University of North Carolina at Asheville FACULTY SENATE MEETING Minutes, January 17, 1991 Senate Members: A. Coyne, L. Dorr, L. Friedenberg, B. Greenawalt, A. Hantz, D. Lisnerski, C. McClary, S. Obergfell, J. Rackham, B. Sabo, D. Sulock, D. Van Engelen, A. Wengrow, B. Wilson, L. Wilson Excused: A. Comer Visitors: R. Booker, S. Browning, Chancellor Carroll, T. Cochran, F. Davenport, J. Garrett, D. Harmon, C. Goedsche, M. Ruiz I. Call to Order The 1990-91 Faculty Senate met on Thursday, January 17, 1991, in NCB-005. Lisa Friedenberg, Chair, called the meeting to order at 3:33 pm. Minutes The December 13, 1990 Senate minutes were approved as written by a vote of 12-1-1 (Motion: Lisnerski/Coyne). II. Executive Committee Report Dr. Friedenberg reported for the Executive Committee. Student Government Report There was no Student Government report. Senate Election The Senate conducted a telephone roll-call vote over vacation and elected Dr. Shirley Browning to a new university committee created by Sam Poole, Chairman of the Board of Governors. The committee will work with the legislature relative to budget lobbying for the 1991-93 biennium. Dr. John Stevens was elected as alternate. UNCA's Response to the Middle East Conflict Dr. John Stevens stated that a forum will be held tomorrow from 12:00 to 2:00 pm on the "War in the Gulf" on the Quad. Speakers will include faculty and local experts and there will be opportunity for questions and responses. There was some question as to whether classes were canceled or if faculty should take their classes to the forum. III. UNC Faculty Assembly Report Dr. John Stevens and Dr. Shirley Browning gave the Faculty Assembly Report. Dr. Stevens stated that Samuel Poole, Chair of the Board of Governors, was the special administrative speaker. Three budget items Mr. Poole listed for the coming year were: 1) development and recruitment of minority faculty; 2) the request for funding for academic scholarships; and, 3) collective efforts to protect our university budgets in the future. Ray Dawson, a Vice President with General Administration, reported on the Board of Governors' budget request for 1991-93. A copy of this report will be placed in the Senate reserve file in Ramsey Library. Academic scholarships and capital improvements will also be included in the file. The Board of Governors is focusing on four items for the next budget request: 1) a 6% academic salary increase; 2) request for enrollment increase; 3) restoration of authorized budget; and, 4) the North Carolina Academic Scholars Program which consists of $600 scholarships for high school students based on academic merit. The following reports will be placed in the Senate reserve file: a statistical report showing minority enrollments among the 16 institutions and the general trend over the last ten years; an SAT report; and an administrative memorandum concerning amendments to the optional retirement program. Dr. Stevens stated that UNCA's minority numbers tend to be very low; the SAT report looked very encouraging. The Faculty Welfare Committee brought two Resolutions to the Assembly concerning infrastructure and library funding. The committee also expressed concern about the ever increasing trend of out-of- pocket costs that are coming from faculty. The Budget Committee brought a resolution concerning North Carolina's system of higher education falling further and further behind if expenditures for higher education are not met. The Professional Development Committee reported on a conference to be held at Appalachian State University in June. Dr. Shirley Browning stated that an enrollment report indicated that FTE's university-wide were up two percent, to a little over 123K. The Freshman class declined 6% from last year; the growth came from Transfers and from improved retention system-wide. Of the 16,000- 17,000 entering Freshman, only 45 students failed to met the minimum requirements for admission into the UNC system. Black and American Indian enrollment was up in the system, but not due to any great contribution from UNCA. Dr. Browning summarized a report on the Analysis of Retention and Graduation in The University of North Carolina. This report was in response to a Senate bill in the 1989 Session. Major findings are: 1) the percent of Freshmen who graduate within four years has decreased in UNC institutions during the 1980s. This trend parallels the decrease that has occurred nationally; 2) the percent of Freshmen who graduate within five or six years has decreased only slightly during the 1980s and has shown increases for the three most recent entering classes; 3) when comparing UNC's overall graduations rates to the rates of public universities of other states, they compare favorably. Factors that influence continuation