Jill Jasperson announced the original policy is located on the web. She gave each Senator a copy of her committee's changes and recommendations. She asked Senators to take the recommendations back to their departments and compare them with the original policy.

Dee Martin explained that last spring he had some faculty in the trades area who wanted to be advanced in rank. There is no additional schooling for these faculty in their area of training. He would like the opportunity to bring those faculty to the rank of Assistant Professor. Dee stated there are a number of people in trades who do not have associate degrees and yet are doing a very good job. He feels that we punish these people by not allowing them to an Assistant Professor rank. He has been working with Jill and her committee on this issue.

Chris Jones commented that the instructors in the trades area should have at least completed the general education requirements associated with the degrees they offer. Dee explained that they have taken that into consideration, but feels that the different schools have to have different qualifications for teaching their courses. His faculty have the necessary requirements for their occupation. They are educated people. Dr. Stoddard indicated that if faculty are teaching courses in which there are embedded general education requirements, those faculty are required by accreditation to have met those general education requirements. That may not need to be reflected in a policy, but it definitely needs to be looked at.

Ernie Carey indicated that schools should have their own ranking policies. Dee explained that they do, however, this policy is the umbrella policy under which the schools operate.

This survey came from the Regents to be done by all of the schools in the state. They would like to know the percentage of time an instructor spends in each of the areas indicated on the survey. The numbers will be submitted as an institutional average.

The deans will distribute the survey to the department chairs, who will send them to the faculty members. The surveys need to be completed and returned by November 23^rd.

Student athletes feel there is an inconsistency as to how faculty handles their absences and make-up work. Athletes have forms that they should be presenting to their instructors explaining when they are going to be absent. There is also a space on the form for the instructors to make any comments. Grant explained that the teacher should work with the student to make up any work.

There is not a ceiling on the number of days an athlete can be gone. President Romesburg added that faculty members should be consulted beforehand and should have the option whether or not to work with the student. The responsibility lies with the faculty member, not some written policy. Dr. Stoddard explained that there are a few faculty members on campus who have a no-excuse policy in their classes. This puts athletes in a bind. Dr. Stoddard feels that the faculty needs to be reasonable when it comes to student athletes.

The student athletes are to be getting two reports during the semester. They are to obtain an instructor's signature and return the report to the athletic department. Senators feel there should be some other way of distributing the reports. How are the instructors to know that the students are not signing their own report? Grant suggested contacting the academic advisor for athletes, Tanise Chung-Hoon.

Grant announced that approval has been given to have a faculty night event on January 29th when UVSC plays basketball with Ricks college. All faculty, spouses, and family members are invited to attend. There will be free food and half-time entertainment. Prizes will also be given.

The changes in travel procedures have been approved. The major changes were with the mileage rate and meal allowances. President Romesburg explained that under 2b an additional change was made to say "reasonable and actual." Chris Jones suggested using the IRS per diem meal allowance rate since we will be using the IRS per diem mileage rate. Different cities have different food costs. The new travel procedures also indicate the traveler must choose option (a) or (b) at the time the TA is prepared. Chris mentioned that the traveler won't know the price of food for a particular city until he/she arrives in the city. President Romesburg will take that suggestion to President's Council.

A policy proposal regarding faculty hiring was made by the Senate. It was then taken to President's Council. Concerns were raised and were brought back to Senate to a committee that worked with Human Resources. That is where the work ended. Dr. Stoddard suggested beginning the process again. She felt the work that was done in the past was really dated.

Ernie explained there were at one time three different committees working on the same policy. One senate committee discussed the power departments have in the hiring process. Another committee discussed the necessity of the individual applying for a faculty position to fill out the same forms that staff complete. The third committee was from Human Resources, who dealt with the legal issues . Issues and concerns came to a head at the end of the year and ideas fell through the cracks.

There have been changes in Human Resources and their hiring process. The process we are looking at today is different than that of two years ago. We need to review the current hiring process and make some suggestions from there. Before we decide if we need a committee to work on this issue, we need to know if there are problems with the current process. Grant suggested Senators discuss this issue with their faculty to see if there are any concerns about the current policy and process. If there are concerns, we can discuss forming an ad hoc committee. Ernie will also obtain recommendations and legal concerns from the prior committees.

Grant also announced the need for an ad hoc committee to look at the constitution. Ernie stated that one of the major problems with the constitution is that minor changes have to be done through the faculty and the Board of Regents. We need a very general document that places the details in the by-laws. Anyone interested in serving on that committee should contact Grant.

Laurie Wood announced the AA/EEO Advisory Committee has a two year commitment and they are looking at replacing some committee members. Human Resources has asked for five nominations. These committee members would serve on hiring committees representing the candidates. Laurie that stated the committee is very interesting. Members would get the chance to work with different departments. It is a worthwhile committee. It is also time consuming but rewarding. There are no salary points available. Senators should e-mail Nancy Bartlett with any nominations. The committee members will be replaced in January.

Lisa Lambert explained she had received an assignment from the Dean's Council. The committee that she chaired with faculty and student representation felt that this issue is an academic matter. Lisa's role is now finished. The recommendation was that an academic matter, such as appealing a charge of academic dishonesty, goes to the department chair and dean, and then to an academic body which makes a final ruling. The deans agreed with the recommendation, then handed it to Grant. The Academic Standards Committee would be the logical committee to work on this. However, a subcommittee will need to be formed because currently there are no students serving on the Academic Standards Committee.

Dave Manning explained that Lisa Lambert and Tom Hover have discussed the role of the Academic Standards Committee in the appeals process. They would like the committee to be inserted in the official appeals process when a student is caught cheating or plagiarizing. The committee has discussed it and they would prefer not to be a part of the process if they are not the final step. Currently the final step is the appeals board.

Budget Committee

Curriculum Committee

Faculty Development Committee

OTHER ISSUES

REMARKS

ADJOURNMENT

ACTION: K.D. Taylor made a motion to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded.

Grant Richards adjourned the meeting at 4:31 p.m.