Minutes
Faculty Advisory Council
Bibb Graves Conference Room
Time: 1:30 p.m.
Members
Present: Ms. Betty Chancellor, Library
Dr. Donna Jacobs, Education
Dr. Chan Roark, Education
Dr. Dianne Gossett, Education
Dr. Michael Woods, Arts & Sciences
Dr. Beverly Gibson, Arts & Sciences
Dr. Stephen Landers, Arts & Sciences
Ms. Diane Porter, Arts & Sciences
Dr. Jim Vickrey, Communication & Fine Arts
Ms. Pam Allen, Communication & Fine Arts
Dr. Anthony Adcock, Health & Human Services
Ms. Jean Pate, Health & Human Services
Dr. Jerome Bibbins, Business
Dr. Len Weld, Business
Dr. Kaye McClung, Business
Absent with
Notice: Dr. Patrick Rossi, Arts & Sciences
Dr. Catherine Allard, Communication & Fine Arts
Dr. Edith Smith, Health & Human Services
Dr. Ben Mason, University College
Dr. Kathryn Ness, Phenix City
Other
Attendees: Dr. Jack Hawkins , Jr., Chancellor
Dr. Doug Patterson, Vice Chancellor
Mr. Clint Carlson, Vice President for Financial Affairs
Mr. John Schmidt, Vice President for Student Affairs
Dr. Dianne Barron, Dean, Graduate School
Mr. Dave Barron, Executive Assistant to the Chancellor
Dr. Angela Roling, Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness
Mrs. Donna Schubert, School of Journalism
1. Roll was called by the secretary.
Ms. Porter welcomed Dr. Kaye McClung from the College of Business to the Council.
4. Old Business
B. Handbook Revision: Mr. Fred Davis
Mr. Davis met with Ms. Porter and Dr. Bibbins concerning revisions to the Faculty Handbook. Some points were clarified and improvements have been made in Appendix C. To expedite the revision process Mr. Davis asked the Council’s approval to review and edit the Handbook at the same time.
Ms. Porter noted that she had reviewed the Faculty Advisory Council minutes for the last few years and recommendations made by the FAC for the Faculty Handbook have been incorporated into this revision. Dr. Bibbins, Dr. Adcock, and Dr. Allard, are the subcommittee from the FAC that will be reviewing and helping Mr. Davis with the editing. Dr. Gibson and others on the Personnel Committee will also be reviewing and helping with the editing.
2. State of the Institution: Dr. Jack Hawkins, Jr.
Last week on behalf of the Council of College and University Presidents, we presented our proposed budget to the Joint Committee in the Alabama Legislature. We used that opportunity to assimilate this case statement. Mr. Holley has just been told by the legislative fiscal office that we can expect 6 ½ - 7% proration. We anticipated an announcement of proration but didn’t anticipate this level. The case statement had its genesis last summer when about nine university presidents from Alabama met to discuss how ill prepared we have been to present a case in a unified way. We have not had a way for all of us to get on the same page so we are using the Council of Presidents as that vehicle. We drafted Dr. Cam Martindale to pull together, under one cover, a statement on behalf of higher education. As I told the legislature, this was written at a very elementary level so all Alabamians could appreciate it and understand it. This makes our case as strongly as anything that has been produced. You would think that the Alabama Commission on Higher Education would have done this for us years ago, but the ACHE has not been in a role of being an advocate for a long, long time. They chose about a decade ago to be regulatory and not advocacy in nature. We have a lot of support from the citizens of Alabama. We tried to make our economic development case in simple terms. We talk about our needs, and at the heart of my presentation to the legislature I summarize our three needs. First and foremost is salary. We rank 44th in the nation in faculty salaries. Dr. Andrew Sorensen says that 30 of 34 assistant professors in the college of education could experience a salary increase by going to the public school system in Tuscaloosa. Dr. Ed Roach at Livingston said that he has had an 80 percent turndown in terms of invitations to his campus to be interviewed. Jacksonville State is about to close two dorms because of a lack of funds to renovate.
We talked about good stewardship. In our colleges and universities over the last five years we have eliminated over 1,000 programs. This speaks well of the improved use of resources within the higher education community. What we have done with this case statement now is once it was produced and adopted by the Council of Presidents in late November we have asked the Higher Education Partnership to maintain this document year-in and year-out. We shared the first copy with members of the legislature last week.
There is a direct correlation between tuition increase and loan dependency. In 1978 22% of all student aid was in the form of loans. By 1999 that had increased to well over 60%.