include family financial status, parent's educational attainment, students' academic preparation and achievement in secondary school, and students' attendance pattern with regard to full-time or part-time. The six year persistence rates for Freshmen who entered UNC institutions in 1983 for the institutions was approximately 51%. The specific steps taken by individual campuses are numerous and diverse but they may be grouped as follows: 1) those that controlled Freshman admissions standards and practices; 2) those that improve student progression, such as better orientation and placement services for Freshmen and better monitoring and advising services for all undergraduates; 3) those that strengthen the curriculum and increase faculty accessibility, improve course scheduling, and discourage students from interrupting their academic programs. The Planning and Programs Committee heard a report from Susan Nutter and Ann Okerson on library matters. There is concern about funding which has been lost since 1987 and has never been replaced in the budget system-wide. There is also concern that communication between General Administration and individual campuses may have been weak with regard to the fact that GA no longer puts in a special line for libraries and has delegated that down to the individual campus level for the campus to make its own case with regard to budget proposals. Some institutions may have assumed that GA would continue to put in that line; GA was assuming that the institutions would put in the line. The major concern seems to be about core collection and particularly journals. This seems to be a consequence of excessive publishing as the number of journal titles has increased significantly. Another major concern is the "for profit" publishers. The actual number of publishers declined over the last 20-30 years, and the academic community is facing an oligopoly; the university libraries have no influence over the prices. One strategy discussed was the creation of new publishing outlets, possibly through an expansion of university press offices. The "for profit" publishers are experiencing increased profits, vastly greater than inflation rates. The Planning and Programs Committee also discussed the issue of lateral certification with regard to the Teacher Education program. The concern is over what is known as a "modified lateral certification". There is certification, lateral certification, and now there is modified lateral certification. The modified lateral certification is a strategy to allow school administrators to specify the criteria for certification and is the bases for the concern. There are some systems which are allowing people to become certified based on certain hardship conditions who do not in fact meet the certification program requirements. The Academic Freedom Committee continued the discussion on political office held by faculty members. They have discovered through the Board of Governors that the issue is really not the amount of money paid for public office, it is the time given. Any faculty member in the system since this policy has been put in effect who has petitioned for exception has had the petition approved. It has not been a restraint on faculty members anywhere in the 16 campus system running for public office. The only concern is whether the individual campuses make that fact known to their faculty that they can in fact petition. The Board of Governors has not refused a single petition which has been forwarded. Dr. Browning will have reporting data on the drug policy issue from the Academic Freedom Committee at the next meeting. Dr. Sabo stated that UNCA's Library Committee has met and Mel Blowers is trying to work out a plan where WNC, ASU and UNCA will begin to share costs from the sense that only one of the three schools will purchase a journal or a particularly expense volume. Dr. Sabo urged anyone who has strong feelings about this issue to contact Mel Blowers. Dr. Larry Wilson stated that general publishers in the Netherlands and in Germany have a surcharge for American subscribers which is different than for European subscribers. It is a price discrimination as they export a product, and it is a substantial difference in cost. Dr. Friedenberg stated that 15 of the 16 Senate Chairs met with the Governance Committee. The Senates within the institutions have various names and are organized entirely differently. A number of the Senates are chaired by the Chancellor while others are chaired by the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. In some cases, there are actually separate groups that deal with curricular matters and the whole rest of the institution, and there is never an elected body of the faculty at-large that approves anything related to curriculum. They