EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MINUTES

Present:          Alloway, Beck, Bradford, Flowers, Ledder, Moeller, Stock, Zimmers

Absent:           Alexander, Bolin, Hachtmann, Rapkin, Scholz

Date:               Wednesday, September 6, 2006       

Location:        201 Canfield Administration Building

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

______________________________________________________________________   

1.0       Call to Order

            Moeller called the meeting to order at 3:05 p.m.

2.0       Chancellor Perlman

            2.1       Spending Lid and Effects on the University

Moeller stated that a legislative bill to place a lid on government spending will be on the ballot in November.  She noted that an attempt to put a spending lid in place was attempted a number of years ago and failed.  She asked what the impact would be if the bill was approved.

Chancellor Perlman stated that Varner Hall has done a serious study on the impacts of a spending lid.  He noted that Varner Hall estimated that if the lid would have been in effect the last ten years, the University budget could be reduced by approximately $134 million or the amount it would take to run the city campus of UNL.  He pointed out that, depending on how the bill is interpreted, it could also place a lid on tuition rates which would create an even greater impact on the budget of the University.  He stated that the spending lid in Colorado has had devastating effects on Colorado State University.  He noted that Colorado suspended the spending lid for five years because of the disastrous effect it was having.  He pointed out that the spending lid is a black cloud on the horizon that needs to be carefully watched. 

2.2       Public Relations on the Work of the Faculty

Moeller reported that comments have been made that the faculty is doing a lot of good work but news of this work is not being conveyed to the public.  She stated that the intent is to inform the greater public about the good work being done at UNL that impacts the state, nation and world.  She cited as an example the work being done in the College of Engineering on developing equipment to detect land mines in Iraq. 

Chancellor Perlman stated that he believes that the campus has a creative and effective campaign to inform the public.  He pointed out that the campaign may not be noticed by the faculty but the campaign appears to be working because the climate towards the University by the public seems to be changing in a positive direction.  He noted that people in the community that he has talked to may not remember all of the details but they are aware that UNL has received over $100 million in research grants and they know about the Diocles Laser. 

Moeller stated that the Committee was thinking of public relations in terms of what has direct impact on the people of Nebraska.  Chancellor Perlman stated that we could try to resurrect the Town and Gown series but he thinks people are so busy these days that the series may not be well attended. 

Bradford stated that he did not think the public relations image was a problem with the legislature but it appears to be a problem with the general public.  He asked if there is any way to communicate better with the general population.  Chancellor Perlman stated that he believes this is being done already.  He noted that table tents about the University and faculty members are in fast food restaurants.  He pointed out that the University is not just relying on slick brochures that go out to donors or future students. 

Chancellor Perlman stated that in part it depends on how connected people are with the University.  He noted that in the western part of the state the people are well connected to the University and they realize how important the University is to them.  He pointed out that there has been a lot of good press in both the Lincoln Journal Star and the Omaha World Herald in the past four weeks. 

Alloway asked how we make a case for the academic community to the general public.  Ledder noted that there are two things that need to be considered.  The first is that people do not necessarily connect expenditures with services and the second is that some people do not take an interest in things that do not personally affect them.  Chancellor Perlman stated that there has been some discussion about creating an impact statement.  He noted that he is not enamored with general financial impact statements because he doesn’t think they resonate with the public.  He stated that his administration is exploring whether UNL can do impact studies that the general public will understand.  An example is informing the public of the percentage of school teachers, lawyers, judges, and business people who are educated at the University. 

Alloway asked if there is something that the Senate can do to help.  Chancellor Perlman encouraged the faculty to think of things from their own particular settings.  He stated that material needs to be collected that shows the impact of the University but collecting all of this material can be difficult.  He noted that the trick is in knowing all that is happening here because the University is a very large and complex organization.  He stated that anyone with ideas or suggestions should contact either himself or the Office of University Communications.

2.3       Academic Dishonesty Grade

Moeller noted that the campus has purchased the Safe Assignment software program which will allow students to check their papers to see if they have plagiarized.  The program can also be used by faculty members to check if students committed plagiarism in their papers.  She noted that there have been an increasing number of cases of academic dishonesty on campus yet there is no way of tracking whether a student has been guilty of academic dishonesty.  She reported that at the University of Maryland a student found guilty of academic dishonesty receives a grade of “XF” which remains on their record for two years after which time it can be removed.  She stated that the Executive Committee is thinking of initiating something similar here.  She stated that the Committee will work with Dr. Hecker, Director of Student Judicial Affairs, and with ASUN on this. 

Chancellor Perlman stated that he thought this was a good idea.  He pointed out that the procedure used to give this grade needs to be fair. 

Moeller stated that she will probably appoint a task force to look into the matter further.

Chancellor Perlman stated that on a somewhat related matter the recent incident with the cheerleader may embroil us about how much the University should investigate a student’s background before they are admitted.  He noted that doing these kinds of investigations could be very expensive and may be unfair.  Alloway pointed out that the Daily Nebraskan addressed this in a recent article.  He noted that this is a murky area.  Chancellor Perlman agreed and stated that each case is different as well. 

2.4       Fall Enrollment Figures

Chancellor Perlman stated that UNL did very well this year in terms of enrollment.  He reported that the freshmen count is up 8% from last year and total overall enrollment is up 2%.  He pointed out that the ACT scores are the highest they have ever been for new students. 

