ATTENDANCE

Present: Sub. for Damon Bahr, Deborah Baird, sub. for John Balden, David Brandt, Joe Buchman, Elaine Byrd, Eddie Cadet, Ernest Carey, Malcolm Crawford, Max Christofferson, Kathie Debenham, Jeanille Gooch, Eldon Greenhalgh, Ron Hammond, Jill Jasperson, Chris Jones, sub. for Stephanie Larsen, Dave Manning, Doug Miller, Duane Miller, Tom Perkins, Kirk Rasmussen, Liliana Riboldi, Grant Richards, Pres. Kerry Romesburg, Merlin Smith, Keith Snedegar, Dr. Lucille T. Stoddard, K.D. Taylor, Jon Turner, Lynn Turnquist, sub. for Cristine Veit, Forrest Williams, Don Wilson, Laurie Wood

Absent: Jeanette Hall, Chester Heath, Gary Noll

Excused: LouAnn Provost

Guests: Debbie Abbott, Nancy Bartlett, Janet Bennion, Andrea Brown, Mike Freeman, Steve Jackson, Lisa Lambert, Nate Oldham, Val Peterson

CALL TO ORDER

Grant Richards called the meeting to order at 3:08 p.m.

INFORMATION ITEMS

1. Parking:

Val Peterson was in attendance to address parking issues and was invited to make his presentation before the action items. He stated that Lot K (LEC parking lot) will close near the end of the semester (but hopefully not before finals week) due to construction on the Information Sciences Building. To make up for the loss of these spots, it is hoped that before fall semester starts, parking lot J (lot behind parking services) will be paved. Val stated that Lot D (business lot, second level) could not be enlarged, because there is no room to expand it.

Other changes include the possibility of reinstalling the gate in parking Lot A (administration lot), but no decisions have been made. Parking Services will take out one police stall in Lot C (business lot, first level), leaving one so that police officers will have a place to park when they come onto campus, and because the Police Academy has a car that they park on campus. Val also addressed the handicap parking issue by stating that the handicap parking standard is to have about 10% of the total parking on campus be handicap parking. If UVSC was challenged, we would not be in compliance. We are constantly checking the use of the stalls we have, but currently we do not meet the 10% rule.

Val addressed the issue of a faculty-only parking lot by stating it was not a possibility, there are just as many complaints from staff as there are from faculty. We went to the tag system to prevent students from getting faculty stickers, and that has helped, but everyone needs to start planning extra time into their schedules for parking. Val stated there would be no new lots on campus because for as many students as we have, we do have sufficient parking, it is just a matter of where you park. Regarding the three parking stalls in lot B taken up by the construction of the bus stop, Val stated they should be available within the week. Val stated that UVSC is getting to the point that there is not enough parking in the free lot. We currently have about 6,500 paved spots, more than the mall, and we have really been working to improve the lots, i.e. paving and lighting many lots in the last couple of years.

Val addressed a question about students who work part-time getting faculty/staff permits. He stated that if students have more than seven credit hours then they are not allowed to have a faculty/staff permit, no matter how much or how little they work. They should obtain a student parking permit. However, when a department requests a faculty/staff permit for a part-time employee, they can have one.

President Romesburg answered a question regarding the issue of the Utah County Journal Building by stating that tomorrow we will sign the papers and it will become the property of UVSC. Val pointed out that this would add some parking spots. Both Gil and Val have been up to look at the property. There is talk of building an access road and adding additional parking.

