Motion Passed FS.27.28
Attachment A

Tom Vogel (Science) asked that MEEN 616 (Attachment B10) be removed from the consent agenda; the remaining consent agenda items were approved.

Motion Passed FS.27.30
Attachment C

Motion Passed FS.27.31
Attachment D

Motion Passed FS.27.32
Attachment E

Motion Failed
Attachment G

Tom Woodfin (Architecture) raised numerous questions about whether or not certain specified outside-of-class requirements were in the degree curriculum.

Carisa Armstrong (Education), Kathleen Byrne, and P. J. Miller responded that these requirements were intended to expand a dancer’s experience beyond just the classroom and to provide outstanding preparation for graduate studies.

Senator Woodfin (Architecture) replied that his college has a program which has a required summer program, but students don’t pay for it and don’t get a grade for it, and expressed doubt that dance students could be required to participate in student organizations and “volunteer” 180 hours to other people’s programs.

Senator Armstrong (Education) said this is a requirement to go to upper level, but was not sure if that was stated in the catalog.  Vice Provost Martyn Gunn said he is not sure that can be required.

Clint Magill (Agriculture) moved to refer Attachment G back to committee until these questions are satisfactorily answered; the motion passed.

Secretary-Treasurer Daugherity moved to amend Attachment H for clarity.  Guido Kanschat (Science), Ramona Paetzold (Business), and Tom Vogel (Science) spoke against the amendment; the motion to amend failed.  Resolution H was approved.

Motion Passed FS.27.35
Attachment I

Motion Failed
Attachment B10

Chris Mathewson (Geosciences) reported on the activities of the sustainability and environmental management committee he chairs and asked faculty to phone Kelly Wellman at 458-1564 to volunteer to represent the faculty on a sustainability image committee.  Speaker Bednarz urged senators to step up for this and other committees as well.

New Business

Committee of the Whole

Speaker-Elect Strawser took the senate into the Committee of the Whole.

Tom Vogel (Science) expressed surprise that after having done a lot of work with students on the SLATE program, the Texas A&M System was reverting to handing out money for popularity.

Richard Stadelmann (Liberal Arts) commented that the 15 courses in Africana Studies were not totally new courses, but has been taught in other departments.

Robert Griffin (Liberal Arts) raised an issue that came up in the summer but is ongoing: Vice Chancellor Brett Giroir laid out an organizational chart of units with "skin in the game” sharing investment and profits, but since TIGM hasn’t shown a profit, which game and whose skin?  Senator Griffin asked where the venture-capital-type funding for the National Center for Therapeutic Medicine to develop new drugs was coming from, given that the July 12th issue of The Eagle said the System’s budget was 82% higher while A&M’s budget was 22% higher, A&M’s percentage of the Permanent University Fund dropped (cutting 40 million dollars), and we were asked to cut another 20 million dollars.  He said the shared services teams reported no real savings available other than eliminating duplicate lobbyists, and proposed an ad hoc committee be appointed to investigate all of the above.

Speaker Bednarz replied that he had talked to President Loftin about this, and that in essence these enterprises are not under the control of A&M but we should treat them like centers, giving startup funds but if they are not eventually self-supporting then they should disappear.  President Loftin detailed the ownership and oversight of the three centers authorized, and stated that the goal was for them to become self-sustaining with external funding as quickly as possible.

Mary Meagher (Liberal Arts) asked how we can work with the current situation, since the whole process by which these centers emerged was top-down from the System, with neither faculty input nor peer review.  She lauded President Loftin’s efforts to review the centers, but asked if there is any way to have peer review and so on in the future when someone wishes to put our skin in a game.  President Loftin replied that there will be a peer review process as soon as possible, albeit after the fact, and said that the money for the buildings came from the Texas Enterprise Fund.

Michael Benedik (Science) asked if there is a way to keep this from happening again; President Loftin replied that it’s a learning process and hopefully things will be handled better in the future.

Clint Magill (Agriculture) asked how we are going to recoup our investments in TIGM, since it is supposed to be nonprofit, and why Texas A&M got the mice when none of our animal cloning experts are experts in mouse lines.

