FACULTY SENATE MINUTES

These minutes may be accessed electronically at:
http://fp.arizona.edu/senate/minutes.htm
Visit the faculty governance webpage at:
http://fp.arizona.edu/senate

1. CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order by Vice Chair and Presiding Officer Wanda Howell at 3:02 p.m. in the College of Law, Room 146.

2. OPEN SESSION
Mr. Garry Forger – Mr. Forger of the Office of Distributed Learning announced the third Harvill Conference on Higher Education, "Developing a Sense of Place for Distance Education," to be held January 24-27, 2002 and distributed promotional flyers for the event.

3. REPORTS
3A. ASUA President Ray Quintero – Senator Quintero reported that the Academic Advising Task Force has completed a proposal and a timeline for the student survey and focus groups. The survey will include eleven questions and there will be nine focus groups involving all ranks and levels of students and including representation from every college and special needs’ group. He reminded the Senate that student input has not been completely excluded from the Task Force’s previous deliberations because he and several other students have been sitting on the Task Force for about 1.5 years. ASUA is working with the Arizona Students’ Association to keep students informed about the possible budget decreases. Concerning the fall room shortage issue, Residence Life has been having difficulties serving students for about 15 years and has taken a strong stand this year to improve handling of the overflow and eliminate the need for hotel housing. Recommendations to guarantee freshmen housing as well as housing for undergraduates will be sent to the office of Campus Life and to ABOR. The guarantee of campus housing for new students applying before the traditional May 1^st deadline may have to be abolished because Residence Life can’t guarantee residence hall placement anymore. ASUA will continue to work with Residence Life to ensure that students are represented and are not misinformed of what may happen when they arrive on campus. The ASUA Programs and Services Fair will be held on the mall this Wednesday, October 3, 2001 to make services such as Safe Ride, Minority Action Council, and Women’s Resource Center, visible to students.

3B. GPSC President Kirsten Price - Senator Price reported that GPSC continues to work on Teaching Assistant (TA) workload and tuition waivers. Some of the funds from the Christopher City sale will be allocated to two graduate student housing sites, an on-campus location on Euclid and another site yet to be determined. Budget difficulties will likely affect how the TA funds from the legislature will be allocated. GPSC’s special election resulted in most slots being filled, but there are still vacancies for representatives from Fine Arts and Pharmacy, and one additional seat for College of Agriculture and Life Sciences remains vacant. If any campus committees are lacking GPSC representation, please notify Senator Price. The October 1^st deadline for Student Showcase is being extended. The Showcase will be held November 9-10 during homecoming weekend. GPSC has only raised about $16K of the $33K Showcase budget. Budget concerns may be affecting departments’ support for this event.

3C. Vice Chair of the Faculty Wanda Howell - Vice Chair Howell welcomed six new Senators-at-Large: Ara Arabyan, Gail Burd, Vicki Chandler, Doug Jones, Fred Kiefer, and Elizabeth Vierling. No petitions were received for the one-year vacancy for Social and Behavioral Sciences College Representative, although SBS does have two other College Representatives in the Senate. Petitions are due tomorrow for a special election in the College of Business and Public Administration for the one-year vacancy for BPA College Representative.

3D. Secretary of the Faculty Robert Mitchell - Secretary Mitchell informed the Senate that reasonable progress has been made with the Academic Personnel Policy Committee (APPC) reviewing the internal inconsistencies and the Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure’s concerns with the Faculty Grievance Policy. Last week he met with APPC chair Amy Williamsen, Faculty Chair Jory Hancock, and attorneys Lynne Wood and Judith Leonard to begin working on understanding some of the President’s issues with the policy. This group will continue meeting weekly and hopes to bring the policy back to the Senate soon.

