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Council of University System Faculty

CUSF Meeting of January 20, 2005

Council of University System Faculty

Minutes – January 20, 2005

USM HQ – Adelphi MD.

Present: Lee Richardson (Chair); Martha Siegel (Immediate Past Chair); Joan Langdon (BSU); Alcott Arthur (CSC); John C. McMullin (FSU); Marci McClive (FSU); Kim Rotruck (CSU); Mike Garner (SU); David Parker (SU, ExCom); Patricia Alt (TU); Douglas Pryor (TU); Stephanie Gibson (UB); Steve Jacobs (UMB); David A. Hardcastle (UMB); Joyce Tenney (UMBC); John H. Collins (UMBI); Ray Morgan (UMCES); Court Stevenson (UMCES); Frank Alt (UMCP); Vincent Brannigan (UMCP, Vice Chair); Denny Gulick (UMCP); Martin Heisler (UMCP); William Stuart (UMCP); E. W. Chapin (UMES, Secretary); A. Deloris James (UMUC); John Gustafson (UMUC); Adelaide Lagnese (UMUC); Irv Goldstein (USM); Joe Vivona (USM).

The meeting was called to order at ten o’clock.The parallel New Chairperson’s Workshop had started a little earlier.

The agenda was approved as distributed.The minutes of the December meeting were approved as distributed.

Martha Siegel collected nominations for the Ombudsman Committee.Later in the day we selected Marion Harris, Dave Parker and Denny Gulick to serve on the committee, assisting Lee Richardson, who will serve as chair.

There were fewer reports than usual on the activities of outside committees to which we send representatives since many of these groups did not meet in January, perhaps awaiting the release of a University budget, something scheduled to take place next week.

Additional thoughts and information concerning health care benefit cuts should go to the Alts’ committee.There would appear to be a possibility of significant cost-shifting to individual employees (perhaps as much as $900/annum) by the time the July 1 adjustments to the plans are made. Rather than trying to decide which collection of cuts would be least offensive, it was suggested that opposition to the entire plan be expressed, perhaps most effectively to local legislators in their own districts.

The Student Research Days with the legislators will be conducted on March 1-3, with a February 9th due date for applications.There seems to be more confusion this year about procedures and requirements.Members are urged to communicate the information sent to them electronically and also to help ensure that all campuses are represented.Professor Brannigan, P. Alt, Siegel and Tenney will work on the final selection.

The matter of the proposed UB – TU joint MBA program is still up in the air.It may be that the program can be considered not as a new program (particularly if all the courses are conducted on the UB campus with combined UB – TU staff), and thus not relevant for OCR considerations or requiring new MHEC approval.

Work on the Pension Resolution of December 15 has been delayed by the holidays and the busyness of those involved now that the legislature is in session.It still needs careful consideration by the Chancellor’s office.

Similarly, the alcohol/drug policy is currently in limbo.It now seems to be recognized that faculty policies and staff policies do not need to be identical. Perhaps a general set of definitions and a requirement that each campus have its own policy consistent with the definitions might suffice.

Distance Education reports will be coming from the campuses into the System Academic Affairs offices by February 1. While there seems to have been faculty input into these plans on some of the campuses, there seems to have been little ‘shared-governance’ input.Difficult questions about measuring the quality of on-line (and traditional) courses, how to handle courses offered by one campus in the bailiwick of another, etc., remain. Consideration of this issue was referred to the Academic Affairs Committee.In addition, we will try to set up an on-line Distance Education Committee to deal with some of the issues. Maryland Online, involving nineteen school (and supported by a FIPSE grant) may be of assistance in modeling procedures and courses.

Professor Heisler reported on the Scholars at Risk network (a group of academic bodies, some campuses, some departments and NGO’s) whose purpose is keeping up information about scholars worldwide whose freedom has been limited and providing them help and short-term shelter.Because of an available endowment for covering costs, there is no required financial obligation for campuses or departments who support this work.

Vice Chancellors Vivona and Goldstein reported on budgetary matters. The actual increment available to the USM from the proposed state budget in about 4.8%, the rest of the official 5.8% increase being flow-throughs to other recipients included in the USM budget. This will probably result in proposed student tuition increases in the range of 5.8% with considerable variation across campuses and among different groups of students (in-state vs. out-of-state, undergraduate vs. graduate). Funds for merit raises may be included but any funding for COLAs must come in later supplemental budget requests. This time, there are even dollars included to deal with increasing workers’ compensation and pension costs. None of this will make up for the disastrous budget situation of the last couple of years but will stop the hemorrhaging and will allow the comprehensive campuses to start increasing enrollment to meet state-wide needs. Factors determining the distribution of the funds available include i. “Excellence” (amount campuses have fallen with respect to their peer institutions in the past few years; ii. The need to accommodate more undergraduates; iii. Covering mandatory cost increases across the campuses, especially for those that do no have tuition resources; iv. Meeting the OCR agreement; v. Allowing campuses to open buildings already built.

The USM signed a ten-year stable-cost maintenance agreement before the recent takeover.Similar new multi-campus contract with Microsoft and with Boise-Kincaid should help stabilize some campus expenditures.

The Educational Policy Committee will consider the E&E initiatives. The ’12-credits special classes’, ‘spring admit special expectations’ and ‘120-credit majors’ seem to be stabilizing, but the ‘extra fees for excess courses’ policy has proved to be more complex than realized and will require more work.

The meeting was adjourned at about two o’clock.

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