February 4, 2008

Once approved, 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 of the Faculty Robert P. Mitchell at 3:08 p.m. in the College of Law, Room 146. He invited Senators to circulate petitions for the upcoming faculty elections during today’s meeting.

Present:   Senators Aleamoni, Bergsma, Bruce, Burd, Christenson, Conway, Cuello, Cusanovich, Dahlgran, A. Davis, D. Davis, O. Davis, Effken, Engel, Gruener, Hildebrand, Howell, Jones, Knutson, Miller, Mitchell, Mitchneck, Mutchler, Neish, Pintozzi, San Martin, Sarid, Schlager, Shelton, Slugocki, Smith, St. John, Ulreich and Witte.

Absent:   Senators Estrada, Foley, Garcia, Green, Jenkins, Joens, McKee, Mosher, Mountford, Nolan, Pavao-Zuckerman, Ruiz, Sander, Silverman, Songer, Spece, Sterling, Strittmatter, Weinand and Willerton.

2.             OPEN SESSION

There were no speakers for the Open Session.

3.                    INFORMATION ITEM: “SOLUTIONS THROUGH HIGHER EDUCATION” (attachment)

Presiding Officer Mitchell welcomed Arizona Board of Regents President Fred Boice and thanked him for coming to today’s Senate meeting to present a public awareness campaign titled, “Solutions for Higher Education.” Regent Boice presented a DVD “mood piece” designed to make the citizens of Arizona aware of the crisis not just in higher education but in all education. He thanked the three universities who provided the financial support for this campaign and asked for the faculty’s’ support in getting the word out. The United States’ rankings in math, science, engineering and college graduation rates have been declining along with public and state support for schools and institutions of higher education. Regent Boice emphasized that this “quiet” crisis in education is undermining our future and the public is neither aware nor does it want to be aware. The public’s view of education is as an expenditure rather than as an investment. Regent Boice introduced Dan Anderson, ABOR’s Assistant Executive Director for Institutional Analysis, who assisted him with a PowerPoint slide show which emphasized how America is losing its competitive edge, which is the ability to create high-paying jobs and to support a high and rising standard or living. In today’s competitive economy, there are only three viable ways to compete and prosper: size, cost and innovation. The U.S. is too small to compete with India and China and their massive populations; our standard of living is too high to compete with low-cost economies. The only way we can compete is through innovation, and an innovative economy demands a highly-educated population and a substantial investment in education. Yet at a time when education is so critical, the U.S. is surrendering its leadership while other countries invest substantially more in education. Regent Boice presented alarming financial statistics and population growth demographics for Arizona, which indicate that for every 100 Arizona high school students, 64 will graduate, 18 will enter a four-year degree program within a year, and only 9 will complete a bachelor’s degree in 6 years. This is a tremendous waste of talent. Meanwhile, the job skills of Arizona’s citizens are diminishing because of the low education achievement levels of our state’s citizens, while the demand for a highly-educated workforce increases. A vicious cycle has already begun: wasted-talent -> undeveloped human capital -> lower incomes -> lower tax revenues -> lower expenditures in education -> further deterioration of the education of our citizens, which, over time will cause our standard of living to decline. It is absolutely true that the more you learn, the more you earn. The intent of this public awareness campaign is to give the crisis a voice, break the vicious cycle, and refocus on education. Breaking the cycle requires a cultural paradigm shift in the public’s mindset to become acutely aware of the value of higher education. Regent Boice invited Faculty Senators to fill out membership cards to join the “Coalition for Solutions Through Higher Education, which is anchored in the belief that it is imperative for us to raise the educational level of our state’s citizens.” Members of the Coalition, which includes business and community leaders, organizations and individuals, will receive information about critical economic and social challenges facing Arizona and the ways higher education provides solutions to these challenges, and the issues facing higher education in Arizona’s public universities. 

Senators’ comments and questions included: 1) What is the end-point plan for this campaign? Regent Boice responded that the state’s revenues are predicated on sales revenue and approximately 70% are dedicated revenues and cannot be cut. The universities’ budget resides in the other 30% which is where cuts are made in times of lean sales revenues. Increasing the amount of state revenues and establishing a dedicated income stream for higher education will require a change to the state’s funding model. Regent Boice believes a public initiative supporting a dedicated income stream for higher education would pass if the public is more favorably disposed toward higher education, though this awareness campaign. The campaign will be polling to determine the public’s attitude. 2) Are there any other states that have implemented a graduated income tax toward higher education? Regent Boice is not aware of any. It is difficult to compare states, but Colorado is more like Arizona than other states and state support has been steadily regressing. 3) What’s the next step? The intent, more than anything else, is to inform the public about the value of the universities to the point that they will support additional resources for higher education, even if the legislature disagrees. The main motivation for the Campaign is a profound need for greater resources for higher education. 4) Is this DVD and slide presentation available to use? Yes, and we’ve established a speakers’ bureau with about 25 people and if faculty members would like to make the presentation, we can provide the slides and script and the DVD should be available on the website: highereducationsolution.com.  5) How successful is the Campaign? To date, the presentation has been overwhelmingly successful because the facts are undeniable. 6) This presentation is missing a huge piece: basic literacy. Literacy is the key to competitive success in our culture and many other cultures, including the global culture. 7) The presentation should add several slides that show the direct contribution of the University to the economy and the high tech industry of this state. 8) President Shelton noted that he has worked with a number of boards but has never seen such an extraordinary effort on the part of our Board of Regents who are engaged in reaching out to Arizona’s citizenry in ways that the University faculty or administrators cannot, because it would seem too self-serving. He thanked Regent Boice and Regent Duval for their leadership on the “Solutions” campaign.