were shocked when she described UNCA's APC and were astounded at the degree to which this body is run by the faculty. IV. Administrative Report Dr. Larry Wilson (VCAA) gave the Administrative Report. Middle East Forum Dr. Wilson stated that the memorandum sent out today concerning the Middle East forum may have caused as much confusion as it clarified. The intention of the forum scheduled tomorrow from 12:00 - 2:00 pm, was to focus on the educational aspects of this situation, and to have faculty bring their classes to the forum. However, campus posters as well as the press release indicate that classes are canceled. Dr. Wilson apologized for the confusion and asked if he should issue a follow-up memo tomorrow morning. The Senate indicated that another memo would increase the confusion. Enrollment As of last night, UNCA's average enrollment for the year is 2,520 FTE; our budget amount was 2,500. Dr. Wilson anticipates losing another 8-10 FTE this week and UNCA should be just about on target with 2,500 FTE. The Asheville Institute The Asheville Institute has received a grant from the Exxon Foundation for $150K for a two year summer institute to be held one week in June each summer. The Institute has received the $150K to be divided between $75K for each year. The Asheville Institute is sponsored by the Exxon Foundation, the American Association for Colleges, and UNCA. The summer institute will involve two components. A symposium will be held on June 7-8 from 12:00 noon on Friday to 12:00 noon on Saturday. The Institute hopes to attract Boards of Trustees, legislatures, and Boards of Governors from around the country, coming together to accompany 20 teams from 20 colleges and universities. Each university that is interested will submit a proposal; if the proposal is accepted, it will be invited to attend. The universities will bring four faculty members and the senior academic officer to work intensively on their own general education program for the week of June 10-13. The Institute will have two particular components this year, one on science and mathematics and another component on history and culture. Several teams will be working on one of these two major thrusts and will have some kind of plan for their own general education program. Dr. Larry Wilson, Merritt Moseley and Roy Carroll have been putting together an advisory committee and are coordinating with the Exxon Foundation and the American Association of Colleges. The Institute has received some national press. Dr. Wilson stated that UNCA is trying to make an impact that will both effect individual colleges and universities, but will also effect whatever structure that college or that state has. U.S.A. Today On Tuesday, in U.S.A. Today, Dr. Farzanegan and the Simulation Program on War and Peace were the lead article in the education column as to how institutions are responding to world crises. UNCA TV & Radio Sponsorship UNCA has a shared sponsorship in two programs with the Biltmore Estate and Grandfather Mountain. A television program "The Planet Earth" (UNCA/Environmental Studies) will run on PBS; Rick Maas will be one of the people on the project. A radio project entitled "World of Islam" also sponsored by the World Affairs Council will be heard on Spindale NPR. UNCA is a non-paying sponsor of these two programs. V. Academic Policies Committee Report Dr. Coyne gave the Academic Policies Committee Report. Documents Presented for First Reading The following document was presented for first reading: APC #17/UPC #4: Women's Studies Minor Documents for Consideration Dr. Coyne moved approval of the following APC Documents: APC #10: Proposal for Astronomy 105 (Motion: Coyne/Sabo). APC #7 passed unanimously and became Senate Document #1491S. APC #12: Revision in Department of History Curriculum (Motion: Coyne/Sabo). An editorial correction will to be made to renumber a course. APC #12 passed unanimously and became Senate Document #1591S. APC #13: Mid-term Deficiency Notices for Freshmen (Motion: Coyne/Sabo). In response to Dr. Hantz's question, Dr. Coyne stated that this policy would be in addition to the current policy that applies to all students whereby they receive feedback prior to the withdrawal date. Mrs. Sulock did not believe the S/U would have the desired effect and suggested that P/F be used. Suggestions were made to give students a letter grade rather than S/U or P/F. Discussion followed as to the impact this notice may have on faculty advisors and students, as well as the necessity of having two policies whereby students receive feedback prior to the withdrawal date. Amendment #1: (Rackham/Hantz) to submit P/F for the S/U in the document. After further discussion, Dr. Rackham withdrew the amendment. Amendment #2: (Wengrow/Sulock) to replace S/U