MEET AND CONFER NOTES
10/30/03
Faculty Association: Theresia Fisher, Tony Akubue, Dale Buske, Fred Hill, Steve Hornstein, Robert Johnson, Judy Kilborn, Bill Langen, Andy Larkin, Tracy Ore,
Annette Schoenberger, Sandra Williams, P. N. Subbanarasimha,
Donna West, Notetaker
Administration: Roy Saigo, Michael Spitzer, Diana Burlison, Larry Chambers, Nathan Church, Lin Holder, Steve Ludwig, Dennis Nunes, Roland Specht-Jarvis, Rex Veeder, Kristi Tornquist
Guest: Jeane LaCourt
Notes are accepted.
Notes are accepted.
Civility and Academic Freedom Draft (Admin)
FA: We took the request to Senate; and yes, we would like the Administration to come and listen to Senate as a whole.
FA: Would you be presenting another draft?
Admin: No. We would take the (existing) draft and consider making changes from any recommendations made by Senate, which is what I wanted to do.
FA: I am just trying to figure out if the purpose is to talk about the draft not accepted or to present another draft for consideration.
FA: I think the last time we spent a bit of time addressing the issue, and a few suggestions were made. It seems to me whatever we take to Senate should embody the discussion we had at our last Meet and Confer.
FA: Administration requested they go to Senate in order to get input and share concerns. As a teacher of writing, I feel more input is needed.
Admin: This is more or less my thinking, as well; but we can talk about the changes.
FA: I think the language at our last Meet and Confer was the FA talked about the issues raised at Senate; and I think your question is whether it is possible or appropriate to craft a document that would work. Based on that request, we took it to Senate, and the motion passed.
Desire2Learn (Admin)
FA: I am on the TPR Committee, and we met with J. C. Turner on Wednesday. There were a list of questions from TLTR and our committee, and he was going to go back and craft answers. We will look at these, and the committee will make a recommendation by the end of November. We’re working on this, and we aren’t at liberty to make any statements on where the committee is going.
Admin: I have information – Power Point slides -- distributed at the MnSCU meeting yesterday. This is really more background information (handouts provided).
FA: One issue was the cost differential between the two, because we feel knowing this may make it easier to make a recommendation. If that information is available, we need to make sure J. C. Turner has it.
Admin: It won’t be totally definite.
FA: Just a ballpark figure.
Admin: Some of what we’d look at is what the expected cost would be. Other information I have is that they’re scheduling training in November, and we’ll be sending SCSU to this in the off chance we go with it. We will make the investment in case we decide to make the change.
First Year Experience Pilot Program Affecting Academic Programs (FA)
FA: The FA apologizes to faculty teaching courses under the First Year Experience Pilot Program for any statement made by the FA in the October 16 Meet and Confer meeting that suggested or implied a lack of credentials or qualifications to teach the courses.
Admin: Thank you very much.
Admin: We did go back to the Meet and Confer notes of last year to look to see whether or not there was an agreement that there would not be a pilot program for the First Year Experience and could not find any such statement in the Meet and Confer notes.
FA: When I read over the notes, it seems maybe there were different perspectives. It seems like Administration was looking for Roland and Nathan to be part of the committee and the committee conferred with Roland and Nathan as written in the February 27 notes. Perhaps some of it was talking past one another.
FA: I’d like to ask about the motion faculty Senate made and whatever happened.
FA: That motion pre-dates the Meet and Confer notes.
Admin: I would add it’s my recollection that any pilot would not include new curriculum. I think the difference is the pilot we moved forward with uses existing curriculum. I agree – there was a passive understanding.
FA: There was a memo from the FA President last year in follow up to a Senate motion in the October time frame asking the administration to stop working on the First Year Experience pilot. It stated there would be no further progress made until a faculty committee could come forward with a recommendation.
FA: It was in January.
Admin: Subsequently, we had three meetings where we discussed the First Year Experience in Meet and Confer and talked about proceeding with some of these activities.
Admin: My understanding is we agreed we would not develop any new curriculum – this being the role of the faculty committee. The intent as I indicated was to begin exploring logistical issues involving embedding a program with residential life and student life – specifically incorporating the living experience – to support whatever curricular proposals that could come forward. Our real intent was to sort out logistical problems.
