January 10,2001

President Cohen reminded everyone that graduation ceremonies will be held Friday, December 14. There will be two ceremonies, one at 3:00 p.m. for COAS and COCSE, and one at 7:30 p.m. for COBA, COEHS, and COH. There will be receptions at 2:00 p.m. and 6:00p.m. Connie Corker asked that people please let her know if they plan to march.

Lindsey Hodges, president of the Student Government Association, announced that results of the elections for best professor in each department would be revealed on December 14. There will be an award ceremony that day at 9:00 a.m. 28 people will be honored. All UNF professors and adjuncts were eligible for the award. Over 6,000 students voted. Faculty will be receiving more information through campus mail and email.

The Committee has seven items on today's agenda. There will be no meeting in December.

The Committee met November 5 and November 30. Dennis Gayle met with the Committee on November 5 and Minor Chamblin attended the November 30 meeting. The next meeting is scheduled for December 13.

There are two agenda items in today's packet.

Judy Perkin reported for Homer Bates. The Committee met with Dr. Hopkins

The Committee will meet December 13 at 12:15 in FAMA. Members held an open hearing on the proposal to add supplemental questions to the SUSSAI and that item will be finalized at the December meeting. There will be a report at the January or February meeting.

The Committee met November 28. The final faculty forum of the semester was held November 30. The next meeting will be January 23 in the Faculty Enhancement office. There are plans for two more faculty forums next semester

Absent. No report.

The Committee met November 28 and today. Members are getting ready for the 2003 research proposals. They are working on ways to improve the proposal process. The committee will meet again January 22 or 23.

Dr. Hopkins indicated she wanted to discuss the budget situation. She reported that tax revenues received by the state have dropped and are still continuing to drop. The current estimate is a $1.3 billion deficit in the state budget. Dr. Hopkins reported that UNF's base budget reduction (which she noted is a callback) is $3.5 million. However, in this year's budget there is also $611,000.00 nonrecurring add-backs which will go away July 1. When added together that is a $4.1 million reduction which is 4.95% of the university's E&T budget. She made the point that this is a callback, it's not that we have to give back something that we already have. She noted that in the business sense of a cash flow analysis, we have potential problems unless we cut very fast because the money is received quarterly – the next installment will be January 1. Dr. Hopkins thinks if the university does not make its cuts in a recurring way, we will be severely hurt July 1 when there will be another significant budget reduction. She is working very hard to find the best ways to make these kinds of reductions.

Dr. Hopkins thinks the best way to plan is to anticipate we will have a 10 % recurring budget reduction on July 1. In the meantime, the legislature meets again the end of January. She thinks there may be another cut of 2% or possibly more. Then in the fall there will be another callback. It could be on the order of 10%. She actually wishes it would all happen at once. She will try to plan on the basis of a 10% overall permanent reduction. She is still trying not to curtail instruction saying it is her first priority. She says she is struggling with how to cut spending without cutting classes. She also said she has no intention of cutting summer school except as enrollment demands it and she suggested recruiting students for summer school. She indicated that she does not know what impact the Bright Futures program cuts will make.

Dr. Hopkins said she doesn't think the faculty has been that affected by the cuts. She did say that every position is frozen and will not be unfrozen. A position will be unfrozen only if the university gets the same amount of money back from some place else.

Terry Bowen said students had told him that they were being told by advisors to take considerable overloads, because they don't know what will be offered in the future. They are being advised to sign up for 18 to 21 hours of course work.

Dr. Hopkins said she hoped students were not being given that advice. She did say that students should take at least 15 hours and that, depending on the student, 18 hours is sometimes alright. She does not want students to be advised inappropriately. Dr. Kline said he would talk to Deborah Kaye.

Kay Tasso asked if there were some venue where Dr. Hopkins could list suggestions that have been made to save on the budget?

Dr. Hopkins responded that that is being looked at. She talked about several of the suggestions including the cost of mailing, cost of travel reimbursements and savings on electricity. Many of the suggestions are coming from the group called The Associates – vice presidents who run the university. Dr. Serwatka chairs the group and members are encouraged to think about all the units on campus. They are looking at smaller things thatadd up to a lot. She reiterated that budget cuts create an opportunity to change things. She encouraged all to be thinking of more ways. She did say she has kept all email suggestions.

Chris Rasche asked if it will be possible to maintain the same number of classes. How will academic positions be filled? Dr. Hopkins responded that academic positions may be unfrozen. There are several different ways it could happen. A tenure line could be filled with a visitor, not an adjunct. She noted that new data from 2000-2001 revealed that 22% of instructors were adjuncts. Several years ago, it was over 30%. The number has recently been reduced even more. The university will have adjuncts but she will not let the number increase.

No report

Dr. Scheirer reported on the UFF meeting held November 14. She talked about how important it is to have participation. She is expecting hard times ahead. On November 16 UFF held a workshop for grievance process mechanisms. There is still a need for more people.

There will be a consultation with the administration next Thursday, December 13, at 2:00 p.m. in the Academic Affairs conference room. Many are anticipating bargaining will move locally. Many universities are beginning to plan for this. Dr. Scheirer noted that all in unit faculty are getting raises because of UFF.

Ms. Cohen noted that there are still two unanswered questions from previous meetings. They are listed on the Faculty Association Web page.

Steve Shapiro asked Kathy Hughes if, since final grades are reported electronically, there is some way to notify a faculty member if a grade is left blank. Is there a way to get it bounced back and force a grade? Kim Luther answered that there is a no-force option necessary for faculty who have a good reason for not submitting a grade – and causing all grades to be held up.

