MINUTES of the Faculty Council Meeting
Friday, December 8, 2000, 3:00 pm
Members in Attendance: C Owen K Paris, J Yeutter, G Alexander, J Milbauer,
M Rogers, D Linebarger, J Winterbottom, G Wickham, J Faulds, L Ethridge,
C Choate, R Matzen, J Wilson
A. Committees and Standing Reports
1. Minutes of November 2, 2000
Meeting
The minutes were amended to reflect the accurate proceedings and accepted
by the group.
2. Treasurer's Report
The treasurer reported no substantial activity during the month, other
than the Noel Levitz workshop, for which all invoices had yet to be received.
The anticipated roll-over amount from the previous fiscal year, has not
yet occurred.
3. Faculty Awards Committee
James Alexander reported that 4 people have accepted the responsibility
of constituting the committee. He presented a streamlined process which
should make the process more manageable.
4. Welfare Committee Report
K Paris reported that he had constituted the committee, and determined
two subcommittees. These will meet and make recommendations to the yet
to be constituted mentoring task force concerning faculty input on mentoring
and promotion.
5. Nominations Committee
Jim Winterbottom will again head this committee. G. Alexander and M
Rogers will also serve.
B. Old Business
1. Noel-Levitz Advisement Workshop
Update
Chris Owen reported that the Workshop went well. There was significant
broad participation. Faculty Council plans to continue to build on this
initiative.
2. Responses to Faculty Council
Resolution in Case of Alleged Sexual Harassment
C Owen reported that he had received a letter from president Williams
assuring us that the University was following procedures. In a telephone
conversation he admitted that the response had not been timely. G Alexander
reported that the faculty member who had been harassed had received no
additional responses from the University, that the student's letter of
"apology" was insufficient, and that the faculty member, believing that
administrative remedies had been exhausted, would be be seeking satisfaction
from non-administrative sources.
3. NCA and Faculty Concerns
C Owen reported he had discussions with D Faires, and that other than
maintaining syllabi in a required format, no substantial additional work
would be required from faculty.
4. Formulation/Clarification of
Merit Pay Procedures
There was discussion of the Dec 5 Northeastern article
Items of concern to council were:
a. The failure of the administration
to communicate to faculty and staff before releasing information to the
newspaper
b. Lack of objective standards
for merit (Council took aprobative note that one dean did apparently use
written standards in their consideration of "merit")
c. No express cost of living adjustment
before merit pay
d. An apparent lack of concurrence
between merit standards and standards for tenure and promotion
e. No procedures for accountability
of those making merit pay decisions to the faculty for those decisions.
f. No faculty input into the criteria
for "merit"
The following resolution was passed:
Faculty Council is encouraged by the administration's commitment to
faculty salary increases.
If such increases are to be determined on the basis of merit, the faculty
council would like to express its conviction that procedures and criterial
used in determining merit pay be clearly articulated in writing, and made
available to all faculty members
Further, we wish to advocate that the standards and criteria for merit
pay should be the same as standards and criteria for promotion and tenure.
Original to: Dr. Larry Williams, NSU President
Copies to:
Dr. James Pate
All Deans
All Department Heads (aka "chairs")
C. New Business
1. Faculty Web Pages and Institutional
Support
C Owen reported that VP Pate had given indications that faculty web
pages were necessary in the consideration of tenure and promotion. He noted
that there was no institutional support for development of faculty web
pages. G Alexander reported that AITP, a student organization does assist
faculty in the development of their web pages.
2. University Grievance Committee
Report
C Owen reported that the grievance committee was meeting. A faculty
member has filed a grievance against a dean. The committee met formally
on 12/01. The committee determined that there was sufficient evidence for
a full hearing. It was noted that there was no archival record of the grievance
committee ever meeting, even though one faculty member reported that it
had met in the 80s.
D. Other Business (NONE)