with the actual letter grade earned at that time. Discussion followed concerning creating a burden on faculty and the possibility of sending the notice only to students who are currently failing. Mr. Wengrow withdrew the amendment. After more discussion, Dr. Sabo made a motion to return this document to APC. Dr. Hantz seconded the motion. APC #13 was returned to APC by a vote of 12-1. APC #14: Catalog Changes in Mass Communication (Motion: Coyne/ Sabo) Dr. Greenawalt asked if MCOM 362: Women and Minorities in Media might be a course in the Sociology Department. Dr. Hantz stated that it was not in the Sociology Department, but that he had talked with Dr. Boland, and it did not occur to either of them that the course would occur in Sociology, although courses like it do occur in Sociology departments at some institutions. Dr. Hantz stated that he would be glad to cross-list the course with Sociology if they had that desire. Dr. Hantz did not believe the Sociology Department currently had anyone capable of teaching it. Dr. Greenawalt stated that he asked the question because he believed the MCOM 364: 19th Century Newspaper Women title and description rang some history bells with him and asked Dr. Hantz if he had talked with the History Department. Dr. Hantz stated that yes, and that the course is being taught by a media historian and that the course is also in the instructor's dissertation area. Dr. Hantz stated that it would be fine with him if the History Department was interested in cross-listing the course. Dr. Rackham stated that any discipline has the right to offer courses in the history of the discipline without another discipline being concerned with its interfering on their turf. Dr. Rackham stated that both of these courses are history specific to the discipline or sociologically specific to the discipline and therefore not in conflict with other departments. Mrs. Sulock asked if there was a course on 19th Century men, as she found a separate course for women demeaning. Dr. Hantz stated the course relating to men was entitled the History of the America Media. Mrs. Sulock suggested merging the two areas into one course. Dr. Hantz stated that there was enough information for two courses. Dr. Sabo asked if there was a required course for the major on newspaper history. Dr. Hantz stated that America Media was required and that MCOM 364 was an elective. In response to Dr. Wilson's question, Dr. Hantz stated that the changes would not impact staffing needs. APC #14 passed by a vote of 12-0-1 and became Senate Document #1691S. APC #15: Protocol for APC Review of General Education (as per Senate Document #36, 1984) (Motion: Coyne/Hantz). Dr. Coyne explained that APC #15 continues unfinished business from 1985, where Senate Document #36 authorized UNCA's existing general education program, and requested from APC a regular review of the course in general education to be sure that they were continuing to fulfill the function as envisioned by that document. The review has not yet started, although the time for the review is upon us as UNCA has had the new requirements for five years. The purpose of APC #15 is to define the terms under which that review is going to occur. The purpose of the review is not to revise general education, but to monitor the courses in general education on a continuing and orderly bases to confirm that they are continuing to fulfill their purposes. An editorial change will be made to title the document "General Education Review Policy". APC #15 passed unanimously and became Senate Document #1791S. VI. Institutional Development Committee Report Dr. Hantz reported for the Institutional Development Committee. Document Presented for Second Reading IDC #3: Resolution to Modify UNCA's Guiding Concepts (Motion: Hantz/Rackham). The document will be titled as it is listed in the agenda. Dr. Lisnerski stated that the Chairs and Program Directors discussed the reduction in numbers and were concerned that reducing the actual figures could impact how supportive the legislature might be in providing funding for the university. Suggestions were made to state there would be an increase of one percent or one half a percent a year, rather than to have a reduction, for the same effect. Dr. Lisnerski asked if that information had been presented to the IDC. Dr. Hantz stated that IDC had already met and drafted the resolution before the meeting which Dr. Lisnerski referred to took place. Dr. Hantz reported that he was looking for information to bring to the Senate and had encouraged the Chairs to send him a note regarding their feelings about the resolution. Dr. Hantz received one response from Dr. Moseley. Dr. Moseley indicated that an enrollment cap as proposed in this document would impact on the Humanities in a