Ellie Scheirer to Dr. Kline: She asked two questions in her capacity as a member of the Research Committee. She noted that members were informed that 28 grant proposals would be reviewed with the presumption that ten would be funded. All 28 were funded. She asked where the dollars came from and, in the spirit of the cutback, how was money found for so many more? Secondly, why were committee members who had done some pretty elegant evaluations not consulted about whether or not the expansion of funded proposals made sense. People had a presumption about how the rules would operate and how the process would work. In preparing her own materials for next time, how will she plan?

Dr. Kline responded that he would look into it and send a letter in response.

Ellie Scheirer to Computer Services: The SUSSAI reports are already coming back to the departments and being distributed to faculty when they have not entered final grades. Kathy Hughes said that it is her understanding the the reports are sent to the deans and held until grades are finalized. Kathy Huges will check into it and find a solution.

Item #1 - FA 01-29: Submitted by the Academic Programs Committee.

College of Arts and Sciences

Len Roberson noted a correction to Item 157. The word track should say options and the the intials B.A. should be minor. The statement becomes, "...enriches the existing Cultural and Literary Studies options available to students pursuing a minor in philosophy."

Dr. Roberson moved the item. The item passed.

Item #2 - FA 01-30: Submitted by the Academic Programs Committee

College of Business Administration

Dr. Roberson moved the item.

A correction was noted on Item 188. The word management should be removed from the class title. It becomes "Strategic Marketing".

The item passed.

Item #3 - FA 01-31: Submitted by the Academic Programs Committee

College of Computing Sciences and Engineering

Dr. Roberson moved the item.

Item 59 should be under Computer and Information Science and not Building Construction Management Department.

The item passed.

Item #4 - FA 02-32: Submitted by the Academic Programs Committee

College of Education and Human Resources

Dr. Roberson moved the item. The item passed.

Item #5 - FA 01-33: Submitted by the Academic Programs Committee

College of Health

Dr. Roberson moved the item. The item passed.Item #6 - FA 01-34: Submitted by the Academic Programs Committee

Honors Program

Dr. Roberson moved the item.

Dr. John Maraldo asked two questions concerning item 148 on page 20 of the agenda packet. He asked if honors students are exempt from general education courses and if not, does this course substitute for the general education philosophy requirements for honors students? Hank Camp responded that yes, the Honors Program does satisfy the philosophy requirement. He noted that this had been approved by the General Education Council. Dr. Maraldo asked if it had been approved by this body? Dale Clifford said that when the Honors Program was initially approved by the Faculty Association in 1989 it permitted all of the General Education requirements to be taken in the form of honors courses. She said it has been approved by this body for 12 years. Dr. Camp noted that the program has been operating for a number of years.

The item passed.

Item #7 -- FA 01-35: Submitted by the Academic Programs Committee

Division of Continuing Education

Len Roberson moved the item.

The item passed.

Item #8 -- FA 01-36: Submitted by the Academic Standards Committee

Proposed Change of NR- No Record policy on pp. 28-29 in catalog.

Pali Sen moved the item.

Judy Solano said that the university had a policy in place but the automated system went beyond policy. She said the Faculty Association is being asked to change a policy to fit the system. She noted she could support this change if she could offer an amendment to add two footnotes. She would not expect these to appear in the catalog. She noted that it says in the item that Records and Registration would send a list of grades to respective department chairs. Her first footnote would be that these should be received within a week after grades are processed. The second footnote is that Computing Services would add a statement to the online screen to remind faculty that all grades should be filled in for each and every student, that leaving a grade blank is not an option. She said that during discussions of this item in various committees, members were told that faculty realized that they could leave a grade blank and the student would get NR. Pali Sen accepted these as friendly amendments. Judy Solano reiterated that they would not be published in the catalog, but would be instituted when implemented.

Dale Clifford said this is really a very simple matter. Her department secretaries hand checked the grade rolls. If all grades are not there, they telephone people.

The item passed.

Item #9 -- FA 01-37: Submitted by the Academic Standards Committee

Proposed Amendment to Student Misconduct Sections of Student Handbook

Pali Sen noted one correction on page 24 of the December packet.

(b) After (a), the faculty member may do one or more of the following:

Dr. Sen moved the item.

Dale Clifford said that the new policy of informing students in writing of an infraction would, in effect, be instituting a new bureaucracy.

Pali Sen asked Dennis Gayle to respond. Dennis Gayle said the new policy arose out of problems with due process. He said it is important not to create a new bureaucracy but to make sure that faculty keep records. Detailed records are very important in due process.

Bruce Fortado said he wished to speak strongly against approving these amendments to the student academic misconduct policy. He was afraid people didn't understand what it could mean. He noted that it is an appeals process, not discipline. He thinks this is confusing two processes. Discipline and appeals are two different things. He urged members to reject the proposal.

Jay Huebner said he had a real problem with the part of the policy that said students must be informed of academic misconduct within five school days. He said it sometimes take two weeks to grade 180 papers. He cannot do it in five days. He also said it could sometimes take a long time to find students to notify them.

Dale Clifford urged people to vote against the item. She noted that the university has an appeals process now. The new one will not assure rights; it will make it unwieldy.

Ellie Scheirer said she agreed with Dr. Clifford. There should be the option of consultation and addressing the problem rather than these legalistic actions.

Dennis Gayle said the amendment rules out many experiences. He said there is not enough documentation in colleges. There are many complaints from students saying that they are not receiving due process. The new policy arose out of a series of discussions among Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, and others. If the policy is left as it is, it will not address the problems.

Mary Borg called the question.

Members voted to call the question.

The item was defeated.

Kathleen Cohen noted that faculty can look at information items online. She also reminded people that December 18 is the last day to get cash back on Xerox cards.

The meeting adjourned at 1:13 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

_______________________
Barbara Tuck
Secretary