Chris Jones asked about pedestrian problems involving parking lots, the roundabout, and the information booth. Val stated that pedestrians too often use the roundabout as a walkway. UVSC has done a sign campaign, and has issued tickets to pedestrians. The main problem is that people walk in their "line of sight" and there is not much we can do to change that. Val doesn't like that so many students cross University Parkway from their homes and then enter the roundabout. The roundabout is two lanes without lines to allow "weave". Universal signs were up but were changed to the present ones by order of a judge so that the judge would not throw tickets out of court. It is a good system, it only stumps those who are unfamiliar with the campus. The speed limit is 25 miles per hour which allows enough time to react to other drivers. K.D. Taylor suggested building a walkway (overpass). Val stated that this would never happen due to cost and because research shows relatively little use of walkways when they do exist. Pedestrians still choose line-of-sight paths. Chris asked about lots being policed after 5:00 p.m. and Val replied that they are policed, but many times police are helping students with dead batteries, keys locked into cars, etc.. Val suggested parking in Lot C after 5:00 p.m. because it is gated. Senators were invited to address further questions and ideas to Val or to Steve Jackson (director of fleet operations and parking).

1. Benefits:

Debbie Abbott was invited to address her part of the program before the regular agenda began. She distributed a handout showing the changes in benefit costs. This handout will be given to the faculty-at-large. Ron Hammond asked about reimbursable flexible spending. Debbie stated that under flexible spending you can plan ahead for premiums, doctor visits, subscriptions, eye glasses, and dependent child care. Doug Miller asked who our provider was. Debbie explained that it was still Educators Mutual, we are on a one-year contract and we are still looking into becoming self-insured.

Debbie explained that our life insurance benefit is going up, and that the college will pay for the increase in the premium. Dependent life insurance will have a decrease in the premium. The supplemental vision policy will stay the same. Debbie reminded the senators that April is open enrollment. On April 6, Human Resources is hosting a Hall of Flags extravaganza. President Romesburg stated that only one company made an appropriate bid. The changes being made will cost 1.5% of the 2.5% increase the legislature allotted for salary increases. This will be used to fund the raises in premiums and to keep our benefits package nearly the same. Forrest Williams mentioned that some school districts and schools are much worse off than UVSC and that our health insurance is still very good compared to the industry. Jill Jasperson asked how long it would take to become self- insured. President Romesburg stated that we are looking into self insurance next year and it would be ready in a year. We have three choices: 1) be self-insured on our own, 2) be self-insured with Weber and 3) be self-insured with SLCC, and Weber. Weber would be a good partner. Their benefits package is very conservative.

1. ASUVSC Vice President:

Grant Richards introduced the new Student Academic Vice President, Nate Oldham.

1. Student Advisors and First Year Experience:

President Romesburg explained that UVSC did receive full enrollment growth but the last bit of money given on the last day of the session was one-time money. We will treat it all as ongoing money.

Mark Spencer explained that library funding came the last day of the session. Mark introduced Mike Freeman. Mike explained what some of the library funding would go to. He gave a handout of all the journals to which we have access. He explained that we have access to a data base paid for by joint money from state funded colleges. The legislature and presidents fully support this plan. Our new journals this year will include American Chemistry, educational abstracts, computer journals, and J-store (journals from the beginning up to 1993 covering many subjects). With new degrees we will need more journals. In 1993 we had 400 journals, now we have 21,005 journals. The journals are very cost effective. If you have a UVSC net account, you can access the journals from your home. Our library is getting where we need to be by getting more journals and more degrees will help bring us up to par.

Mark stated that recently a handout was given to all academic advisors to show the standard for each degree. Mark reported that they are also addressing the retention issue and working on creating a good first year experience for freshmen.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Eldon Greenhalgh moved to accept the minutes, Kirk Rasmussen seconded the motion. The motion carried.

ACTION ITEMS

1. Salary policy:

Ron reminded everyone that the policy was given out at the last meeting, and that it still has to go to the trustees meeting. Ron began the discussion by stating that under Procedure C-2 school committees are addressed. Ernest Carey reminded the group that someone has to move that the policy be brought to the floor and then discussion can begin. Ron moved to bring the salary policy to the floor, Eldon seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous. Ron made a motion to amend Procedure C-2 by adding "school committees". Question was called and the amendment passed.