FA: I have a sense we’re talking past one another. Underlying may be our sense that curriculum includes repackaging courses. I suspect our folks believed nothing would be done. What might be helpful is to resolve what is going to happen in the next year so we’re on the same page.
Admin: You’re right – we stopped repackaging. This was a good stop and was in consultation with Kathryn Kelly and Gretchen Starks-Martin. Whether this was adequate or not, we didn’t ignore the people with the direct charge of the course. Faculty might feel a line was crossed.
Admin: On behalf of students, I want to add that a later start with the First Year Experience programs – living together in halls -- may result in students not having the offerings they should; and we may find it harder to attract students. I urge you to move forward now that positions seem clearer.
FA: The meeting is on Tuesday at 7:30 AM – we’re moving as fast as we can.
FA: The Meet and Confer notes of 2/27 read it wouldn’t be sound to do this in the short term and says the committee has enthusiasm – it’s not like they’re trying to put it off.
Admin: In order to have something in place in 2004-05, we really need to push up the deadline now because student housing assignments should be made by December 15, and they have to get the materials to send out.
FA: It may be possible to have rooms set but not the details – we don’t have to be perfect.
Admin: I guess from my perspective, one of the things to address is what do we need to do to move forward to have something in place?
Admin: If we were to reserve three or four hallways with cohorts, would that be reasonable? What is your suggestion? We’ll have to make the choice by December 15.
Admin: How many beds are in a hall?
Admin: 400.
FA: We’re starting to get into the details of planning and we don’t have the people here. Is there something Meet and Confer teams need to know now so we can move forward?
Admin: I would recommend as soon as possible if the committee could meet with reps from residential life so we could move quickly. What kind of flexibility do we have? What could we leave open? Residential life folks need to be involved. What would be the recruitment dynamics? What would it look like in the future? Make sure there is a reasonable program available.
FA: All FA committees have to go to Senate for approval, as we’re heading towards November – we need to keep this in mind. Senate only meets twice a month.
FA: I’m wondering if we can have an agreement in this body or after committee consultations on a series of deadlines. In general, we’re not good at projecting ahead when we need information. I think it’s important we figure out schedules – not just on this program but others.
Admin: I’d be willing to put together detailed timelines. I think that’s a great idea.
Admin: To avoid the problem of talking past one another, I think I hear “Can we commit to a Holes Hall pilot for 2004-05”? If we can agree, it would be filed in the notes.
FA: The committee talked about this and has done research – the entire residence hall has been found to be problematic. We’ll come back with an academically based program. If we get deadlines, we’ll be mindful of them.
There was general agreement that there would be a pilot program based on the recommendation of the committee with faculty Senate’s approval.
Admin: I would say for a pilot to expose 20 percent of the student population to an unknown is daring.
Admin: I don’t think we’d use all of Holes Hall – a pilot using a reasonable number of students, looking at logistics. Whatever the design allows us to do, I’m fine.
FA: I’m not sure if we’re in agreement.
Admin: Yes, around the curricular piece. There needs to be joint conversation between the curricular piece and the residential life piece.
Admin: I would hope there would be some discussion so there is a match between student life and development and curriculum.
FA: We’re not talking about the committee acting in isolation.
FA: The idea is that we’re trying to get a program together to work out issues, consult the relevant parties, and move forward. The purpose is trying to find adequate, suitable curriculum to help students with their progress. This should be the point of departure.
Admin: Could a commitment be made from the FYE faculty committee to meet with the people involved with the dorms within the next four weeks to look at both the suitability of the facilities and preliminary ideas of curriculum to determine if they coincide? Is there general agreement?
FA: We got a “yes” on the curricular part – old and new?
Admin: Yes.
FA: We had an understanding last year but talked past one another. I’m making it clear. The curriculum recommendation will come from faculty?
Admin: Yes.
Admin: If there is new curriculum, it will have to go through appropriate channels.
DGS Committee Recommendations (FA)
FA: It was requested we have a meeting with Administration to talk more specifically about DGS issues. The meeting is scheduled. I assume we’ll report back to this body at some point.
