EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MINUTES

 

Present:          Beck, Fech, Flowers, Hoffman, Peterson, Rapkin, Scholz, Shea

 

Absent:           Alexander, Alloway, Bolin, Moeller, Stock

           

Date:               Wednesday, November 30, 2005

 

Location:        Academic Senate Office, 420 University Terrace

 

Note:   These are not verbatim minutes.  They are a summary of the discussions at the Executive Committee meeting as corrected by those participating.

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1.0       Call to Order

            Beck called the meeting to order at 3:02 p.m.

 

2.0       ASUN

            2.1       Student Absence Policy – Proposed Revisions

Sarah Fech, Communications Committee Chair of the Freshman Campus Leadership, stated that the reason for the proposed changes was due to the difficulty a Jewish student had in trying to get an excused absence from an instructor for the two Jewish high holidays which occur during the fall semester.   She noted that students of the Committee and ASUN felt that it is not fair for a student to be penalized for missing a class(es) to observe their religious holiday(s).

 

Sarah Fech stated that the proposed revisions would not allow students to abuse the policy but would give them the ability to observe their religious holidays.  She pointed out that a number of other institutions, such as the Universities of Colorado, Iowa, and Minnesota have policies to address this issue.  She stated that the students wanted to speak to the Senate Executive Committee first to get input on the proposed revision and to see if they should go forward with it.

 

Peterson pointed out that revisions need to be made to the campus Class Attendance policy and not the Senate’s Student Absence Policy.  He explained that the Senate’s policy applies to students needing to miss class due to participation in university sponsored events.  He pointed out that a religious holiday is not a university sponsored event. 

 

Peterson suggested that the language in the proposed revisions needs to be clarified.  He stated that as written it could cause difficulties.  He noted that his own personal experience has been to work with the student and he believes that most professors are willing to do this.  He stated that he does not believe an additional policy is needed right now. 

 

Sara Fech stated that the reason for the vagueness in the proposed policy is that the Committee wanted to provide a basis for students to make an appeal if they needed to.  Hoffman pointed out that students in a non-traditional religion would probably have to go through a more difficult defense in order to make an appeal. 

 

Peterson noted that the Class Attendance Policy addresses a death in the family or illness of a student.  Beck stated that Student Affairs will intervene if there is an issue concerning a student’s absence for extreme circumstances such as illness or death. 

 

Rapkin suggested that the students should consult with students of different faiths to identify specific religious holidays.  Shea stated that specific holidays should not be listed in the policy because the university would be discriminating against other religions that are not on the list. 

 

Beck suggested that the students draft the revisions to the Class Attendance Policy.  She stated they should check to see what channels the students must go through to change the policy.  She noted that the Academic Senate will probably have to approve the document. 

 

2.2       Reduction in Force Procedures

Beck reported that she met with members of the ASUN Executive Committee to review the proposed revisions to the procedures.  She noted that the students previously involved in the revisions did not transfer information to the current ASUN members. 

 

Zabih stated that his main concern with the procedures is defining the Academic Planning Committee’s power.  He pointed out that if the administration does not recognize the APC’s power than there is not much value in the procedures. 

 

Beck stated that ASUN and the Academic Senate need to approve revisions to the procedures but the Chancellor will be consulted for feedback before it goes forward for approval. 

 

Beck stated that she will meet with the students again to go through the procedures.  She noted that she will send them further information as well.

 

2.3       Course Syllabus Policy

Zabih stated that he thinks that only the Senate needs to approve a course syllabus policy because it is just a campus policy, not a university policy.  He pointed out that students need to know what the expectations are for courses particularly with the early withdrawal deadline.  He noted that if students know what the expectations are for a course they can more easily ascertain whether they should withdraw from it or not.  He stated that the ASUN has come up with a list of items that they would like to see included on each course syllabus.

 

Beck reported that in a recent email message SVCAA Couture suggested working on the syllabus policy next semester since we are almost at the end of this semester.  Peterson noted that Associate Vice Chancellor Wilson drafted a message that would be sent to faculty stating that the Board of Regents’ policy requires instructors to “inform students of the requirements, standards, objectives, and evaluation procedures at the beginning of each course.”  Peterson suggested that ASUN should send their list to the Executive Committee so they can discuss it. 

 

Peterson pointed out that it would be helpful if ASUN could provide some documentation to the Senate when the policy is presented.  He noted that information on how many cases there have been of students not receiving a course syllabus would be helpful. 

 

Hoffman pointed out that on his syllabus he has projects listed with general due dates but the syllabus is not very specific because of the nature of the course.  Zabih stated that a bigger issue is the quality of the syllabus.  He noted that some are so vague that a student has no idea of what is expected.  Hoffman questioned what people would define as quality of syllabus. 

 

Beck asked whether students feel that putting a syllabus on Blackboard is considered a written document.  Zabih stated that it does.

 

Shea stated that he does not understand why the faculty would object to having a syllabus policy.  He noted that it is in the interest of both the students and the faculty to have one.  

