Faculty Policies Minutes – Dec. 4, 2006  

Attending:  Carol Rychly, Charles Jackson, Rick Pukis, Mike Searles, Jim Benedict, Tom Colbert, Donna Hobbs, Pam Jackson, Sam Myers,  Robert Reeves, Cathy Tugmon (chair),  and Debbie van Tuyll (secretary).

1. Minutes of the November 27 meeting were approved with no corrections.

2. Committee members discussed the e-mail from Duncan Roberts’s concerns about the French program and the conversion of a French faculty slot to a temporary slot in Spanish. He had asked FPC to intervene. After researching the ASU Faculty Manual and the BOR Policy Manual to determine the powers and responsibilities of FPC and the Dean, committee members agreed that personnel matters such as this were outside their authority. However, some aspects of Roberts’s concerns do come within the scope of the faculty workload investigation FPC is doing, and so will be addressed as part of that work. Members asked Tugmon to convey this information to Roberts in a letter.

3. Tugmon reported on her recent meeting with President Bloodworth and VPAA Sullivan. They have agreed to look into FPC’s concerns regarding the way the Student Technology Fee is allocated and the way the Student Technology Fee Committee is constituted.

            Tugmon and Bloodworth continued their conversation regarding what needs to be done to include in the Student Handbook the proposed policy for how to deal with a charge of threatening or abusive conduct brought by a faculty member against a student. The president would like FPC to examine the issue of student misconduct thoroughly and make recommendations for revision of that entire section of the Student Handbook. Tugmon said the president specifically wants definitions written for what constitutes acceptable student behavior and what constitutes unacceptable behavior, and he would like to have those definitions widely circulated. He also wants a policy written for dealing with infractions that require attention beyond what an individual faculty member can accomplish within his or her own classroom.

            Members agreed to establish a subcommittee to examine these issues. That committee will be appointed in January.

4.  Pukis and C. Jackson requested time in the first January meeting to discuss issues coming from the Faculty Benefits Committee. Van Tuyll and P. Jackson will present their proposed policy for the Faculty Research and Faculty Development Committee to use in evaluating funding proposals. Members agreed to hold the first January meeting on the third Monday of the spring semester.

5. Pukis will provide healthy (per Myers’s request) snacks.

Respectfully submitted,

Debbie van Tuyll

Secretary