Student Body President Kolin Loveless was recognized, and stated that he understood students will still be part of the SLATE process, but will follow up with the Vice Chancellor Ashley to confirm this.

Jim Woosley was recognized, and recounted that SLATE had been previously changed by the System even after the students chose awardees.  Kolin Loveless confirmed that students had been under the impression that instructors of one- and two-hour course would be included, but the System removed them, although this is not well documented.

Dean of Faculties Antonio Cepeda-Benito was recognized, and said that the email SLATE announcement from Interim Provost Watson was it; it’s no longer going to be the students’ work to seek input from department heads and make recommendations to the Chancellor, who has the last word.  Right now it’s going to be based on the sixteen questions from the System filled out online. The program is voluntary and faculty responds by email.  He said if the Senate is thinking about a formal boycott we should think about our chances to succeed.  No one-credit courses will be included or team-taught courses, except when an instructor teaches at least 90% of the course.  He said that although the Faculty Senate and former President Murano opposed SLATE, participation doubled the second time, and many promotion and tenure packets rely on student evaluations.

Speaker-Elect Strawser recounted some of the history of the SLATE program and confirmed that the second review step is now gone. 

Student Body President Loveless said he has asked Interim Provost Watson and Vice Chancellor Ashley if students will still be involved in any review process.

Senator Benedik (Science) said that it’s the students themselves who have to decide if SLATE is working or if they’re losing control and not actually rewarding good teachers but just the most popular, and urged students to decide.

Speaker-Elect Strawser said two criteria must be met: faculty have to volunteer for SLATE, and a certain percentage of the students enrolled in the course must respond.

Dean of Faculties Cepeda-Benito said students need to understand there are two course evaluation forms, one for SLATE, and one for departmental evaluations.

Clint Magill (Agriculture) observed that this may lead to grade inflation.

Senator Stadelmann (Liberal Arts) recounted a recent situation in which the university denied recognition to a student group because it restricted membership to Christians, but after receiving outside legal assistance the group was recognized.  Senator Stadelmann said that Student Rule 41 requiring open membership was in opposition to the whole point of organizations, namely, a common interest.  He then recounted in his inimitable fashion the “rest of the story,” how ten years ago the Republican Club was forced by the university to drop its requirement that members support the Republican party, and consequently the club briefly considered having its 2000 members join the Aggie Democrats and every other club on campus and then vote for those clubs to support then-President George H. W. Bush.  Senator Stadelmann concluded by recommending that Student Rule 41, however well intended, be dropped.

Kim Hill (Liberal Arts) thanked President Loftin for staying to hear faculty opinions, and expressed his opinion that the university administration in recent years has let the good be the enemy of the best, in that second-, third-, and fourth-tier goals from Vision 2020 and shared services may have been emphasized since they are easier to pursue, accomplish, and report on.  He expressed fears that we may be slipping away from the primary goals, and asked that volunteers for the new task force(s) first insure they are addressing the primary goals.

Dean of Faculties Cepeda-Benito said that the issue of how faculty are evaluated is important, for equity, grievances, etc.  He noted that the Faculty Senate has raised the question of differing percentages of effort devoted to research, teaching, and engagement, and observed that how to reward multi-disciplinary efforts (e.g., in the Academic Master Plan) is being addressed but is not trivial, so faculty are needed to help work on these issues.

Clint Magill (Agriculture) reminded senators of the University Distinguished Lecture scheduled for Tuesday.

Senator Griffin(Liberal Arts) said that he once worked at a university where the president wrote a plan with fifty goals, which the faculty concluded amounted to no goals, so we need to focus on hierarchy [and prioritize goals].

Chris Mathewson (Agriculture) observed that faculty evolve throughout their careers; some become master teachers which relieve master researchers, and vice versa, so the faculty evaluation task force is extremely critical.

There being no further business, Speaker-Elect Strawser returned the chair to Speaker Bednarz, and the meeting was adjourned at 5:34 P.M.