FACULTY SENATE MEETING
Minutes
November
12, 2007
3:15
p.m., 601 Rudder Tower
Present:
Absent:
Call
to Order:
The meeting was called to order at 3:15 by Speaker
Angie Hill Price.
Speaker
Comments:
Speaker Price opened the meeting by welcoming guests
and Senators. One senator from Galveston
and two senators from Qatar were present via videoconferencing. In recognition of Veterans' Day, Speaker
Price asked veterans in the room to stand and be recognized.
Speaker Price announced that there is now a link on
the Faculty Senate Web Page to a report from the Chancellor's Research
Administrative Working Group and that there will soon be a link to a report
from the Coordinating Board regarding expectations for the preparation of High
School students when entering college.
Speaker Price also announced (at the end of the meeting) that two list
serves were being considered: (1) that
issues under discussion by the various standing committees could be known to
all senators and (2) that the faculty could know what items were under
discussion within the Faculty Senate.
Senator Gary Varner was sworn in.
The October 8, 2007 Minutes were approved as
submitted. Motion Passed
F.S. 25.61
Consent Agenda
All consent agenda items were approved.
Graduate Council
New Courses – October 4, 2007 Motion
Passed F.S. 25.62
ANTH 635 Violence
and Warfare
NUEN
672 Operational Health Physics of Advanced Reactors
PLPA
603 Pathology &
Microbiology
Change in Courses – October 4, 2007
MEEN
653 Scientific Writing
CPSC
631 Programming Environments
Revised
New Course—September FS Meeting Motion
Passed F.S. 25.63
AGRO 620 Brazilian Agriculture and Food
Production Systems
BUSH 602 Homeland
Security and Homeland Defense
EPSY 620 Current Issues
in Bilingual Education
STAT 621 Advanced
Stochastic Processes
University Curriculum Committee
New Courses – October 12, 2007 Motion Passed F.S. 25.64
HIST 337 War & European Society in the
Twentieth Century
HIST 465 Extremism & Terrorism in the
Contemporary World
HORT
440 International Horticulture
Withdrawal of Course – October 12, 2007
ENTO 311 Biodiversity & Biology of
Insects Laboratory
Change in Courses – October 12, 2007
ENTO 301 Biodiversity & Biology of
Insects
HORT 428 Commercial Greenhouse
Management
Other Item from September 2007 UCC Meeting Motion
Passed F.S. 25.65
New Course Attachment
E
AGRO 420 Brazilian
Agriculture and Food Production Systems
W
Courses Motion Passed F.S. 25.66
Certification: Attachment F
ENTC 419 Technical
Project Management
STAT 407 Principles
of Survey Sampling
Committee
Reports
Graduate Council
Motion
Passed F.S. 25.67
Special Consideration
– October 4, 2007 Attachment
G1
Revised Proposed, 2008-2009 Academic
Calendar
Revised
Proposed, 2009-2010 Abbreviated Academic Calendar
Special Consideration – October 4, 2007 Motion Passed F.S. 25.68
College of Education and Human Development Attachment G2
Dual Degree with Qatar University
University Curriculum Committee
Special
Consideration (minor name change) – October 12, 2007Motion Passed F.S. 25.69
College of Agriculture & Life Sciences Attachment
H
Department of
Agricultural Economics
Minor in Agricultural Economics & Agribusiness
Name change to:
Minor in Agricultural
Economics
Special Consideration (certificate changes) – October 12, 2007 Motion
Passed F.S. 25.70
Dwight Look College of
Engineering Attachment
I
International Certificate Program for Engineering Students
International Certificate Program with a Focus in German
Name change to:
International Engineering Certificate
Withdraw:
International Certificate Program with a Focus in German
Special Consideration – October 12, 2007 Motion Passed F.S. 25.71
Dwight Look College of Engineering Attachment
J
Department of Engineering
Technology & Industrial Distribution
University
Studies Degree
Area of
Concentration – Telecommunications Technology
Executive Committee
Revisions
to Student rules:
Section
7 Attendance Not Passed
Senator Mike Greenwald suggested changing the
word "have" to "having" (second line of the proposed new
rule). The suggestion was accepted as an
editorial change. Senator Greenwald
moved on behalf of the Liberal Arts Caucus to change the word "may"
to "should" (last word in the second line of the proposed new
rule). The motion was seconded. After some discussion the motion to amend the
proposed rule failed. After some
additional discussion, the original motion to accept the new rule failed.