Teaching Load Report (Admin)
FA: Some concerns came up in Senate, and we have just invited faculty to send us their concerns; and we will present them to you at the next Meet and Confer.
Non-academic Units Offering Academic Courses (FA)
- American Indian Center
Admin: I want to make it clear – the American Indian Center is not offering any academic courses. I talked with Tom Andrus, and I’m trying to get everybody together and sort through the issues to come to a satisfactory resolution for everyone.
FA: Actually, Administration said two things: 1) the unit is not offering academic courses, and 2) Administration will work to resolve this. These are really my key points.
Admin: I think it’s important to have a feeling if there are slippages in a number of areas. As Robert states, this is an interdisciplinary act and we must be on the same page. Thank you for setting this up, Robert.
FA: Is there anybody besides you and Robert on the committee?
FA: A whole lot of folks – that’s why we haven’t had the meeting yet! (laughter)
FA: One concern I have is once rumors arise the way they do here, they have a way of becoming serious issues for discussion. Before you know it, something that is being said that is not in place is being discussed in terms of being put in place. For that reason, I look at rumors as I suspect rumors nowadays and don’t discount them.
Admin: I think it is important when issues do come up for one group or another to check with the individual(s) involved to make sure they said it before it becomes a formal issue to prevent rumors rather than feed them.
Guest: I’m the one that brought this issue forward, and it’s not based on rumors.
FA: The only people who speak at Meet and Confer are Administration and FA team members. Would it be OK to let the guest speak?
Admin: [agreed].
Guest: This semester alone, on three separate occasions, students have said: 1) they will be pursuing a masters in American Indian studies through the American Indian Center; 2) there will be a department of American Indian studies offered through the American Indian Center on campus; and 3) they intend to major in American Indian studies through taking courses in the American Indian Center. The reason I brought this forward, while documents may be dated 1999, there is no indication for me as a person hired with the directive to begin American Indian studies. I did not see any document since 2001 to see if the long-term goals had changed. I had no reason to believe they changed. With no new director and with the fact three students said this. I had no reason to believe otherwise.
Admin: I think you could have asked the interim director if this was true, as a courtesy.
Guest: I believe students.
Admin: Sometimes they misspeak, because they misunderstand.
Admin: Thank you for reading the document – I don’t think many people did. Since then, there have been many changes. I want to assure you that the overall design and long-range goals is collaboration and partnership with the people who serve there, our faculty. We are hurting a little right now as we’re waiting for a new director; and there are things I hope we can discuss – we need everybody working on the same page.
FA: There are processes in place for addressing issues.
Admin: We do have processes, but first we should try to resolve issues informally.
Summer School Calendar (Admin)
FA: We gave this to the Committee on the Institution, and it’s in the process. We don’t have a response yet. They’ll come up with a set of recommendations, and they will go to Senate.
Admin: There is a timely need to get this out. The more time we can provide to the students, the better. If this can be a high priority – just give us a quick response.
FA: I’ll relay this to the chair.
FA: I know it’s a high priority – we’re trying to get a meeting quorum.
Admin: Could there be an electronic discussion instead?
FA: We would need an electronic copy.
Admin: Will do.
FA: Great.
Overload Criteria (Admin)
Admin: FA asked for a statement about how we assign overload, and we said we’d bring something back. Here is a set of guidelines for assigning overload that we have asked each of the deans to pay attention to (handouts provided). These are general guidelines, and there could be occasions for exceptions.
FA: I appreciate your drawing up these guidelines. We’ll take these to faculty Senate and will be sure to bring back any problems.
NEW BUSINESS
Affirmative Action Hiring Manual (FA)
FA: It has been a year and nothing has happened -- and I’m wondering if you care.
Admin: Yes, we care. I know I had the opportunity to look at it and tweak it, and others worked on it as well; but it is not complete at this point. We had an interim Affirmative Action officer, and he transitioned out and we lost continuity. We’re in the process of initiating a process to do a search for a permanent person, and we expect this person to complete this project.
FA: Do you have a time-line in mind?
Admin: Very shortly, we’ll be doing a national search for an officer. We’ll start this fall. The revised job description will include a social equity component for the Affirmative Action office.
Admin: There will be a second professional position – a technical compliance position. When we hire an Affirmative Action officer, the second position would report to them.
