No June meeting is scheduled. The Committee has two agenda items and an information item in today's agenda packet.

The Committee met May 14. There are no scheduled meetings for the summer.

Absent. No report.

The Committee will meet June 20. It has one agenda item for today.

Verna Urbanski reported that there is no meeting scheduled during the summer.

No report.

No report.

Absent. No report.

President Hopkins said she has been working on the budget to present to the Board on June 20. She is finalizing the strategic plan. There are many things on the agenda for the Board.

Dr. Kline is out of town and will return next week. They have begun talking about the budget for next year. She noted that the money is pretty good. She hoped to have salary improvements above the state level. She hopes to make significant recovery on faculty lines. She noted that the real issue is that no department can lose so many people and still do a good job. She still thinks, from reading reports about the economy, that there may be a callback. She is holding back some resources in case there is a callback.

Ms. Owen talked about the highlights of the Legislative Session. She noted that tax reform was a big issue this year. There were also about 20 constitutional ballot initiatives. The one having to do with reducing class size is important to us because it is going to cost a lot of money. The education governance reform and the school rewrite bill were very important. The $50.4 billion budget included $15.8 million for education or 31.4 % of the pie. K-12 got about 9.14 % of the $15.8 million, a 6% per student increase. Community colleges came out with about an 8.7 % increase. Universities are being advertised as coming out with $193 million or a 11.4 % increase. Ms. Owen pointed out that the amount is compared to last year's budget after the cut in December. She noted that
close to $40 million in nonrecurring dollars were included in the budget, so that will
hurt next year. She talked about undergraduate tuition increases. She reported that
there are now local initiatives, recognizing that everyone now has boards of trustees,
so there is a pot of money to be spent according to institutional needs. There was language for enrollment growth. There will be a salary increase of 2.5 % effective October 1. Health insurance costs increased 13%. PECO did well. There is $ 8.2 for library construction and building renovation. The local boards can decide how to use the lump sum.

In January, UNF becomes a public entity. Funds will be appropriated like community colleges. The university will have control. There is now the opportunity to get off state systems. Ms. Owen discussed changes in several other areas including tuition increase, tuition waivers, etc.

Steve Shapiro asked if the school rewrite did away with the Gordon Rule. Janet responded that yes, because it prohibited any rule of that kind.

Dr. Fortado reported that he will be attending a major UFF meeting in Gainesville this weekend to discuss the future of the union.

He noted that he had asked a question at the last Faculty Association meeting concerning the College of Business Administration's order for graduate faculty members to "mentor" (advise) graduate students. He asked if this is required in any other college on campus, is this viewed as a change of assignment and therefore covered by the UFF contract? There has been no response from Dr. Kline yet. Dr. Fortado said he had filed a grievance last month and found that his mentee had been removed.

Dr. Fortado said he had learned through the rumor mill that some one-time bonuses had been paid to faculty this year. He said as far as he knew business faculty had not heard about this and knew of no one in that department who had received bonuses.

Dr. Hopkins asked to respond. She said that the governor included bonuses for UPS and A&P employees in his last budget. There was a certain amount for each institution. The criteria were for people who were really good and did good service. The University added money so that it could give similar bonuses to faculty and, as far as she knows, those were distributed widely. It was done by colleges and by supervisory lines in each division. She asked Joanne Campbell if it was distributed by deans and supervisors. Campbell indicated yes.

Dr. Fortado said that, in his limited understanding, several units in Arts & Sciences did distribute the documents about the plan and explained the categories. He knows of no one who got similar documents in the College of Business.

Kathleen Cohen read an anonymous question sent to her. She noted that anonymous questions become the property of the Faculty Association president and she is able to edit the wording of the question. The question is directed to President Hopkins.

Please ask the President to provide the Association with an accounting of the use of "management consultants," from July 1, 2001, to June 6, 2002. What circumstances/situations have necessitated the engagement of these consultants, what credentials do the consultants have, what have they cost the University and from what source of funds have they been paid?

The question will be sent in writing to President Hopkins.

Bill Wilson asked Janet Owen if there was any wording in the education bill about the DROP program. Ms. Owen responded with a no.

Cheryl Frohlich asked about the 2.5 percent pay increase mentioned in Janet Owen's report. Owen responded that it is called a competitive pay adjustment but the language
just states that effective October 1, based on your September 30 rate of pay, a
2.5 percent across-the-board pay increase is enacted for satisfactory performance.

