The meeting was called to order by Vice Chair and Presiding Officer Larry C. Schooley at 3:03 p.m. in the College of Law Room 146.

Present: Senators Aguilar, Aleamoni, Armstrong, Auxier, Caldwell, Chow, Dahlgran, D. Davis, T. Davis, DeYoung, Gruener, Hancock (substitute for Warburton), Hau, Heckler, Heinrich, Hogle, Howell, Hurt, Impey, Ivey, Jenkins, Kosta, Laetsch, Larson, Levin, Likins, Marchalonis, Maré, Medine, Merkle, Mishra, O’Brien, Parsons, Pepper, Roberts, Schooley, Silverman, Spece, Swindle, Szilagyi, Voyatzis, Weinand, and Zwolinski. Robert Sankey served as Parliamentarian.

Absent: Senators Dalman, Dvorak, Dyl, Erlings (resigned), Garcia, Gibbs (substitute for Christiano), Houtkooper, Joens, Levy, Mitchell, Newell, Nolan, Perches, Pitt, Pope, Powell, Sheridan, Sypherd, and Witte.

2. OPEN SESSION

Dr. William Bickel -- Statement concerning the University’s continuing negotiations regarding the reinstatement of Professor M. Kay. (attachment)

Senator Medine – Statement of concern regarding the entire evaluation process including annual performance and post-tenure reviews as it relates to the termination of Professor M. Kay.

3A. ASUA President Francisco Aguilar

Senator Aguilar announced that ASUA’s former executive vice president Ben Graff has been elected President of ASUA for 2000-2001. The Second Student Regent bill has passed both the house and senate and is on the way to the Governor. Students participated in tuition discussions with the President last week. On behalf of Senators Chow, Dalman, Hau, and himself, Senator Aguilar thanked the senate for opportunity to serve and be a part of the Faculty Senate and faculty committees and especially for Senator Hogle’s leadership.

3B. GPSC President Laura Roberts

Senator Roberts reminded senators that Graduate Student Appreciation Week would be April 10-14 and announced various activities including a steel drum band, barbecue, super social, awards banquet, and a graduate student club and organization fair. At the May meeting she will report to the senate on the findings of the Teaching Assistant Task Force and introduce the next President of the GPSC after this month’s election is held.

3D. Secretary of the Faculty Susan Heckler

No report.

3E. Chair of the Faculty Jerrold Hogle (attachment)

Chair Hogle announced the Faculty Elections are almost complete and he thanked Frederick Kiefer, Jr., Polin Lei, and Jan Regnier of the Committee on Elections for their conscientious efforts and scrupulous attention to fairness, especially given the complexity of the special elections. Primary election results were announced in the March 30 Lo Que Pasa, and elections for several undersubscribed colleges are currently being conducted. Petitions are now available for a Special Election to fill a mid-term vacancy for Senator-at-Large which was created when Billie Raye Erlings resigned her seat. Turning to state-related matters, Chair Hogle distributed material to be presented to the Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) on April 6-7 which represents the ABOR/AFC team’s "plan for a plan" to secure a more receptive and supportive environment for learner-centered education. The team has subsequently proposed some revisions to the Arizona University System Mission and Strategic Directions and has identified a list of Board policies which may need to be revised. Chair Hogle stressed that all of these items are under discussion: none are about to be passed by the Board. He requested Senators e-mail their concerns or suggestions to him on this latest stage of learner-centered education. Turning to Faculty Senate matters, Chair Hogle expressed his personal gratitude to Larry Schooley for serving as Vice Chair and Presiding Officer of the senate for this special one-year transition term and announced that Jory Hancock has been elected Vice Chair for the 2000-2002 term. Chair Hogle also thanked and commended the outgoing student senators for their participation and involvement this year, as well as the outgoing Deans’ Representative, Dr. Eugene Levy. He called for nominations for a Senate Parliamentarian to be appointed following Dr. Robert Sankey’s retirement this May. Finally, Chair Hogle thanked outgoing Secretary of the Faculty Susan Heckler for her extraordinary service to the faculty and presented her with a General Faculty Award.

No report, since Dr. Sypherd is on temporary medical leave.

