A.  Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 3:15 p.m. by President Wickham.

Council Members in attendance: Grant Alexander (Business & Technology), Terri Baker (Arts & Letters), Dan Glasgow (Education),   Andre Marquis (Social & Behavioral Sciences), Diana Mashburn (Math, Science & Nursing), Jeff Miller (Optometry), Latricia Pack (Optometry), David Scott (Arts & Letters), Lallie Scott (Social & Behavioral Sciences),  Debbie Smith (Education), Linda West (Library).

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

Others in attendance:  Mimi Bentley and Steven Poulter 

B. Committees and Standing Reports

1. Minutes of February 6, 2004 meeting

Andre Marquis made a motion and Grant Alexander seconded that the minutes as corrected for the February 6, 2004 meeting be approved.  The motion passed unanimously.

 2. Treasurer's Report

There was no treasurer's report this month.

3. Faculty Welfare Committee Report

There was no Faculty Welfare Committee report this month.

C.  Old Business

1.  Circle of Excellence

    a.  Bricks 
    The bricks with the names of last year's recipients have not yet been installed in the Circle of Excellence in front of Seminary Hall. 

    b.  Circle of Excellence Comittee for 2003-2004 academic year
    President Wickham reported that nominations are now being accepted through Tuesday, March 2.  Nominee packets are due           Monday, March 22 by 5 p.m.  Packets will be distributed to the committee  by Tuesday, March 23.  The committee will meet Monday, April 12 at 3 p.m. in the Seminary Hall Conference Room to select this year's honorees.  

Delegates expressed concern that the March 22 deadline for submitting packets for consideration was too soon.  They requested that at least one more week be allowed.  Wickham will discuss this possibility with the chair of the committee, Dana Eversole.

2.  Campus Parking Committee (enforcing cross walks)

President Wickham noted that Pat Johnston (Director of Parking and Traffic) is no longer at the university.  Greg Combs, chair of the Campus Parking Committee, invited Wickham to the committee's next meeting which will be after Spring Break.

3.  Retirement Supplement Calculations

President Wickham noted that there has been no reply to our e-mail response to the faculty council at Southeastern Oklahoma State University (which originally sought our support of a proposed resolution).

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 reported that the answer that he received from the Office of Business Affairs is "yes."  Several delegates noted that they had received the written documentation.

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.  Plagiarism and plagiarism detection software

President Wickham reported that based on the Council's response to the Academic Technology Committee last month this issue at the university level was now moot and would be left up to individual faculty or departments.

6.  Smoking near doors

President Wickham reported that he had not yet investigated this issue.

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

President Wickham reported that he had not yet investigated this issue.

D. New Business

1 . Current Grievance Policy (3.7) is not consistent with the way the Faculty Council now operates

President Wickham reported that the Grievance Committee has met and rendered a decision on the current grievance before it, but that its findings are confidential.

President Wickham expressed concern about the current composition of the Grievance Committee (member and alternate from each college); he would prefer two members from each.  He also wasn't sure that the current policy as stated in the Faculty Handbook was consistent with BOROC policy.  He appointed a committee composed of Terri Baker (chair), Lallie Scott, and Chuck Ziehr to investigate this issue and to report back to the Council by the end of this semester.

2.  Number of High School Graduates Projected to Peak 2008-09, Then Decline

President Wickham noted that Vice President Pate had forwarded to him a copy of a report noting this projection about high school graduates.

3.  OSRHE and Legislative News

President Wickham encouraged Council members to stay informed about higher education and legislative issues by accessing the following web pages:  http://www.okhighered.org/  and http://www.okhighered.org/leg-info/  provided by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education.

4.  NSU Newslink

President Wickham encouraged Council members to stay informed about news about NSU provided by the NSU Public Relations office by accessing the following web page:  http://www.nsuok.edu/newslink/.

5.  Sodexho and contract negotiations

Grant Alexander, sponsor of SIFE, noted that the student organization could not bring in food that had been donated by local business for student events.  He had made a request to Arlan Hanson and Lynn Howard to be allowed to see the Sodexho contract, but was not allowed to see it.  Dan Glasgow, Terri Baker, and Debbie Smith also noted that student organizations with which they are associated had concerns about campus food policies.  President Wickham will e-mail President Williams to request clarification of this issue.

6.  Faculty Adopting Texts in which They Personally Profit

Some of those present shared their concern about the issue of faculty-authored textbooks.  At least a couple of faculty members had been told that they might not be allowed to adopt a book that they had personally authored (and would, therefore, personally benefit from financially).  A committee was appointed to investigate the current university policy and to recommend any needed changes.  

7.  Policies that Govern when Faculty Get Reimbursed for Travel to Teach Classes

Concern was expressed that there was ambiguity and perhaps disparity in reimbursement for travel to teach classes.  President Wickham will ask Jack Haney at NSU-Broken Arrow if there is a standard university policy regarding this matter.

8.  New Student Evaluations of Faculty

Grant Alexander mentioned that he believed that "Not applicable" was scored and summed as a "6", thus skewing the results.  President Wickham will inquire with Mark Giese about this matter.

9.  Twentieth Anniversary of the First Graduating Class of the NSU Nursing Program

Diana Mashburn noted that the nursing program will celebrate the 20th anniversary of their first graduating class at the May 8th graduation ceremony with the opening of a time capsule.  She requested the faculty's assistance in making alumni of the program aware of this celebration.

Terri Baker moved and Lallie Scott seconded that a resolution of congratulations be drafted and passed by the Faculty Council on the occasion of this 20th anniversary celebration.  Chuck Ziehr and Andrew Vassar will develop a draft resolution to present to the Council at its April meeting.

E.  Other Business

1 .  Dean Searches

Currently there are national searches underway for the Dean of the College of Business and Technology and the Dean of the Graduate College.  Some concern was expressed about the short lead time in advertising these positions for a July 1 start date.  President Wickham will contact Vice President Pate about these searches.

2.  Faculty Council's Contribution to Research Day

President Wickham will contact Dr. Pate about recognizing the Faculty Council's financial contribution to Research Day.

3.  Written Employment Contracts

Lallie Scott asked if President Wickham had yet talked with Dr. Pate about written contracts for the faculty.  Wickham reported that he had not.

F.  Adjournment

Grant Alexander moved for adjournment; the motion was seconded by Andre Marquis.  The meeting adjourned at 4:50 p.m.