Present: David Parker (Chair, SU), Martha Siegel
(Past Chair, TU), E. William Chapin (Vice Chair, UMES), John Collins
(Secretary, UMBI), Alcott Arthur (CSU), R. Michael Garner (SU), Paul
Flexner (SU), Stephen Jacobs (UMB), Joyce Tenney (UMBC), J. Court
Stevenson (UMCES), Vincent Brannigan (UMCP), Emmanuel Onyeozili (UMES),
John Gustafson (UMUC).
Guest: Irwin Goldstein, Senior Vice Chancellor, Academic Affairs (USM).
Following friendly greetings from Dr. Emmanuel T. Acquah, UMES Acting
Vice President for Academic Affairs, the meeting was called to order at
approximately 10:25am.
The minutes of the February 15, 2007 CUSF meeting were unanimously
approved without any changes.
Dr. Parker= s previously
distributed list of suggested dates for the 2007-2008 CUSF meetings was
briefly discussed.
Dr. Parker said that the AAAC will meet by teleconference on March 13,
and that nothing much of interest to CUSF is on their agenda.
In response to a question from Dr. Siegel, Dr. Goldstein said that
there is no general agreement among the campuses on a flexible tenure
policy. He said that he would form a committee, consisting mainly of
faculty, to work on this issue. He noted that the Chancellor may soon
present a proposed policy on benefits for non-tenure-track, full-time
faculty to the Regents.
Dr. Goldstein began his System report at approximately 10:50am. He
noted that Chancellor Kirwan and Governor O=
Malley had developed an excellent working relationship. The Governor doesn=
t want to raise tuition or taxes, or do anything that will harm education
in Maryland. The last few weeks of legislative activity have been very
difficult. The operational portion of the USM budget was cut from $9.4 to
$4.8 million. The House eliminated funding for the training of teachers,
although the Senate hadn= t
acted yet. It= s expected the
Senate will vote for smaller cuts, but a compromise committee may halve
the difference between the Senate and House budgets. A question remains on
what to do about projected enrollment growth. The Chancellor has said that
students wouldn= t be admitted
without the funds needed to pay for them. The new Regents (Barry Gossett,
Thomas McMillan and James Shea) are getting on board. Everyone is pleased
that Patricia Florestano, Clifford Kendall and Orlan Johnson were
reappointed. The Hagerstown Business College=
s application for a four-year business degree was approved by MHEC, but it
appears to duplicate a USM program. Several difficult bills are pending.
One would change the status of undocumented aliens. Many of these people
have lived in Maryland for years, have gone through high school, etc., and
yet do not qualify for in-state tuition. Additional difficult bills deal
with academic program duplication, collective bargaining, and other
issues.
Dr. Goldstein concluded his report at 11:20am. In response to a
question from Dr. Stevenson, he said that there had recently been a
meeting on the future of the MEES (Marine Estuarine Environmental
Sciences) Graduate Program, with all interested parties present. This is
an interdisciplinary program with more than 200 graduate students.
Everyone, including the Chancellor, agreed that the MEES program was very
valuable and should be continued.
Dr. Collins reported briefly on recent changes in the MHEC-FAC
(Maryland Higher Education Commission Faculty Advisory Committee) By-Laws.
CUSF may now officially select any of its members (not just the
Chair or Vice Chair) to represent us at the MHEC-FAC meetings. He noted
that CUSF could have a greater influence on this body, since, in addition
to the CUSF representative, eight of the twenty-two MHEC-FAC seats are
reserved for representatives of USM institutions. The current USM members
on MHEC-FAC are as follows:
CUSF - John Collins |
UMCP - Frank Alt |
UMB - currently vacant |
UMBC - Anthony Norcio |
(BSU + UMES) - Ali Eydgahi [UMES] |
(FSU + SU) - Katherine Almquist [FSU] |
TU - Pat Alt |
(CSU + UB) - Lee Richardson [UB] |
(UMUC + UMCES + UMBI) - Rhea Reed [UMUC] |
Nominees for election to the 2007-2008 CUSF Executive Committee were
announced. As noted earlier, the candidates for Chair are Drs. Parker
(SU), Chapin (UMES) and Collins (UMBI). Drs. Stuart (UMCP) and Siegel (TU)
are candidates for Vice Chair. Drs. Arthur (CSU), Shirazi (UMUC) and James
(UMUC) were identified as candidates for At-Large positions. No Secretary
candidates were identified. It was agreed that nominations for all
positions except Chair would remain open until the elections take place at
the April 17 CUSF meeting. Since candidates for office must not take part
in the election procedures, Dr. Arthur resigned from the Election
Committee. The remaining members of the Election Committee are Joyce
Tenney (Chair, UMBC), Zane Berge (UMBC), Vince Brannigan (UMCP) and Patti
Cossard (UMCP).
A discussion of benefits for full-time, non-tenure-track (ft-ntt)
faculty began at approximately 11:50am. Drs. Brannigan and Siegel
expounded on whether or not ft-ntt faculty are State employees. A spirited
exchange of views continued through lunch and ended at 1:05pm. Dr.
Goldstein said that the Chancellor was planning to present a retirement
benefits phase-in proposal for ft-ntt faculty to the Regents in April, but
this was not an ironclad promise. Dr. Goldstein left the meeting at this
point. Dr. Parker made some follow-up remarks, and a discussion followed
on what to do next. Drs. Chapin and Siegel agreed to draft a CUSF position
letter regarding benefits for the ft-ntt faculty, to be reviewed by Drs.
Parker and Richardson and then submitted to CUSF for comments and
suggestions prior to the Regents' meeting on April 13.
The meeting adjourned at approximately 1:30pm. |