Faculty Policies Committee Minutes, October 20, 2003

Present: Michelle Benedict, Tom Crute, Gordon Eisenman, Cliff Gardiner, Jeff Heck (secretary), Marc Miller, Bill Reese (chair), Katherine Sweeney, Wendy Turner, Donna Wear, Janice Whiting, Sabina Widner

Minutes from October 13, 2003 were approved as revised; a proposed amendment to the faculty manual, dealing with web publication of committee minutes, also will be posted to the FPC site.

OLD BUSINESS

1. Louis K. Bell Award – A proposed letter to Vice President for Academic Affairs Samuel Sullivan requesting the reinstatement of inscriptions for and the display of the Louis K. Bell Alumni Award was unanimously approved by the FPC.

2. Faculty Governance –

A. Letter to Non-Traditional Teachers –

The FPC unanimously approved a draft of a letter to Gina Thurman and others on campus who currently teach classes who fall outside the traditional definition of “faculty.” The FPC is interested in the comments of all faculty on campus, to increase participation in faculty governance.

B. Open Records –

The final draft of a proposal to amend the faculty manual to promote web publication of some committee minutes and end-of-year reports was unanimously approved. Bill Reese will forward the proposal to Charles Jenks, Faculty Secretary, for inclusion in the next faculty meeting agenda.

3. Email Policy Placement in the Faculty Manual –

The FPC, following a suggestion by Cliff Gardiner, unanimously recommended that the email policy developed this Spring be placed intact in the Faculty Manual at section 1030.2, entirely replacing the current section titled “Limits on Privacy of Electronic Mail.” The title of section 1030.2 also should be changed to reflect the new policy. Bill Reese will forward the recommendation to Charles Jenks, Faculty Secretary.

4. Peaceful Assembly / Freedom of Expression –

The committee noted two problems with the current publication of these policies in the Jaguar Student Handbook. First, the policies do not sufficiently cover faculty. Second, the policies were put into place without review by the FPC. Michelle Benedict and Tom Crute will review Board of Regents requirements, then draft a policy addition to the Faculty Manual and make recommendations for changes to the student handbook to synchronize the two sets of policies.

NEW BUSINESS

1. Fall Break –

Katherine Sweeney reported that a Fall Break will be difficult to arrange, given current restrictions for beginning and ending dates for Fall semesters dictated by the Board of Regents; traditional vacation, commencement and convocation dates; exam schedules, etc. The FPC tabled the issue. Sweeney will forward pertinent information to the FPC membership.

2. Vendor Ethics –

Bill Reese provided a letter from a textbook publishing company which seeks ethically questionable activities of faculty with the end purpose of getting the company's books adopted by the faculty member.  Michelle Benedict will draft a statement regarding ethics in dealing with book vendors and provide it to FPC members for their review.

All other agenda items were deferred.

Meeting adjourned at 5:14 p.m.

Next Meeting: October 27, 2003, 4 p.m.

Allgood Hall, Dean’s Office Conference room, within the N210 suite