David Courtwright noted that the Gordon Rule change made in the new school code has potentially large implications. He noted that he would ordinarily ask this question of David Kline but since he is not here he addressed the question to Dr. Hopkins. Are there any plans to go to our own Board and recreate the Gordon Rule? Dr. Hopkins said she could not respond to the question. She noted that David Kline would be back Monday and the question could be addressed to him.

There was a general discussion about the Gordon Rule, student writing habits and possibilities for addressing the problem.

Bylaws Amendment – Second Reading Revision

To amend Article VI, Section 4.M. Clarification of the Duties of the Executive Committee.

Judy Solano moved the item.

Scott Hochwald asked why the committee should be able to stop motions from coming to the floor.

Cheryl Frohlich responded that the intent is for items to be sent back for clarification.
The current bylaws did not allow the Committee the power to do that, so the committee had been doing it without realizing that it was not in the bylaws.

Pali Sen noted that an item could be sent back to a Committee and then back to the Executive Committee who could then stop an item from going forward if it didn't like the wording. She thinks it is too risky to give the Executive Committee that power.

Ron Lukens-Bull offered a friendly amendment that would add the wording that the Committee may do this once per item. It would give quality control and take away the concern that the Executive Committee could use it to shut down legislation.

Cheryl Frohlic said she would accept the friendly amendment.

The item passed.

Item #2 -- FA 02-21: Submitted by the Academic Programs Committee

College of Arts and Sciences
Music Department

The item was moved by Len Roberson.

The item passed.

Item #3 – FA 02–22: Submitted by the Academic Programs Committee

College of Education and Human Services
Educational Services & Research

Len Roberson asked for approval to suspend the rules. All items submitted in May and June have to wait until September for approval. These items must be approved in June because the PBOE has mandated the changes for the COEHS.

The suspension of rules was approved.

The item was moved by Len Roberson.

The item passed.

Item #4 – FA 02–23: Submitted by the Faculty Affairs Committee

Noise Emitting Electronic Devices: Policy Statement

The item was moved by Judy Solano.

Bruce Fortado asked to offer a friendly amendment. He asked that the last part of the item "... and, may be subject to disciplinary action, in accordance with the UNF Student Conduct Code." be stricken. He does not want Student Affairs to have any say in this matter.

Judy Solano said she didn't feel comfortable accepting or rejecting the friendly amendment. She noted that Fortado would have to make a motion to amend.
He agreed to do so.

The motion to amend failed.

Dale Clifford spoke against the item. She said she did not want legislation that would direct what will or will not happen in a classroom. She wanted to preserve the right of faculty members to define what is or is not allowed. She does not see a reason or necessity for this rule. She noted that the library can make such a policy and post it, a faculty member can note rules in a syllabus. But, she said we all make exceptions. She asked that the responsibility be left where it belongs – in individual classrooms.

Kathy Brown spoke in agreement with Dale Clifford. She noted that if we ban cell phones and beepers, students will look for loopholes and possibly use DVD players, etc. She noted that if we don't have a rule, then the responsibility is under the auspices of the instructor.

Judy Solano spoke on behalf of the Committee. Members felt that by indicating the rules in the library and on individual syllabi, there would be enough flexibility to do with it as individuals wished. Some would be more demanding than others, but at least it would provide some support for those who want or need it. How an individual deals with it is
left flexible. Will you make exceptions? Will you enforce the rule?

Len Roberson said the rule seems to say that what is left to the discretion of the faculty is how they will enforce the policy – that the prohibition is already in effect. He feels it suggests that noise emitting devices are prohibited and that syllabi will just state how faculty plan to deal with it. He thinks it is not understood that faculty have the right to allow them if they wish. He noted that there are a lot of things that make noises including assisted technology for students with exceptionalities.

Dale Clifford said she "...is serious about the fundamental principle that if we assume it takes an act of the Faculty Association to empower us to control our classrooms, we've done something really damaging to academic freedom."

Scott Hochwald and Pali Sen both noted their support for Dale Clifford. Each is worried about losing the power to control their own classrooms.

Steve Shapiro called the question.

The item failed.

The meeting adjourned at 1:37 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

_______________________
Barbara Tuck
Secretary