members or stay the way they are acknowledging that they are choosing to allow voting members in a manner inconsistent with University Faculty Constitution. It was moved (HH/JF) that FAC finds the practice of allowing students to vote on college governance bodies to be inconsistent with the Constitution (Sect.7, art. II). College constitutions that allow this inconsistency should be instructed to revise their documents. Motion passed (3-2-1) Chair Hudson will draft a rationale and a minority opinion on this motion and it will be sent to the EC. Proposal to establish a University College. No further discussion at this meeting. Other issues FAC needs to deal with are the minus grades and the SIRS and distance education evaluations (Linda Sperry will lead this discussion at the next meeting). The next meetings are March 15 at 3:30: Mar 29 at 3:30; Apr 12 at 1:00, all in RO 237A unless otherwise notified. Meeting adjourned at 2:35. Respectfully submitted, Betsy Hine, secretary Last modified: September 11, 2008 Copyright © 2007 by Indiana State University.