3E. Chair of the Faculty Jory Hancock - Chair Hancock announced that he had attended a retreat for the Alumni Association’s Board of Directors and that this group is extremely devoted to helping the University and supporting faculty endeavors. He explained that they are looking at ways to increase this support by enhancing communication between the Alumni Board and faculty. Student leadership at that retreat expressed a strong interest in a seminar on heritage and traditions, possibly to be included in orientation sessions to develop and strengthen new students’ campus bonds. State Relations liaison Charlene Ledet told the retreat attendees that one of the more influential events for promoting UA occurs when the Student Showcase comes to Phoenix and legislators are able to see students’ achievements first-hand. The Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) conducted a Study Session on the Knight Commission Report. In discussions with other members of the Arizona Faculties Council, our faculty officers found that UA’s Intercollegiate Athletics differed radically from ASU in the amount of state-appropriated funds received for athletics. UA athletics are virtually self-supporting. ASU faculty is interested in UA’s suggested symposium to consider the community of students and student-athletes. Regarding the budget rescissions discussion at the ABOR meeting, Chair Hancock remarked that President Likins presented his perspective that the greatest damage was done when the state failed to invest in higher education during the 1990’s when the economy was strong. This point was well received by the Board.

3F. President Peter Likins - President Likins described his ongoing struggle for perspective in the wake of the terrorist attacks and said he is feeling the impact of those attacks daily in the economy, in the destabilization of our sense of order, and in the pain within the student and campus communities. He commended the faculty members who have made time to reach out and listen to students’ feelings, particularly those students who are indirect victims of these attacks because of their nationality or faith. Prior to September 11, the governor sent a directive to identify $14M to be returned to the state this year. The University’s financial behavior requires commitments made well in advance and allows very little flexibility for dealing with mid-year cuts. President Likins hopes this recession will be brief and said that the University has a right to expect public and private investment when economic times are healthier. Because Arizona’s political leadership was not supportive of the public enterprise during earlier times of prosperity, the magnitude of these cuts risks permanent damage to the institution. The University must act now in a way that minimizes long term consequences, not present pain. Furthermore, while the governor admits that this year’s total deficit could be far greater than the original $250M estimate, she anticipates that things could be even worse in FY02-03. Although ABOR accepted the universities’ 4% draft cuts, the Board and the governor gave the presidents the freedom to act in any way possible to solve the problem. The Legislature will go back into session on November 13 to consider a revised state budget. President Likins acknowledged Regent McKay’s efforts to pull together the divergent tendencies within the Board and to help the universities make their case for resistance to further rescissions to both the media and the business community. UA’s central administration is attempting to find some actions to mitigate the burden of the $14M. Following this action, some of the remaining opportunities for accomplishing savings will be distributed to the operating units. Suggestions from the campus community for cutting costs may be directed to Patti Ota, who is serving on the Provost’s Finance Committee Task Force charged with trying to identify ways to enhance revenues and reduce costs. Student leaders Ray Quintero and Kirsten Price were invited to join the President’s Cabinet meeting this morning for the purpose of keeping students informed and engaged in the dialogue about these issues. President Likins thanked Ray Quintero for his announcement that the Advising Task Force has offered to give back over $1M of the tuition monies that were set aside last Spring to improve academic advising. The next step is to try to reduce scheduled expenditures for this year’s Campaign Arizona. President Likins also announced that beginning today the University would impose a hiring freeze for October and November because by December 1, the seriousness of the budget shortfall will be clearer. Meanwhile, for state-appropriated funds, the President’s approval will be required for all new hires prior to July 1, all supplemental compensation, and all off-cycle salary increases prior to April 1. This does not inhibit searches after July 1 or research contract or auxiliary enterprise funds, although those funds will require the appropriate vice-president’s approval. He requested cost-saving suggestions from the campus community and cautioned against anger and demoralization. He offered the governor’s rescissions as an opportunity for a healthy response by pulling together to strengthen the University of Arizona, just as the terrorists attacks of September 11 have solidified the nation.

