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Governance Minutes ArchiveFebruary 23, 1993 -- Forum with the President
The following minutes were officially approved as corrected on 4/7/93. FACULTY SENATE FORUM WITH THE PRESIDENT Minutes 23 February 1993 32 Pamplin Hall I. The meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM by President Leon Geyer. Visitors were welcomed: Michael Little (Public Affairs), Darrel Martin (Assistant to the President), James McComas (University President), Peggy Rasnick (Staff Senate Liaison). II. The agenda was adopted with no changes. III. Roll call Senators present: Beagle, Brown, Bunce, Carrig, Clowes, Eng, Feret, Ficenec, Foy, Fuller, Geyer, Graham, Hardell, Heath- Camp (for Sherman), Holtzman, Howard, Hult, Jones, Lambur, Landgraf, McDaniels, Murray, Norstedt, O'Brien, Olin, Pierce, Rakes, Scigaj, Simmons, Sumichrast, Tideman, Vinson, Wang, Weaver, Webb, Wright. Senators absent: Armstrong, Barbeau, deWolf, Falkinham, Fern, Hasselman, Haugh, Martin, Miller, Mullins, Parsons, Shumsky, Snoke, Williams. IV. Announcements President Geyer encouraged all senators to pay their dues to the secretary. V. Program: James McComas, President, VPI&SU A. President McComas began by praising Prof. Gerald Gibbs, who was honored as Virginia Scientist of the Year. He then thanked the faculty for their support during the recent challenging times experienced by the university, and noted that student applications for admission are up and the student attitude is still quite upbeat. B. The slide presentation that followed was a comprehensive report on the university's present situation and future plans. What follows are a few of the President's comments: 1. General Assembly. While the Extension restoration should pass (139 of 140 legislators sponsored the amendment), only $300,000 is in the budget for the Equine Center. Perhaps the needs of the center need to be studied. 2. Staffing. Although faculty and staff positions have been restored, we have 60 fewer faculty positions and 235 fewer staff/Extension positions than before. The custodial and clerical staff have been particularly hard hit. 3. Criticisms of higher education. The public fails to understand that universities serve many different functions. The often-made comparison with business is false; we did not lose our consumers - the money was taken from us and given to the state. 4. SCHEV report. McComas is glad that the report did not become a legislative issue; this gives time for compromise plans to be worked out. 5. State spending per student. Virginia spends $3700/student for higher education; West Virginia spends $8000. Virginia ranks below Arkansas. 6. State-wide responses. Faculty groups, particularly at Tech and UVa, and the Presidents Council are working in this area to spell out the missions within the state system. States surrounding Virginia are experiencing a decline in students; Virginia institutions might need to work harder for Virginia students. 7. Internal responses. We must show we are willing to improve internally. A capital campaign for private funding is planned. More teaching should be done by administrators and department heads. 8. Progress. Research is now at $132 million annually. We have a good relationship with congressional and state legislators. Tech allocates a higher percentage of its budget to the instructional program than any of the Virginia doctoral-granting universities. 9. Challenges a. Reassert the state-wide public service mission. We cannot allow the universities to be regionalized. b. Develop a master plan to educate the public, the legislature, and our own undergraduates on the importance of research. Faculty cooperation is important here. c. Sustain our credibility as a place of responsible change. d. Merge, rather than eliminate, programs; elimination is not productive. e. Emphasize the importance of students. A special teaching facility with state-of-the- art technology could possibly be a focus in this area. C. President McComas concluded his remarks be expressing guarded optimism about the future. Down-sizing probably is almost over, and legislative support is fairly good. Virginia is somewhat ahead of other states in that it already has faced many of the major problems of public higher education. D. Discussion 1. Retaining faculty. Are there plans to address the problem of new faculty coming in at higher salaries than those already here? It would help if the state could bring us up to the 60th percentile. We cannot hire new people at less; we would be even further in the hole. 2. New Virginians. This group has changed dramatically over the years, from a glee club to a group of 40 performers and an equal number of support staff. Each performance now costs about $4000, and the NV traveled more than the basketball team. The group will not be disbanded; it will be downsized to about 25 and the focus will be on musical performance. 3. Roanoke conference center. Will the faculty have less of a planning role because the city is paying for the center? We will have all the benefits of the building without having to pay for it. The university will have three members on the conference center commission. Donaldson-Brown will continue to function as usual. When it's to our advantage, we will have groups here. There is a problem with upgrading the upper floors of the CEC. 4. Fee structure. Has the university ever considered having students pay by semester hour? We are looking at several formulas regarding fees, but no policies have been set. We need to improve our care for part-time students. 5. Proposed teaching facility. Shouldn't all our teaching facilities be in better condition? This problem, and the problem of more students in the same facilities as ten years ago, needs to be addressed. Students want to be taught by people, not by television. The pinch is in the Arts and Sciences core courses. Another problem is poor attendance in large classes. Is poor attendance a sign of the times? We don't know. What's bothersome is that these are good students, many of whom are serious about their careers, but they don't show up. 6. Graduate students. It is difficult to recruit because of the small amount of money available for fee waivers. This is keeping faculty from coming here because we cannot guarantee them good graduate students. The dollars are coming from undergraduate tuition. At UVa, graduate students are funded in large part by the endowment. We need to study the options available; we need to have more faculty input on this problem. 7. Need to educate legislators. We have been successful in getting legislators to come here and in trying to educate them, but the state is more fractured by regionalism and the General Assembly is becoming more populist. Our best-educated public is the corporate world. 8. Parking. He knows nothing about a plan to double parking fees. There is a plan to build a parking garage in conjunction with the town, but this is not certain. We probably should investigate the idea of allowing monthly deductions for parking fees, rather than collecting a yearly lump sum. This would not cost much and might make people happier. D. In closing, the President noted that most faculty are student oriented, despite what the public seems to believe. There are pockets of problems that need to be addressed, such as keeping reasonable office hours, but he gets a good deal of positive mail about faculty. VI. Further announcements/urgent business A. The CFA will look at the faculty grievance procedure one more time. It will be brought to the Senate if there is a demand for further review. B. The issue of students meeting exit requirements instead of entrance requirements is being considered by CUS. Comments should be given to Senator Murray. C. Admission requirements are being reviewed by a committee that includes Senators Hult and Geyer, who will receive comments. D. Senator Olin will discuss the document on misconduct in science with Senator deWolf (representing CFA). E. All senators should read the Provost's Phase II document. The Board of Visitors wants a report on implementation in August. Although the committees formed for implementation consist only of administrators and department heads, they have been asked to seek faculty input. F. Secretary of Education James Dyke will be on campus on 18 March. He wishes to meet with faculty from 3:00 to 5:00 to discuss the SCHEV report and other issues. Senators should plan to attend if possible. [Secretary Dyke's visit was postponed until 24 March. A short summary of his meeting with faculty is appended to the Senate Cabinet minutes of 26 March.] VII. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned. Respectfully submitted, Marilyn L. Norstedt Secretary
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Last modified on: Tuesday, 25-Sep-2001 13:56:15 EDT