President Linda Duncan called the meeting to order at 3:30 P.M.

Nineteen senators were present. Senators Richard Balderas and Les Waymack were absent.

1. Approval of Minutes and Treasurer's Report.
Upon motion by Carol Thompson, the minutes of the October meeting were approved. The Treasurer reported a bal-ance of $3,984.36.

2. Report from Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs on University Calendar.
Dr. Linda Jones introduced the following proposals regarding the 2000-2001 academic calendar:
a. All commencement exercises will be moved from Friday to Saturday.
b. Minor changes in the final exam schedules for the fall and spring semesters will be made to accommodate the scheduling of certain departmental exams.
c. The Central Texas Center will continue to maintain its own final exam schedule.
d. Due to a change in the method of counting class days (from hours to weeks), the number of class days will be reduced. Dr. Jones noted this calculation method brings Tarleton's calendar more into line with other state universi-ties.
e. A proposed change in the summer 2001 schedule was discussed. Version A defines a nine week summer period and gives departments the flexibility of scheduling classes of various lengths within that time frame. Version B retains the traditional two-session format. Following a lengthy discussion, Holly Lamb moved to support Version A. The Senate supported this motion unanimously.

3. Report on Texas Council of Faculty Senate Meeting and Proposed Revision to Handbook for Faculty and Staff.
President Duncan noted the following two items of interest from this meeting:
a. Certification programs across the state are placing more emphasis on field experience and less emphasis on academic achievement. She encouraged individual senators and their department members to look for these trends in their areas and voice their concerns when appropriate.
b. Based on discussions that took place during this meeting, President Duncan proposed the following amendment to the Tarleton State University Handbook for Faculty and Administrative Staff:
The Tarleton State University Faculty Senate has the responsibility for suggesting, reviewing, and commenting on all additions and revisions to the Tarleton State University Handbook for Faculty and Administrative Staff pertaining to general academic policies, faculty welfare, and faculty rules of procedure on a timely basis (1) before any such additions or revisions are approved by the President, (2) before such additions and revisions are referred to the Texas A&M University System or legal council for approval, and (3) before any additions or revisions are incorporated into the Tarle-ton State University Handbook for Faculty and Administrative Staff.
Gene Atkinson moved to approve this amendment; the motion passed unanimously.

4. Report on Academic Council Meeting.
President Duncan reported the Academic Council has discussed the change to the tenure and promotion policy pro-posed by Provost Alexander at the October Faculty Senate meeting and will vote on this proposed change at its November meeting. (See Note 1 below) Holly Lamb moved to instruct President Duncan to request a discussion and vote on the other two recommendations regarding promotion and tenure, pending the failure of the 60-hour proposal currently before the Academic Council. (See Note 2 below) The Senate supported this motion with a vote of 16 favoring, none opposing, and two abstaining.

5. Discussion of University Sick Leave Policy.
President Duncan noted that certain members of the Texas Legislature have expressed concern that university faculty members across the state are accumulating so much sick leave allowance, and that proposals have been made to cut the amount of sick leave allowed for these individuals. Following a brief discussion, Duncan volunteered to invite Angie Brown of Human Resources to discuss this matter at the December meeting.

6. Vote on Piper Professor Award Nominations.
Gene Atkinson presented four nominees, Dr. Hussain Jafri of the Department of Business Systems, Dr. James Kirby of the Department of Mathematics and Physics, Dr. Phil Murray of the Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, and Dr. Barry Price of the Department of Social Sciences for the Senate's consideration. Following a secret-ballot vote, Dr. Murray was named as Tarleton's Piper Professor nominee.

7. Report on Faculty Survey.
Because of a shortage of time, discussion of this item was deferred to the December meeting.

8. Report on Central Texas Center Representation.
Senator Weissenburger announced the formation of a select committee of faculty from the Central Texas Center for the purpose of establishing a local faculty assembly. This select committee will propose a structure and rules for the fac-ulty assembly, with the faculty as a whole at the Center voting on the final proposal. Formal administrative approval will then be sought for the proposal. It is anticipated that the faculty assembly will have informational and advisory functions for issues of local concern. It will also provide input to the senator on Faculty Senate issues.

9. Report on Sam's Wholesale Club Membership.
Rusty Freed indicated that his inquiry into Sam's Wholesale Club membership for Tarleton faculty turned into a more complicated process than he anticipated. Following a brief discussion on the advisability of asking a Sam's Wholesale Club representative to meet with Angie Brown of Human Resources, the question died for lack of motion.

10. Questions Regarding the Posting of Teacher Evaluations.
President Duncan noted that members of the J-TAC staff have made contact with her requesting an interview regarding the posting of teacher evaluations on the Internet. She informed the Senate of her intention to stress the following three concerns in this interview:
a. The posting of teacher evaluations places students and faculty members in adversarial positions.
b. This practice places students and teachers on an unlevel playing field with anonymous students evaluating named teachers.
c. Students do not need to know the results of surveys intended for administrative evaluation of faculty members.
By general consensus, the Senate supported for Duncan's views on this question.

11. New Business.
No new business was brought before the Senate.

President Duncan adjourned the meeting at 4:55 P.M.

Notes: (1) The full text of Dr. Alexander's proposal, is contained in the Minutes of the Faculty Senate Meeting, October 12, 1999 (http://www.tarleton.edu/~senate/101299.html).

(2) The three proposals are summarized as follows:
a. A blue ribbon committee appointed by the Faculty Senate recommended that the MFA, the MSW, and the JD degrees be recognized for purposes of promotion and tenure. The Senate voted to support this recommenda-tion at its March 9, 1999 meeting and reaffirmed this action in an email vote following the October 12, 1999 meeting.
b. A second faculty committee appointed by Dr. B.J. Alexander and the Deans' Council also recommended that the MFA, the MSW, and the JD degrees be recognized for purposes of tenure and promotion.
c. The Deans' Council recommended that the university recognize 60 graduate hours, including an appropriate graduate degree be recognized for purposes of tenure and promotion.