3G. Provost George Davis - Provost Davis observed that the governor’s report to ABOR last week was very dark and said that his immediate response was to begin considering a temporary freeze as a way to stop the flow of monies to provide time to reassess the University’s budget. ABOR accepted the UA Strategic Plan, however, and Provost Davis remarked that the vision of the University described in the beginning of the plan is uplifting and provides a template for the signature of the institution. Provost Davis acknowledged the forums about the terrorist attacks and related subjects that have been taking place on campus and saluted all of the faculty members who have taken part in these efforts. He commended Toni Massaro and Doug Canfield who co-coordinated last week’s evening panel discussion "Civil Rights and Terrorist Wrongs," which was well-attended by both the campus community and the community at large.

4. QUESTION AND ANSWER PERIOD
Senator Silverman suggested that President Likins consider adding students to his cabinet permanently. Senator Silverman asked whether Provost Davis could make it clear to Deans and department heads to include input from faculty, staff, and students in the discussions as we go through this rescission process. Provost Davis agreed and will emphasize that the most informed decisions are those in which there has been input from students, staff, academic professionals, and faculty. President Likins added that his and Provost Davis’ desire to be consultative is something that can be taken for granted. It is always a challenge to accomplish a widely consultative process given the urgency at which some decisions have to be made. They are, however, committed to drawing students in whenever agenda items or decisions directly affect them. They also plan to continue consulting with Staff Advisory Council (SAC) and the Appointed Personnel Organization Council (APOC).

Senator Silverman asked whether any layoffs are being considered. Provost Davis said not at this time, however, he and his staff are carefully trying to anticipate the Spring semester’s needs for instructors, adjunct professors and teaching assistants.

Senator Medine inquired whether the grievance procedures are on the faculty website and whether the outstanding issues are indicated there. Secretary Mitchell replied that the version passed by the Senate in March 2001 is currently on the website, but the issues in question are not indicated there. Senator Medine would like to have a history of deliberations about those issues provided before the Senate is asked to vote on them, and Senator Mitchell agreed to provide that feedback via the website or other means.

Senator N. Armstrong asked whether the Regents would consider reallocating the Proposition 301 funds. Provost Davis said the governor indicated that Prop 301 funds are off the table for the purposes of budget rescissions. Prop 301 monies must be used for the purposes intended. Furthermore, because the amount of revenue generated by the sales tax is lower than projected, Provost Davis has instructed each of the Prop 301 teams to hold back 10% to account for the projected shortfall which will also result in the original goals for those dollars not being achieved. President Likins clarified that neither the Regents nor the governor has the authority to reallocate Prop 301 dollars because this was legislation passed by the people to be used in particular ways. 

5. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF September 10, 2001.
President Likins noted a typo in the last paragraph of "President Likins’ Town Hall" and requested that the word "notion" be changed to "nation." The minutes of September 10, 2001 were approved as corrected.

6. CONSENT AGENDA ITEM FORWARDED FROM THE INSTRUCTION AND CURRICULUM POLICY COMMITTEE (attachment)
Consent agenda item detailed at the end of these minutes was approved. [Motion 2001/02-3]

7. DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION: SECONDED MOTION FORWARDED FROM THE INSTRUCTION AND CURRICULUM POLICY COMMITTEE TO APPROVE A PLAN TO ESTABLISH QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS FOR ADMISSION TO THE COMMUNICATION MAJOR (attachment) - Dr. Michael Dues, Acting Department Head of Communication described the proposal to establish qualification requirements for admission to the communication major which comes as a seconded motion [Motion 2001/02-4] from the ICPC. He offered a brief history of the department and the avenue this proposal has traveled to come before the Senate today. The Department of Communication provides for the study of human communication, an academic discipline dating back to the Sophists and Plato. For many years it was called Rhetoric, then Speech, and finally Communication. It is very much a social science with humanities and a practical art incorporated into it. UA’s department, although small, is a mainline area of academic scholarship, and is tied with Minnesota at 14^th in the top 20 US Journalism Departments. Communication faculty currently numbers 8.5 with 953 majors, 125-150 minors, and 400 students in service courses. These numbers represent a considerable imbalance due in part to internal departmental problems that initially served to keep the number of faculty and majors low. When the internal problems were solved, however, the undergraduate student enrollment began to grow tremendously, bolstered in part by the overflow resulting from the College of Business and Public Administration (BPA) enrollment cap. Today’s proposal originated in 1997 when the student-faculty ratio of 60:1 was recognized as a problem of crisis proportions. At that time, a comprehensive plan that called for increasing the faculty to 12 and capping the majors at 500 was then negotiated between the department, Dean and Provost. Then several faculty members left and there weren’t enough lines so the number of faculty numbers declined to 8.5. Furthermore, capping the number of majors required a proposal which has now been through eleven iterations and has taken three and a half years to get past the Dean, the subcommittees of the Undergraduate Council, the Provost, the Undergraduate Council and finally the ICPC, which has brought it to the Senate today. The proposal will require Communication majors to pass the introductory and basic methods courses with at least a "C" in both and at least a 2.5 between them, plus a "C" or better in a level 110 or above math course. These requirements will level the enrollment growth and provide for a student body that is more suitable to study communication. The proposal doesn’t cap the number in any way and doesn’t require an overall grade point average for admission to the major. Dr. Dues commented that during the consultation process for this proposal, any single person in the course of the various sub-committees’ meetings could say no and send the policy back for revision and resubmission. Meanwhile, in the three and a half years that passed because of the inability to get a decision to allow the department to deal with this crisis, the faculty declined to 8.5 and the number of majors rose to 1000. Provost Davis did provide temporary assistance last year, but Dr. Dues is requesting a permanent solution. He questioned whether dollars follow scholars, noting a severe, campus-wide imbalance between instructional resources and numbers of students and suggested that something systematic needs to be in place to address students’ needs for the longer-term issues. Senators’ questions and comments included the following: How many undergraduate programs now have special entrance requirements? Are they consistent? Is this a good thing? Will every major have entrance requirements? Will such requirements result in some departments receiving students who do not fit into their chosen fields, such as when BPA limited enrollment to match faculty and the resulting overflow landed in Communication and Fine Arts? How many of those students are double majors? Is there any institutional study of capping? Provost Davis reported that an Enrollment Management Policy Group co-chaired by Randy Richardson and Patti Ota is about to begin meeting to consider issues of balance, size, and proportionality and whether such tremendous disparity as found in Communication exists in other units. The ICPC should definitely receive the information generated by this enrollment management group and consider the issue. Senator Smith said the ICPC is currently trying to identify programs with these concerns and to establish a history of where people go. The Question was called and the motion passed unanimously.