3G. President Peter Likins

President Likins provided an update on the Governor’s Task Force on Higher Education. He described the five domains (water, health, optics, information, and Southwest) in which the University might make relevant contributions to Arizona’s growth and economy. The three presidents have now been asked to narrow their focus to research domains in which they might propose initiatives. The presidents are discussing several possible strategies. Initially, President Likins planned to propose multiple initiatives within the five domains but soon realized NAU and ASU were also proposing multiple, overlapping initiatives. An extreme alternative strategy is to propose a single initiative, which, for the UA would be optics. A third strategy would be for the three universities to develop coherent, coordinated initiatives in the area of biosciences/biotechnology, as well as one institutionally unique initiative, which again, for the UA, would be optics. He invited Senators’ questions about why he is advancing these strategies and added that the subject will be on the next Regents’ meeting agenda. He also noted that the issues are dependent on available revenue and he supports the .6% sales tax, which is the only current strategy before the legislature. President Likins remarked that he enjoys participating in the senate discussions as a fellow senator, not with the authority of the President’s Office.

4. QUESTION AND ANSWER PERIOD

Senator Gruener stated that during the Open Session Professor Bickel erroneously attributed the tabling of the motion pertaining to Marguerite Kay in the December 13, 1999 meeting to the administration: it was tabled by the Faculty Senate. Since no discussion of the Open Session is permitted, Senator Gruener was ruled out of order.

Senator Silverman asked President Likins whether the Governor has considered alternatives to the proposed increase in the state sales tax to fund education and suggested increases in corporate, income and property taxes might not have such regressive effects on low-income residents. President Likins said that while the Governor’s Task Force has not discussed these alternatives, they have discussed whether the Governor might consider additional mechanisms and strategies such as rebates to protect low-income families and he hopes that over the next year there will be discussions of other tax sources.

Senator Marchalonis reminded President Likins that in addition to optics, the medical school’s molecular and clinical medicine programs are also unique among the state universities. President Likins acknowledged that he did consider these programs but noted that both NAU and ASU want some portion of their initiatives to include bio-sciences/bio-technology/medicine so that domain may need some negotiation among the campuses.

Senator O’Brien inquired about the Deans’ replacement for Senator Levy. Chair Hogle said the Dean’s Council would elect a replacement.

Senator Auxier inquired what kind of proposal the Governor’s Task Force has developed for faculty retention and recruitment. President Likins responded that the legislative decision packages may provide an opportunity for augmentation of faculty salaries, whereas if the Task Force receives any funds for the university system, the advanced strategy may provide for indirect benefits for salaries. He added that whatever spending the Task Force recommends, it would also recommend monitoring that spending closely.

Senator Medine stated that while he appreciates receiving the Executive Summary report of the Arizona Faculties Council (AFC) on the Learning Centered Education and also the request for input, he is concerned that the Board may hold an underlying assumption that the Faculty Senate has "approved" or "supported" this Learner-Centered Statement. Chair Hogle said he has not and will not represent the statement in that manner; the AFC members are all gathering advice from their constituents. Furthermore, whenever a matter of academic or personnel policy comes near to being enacted officially, the item must come to the Faculty Senate for a vote.

Secretary Heckler corrected one word in Motion 1999/00-24 replacing "endorse" with the word "support." The minutes of the Faculty Senate meeting on March 6, 2000 were approved as amended.

Senator Silverman reported that although he has served on many committees, the Senate Task Force for Monitoring Labor and Human Rights Issues may be the most important because the work of this group has the potential to make a significant change in the lives of many people who are far less fortunate. The Task Force is composed of thirteen members; six students, six faculty members and one community member, appointed from lists of nominees submitted by President Likins and by the Student Against Sweatshops. The Task Force has averaged twice-monthly meetings since September and has spent a considerable amount of time reading, discussing, and educating themselves. The primary responsible of this Task Force is to monitor the April 30, 1999 commitments between President Likins and the Students Against Sweatshops. On March 1, 2000, the Task Force submitted to President Likins a detailed status report concerning the Task Force’s four primary concerns: factory disclosure, factory monitoring, living wage, and women’s rights, and the deadlines for compliance (see attachment). The Task Force is currently concentrating on the issue of monitoring and two primary monitoring organizations; the Fair Labor Association (FLA) and the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), have recently emerged. The University is a founding member of the FLA, which is primarily composed of corporations, some non-governmental organizations (NGO’s), and many universities. The WRC has grown out of a grassroots effort by the United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) will hold its founding conference this weekend in New York City. Last fall two members of the Labor Task Force attended a Living Wage Symposium hosted by the University of Wisconsin and have reported to the President and the Task Force about this complex issue. All UA licensee contracts now contain a rider concerning women’s rights. Senators’ questions and concerns included: 1) What are the dues associated with membership in the FLA and WRC? Dues are based on a percentage formula that amounts to approximately $6700/year for UA. 2) How is monitoring funded? Dues paid to FLA or WRC will fund the monitoring efforts. 3) Who is monitoring where the UA logo or name appears? The University Committee on Corporate Relations (UCCR) handles this. 4) How do you measure success in improving sweatshop conditions when it may mean layoffs or cut and run strategies? It is difficult with value-based decisions. 5) It is most important to prioritize correcting labor abuses in United States’ factories before going outside our borders. Senator Silverman concluded by announcing that the Task Force hopes to hold a forum to help educate the University community about the issue of sweatshops and other labor abuses and he invited senators to attend the Students Against Sweatshops rally with educational displays in front of the Administration building beginning Tuesday, April 4 at 12:30 p.m. Chair Hogle thanked and commended President Likins, Senator Silverman, and the members of the Task Force for all of their diligence and the high quality of their efforts.

