University Governance
SENATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
June 1, 2009 – 10:00 a.m. – Provost’s Conference Room
PRESENT: John Stratton, Ben Eggleston, Lisa Wolf-Wendel, Barbara Phipps, Jim Daugherty, Ada Emmett, Steve Maynard-Moody, Paul Farran, Jeannette Johnson, Dennis Constance, Andrea Peterson, JJ Siler, Mason Heilman.
ABSENT: Kellee Kirkpatrick, JJ Siler, Mary Ann Baker
ALSO PRESENT: Molly Mulloy
Chair John Stratton called the meeting to order.
CHARGES TO UNIVERSITY SENATE COMMITTEES
Calendar Committee
Members agreed to eliminate Standing Charge #3 (academic calendar in regard to athletics) and Specific charge #1 (on-line exams). Specific Charge #2 (academic calendar based on lower instructional days) was rewritten and now reads: “Once the BOR approves the new number of instructional days, consider how the KU calendar should be changed to take advantage of the reduced minimum number of days.”
Wolf-Wendel/Phipps moved to approve the charges. Passed.
Planning and Resources (P&R)
John Stratton said the P&R Committee has not yet sent its FY09 final report but Lisa Wolf-Wendel spoke with the chair in regard to the charges. Members added a sentence to Specific Charge #1 to “Consult and review existing recommendations on the Provost’s website.” A new Specific Charge #2 will be added to provide a monthly update to the five elected governance leaders concerning the committee’s activity on its standing charges. Mason Heilman will provide language for new Specific Charge #3 regarding the university’s environmental and sustainability activities. Steve Maynard-Moody added that a group of Ph.D. students just sent the Chancellor a report on sustainability that would be useful for P&R to review.
Wolf-Wendel/Barbara Phipps approved the charges. Passed.
Brief discussion ensued about what governance could do to be more sustainable. Molly Mulloy will survey University Senate members to ascertain who needs a print copy of the agenda and handouts that are emailed to members. As appropriate, an overhead projector or laptop will be used to display handouts at Senate meetings in order to reduce the amount of paper.
Retirees Committee
Members agreed to delete Specific Charges #2 and #3 and Standing Charge #2. Standing Charge #3 was edited to “Consult the Dept of HREO and the Office of the Provost on the maintenance of an up-to-date contact list of retirees.” A new standing charge will be added to “Consult with SenEx regarding views and concerns related to retirees.”
Wolf-Wendel/Eggleston moved to approve. Passed.
AP&P (Academic Policies & Procedures)
Members approved new Specific Charge #3 (consistency of grading policies) drafted by Andrea Peterson.
Heilman will draft a new Specific Charge #4 for AP&P regarding the negative monetary impact for classes dropped in the first withdrawal period. (“Review the current withdrawal policy relative to the tuition and fees for classes dropped in the first withdrawal period and make a recommendation to SenEx by _____.”) Peterson/Wolf-Wendel moved to approve all the charges. Passed.
Athletic Committee
Members edited a proposed new charge concerning KU licensees drafted by Peterson and approved a new charge drafted by Maynard-Moody regarding club sports.
Wolf-Wendel/Maynard-Moody moved to approve. Passed.
Libraries Committee
Members approved new Standing Charge #4 (to distribute copies of Library Committee charges to the departmental liaisons within the Libraries).
Wolf-Wendel/Farron moved to approve. Passed.
O&A (Organization and Administration)
Members edited and approved new Specific Charges #2 and #3 (review composition of University Senate and committees) as drafted by Farron.
Farron/Peterson moved to approve. Passed.
GOVERNANCE TASK FORCES
[PROPOSED] Task Force on Employee Invention Agreement
Stratton is gathering information on this and will report at the August 25 SenEx meeting.
[OLD] Task Force on Employee Benefits
Stratton noted that two years ago the Faculty Compensation Committee wrote a report in response to their charge to look into domestic partner benefits. Last year’s Task Force on Employee Benefits was charged to look into the entire spectrum of possible benefits for University employees, including partner benefits, and reported on research on a broad variety of issues. Stratton and Wolf-Wendel believe that a task force should be charged to specifically look at partner benefits; SenEx members concurred.
[NEW] Task Force on Domestic Partner Benefits
Following discussion, Farran/Peterson moved that SenEx create a new Task Force on Domestic Partner Benefits that would be charged to create an action plan for domestic partner benefits at KU. Passed. Farran will draft charges for the new task force. Members suggested that the charges include, among other things: (1) identifying how its proposals would be implemented, (2) reviewing existing policies in Iowa and Ohio, (3) discussing issues with contacts at the other Regents universities.
[PROPOSED] Task Force on Intellectual Property (IP)
SenEx agreed with John Stratton’s suggestion that issues involving intellectual property could possibly be discussed by the proposed new Task Force on Employee Invention Agreement.
NEW BUSINESS
Paul Farran described a Student Senate’s proposal to redefine KU’s nondiscrimination policy in regard to gender identity. Stratton said this could be discussed at SenEx’s next meeting if governance involvement is appropriate.
Respectfully submitted,
Molly Mulloy