Chris Jones brought up a discussion about Item F. The policy states that you cannot earn merit points under the old system after July 1, 1999, so the question is, how do you earn merit points between July 1 and Oct 1, when school worksheets should be ready? Ron stated on June 1 faculty has to let the merit committee know about their intentions, and then they would apply for merit points by June 30. Duane stated that the change in merit programs is way too fast. Laurie suggested that next year we stay on the same merit system and move to the new merit system the following year. Duane noted that this, however, is not the plan we voted on. Laurie suggested just changing it in the policy from 1999-00 to 2000-01.

Ernie stated that next year is our transition year and noted that because the old system rewards merit based on column changes, we can't use the old system next year to award merit because when it comes time to reward those points we will be on the new formula system. It was clarified that after this year's column jumps, leftover merit points from the old system would be put on hold for a year and bought out the following year. It was suggested just buying out the extra points in 1999, but this would be impossible financially. K.D. Taylor referred everyone to page five in the salary proposal. The proposal does match the policy that Linda wrote. Laurie feels that there will be confusion regarding merit come July 1, 1999. Ron stated that this is why each school should get a tentative merit list ready before we go into the summer, even without details, and we still have five weeks to get that tentative schedule ready. Nancy Bartlett stated that she had assumed that Linda's official policy was written to match the senate's proposal. Laurie thinks that there is too much to do before July 1, that it's just not possible to have a new merit schedule in place. She thinks that we should stay on the old merit system until July 1, 2000. The reply was that one problem may be trying to buyout that many merit points, it might overwhelm the system. Discussion was tabled until Linda could arrive.

1. Elections:

Laurie passed out election ballots. Even though the nominee for president-elect was listed on the ballot, this position is voted on by the faculty-at-large. The senate could use this ballot to vote on all the other positions indicated (committees and committee chairs). It was asked if the constitution stated that executive officers should have 1.5 nominees per position. Ernie stated that executive officers have to be voted on by the faculty-at-large, but do not require 1.5 candidates. Laurie will create ballots to be given to all faculty members. (It was later decided to present this vote at the general faculty meeting held March 31^st.) Dave Manning asked if we could still nominate others right now for the ballot that senators were filling out. Debbie noted that nominations for those committee positions must be into the election committee five days before the vote. Senators wanted to add to this ballot, so it was decided to write in some additional nominations, and then leave the vote open for five days. These ballots, therefore, must be turned in to Laurie or Debbie by March 30^th. The name Alan Tucka for Academic Standards or Faculty Development was added to the ballot, as was Ray Sievers for Faculty Development. Forrest reminded the senate that it is good to have variety of departments represented on the committees.

Laurie asked for a listing of replacement senators for those who are retiring. They are as follows:

RETIRING REPLACEMENT

Jon Turner Larry Holt

Liliana Riboldi Bryan Eldridge

Jeanille Gooch Eberhard Lehnardt

Merlin Smith Undecided

Duane Miller Karin Davidson

LouAnn Provost Linda Edgeton

Don Wilson Paul Bean

(Note, Ron Hammond was later ratified for President-elect, so he will retire as senator, and be replaced by Cameron John.)

1. Salary Proposal

Linda Makin came to discuss the budget policy. (Tabled motion from earlier today.) She noted that because formulas start the second year, and extra columns won't be added to the old schedule, no one will make it past column ten. She stated that she wrote the actual policy based on the proposal. President Romesburg suggested that the school could choose to used the old merit system for a year and then move to a worksheet. Linda noted the problem with this idea would be the change in how the money is distributed, and how the old system rewards merit. The built-in difficulty of the old merit system might cause people to think they are working towards a column change. We need to freeze column changes now so we can then afford a payout of any leftover merit points next year. Question was called, one vote opposed the suggested amendment to salary policy, the motion carried.

1. Senate President Comments:

Grant Richards noted that we would require some quick information on the other policies before us because we would vote on them next time. Grant also noted that President Romesburg helped get the Web working again, and Ernie has created a link to each of these policies.

