EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MINUTES

 

Present:          Alexander, Alloway, Beck, Bradford, Flowers, Hachtmann, Ledder, Moeller, Rapkin, Stock, Zimmers

 

Absent:           Bolin, Scholz

           

Date:               Wednesday, May 17, 2006

 

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

            Moeller called the meeting to order at 2:30 p.m.

 

2.0       Announcements

            2.1       UNL Faculty Representative to the University-wide Benefits Committee

Moeller reported that Professor Hope, Psychology, has been appointed to the University-wide Benefits Committee by the Chancellor.        

 

3.0       Approval of 5/3/06 Minutes

Alloway moved and Alexander seconded approval of the minutes as amended.  Motion approved.

 

4.0       Unfinished Business

            4.1       Accreditation Report Chapters

The Committee reviewed the chapters of the self-study report for accreditation.  Comments and suggestions on each of the chapters were forwarded to Professor O’Hanlon, chair of the accreditation self-study. 

 

            4.2       Status of Academic Senate Changes

Moeller reported that there is some discrepancy on whether the academic assembly needs to vote on the changes to the Senate structure or whether it is sufficient for the Senate to approve the changes.  She stated that the discrepancy is being looked into.  She pointed out that both ASUN and the Board of Regents need to approve the changes because they will change the UNL Bylaws.

 

4.3       Surveying the Faculty on Institutional Objectives

Moeller noted that a suggestion was made at the last meeting to survey the faculty members on the institutional objectives developed by the General Education Revision Committee.  She suggested that the Executive Committee should form an ad hoc committee to work on creating the survey.  Ledders, Alloway, and Flowers agreed to serve on the ad hoc committee. 

 

The Committee felt that September would be a good time to initiate the survey.  Rapkin suggested that a summary outlining the reason and process for changing the general education program should be sent out before the survey to help give faculty members some background knowledge. 

 

Ledder pointed out that the survey will help to determine if there is a consensus of approval for the institutional objectives.  He noted that getting a consensus of approval for the institutional objectives will be the easy part of the revision process. 

 

The Committee agreed to meet with Professor Janovy, chair of the General Education Revision Committee, to discuss the survey.

 

4.4       UNL Honor Code

Moeller reported that she met with VC Griesen and they discussed the University Judicial Board.  She noted that VC Griesen believes that there may be some discussions about creating an honor code.  Flowers pointed out that the University does have a student code of conduct which may cover the honor code. 

 

Ledder stated that there should be a document that states acceptable and unacceptable behavior and each student would sign the document when they begin school.  He noted that the main virtue of such a document is that it would get the message out to students about what are acceptable and unacceptable actions. 

 

Moeller stated that the Committee should meet with ASUN about creating an honor code.  Beck suggested the Committee should also meet with Professor King, chair of the Teaching Council, and Dr. Hecker, Director of Students Affairs, since they are both working on the issue of academic dishonesty.

 

5.0       New Business

5.1       Email Message from Professor Chouinard

Moeller reported that she received an inquiry from Professor Chouinard, Mathematics, regarding the relationship between the administration and the Academic Senate.  Citing the name change and the lack of candidates for committee appointments and Senate positions, he expressed concern regarding what he perceived as an adversarial relationship between the Administration and the Academic Senate.   Bradford stated that people may decide not to run for election because they have confidence in the candidates who are on the ballot.  He noted that this was the case for him when Moeller ran for President- Elect.

 

Alloway recalled discussions from previous Senate meetings about the effect of apportionment of duties on some faculty members’ willingness to serve on campus organizations; faculty with a small apportionment for service may choose to focus their time and efforts on those activities that more directly relate to their promotion and tenure. Griffin noted that many faculty members feel they do not have the time to do service work because of the pressure they are under to conduct research and teach. 

 

Moeller stated that she believes that she resolved the issue with Professor Chouinard and assured him that the Senate is not here to be in an adversarial position with the administration.  She pointed out that Professor Chouinard raised some good issues and she would rather that he and anyone else feel free to discuss any issues that they may have with the Senate.   

 

            5.2       Evaluation of the Senate Coordinator

Moeller stated that the evaluation form for the Senate Coordinator will be sent out to the former Executive Committee members as well as the current members.  She asked that all forms be sent back to Secretary Alloway so he can tabulate the results.  Beck, as Past President, will write the evaluation based on the information provided on the forms.

 

            5.3       Breakfast of Champions

Beck reported that she attended the Breakfast of Champions event that is conducted by the University and the Athletics Department.  She stated that it was a huge event which is done to honor 8th grade students who excel in both athletics and academics.  She stated that it was very well attended.  Ledder pointed out that it would be nice if they held such an event for students who excel in academics.

 

5.4       Alleged Violations of 15th Week Policy

Alloway noted that questions have been raised about alleged violations of the policy and asked what the Senate’s role and response should be.  He reported hearing a complaint from a student about an instructor who announced in class on Monday of the 15th week that he had decided to give a final exam, and that the exam would be given on Friday of the 15th week.  The timing of both the announcement and the exam would appear to be in violation of the 15th Week policy.  The committee also discussed reports of a final that was given on Friday afternoon of finals week after the time when finals were to have been completed.  Moeller stated that she is looking into the violations and will report back to the committee.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 4:34 p.m.  The next meeting of the Executive Committee will be on Wednesday, May 31, at 2:30 pm.  The meeting will be held in 201 Canfield Administration Building.  The minutes are respectfully submitted by Karen Griffin, Coordinator and Rick Alloway, Secretary.