Council of University System Faculty
CUSF Meeting of November 19, 2004
Council of University System Faculty
Minutes
– November 19, 2004
University of Baltimore
Present:
Lee Richardson (Chair); Martha Siegel (Immediate Past Chair); Joan Langdon (BSU);
Alcott Arthur (CSC); Linda Day-Clark (CSC); John C. McMullin (FSU); Kim Rotruck
(FSU); R. M Garner (SU); Harry Womack (SU); David L. Parker(SU, ExCom); Patricia
Alt (TU, ExCom); Douglas Pryor (TU); Jay Zimmerman (TU); Stephanie Gibson (UB);
David A. Hardcastle (UMB); Steve Jacobs (UMB); Alan Kreizenbeck (UMBC); Joyce
Tenney (UMBC); John H. Collins (UMBI); Ray Morgan (UMCES); Vincent Brannigan (UMCP,
Vice Chair); Denny Gulick (UMCP); William Stuart (UMCP); E. W. Chapin (UMES,
Secretary); A. Deloris James (UMUC); John Gustafson (UMUC); Adelaide Lagnese (UMUC);
Joyce Shirazi (UMUC); Gertrude Eaton (USM); Irv Goldstein (USM);
The meeting was called to order at ten
o’clock.
UB President Bogomolny brought greetings from
the campus. He discussed the recent turn-around in the ten-year enrollment
decline and the campus’s active real estate business.
The agenda was approved as distributed.
The minutes of the October meeting were approved with minor adjustments.
Given the favorable reception of the A. R. T.
policy by the Board of Regents, it is now incumbent upon us to make sure that
the modifications become well-known on all the campuses.
Irv Goldstein and Gertrude Eaton presented an
extensive USM report.
It would appear that there will be a “bump” for the USM in the
Governor’s proposed budget, but the amount is not yet known.
As a result, the BOR may not act to determine new tuition rates until
after the first of the year. If
there is a special legislative session on the medical malpractice question, it
will likely also consider the possible override of the veto of the bill
authorizing regular 5% increases for the USM coupled with 5% limitation on
tuition increases.
Among the E & E initiatives, wording for the required 12-credits of
non-traditional coursework seems to have stabilized (and to be sufficiently
general not to be a significant problem for most of the campuses). The
limitation of degree programs to 120 credits (with the expected exceptions) also
seems close to its final form. Small wording adjustments, accepted by Irv
Goldstein, were made to the policy for spring admits with deferred admission
from the fall semester. Later, the Committee on Academic Affairs agreed to
provide leadership in the further consideration of these issues and other
matters involving the appearance of the breach of traditional faculty
responsibilities by other parties.
The policy of applying a possible 25% tuition surcharge for students
taking over 10% beyond the required number of credits for their degree is rather
more complex, since it is not quite clear what courses to count and what
exceptions need to be made.
The earlier apparent MSDE mandate concerning the way to teach teachers to
teach reading seems now to be less of a mandate, leaving faculty freer to teach
what seems most appropriate, but the situation bears continued watching.
The alcohol and substance abuse policy question has arisen again, thanks
to a request from the CUSS chair in his report to the BOR. Perhaps a policy,
similar to some other BOR policies, simply requiring each campus to have its own
policy could be adopted, since currently available policy drafts seem
unacceptable to most constituencies. Later,
a committee spearheaded by Vince Brannigan and Stephanie Gibson, extended to the
entire Committee on Faculty Affairs (and friends) will consider this issue. Information on how this sort of thing is handled at peer
institutions would be most helpful.
The Presidents’ work on On-Line instructional priorities is at the
stage of gathering the experience of the campuses and seeking successful
examples. There are complex
questions of faculty training and incentives, overall funding, etc., so that any
final policy must leave the decisions about implementation to the campuses.
Relying on the expertise and experience of UMUC will certainly be one
option, but also certainly not a mandate.
The Regents’ Faculty Awards proposals are all in now and have been
distributed to reviewers for discussion at a December 13th meeting.
Some campuses are reporting losing faculty because there are not
sufficient funds for the salaries needed to hold stronger young faculty and
because of teaching load questions. This
impacts negatively on the amount of external research funding coming to the USM
campuses.
Work on the proper definition of faculty load and its accurate reporting
continues. The inclusion of all
full-time faculty in computations and the provision of additional instruction
for those who do the counting on the campuses (in ways that will provide a more
complete record of the various sorts of work that faculty do) all seem to be
leading to more accurate reporting. A
more general recognition that department-level analysis, rather than individual
exception reporting, is more likely to be a better measure of load could
facilitate understanding of faculty load by legislators and others not directly
involved in teaching.
The
System Appeals policy proposed by Martha Siegel, distributed earlier, generated
considerable discussion. After a
motion for cloture passed, the proposal itself was approved, and then reopened
to approve editorial adjustments later by committee.
According to the report of Pat Alt and others,
many of the meetings of the MHEC FAC are dominated by the representatives of the
community colleges. We need to
encourage the Senate Chairs to be sure that all USM representatives have in fact
been selected and that they are attending the meetings.
Another matter eliciting considerable
discussion was the proposed increases in the costs of healthcare (premiums,
deductibles, doctor visits, etc. all might go up). Later in the meeting,
Stephanie Gibson proposed wording for a letter to the Governor, expressing our
distress and concern about the proposed increases. The letter was approved in principle with authority for
revision of the wording resting with a committee consisting of the CUSF
Executive Committee, Stephanie Gibson and Jay Zimmerman.
Mike Garner’s report of concern about
significant increases in Presidential salaries during times of financial
stringency, particularly when such increases occur roughly at the same time that
there are layoffs on the campus, generated the final discussion of the day.
The
meeting was adjourned at about two o’clock.