2005-2006 Faculty Senate Motions

2005-2006 Faculty Senate Motions

(Not including Minutes, Consent Agenda, and Motions to close debate)

Passed Motions:

September 13, 2005

Motion to refer the Grade Policy to the Academic Affairs committee, and to have them report back before the last Senate meeting of the semester.

Motion for the FA to agree to four faculty representatives for the Search Committee for Vice President for Student Life and Development: one from the Counseling Center, one from First Year Experience Advisory Committee, one from CARE, and one faculty who has a connection in an advisory capacity to a unit in Student Life and Development.

Motion to substitute:

Substitute motion for the FA to agree to four faculty representatives for the search committee for Vice President for Student Life and Development: one from the Counseling Center, one from First Year Experience Advisory Committee, one from CARE, and one faculty representing the whole university, not just a directly affected area.

Motion to begin the process of establishing search committees to hire deans for COB and COSS, using the standard process and having five faculty representatives from the following make up: at least one minority, at least one female, no more than one faculty per department, and one faculty at large outside the college.

September 27, 2005

Motion to support the Draft Proposal for Public History Task Force.

Motion for the FA Senate to support the Motion from Teacher Development.

Motion for the FA to soundly condemn the expressions of hatred and bigotry expressed in the COE Dean’s Evaluation 2004-05 surveys and reported in the COE Evaluation of the Dean External Evaluation Report.

Motion for the FA Senate to support the Executive Committee’s concern regarding the publication of the evaluation of the COE Dean and direct the Meet and Confer Team to convey our grave concern to Administration, and to ask the Administration to advise the University community on what action they will take in response.

Motion to close the debate on the Motion for the FA Senate to support the Executive Committee’s concern regarding the publication of the evaluation of the COE Dean and direct the Meet and Confer Team to convey our grave concern to Administration, and to ask the Administration to advise the University community on what action they will take in response.

Motion to that the FA requests the Administration’s Legal Counsel to assemble all the relevant state statutes and university policies regarding harassment in workplace and the creation of a hostile work environment and to assure the university community that the university intends to enforce these statutes and policies promptly and rigorously.

Motion that the FA Senate directs the Executive Committee to find out whether a 1B1 investigation or similar official action is appropriate in this case and to report its actions back to Senate.

October 11, 2005

Motion to compile a list of different things faculty do, with a strongly worded letter about workload issues to those in authority.

Motion to withdraw 1B1 Complaint.

Motion to substitute:

Substitute Motion for the Senate to direct the Meet and Confer Team to take the issue of the 1B1 Complaint to Meet and Confer, and request alternative processes, including the services of Nancy Jessee as a primary contributor.

Motion to propose Senate to appoint two faculty members to meet with two Administrators to discuss how to set up the Task Force on Diversity Education. Condon and Leigh appointed.

Motion for Faculty Senate to direct Meet and Confer Team to ask Administration to convene the COE Task Force described in the EEOC report.

Motion for the Meet and Confer Team to go to the next Meet and Confer and inform Administration that Senate disapproves of the Attendance Policy insofar as it increases faculty workload.

Motion to separate:

Motion to amend Motion by removing the very last sentence of the Statement for Catalog Attendance Policy: “Members of the faculty are encouraged to report the name of any student whose repeated absence is impairing her/his work.”

Motion to postpone motion until next meeting.

October 25, 2005

Motion for the FS to support the Policy for E-mail as Official Communication to Students document, and to thank TLTR for their hard work.

Motion to add Rights and Responsibilities under the Grade Appeal Policy to agenda.

The following two motions from FS 10/11/05 were reread into the record:

Motion for the Meet and Confer Team to go to the next Meet and Confer and inform Administration that Senate disapproves of the Attendance Policy insofar as it increases faculty workload.

Motion to separate:

Motion to amend motion by replacing the word “requires” with “expects” in the sentence “St. Cloud State University requires all students to attend classes in which they are enrolled.”

Motion to substitute the motion that was divided with the following motion:

In response to the Administration’s proposed policies regarding mandatory attendance-taking and reporting, the Faculty Senate resolves as follows:

1. We recognize the critical importance of class attendance to our students’ success. We acknowledge the value of monitoring attendance and providing appropriate warnings and services to students who chronically miss classes. We are eager to work with the Administration to craft appropriate policies and guidelines that will improve our students’ rates of attendance.

2. Notwithstanding the above, we cannot accept the unilateral imposition of a requirement that all faculty members take attendance and report absences to the Administration. We believe that this constitutes an increase in workload which is both unfair and contrary to the terms of our contract. We also have reservations about its potential infringement on academic freedom. The decision to take attendance is a pedagogical as well as an administrative decision.

