Minutes of the University Senate Meeting, January 14, 2009

 

 

Present: C. Bengtson, J. Bonine, C. Cherry, L-S Chou, R. Colby, A. Emami, D. Falk, P. Gilkey, M. Henney, E. Herman, J. Hunter, J. Hurwit, M. Jaeger, C. Jones, M. Latteri, K. Lenn, S. Liebskind, H. Lin, C. McNelly, T. Minner, C. V. Moore, L.S. Morales, S. Paul, E. Peterson, S. Plummer, N. Rajabzadeh, M. Redford, R. Rejaie, L. Stephen, T. Toadvine, N. Tublitz, P. van Donkelaar, L. Vanderburgh, P. Walker

 

Excused: L. Forrest, C. Gray, L. Middlebrook, M. Myagkov, D. Olson, J. Piger,

 

Absent: C. Ellis, S. Giacomelli, R. Illig, D. Levin, D. Miller, J. Rowell, A. Taylor

 

 

CALL TO ORDER

 

The regular meeting of the University Senate was called to order by Senate President Paul van Donkelaar at 3:05 p.m. in room 123 Pacific.

 

 

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

 

Minutes of the December 3, 2008 meeting were approved as distributed.

 

 

STATE OF THE UNIVERSITY

 

Remarks from University President Dave Frohnmayer. President Frohnmayer began his remarks by making several comments regarding his recent attendance at the opening of legislative session. He said that it was no secret that the stateÕs budget forecasts are down; February is likely to be worse, but the governor indicated he will have his same priorities (special emphasis on education as much as the current poor financial circumstances will permit) when he submits a revised budget. Nevertheless, the president said that the university needs to be prepared for difficult times. Applications for admissions are 20% above last yearÕs record level, and as a consequence, that gives the university some tuition flexibility; so he feels the university will be more robust than many doomsayers might feel.

 

The president commented on his meeting with the Leadership Council that focused on the developing Academic Plan and what it means to be a residential university. The meeting provided an opportunity to reflect on the universityÕs use of spaces and how those play into education of our students. In taking the senators on a Òvirtual walkÓ around campus, the president highlighted changes just in the past 12 years or so to buildings, structures, and facilities which enhance the campus educational and residential experience for students. These improvements included: the recent renovations to Robinson theatre (untouched previous to 1949), remodeling of McKenzie Hall, the Lillis Business Complex, the addition to the Museum of Art (doubling its size), the libraryÕs access to nearly 10 million volumes, the new College of Education building, the new addition to the School of Music and Dance, Hayward Field renovations, the residential Living and Learning Center buildings, the Law School building, the addition to the Museum of Natural and Cultural History, the Native American Longhouse, the doubling in size of the Student Health Center, the underground Lokay Laboratories, and the under construction Academic Learning Center, and the Alumni Center. In addition, ground is about to be broken for a new basketball arena, freeing the Mac Court site for academic use; and a new residential dormitory will soon be on the drafting board. In the near future, renovations to Allen Hall and AAA are anticipated.

 

The president concluded his remarks noting that although he identified bricks and mortar improvements, what is important are activities that take place within them – the development of faculty and students. And that is the basis on which the university will continue its planning efforts.

 

Updates on the Academic Plan and graduation 2010 scheduling, and football scheduling. Professor Lisa Freinkel, English, spoke about progress on the Academic Plan in place of Provost Bean, who was at a trustees meeting in Portland. Ms. Freinkel reported that a draft Academic Plan (minus the Òbig ideasÓ section) was prepared to share with the presidential search committee, trustees, and other supporters. Essentially, using information gleaned from the blogging efforts of many faculty and staff, the draft document links the UOÕs goals with strategies to realize those goals. The draft will have some revisions after a feedback period, then the next stage will be to link the big ideas into actual proposals. Ms. Freinkel noted that the work on the big ideas needs to be in hand by April so that strategic decisions concerning funding can be made. A request for proposals is posted now on the Academic Plan blog page, with the criteria and guidelines for proposal submission. After proposals are submitted, there will be some form of voting on the proposals, and lastly the provost will have a committee to recommend some proposals for the first phase of funding.

 

During a brief questioning period, it was noted that the criteria for proposals will be available (and posted) very soon, students will be meeting with the provost to talk about how the Academic Plan will impact them, and that in formulating a proposal, faculty should include a 3-year funding model to get the proposal started.

