Postponed until May

A sheet was made available that reviewed current status of plans and proposals. There is a bill in the legislature that would change the state contribution to 50% from the 80% it is currently at.

Several questions were asked and answered.

Still no action. It was suggested that the candidates for VPAA should be asked what they consider the importance of this committee to be.

70-75 are registered for the luncheon, 18-20 for the workshop.

The committee presented some revisions. Suggestions were made for some changes.

No new developments. Linda Duncan had spoken with some committee members.

Gene Atkinson report: TCFS represents diverse and growing group of campuses. Faculty seem to be more powerful on other campuses. Other faculty senates evaluate administrators and do not ask permission to do so. Other faculty senates also evaluate offices, i.e., Registrar, Telecommunications. A suggestion was made to be sure to ask VPAA candidates their feelings on a strong senate.

Problem: How do we get faculty interested in serving and supporting senate.

Teresa Davidian discussed field of study issues. Music, business, and teacher certification has been done; communications, criminal justice, and math are upcoming.

David Weissenburger reported that the Texas A&M system has eliminated the faculty right to a second hearing and seems to be wanting to move grievances out of the system and into a court setting.

Linda Duncan noted that we need to clarify where actions passed by this body go and develop an established procedure.

Teresa Davidian presented some new information on the Affirmative Action Plan. The question had been asked, "Where do the numbers used for goals come from?" The numbers are from national census data on persons employed in that field, they look at gender and race for existing categories, and the Tarleton goal is set at 80% of the existing.

It was suggested that members of the EEOC should be sitting in on faculty and administrative search committees.

We had sent a letter to Dr. McCabe regarding the Distance Education Advisory Council. We received this reply from Dr. Alexander via Dr. McCabe.

"Pres McCabe, The Deans' Council is serving as the Distance Education Advisory Committee for the balance of this academic year. Faculty will have input on May 3 at Fac Dev Day. I will recommend a membership list for the Faculty Advisory Council this summer. B J Alexander, 3-20-01"

A reminder to elect senators. New senators will be present at the May meeting.

Need nominees for President-elect

1) College committee request is being worked on. It will be passed out for review before next meeting.

2). A letter was sent to the Piper Foundation asking for clarification of the rules.

3). Janet Schmelzer sent a letter to Gene Atkinson asking for a faculty resolution on the matters regarding the Faculty Advisory Committee.

The Faculty Advisory Committee has again asked for clarification on procedures. Dr. Atkinson stated that the rules exist in the handbook.

There was general agreement that the Senate was not pleased with the handling of this event. Upon motion by Dennis Jones, it was agreed that the Senate Executive Council would draft a resolution on this matter and present it to the senate for review at the next meeting.

Members: Richard Winton, Dennis Jones, Marilyn Robitaille

The interviews for the new VPAA will extend into the summer. It was suggested that senators may be asked to convene to talk to the candidates. Richard Winton asked for a list of questions.