8. DISCUSSION ITEM: SPRING SALARY INCREASES (attachments) - Senators Schooley and O’Brien, the Senate’s representatives to the University Compensation Advisory Council (UCAT), returned today to receive the faculty’s input about distribution of spring salary increases. Senator Schooley said the Provost had charged the committee to consider the guidelines that he displayed on an overhead. Last week ABOR approved general guidelines for the distribution of salary adjustments for the Arizona university system that include the $1500 minimum for all employees. NAU recommended and received approval for 5% (but not less than $1500) across-the-board increases for all employees. ASU and UA are recommending distribution of the residual monies beyond $1500 based on merit, market, and equity to be determined by the institution. Senator O’Brien added that UCAT is consulting with all employee groups including SAC and APOC as well as the Deans. She displayed the Deans’ recommendations on an overhead: "1) All funds generated by either filled or vacant positions in a college should be returned to that college for distribution. This allows maximum flexibility between colleges in the distribution of the funds; 2) the $1500 made available to every employee should be considered the cost of living portion of the raise; and 3) The remaining monies over and above the $1500 should be used for merit and equity salary increases. All employees should be eligible for merit and market consideration." Senator Jones acknowledged that there is campus-wide general agreement about certain issues such as the brain drain and the College of Nursing studies but noted that there has not been a cost of living adjustment (COLA) across the board since 1997. This has resulted in faculty salaries that have not kept pace with inflation. He believes it is in the best interest of the institution to provide COLA increases across the board for everyone. He cited the salary adjustment statement in the appendix that accompanied the Appropriations Bill, "General Provisions of the General Appropriations Act and Other Overall Issues," which states, "In effect, employees earning less than $30,000 will receive the $1500 adjustment while all other employees will receive the 5% adjustment." Senator Medine offered this resolution [Motion 2001/02-5]: "Resolved that the legislative 5% salary increases for 2002-2003 be distributed as across the board raises to the faculty." Motion was seconded. Senator Witte spoke in support of the resolution, observing that the Senate has in two previous instances considered merit versus COLA and in both instances it has voted for the COLA. She said the real brain drain exists among the faculty who choose to stay at UA and work under adverse circumstances. Senator Silverman supported the resolution but is personally opposed to any salary increases beyond the $1500 if layoffs may be imposed at any time this year. Senator Garcia suggested that the ill will created by trying to distribute the residual 2.5% isn’t worth the effort and may end up insulting some faculty. President Likins acknowledged Senator Silverman’s concern and said he has asked the State Senate’s president to try to preserve at least the $1500 across the board increase because some state employees need that much to cover the increased health-care costs. President Likins also observed that national average income comparisons will not be affected by the way we distribute this money. Chair Hancock favored the combination of merit, market, and equity distribution. He believes decisions about distributing the residual amount is better left to the discretion of the colleges. In the past few years, the only compensation for meritorious faculty has been the two, 2% merit increases, but he noted that the procedure for distributing even small merit increases is well established in most colleges. Senator D. Davis spoke in favor of the motion, observing that the state’s failure to invest adequately in the University coupled with the relatively small merit increases have resulted in an imbalance in the merit which could be redressed by 5% across the board increases. Senator Eribes lamented that without the discretion to distribute merit money, he would be unable to reward faculty who have worked excessively hard this year. Senator Medine reiterated that the average salary for UA faculty is around $60K; a 5% increase is $3K. The distribution of $1500 has been determined by the legislature, leaving an average of 2.5% residual. To expend time and energy engaging in a painful exercise concerning the disposition and distribution of that small amount is a waste of resources. The University’s faculty is a great faculty and it needs a just compensation; the 5% COLA is a small step in that direction. Senator Witte observed that many employees do not have confidence in the merit process and suggested that equity issues should be addressed by punishing those who have discriminated in the past. President Likins emphasized that the Grace Commission has presented a detailed monetary analysis of womens’ compensation in the College of Medicine and he cannot ignore or dispute those findings of an inequitable pattern of compensation that has developed over the years. He believes it is imperative to respond to those inequities. He is not confident that the state will find extra money to address the inequities described in the Grace Project, so the money will have to come from this salary increase pool. Senator Silverman agreed it is necessary to address issues of equity in units where women and faculty of color have fallen behind, and suggested a different split, 4% for COLA and 1% for equity. Provost Davis said he is a strong proponent of post-tenure review and performance evaluation as a time for goal-setting and receiving feedback from deans, department heads, and peer committees at the department and college levels. He believes there is an important organic connection between the review process and the merit support for outstanding contributions. To disconnect merit from performance evaluation would result in serious questions about the time-intensive process of annual evaluations. Senator Romer said the legislature has an obligation to identify this money as merit or equity, which it has not done. President Likins responded that legal counsel has assured him that there are no restrictions but Senator Jones remarked that other counsel have disagreed with that interpretation. The Question was called and the resolution passed 23-15 with one abstention.