Millersville University, Faculty Senate
MINUTES
FACULTY SENATE MEETING
September 19, 1995
Prior Minutes
Reports
...| Chairperson
| Student Senate
| APSCUF President
| President
| VP Acad Affairs
| VP Student Affairs
|
Committee Reports
...| UCPRC
| General Education Review
| Proposed Courses
|
Business
...| Senate Elections
Chairperson D. Eidam called the meeting to order at 4:05 p.m. in Chryst
Hall, Room 210. All departmental senators attended except Educational
Foundations. Student President E. Kobeski, T. Miskelly, and J. Ishler
attended for the Student Senate. C. Blaettler attended for the Snapper.
Minutes
Senate approved the 5 September 1995 meeting
minutes with the following corrections. On page 3838, Academic Standards
Committee, the committee chairperson, J. Piperberg made some corrections:
for the time MU admitted five students back under the new academic amnesty
program. Piperberg noted other corrections to the committee report also.
On page 3840, under Course Approvals, for ECON 327 delete the words:
"Liberal Arts Core."
Reports
Chairperson's Report
Chairperson D. Eidam discussed the last Senate meeting election results.
The election counters had to flip a coin to decide two votes. However,
Senate had a majority in every contested election. If Senate dislikes
the new voting system, it can always go back to the old one.
The Fall commencement speaker will be an MU graduate, Paul Evanko,
Commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police. The Chairperson received
correspondence that C. McLeod resigned as a Senator but his department
subsequently reelected him to fill out the remainder of his term. The
UCPRC Chair is technically vacant. Senate by unanimous consent could
reinstate Senator McLeod. There will be an election at the next Senate
meeting for the Chairperson of the UCPRC. Candidates must be Senators.
Professor D. Williams informed the Chairperson that she did not intend to
be nominated for a position on the UCPRC, so that position is vacant. An
election will be held for that position next meeting.
Senators who want to put items on the agenda must give them to the
Secretary by noon on the Monday following a meeting. Please send all
Senate Committee minutes to the Senate Chairperson so he can be a
clearinghouse for all minutes.
Student Senate
Student Senate President E. Kobeski said the Student Senate held its
first meeting, 7 September, and for the first time it was
televised by cable. One event Student Senate will have
this year is a Leadership Conference. Student Senate had
its committee elections at the last meeting (See Attachment A).
The shuttle bus is working well and ridership is up. Kobeski
contacted someone from Penn State who is organizing a lobbying effort.
Senate Chairperson Eidam noted that Senate Committee Chairpersons may
reach their student members by contacting them at the
addresses shown on the attached address list. (See Attachment A).
APSCUF President
APSCUF President S. Centola said he came to Senate today to discuss the
interim curriculum measures introduced by the Administration and jointly
agreed to by the APSCUF leadership. Centola tried to explain what the
agreement means from his perspective. Last Spring it came to the
APSCUF's leadership attention that MU and its faculty were about to face
a difficult time as an institution.
President Caputo spoke about this during his convocation address. MU is
facing the greatest fiscal crisis it has ever faced. The political
pressures that are exerted upon our supporters in the Legislature
compound this awareness. Public institutions are under attack. All this
came to us locally when MU's Provost came to Senate and announced changes
in the number of students in classes and the amount of writing that
faculty could expect of students. With the fiscal constraints, the
political problems, the increased number of students, and the curriculum
changes, APSCUF was concerned that working conditions could be
drastically affected.
APSCUF engaged in a number of meetings with the Administration last
Spring to try to reach in agreement that would help ease the burdens on
the institution and faculty temporarily. APSCUF also agreed that various
task forces could be established to study several things including the
general education curriculum. The aim is to determine what other
measures can be taken to increase the cost effectiveness of the program.
As a result of the deliberations, APSCUF reached an agreement involving
the suspension of the W courses. Centola said that he had originally
advocated introducing more writing into the general education program.
As he heard from his peers, hoever, faculty in some cases had thirty or
forty students in writing courses. Since APSCUF cannot negotiate class
size with the Administration, there is nothing APSCUF can do about the
large number of students in classes. Most universities around the
country do not set the number of pages of writing as a specific writing
requirement. A writing reduction would ease the faculty's burdens as the
student enrollment increases in the W courses.
APSCUF also agreed to drop one of the two perspectives course
requirements. APSCUF was alarmed by the increased enrollments in classes
and actively tried to fight against it. APSCUF would like to see the
perspective requirement returned to its original status in the future.
When APSCUF agreed to accept a one perspective course requirement, it
recognized the savings to the Administration. Another measure was a
moratorium on new general education courses until the task forces could
investigate their resource implications.
There was a fourth measure. the Administration agreed to keep low
enrollments in certain courses such as freshmen and advanced composition
classes, speech classes, perspectives classes and lab courses where the
quality of the instruction and interaction would be affected. MU needs
certain low enrollment courses to maintain the integrity of its
curriculum. Centola said that these measures are short term. APSCUF did
not want to supersede the Senate, but working conditions were involved.
APSCUF respects the work of the task forces.
