University Governance

UNIVERSITY SENATE
February 12, 2009 – Room #106, Green Hall
Approved 2/26/09

PRESENT: Faculty - Mary Berry, David Brackett, Matt Burke, Marta Caminero-Santangelo, James Dougherty, Ben Eggleston, Ada Emmett, Mark Ezell, Allen Ford, Lisa Friis, Joe Harrington, Robert Harrington, Man Kong, Liz Kowalchuk, Chuck Marsh, Steve Maynard-Moody, Joyce McCray-Pearson, Brent Metz, Jim Orr, Bozenna Pasik-Duncan, Jean Peterson, Jean Philips, Gitti Salami, Iris Fischer, Dan Spencer, John Stratton, Tony Walton, Lisa Wolf-Wendel. Students – Ben Cohen, May Davis, Mason Heilman, Michael Gray, Bill Walberg.  Staff – Betty Childers, Mary Ann Baker, Cayla Witty, Jeannette Johnson, Phil Wilke, Jason O’Connor. Ex-officio – Adam McGonigle, Student Body President; Dennis Constance, University Support Staff president; Paul Farran, Unclassified Senate president.

EXCUSED: Faculty - Melissa Birch, Mohamed El-Hodiri, Doug Huffman, Alice Lieberman, Barbara Phipps, John Staniunas, Jeff Staudinger, Kelli Thomas, Stacey S White, Rodolfo Torres, Donna Tucker;  Students -  Stacy Elmer, Tonia Salas       

ABSENT: Eric Foss, Elise Higgins, JJ Siler, Brian Hardouin, Aly Rodee.
            (Please contact Molly Mulloy if you were indeed present)

ALSO PRESENT:  Molly Mulloy, Governance; Mary Lee Hummert, Provost’s office

            President Mary Berry called the meeting to order at 3:30 p.m.

MINUTES for November 13, 2008 were approved.

STANDING REPORTS
University Senate President.  Mary Berry reported that recommendations from several Governance committees are under consideration by SenEx and will be coming forward to the Senate. She acknowledged the contribution made by Kathy Reed in the Governance Office during Molly Mulloy’s absence for surgery.

Faculty Senate President. Nancy Kinnersley reported that the Council of Faculty Senate Presidents (COFSP) passed a statement urging the state to remove the 60-day waiting period for health insurance benefits for new employees. BOR staff will meet with business officers of the universities to determine the proposal’s cost and whether it is keeping with state statutes.
The BOR approved the FY2010 housing and food service rate adjustments, and indicated that they do not want the state budget cuts to be passed along to students.  The Board approved KU’s application for an MA in African-African American Studies, the creation of a School of Music and a School of the Arts, and the restructuring of the School of Fine Arts.
This week a legislative committee will hear the BOR’s request to transfer authority to establish admission standards from the legislature to the Regents. The search committee for the KU Chancellor will vote on the leadership profile document (job description) in the near future and forward it to the BOR for approval.
Kinnersley was informed today that there will be another legislative forum for the KU community about the FY09 budget on Friday, February 20. There is now a webpage attached to the Chancellor’s website for suggestions from the KU community on ways to save money. The Chancellor spoke to the House Ways & Means Committee yesterday; all of the university presidents have been invited to do so.
Legislative Post Audit is collecting data for an efficiency audit of the six state universities that will focus on program and degree duplication, faculty workload, online courses, and various efficiency ratios.  The idea of furloughs for state employees is being discussed by COFSP and other groups.
Kinnersley answered several questions from members.

Student Body President.  Adam McGonigle introduced two new student senators and reported that a committee is reviewing all campus fees. At the request of the Academic Policies and Procedures Committee (AP&P), McGonigle has proposed specific language for the University Senate rules (USRR) regarding Student Senate’s proposal on grade notification. He reported that Student Senate has recommended changes to parking available to students at the student health center. McGonigle testified before a legislative committee today regarding a bill that would make membership on the Board of Regents an elective office.

Unclassified Senate
            Paul Farran introduced Phil Wilke, who will be taking Danny Kaiser’s position on University Senate. WSU’s unclassified senate has contacted Farran about the possibility of joining together to create a group representing unclassified senates at all the Regents’ universities that would ultimately become an official council of the Board of Regents. Currently, only KU and WSU have separate unclassified employee groups. As a member of the KU Chancellor Search Committee, Farran encouraged members to contact him with names of possible candidates. The Unclassified Senate is conducting a direct mail campaign to individual state legislators this semester instead of their usual annual trip to Topeka to meet personally with legislators. The group’s new website will be operational at the end of February.  The Unclassified Senate has received 28 applications for the four scholarships it is awarding for members to attend professional development conferences.

University Support Staff (“USS”)
            Dennis Constance reported that USS’ survey of supervisors and managers is in the testing stage. The Classified Support Staff Council, a statewide council of the Board of Regents, supports the Regents legislative agenda. The USS is discussing what the procedure would be for potential layoffs in the future.

TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS TO THE UNIVERSITY SENATE CODE AND RULES
Mary Berry explained that the various technical amendments were meant to clarify or update existing rules and were not substantive in nature.  Chuck Marsh/Gitti Salami moved to approve the six amendments.
In regard to USRR 2.2.9 (grade replacement policy in repeat courses), a member asked if a student who took a course numbered above 299 in the Spring 2007 semester could repeat that course, since the new policy limiting repeat courses to those numbered below 299 took effect in Fall 2007.  The consensus was that the new policy would not allow a spring 2007 course numbered above 299 to be repeated.
Following brief discussion, the motion passed.

NEW BUSINESS
            Unclassified Senate President Paul Farran asked about the history of the membership composition on University Senate, noting that there are three unclassified representatives and thirty-nine faculty.

No further business.
Respectfully submitted,
Molly Mulloy