Minutes of the University Senate Meeting

Anderson, Cindy

Anderson, Suzanne

Baker, Mary

Bass, Gail

Benoit, Joseph

Berne, Jane

Boyd, Robert

Bradley, April

Campbell, Katherine

Cripe, Haylee

Drewes, Mary

Erickson, Daniel

Faruque, Saleh

Ferraro, Richard

Fisher, Jay

Flom-Meland, Cynthia

Folkestad, Sara

Gallager, Robert

Gosnold, Will

Haskins, James

Hilliard, Nathaniel

Hume, Wendelin

Iiams, Michele

Iverson, Joneen

Jackson, Jon

Jackson, Margaret

Jeno, Sue

Jerath, Sukhvarsh

Koeser, Brandon

Lane, Jason

LaVenture, Andrew

Lawrence, David

Light, Steven

Little, Michael

Lothspeich, Jason

Mahar, Patricia

Mamaghani, Iraj

Martindale, Nathan

Mayzer, Roni

Moen, Jan

Munski, Douglas

Murphy, Eric

Olsen, Glenn

Owens, Sarah

Perkins, Dexter

Perry, David

Petros, Thomas

Picklo, Matthew

Poochigian, Donald

Potvin, Martha

Rakow, Lana

Rex, Janet

Rice, Daniel

Rieke, Judy

Rosenberger, Thad

Schnellert, Gary

Seddoh, Samuel

Stofferahn, Curtis

Stolt, Wilbur

Streibel, Kent

Watson, John

Wittgraf, Michael

The following announcements were made:

Mr. Gallager gave an update on the overall status of campus projects:

He indicated that the majority of campus is in good shape and that his report will cover the current campus construction projects and the legislative requests.
Campus construction projects currently underway or recently completed include: the Wellness Center, which is now completed; the Neuroscience addition and the campus parking facility, which are due to be completed in Fall 2007; the student replacement housing completion is scheduled for August, 2007; completion of the Northern Plains Center for Behavioral Research is planned for October, 2007 or later; the National Center for Hydrogen Technology has an estimated completion date of May 2007; Squires cafeteria renovation is expected to be completed by August, 2007; the Hopper Danley Projects (4 projects: Adelphi fountain restoration, spiritual center, student memorial garden, misc. landscaping) completion date is expected to be May, 2007; the Bronson Property private development (retail on bottom and residential on top) is under construction.
Overall requests to legislature for 2007-09: Number one is the O’Kelly-Ireland renovation; others include the dining center, indoor track and Indian Center. The deferred maintenance total for UND is $60 million.
The energy improvement projects continue and have realized savings that are used to pay for those energy improvements.

Mr. Murphy asked questions regarding the medical school facilities heating issues. A second question was posed as to who sets legislative priorities. Mr. Gallager indicated that the priorities are set by the vice presidents and approved by the President.

2. Don Kojich reported on the Education Marketing Group (EMG) and the brand audit, which is being conducted for UND. The EMG representatives were on campus for two and a half days. Mr. Kojich thanked the senators for their participation in the process. The first phase of the process is the campus interview on our communication and branding of the institution. Participation is very important. The second phase will be surveying external audiences. The third phase is on-campus focus groups on brand drivers. A question was asked about the cost for consulting. Mr. Kojich indicated it was $110,000 plus expenses. Mr. Petros expressed a concern about how diverse UND is and the message being too narrow. Mr. Petros indicated he would hold further comment until seeing the end result. Mr. Murphy reported on the meeting the EMG had with University Senate members and explained that a lot of concerns were alleviated.

Mr. Munski thanked Don Kojich. Mr. Koijich explained that the process is a consensus process and participation is important after which he again expressed thanks to the Senate.

3. Mr. Poochigian reported on the Council of College Faculties meeting held September 21 with the State Board of Higher Education. The CCF held a preliminary meeting before meeting with the Board. Mr. Poochigian reported the following items: Minnesota is considering a new tuition policy, which would offer free tuition to the top 25% of classes for years one and two and free tuition to certain majors for years three and four; North Dakota is considering what to do about tuition in light of this possible tuition change in Minnesota, a Green Ribbon campaign will discuss the tuition issue; NDSU presented information on the upcoming Arts and Humanities Festival October 27 and 28; Mr. Poochigian did a presentation that addressed the issue that there is a sense that faculty do not work very hard. Mr. Benoit commented that the Council of Deans and Provost are preparing materials and will discuss this matter as well; the final matter reported on was discussion regarding faculty salaries. The State Board of Higher Education will discuss salaries for campus presidents after a study done by the McKnight Committee. The expectation is that there will be a proposal for a 5% raise for presidents due to the study showing that campus presidents are underpaid. Faculty salaries would not be considered within the McKnight information; however, there was a shared first indication that there would be a 4% raise and possibly a 4.5% raise for faculty. Mr. Poochigian reported that a comment was made by Richie Smith of the State Board that there is not enough money, and that no one else spoke to that issue. He also stated that the meeting with the State Board of Higher Education and the Council of College Faculties was a friendly meeting.

The Chair asked for corrections or additions to the September 7, 2006 minutes. Hearing none, the minutes were approved as distributed.

The question period was opened at 4:47 p.m.

