September 10, 1996
Agenda Items of Business
1. Approval of minutes of May 6, 1996 meeting. President Chandler called the September 10, 1996 meeting of the Tarleton State University Faculty Senate to order at 3:30 PM. The minutes of the May meeting were approved as presented. Senator Brian Whitecotton was absent. VPAA Alexander attended the meeting.
2. Election of Secretary/Treasurer. Nick Lilly was elected to a two-year term as secretary/treasurer, replacing Wendell Sandler who was named the new chair of Health and Physical Education.
3. Election of Parliamentarian. Malcolm Cross was elected to a one-year term as parliamentarian.
4. Appointment of committee representatives.
5. Appoint committee to recommend one statistical software package to be purchased and supported by the university (one senator from each college). President Chandler requested that a senator or representative from each college form a committee to recommend the purchase of a site licensee for one statistical software package. He discussed two packages: SAS and SPSS. He emphasized that he thought the university would commit the funds to purchase and support one software package and gave the committee the charge to make a recommendation to the Computer Services Committee and President McCabe. He indicated to the senate that John Calahan had installed an examination copy of SPSS for Macs on his computer and that interested faculty might contact John to review the software. He told the senate he had examination copies of Windows versions of the software that he could give to interested faculty. The following senators volunteered to serve: Tim Brown (Agriculture and Technology), Pat Smith (Business), Arthur Low (Arts and Sciences). The senators from Education and Fine Arts recommended that Bob Newby be their representative.
6. Resolve item 2 in the May 6 meeting minutes. Dan Hardin provided background information concerning the question of eligibility for the senate discussed at the May 6 meeting. He also recommended that if the constitution needed amending to clarify membership then maybe the constitution should be reviewed to see if any other changes needed to be made. Parliamentarian Cross volunteered to lead efforts toward resolving constitutional questions and ambiguities.
7. Collect comments on the proposed TSU sexual harassment policy. Arthur Low, Roy Ellers, Holly Lamb, and Charles Howard expressed concerns about the proposed policy. Those concerns centered on the unclear composition of the ad hoc committee, the apparent inability of a complainant or alleged offender to request a committee hearing, and no clear indication anywhere in the proposed policy that any person sanctioned would have the right to the normal grievance process as outlined by the System policy. The senate moved and passed the motion to recommend to VPAA Alexander the following:
Holly Lamb also expressed concern about preliminary contact. As the policy is currently structured, any female complainant would have to file a complaint with a male administrator. She stated she thought this situation might make some complainants uncomfortable, creating a barrier to legitimate complaints.
A motion also passed that the senate send to VPAA Alexander faculty responses to the proposed policy.
8. CoFCO business.
a. Approve payment of annual dues. A motion passed to pay the annual dues.
b. Select representatives to October 18, 19 meeting. A motion passed that the senate send Charles Howard and Dan Hardin to the October 18, 19, meeting.
9. Purchases for Senate use.
a. approve purchase of file cabinet: a motion passed approving the purchase of a "presidential" file cabinet.
b. approve purchase of supplies: President Chandler and Secretary Lilly said they would use their departmental copiers and paper and that the senate would reimburse their departments for the cost of supplies and copying.
c. status of purchase of lap-top computer: a motion passed approving the purchase of a lap-top computer if the senate had sufficient funds to do so.
10. Discuss need for a policy concerning "Distance Learning." Charles Howard pointed out that the university currently has no policy concerning distance learning. He gave senators a draft of a policy to review by the next meeting and asked that the discussion be included on the agenda for the October 8 meeting.
11. Announcements. Dan Hardin informed the senate that the Low Productivity Committee, chaired by Joe Cude, would again be looking at academic programs in the upcoming academic year. He advised senators to alert their departments that they should prepare for this university-wide investigation.
12. New Business. Dan Hardin distributed a "Summary of 1996-97 Faculty Senate Committee Recommendations and Resulting Committee Appointments." The report indicated that the senate's recommendations for committee appointments were relatively unsuccessful. Of the total committee memberships the senate recommended, 63.4% were honored. Of the committee chair recommendations made, none were honored. Of the 17 members who requested and were not recommended for reappointment, 13 were reappointed. Several senators expressed significant concerns about the committee appointment process and whether or not President McCabe had changed the policy. For example, Hardin pointed out that one faculty member had expressly requested that he not be placed on the University Research Committee because he planned to submit a proposal for a grant. The faculty member was, however, placed on the committee. Nick Lilly stated that the Speaker Symposium Committee, with the senate's approval, had devised a mechanism for electing a chair who had worked within the committee for a year or two. The committee, in the spring, had elected Holly Lamb, who worked all summer preparing the groundwork for the upcoming year's speakers. The president, however, appointed a chair, who had not previously served on the committee. The senate determined that it would revisit this issue in future meetings.
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