Administrative Officers
President
President J. Caputo discussed the interim curriculum changes. the
Administration is committed to the fact that these changes are interim
measures. The game plan is to take a holistic review of all interim
measures. What about the moratorium on new courses and on those that are
currently in the pipeline? Caputo said that he will not authorize any
new courses that he has not already authorized. If he has not already
signed off on a course, he is not going to do so. Caputo said if there
is a very special case, a pressing need, for a course, the Administration
would support it. The financial circumstances of the institution are
precarious. It is not clear what is driving MU's costs and lowering our
productivity. MU plans to analyze the cost and lowered productivity
problems very closely. Because of the need to allocate University
resources more efficiently, the faculty needs to examine its curriculum
more closely. If MU allowed new courses while doing the study, that
could affect the results of the study.
When Caputo first came to MU, he was widely quoted as saying that the
faculty needed to improve the curriculum. He was struck by the fact that
at the time MU's single universal course requirement was a swimming
course. There was no other course universally required. Through a
series of task forces in the 1980s, MU succeeded in improving its
curriculum. The improvements made some faculty unhappy; some retired
faculty today are still bitter about the curricular changes. However, MU
did succeed in creating a curriculum that had majority faculty support.
Caputo is committed to MU doing that again. MU will reach a consensus
about what the changed curriculum should be. Caputo pledged to Senate
that a handful of people will not determine a new curriculum. The former
curriculum was not the President's first choice. In forming the changed
curriculum, the President's views will represent only one person. APSCUF
and members of the Administration will negotiate in the coming weeks.
Caputo said that he spent the morning at the WGAL studios. WGAL held a
mini-community planning conference for its own purposes. It is planning
a one to two year program featuring education matters. It invited a
large group of people including educators from Harrisburg and Lancaster
to attend. Caputo was impressed with the amount of money WGAL will spend
on the project. Caputo expects WGAL to look at the positive side of
education. WGAL is aware that there is a great deal of misunderstanding
of education and deep societal forces impinging upon it.
There was a signing ceremony in which WGAL gave its entire library of
film and videotape from 1948 to virtually the present to MU. The library
will become a rich research and instructional resource for MU and will be
stored in a renovated Myers Hall.
Vice-President for Academic Affairs
Provost F. McNairy said in response to a senator's question that senate
has a tradition of not addressing fiscal issues concerning new courses.
Since APSCUF does, the administration thought it appropriate to treat
these matters as work issues. MU needs to address the financial aspects
of new programs. The administration is looking for a way to respect the
traditions of the senate and simultaneously incorporate the fiscal
implications. The administration intends for jointly agreed to changes
to the curriculum to go into effect in January. The senate will receive
proper information. The administration will also meet with department
chairs to explain how it operates. Until that time, Dean's council will
review the fiscal issues such as what are load implications for a
department? What are the number of Majors? Mu must investigate the
course proposal format. Senate need not take a stand on fiscal issues.
McNairy discussed how senate will be involved in the curricular changes.
Everyone needs to look at the whole picture. the whole picture is not
just general education; it is how does MU move forward as an
institution. McNairy reminded senators of President Caputo's convocation
speech of a year ago. The world is different now than it was ten years
ago. The Provost will come to each school wide meeting. She will
discuss what is happening now, look at where MU can go in the future, and
ask each senator and his/her department to address a series of ten
questions. The questions try to tie in the whole picture: the fiscal
realities, the linkages for the future in higher education, the financial
possibilities, and how MU prepares the student.
Chairperson D. Eidam commented that the administration will continue to
respond in writing to senate's nongeneral education courses.
Vice-President for Student Affairs
Vice President for Student Affairs G. Reighard said that a year ago MU
announced plans to reorganize the student affair's staff to prepare for
the future. MU has done that. Dr. Charlene Yager of the University of
Delaware has accepted a position and will join MU on october 30. She has
16 years experience in higher education. Reighard will bring her to
senate shortly after she arrives.
Committee Reports
Undergraduate Course and Program Review
Committee
Chairperson D. Eidam expressed senate's gratitutde to C. McLeod for the
superb job he has done in a challenging position.
General Education Review Committee
Chairperson R. Wismer said the committee met last Tuesday. The committee
will do a program review of the current general education program.
Proposed Courses
Under the two meeting rule, senate approved two courses.
COMM422:
Advanced Audio Production Techniques, a new three credit hour
course effective Spring 1996.
BIOL318:
Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy, a new four credit hour course
effective Spring 1996.
Business
Senate Elections
Senate continued its annual elections and elected R. Mainzer as
chairperson of the Academic Outcomes Assessment Committee for a term
that expires in 1998. If senate does not fill the remaining open
positions after one more election, it will declare them vacant.
Chairperson D. Eidam and the secretary noted that it could happen
sometime this semester that senate would have no other agenda than the
first eight items. If there were no proposed courses and no business
agenda should senate meet or not? The parliamentarian gave a personal
opinion that there were informational advantages to having the meetings
as scheduled. Senator R. Fulmer said he valued the administrative and
committee reports. A B.Nakhai/R. Fulmer motion to meet as scheduled
passed. Senate adjourned at 5 PM. The next meeting will be Tuesday, 3
October 1995, from 4:05-5:45 p.m. in Chryst 210.
Respectfully submitted,
Marvin Margolis, Secretary
Faculty Senate
Prior Minutes
Reports
...| Chairperson
| Student Senate
| APSCUF President
| President
| VP Acad Affairs
| VP Student Affairs
Committee Reports
...|UCPRC
| General Education Review
| Proposed Courses
Business
...|Senate Elections
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