Faculty Policies Minutes – October 30, 2006  

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

1. Minutes of the Oct. 23 meeting were approved.

2. The committee discussed the Faculty Grievance Against a Student policy and made several editorial changes that P. Jackson will insert. P. Jackson reported that the Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee has asked that we include a paragraph in the policy reminding people of the option of mediation in settling such disputes. The committee agreed to do so. P. Jackson will circulate copies of the revised policy to committee members, and she will forward a copy of the policy to the ADR committee for information purposes.

3. Benedict reported that the Cullum Study Committee’s recommendations will be ready by Thanksgiving, and he will be providing the FPC with copies of the recommendations.

4. Benedict reported that he has met with Joe Greene in his role as a Customer Service Ambassador. He and Greene agreed that Benedict should be the “point man” for any faculty inquiries regarding this initiative. Benedict said he will be working on a report that defines the role of the faculty with regard to Customer Service that will be an adjunct to the policy that was adopted last summer without faculty input.

5. Tugmon reported on her regular bi-weekly meeting with the president and vice president. The president was absent from the meeting, but she discussed several issues with the vice president, including the Faculty Grievance policy FPC has been crafting and the Faculty Research and Faculty Development-related issues discussed at the last FPC meeting. Sullivan is open to having FPC draft new regulations regarding the use of the FRFD funds, and Tugmon asked van Tuyll and P. Jackson to draft a policy on this issue. They agreed. Tugmon will be scheduling a meeting with Sullivan to discuss the Student Technology Fee recommendation.

6. At the request of the director of financial aid, the constitution of the Scholarship and Financial Assistance Committee was changed to include a representative of the director of financial aid rather than the director of financial aid. This is because that committee’s work is specialized, and an employee of the Financial Aid office has responsibility for those special areas. It makes more sense for that person to serve on the committee.

7. The College of Business has asked that Jim Grayson be appointed to the COB post-tenure review committee to replace Barbara Coleman, who has become an assistant dean. The COB has also asked to have two people who are eligible to serve on the Program Review Committee, one who specializes in undergraduate issues and one who specializes in graduate issues. Each person would attend the committee’s meetings only when issues come up related to their area of responsibility. The committee approved the request.

8. Tugmon shared a request from Jurgen Brauer regarding the posting of committee minutes to the web and requiring staff and student participation at committee meetings. The committee members discussed ways to enforce compliance with the requirement for filing minutes in the library and the need for clerical support to accomplish that task. Tugmon will take this matter up with the vice president for academic affairs. With regard to staff and student participation, the committee’s sense was that there is no way to force students or staff to attend committee meetings. Brauer had other concerns, but those were held over to the next meeting due to time constraints.

9. Rychly will bring food next week.

Respectfully submitted,