How do we plan to deal with proration? I thank Dr. Patterson and Mr. Carlson for working directly with the vice presidents and the deans in coming up with a plan that we think will protect the academic dimension of the university. If we are prorated 6 ½ %, it will cost about $2.4 million. If we are prorated 8%, it will cost $2.9 million. Salaries will not be prorated. Current personnel vacancies will not be filled this fiscal year. Not filling vacancies will account for 75% of the proration deduction. If we have proration that is below 6% then we will take 30% of all remaining funds: Travel, Equipment, Non-capitalized Equipment, Materials and Supplies, and Repair and Service of Equipment. Salaries and benefits, student recruitment and the library will not be affected. We will implement a utility conservation program. Looking to the future, I think a best case scenario will be level funding going into next year. More realistically, we could be looking at a reduction next year. We do not want to increase tuition, but we will probably have to.
Drs. Gibson and Jacobs were at the legislative session, and Dr. Hawkins asked for their comments. Dr. Jacobs said she was impressed with the way Dr. Hawkins had represented the faculty and was amazed at Dr. Hawkins’ level of tolerance to some of the comments. Dr. Gibson said she found it interesting that someone wondered why we had not already asked for more.
Dr. Hawkins explained that Senator Little who represents Auburn University was trying to say that the legislature is not responsible for new initiatives. The Council of Presidents needs to give the legislature the answer. The answer is simply that we need to increase ad valorem taxes in Alabama. We have a regressive tax system. The poorest people are paying the bulk of the bill. If ad valorem taxes were increased then k-12 could be taken care of at the local level. Two-thirds of all ad valorem efforts have failed in the last twenty-five years.
Dr. Hawkins suggested that everyone write letters to the newspapers and legislators.
5. C. Proposal for using “Traffic” in a co-curricular activity: John Schmidt
Mr. Schmidt said Student Affairs would like to bring the movie “Traffic” to campus, but asked for feedback from the Council. The movie is “R” rated but it is a powerful movie with some troubling themes. One theme is about drug trade, especially with Mexico; there is a family theme relative to how a family deals with drug addiction of a young teenager; and lastly a theme on how the criminal justice system deals with the whole process. The idea is to bring the movie to campus and then the next day have a dialogue with the students. Dr. Roark said she had seen the movie with her own daughter and felt it would be beneficial but probably would get more discussion in a small group rather than in a large group. It was agreed that the movie could be recommended but probably should not be required viewing. Ms. Porter suggested working with the deans and vice presidents as to the best setting for discussing the movie with students.
The Council approved the concept and recommended showing the movie but also recommended that, with the R rating due to strong sexual content and language, students should not be “required” to attend. The Council gave permission to Mrs. Porter to contact Mr. Schmidt to communicate the approval of the concept and to recommend that information about the movie be given to Deans and Department Chairs so they can alert faculty about appropriate usage and potential problems.
4.C. Interim Pay for 2001: Dr. Douglas Patterson
During the Interim session, those instructors who teach classes with 15 students or more would receive pay for that course according to the summer school pay formula. Instructors of classes with less than 15 students would receive adjunct pay. At the end of the interim session it will be assessed to see if faculty teaching any interim course should be paid according to the summer school formula.
4.A. Progress on Tenure and Promotion recommendation from the Faculty Advisory Council: Dr. Douglas Patterson
The recommendation which came out of the ad-hoc committee on Tenure and Promotion dealing with the promotion of instructors was discussed. Mr. Davis noted that for many years this institution did not tenure instructors. He stated that the AAUP is very clear on this issue -- if you work them and you keep them, then you tenure them. Several years ago, the administration went back to a whole cadre of people who are at the rank of instructor and awarded them formal tenure. Mr. Davis stated that the university expects an instructor to be an outstanding teacher. There is nothing in the current policy that says an instructor cannot advance. If they do the things that are required for advancement in rank, then they acquire advancement in rank like anyone else.
Dr. Woods, a member of the ad-hoc committee, said the committee had looked at several universities and none of them does tenure like TSU. It is common at other universities to hire people at the instructor level in a non-tenured position and as long as the announcement stated that this is a non-tenure track position the instructors are then hired on a year-by-year contract.
Mr. Davis: When faculty pass the six-year point then the university is open to a lawsuit it cannot win if we continue to employ them without tenure.
Dr. Woods: We are looking for a way to hire instructors who do not have a terminal degree. For certain positions, such as laboratory coordinator or instructor for many of the general studies courses, a terminal degree is not needed. Actually, it would be very difficult to recruit someone with a terminal degree to accept these assignments. For the past several years, most all of the faculty that were hired at the instructor level were terminated unless they completed the terminal degree. If we cannot hire instructors on a year-by-year contract then there should be another category in which they could be hired.
Ms. Porter: There has been a problem in the last couple of years in that we have not been allowed to hire good masters level to teach general studies courses at the instructor level for longer than three years.
Dr. Patterson: I would be very much supportive of hiring master level instructors. There are certain disciplines where we need these people. Who are these people and how do you want to treat them professionally in our academic ranks?
Mr. Davis: If you want quality instructors, will you attract them with advertised non-tenure track positions?
Ms. Porter: What we need are some masters level positions of instructors in certain areas in which it is appropriate but give them some security because we have had patterns where after three years we forced people to leave who were doing an excellent job.