 

3.0       Announcements

            3.1       Letter from Dean Milligan

Beck reported that Dean Milligan sent a letter about the Committee’s invitation to meet with her.  Beck noted that Dean Milligan did not specifically state whether she would meet with the Committee and the letter discussed faculty governance in the College of Business Administration. 

 

3.2       Letter from Parking Advisory Committee

Beck stated that she received a letter from Professor McLeod, Chair of the Parking Advisory Committee, reminding the faculty about parking options for visitors to UNL.  The letter states that visitors can either park in metered parking areas or in visitor designated areas.  Visitors can obtain a visitor’s permit from Parking and Transit Services or through a departmental guest permit.  Further information can be found on the Parking and Transit Services website (http://parking.unl.edu).

 

Fech asked what faculty members are supposed to do if they need to come to campus to work but can’t park in their usual parking lot because of an athletic event.  Griffin stated that there are a few designated lots for these faculty members.  Hoffman pointed out that these designated lots often sell parking spaces to visitors and parking may not be available for the faculty to use. 

 

Beck stated that Dan Carpenter, Director of Parking and Transit Services, will be rescheduled to meet with the Committee in the spring semester. 

 

 

4.0       Approval of 11/16/05 Minutes

Peterson moved and Flowers seconded approval of the minutes as amended.  Motion approved.

 

5.0       Unfinished Business

            5.1       Statement to Iran Regarding Restricting Higher Education to Members of                                 the Baha’i Faith   

Beck stated that she spoke with Professor Lepard who made the request for the Senate to make a statement on this issue.  Beck reported that Professor Lepard showed her copies of email messages sent by Chancellor Perlman and Dean Willborn to the United Nations about their concern on this issue.  Beck suggested that she could send a letter under her signature only, voicing the same concern and disapproval of Iran’s actions. 

 

Fech questioned who would object to sending a statement.  Beck stated that one of the issues that could be raised is that if the Senate makes a statement on behalf of one religion would it do so for other religions. 

 

Fech asked if there are groups that are opposed to the Baha’i faith that would object to such a letter being sent.  Rapkin stated that certain Islamic groups are opposed.

 

Peterson stated that if the statement is made only by Beck that it should be okay because it is not being made on behalf of the Senate.

 

            5.2       Senate Survey

Flowers and Griffin noted that the survey will be closed on November 30th.    Flowers stated that 492 surveys have been completed.  The Committee agreed to discuss the preliminary findings with the Chancellor next week.

 

5.3       Collective Bargaining Information

Fech reported that he has received questions about this from two different people and he wondered whether the Senate would be presenting more information on collective bargaining. 

 

Peterson stated that the goal last year was to set up a video conference with faculty members from Rutgers University and the University of Delaware, both land grant, AAU institutions that are unionized but the differences in the schedules of the universities created conflicts.  Peterson stated that he informed the Senate of the situation and stated that unless there was more desire on the part of the faculty for further information no presentation will be made.  He stated that to date he has not heard of any interest.  Shea reported that he has not heard any high level of interest in pursing this matter. 

 

Rapkin suggested that the faculty could be surveyed to see if they want a presentation made on collective bargaining.

 

 

 

6.0       New Business

6.1       Co-sponsored Email Message to the Faculty Regarding Expectations on            Course Syllabus and the 15th Week Policy

Beck stated that she has received an email message from Associate Vice Chancellor Wilson concerning a draft message he wrote informing faculty members that the 15th Week Policy was in effect this semester.  Beck stated that the idea is to send the message to all faculty members under the signature of herself, SVCAA Couture, and VC Owens.

 

Peterson pointed out that the Executive Committee was informed that the policy would not go into effect this semester because the Fall Schedule of Classes had already been printed when the Senate approved the 15th Week Policy.  Griffin noted that Dr. Hawkey, Director of Registration and Records, stated in the April 20, 2005 meeting that he would not recommend the Final Exam and 15th Week policies be put into effect because of the printing of the fall schedule.  Griffin pointed out that it was stated twice more in Executive Committee meetings and once at the September 4th Senate meeting that the 15th Week and Final Exam policies would not go into effect until the Spring semester.

 

The Committee agreed that Beck should advise SVCAA Couture, VC Owens, and Associate VC Wilson that the policies should not go into effect until the spring semester since they are not printed in the Fall Schedule of Classes.  The Committee pointed out that to try to enforce the policy at this late a date in the semester would cause confusion.

 

The Committee agreed that towards the end of the semester a reminder should be sent to all faculty members telling them that the policies will go into effect beginning with the spring 2006 semester.  The policies are included in the Spring Schedule of Classes.

           

The meeting was adjourned at 4:37 p.m.  The next meeting of the Executive Committee will be on Wednesday, December 7th at 3:00 pm.  The meeting will be held in 201 Canfield Administration Building.  The minutes are respectfully submitted by Karen Griffin, Coordinator and Pat Shea, Secretary.