FACULTY SENATE MEETING
MINUTES
March 9, 2009
3:15 p.m., 601 Rudder Tower
http://facultysenate.tamu.edu

Present:    Derya Akleman, Stephen Atkins, Karl Aufderheide,Guy Battle, Robert Bednarz, Michael Benedik, Tom Blasingame, Dragomir Bukur, Tahir Cagin, Gwendolyn Carroll, Antonio Cepeda-Benito, Keith Chaffin, Iftekharudd Choudhury, Louise Darcey, Walter Daugherity, John Fackler, Holly Gaede, Melinda Grant, Michael Greenwald, Robert Griffin, Mariah Hahn, Gary Halter, Mike Hanik, James Heilman, Joe Jaros, Eluned Jones, Guido Kanschat, Larry Kelly, Andrew Klein, Rafael Lara-Alecio, Ming-Han Li, Thomas Linton, Clinton Machann, Lanny Martindale, Christopher Mathewson, Robert McGeachin, Kathryn McKenzie, Tim Murphy, Adam Myers, Bo Norby, Ramona Paetzold, Brian Perkins, David Peterson, Angie Hill Price, Roger Schultz, Jorge Seminario, Douglas Slack, Robin Smith, Karen Snowden, Kathleen Speed, Richard Stadelmann, Robert Stewart, Bob Strawser, Ramesh Talreja, Elizabeth Tebeaux, Winfried Teizer, Frank Thomas, Manuelita Ureta, John Van-Huyck, Tom Vogel, Shelley Wachsmann, Hank Walker, Robert Warden, Gary Wingenbach, Thomas Woodfin

Paul Parrish (Interim Dean of Faculties)

Absent:    Louise Abbott, Carisa Armstrong, James Aune, Wolfgang Bangerth, Joe Cerami, Thomas DeWitt, Rainer Fink, Carlos Gonzalez, Richard Hutchinson, Vikram Kinra, Andre Landry, Robyn Lints, Carol Loopstra, Leon Luxemburg, R.N. Mahapatra, Sam Mannan, Peter McIntyre, Michael Messina, Frederic Pearl, Weston Porter, Khalid Qaraqe, Dan Roelke, Lynn Ruoff, Susan Stabile, John Stallone, Hamid Toliyat, Jyotsna Vaid, Gwendolyn Webb-Johnson, Thomas Welsh, William West, Matthew Whiteacre, Kirk Winemiller, Debra Zoran

Call to Order:
The meeting was called to order at 3:15 by Speaker Clint Magill. Speaker Magill opened the meeting by welcoming guests and senators. There was one senator from Galveston one senator from Qatar present via videoconferencing.

Guest Speaker:
Speaker Magill welcomed our guest speaker, Dr. Mark Troy, Associate Director Measurement and Research Services.  Dr. Troy presented the results of a national survey of student engagement. (SEE SLIDESHOW)

Dr. Troy compared TAMU freshmen and seniors with other AAUDE students; in general A&M students were at the lower end of the scale. A&M ranked highest in the “supportive environment” category.

Faculty is asked to urge students to respond to request from Provost Vitter for participation in NSSE surveys; faculty will be asked to take a similar survey.

Questions for Mark Troy:
Senator Kanschat: Re: qualifiers for survey.
Mark Troy:  Students responded to questions about the freshman experience with reference to the college they attended as freshmen.

Senator Woodfin: How many students participated in survey?
Mark Troy:    In 2007: c. 1200 seniors participated; c. 1100 freshmen responded.

Senator Greenwald:  Were size of classes factored into the survey?
Mark Troy:     The survey compared TAMU to other large institutions (e.g., Ohio State) with the understanding that class sizes would be comparable.

Senator Matthewson:  Did scores increase/decrease between 2001 and 2007?
Mark Troy:  The gaps between TAMU and other institutions seem to have remained relatively constant.

Speaker Comments:
Speaker Magill stated he has represented the Senate on several occasions.  He attended the assessment conference that was held here at the Hilton with attendees from all over the country. Lorraine Phillips and our assessment folks provide a real service by hosting this event. He stated he did get a chance to talk with the assessment expert hired by Texas Tech to help get them get off SACs probation.  She indicated that one of their critical changes was to reduce the number of core courses, first by eliminating blanket inclusion of courses that would satisfy a core area and, secondly, by making it mandatory that every core course shows through its syllabus how it maps to both the Higher Education Coordinating Board core requirements and Tech’s own core requirements.  She indicated that this mandate had led to many voluntary dropouts, especially for courses that were seldom or rarely used to satisfy core requirements.

