Minutes of the University Senate Meeting

April 5, 2001

The April meeting of the University Senate was held at 4:10 p.m. on Thursday, April 5, 2001, in Room 7, Gamble Hall. Randy Lee presided.

The following members of the Senate were present:

Bagheri, Fathollah

Bass, Gerald

Berger, Kristy

Boyd, Robert

Cleveland, Mike

Davis, W. Jeremy

DeMers, Judy

Elbert, Dennis

Elsinga, Lillian

Erickson, Daniel

Fivizzani, Albert

Gabrynowicz, Joanne

Greves, Cole

Grijalva, James

Hume, Wendelin

Jackson, Jon

Jeno, Susan

Khavanin, Mohammad

Krogh, Nancy

Kweit, Robert

Lang, Gretchen

Lee, Randy

Lindseth, Glenda

Lowe, D. Scott

Mabey, Renee

Moen, Janet

Munski, Douglas

Nelson, Berly

Nelson, Theron

Nichols, Elizabeth

Norton, Theresa

Owens, Thomas

Petros, Thomas

Poochigian, Donald

Rankin, Elizabeth

Rice, Daniel

Robertson, Charles

Shaeffer, James

Skramstad, Allan

Stofferahn, Curtis

Stolt, Wilbur

Todhunter, Paul

Towne, Gary

Tschacher, Walter

Undlin, Heather

Yurkovich, Eleanor

Amjad, Sabrina

Drewes, Mary

Ettling, John

Even, Brock

Fox, Carl

Frost, Chris

Gallager, Robert

Goodwin, Janice

Hoffmann, Mark

Holdman, Linda

Johnson, Arnold

Kraidy, Marwan

Kupchella, Charles

Mann, Michael

Matthews, Jason

Nelson, Enrique

Olsen, Glenn

Pederson, Randy

Schletty, Chris

Smart, Kathy

Smith, Bruce

Stevens, Wes

Timmerman, Larry

Wellcome, Dan

Wilson, H. David

Zierdt, Candace

Zupher, Christopher

The following announcements were made:

1. Mr. Lee announced that Vice Chancellor Hillman has stated that, starting with 2002, there will be a three-week break between Fall and Spring semesters, with the time made up at the end of the Spring semester.

2. Mr. Kweit reported on the status of SB2291. The bill was amended in the House to call for a study of transfer practices, instead of mandating transfer within NDUS as required in the original Senate bill. The amended bill was returned to the Senate, which rejected it and called for a conference. Mr. Kweit also reported that an amendment was added to HB1435, the "anti-discrimination" bill exempting higher education. He reported that this bill, as thus amended, passed the Senate 25-23. Mr. Kweit stated that the impact on higher education had at least been mitigated by the amendment.

3. Mr. Nelson announced that he and Ms. Berger had concluded, and much enjoyed, their terms as President and Vice President of the Student Government and their University Senate membership. Mr. Nelson announced that they would be succeeded in Student Government by Matt Brown as President and Mike Cleveland as Vice President, and Mr. Nelson introduced Mr. Cleveland to the Senate.

4. Mr. Boyd reminded the Senate about remaining Time Out events, and then reported that he had received a call from a local legislator who reported receiving a letter from the Council of College faculties encouraging the passage of HB1435, the amended "anti-discrimination" bill. This legislator thought this letter had also been sent to all house members. The legislator told Mr. Boyd that he thought the letter would cause legislators to think that UND faculty support passage of the bill, and that this would hurt efforts to defeat this bill. The two UND CCF members present, Mr. Grijalva and Ms. Gabrynowicz, stated they did not know of any letter sent nor did they have any knowledge of a position adopted by CCF.

Mr. Lee asked for corrections or additions to the minutes from the March 1, 2001 Senate meeting. Ms. Krogh asked for the minutes to note that Mr. Bagheri was present at the March meeting. The minutes were then approved as corrected.

The Chairman introduced the Question Period at 4:22 p.m. Mr. Petros questioned whether a May Senate meeting would be scheduled, and Mr. Lee confirmed that this meeting will be held with a substantial agenda. Mr. Petros asked about the proposed Vice President for Research position, and questioned whether there was an overlap with the responsibilities of the Graduate Dean. Mr. Kweit stated that the position would report to the President and increase our emphasis on research. Ms. DeMers noted that she was on the search committee for the new VP, and that the committee has already met. Mr. Poochigian stated that NDSU has already created a similar position. Mr. Lee noted that the President was in Albany for the NCAA Frozen Four championship, and that the Provost was attending the Chancello's Cabinet in his place. With no further questions, the question period closed.

Mr. Bass, on behalf of the Committee on Committees, presented for final action the Nominating Ballot created by the nominating and voting process at the March meeting. Mr. Bass moved to adopt the people identified on the nominating ballot as those persons identified on the ballot as elected to serve on the indicated committees for the committee year about to begin. Mr. Kweit seconded. The motion was voted upon and carried unanimously.

Ms. Krogh moved to amend the University Grievance Policy, stated in Section 3-2 on page 14 of the 2000-2001 Code of Student Life by requiring that grievances brought to the Student Academic Standards Committee be filed within 30 calendar days of the final decision of the academic unit (college/school). Mr. Petros seconded. The motion would amend the first sentence of sub-sub-section B.2. of the subsection 3-2 of Section 3: Academic Concerns of the UND Code of Student Life (2000-2001 edition) to read as follows:

"Grievances not resolved at the level of the academic unit may be brought by any of the parties to the Student Academic Standards Committee (Registrar's Office) within 30 calendar days of the final decision of the academic unit (college/school)."

The motion was voted upon and carried unanimously.

The meeting adjourned at 4:45 p.m.

Nancy Krogh, Secretary