Council of University System Faculty

CUSF Meeting of January 17, 2003

MINUTES
CUSF Meeting at USM
January 17, 2003

Present: Drs. Frank Alt (UMCP), Alcott Arthur (CSC), Terry Berkeley (TU), Vincent Brannigan (UMCP), Ronald Chenette (UMB), John Collins (UMBI), James Gelatt (UMUC), Stephanie Gibson (UB), Rosemary Jagus (UMBI), Barbara Laufer (TU), John Organ (BSU), W. Edward Orser (UMBC), Lee Richardson (UB), Carl Smith (UMCP), and J. Court Stevenson (UMCES),

Excused: all others

USM Guests: Joseph Vivona, Vice Chancellor, Administration and Finance; Linda Vukovich, Director of Budget Analysis; Drs. Ruth Robertson and Nancy Shapiro, Associate Vice Chancellors, Academic Affairs.

Because of winter weather, attendance was lower than usual. Due to particularly heavy snow on the Eastern Shore, the Chair (Dr. Parker, SU) and Secretary (Dr. Noonan, UMES) were not able to attend. The meeting was chaired by Dr. Collins (UMBI), CUSF Vice Chair.

Dr. Collins called the meeting to order promptly at 10:00 am, but Dr. Gibson called attention to the lack of a quorum. Following a brief discussion, it was agreed to go ahead with the meeting out of respect for those in attendance and because of the important business at hand. Dr. Collins then asked Vice Chancellor Vivona to begin his presentation on the recently announced further cuts to the FY03 USM budget. The presentation, which lasted for about 60 minutes (including discussion), was very informative and much appreciated.

Although a quorum was eventually achieved, formal approval of the minutes of the December 19 CUSF meeting was deferred until the next CUSF meeting. It was noted that the sentence "Dr. Parker will ask for feedback from the Chancellor, as well as ensure that each campus will carry this out" should be changed to "Dr. Parker will ask for feedback from the Chancellor, and ask the Chancellor to ensure that each campus will carry this out."

Dr. Collins presented a brief Vice Chair's report on the upcoming AAAC (January 21) and BOR (January 22-23) meetings.

Dr. Robertson presented a brief USM report and reported on the progress of the VCAA search committee.

Dr. Laufer presented a report on the reapportionment of CUSF membership. A discussion followed.

Dr. Collins suggested, and it was agreed, that, rather than break for lunch and committee meetings, the full meeting would continue through the lunch period.

The final item was a lively discussion of how to prepare for our February 17 meeting with Governor Ehrlich. Dr. Jagus, who is "on site" at the Columbus Center,  has agreed to oversee all the local arrangements (food, parking, etc.), to ensure that everything goes smoothly.  Dr. Collins suggested, and it was agreed, that CUSF should prepare a list of questions for the Governor in order to make the best use of the limited time that he will be with us. It was agreed that the entire CUSF executive committee (with an invitation to other interested CUSF members) must meet with the Chancellor to help plan our meeting with the Governor. It was agreed that Dr. Collins would attempt to set up this meeting with the Chancellor as soon as possible. It was noted that an executive committee meeting was already scheduled for February 3, following the Chancellor's Council meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:30 pm

[Followup note: Immediately following the meeting, Dr. Robertson helped Dr. Collins negotiate with Dana Flanders to schedule a meeting of the Chancellor to with the CUSF executive committee at 3:00 pm on February 3. That was the earliest it could be done because of the Chancellor's busy schedule. The meeting time was subsequently changed to 1:00 pm. Unfortunately, due to a statewide snow emergency, the February 17 meeting with Governor Ehrlich had to be canceled.]