Draft to be approved 4/4/12

The Metropolitan State College of Denver

 Faculty Senate

Wednesday, March 28th, 2012

3:20pm – 4:50pm

St. Cajetan’s

 

MINUTES

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Attendees: Ahsan, Akrabova, Aubrey, Bahl, Bisio, Brodersen, Butler, Collette, Cook, Davinroy, DelCastillo, DeMuro, Denn, Drake, Duburguet, Dyhr, Elkins, Ethier, Flemon, Fustos, Ghosh, Gibson, Giordano, Glatz, Grevstad, Gurka, Hagen, Hancock, Hasley, Hernandez-Julian, Hill, Hutto, Izurieta, Jacobs, Karris, King, Kleinfeld, Komodore, Kottenstette, Kuhlmann, London, Louden, Lubinski, Malpass, Matthews, McNeeley Cobham, McVicker, Meloche, Murphy, Odell, Ortiz, Pleis, Posey, Pytlinski, Quinn, Reid, Rissman, Rogers, Ropp, Rother, Rucki, Sahami, Saxe, Schatz, Sidelko, Snozek, Stephens, Svonkin, Vowles, Weber, Worster, Yeh, Zajdowicz Guests:   Golich, Kasper, Nyhus, Paul, Thobani

 

I.                    Call to Order

 

II.                 SENATE GUEST: President Stephen Jordan

 Dr. Jordan spoke in support of the proposed Constitutional amendment which would allow him to appoint the Provost as a non-voting member of the Faculty Senate. He praised Provost Golich and her interest and support of the faculty. She has spoken on behalf of the faculty and represented their interests and values.

 

 President Sahami asked if there were any questions for Dr. Jordan.

 A question came from the floor asking his position on voting rights for the Faculty Trustee.

 President Sahami asked Dr. Jordan about closed and open meetings as it pertains to the Board of Trustees and starting their meetings with an Executive Session.

 

III.              PRESENTATION and DISCUSSION:  Policy on Repetition of HPL Courses  – Sen. G. Denn with Dr. Ruth Ann Nyhus (Document Attached as: APC Motion_HPL.docx)

             Grant Denn, Physics, Chair of Academic Policies introduced the policy change.

             Senator Denn read the proposed motion into the record:

 

Credit Limitations

No more than 16 semester hours in human performance and leisure activity (HPL) will be counted towards a bachelor’s degree for students who are not majoring in Human Performance and Sport.

                No more than 4 semester hours in varsity sports (ATH) courses will be counted towards a bachelor’s degree for students who are not majoring in Human Performance and Sport.

 

             Discussion was called and President Sahami explained that this was not a statutory change and does not require First and Second Reading and the Senate could choose to vote on it today.

             Dr. Ruth Ann Nyhus gave the rationale for the policy change.

             President Sahami asked if there were any objections to voting in this session. There were none.

                                  Vote was called.

                                  The Motion was approved with a vote of 49:6.

  

IV.              PRESENTATION and DISCUSSION:  Student Academic Integrity Statement – Sen. G. Denn with Jacob Kasper (Document Attached as: APC Motion_ Academic_Integrity.docx)

 Senator Denn spoke about the movement on campus to set up an Academic Integrity Statement for students to sign or faculty to include on syllabi. The committee was asking the Senate for a Motion of Support for this effort.

 Jacob Kasper, Coordinator for Academic Integrity, Student Services, described the rationale to create a pledge and statement to raise the philosophical standard or guidelines of academic integrity on campus. He explained that this was not a policy but a statement.

 

 Discussion was called.

 Senator Gurka, Math and Computer Sciences, asked a question about current practices regarding plagiarism and asked if the definition of integrity has been decided.

             Senator Gurka asked for permission to ask for a show of hands from the Senate of those whose departments have the understanding that when using automatic checking for plagiarism you do not have to report a student who plagiarizes as long as the faculty meets with them they can be given another chance.

 President Sahami asked if there were any objections to voting on this item. There were none.

 Senator Hernandez asked for the statement to be read again.

 The statement was read again by Jacob Kasper.

 

 Senator McVicker, Management, supports this statement.

 Senator Meloche, Biology, voiced his issue with the vote coming before the statement is final.

 Senator Grevstad, Math and Computer Science, made the suggestion that the word “same” be included in the last statement.

 President Sahami asked if there were any objections for voting on this item. There were none.

             Vote was called.

             The motion passed with a vote of 54:8.

      

V.                 PRESENTATION and DISCUSSION:  New General Studies Language – Sen. N. Grevsted and R. Hernandez. (Document Attached as:  General_Studies_Program_Mar_12__DRAFT_for_catalog.docx)

 

 President Sahami reiterated that there was a request for a standing motion to take the Senate into a Closed Session. He stepped down as chair of the session and turned it over to Secretary Ortiz.

 

 Secretary Ortiz called for discussion.

             Trustee Kottenstette, Communications, Arts & Sciences was not in support of going into closed session and gave his reasons for believing in the power of the public voice.

             Senator Saxe, English, supports going into closed session and does not believe it makes the meeting secretive.

 Senator Butler, Human Services, voiced her confusion and thought question was decided at last session.

 Senator Meloche, Biology, reminded the Senate of the division of senators that voted last time not to go into executive session and his belief that they will silence themselves if the session remains an open one vs. if the session is closed, those who did not vote to go into executive session will still speak. He wants to hear the voices of all his fellow senators.