The consent agenda item detailed at the end of these minutes was approved. [Motion 1999/00-26]

Dr. Fregosi reported that Draft 3 of this proposal was distributed in every senator’s packet and to various members of the administration. UA General Counsel Judith Leonard has indicated that the draft is not acceptable to her office or to the administration in its present form and has made numerous edits and suggestions. She has offered to attend future meetings of the RPC and will work together with RPC members to ensure the document’s acceptability to everyone. Dr. Fregosi commented that this combined approach is more in the spirit of shared governance and should increase the RPC’s efficiency. He hopes to be able to present a final revised draft of the document at the next Senate meeting. Senators’ concerns and questions included; 1) How does this policy interface with the Conflict of Interest and Commitment Policy? Consistency with the Conflict of Commitment Policy is important but there appears to be little overlap. 2) Faculty should not relinquish their authority to render academic judgments to attorneys. 3) Some cases may require a lawyer’s expertise to establish precedence. 4) Most allegations of ethics breaches have nothing to do with crimes. 5) The process must be faculty-driven and faculty members are not attorneys. 6) The issue is one of protection of the institution versus protection of the individual. 7) The Office of Research Integrity (ORI) has decided all allegations are to be heard by faculty: it will no longer investigate charges of research misconduct. 8) The due process rights of the accused must be protected at all costs. 9) The document’s level of complexity may be problematic. 10) The committee should identify major changes to UA policy as well as implications that extend beyond the University for future discussions and consideration by the senate. 11) Definitions of "preponderance of evidence" and "retaliation" are needed as well as a clarification of page 9, section F (6) (a) regarding the respondent’s acceptance of the decision. 12) Since the Senate’s composition will change considerably with the May meeting, it is preferable to complete the policy this year. Chair Hogle called for a special Senate meeting Monday April 24 at 3:00 in Law 146 for discussion and possible action on the Policy on Ethics in Research and Procedures for Investigations of Misconduct in Research. The revised draft will be distributed two weeks from today.

Vice Chair Schooley reminded the senate that this item comes as a seconded motion [Motion 1999/00-27] from the ICPC. Senator Howell thanked Dr. Randy Richardson for his written clarification and responses to senators’ questions from the December 6, 1999 Senate meeting. The motion to approve the Bachelor of Liberal Arts Degree carried unanimously.

CONTINUED DISCUSSION: SHOULD THERE BE A MID-YEAR WRITING ASSESSMENT? – WANDA HOWELL, CHAIR, ICPC

Vice Chair Schooley informed the Senate that, while the University did receive full accreditation during the recent NCA visit in February, the team has requested a written report on assessment in five years. Since mid-career writing assessment is a part of the more general issue of assessment, the Chair of the University Assessment Committee has been invited to attend the May Senate meeting. With the permission of the senators, Vice Chair Schooley deferred further discussion of this item to the May meeting.

The Senate meeting recessed at 4:42 p.m. to go into Executive Session.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m.

Susan E. Heckler, Secretary

Professor William Bickel’s statement at the Open Session.

Chair of the Faculty’s "AFC’s Learner-Centered Education Executive Summary for the Board of Regents meeting of April 6, 2000" and a list of Board policies that may present barriers to learner-centered education.

Instruction and Curriculum Policy Committee’s Consent Agenda for possible Faculty Senate action on April 3, 2000.

Draft Three of the Research Policy Committee’s Policy on Ethics in Research and Procedures for Investigations of Misconduct in Research dated March 22, 2000.

"A response from the Office of Undergraduate Education to questions and concerns raised in the Faculty Senate about the proposed Bachelor of Liberal Arts (BLA) degree as enumerated in the minutes for the Faculty Senate meeting of 6 December 1999," by Randall Richardson, dated 21 March 2000.

Senator Silverman’s "Commitments Scorecard" overheads, which accompanied his report on the Senate Task Force For Monitoring Labor and Human Rights Issues.

*Copies of material listed in the Appendix are attached to the original minutes and are on file in the Faculty Center.

senmin/1999-00/min4-00.doc