UNL ACADEMIC SENATE MEETING MINUTES

East Campus Student Union Great Plains Room

September 9, 1997

Presidents James Ford, Patricia Kennedy, and Peter Bleed Presiding

1.0 Call to Order

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

2.0 Announcements

2.1 President Ford announced that the Executive Committee meetings were open to anyone who was interested in attending.

2.2 President Ford reported on the upcoming move of the Senate office to the TKE house on North 17^th Street. He indicated that the Executive Committee was still negotiating the space allocated for the office.

3.0 Chancellor Moeser

3.1 Admissions to UNL

Chancellor Moeser reported that the quality of students admitted for this academic year was higher than previous years. However, he did indicate that the enrollment was down by 1100 students: 500 new freshmen, 346 graduate students and 140 transfer students. Chancellor Moeser reported that UNL had moved into the second tier rank which includes schools such as Iowa and Kansas. He said that this would allow UNL to be more competitive in recruiting top students in these states. Of the new students, 347 received a score of 30 or better on their ACT tests. This represented a 29% increase. Chancellor Moeser also reported that last year, 18 new students who were National Merit Scholars, selected UNL as their first choice while this year, 36 new students who were National Merit Scholars choose UNL as their first choice. Chancellor Moeser reported that the 3100 new students had increased mean ACT scores from 23 last year to 24.26 this year. As a result of these high quality students, Chancellor Moeser called upon faculty to challenge these students and to provide them with an intellectually stimulating environment.

8.2 Technology Development Center

Chancellor Moeser reported the Technology Development Center had an occupancy rate of 82% with six companies in place. The Center will maintain five technical writers on staff to assist with research grants.

8.3 Loss of Tuition

When asked about the loss of tuition due to decreased enrollment, Chancellor Moeser stated that Central Administration had indicated that they were to help UNL financially. However, Chancellor Moeser stated that if there was a budget shortfall they may have to review budgets for temporary instruction and other areas.

8.4 Human Resources Policy Changes and Benefits

Chancellor Moeser was asked by Hallbeck, Engineering, if the changes in the Human Resources policies were reviewed by the Employee Benefits Committee. The Chancellor stated that he did not know whether the committee had been involved in any of the recent changes.

When asked by Past-President Bleed about the Central Administration Task Force on Benefits, Chancellor Moeser stated that the salary issue was a more serious concern for UNL faculty. He reported that his office was developing a set of priorities to present to the Board of Regents regarding this matter.

8.5 Gender and Equity Concerns

Roysircar Sodowsky, Educational Psychology, asked the Chancellor about the recent Gender and Equity task force report. Chancellor Moeser reported that this was an excellent report which was presented to the Board of Regents on Friday, September 5^th. He wanted to implement the suggestions made in this report and stated he will be assigning a single person to facilitate the recommendation of this report. Chancellor Moeser did state that the report discussed perception and reality. The perception was that women have a harder time achieving promotion and tenure however, he stated that the data have indicated otherwise. Chancellor Moeser said he felt the perception was a serious problem which needed to be addressed. He said only one of five Vice Chancellors is a female and there was only one female Dean on campus, but with two Dean positions open, we have an opportunity to consider females and minorities. Chancellor Moeser said Senior Vice Chancellor Edwards was going to be looking at all associate female professors to see if they can be promoted to full professors at accelerated rates.

8.6 Recruitment of Minority Faculty

Scheideler, Animal Science, asked how departments would be able to get access to the funds slated for recruiting minorities. Chancellor Moeser stated that Vice Chancellor Edwards will be negotiating with the Deans to allocate these funds. This fund would be used to bridge the gap which may exist in hiring a minority person. Scheideler stated that many departments were able to recruit only at the assistant level to which Chancellor Moeser replied that while this may be good for many departments, there were some cases which required associate or full professors and these would need to be looked at on a case-by-case basis.

4.0 Approval of 4/4/97 Minutes (Secretary Albrecht)

Diffendal moved for approval. Seconded by Lingren. Minutes approved.

5.0 Committee Reports

5.1 Commencement Committee Report

Chairperson Mering stated no changes to report except that beginning with the December commencement, the faculty president will open the ceremony and the Nebraska song will end the ceremony. A written report was provided.

5.2 Executive Committee Summer Report

President Ford referred to the handout given to the Senate of the Executive Committee's activities during the summer months.

6.0 Unfinished Business

6.1 Status of Post Tenure Review (Professor Latta)

Latta discussed the history of the Post Tenure Review document and indicated that the Ad Hoc Committee on Post Tenure Review had sent to Vice Chancellor Edwards a list of suggested changes. At this point, the Committee was waiting to receive a reply from the Vice Chancellor. The point was raised that a motion was standing from the last Academic Senate meeting which needed to be acted upon. Latta moved to table the proposed post-tenure review motion. Motion seconded by Jensen. Motion passed.

6.2 Faculty Handbook

Diffendal, Conservation and Survey Division, asked if the faculty handbook was still available. The handbook is available through the internet at web site:

http://www.unl.edu/unlhr/hrhomepage.html.

7.0 New Business

7.1 Faculty Role in University Planning

To facilitate faculty being involved in University planning, President Ford announced the Academic Senate would break up into discussion groups to discuss various topics including the goals and watch list provided by the Academic Senate Executive Committee.

Topics of discussion were:

Concern on hiring decisions: who is involved, how is the decision weighted between teaching, service and research.

The faculty believe that grade inflation is a component to the academic climate and they would like to combat this problem. The faculty questioned the possible connection between grades and teaching evaluations.

Faculty had concerns regarding benefits and salaries in the future. Running the University as a business was a cause of discomfort in the academic climate.

Lack of faculty input in the planning of the University was a repeated concern voiced by the faculty. Policies appear to have been made without faculty, staff and student input. An example was given of a mandatory injury prevention class required for any employee (faculty, staff, student) with classes only being offered at 1:30 on Thursdays.

Faculty wanted to be aware of up coming issues. The faculty need to have more input into decisions regarding the University. There was a general sense of faculty apathy. Some faculty view the Academic Senate as being powerless.

Faculty must make a case for new hires yet the same is not true for administrative positions. An example given was the reallocation process. Most faculty only heard about it and few had any real participation in the process. Faculty felt that the Senate needed to be a more influential force in the governance of UNL. Faculty salaries are not improving and work needs to be done in this area.

Faculty were concerned with academic excellence; and stressed that faculty should be hired with excellent teaching skills. Faculty questioned why programs such as the Writing Center were being cut when the aim of the university was to improve the academic excellence at UNL.

Each group will provide a written summary to be compiled by the Executive Committee.

The meeting adjourned at 4:01 p.m. The next Senate meeting will be October 7, 1997 in the Centennial Room, City Campus Student Union. Respectfully submitted, Julie Albrecht, Secretary.