SUBJECT

DESCRIPTION

DATE

Faculty Senator terms of office

The Executive Council moved and seconded the following motion which the Senate passed:

“In order to rebalance Senate elections so that 15 Senators are elected to two-year terms each year, 2 of the 17 open positions in the Spring 2004 elections will be advertised as one year positions. The two one-year positions will be distributed as follows: one from Area A and one from Area D. If the area representations of one or more of these areas are changed for the 2004 elections, the Faculty Senate Executive Council will make a new recommendation of areas for the one year positions.”

  Senators deferred discussion on an additional motion on tenure and promotion revisions.

To adopt amended revisions to the Faculty Handbook on Salary Policy (X.D., new Section 6.)

 (new material bolded, deletions struck-through):  The motion passed to revise the language as follows:

“D.  Salary Categories and Priorities

  This salary policy classifies the division of any legislative appropriation designated for faculty salary increases and monies available from other sources permitted by law into five categories: (1) promotion; (2) general merit: (3) cost of living; (4) special merit; and (5) equity, compression, retention; and (6) specifically designated funds.  These Those salary increases obtained for 1-5 will be disbursed under the provisions described in Section E below.  The priorities for dividing funds among these categories are as follows: 

(sections 1 - 5 unchanged, new language becomes item 6 on page 15)

6.     In the event that the Legislature appropriates funds designated specifically for purposes such as faculty retention and recruitment, the Salary and Welfare committee, after consulting with the University Planning Council, and in consultation with University administration, will propose a process for the allocation of such funds and provide a rationale for the proposed allocation process to the Faculty Senate for approval. To the extent allowed by legislative intent, any proposed allocation process should both balance the various factors that can affect faculty morale, retention and recruitment and also respond to the priorities of the current situation.”

To adopt revisions to the membership of the Academic Technology Committee, (BL7.8.1). Senators recommended that the Senate negotiate with the administration to incorporate early faculty participation in decision-making processes.  The motion passed to revise the language to read as follows:

 “Membership.  The membership of the Academic Technology Committee shall be as follows:

a.       one representative from each of the following: Fairhaven College, College of Business and Economics, Huxley College of the Environment, Woodring College of Education, College of Fine and Performing Arts.

b.       two representatives each from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and College of Sciences and Technology and;

c.       one representative from the library;

d.       the Vice-Provost for Information and Telecommunications (ex officio, non-voting);

e.       the Director of Center for Instructional Innovation (ex officio, non-voting);

f.        a member of the LAN Managers' group (ex officio, non-voting);

g.       a student chosen by the Associated Students Board of Directors for a one-year term;

h.       one faculty member appointed by the Senate for a one-year term.

If none of the members selected under a)-c) above are members of the Faculty Senate, then this member shall be a senator.“  (remainder unchanged).

Faculty Handbook – Revisions to Opportunity Appointment Policy

A motion was brought seconded from the Executive Council to revise Appendix K, “Opportunity Appointment Policy” (section 3, “Appointment of a Candidate’s Partner”), page 117.  Senators failed to pass the motion and the section was returned to the Executive Council for some additional editing.

Faculty Handbook – Revisions to incorporate titles of new colleges

A motion was brought seconded from the Executive Council and passed by the Senate to approve revisions to the Faculty Handbook, Section II.A.1. to include the new college titles, language to follow (new language bolded, deletions struck-through):

Western Washington University consists of six seven colleges, the Graduate School, and the University Libraries, each with a dean or University Librarian as chief administrative officer.  The colleges are the College of Arts and Sciences the College of Business and Economics, the College of Fine and Performing Arts, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, the College of Sciences and Technology, Fairhaven College, Huxley College of the Environment, Environmental Studies, and the Woodring College of Education.  In the remainder of this Handbook, the term "colleges" encompasses the units listed above, including the Graduate School and the University Libraries.

moved that new language be incorporated into the Faculty Handbook, page 8, section V.B.1 (“Evaluation of Faculty”).  Senators passed the motion to add the following language (new material underlined):

“All probationary faculty shall be evaluated by the tenured faculty of their unit, the department chair, and the appropriate dean (according to unit evaluation plans) until the University President grants tenure or does not reappoint. In the case of first year appointments only, a department or college may adopt a procedure that does not require the participation of all tenured faculty. Alternative procedures for first year faculty must be approved by the appropriate dean, must be the same for all first year faculty in the unit, and must involve the creation of a written report on the faculty member's performance. The written report of this procedure will constitute the annual letter.”

The Executive Council brought a motion to the Senate floor which approved the deletion of the following language from the Faculty Handbook section on “Faculty Evaluation”:

            “however, the review will occur every three years if the shorter period is required for accreditation” (page 8, c.2).

Senators passed the motion which will amend the Faculty Handbook to return to a five-year review cycle rather than the three-year cycle currently in effect in response to an accreditation recommendation from the Commission on Colleges and Universities.

A motion, as follows, was made by Bill Lyne and seconded by Tom Downing (friendly amendments were made to include the language “of the College of Arts and Sciences”):   

The Senate moves to reject the current proposal on restructuring of the College of Arts and Sciences, with the understanding that this is not a rejection of change, nor of the concept of restructuring.

The Senate’s motion passed with 11 voting in favor, 9 opposed and 2 abstentions.

Therefore, the Executive Council proposed the following motion:

The President called for a hand count on the motion which passed, 13 in favor, 5 opposed.

To facilitate the Senate deliberations about the creation of a faculty position of Ombudsman, the Executive Council proposed the following motion:

Motion: That the Faculty Senate appoint an Ad Hoc committee to survey the ways the faculty and administrations at other universities address faculty concerns about working conditions, unfair treatment, and other inequities not immediately covered under grievance policies.

The motion passed unanimously. 

Senators then passed a second motion from the Senate Executive Council, “that the vote be conducted using the ballot below, and that it be colorcoded by college and in the Arts and Sciences by Area. (A friendly amendment by Jeff Newcomer is indicated in boldface type).

The text of the ballot follows:

“In early June the Provost presented to the President a recommendation to replace the present College of Arts and Sciences with two new colleges: a College of Humanities and Social Sciences and a College of Sciences and Technology.   Do you support this proposal? (Check  one)     / /  Yes     / /  No “

Restructuring

9/30/02