3. We therefore request that the Administration enter into good faith negotiations with the FA to craft a new policy that will encourage student attendance and facilitate the identification of students who need help, but will not infringe on academic freedom and will not impose new duties on faculty without some appropriate offsetting benefit to faculty.

Motion to support the Motion: The Community Anti-Racism Education Initiative (CARE) makes a motion to require all in-coming full and part time employees and those currently in leadership positions including supervisory positions, managers, administrative staff, and faculty department chairs/program directors to attend the CARE Orientation Workshop, Understanding Racism and Anti-Racist Organizing.

Motion to amend motion by adding: “provided, however, that no part-time employee shall be required to take the training more than once.”

Motion to amend as follows: “The FS supports the recommendation by the CARE Team that the University requires all in-coming full and part time employees and those currently in leadership positions including supervisory positions, managers, administrative staff, and faculty department chairs/program directors to attend the CARE Orientation Workshop, Understanding Racism and Anti-Racist Organizing.”

Motion to postpone this item until next Senate, with time definite of 4:00 PM.

November 1, 2005

Motion to cut the Gordian Knot for the motions for the Attendance Policy.

Motion: In response to the Administration’s proposed policies regarding mandatory attendance-taking and reporting, the Faculty Senate resolves as follows:

Motion to amend motion by replacing the word “requires” with “expects” in the sentence “St. Cloud State University requires all students to attend classes in which they are enrolled.”

Motion to recommend to Administration that they change the language of their draft policy to read “St. Cloud State University expects all students to attend classes in which they are enrolled.”

So the motion now reads as follows: “The FS supports the recommendation by the CARE Team that the University requires all in-coming full- and part-time employees and those currently in leadership positions including supervisory positions, managers, administrative staff, and faculty department chairs/program directors to attend the CARE Orientation Workshop, Understanding Racism and Anti-Racist Organizing, provided, however, that no part-time employee shall be required to take the training more than once.”

Motion that the FS recommend that FS members for the academic year 2005-06 be required to complete the CARE training by the end of spring 2006 semester.

Motion to amend motion from “CARE training” to “CARE Orientation Workshop.”

So the motion now reads as follows: “The FS recommend that FS members for the academic year 2005-06 be required to complete the CARE Orientation Workshop, Understanding Racism and Anti-Racist Organizing, by the end of spring 2006 semester.”

Motion that the FA urge Administration to budget funds to pay adjunct faculty at a reasonable hourly rate for attending any training deemed mandatory by the University and its associate units, affiliates, and organizations.

November 8, 2005

Motion that the Faculty Senate instructs the Meet and Confer Team to reject the Administrative policy on advising and other contacts with students. The policy goes beyond the contract in restricting the flexibility faculty have exercised in meeting this contractual obligation.

Motion that the Faculty Senate instructs the Meet and Confer Team to ask Administration to confer and work with faculty to find mutually agreeable solutions to the alleged problem.

Motion that the FS reject MnSCU’s recommendation of a Uniform Start Date calendar on the grounds that it should be adapted to local conditions and we need to see evidence of necessity of a Uniform Start Date calendar.

Motion that the FS also send to Meet and Confer a list of challenges and problems we would face with a uniform start date.

November 22, 2005

Motion for the Meet and Confer Team to take this Request to Hire form to Meet and Confer with the sense of the FS and statement that no hires for next fall will be held up while this form is being drafted.

Motion to have student pictures on the roster.

Motion to endorse the Early Notification System for Students pilot project.

December 6, 2005

Motion that Faculty Senators take the Academic Freedom Committee Report and the summary recommendations back to their departments for discussion, that the report be posted on Discuss, that an electronic copy be sent to the FA listserv, and that Senators bring feedback and comments to Senate. Also, that we invite Michael Spitzer to be at the next Senate, time definite 4:30 p.m.

Motion that we invite Michael Spitzer to be at the next Senate, time definite 4:30 p.m.

Motion to substitute:

Substitute motion that we invite Michael Spitzer to come to the Senate after the Senate has had a discussion of the topic.

Motion to thank Frankie Condon.

Motion to approve the statement on Diversity and Public Celebrations of Religious/Cultural Differences.

Motion to send this document to Academic Affairs Committee and that they get back to us by February.

Motion that Faculty Senate supports the Strategic Planning Membership and Terms Proposal.

December 20, 2005

Motion to support the recommendations in the summary of the Ad Hoc Committee on Academic Freedom.

January 24, 2006

Motion to support the proposal from the Service-Learning Advisory Committee and to take it to Meet and Confer.