Dr. Patterson: The only limitation on this particular application is that faculty would know they are not going to be promoted until their terminal degree is completed.
Dr. Adcock: We do not have resources for the university to be a research institution.
Dr. Patterson: Research is essential but the degree of research is what we need to agree upon. There are other things that make contributions to the institution. We have internal service. Many of you do different things for different units of the institution that cause us to be a better institution. There is also service to the professions and the community. All of those things need to be weighted and taken into consideration in tenure and promotion. Faculty need to bring their portfolio to the tenure committee showing weight of different areas of service, research, teaching. If your department chair requires you to teach extra then you should be able to count that in your contribution to the institution. If it were an option and you select to do it and get adjunct pay for it then it wouldn’t count as service.
Departments may be prevented from hiring an instructor because of proration but not because we want a doctorally qualified person in that slot.
To become a tenured instructor the department chair would have to cite the instructor as an excellent teacher. The third year deadline is based on faculty teaching ability not failure to complete a doctorate.
4.D. The Faculty Advisory Council Web Page: Ms. Porter
The Web page is up. Dr. Beverly Gibson’s title is incorrect but will be corrected.
The discussion board does not have a link. As long as each faculty member has a password, the discussion board should not become a problem since students or other people would not have access.
Dr. Patterson said class attendance policy is still an issue with Financial Aid. You must show that the student attended the first class to satisfy Financial Aid requirements.
Ms. Porter said a report on class attendance policy will be on the agenda for the March meeting.
5. New Business
A. Request for support of Relay for Life: Donna Schubert, John Schmidt, and Dr. Angie Roling
Ms. Schubert noted that the university supported her during her battle with cancer. She also noted that cancer research saved her life. Fifteen hundred people die each day from cancer, but research has made a difference. She asked that the faculty support the Relay for Life campaign on May 18.
Dr. Roling said environmental changes are needed in the fight against cancer. The state and federal governments do not spend enough on cancer research. She recommended a book by Steinbarger, Living Downstream, which shows the link between cancer and the environment.
B. Graduate Assistantships – Date of Notification: Dr. Michael Woods
We cannot offer graduate students assistantships until September. The Council of Graduate Schools has a deadline of April 15. Auburn, Alabama, UAB, UAH, and South Alabama follow this deadline. It puts us at a disadvantage in trying to attract graduate students.
Dr. Patterson said the university wants to use graduate assistantships to attract students, but the other side of the issue is that if you make a commitment in April then you have to be able to meet the need financially in September.
6. Reports
A. Faculty Welfare Committee: Dr. Anthony Adcock
The committee has not met since no issues have been brought to our attention.
B. Academic Affairs Committee: Dr. Beverly Gibson
The committee met on November 20. The three areas we believe the faculty is most interested in are Monday/Wednesday/Friday classes and their relationship in terms of instructional time to Tuesday/Thursday classes. There seems to be some discrepancy in the actual number of class days. Some suggestions included perhaps the elimination of getting out at noon on Friday for homecoming; extending the semester through a Wednesday in order to pick up an extra day; looking at correlating Veterans Day holiday with the public schools and also the elimination of Dead Day was mentioned. The primary concern was to make sure that there are the same number of instructional hours despite holidays and days off. The second concern was summer scheduling. Some departments feel that most of their course offerings would be better served on a longer schedule. One of the reasons for the shift from quarters to semesters was to improve academic quality. The faculty would like more input into the academic calendar. The third concern was for coordination between the Undergraduate Bulletin, the Oracle and the Faculty Handbook in language concerning the attendance policy, grade appeal and that sort of information. They are not always the same and the suggestion was made that perhaps we could have some sort of review process to make sure the wording was precisely the same in all those places.
A question was asked if any thought had been given to going to a M/W – T/Th format and eliminating Friday classes.
Mr. Davis noted that it is important that TSU continue to sell dorm rooms and cafeteria plans. Campus life would be killed altogether if Friday classes were eliminated.
Dr. Patterson said the Friday class issue has come up many times. We are competing with urban universities for urban students. Students come here not only for their academic education but for a campus life.
C. Athletic Advisory Committee: Dr. Michael Woods
Committee met on January 16. The only sport discussed was Baseball and the days approved to be missed by the baseball team was ten days on MWF and five days on TTh. These numbers come well within the average with other universities.
The Strategic Planning Committee condensed the 3-page Athletic Mission Statement to six value statements for SACS.
3. Approval of the Minutes of the November 8, 2000 meeting
On page 4, the last name on the list for the Faculty Welfare Committee should be Ms. Betty Chancellor rather than The Chancellor.
Minutes were approved as amended.
The next meeting will be Wednesday, March 21, 2001.
Meeting was adjourned at 3:35 p.m.
Mr. Davis thanked the faculty for attending the SACS meeting.