 

Senate President van Donkelaar next spoke about several decisions made recently that involved academics and athletics, most notable the timing conflicts of the NCAA National Track and Field Championships to be held at Hayward Field in late spring 2010 during the same weekend as graduation. He commented that after widespread discussion, moving commencement 2010 to the end of dead week became the best alternative. Another issue was the rescheduling of the Civil War football game to the Thursday night of dead week as part of a substantial televised college football games package ($1.5 million) for fall 2009. The general consensus of both the Intercollegiate Athletics Committee (IAC) and the Faculty Advisory Council (FAC) was that this was a reasonable schedule change. President van Donkelaar also alluded to the notion that in collegiate athletics, oftentimes decisions have to be made quickly to take advantage of opportunities as they arise, which was the case in the football game rescheduling circumstance. The president said, too, that it would be nice to have some real data about the impact on students regarding these changes.

 

During a discussion period, it was clarified that the FAC is a confidential advisory group and the IAC is not confidential. There was some contention that the entire faculty should have been surveyed concerning the moving of commencement to a week earlier date. Similarly, there was concern about the frequency with which other football games might be scheduled in December the weekend before final exams. President Frohnmayer noted that there was some national talk of having a ÒplayoffÓ system leading up to the national football championship which would mean games well into December; he noted that a number of Division I institutions currently have football games in December. Senator Nathan Tublitz, biology, commented that these event changes relate to senate legislation US06/07-12 that requires that the academic needs of the students have top priority, and that such scheduling changes would be made only in exceptional circumstances. He wondered what the circumstances would be for academics to have top priority since it appears that whenever these scheduling conflicts arise, the decision supports the athletics department. President Frohnmayer responded that the senate has strongly emphasized the need for athletics to be self-sufficient, which it is, unlike most other Division I institutions. Occasionally, revenue enhancement opportunities such as the game rescheduling present themselves and are a part of the means to stay financially self-sufficient. Senate President van Donkelaar commented that he contacted his counterpart at OSU before the term break and the OSU senate president was not aware of the possible game rescheduling.

 

To a further complaint from Senator Tublitz that the athletics budget is growing disproportionately faster than the academics budget, and thus the university should stop spending on athletics and put academics first, President Frohnmayer clarified that the athletics budget and general academic budget are not fungible in any way – the budgets are not transferable. He commented that even if athletics were eliminated, the dollars saved do not translate into dollars for academics; the budgets do not work that way. Senate President van Donkelaar brought the discussion to a close by reiterating his desire to have some data collected regarding how these scheduling changes affect students so that there will be some substantive information to help make such decisions in the future.

 

Conflict of Interest/Conflict of Commitment (COI/COC) update. Senate Vice President Peter Gilkey, chair of the senate ad hoc COI/COC committee, reported that the committee will meet throughout the term and that a town hall meeting would be held January 21, 2009 on the subject. The meeting affords an opportunity for faculty and staff to voice opinions about the proposed conflict declaration forms, and information gleaned from the meeting will be digested by the committee as it prepares to make its recommendation to the senate in March. Mr. Gilkey noted that all comments on the topic sent to the committee will be posted (with the writerÕs permission) on the committeeÕs web page to encourage dialogue.

 

During a brief question period, Mr. Huaxin Lin, mathematics, commented that the conflict of interest form was far too long and onerous, and very difficult to interpret whether ÒtypicalÓ academic activities constituted a conflict of some kind. He suggested the form needs to be shorter and simpler; similarly, he opined that the Ò1 day in 7Ó or Ò1 day in 5Ó concept as an acceptable commitment to other activities is vague and difficult to discern. Mr. Gilkey invited Mr. Lin to share these comments with others at the town hall meeting.

 

Presidential Search Update. Senate President Donkelaar who serves on the presidential search committee indicated the committee members will be meeting in person with the candidates on the long Òshort listÓ in a few weeks. The goal of those meetings and the outcome of those meetings is that a small group of finalists will arise to the top of the list. Those top candidates will be suggested to the chancellor and the State Board of Higher Education to make a final decision, and then at least one of those candidates will come to the campus for a visit. The chancellor will invite at least one and potentially more finalists for campus visits -- the goal is five people. President van Donkelaar said that the chancellor has agreed to come to the next two senate meetings to give his update on the search progress.