Mr. Perkins stated that he understands that the Division I issue will be addressed at the next meeting when President Kupchella will be present. Mr. Perkins also stated that he had heard that development funds that are not earmarked all go to athletics, and asked if that was true. Mr. Gallagher indicated this was not true; most unrestricted funds go to student scholarships. Other senators indicated they understood that to be correct. Mr. Perkins expressed his pleasure at hearing this clarification.

The question period closed at 4:49 p.m.

Mr. Petros moved to accept the annual reports of the Senate Committee on Committees, the Senate Continuing Education, Distance Education & Outreach Committee, the Senate Faculty Instructional Development Committee, and the Senate University Assessment Committee. Mr. Jackson asked for clarification on the meeting dates listed in the Continuing Education Committee report. Mr. Kerber indicated that the Committee met five times instead of three and that it was a typographical error. Mr. Munski asked for any other questions regarding the four annual reports. Mr. Perry asked about the Faculty Instructional Development Committee report regarding the item noting that the Alumni Foundation is discontinuing funding for faculty programs. He expressed a need for an explanation regarding this. Mr. Petros withdrew his original motion and moved to send the report back to the Committee to address this issue. Discussion ensued. There was a request that the Committee be urged to clarify the matter. A Committee member indicated that they were notified that funding was not available but they did not receive details. Mr. Gallager, who is on the Foundation board, indicated that funds have been reallocated.

For clarification, Mr. Hilliard indicated that the purpose of the consent calendar is to just file reports, but that the Senate can also ask for further information. Mr. Petros withdrew his motion. Mr. Munski suggested accepting the reports and requesting additional information from the Faculty Instructional Development Committee. Mr. Petros moved to accept the consent calendar. Ms. Potvin seconded and the motion passed with a vote of 43 for and 10 against. Mr. Petros moved that Mr. Munski request in writing that the Alumni Foundation explain why the funds are not available. Mr. Jackson seconded and the motion was approved with a vote of 44 for and 7 against. Mr. Munski suggested that they also be invited to Senate. He was granted that discretion.

Ms. Jeno moved to accept the Curriculum Committee report. The motion was seconded by Mr. Petros. A question was posed by Mr. Poochigian regarding the program change for the B.S. in Geological Engineering to take either Phil 370 or ChE 340. Mr. Gosnold explained that an ethics course is required and that Chemical Engineering developed a course which meets the ethics requirement. The motion was approved with a vote of 46 for, 1 against and 3 abstaining.

Mr. Munski explained that the UND Diversity Advisory Committee has not yet submitted their revision recommendations on the Institutional Statement on Diversity and Pluralism; therefore, the item was deferred to the November Senate meeting.

10.

Mr. Jackson moved to approve the proposed changes to the repeat policy. Mr. Perry seconded and discussion ensued. A question was raised regarding removing advisors from the process. It was explained that the registration system has always permitted registrations and petitions have not been denied. The motion was approved with a vote of 44 for and 1 against.

11.

Information regarding the Senate Scholarly Activities Committee funding project was reviewed. Mr. Alfonso, Vice President for Research, was not able to attend the meeting but provided a letter to address the funding issue. The letter indicated that there is a possibility of funding in the spring. Mr. Milavetz, Associate Vice President for Research, commented that the Senate Scholarly Activities Committee addresses funding for small seed grants, travel, and publication. He also commented that the original budget was smaller due to this lack of funding and, therefore, the money was reduced for all areas. He reported that, up to this point, there have been only fall travel awards and that the next meeting will be on publication funding. Mr. Murphy suggested a philosophic discussion on how UND spends funds and that some spending may be out of “kilter.” Mr. Watson indicated that he is on the research council and there are no discretionary funds.

12.

Mr. Poochigian moved to extend the meeting to 5:40 p.m. The motion was seconded by Mr. Jerath and approved with a vote of 41 for, 1 against and 2 abstaining.

13.

Mr. Watson indicated that lack of funding for the Scholarly Activities Committee is symptomatic of other situations as well.

Mr. Murphy moved that the Senate express concern to the President and Executive Officers regarding the lack of effort to maintain funding for the work of the Senate Scholarly Activities Committee, as well as the inability to have faculty seed grants. He further indicated that this is the opposite direction of UND’s mission for research. Ms. C. Anderson seconded. Mr. Poochigian made a friendly amendment to request an explanation of why this is happening. Mr. Jerath stated that seed money is not there due to the lack of support from the city of Grand Forks. Mr. Poochigian stated that the Senate discussion continuing to refer to the brand audit priority raises questions regarding the character of the institution within light of its research mission. Mr. Milavetz explained that the lack of seed money is due to the Alumni Foundation and city of Grand Forks no longer supporting that program. The motion was clarified for the vote. The clarified wording upon which the Senate voted was: “The University Senate wishes to express its significant concern regarding the marked reduction in funding for the Senate Scholarly Activities Committee, and that a request be made for an explanation from the President. In addition, we request a similar explanation for the reduction in the faculty seed grant program.” The motion was approved with a vote of 26 for 1 against and 2 abstentions.

14.

The meeting adjourned at 5:38 p.m.

Suzanne Anderson

Secretary to the Senate