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Governance Minutes ArchiveOctober 22, 1991 (Forum)
FACULTY SENATE FORUM 10-22-91 7:00 pm 1. Announcements: a. Reporters were urged to bring before the Senate any issues they felt were important b. The Forum on the Honor System was well attended and excellent c. Cornel Morton will speak at the Nov. 12 Faculty Senate Meeting d. Senate must elect representatives to CUS (eff. immediately) and UC (eff. 15 Nov) e. Officers were briefed on Hotel Roanoke f. VP Goodale of Student Affairs has asked that faculty advise students on dangers of alcohol abuse 2. Program: Dialogue with Provost Carlisle a. This represents a new opportunity for dialogue that we ought to try. b. The Provost briefly reviewed the following topics: (1) Budget (i) The state budget appears to be stabilized. (ii) The Presidents' Council has agreed that each institution will advocate for the same type of budget which includes: faculty salary increases, restoration of positions, improved library resources, support for equipment purchase and maintenance, and biannual bond issues. and have emphasized the costs of budget reduction and are developing a plan to mobilize support among business and community leaders for higher education. (iii) The agreement among all College and University presidents is unique. (2) Constructive activities in school year 90-91 (i) The plan and vision statement has proved valuable. (ii) Undergraduate education continues to improve. For example: - the core curriculum is being reviewed, - the Honors program under the leadership of Professor Jack Dudley and Academy of Teaching Excellence is making a positive impact on undergraduate education, and - the University has more undergraduate applicants of high quality for the freshmen class. (3) Graduate education continues to improve. For example, - numbers continue to increase, - there is a graduate teaching assistant orientation, and - the University has been able to allocate $ 2.5 million for tuition waivers (two-fold increase) (4) International programs are strengthened by having a director in the College of Agriculture. (5) The tuition initiative restored $7 million to the budget. c. The Provost stated that maintaining, sustaining, and developing shared governance was a top priority. 3. The Provost and Senate then engaged in a question and answer session a. Question: What are concerns of the Provost? Answer: (i) Budget, short term and long term (ii) Effects of budget deficiencies on: class size, faculty morale, and student behavioral problems. b. Question: How is Review of Administrators going and what are the criteria used? Answer: (i) Both Human Resources and Veterinary Medicine have reviewed their Deans. (ii) Background: administrators are reveived at least every 5 years for reappointment. (iii) Both faculty & Department Heads are on review committee. (iv) Provost develops questions hich are reviewed and revised by the committee and the questions sent to admistrators, faculty and students. Responses sent to committee, evaluated and discussed with Provost who consults with the President and a decision on continued appointment is made. c. Question: Will you comment on the growth of the University. Beyond 23,000? Answer: (i) It is the objective to maintain a stable enrollment of 20% graduate and 80% undergraduate (18,000). (ii) The University could go to 25,000, if resources and space were available. (iii) The Board of Visitors is concerned about enrollment creep in 1990 & 1991, due to a higher percentage of acceptance by applicants was higher than expected. d. Question: Will you comment on the growth of George Mason University? Answer: (i) Virginia Tech has outgrown the facilities at the Telstar graduate program (1,700), even with leased space. (ii) We are still trying to grow and gain visibility with UVa. (iii) There is no talk of a new undergraduate campus. e. Question: What process is involved in the Integrated Space Plan? Answer: (i) Planning, in general, can be improved. (ii) It is an open process with equal access to all. (iii) Advantageous impacts of the planning process include: - involvement of many in development of the long range plan - budget development for presentation to state (iv) It is a long range objective to consolidate planning in the Budget & Planning Advisory Council. (v) There is a need to develop assessment. f. Question: What is the status of the Commonwealth Center in Applied Mathematics? Answer: (i) Originally in the 90-92 budget, but lost but included in the 92-94 budget proposal. g. Question: Is there any possible negotiation for salary increases? Answer: (i) Yes, in cases of retention, salary distortion or expansion of duties. However, criteria are severe. Some were awarded. h. Question: With the retirement of the V.P. for Communications, will the scope of the activities of that office change? Answer: (i) An open, national search for the Information Systems V.P. will be initiated in spring/summer 1992. It was delayed because of searchs for 2 Deans, the Honor System Director. Fortunately, a capable acting V.P. is in place. (ii) The Provost is open to discussion of the activities managed and is aware of suggestions to separate academic and administrative computing and have the Library report elsewhere in the University administration. i. Question: There has been and Increase in class size, especially in Mathematics. Is there any plan to replace early retirement faculty? Answer: (i) Replacement of early retirement faculty operates in 3 stages: (1) Immediate replacement requests (few awarded) (2) Replacement Jan 1st, delayed. Plan: they give target and we decide replacement. (3) Reminder: the full impact of early retirement will not be known until the end of the academic year. (ii) In Mathematics the situation is serious and the University must do something. j. Question: Could there be increases in enrollment, especially desired in Engineering? Answer: (i) Space is needed, there will be a tradeoff between undergraduate and graduate enrollment. k. Question: What is the Global Perspectives Initiative in the 92-94 budget? Answer: (i) Global perspectives is an initiative identified in both the both University in the 21st Century and University Self Study documents. (ii) It is a combination of programs from various colleges. l. Question: In the firing of Coaches Allen and Scully, did they have recourse to any grievance procedure? Answer: (i) The Provost has no role, though any dealings with a university employee should be handled with care and respect Answer from the Faculty Senate President: (i) The Faculty Review Committee is considering whether there is a grievance and will report soon. m. Question: Do University employees hold empl the Board of Visitors? Answer: (i) I will look into that. n. Question: What about development of more comprehensive Faculty rewards? Answer: (i) That involves an examination of how we regard teaching, research, and public service. (ii) Any definition of excellence must be initiated here. (iii) Any changes should be statewide, not just local. o. Question: Is their sufficient input from all interests in budget? Answer: (i) There was input from a wide group and the Deans, in turn, asked for input. Comment: faculty never had enough information and there was not enough time for discussions. r. Question: What are the possibilities for obtaining the University's budget request fully? Answer: (i) That is dependent upon Presidents' initiative, the state budget and the economy. (ii) It is reasonable to expect that statewide initiatives (i.e. salary, positions, equipment and library) to be met. (iii) We remain hopeful on funding s. Question: What is the target on exceptional opportunities? Answer: (i) It is a mechanism to achieve faculty diversity and has no specific target. 