negative way. Dr. Hantz asked Chancellor Carroll to talk to the Senate about the impact of a resolution such as this one, relative to the legislature or external constituencies, or the community. Chancellor Carroll stated that he did not see any negative impact whatsoever on any of those constituencies. The Board of Governors and certainly the people in General Administration would believe that UNCA was being very realistic in light of the demographics. Dr. Sabo stated that the original document had specific enumeration of what types of students would be included in the university's growth. He asked if the number of commuter students, resident students, minorities, and SAT scores were considered in moving toward a more exclusive status while still reaching the desired enrollment increase. Dr. Hantz stated that the quality, in terms of those measures currently used of minority students that we have recruited, has been increasing dramatically, even faster than non- minority students. Dr. Sabo stated that the mix is very important and is a very controversial issue; UNCA was originally established to serve the western end of commuter students essentially in North Carolina. Dr. Wilson stated that he did not remember seeing anything in our enabling document that said that we were charged to serve that population explicitly, and that the western part of the state is well served by Appalachian, Western, and UNCA, which gives us more freedom than if the other two universities were not located in WNC. Dr. Sabo stated that the figures did not add up in the document. Dr. Hantz stated that it was necessary to put a period after the words "resident students" and delete "... in order to achieve a resident student population of 1200 by 1995." IDC #3 passed unanimously and became Senate Document #1891S. Dr. Rackham commended IDC for this document, stating that it was one of the first times that he had seen faculty take this kind of action at this university, and have the courage to say that we want to stabilize rather than grow. Chancellor Carroll stated that he also shared that sentiment. VII. Faculty Welfare and Development Committee Report Dr. Greenawalt reported for the Faculty Welfare and Development Committee. Dr. Greenawalt stated that FWDC had not met since the holidays but was working on some of the items mentioned in December. He recently received a document on parking which will be considered this week. VIII. Old Business Parking Garage Survey Dr. Sabo stated that at the last Senate meeting he had requested information on the parking garage survey and wanted to know what had happened to the survey. Dr. Friedenberg stated that Dr. Sabo was reminding the Student Government of this and they are not present today. She will notify the Student Government that Dr. Sabo is waiting for this information. Sidewalk Dr. Sabo stated that five years ago, Dr. Ann Weber headed a committee that reported to the Senate concerning a proposed sidewalk from the campus to Merrimon Ave., and that the Senate has the duty to notify someone to ask for progress. It was explained that this was investigated last year by Mr. Tom Byers and that the sidewalk would cost the university $250K. Dr. Sabo stated that passage of the bond issue that should not have been the case, and he wanted to find out why the sidewalk was not built. The city had money and sidewalks were placed in front of some City Council members' homes. Dr. Sabo stated that he would prepare a letter for the Executive Committee as it was an over sight of administrative action. IX. New Business Chancellor Carroll's Comments Dr. Carroll asked if the Senate had discussed the confusion concerning the Middle East forum to be held tomorrow. Because of the confusion, please announce that UNCA would not be having classes between 12:00 - 2:00 and to encourage everyone to attend the forum. NCAA Action Dr. Carroll discussed the recent NCAA action which specified certain requirements for institutions to remain in Division I. Implementation as originally proposed meant that UNCA could not be in Division I. It required a minimum number of scholarships, a minimum number of sports for men and women, and a minimum dollar amount, which was more than UNCA could raise in athletics. Chancellor Carroll reported that the action has been amended so that other types of financial aid besides athletic scholarships could be allowed to count. The policy does not go into effect until 1994. Faculty Meeting Dr. Carroll apologized for how cold the room was Monday at the faculty meeting. He explained to the Board of Trustees that the faculty had given him a warm reception in August and a cold one by January. X. Adjournment Dr. Friedenberg adjourned the meeting at 5:20 pm. Respectfully submitted by: Sandra Gravely Bruce Greenawalt