Faculty Policies Committee Minutes,
Present:
Michelle Benedict, Tom Crute, Cliff Gardiner, Marc
Miller, Jeff Heck (secretary), Bill Reese (chair), Katherine Sweeney, Wendy
Turner, Donna Wear, Janice Whiting, Sabina Widner
Minutes
from
Bill Reese prefaced the meeting by noting the decline in the number of faculty meetings that have occurred in the past two years. Discussion of the history of faculty meetings and how they are run followed. Michelle Benedict will prepare data showing trends in meeting frequency for the FPC.
OLD BUSINESS
1. New Faculty
A. Luncheon – Sabina Widner
reported that all but three new faculty attended the faculty
luncheon and that the seating mix and the host ensured a quality event.
B. Organizational Chart – Bill Reese is obtaining an Adobe Acrobat copy of the campus organizational chart for review and possible inclusion in packets for new faculty. The maintainer of the chart is open to suggested changes that might make the chart more useful for new faculty. Reese requested and expects soon a copy of the packet provided to new faculty this semester.
C. Photos – Bill Reese continues to track the process of photos of new faculty.
2. Faculty Governance
A. Agenda – Bill Reese distributed an email copy of the agenda for this week’s meeting and received a variety of questions and comments from ASU faculty as a result. He will continue to post the agenda in advance and include a one-sentence summary for each New Business item. Previous meeting minutes may be reviewed at the FPC website http://www.aug.edu/FPC/ for information on Old Business.
B. Departmental Visits – Sabina Widner
met with the Psychology Department, which had some concerns already being
addressed by the FPC but which also questioned the use of monthly summary forms
for sick leave, vacation, etc. The forms, which were in use by all departments,
are no longer used by some. Bill Reese
asked Cliff Gardiner to write a note to the chair of the Benefits Committee seeking
clarification. Gardiner also was asked to inquire about policy regarding funding
and availability of sick and vacation leave during the summer terms. Michelle
Benedict reported speaking with Math and Computer Science faculty, which had
concerns about the campus visitation policy (should vendors be allowed to visit
faculty in their offices without prior approval of Public Safety, etc.)
C. Open Records – Bill Reese will schedule Cathy Barner for a meeting with the FPC to discuss the logistics of transferring committee minutes to the Web.
3. Free Speech Policy Draft – Bill Reese presented a relevant page from the Student Handbook and read the applicable Board of Regents (BOR) policy relating to free speech on campus. Following discussion, the FPC felt the policy could not be considered for revision or approval until it was clear for whom the policy was written, who created the policy and what it was based on. If the document is written to include faculty, the committee will continue work. Reese will write a letter to Vice President for Business and Student Services Fred Barnabei requesting clarification.
4. Email in the
Classroom – Email policy published in multiple locations makes it clear
that faculty have the authority to decide the extent of email use within the
classroom. They may choose not to use email for correspondence with students if
they so choose. Students, however, must use campus email to receive official
communications from
5. Employee Benefits – Cliff Gardiner is working on this item.
6. Book Vendors – Michelle Benedict and Cliff Gardiner are working on this item.
7. Cullum Committee – Jeff Heck will bring forward items relating to Cullum Committee changes.
8. Innovative Institutional Budgeting – Katherine Sweeney requested additional information concerning the charge of the subcommittee. The charge was refocused toward these questions: “What can the faculty do to help during our current state-wide budgeting crisis,” and “What can we do to think on a large scale?”
NEW BUSINESS
All New Business agenda items were deferred to the next meeting.
Next Meeting:
Allgood Hall, Dean’s Office Conference room, within the N210 suite