Speaker Magill stated he was pleased with our turnout to attend the joint meeting with the UT Faculty Council a week ago today, and he thanked those who were able to attend for doing so.  He thanked Bob Bednarz and the organizers from UT for the program they put together. He attended the session on shared governance and it is clear we share some common problems, especially in communications, both down to faculty from administration and up to administrators from faculty. He hopes all of our caucus leaders are taking the initiative of reporting results of our meetings, especially things that are of direct concerns to their faculty.  EC member Walter Daugherity has volunteered to help anyone who wants to set up a college list-serve to do so.  He stated the SET issue was also a topic of that meeting and in general they heard what they already realized, that student evaluations can be valid, but should not be used as a sole indicator of effectiveness.

Magill noted that at the joint meeting they also heard a report from the UT legislative liaison that some sort of tuition regulation bill will be passed this session. That point was echoed by the U of H legislative liaison in the Texas Council of Faculty Senates meeting that Magill attended last Friday and Saturday morning, which was also in Austin. The U of H liaison was a bit more optimistic that the state will be willing to kick in lots more dollars unless they want to see college enrollments stagnate.  The estimate is that it will take $875 million more in the General Education bill in the next session just to cover the growth in student population expected by 2015.

He indicated that Senator Zaffirini, Chair of the Senate Education Committee, had recently submitted a bill that would perhaps help in our case by allowing tuition to be raised up to 5%, or greater if approved by a student referendum, and that would also raise the return on grant funds to 1.5 million per $10 million outside research funding, which would split the difference between the current rate and what Dr. Murano has been urging. 

Speaker Magill also met with the other A&M System speakers/presidents and stated the major topic was the SET business.  Other than Prairie View’s Dr. Grace Goodie, he said the rest of us are still opposed and those that were not part of this so-called trial run (us, PV and Kingsville) are not happy as they have been told the results will be based purely on the scores of the evaluations, with no modifications for small classes, grade inflation, etc.  Magill was talking with Dr. Murry Leaf, the Speaker for UT-Dallas who teaches ethics.  He suggested if their system gets hit with a similar scheme, he will make an offer to his classes to return the funds to a student scholarship fund if they will vote him a winner.

Sentiment at the TCFS meeting led to a resolution opposing the change in the law;  
                                    
                                          HAND GUN RESOLUTION  

                   WHEREAS, allowing concealed firearms on university campuses
                   threatens our ability to create and maintain a safe, open learning
                   environment for students, faculty and staff,

                   Be it resolved that the members of Texas Council of Faculty Senates
                   oppose any legislation or initiatives that will overturn the present
                   prohibitions on carrying concealed weapons on university campuses.

Speaker Magill stated he's not sure if that is something we could do legally as a Senate, but you as an individual could certainly express your opinion, whichever way you feel.  At our systems group, we wondered about getting either “red alarm” buttons in the classrooms or providing the type of signaling devices advertised for older folks as a means of providing quick emergency warnings.

There was also lots of discussion at the meeting concerning the governor’s “Higher Education Reforms, Actions at the Institutional or System Level”. He noted a copy was provided on the entry table.  He stated that many of the things are actually already available information, that some things are logical, but that others are at best naïve and even “crazy”.  The U of H faculty is greatly concerned that their regents are taking the whole thing to heart. 

Magill stated the Senate EC is meeting with all 3 VPR candidates when they visit and so will have some input into the hire.  He encouraged senators to go to the open forum if they can.

Magill gave a special thanks to Dr. Bob Strawser for agreeing to respond to a 50 question questionnaire dealing with athletic program interfaces with the University.  It is sponsored by the COIA, which is a coalition on intercollegiate athletics of Div. I university faculty senates.  

Installation of New Senators:
Speaker Magill officially installed the new Senators (Ming-Han Li, Gary Halter and Shelley Wachsmann).

Marti Loudder and Mark Gold Address the Senate:
Marti Loudder: “Confrontation” between President Murano and students over the hiring of Gen. Webber as VP-Student Affairs. She also raised the issue of Senate Resolution re the hiring/retention of Deans, VPs, etc. It appears the Chancellor has issued a “pocket veto” re this regulation; she therefore urged the Senate to investigate why this resolution hasn’t been signed. She asked the EC to open dialogue with student leaders re shared governance. Loudder introduced SBP Mark Gold for comments.

Mark Gold:  A bill has been presented by 5-6 student (student) senators to established “a summit” at which students, faculty, and administrators would clarify expectations re shared governance.

Questions/Responses:
Senator Hahn: Cautioned students to choose words carefully when criticizing administrators.
  Mark Gold: Agreed and accepted this advice.

Senator Price:  Noted that on April 4 a panel on shared governance is scheduled; President Murano will participate.

Senator Blasingame: Reminded Senators that in the past he warned them about the changing nature of shared governance, for which he was booed (he was again booed). He urged students to take their grievances to the Chancellor because, in his estimation, that is where the problem rests.

Senator Stadelmann (as parliamentarian) said be receives more calls on matters of shared governance than any other issue. Faculty power is generally determined by precedent, and  Dr. Gates tried to codify some of these issues.