1. Policy C-8.1:

Debbie Abbott noted that this change is intended to help the employee, making it is so our policy matches changes in Social Security eligibility. The Social Security retirement age has changed. This would help those who fall into a later age group bridge the gap between early retirement and social security.

1. Policy C-5.3, C-5.5, F-2.1

Forrest reminded us that under Policy C-5.3 the old modules were outdated. C-5.5 is to keep practice in line with policy. F-2.1 is housekeeping. Item F addresses requiring new teachers to do their formative evaluations both fall and spring. Kirk feels that student evaluations are only one method of evaluating an instructor, and that there may be an allowance for other methods of evaluation. Forrest stated he was unable to find that in policy. Kirk stated it was not in policy, but he thinks teaching competency needs to be evaluated beyond student evaluations. Forrest noted there are two tracks: 1) previous teaching experience where they would be monitored, 2) no teaching experience where they would be steered in a different direction. Forrest stated his committee made the policy broad to allow for various options.

Laurie asked if the formative evaluation would be a one-time thing or an on-going requirement. Lisa Lambert replied that this policy change was done by the committee, it has not gone through Dean's council, they wanted to get senator's input. They don't know if it would be a one-time thing, they didn't address that issue. Forrest thinks the formative evaluations are very good for accreditation purposes. Laurie feels that formative evaluations are only for the faculty member and shouldn't be used for this. Forrest agreed, and will strike that part of the proposal, but feels we still need to find a way of helping the teacher to improve. Dave Manning feels that for the evaluation to be formative, it has to be completely optional. Forrest disagrees, stating that as long as no one else sees the evaluation, then it is still formative. Dave stated we should find another way to evaluate a teacher. Dr. Stoddard agreed. Forrest declared then that senators are to assume that Item F is gone, but they were to come back with suggestions. Kirk made a motion to not have Policy C-5.3, C-5.5, and F-2.1 an action item next time, Chris Jones second the motion. The vote was unanimous. This proposal will have to be looked at again in the fall.

1. Policy E-8.1:

Grant asked Dave Manning to pay close attention to this policy and noted the 2.0 was being referred to as "on probation", so does that mean that a C- is a failing grade? And what about only needing a 2.0 to graduate? Chris Jones also noted the way the policy is written it says that all 5,000 new students would be issued a warning. K.D. suggested adding "and earned" to the text.

1. Policy F-1.3

This policy change is being requested by Dr. Stoddard. She explained that there has been a lecturer position available in the past to give to teachers. It is very loose and really has no structure. We also have one- year nontenure-track positions. This policy is meant to address the issue of adjunct faculty, some being here 15 years and teaching five or more classes per semester, who will never be hired because they do not have the appropriate degree. We keep hiring them as adjuncts because they are good teachers. She would like to activate the lecturer position for these types of adjunct instructors. This position would include some benefits.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

1. Duane handed out a listing of how the merit bonus awards were delegated. He noted that 20 more people were eligible for merit bonus this year over last year. The range for payment eligibility was a score of 80.2 to100. The fixed merit rate used in the formula is $7.69 per point, with bonus amounts periodically applied to the scale. This will be on the April 16^th paycheck. K.D. suggested faculty should call payroll to make an adjustment on how taxes are calculated for this one check, or the tax withdrawal would be very high. Linda mentioned that faculty needs to wait until after the current paycheck has been run.
2. Lisa reminded the senate of the research conference being held on campus. She noted it would be great for faculty development. Any faculty interested in attending should clear it with their dean and then call Margie Green. Dr. Stoddard will pay the registration fee.

REMARKS

Dr. Stoddard handed out a copy of the proposed new degrees and when they should be available. She noted that this list changes daily, and that things are moving even more quickly. Behavioral Science, Accounting, Legal Assistant, and Criminal Justice programs are coming soon.

ADJOURNMENT

Kirk moved for the meeting to adjourn, Kathie Debenham seconded the motion. The meeting was adjourned at 5:08 p.m.