Section
35.2 Bicycles Not Passed
After some discussion, the motion to accept
revisions to the student rules on bicycles failed.
Section
31 Racial and Ethnic
Harassment Tabled
After some discussion, Senator Frederic
Pearl moved to table the motion to accept the revision to students’ rules
regarding racial and ethnic harassment.
The motion to table was seconded and passed.
Graduate Council
Amended New Course—September FS Meeting Motion Passed F.S. 25.72
STAT 631 Statistical Methods in Finance Attachment
L
Core
Curriculum Council Motion Passed F.S. 25.73
Oct 25 2007
Approved Courses with the Exception of following: Attachment
M
Senator Volkman
moved to delete ANSC 207, Art and Heritage of Livestock, from the list of
courses to be approved as Core Curriculum Courses. The motion to amend the list of courses to be
approved was seconded and after some discussion it passed. The motion to approve the amended list of
courses from the Core Curriculum Council passed.
Old Business
Committee of the
Whole
Senator
Woosley requested that Dave Parrott, Chair of the Rules and Regulations
Committee, and Jerry Brown, Assistant General Counsel for the System, be
recognized to give some background on the development of revisions to the rule
on racial and ethnic harassment. Speaker
Price recognized Parrott and Brown and they both gave some of the history of
the rule revision and the reasoning behind the revision.
Senator
Hobbs indicated that the Coordinating Board has released standards for
readiness for students graduating from High School and entering higher
education. He encouraged senators to
read and respond to the Coordinating Board's document. Speaker Price indicated that there would be a
link on the Faculty Senate webpage to the document.
Senator
Stewart expressed concern regarding the cost of textbooks and noted that some
of the courses that the senate had approved during today's meeting required six
textbooks. He encouraged senators to
consider the usefulness and appropriateness such requirements. Senator Strawser
indicated support for Senator Stewart's concern regarding the cost of
textbooks.
Senator Greenwald
encouraged senators to read the Faculty Senate agenda ahead of time and, if
they had objections to specific agenda items, to communicate those concerns
ahead of time to the effected parties. Senator Greenwald then expressed concern
regarding the energy fee charged to all students. Some fees are waived for students registered
for off-campus work; however, the energy fee was not waived even for students
overseas.
Senator Pearl
indicated that he had moved to table the motion to approve revisions to the
racial and ethnic harassment rule because he felt that the change was of such a
significant nature as to require a formal presentation of the rule
revision. He also expressed concern
regarding the core curriculum in light of the requirement to construct a
120-hour degree plan. In particular, he
indicated that Texas A&M was more restrictive than
other colleges and universities and asked why MATH 150 could not be used to
satisfy core curriculum requirements.
Senator Hobbs responded that MATH 150 is considered a remedial course
that is essentially a review of high school mathematics and thus should not be
used to satisfy core curriculum requirements.
Senator
Grant, Chair of Academic Affairs, indicated that the Academic Affairs committee
had written a memo (made a recommendation) to the Executive Committee regarding
the fact that some faculty refuse to recognize redefined days. Speaker Price indicated that the Executive
Committee had a scheduled meeting on November 19 and would consider the memo at
that time.
Senator
Carlson indicated that if guests were present to discuss agenda items it would
be good to give them an opportunity to speak before making a motion to table
the agenda item. Carlson, on behalf of
his colleagues, expressed concern regarding the stability of WebCT. It is frustrating to begin using WebCT after
a one or two semester lapse and have the system significantly change during
that absence. Carlson also indicated a
desire to award Professor Emeritus status to a retiring faculty member who
retired as an Associate Professor.
Adjourn
The meeting
was adjourned at 4:45 pm.