MSU-BOZEMAN FACULTY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES January 30, 2002 PRESENT: Young, Morrill, Sherwood, McDermott for Engel, Kommers, Leech, Benham, Howard, Stewart, Jones, Ross, Weaver, Locke, Lansverk, Levy/Bandyopadhyay, Bogar, Jelinski, Idzerda, McKinsey for Pratt, Lynch, Fisher, Lynes-Hayes, Butterfield, Wojtowicz for Kempcke. ABSENT: Hatfield, White, Anderson, Peed, Linker, Larsen, Nehrir, Mooney, Lefcort, McClure, Henson, 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 23, 2002, were approved as distributed. University Governance Council Nominating Committee report. - Sharon Eversman, Department of Ecology, has been nominated for a three-year faculty position on the Salary Review Committee. As there were no further nominations, Jack Jelinski moved approval of the nomination. The motion was seconded and carried. The nomination will be forwarded to the Provost for approval. Chair's report - John Sherwood. - University Governance Council Steering Committee and President's Executive Council will meet at noon on January 31. - Topics to be discussed include university planning, financial health of the university, budgeting, benefits (retirement, tuition scholarships, and faculty salary structure). - "Salary structure" will include discussion of raises that are tied to promotion and are consistent across the university. It will be proposed that these increases, as well as any equity and salary compression increases, be in addition to the 4% raise. - Competitiveness of salaries across campus and with other institutions will also be a discussion topic. - Earlier this year Faculty Council discussed faculty development opportunities across campus. A committee is being established to consider possibilities. John Sherwood and Dean Greg Weisenstein will co-chair it. Please contact John is you are interested in serving on the committee or know of someone who is. - During discussion of some of the "faculty development" issues, Doug Young pointed out that credit for time spent on a sabbatical can be given to an individual, if the individual requests the credit upon return from the sabbatical. - Dean of Student Affairs Courtney Stryker has requested the names of faculty willing to serve on student conduct hearings. Please contact Chair Sherwood or Courtney Stryker if you are willing to do so. Faculty Affairs Committee report. - Ron Larsen has been selected as the head of the Department of Chemical Engineering. A new Faculty Affairs Committee Chair will be appointed to take his place. Follow-up on IT Policy. - Revisions are found at the web site Comments about the policy may be made at that web site, also. - There may be enough policy covering misuse of internet resources in the Faculty Handbook so that a separate IT policy is not needed for faculty. It was suggested this be proposed to the Board of Regents. - If internet resources are being misused by faculty members, it seems it will show up in the individual's productivity, affecting annual reviews. - The overriding issue, perhaps, is how the policy will be monitored. What are some of the current campus internet policies that influence monitoring? How long does the university store e-mails? Who has access to the e-mails of an individual? How much would it cost to monitor everyone's computer and internet use? What are the penalties for non-compliance with the policy? - Is MSU currently covered by the state internet policy? - A separate student policy is being developed. Might it be appropriate to develop one for faculty, it there's need for one? If work in a position is well-defined, as it is for classified employees, it may be possible to apply policies. However, the work of faculty positions is not well-defined and it is difficult to define the workplace and hours of work. - The motivation for the policy may be to protect the state and the university system from legal action. Benefits Survey. - Concerns raised in the College of Nursing include the small contribution by the state to TIAA-CREF, the lack of tuition support for families of employees, and the small contribution by the state to employee health benefits. - Retirement benefits are a legislative issue. There's a need to bring it up there and lobby for improvements. It was proposed that the message be taken to those who lobby the legislature (including President Gamble) that retirement benefits are an issue with faculty. - There is a possibility that tuition scholarships could be handled as an MSU-Bozeman benefit. - There is a proposal before the Teachers' Retirement System Board that if the TRS fund is able to do so, an increase of up to 3% per year after the first three years of retirement may be granted. However, there is question of whether this is a possibility at this time. As there was no further business, the meeting adjourned at 5:00 PM. Joann Amend, Secretary John Sherwood, Chair