Chancellor Perlman reported that the number of minority students has increased as well and domestic minority students increased to 10.8% for the freshmen class.  He noted that enrollment for minority students across the boards has increased.  He pointed out that people are doing a good job of recruiting and faculty members are being much more cooperative about engagement.  He noted that parents are saying that they see UNL as a very friendly place and UNL outshines many other institutions in terms of on campus visits. 

Bradford asked whether non freshmen classes are holding even.  Chancellor Perlman noted that we still have a small junior class.  Bradford asked if a lot of students in the upper classes are leaving.  Chancellor Perlman reported that the retention rate is not as good for upper classmen.  He noted that retention rates between the freshmen and sophomore years are up to approximately 83% retention.  He noted that graduation rates have increased by 16% over the past decade.

Chancellor Perlman stated that other interesting statistics are that students who take at least 12 credit hours each fall semester since being a freshman have a graduation rate of 91%.  However, 40% of our students either stop out temporarily or drop to part-time status at some point in their career and this hampers our graduation rate.  He pointed out that we need to determine why the students are doing this.  He stated that he suspects it is for financial reasons.  He reported that those students who qualify for federal financial aid at UNL have a higher graduation rate than our peers although the average financial aid amount that our students receive is lower than our peers. 

Moeller noted that some universities are reducing the amount of scholarship money to each student but increasing the number of available scholarships to attract more students.  Chancellor Perlman stated that scholarship programs were looked at last year and there is better coordination of the scholarships this year. 

Moeller stated that people seem to be more concerned where people received their graduate degree rather than their undergraduate degree.  She pointed out that the role of undergraduate education is not addressed here.  Ledder stated that the U.S. World and News Report on universities do not evaluate how many office hours faculty members offer at the universities.  He noted that students going to some of the top rated colleges may in fact have limited interaction with faculty members.  Chancellor Perlman stated that the National Engagement Study looks at a number of criteria when rating universities, among them student interactions with faculty members.  He noted that UNL fares well in the National Engagement Study and the Board of Regents will probably use some of these scores in the university’s strategic framework. 

2.5       Funds for Faculty Salaries

Bradford asked if the campus has received the additional funds to bring some of the faculty salaries up to the mid point of their peers.  Chancellor Perlman stated that the campus has received the money although it has not been distributed yet to the colleges.  He noted that the Deans will be notified soon and salary increases will be retroactive to the beginning of the fiscal year.  He pointed out that the amount received is small relative to what is needed.  He stated that the raises will be based on merit and he is looking at those units that are the furthest behind their peers.  He noted that the increases will go to tenured and tenure track faculty members only.

Bradford asked how the allocation was split between UNMC and UNL.  Chancellor Perlman stated that it went to the two campuses.

3.0       Announcements

            3.1       Institutional Objectives Survey

Moeller reported that the survey on institutional objectives will be sent to the faculty this week.  This survey is aimed at enhancing awareness of the institutional objectives, informing the faculty about the progress of the curricular reform at UNL, secure faculty input and opinion and to stimulate discussion among the faculty about general education and is impact on curriculum at UNL. 

4.0       Approval of 8/30/06 Minutes

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

5.0       Unfinished Business

5.1       Senate Meeting

Moeller discussed the PowerPoint presentation she is planning to show at the Senate meeting.  She noted that the Senators will be asked to form groups to discuss how a good curriculum impacts the faculty.  The Committee discussed what guidelines can be given to the Senators as they break into groups to discuss general education. 

5.2       Commencement Committee

Moeller stated that she was contacted by faculty members of the Commencement Committee who had concerns over the proposed merger of the committee with the Honorary Degrees and Honors Convocations Committees.   She stated that the members of the committee did not see the proposed syllabus and thought that the committee was going to be eliminated.  She pointed out that most of the members on the committee enjoy working on it.  Moeller stated that a copy of the proposed syllabus was sent to the committee for them to review.

Bradford pointed out that faculty members are needed on many different committees and the situation has to be looked at globally.  He stated that people could be placed on other committees where faculty members are needed.  Beck noted that the Commencement Committee does not make any policy decisions and therefore faculty input is not needed.  She asked why there should be a committee of faculty members if faculty input is not needed.  She noted that the staff members on the committee do the work of preparing for commencement.  Moeller pointed out that the faculty members of the committee do make a physical presence at commencement. 

Griffin stated that once the committee sees the proposed syllabus they will realize that the committee is not being eliminated.  Ledder stated that the members could serve on the combined committees and have greater responsibilities.

6.0       New Business

            6.1       Draft Resolution on Institutional Objectives

Ledder presented a draft proposal for the Senate to endorse the institutional objectives.  He stated that he can envision the faculty putting the institutional objectives into their syllabus for freshmen classes and could explain to students how the course fits into the objectives.  He stated that it is important for the faculty to whatever it can to show students what they will gain by the general education program.  The Committee reviewed and revised the motion.

6.2       Emeriti Association

Beck stated that in a conversation with the Emeriti Association last semester, they stated that they would like to give a report to the Senate at a future meeting.  She noted that the Association is considering conducting exit interviews with people who are retiring. 

The meeting was adjourned at 4:37 p.m.  The next meeting of the Executive Committee will be on Wednesday, September 13^th at 3:00 pm.  The meeting will be held in the Academic Senate Office, 420 University Terrace.  The minutes are respectfully submitted by Karen Griffin, Coordinator and Rick Alloway, Secretary.