Motion to approve Professional Development Committee minutes of December 14, 2005, with the amendment/correction of adding Robert Johnson to the mandatory list and deleting Les Green from the list.

Motion that we ask for analysis summary that the University was given for this report.

Motion to approve the Curriculum Forms from UCC.

Motion to have Meet and Confer team request that these forms be available for downloading from a University sponsored website.

Motion that FS strongly urge Academic Affairs to establish a webpage that would contain the pertinent information of academic functions.

Motion to approve proposal (with amendment to include dance students), and take to Meet and Confer for consideration.

Motion to refer proposal to Academic Affairs Committee, asking them to come up with recommendations on how groups are added and removed from this list according to the criteria.

February 7, 2006

Motion to approve language and send it forward to be printed in the bulletin.

Motion to amend motion by removing the last sentence in the statement.

Motion to approve language with changes (see approved statement below), and send it forward to be printed in the bulletin:

Statement for Catalog (i.e. for students)

Class Attendance

St. Cloud State University requires all students to attend classes in which they are enrolled. The university views class attendance as essential to student success. Students who regularly miss classes are less successful in university classes, more likely to leave the university before realizing their academic goals, and less likely to graduate. A student’s attendance in class enhances her/his education, allows interaction in the class discussions and activities, and is vital to the education of the other students in the class. For these reasons, faculty members often use class attendance as a factor in determining a student’s grade. Excessive absences may be grounds for failure.

Motion to ask Andy Anda, who has worked on the report, to develop a motion to determine the make up of the committee and bring it back to Senate.

February 21, 2006

Motion to approved changes to the Grade Appeal Policy.

Motion to ask for names of people who applied for promotions, tenures, sabbaticals; the years since their last promotion or sabbatical; and whether or not they received what they applied for, on an annual basis.

Motion for the Faculty Senate to ask the IFO to file a step-three grievance on this violation of the contract (Art. 6, Sec. B, Subd. 2; Art. 3, Sec. B).

Motion to note that there was no dissenting votes on the motion above.

March 14, 2006

Motion to take item, Background Paper on Higher Education Funding Reform, to departments (via email from Kilborn) for feedback to give to IFO Board members.

Motion to approve Faculty Resolution for Dean Search Committee, COSS, drafted on March 14, 2006.

March 28 – April 4, 2006

Motion for EC to put together an ad hoc committee composed of relevant aspects of FA structure to report in three weeks when they meet.

Motion:

1. The FA requests that President Saigo withdraw his appointment of a faculty member to the COSS Dean Search Committee.

2. Then the FA will return its members to the search committee.

Motion to substitute:

Motion that the Faculty Association accepts President Saigo’s proposal to resolve the grievance over the appointment of Dr. Kathleen Uradnik to the COSS Dean Search Committee in the following manner:

1. Dr. Uradnik shall serve as a voting Presidential Appointee on this committee and for this search only, and

2. All previous named faculty representatives shall return to the committee as full voting members, and

3. Two additional voting faculty representatives shall be chosen by the FA to serve on the COSS Dean Search Committee,

PROVIDED HOWEVER THAT

None of the above shall be effective unless and until the President of the University and the President of the Faculty Association sign a Memorandum of Agreement that this resolution is undertaken solely for the purpose of resolving this particular issue in a timely manner so that the search for a new COSS dean may proceed, and that this resolution shall not be construed in any manner as a precedent for future interpretation or application of Article 6 of the IFO-MnSCU Master Agreement.

Motion that the two additional faculty members will be from the COSS departments that did not have anyone on the original committee.

Motion to amend by striking the last sentence: “A member of the recommending committee may represent their college or be replaced by a member of their college.”

Final Motion: A committee will be convened to act upon the third and final enumerated recommendation of the Ad-Hoc Faculty Association-Administration Committee on Academic Freedom, passed as a motion on December 20, 2005. The committee shall comprise the membership of the recommending committee as well as an elected member of each college.

Motion to approve the Rights and Responsibilities under the Grade Appeal Policy as amended.

Motion: The SCSU Faculty Association supports implementing a pilot program of placement tests in reading and writing skills for all new entering first-year students, and urges administration to allocate sufficient funds to institute this program in 2006.

April 25, 2006

Motion to approve the recommendation from the CETL Advisory Board regarding the CETL Director Reporting Structure.

Motion to support the Plan for Student Success in principle.

Motion for Faculty Senate to support the Class Attendance/Participation Policy with amendment below:

Motion to amend the sentence in the policy: “For these reasons, faculty members are required to keep attendance/participation records* on all students registered in their classes” by changing “required” to “encouraged.”

Motion to refer UDWR request to the Constitutional Review Committee to make a recommendation to Senate.

