University Governance

Minutes

UNIVERSITY SENATE
April 23, 2009 – 3:30 p.m. – Courtside Room, Burge Union

Approved April 30, 2009

PRESENT: Faculty - Mary Berry, Marta Caminero-Santangelo, Ben Eggleston, Mohamed El-Hodiri, Ada Emmert, Mark Ezell, Joe Harrington, Bob Harrington, Nancy Kinnersley, Liz Kowalchuk, Chuck Marsh, Brent Metz, Jim Orr, Bozenna Pasik-Duncan, Barbara Phipps, Gitti Salami, Iris Smith Fisher, Kelli Thomas, Donna Tucker, Lisa Wolf-Wendel. Staff – Betty Childers, Mary Ann Baker, Cayla Witty, Jeannette Johnson, Phil Wilke, Jason O’Connor. Students – Ben Cohen, May Davis, Stacy Elmer, Mason Heilman, Michael Gray, Bill Walberg.  Ex-officio – Danny Anderson (for Provost Richard Lariviere), Adam McGonigle, Paul Farran.

EXCUSED: Faculty – Melissa Birch, David Brackett, Matthew Burke, James Daugherty, Allen Ford, Lisa Friis, Man Kong, Alice Lieberman, Joyce McCray-Pearson, Jean Peterson, Dan Spencer, John Staniunas Jeff Staudinger, John Stratton, Stacey White, Rodolfo Torres. Students  - Elise Higgins.

ABSENT: Faculty – Doug Huffman, Steve Maynard-Moody, Jean Phillips. Students – Eric Foss,  Tonia Salas, JJ Siler, Brian Hardouin, Aly Rodee.
(Please contact Molly Mulloy if you were indeed present or excused)

            President Mary Berry called the meeting to order at 3:30 p.m. in Room #305 at the Burge Union.

MINUTES for April 9, 2009 were approved.

STANDING REPORTS
University Senate President
Mary Berry welcomed guests Denise Stephens and Dilawar Grewal and congratulated new Student Body officers Mason Heilman and May Davis. She reminded members that a new president for University Senate and a president-elect for both the University and Faculty Senates would be elected at next week’s meeting.

Faculty Senate President
            Nancy Kinnersley reported on actions at the Board of Regents meeting last week, noting that the COFSP (Council of Faculty Senate Presidents) approved KU’s request to reduce the number of required instructional days on the university’s academic calendar from 150 to 146. This will now be forwarded to the Regents’ SCOCAO (the System Council of Chief Academic Officers) for approval. The Regents also approved a tuition deduction for out-of-state “legacy students” (children or grandchildren). The Regents are reviewing data gathered on their five strategic questions and hope to have a report by the end of the year. In regard to the Regents new authority to determine admission standards, Kinnersley clarified that the Board is allowed to set independent standards for each university.

STUDENT BODY PRESIDENT
Adam McGonigle reported that a zero percent overall increase in  FY10 campus fees was approved at the last Student Senate meeting and all funding allocations are now complete. The zero percent increase in fees was approved in part because Student Senators believe a tuition increase may need to be made for FY2010 due to the state budget crisis.

UNCLASSIFIED SENATE
Paul Farran stated that he and the USS Senate president Dennis Constance sent a joint memo to SenEx requesting that representation from their two bodies be increased from three to six members each. The request was tabled until the final SenEx meeting on May 5th, at which time SenEx will also consider it along with a request from the Student Body President to increase student membership on the University Senate. The proposal will require an amendment to the University Senate Code and is expected to be on the agenda of the first University Senate meeting in the fall.
Farran reported that an unclassified staff subcommittee is working on a new section for the Faculty Handbook in regard to annual evaluations for unclassified staff.  The Unclassified Senate’s transition meeting for the change of officers is on May 12

UNIVERSITY SUPPORT STAFF (“USS”)
Reporting for Dennis Constance, Cayla Witty said that the Support Staff Senate will not hold full meetings during the summer, though the executive committee will continue to meet.  The USS is preparing a report for the Provost on the results of the trial run of their proposed supervisor assessment form.

AMENDMENTS TO THE UNIVERSITY SENATE CODE AND RULES
Mary Berry pointed out that the proposed policy on “Incomplete” grades was separated from the package of amendments discussed last week and will be considered separately under “Old Business.”

Lisa Wolf-Wendel/Liz Kowalchuk moved to approve the amendments to: (1)  Code, Article XII (new member on the Retirees Committee); (2) USRR 2.2.2 (The F, U, and NC grades); (3) USRR 2.2.5 (withdrawal periods for KUCE courses); (4) USRR 2.3.1 (change of grade for academic misconduct); (5) USRR 2.3.4 (grade appeals); (6) USRR 2.4.2 (editorial change to course repeat policy); (7) USRR 2.8.1 (academic forgiveness policy); (8) USSR 3.1 (KU graduation requirements).  Passed without dissent. [The full text of the changes is attached to the approved minutes.]
 
