MSU-BOZEMAN FACULTY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES January 23, 2002 PRESENT: Young, Morrill, Sherwood, Engel, White, Kommers, Linker, Leech, Benham, Howard, Stewart, Lewandowski, Ross, Nehrir, McCLure/Amend, Locke, Lansverk, Bandyopadhyay for Levy, Bogar, Jelinski, Idzerda, McKinsey for Pratt, Lynch, Lynes-Hayes, Kempcke. ABSENT: Hatfield, Anderson, Peed, Larsen, Mooney, Lefcort, Weaver, Henson, Fisher, Butterfield, Griffith, Carlstrom. The regularly- scheduled meeting was called to order by Chair John Sherwood at 4:10 PM. A quorum was present. The minutes of the January 16, 2002, meeting were approved as distributed. Chair's report - John Sherwood. - The Board of Regents met January 17-18. - During the faculty meeting with regents, Chair Sherwood suggested there be exploration of ways non-resident GTAs and GRAs can be given tuition breaks, helping the graduate program. The regents seemed enthusiastic during the discussion and offered that it may be possible to provide extra fee waivers for non-resident graduate students so they would pay in-state tuition. - The information technology policies, which are on today's agenda, were discussed and approved for the action agenda at the March meeting. - Chair Sherwood has talked with Acting Vice President for Administration and Finance Roloff about the plan to pay AY faculty over a 10-month period. - Faculty Council representatives should make constituents aware that the default is 10 pay periods, and if a faculty member wants to be paid in nine pay checks (on October 11 through June 11) they must notify their departmental personnel who work with appointments. Once a faculty member has chosen to be paid in nine pay checks during the academic year, a change cannot be made. - The administration will meet with all department heads and will hopefully discuss the changes to the new pay schedule for AY faculty. - During brief discussion by Faculty Council, the point was made that the letter from VP Roloff to faculty does not mention the nine pay check option. Will there be another letter providing this information and outlining the process for receiving nine pay checks? Chair Sherwood will bring it up with the administration. - The Chair's perception of last week's Faculty Council discussion of allowing students to drop a course during the first 10 class days of a semester without the instructor or advisor's signature is that there are some concerns about the implementation but no serious objections. He recommends Vice Provost Fedock take the discussed concerns into consideration when the policy is implemented and consider the policy to be probationary. If the new policy causes problems to a department or college that can't be addressed, Faculty Council leadership should be informed so the policy can be reconsidered. - Two additions to the Faculty Handbook have been approved by President Gamble. - Section 812.04 A (Opportunity to Respond to a Negative Review) adds a statement that "In the case of a tie vote, the candidate has the right to respond." - Section 480 (Faculty Responsibilities: 'Workload Policy') has been added.. - Both sections become part of the Faculty Handbook on July 1, 2002. They may be viewed at the Faculty Council web site (http://www2.montana.edu/facultycouncil). University Governance Council Nominating Committee report. - The Committee will soon make an announcement about accepting nominations for various university-wide committees. - There is an open position for one faculty member on the Salary Review Committee. Nominations for the committee may be forwarded to Vicky York, Nominating Committee Chair, or John Sherwood. The election will take place at next week's Faculty Council meeting. - Membership of the Strategic Planning Committee was announced today. Faculty members on the committee are Bill Brown, John Carlsten, Kay Chafey, and Jon Wraith. Individuals nominated are thanked for being willing to put their names forward. A capable and varied group of nominees was provided to the Provost. Faculty Affairs Committee report - Marvin Lansverk. - The committee is still receiving information from other universities about the process of using an ombudsman. The reponses are encouraging to MSU's proceeding with the proposal. - A survey will be distributed to determine possible needs and uses for an ombudsman process. MSU Benefits Committee report - Doug Young. - A table displaying the results of a survey of key faculty benefits at MSU and its peer institutions was distributed and discussed. (The survey has been e-mailed to all Faculty Council representatives.) - A conclusion made from the survey is that MSU's health benefits are marginal and MSU's retirement benefits are below the average of even MSU's peers. - It was suggested that there be discussion at Faculty Council at a later date regarding communicating this information to MSU's administration and to the legislature. Information Technology Policies - Mark Sheehan. - The draft policies are found on the web at http://www.montana.edu/itpolicy/. By the middle of next week, they will be updated with information from the Board of Regents meeting, and comments regarding the policies can be made at the web site. - Some background information was shared. - The Montana information technology system division (ITSD) developed strict policies about the way computers are used in state offices. In addition, during the last legislative session, SB 131 gave more control over conduct of computer usage in state government and universities. An information technology policy was written for state employees, but it is better suited to employees who do not work at universities and it does not cover issues of students, faculty, and research professionals. - Ray Ford, (UM) and Mark Sheehan drafted the proposed policies, which were sent to the regents for their November meeting as information. However, they were discussed there and brought to the January regents meeting as a submission item. - Until mid- February, comments will be accepted on the policy. At that time, comments will be incorporated into the proposed policy and it will be distributed as an action item for the March Board of Regents meeting. - There are significant differences between the current acceptable use policy (published by internet providers, federal laws, Faculty Handbook sections) and the proposed policy. - It was suggested policies that apply to telephone usage at MSU apply to computer usage. It was noted that as the telephone policy is written, personal telephone calls, except for specific purposes, are out of compliance with the policy. - The policy does not give recognition that faculty's work continues when they leave the university. - Concern was expressed that violation of the policy and its consequences are not specifically addressed. - References to student computing will be deleted from the proposed policy, and a separate student policy will be developed. As there was no further business, the meeting adjourned at 5:20 PM. Joann Amend, Secretary John Sherwood, Chair