Motion on the floor from last Senate:

Motion that because the Administration has declined the terms of settlement of the grievance regarding the COSS Dean Search approved in the FS motion of April 4, 2006, and because the entire purpose of that motion was to allow the search to proceed in a timely manner—a goal which can no longer be met—the FS now rescinds its approval of the proposal settlement with regret.

Motion to postpone the motion above indefinitely.

May 9, 2006

Motion to approve University Curriculum minutes of May 4, 2006, with item below separated:
Separated item: motion regarding EDAD Doctorate Program

Motion to substitute: approve the item separated (the motion regarding EDAD Doctorate Program) as part of the curriculum process and to have the Meet and Confer team discuss the related issues through the Meet and Confer process.

Motion to amend: the above motion by adding after current language “curriculum process” to “as to curriculum only and not to compensation, salary, or budgetary matters.”

Final motion: Motion to approve the item separated (the motion regarding EDAD Doctorate Program) as part of the curriculum process, as to curriculum only and not to compensation, salary, or budgetary matters, and to have the Meet and Confer team discuss the related issues through the Meet and Confer process and bring back to Faculty Senate in the fall.

Motion to rescind Placement Tests motion from April 4, 2006, and to consider the replacement motion below:

Replacement Motion: That the SCSU Faculty Association supports the formation of a task force to consider creating a pilot program of placement tests in reading comprehension and writing. The task force should include representation from the Academic Learning Center, the English Department, the office of the Dean of Undergraduate Studies, and other relevant groups on campus.

Motion to amend: Refer this to EC for them to recommend the make up of the task force.

Final Motion: That the SCSU Faculty Association supports the formation of a task force to consider creating a pilot program of placement tests in reading comprehension and writing. The task force should include representation from the Academic Learning Center, the English Department, the office of the Dean of Undergraduate Studies, and other relevant groups on campus, which will be referred to EC for them to recommend the makeup of the task force.

Motion to support Class Attendance Policy amendments in Senate packet.

Failed / Withdrawn / Dead Motions

September 27, 2005

Motion to amend Motion for the FA to soundly condemn the expressions of hatred and bigotry expressed in the survey and reported in the External Evaluation Report by adding that the FA requests the Administration’s Legal Counsel to assemble all the relevant state statutes and university policies regarding harassment in the workplace and the creation of a hostile work environment and to assure the university community that the university intends to enforce these statutes and policies promptly and rigorously.

October 25 – November 1, 2005

Motion to substitute the amended motion: “That FS supports high quality training, such as the CARE training, for all incoming full- and part-time employees, provided they have not already attended a training session.

Motion to have the Provost write a letter in the student Chronicle, informing students of the importance of attendance.

November 8, 2005

Motion for FS members to take Template on Teaching Schedule/Office Hours back to their departments for discussion and feedback.

Motion to direct the Meet and Confer Team not to approve or accept the template in any way until Administration has more information for faculty.

Motion that the SCSU faculty support a pilot program having students’ pictures associated with faculty course roster (after the first day of class and with student consent) to see if it aids faculty making connections with students more quickly and in that process enhances student retention.

November 22, 2005

Motion that the FS support a program to pilot having access to student pictures who are in their courses (after the first day of class with student consent) to see if faculty find it helps in making a connection with the students more quickly, and in the process enhances student retention.

December 6, 2005

Motion to substitute “acknowledging traditions” instead celebrations.

December 20, 2005

Motion that we should be involved at the beginning of the planning process so that input will be heard from faculty.

Motion that we un-invite the Provost to the next FA, that we ask EC to take news of our endorsement to Meet and Confer, and that FS commission a committee to work on this.

February 21, 2006

Motion to request permission from the Provost for an extension in the filing timeline, and if not granted the FA will file a grievance immediately.

March 14, 2006

Motion that anybody who fails to comply with the Resolution will have their union membership rescinded.

March 28 – April 4, 2006

Motion for UCC to hold all applied doctorate approvals and recommendations for one month until they get some feedback from Senate.

Motion to amend part three as written below:

3. An additional voting faculty representative in each college department shall be chosen by the FA to serve on the COSS Dean Search Committee

Motion to amend by striking section below:

“PROVIDED HOWEVER THAT

Motion to amend by adding at the end of the above motion: “Further, the document will reaffirm the exclusive right of the FA to appoint its own members to committees formed through the Meet and Confer process as indicated in Article 6 of the IFO-MnSCU Master Agreement.”

April 11, 2006

May 9, 2006

Motion to amend motion to support Class Attendance Policy: delete the added sentence “lack of sufficient…” and “for these reasons.”

Motion to not support the Contact Hours Template document.