4.                    REPORTS

Faculty Officers’ Report 

Because the Senate met one week ago and because the public session with the final Provost candidate begins at 4:00 p.m. today, Presiding Officer Mitchell noted that the reports section was omitted from the agenda. He invited anyone who might have something to announce to come forward. Chair of the Faculty Howell asked faculty members who attended either the shared governance or the public sessions with the provost candidates to forward their feedback to the Faculty Center, along with a ranked order of the candidates in time for the final search committee meeting on Thursday morning. She will advise senators of the results of the faculty’s ranking.

5.                    DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION: TEXTBOOK LEGISLATION (attachment)

Presiding Officer Mitchell advised the Senate to consider Arizona Students’ Association’s textbook legislation item as a motion [Motion 2007/08-31] and asked for a second. C. Neish seconded the motion. ASUA President Tommy Bruce directed Senators’ attention to the proposed textbook legislation and a Senate resolution in their packets. The intent of this proposed legislation is to help students fight the high cost of textbooks. Last year, a textbook Task Force was convened and made recommendations which were approved by the Board of Regents. Senators’ comments and questions included: 1) Have you explored how textbook publishers can conduct commerce with disclosed wholesale prices? T. Bruce responded that Senator O’Halleran and Representative Tobin have been working on this and have received approval from the state board. 2) The Arizona Faculties Council’s discussed this proposed legislation and support it with the caveat that it in no way should inhibit academic freedom by limiting the choice of faculty members in selecting textbooks. 3) Have any other states passed this legislation and were there unintended consequences? Other states have passed similar legislation and to date there have not been any unintended consequences. 4) The resolution is very detailed and contains several problems, including the number of the Bill. Is it possible for the Senate to support this legislation in principle but not the resolution? Senator Howell suggested limiting the resolution to the final two sentences with the Bill number stipulated. Senator Christenson moved [Motion 2007/08-32] that the Faculty Senate endorse the last two sentences of the Arizona Students Association’s textbook legislation. Motion was seconded. Senator Ulreich moved [Motion 2007/08-33] to amend the motion to read, “Moreover, the legislation should include a provision explicitly forbidding the construction and construal of the legislation in a manner that violates academic freedom. Motion was not seconded. Senator D. Davis suggested taking this resolution to the Senate Executive Committee for wordsmithing. Presiding Officer Mitchell advised the Senate that there isn’t time to do this before the state legislature acts. Senator Gruener moved [Motion 2007/08-34] to table the original motion 2007/08-31 until the resolution is reworded. Motion was seconded and failed 5-23-0. Senator Neish moved [Motion 2007/08-35] to limit the resolution to the last two paragraphs in reverse order. Motion was seconded. Senator Christenson and his seconder withdrew his motion [2007/08-32]. Motion 2007/08-35 passed with one abstention. Motion 2007/08-31 was not acted upon.

6.                    CONSENT AGENDA ITEM FORWARDED AS A SECONDED MOTION BY THE INSTRUCTION AND CURRICULUM POLICY COMMITTEE (attachment)

The consent agenda item forwarded by the ICPC and detailed at the end of these minutes [Motion 2007/08-36] was approved.

7.                    EXECUTIVE SESSION

                The Senate recessed at 4:15 p.m. to go into Executive Session.

8.                    ADJOURNMENT

                There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 4:30 p.m.

Pamela S. Bridgmon, Recording Secretary

Appendix*

1.        The Coalition for Solutions Through Higher Education Mood Piece Source Sheet dated Feb 1, 2008

2.        Trifold: “The Education Crisis” from Solutions Through Higher Education

3.        Organization and individual contact cards to join the Coalition for Solutions Through Higher Education

4.        ICPC Consent Agenda

5.        Memorandum to The University of Arizona Faculty Senate from Tommy Bruce, ASUA President dated Jan 28, 2008

6.        Rough Draft of Senate Bill on College Textbooks dated Dec 21, 2007 Folder 981, Drafter Todd Bayne.

7.        (ASA) Faculty Senate Resolution on College Textbooks

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

Motions of the Meeting of February 4, 2008

Motion 2007/08-31 Seconded motion to approve a two-page “Faculty Senate Resolution on College Textbooks.” Motion not acted upon.

Motion 2007/08-32 Seconded motion that the Faculty Senate endorse the last two sentences of the “Faculty Senate Resolution on College Textbooks.” Motion withdrawn.

Motion 2007/08-33 Motion to amend motion 2007/08-31 to read, “Moreover, the legislation should include a provision explicitly forbidding the construction and construal of the legislation in a manner that violates academic freedom.” Motion was not seconded.

Motion 2007/08-34 Seconded motion to table the original motion 2007/08-31 until the resolution is reworded. Motion was seconded and failed 5-23.

Motion 2007/08-35 Seconded motion that the Faculty Senate endorse the last two sentences of the ASA’s “Faculty Senate Resolution on College Textbooks in reverse order with the Bill number added. Motion carried.

Motion 2007/08-36 Seconded motion from the Instruction and Curriculum Policy Committee to approve the graduate certificate in Public Health. Motion carried.