FA: Do you have the qualifications and job descriptions outlined?
Admin: Nearly so. This has to go to MnSCU to assign a range.
FA: Could we have a draft of this?
Admin: Certainly.
FA: Should we be thinking about a search committee?
Admin: Sure.
FA: Will we be informed of this formally, or is this being done now?
Admin: The President referred to these positions in his speech at the beginning of the year. Yes, you’ll be formally notified. It is going through the administration process. This came up in the context of how the manual will be revised and published; and it will be among the tasks we hope to accomplish. It will be on the agenda early on for the person to revise this manual. We’re giving you this information as soon as we have it; however, this is not a formal notification.
FA: This reminds me, there was a consultant last May/June who came out of the class action settlement. Can we see the report she prepared so we’ll know her recommendations?
Admin: Sure, absolutely. We’ll have a copy sent to the FA President.
FA: Would it be possible to briefly outline the responsibilities of the social equity and technical components?
Admin: None of us has position descriptions here. Soon we can give you the PD for both.
Admin: Once we send you a copy of the consultant’s report, I can outline each component and send it at the same time.
FA: Could you also send something to specify the relationship between the lead investigator and the Affirmative Action officer?
Admin: Certainly.
Admin: There will be three different positions: 1) Affirmative Action officer; 2) Lead Investigator; and 3) Technical Compliance officer. We’ll present those to you and will be asking for participation on a search committee at the appropriate time.
Summer School 2004 (Admin)
Admin: This information provides an analysis of Summer 2003 and a projection of Summer 2004 (handouts provided). Let me briefly step you through the information you have. The first page is essentially an analysis of Summer 2003. Summer session 2003 did not meet our enrollment goals. Our anticipated enrollment compared to 2002 was 3 percent behind. The most critical factor was the removal of financial aid for the summer. Where the students did not have financial aid, the number of credits decreased. Among the MnSCU institutions, there was only one school showing an increase – Bemidji. Cohort groups provided them with a modest increase. Every school was down more than our 3 percent level. On the other hand, income exceeded expenses. I did not project a 15 percent tuition increase -- I hoped the increase would be more modest. As a result, our income increased and did not fall below income projections. Let me go through the next pages briefly. What this is doing is projecting an amount for next summer. For summer 2004, we will allocate, in total, 2 percent more; $60,000 will be made available for special faculty projects, to be awarded by the Provost upon recommendations from the Faculty Association.
FA: What would be the status of financial aid for 2004?
Admin: It is likely we will have financial aid in 2004; but last year, I may have said the same thing. The issues were unprecedented, and money was removed from the “pot.”
FA: Did HESO remove the money?
Admin: Yes -- it was a shortfall.
Admin: In my 15 years, we’ve had bad times; but never has it been omitted, since it does a disadvantage to a number of students who count on it in the summer.
FA: Are there any contingency plans in place in case it is not available?
Admin: I genuinely believe it will not occur again.
Admin: HESO traditionally overspent their budget and got more money; however last year, they didn’t. We didn’t get state work-study money either. We tried to maintain work-study; but as the year went on, they took away all aid for the summer. The resources were not available. HESO has had an executive director removed, and the people who run it have changed. I expect this to be a benefit to our students.
FA: In some classes, there is some restriction on limited enrollment due to unavailability of space; i.e., in the College of Science and Engineering, since you can only have so many spaces for lab work. Was this taken into consideration?
Admin: Science and Engineering nationally suffers from a number of issues from summer session funding. There is a smaller enrollment in the summer. The kind of classes often involved are lab-based and are not attractive in shortened formats. Our enrollments have held up reasonably well; but it is an area not as attractive to students in the summer. Essentially, our funding follows students; and Science and Engineering will not have as large a proportion as they do in the regular year. It is an issue and one we have not reached full resolution on.
FA: Because of the way this is presented, we can’t really compare what happened last year with this year, since you don’t give us the initial summer session 2003 allocation; so it’s hard to compare. Is it possible to give us this sheet of paper from last year, so it could be incorporated into this – what happened when the dust settled.
Admin: I’ll be happy to include that. I have those values. Four out of five colleges went up, and one went down from last summer.