 

Senator Tublitz asked if there was any response to the request to the chancellor to release the names and application materials of the top finalists. President van Donkelaar replied that the senateÕs ad hoc president assessment committee has been finalized. He also said that the chancellor denied the request to make the finalistsÕ files available, but said the chancellor would encourage the final candidates to reveal their names. The chancellor is interest in pursuing opening the search at the final stages, but that it is the candidatesÕ decision (they applied knowing that the search would be confidential). The chancellor wants to meet with senate ad hoc assessment committee and will give them his perspective on the search process. The goal of the assessment committee is to meet with candidate(s) who come to campus and provide their assessment to the state board and chancellor.

 

 

REPORTS

 

Ad Hoc Open Source Scholarly Communication Committee. Mr. Dev Sinha, mathematics, reported on the work of the committee, saying that as textbooks get more and more expensive the committee is interested in initiating a campus discussion about ways to mitigate the ever-increasing expense of studentsÕ textbooks. He said that faculty can be quite creative in addressing the textbook cost issue (for example, ÒbankingÓ older homework problems for studentsÕ use). The committee hopes to engage the faculty in a creative discussion to combat escalating textbook costs. Culminating in the report are six recommendations: (1) be mindful of textbooks costs (encourage use of Òopen textbooksÓ available on-line); (2) encourage reuse of textbooks; (3) encourage use of lecture notes and supplemental materials on-line; (4) find better venues for faculty to share teaching materials, in particular, question ÒbanksÓ; (5) negotiate regularly with publishers; and (6) encourage production of open textbooks. Mr. Sinha encouraged everyone to read the committeeÕs report and for the time being to think about how to save money for students now, while the committee will continue to develop and expand the ideas generated so far, including perhaps starting a working group to look at creating open source texts. (See http://www.uoregon.edu/~uosenate/dirsen089/TextbookWhitePaper.pdf for the full report.)

 

Senior Vice Provost Russ Tomlin supported the idea of exploring a means by which the open source textbook idea can get off the ground. He said he would look into starting a small group to create a sustainable business model to provide some incentive and return for faculty to engage in this type of activity. Mr. Gilkey then moved to endorse and accept the report of the committee; the motion passed unanimously.

 

Interinstitutional Faculty Senate (IFS) update. IFS representative Peter Gilkey reported that he attended the recent State Board of Higher EducationÕs January retreat. He noted that the state board is moving toward a business model for the board that will be like the board of directors for a corporation. For example, the chancellor is the CEO of the corporation, the university presidents are officers of OUS and campus CEOÕs who will report to the chancellor. Mr. Gilkey noted that this model is somewhat a different model than what the state board has been in recent years. The suggested new model will not affect the current search for the UO university president underway, but in future presidential searches the chancellor will appoint the new president with the choice to be ratified by the board.

 

On the financial front, Mr. Gilkey noted that the OUS is in for difficult times ahead, but just how difficult is not yet known. It is unlikely there will be any real news until February, and it will be the April revenue forecast that will probably prompt serious budgeting work. Lastly, Mr. Gilkey said starting July 2009, the state board will meet less often, once every two months instead of every month. The reduced meeting plan fits in with the boardÕs movement to a corporate governing body model.

 

During a question period, Mr. Gilkey explained that for a number of years the state board has been micro-managing the university system. Many board members have recognized it is their job to set broad policy and then to leave it up to the chancellor and the university presidents to execute that policy. The sense is that the board members are very busy people, and meeting once a month is difficult. Historically, in 2004 the governor essentially fired the State Board of Higher Education and then reconstituted it. That reconstituted board became very involved in management matters, and it appears now they are moving towards a more traditional state board role.

 

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE FLOOR

 

Plans for a statutory faculty meeting. Senate President van Donkelaar reported that he is meeting with every school or college academic unit either individually, in faculty meetings, or with the department heads and deans for executive meetings. He is in the midst of naming a small committee to draft a document for faculty governance. The goal is have a draft by March posted for comments in much the same way as that used for the Academic Plan comments and the COI/COC.

 

 

NEW BUSINESS

 

The Senate moved to Executive Session at 4:40 p. m. to discuss a recommendation from the Distinguished Service Award Committee.

 

 

ADJOURNMENT

 

The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m. at the conclusion of the Executive Session.

 

 

Gwen Steigelman

Secretary of the Faculty


Web page spun on 09 February 2009 by Peter B Gilkey 202 Deady Hall, Department of Mathematics at the University of Oregon, Eugene OR 97403-1222, U.S.A. Phone 1-541-346-4717 Email:peter.gilkey.cc.67@aya.yale.edu of Deady Spider Enterprises