Faculty Senate President Kelli Styron called the meeting to order at 3:30 p.m. Twenty Faculty Senators were in attendance.

I. Minutes of the October 12, 2004, meeting were approved.

II. Secretary-Treasurer Malcolm L. Cross reported a balance of $3970.84, a net increase in the Faculty Senate’s account of $834.17 over the balance of $3136.67 reported at the October 12 meeting, and representing the addition of Dr. Gary Peer’s generous grant of $2000.00, minus expenses of $300.00 for dues to the Texas Council of Faculty Senates, $625.00 to support the Noon Aerobics Program, and $240.83 to finance travel to and attendance at the fall meeting of the Texas Council of Faculty Senates. Following the Treasurer’s report Kelli Styron invited Dr. Boyd Collier and Mr. Wayne Campbell to speak before the Senate.

III. Calendar Consideration—Dr. Boyd Collier, Calendar Committee Chair: Dr. Boyd Collier presented a proposed calendar for the upcoming academic year and discussed issues before the Calendar Committee, noting that the Committee:
· Had decided to delay the beginning of the fall semester by a week to eliminate conflict with the summer term;
· Had decided to begin the winter semester after the Martin Luther King, jr., holiday;
· Will make more major scheduling decisions in the spring, including those concerned with the scheduling of a fall break;
· Will continue to review the issue of minimester scheduling.
Following Dr. Collier’s presentation, the Faculty Senate unanimously approved the proposed calendar.

IV. Bookstore Issues—Presentation by Wayne Campbell, Bookstore Manager: Wayne Campbell told the Faculty Senate he believed that concerns expressed by Faculty Senators and other faculty members about the procedures for determining the number of textbooks to be ordered for classes were valid. He said that when ordering textbooks for a given course, the Campus Store estimated, based on past records, the number of texts actually likely to be bought by the students, given the expense of returning texts not purchased. He invited faculty members with concerns to meet with him to review the data on which textbook ordering decisions were made.

V. Announcements: Symposium on November 10 at 3:00—Dr. Steve Murdock. Kelli Styron reminded the Faculty Senate of Dr. Peer’s desire that as many faculty
members as possible attend Dr. Murdock’s program on the proposed Quality
Enhancement Plan and relevant Central Texas demographics.

VI. Piper Award: The Faculty Senate selected Dr. Christopher Guthrie, Professor of History, to be Tarleton’s candidate for the Piper Award.

VII. University Committees.

A. Reports.

1. Academic Council: No meeting.

2. Curriculum Committee. No meeting.

3. Enrollment Management Advisory Council: Kelli Styron announced that the Enrollment Management Advisory Council had recommended the formation of a Capacity Study Steering Committee which may hire an outside firm to look at capacity issues.

4. Employee Benefits Committee: No meeting.

5. TLTR. George Mollick discussed revisions in the Vision Statement, noting that while the previous draft had had too many “thou shalts,” the latest revision emphasized the development of ways and means to support the use of technology in teaching programs, and the encouragement of departments to play a major role in the establishment and implementation of technology-related goals. The Faculty Senate unanimously endorsed the new Vision Statement.

6. EEO/AA. No meeting.

7. University Planning Council. Kelli Styron announced that at a meeting of the Council on 10/25, Mary Frances Gibbons discussed changes in SACS accreditation process, emphasizing:
· Greater use of standardized forms to elicit information;
· Greater involvement of personnel at all levels in the development of data;
· Abstention from plan implementation until after the first SACS site visit.

8. Academic Integrity Committee: Mark Holtorf discussed a plan to conduct a campus-wide survey to students to elicit information on students’ perceptions of cheating and its frequency. Such a survey would be conducted in classes with the cooperation of the faculty.

9. Salary and Benefits Committee: No report. Kelli Styron announced that the Committee was awaiting the receipt of relevant data.

10. Faculty Development Committee. George Mollick announced that the Faculty Development Committee will meet in the Spring to review data its members are currently collecting.

11. Parking Committee: The Faculty Senate debated a resolution to recommend that fines for illegal parking be raised to $50.00. Kelli Styron said that Dr. McCabe was receptive to the possibility of raising fines, but that he would also consider the reactions of other groups, such as the Staff Council and the Student Government, to the passage of the Senate’s resolution. The Senate passed the resolution, albeit not unanimously.

VIII. Fall Luncheon: Janet Whitley reminded the Faculty Senate that its Fall Luncheon was scheduled for noon, November 10, in the Travis Room; announced that the speaker would be Dr. Gary Peer; urged the Senators to both motivate their colleagues to attend the Luncheon and attend it themselves; and noted that the faculty responses to previous announcements of the Fall Luncheon indicated that turnout would probably be greater than average.

IX. New Business: Report From the Texas Council of Faculty Senates: Kelli Styron submitted and discussed a written report on the 10/22-10/23 2004 meeting of the Texas Council of Faculty Senates, emphasizing the Council’s determination to examine the issue of shared governance in February, and the election of David Weissenburger, former president of the Tarleton Faculty Senate, to be President-Elect of the Council.

X. Adjournment. The Faculty Senate adjourned at 5:00 p.m. The next meeting is scheduled for February 8, 2004, at 3:30 p.m., location to be announced.