A.  Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 3:30 p.m. by Vice President Andrew Vassar.  President Wickham was administering an exam and joined the meeting during the discussion of item C. 2.

Council Members in attendance: Grant Alexander (Business & Technology), Terri Baker (Arts & Letters), Dan Glasgow (Education), Harriett Hobbs (for Linda West, Library), Andre Marquis (Social & Behavioral Sciences), Diana Mashburn (Math, Science & Nursing), Rick Matzen (Math, Science & Nursing), Jeff Miller (Optometry), Latricia Pack (Optometry), Jackie Schumaker (Library), Lallie Scott (Social & Behavioral Sciences),  Debbie Smith (Education), John Yeutter (for Thomas Wier, Business & Technology).

Council Officers in attendance:  Gary Wickham (President), Andrew Vassar (Vice President), and Chuck Ziehr (Secretary-Treasurer).
 

B. Committees and Standing Reports

1. Minutes of December 5, 2003 meeting

John Yeutter made a motion and Grant Alexander seconded that the minutes as corrected for the December 5, 2003 meeting be approved.  The motion passed unanimously.

 2. Treasurer's Report

Secretary-Treasurer Ziehr reported that the current balance of the Council's account is $7,722.00.  The increase from the December 2003 balance is due to carryover funds from money not spent from last year's budget.  Carryover funds are added to accounts each year in January.  A motion was made by Latricia Pack and seconded by Dan Glasgow that the Treasurer's Report be accepted as presented; the motion passed unanimously.

3. Faculty Welfare Committee Report

Vice President Vassar noted that the committee had not met so there was no report.

C.  Old Business

1.  Circle of Excellence

    a.  Bricks:  Wickham noted that no progress has been made on getting the bricks engraved with the names of last year's recipients.

    b.  Circle of Excellence Comittee for 2003-2004 academic year:  Dana Eversole, committee chair, will meet with President Wickham on Monday, February 9 to begin the process for this year.

2.  Mission Statement for Faculty Council

Chuck Ziehr reported on the draft of a mission statement that was developed by a committee composed of Dan Glasgow, Andre Marquis, and himself.  Lallie Scott moved and John Yeutter seconded that the mission statement be included as By-law 6 of the Council Constitution and linked on the Council's webpage.  The motion passed unanimously.

After modifying some wording in the committee's draft, John Yeutter moved and Terri Baker seconded that the following be adopted as the Council's mission statement:

NSU Faculty Council Mission Statement

The mission of the Northeastern State University Faculty Council is to promote communication and cooperation among the faculty and between the faculty and the administration.  The Council serves as the faculty’s collective voice in shared governance in order to achieve excellence in the academic endeavors of the university.  Toward this goal the Council seeks to enhance the university’s pursuit and dissemination of knowledge by promoting and preserving academic freedom and integrity, encouraging creative inquiry, and recognizing scholarly achievement.  The Council further serves to foster the professional development and economic well-being of the faculty.

The motion passed unanimously.

3.  Retirement Supplement Calculations

President Wickham reminded the Council of the e-mail received last semester from the faculty council at Southeastern Oklahoma State University seeking our support of a proposed resolution stating,  "The retirement supplement for all faculty should be calculated on the basis of the average annual contract for the three highest paid years plus up to twenty  percent of that average contract based on an average of any additional salary amounts-i.e., summer, intersession, overload, etc.-in the same three highest paid years."  He reported that he e-mailed our questions and concerns to SEOSU Council President and asked where do we go from here, but he has had no response.

4.  Will NSU employees get written documentation of the monthly amount of the TIAA-CREF contribution that now goes to salary or to a new retirement supplement?

President Wickham had e-mailed this question to Kim Cherry, Vice President for Adminstration, who responded that the answer was "yes," but that reorganizations in her office caused a delay in accomplishing this.  It will be done as soon as possible.

5.  Will parking space for the major new housing project north of the Library cause problems with parking in adjacent lots?

President Wickham had e-mailed Pat Johnston, Director of Parking and Traffic, who reported that he hopes that the former road leading to the major exits to the adjacent parking lots could be maintained, but he did not know what the final plans were in this regard.  Faculty members from Optometry noted that they understood that the plans call for an exit from the new housing project to go through the current Optometry School parking lot; they were concerned about this and the limited parking available to the tenants of the housing project.  This topic led to a broader discussion of parking issues.  President Wickham will contact Greg Combs (Parking Committee Chair), Pat Johnston, Arlan Hanson, and Kim Cherry about the parking situation at the new housing project and about illegal parking--especially in roadways, firelanes, and handicapped slots, and about student workers who have faculty/staff parking decals.

D. New Business

1 .  Plagiarism and plagiarism detection software.

Grant Alexander reported that this came up at a recent meeting of the Academic Technology Committee (ATC).  Some faculty members on the ATC requested the Council's guidance on whether the university should provide plagiarism detection software for the faculty.  Lallie Scott moved and John Yeutter seconded that obtaining and/or using plagiarism detection software be left to the discretion of individual faculty members.  The motion passed unanimously.

2.  Enforcing cross walks.

This will be added to the e-mail request noted in item C.5. above.

3.  Smoking near doors.

President Wickham will contact Tim Foutch, Assistant Vice President for Administration, and inquire about the new state law and NSU's compliance with it.  He will also ask about covered shelters for smokers.

4.  Grievance Committee

President Wickham reported that Vice President Pate contacted him about the need to convene the university's Grievance Committee because a faculty member had filed a grievance.  Wickham and Pate convened an organizational meeting of committee members (who had been elected by their respective academic units--a delegate and alternate from each college and the library) on February 5, 2004.   The committee elected Bill King as Chair, Katy Ellis as Vice Chair, and Nimesh Patel as Secretary.

5.  Larry Reasor's Death

President Wickham reported the recent death of Larry Reasor, a prominent Tahlequah businessman and long-time supporter of NSU.  The Council noted its appreciation for Mr. Reasor's support of the community and NSU and was unanimous in its desire to express its sincere sympathy to Mrs. Reasor and her family.  Secretary-Treasurer Ziehr will send a sympathy card to the Reasor family on behalf of the Council.  President Wickham will send an e-mail to all faculty members reminding them of the scholarship fund that has been established to honor Mr. Reasor and to encourage them to contribute to that fund (and/or to other scholarship funds that have been established to honor deceased supporters of NSU).

6.  Ad-pay contract for OCRD (Oklahoma Center for Rural Development).

John Yeutter noted his concern for two clauses/items (#7 and #10) in the faculty contracts for those working for OCRD.  He was concerned that it appeared that the contract separated the faculty member from the university in the context of any liability arising from work related to the contract, and, thus, from any joint protection that might be available to the faculty member as a university employee.  President Wickham will request clarification of this contract from Vice President Kim Cherry.

E.  Other Business

1 .  Hard copy (paper) contracts for faculty

Terri Baker reported that some faculty members in her college had asked that she bring up the concern that we no longer have written contracts each year and the ambiguity this causes relative to unannounced (or delays in announcing) changes in the Faculty Handbook.  President Wickham will ask Vice President Pate about this.

2.  Terri Baker noted that faculty members in her college had expressed concern about the interpretation of the inclement weather policy, particularly as it applies to individual faculty members who are unable to hold a class due to inability to get to class safely.  Lallie Scott and Andre Marquis reported that some faculty members in their college had expressed similar concerns.  President Wickham will ask Vice President Pate about this.

F.  Adjournment

Andre Marquis moved for adjournment; the motion was seconded by Jeff Miller.  The meeting adjourned at 5:10 p.m.