- College of Business: $410,942
- College of Education: $697,320
- College of Fine Arts and Humanities: $241,191
- College of Science and Engineering: $327,583
- College of Social Sciences: $331,482
A total of $2,008,520 (dropping the cents). Does that help?
FA: Yes, it helps people see that money allocated here isn’t fixed. If we can do more, we can get more money.
FA: When is the deadline for getting courses in?
Admin: At the very end of the fall semester – December 20. I’ll be happy to send this out to you. It goes to print in February, when we need to compete with other institutions.
Academic Calendars (Admin)
Admin: Last spring, the Executive Committee through the FA President sent a memo regarding the academic calendar for 2005-06 proposing changes. Here is a handout showing what that calendar would look like if adopted (handouts provided). We also have copies of the calendar originally proposed by Administration for 2005-06. There were several issues that were faculty Senate suggestions we tried to adhere to. The new handout for the 2005-06 calendar incorporates the faculty recommendations and shows a calendar that meets all of the requirements. I just want to point out if we adopt a calendar where classes begin before Labor Day it would have various implications.
FA: How many instructional days would be in the calendar?
Admin: I can send these electronically, as well. In the original proposed calendar 2005-06, instructional days for the fall would be 68 with 5 final exam days and 10 non-instructional duty days. For spring, there would be 72 instructional days with 5 final exam days and 8 non-instructional days, including commencement.
Admin: I would like the Meet and Confer team to bring this back to faculty to consider both versions and come back with their recommendation.
FA: I will take this to the Committee on the Institution and then to Senate.
Admin: The other two major groups are student government and student life since there are important implications such as residence halls.
Admin: Resident hall rates will increase their cost per semester if we have a longer term.
FA: I don’t think faculty asked to get rid of an advising day. In the new proposed calendar, there doesn’t seem to be one.
Admin: Let me add one more day.
Admin: I know when we started prior to Labor Day, we had a drop in enrollment; so as you proceed and consider this option, there are implications to students – please keep this in mind.
FA: I can’t even remember when we started before Labor Day.
Admin: When we had a pre-Labor Day start, there was a significant impact on a number of businesses, including resort areas who were paying incentives to keep students working.
FA: I once heard an opposing story where there are no enrollment patterns.
Admin: After we went back to a post Labor Day start, enrollment went way up. We heard a lot of students say they didn’t want a pre Labor Day start since they count on employment.
Admin: That year, we had moving day issues. In the past, moving in the middle of the workweek generated a lot of complaints by parents that they couldn’t come; and the traffic was horrendous. It made move-in during the last couple of years a piece of cake compared to that year. Move in on Labor Day has worked out pretty well.
FA: What do other state universities and colleges do?
Admin: It’s a mix.
FA: We’re competing with seven state universities and have to remember this.
Admin: All of them start after Labor Day – technical colleges start before (it’s a programmatic thing – they don’t have dorms to move in).
FA: We do compete with others.
Admin: Another impact of starting before Labor Day was the significant cost of child care, since public schools were not in session. Also, some landlords charged an extra month’s rent – they took advantage of students that year we started before Labor Day.
FA: I was just wondering, are there any studies to see if we need five days for exams? The last day of exams is very quiet. Can we get by with four? Is another possibility to have exams on the weekend (some colleges do this)?
Admin: I think we could do any of those. Five days is the only way we know to cover all of the class periods plus common exams. We have played around with a couple of schedules.
Admin: It is important we have this set as soon as possible for long-term planning.
FA: Will you send this electronically?
Admin: Yes. I would be glad to project this for two or three years.
FA: In the proposed schedule, class would start on Friday; and this could be problematic. Could we go to a three-day vs. a four-day break? I’m also wondering what is the concern of having an even number of instructional days as a baseline number?
Admin: We never go below 65.
FA: Total overall?
Admin: We have classes in all 15 weeks with the 16th week being final exams. It depends when December 25 falls in the week as to whether we can get 68 or 69. Typically there are only three days difference between fall and spring.
FA: So, there is no major number?
Admin: No.
FA: Accreditations was one of the underlying reasons that drove faculty to this many instructional days.
Admin: There are no NCA rules. I don’t know of any who have an instructional days’ requirement. You have to be within reason.