4. Commission and Committee Reports: a. Sen Snoke: It was reported at University Council by Earv Blythe that there would continue to be no charging for inbound modem pool call (to the main frame computers, VTLS, etc.) through this fiscal year due to problems in software. b. Sen Holzman: A & S Faculty Association meets Nov 19th and will hear a presentation of the core curriculum. c. Sen Miller: There will be two open forums on Bicycle and Traffic. 5. Elections CUS: Senator Brown elected UC: Postponed until next meeting 6. Adjournment: 9:45 PM Addendum to Minutes: Commission/Committee Reports: Report on VPI Facilities Board from L. Eng The Board met on October 9, 1991. Several agenda items were of faculty interest. 1. A major agenda item was the presentation by the architectural consulting firm of Hanbury, Evans, Newill, Vlattas & Co. of Norfolk, on site selection for the proposed new University Bookstore (in anticipation of Virginia Tech converting the current bookstore building into Library space). The site recommended is the present parking lot across from the Donaldson Brown Center and Squires at the corner of College Avenue and Otey Street. Proposed is a two-story building with frontage primarily along College Avenue. Provision is made for integration of the bookstore with the parking garage proposed for the same site. 2. It was reported that the trade book section of the Bookstore has been expanded, but is still very small in comparison to similar facilities at peer institutions. 3. It was reported that sales from snack food vending machines have been steadily decreasing, probably due to increased food availability elsewhere on campus. Also, the machines are due for replacement soon. It was proposed that the snack food vending machine concession be phased out of VPI Facilities and an outside vendor be contracted to provide this service. 4. It was reported that Pepsico paid for the cost of the new scoreboard in Lane Stadium in exchange for advertising space on the board. 5. In response to a question from a new board member, Mr. Smoot reported that VPI Facilities had turned over about $1,500,000 to the University's Education Foundation annually over the past several years. Of that amount, about $225,000 is used for athletic scholarships. This athletic allocation has not increased over the past 10 years. The balance of the proceeds (over 1 million) is used for other scholarships (e.g., in the arts, Merit Scholars Program, etc.), and projects of benefit to student life (e.g., lights on the recreation fields, debt reduction for Squires renovation, etc.). Report of Commission on Student Affairs meeting of 17 October 1991 At this meeting there was a report by the SGA President, Melissa Byrne, of visit by Secretary of Education Dyke, a report on arrangements and plans for U.Va. football games (student tickets for this year's game are sold out, but the game will be on television, for the future U.Va. would like to move the game to the second weekend of the season and Virginia Tech would like to retain the present last weekend date), and distribution of the sexual assault survey being distributed to 5000 students across the state (500 of them at Virginia Tech). In official business the revised constitution of the Virginia Tech Union passed first reading. Among other changes, it lowers the required QCA for VTU chairs from 2.3 to 2.0. Two matters concerning race relations were the subjects of extensive discussion. A proposal to require that all entering students take a course in race relations, examined but not adopted by the University Forum on Liberal Education (UFLE), was reviewed and may be discussed later by CSA with invited representatives of UFLE and other interested parties. A resolution to condemn the Collegiate Times for racist language in a Life in Hell cartoon published in the October 15 issue was defeated, in large part because many members of CSA were persuaded, before or after extensive discussion, that the cartoon was not in fact in the least racist and the phrase to which exception had been taken was in fact used ironically. (I had to be very late to this meeting. My thanks to Senator Sorrentino for most of the content of this report.) Harlan B. Miller Faculty Senate Reporter COMPUTER COMMITTEE MEETING 2 OCTOBER 1991 Computing Center Announcements: The Computing Center and Newman Library are in the process of working out an agreement to merge the library computer operations with the Computing Center. The library's HP computer will be moved to the Information Systems Building. This is expected to save money and increase the ties between the two operations which are increasingly concerned with the same information service issues. The remainder of the meeting was spent discussing subcommittee assignments. 1. Personal Computer Subcommittee This subcommittee will continue to follow issues relating to site licenses and relations with the bookstore. Other topics include using microcomputers in teaching, development of a University-wide program for dealing with obsolete equipment, bundling purchases across departments to improve our position when negotiating with vendors and managing repair and a reasonable replacement cycle. 2. Capacity and Planning Subcommittee This subcommittee has been reviewing growth patterns and capacity for the Center's mainframes. Not much change is expected this year since the machines are expected to operate at capacity as they have for the past year. The committee will follow usage of the Center's new high-end workstation (IBM RS/6000), which is just beginning to operate. 3. User Services Subcommittee This subcommittee has not been meeting. 4. Workstation Subcommittee This new subcommittee will attempt to identify workstation users and numbers on campus and investigate software and site license needs. Jack Webster 6. Adjournment: 9:46 PM
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