UPDATE ON “INITIATIVE ONE”
            Mary Berry welcomed Denise Stephens, Vice Provost, and Dilawar Grewal, Director of Information Services, who were present to update members on the status of “Initiative One,” the strategic plan to maximize KU’s information infrastructure through coordinated planning, purchasing and service delivery.
VP Stephens stated that KU doesn’t have the infrastructure it needs and must get the maximum benefit out of limited funds. Initiative One looks at ways to reduce overall costs, increase operational efficiency and service, and promote reliable and consistent access to our networks. She described negotiations for a new volume purchase agreement with Dell Computers and a new site license agreement with Oracle, bids for Microsoft Office systems, a planned investment of $1 million in new servers, improvement of desktop support and document management, development of new network architecture, and expanded video-conferencing capability. She noted that Dilawar Grewal’s specialty is high performance computing, which is extremely expensive and separate from desk-top use. 
VP Stephens noted that many advisory groups have been formed to work on specific components of Initiative One and it will take several years to pull it all together. She looks forward to periodically meeting with the University Senate to update members on the status of this strategic plan.
            Dilawar Grewal reported that he is working on a master plan with the help of advisory groups and that KU’s entire backbone will be upgraded by the end of the summer. He is bringing in experts to look at high performance computing needs and at the standardization of support across the campus at many different levels. He has a prioritized list of every building on campus and the researchers that would be most affected by network cabling upgrades and connection to the high-capacity fiber optic network; Blake and Haworth are being updated first. Grewal added that agreements with Dell and Microsoft will be extended to faculty and students for home use.
            Mary Berry expressed appreciation to VP Stephens for involving all of the various campus constituencies in the Initiative One project throughout the year.  She thanked Stephens and Grewal for meeting with the University Senate today and for their leadership of the initiative.

SENEX BASKETBALL CONTRACT WITH KU ATHLETICS
            Mary Berry announced that the contract will be brought to next week’s meeting for endorsement.

OLD BUSINESS
Incomplete Policy.  Mary Berry noted questions were raised at the last Senate meeting about how the “I” policy would affect graduate students. A new handout on the “I” policy was distributed that incorporated two changes approved by University Senate last week: (1) adding the phrase “in consultation with the student” to USRR 2.2.3.2, and (2) deleting the words “qualifying exams” in USRR 2.2.3.4  Lisa Wolf-Wendel/Jannette Johnson moved to approve the amendments to USRR except for new section 2.2.3.4.
Following discussion, Berry invited Dean of Graduate Studies Sara Rosen to address the body.  Dean Rosen spoke in support of the amendments, stating that the text of USRR 2.2.3.4 had been reviewed and approved by committees in the College and unanimously approved by the Executive Council of the graduate faculty. She agreed with Senate’s action to delete “qualifying exam” from the text. Rosen said not one of KU’s peer graduate institutions allows students to graduate with incomplete grades on their record.  In contrast, KU has had graduate students with up to thirty hours of incomplete grades. Rosen said the I grade is sometimes used inappropriately when a student is working on his/her dissertation and that other grades such as the P, S, or U should be used.
In response to a question, Kim McNeeley, Assistant Dean of the College and member of the Academic Policies & Procedures (“AP&P) Committee, stated that the “NP” (“no progress”) grade being discussed by AP&P would only apply to courses - like thesis - that continue over multiple semesters.
Lisa Wolf-Wendel/Jeannette Johnson moved to amend their original motion by reinserting the word “exams” into USRR 2.2.3.4 after the word “oral” and to approve all of the proposed amendments, including new USRR 2.2.3.4, in the Incomplete Policy. Passed with three members opposed and one abstention

Email on Athletic Program Revenues
Mary Berry distributed copies of an email from a professor to the Provost concerning the University’s discontinuance of discounts on athletic ticket prices and Lied Center performances for employees and retirees. The faculty member objects to the tax free retention bonus paid to KU’s athletic director and proposes that 1% of athletic ticket revenues be devoted to academic programs in the College.  Berry reported that she has received many other emails from about this issue, noting that the Committee on Retirees Rights and Benefits is particularly concerned about the loss of the free Lied Center tickets for retirees.  There was no further discussion on this issue by Senate members.
Jason O’Connor asked how university employees were able to not pay income taxes on the 20% discount received on basketball tickets. Vice Provost Danny Anderson explained that the faculty discount was 50% some years ago but was lowered to 20% in order to meet IRS guidelines.

No further business.
The meeting adjourned at 4:55 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Molly Mulloy