 Senator Matthews, Music, pointed out that some of the 40% of the Senate that voted to close the session last time were probably voting to support those who were uncomfortable speaking and not because they had a problem speaking up.

 President Sahami, Physics, spoke about the right to be free from intimidation in the Senate and how the use of clickers have helped. If one voice is silenced, it is too many.

 Senator Gurka, Math and Computer Sciences, supports keeping the meeting open and suggested an anonymous way to allow everyone to speak.

 Senator Hernandez, Economics, supported the meeting staying open.

             Senator DelCastillo, Chicana/Chicano Studies, believes that the meeting should be left open and senators should start to build a culture of openness and transparency. 

 Senator McVicker, Management, reminded the Senate that if there is another provost, executive session can always be an option to exclude that member.

              Vote was called.

            A = Yes = will go into executive session;

            B = No = will not go into session.

           

             Motion failed. Meeting will stay open.

  

VI.              SECOND READING of MOTION 1,2 and DISCUSSION: Changes to the Faculty Senate Membership to better represent the Faculty of College – Faculty Senate Membership Task Force, Sen. K. Sahami  (Document Attached as: FSMTFmod&ECMotions.doc, FacultySenate_Distributions.pdf)

             President Sahami, Membership Task Force, reviewed the motions that were not modified and will receive a second reading and those that were modified and will be read for the first time. There would be a 2^nd reading of motions 1,2,5. Senator Hernandez retracted Motion #5. President Sahami accepted his decision and it will not be voted on.

 

              President read Motion #1 into the record:

 

 MOTION #1: Motion to modify ARTICLE IV, Section 1 of the Constitution the of the Metropolitan State College of Denver Faculty Senate with the following addition *:

1.X Department Chairs shall be counted as department faculty and therefore eligible to serve as department Senators in the Faculty Senate, if they meet other eligibility requirements.

 

             Discussion was called on Motion #1

 

              An unnamed senator asked if this motion was the one that requires chairs to teach a minimum of six credit hours.

             Senator Hernandez spoke in support of the motion on behalf of Senator MacDonald.

           

             2^nd motion was reaffirmation that Category II faculty are counted as department faculty and eligible to serve.

 

             President Sahami read the motion into the record.

 

 MOTION #2: Motion to modify ARTICLE IV, Section 1 of the Constitution of the Metropolitan State College of Denver Faculty Senate with the following addition *:

1.X Category II Faculty shall be counted as department faculty and therefore eligible to serve as department Senators in the Faculty Senate, if they meet other eligibility requirements.

* X – to be determined by sequential concatenation, in order of approval.

 

             Discussion was called.

 

             Motion 5 was retracted. President Sahami will resend out the .pdf that showed a breakdown if the senate formula changed to eight.

 

 

             Motion 3 will be a first reading. The slide showed the changes suggest by the Senate in red.

             Read into the record:

 

ITEM FOR FIRST READING:

 

MOTION #3: Motion to modify ARTICLE IV, Section 1 of the Constitution of the Metropolitan State College of Denver Faculty Senate with the following addition *:

1.X One (1) Category II Faculty member shall be elected by Category II Faculty to serve as the Category II Senator At-Large, if they meet other eligibility requirements..

 

             Discussion was called.

             Senator Hernandez asked about the qualifications of Category II faculty who would vote for their representative.

 

             Motion 4 read into the record.

 

MOTION #4 Motion to modify ARTICLE IV, Section 1 of the Constitution of the Metropolitan State College of Denver Faculty Senate with the following addition *:

1.X Three (3) Affiliate Faculty Members shall be elected by the Affiliate Faculty: One (1) from LAS, one (1) from SPS and one (1) from SCoB, to serve as the Affiliate Faculty Senators.

 

             Discussion was called.

 

             Senator Hernandez asked about the election process and will that body come up with their own bylaws.

             Sandra Posey, Women’s Studies, asked why the number of affiliate representatives is not based on their population as senators are.

             Senator Vowles, Marketing, asked if affiliates would be paid to participate since it is outside the scope of their contract.

           

             President Sahami asked the Senate to please discuss these last two items with your departments.   

      

VII.           SECOND READING of MOTION and DISCUSSION: Changes to the Faculty Senate bylaws to Improve Communication– Rules Committee, Sen W. Flemon  (Document Attached as: CommunicationsRules.doc)

 Senator Flemon, Rules Committee, described the process for consideration and voting on constitutional and bylaws changes.

             Senator McVicker read the motion into the record.

 

Constitutional Amendment

ARTICLE IV

 

Members

 

Section 1 Representation

 

1.5 Mutual Membership

a. The President of the College or the President’s designee, who is expected to be the Provost, shall be a nonvoting ex-officio member of the Faculty Senate. The President of the College or President’s designee shall not attend executive sessions of the Faculty Senate.

b. It is expected that the President of the Faculty Senate will be a voting ex-officio member of the Cabinet of the President of the College

 

 

 

 To promote good communications and mutual understanding between the President of the College and the Faculty Senate, the Senate shall amend

 

Article IV of the Senate Bylaws as follows:

Article IV, Section 10.1

 

Add:

The President of the College or the President’s designee, who is expected to be the Provost, shall be a nonvoting ex-officio member of the Executive Committee. The President or President’s designee shall not attend executive sessions of the Senate Executive Committee.

 

Article IV, Section 10.3

The Committee shall consider such matters as fall within the jurisdiction of the Senate. The Committee shall set Senate agendas and act for the Senate between Senate meetings. The Committee is empowered to create such subcommittees as necessary to expedite the Committee's business. They shall charge such issues as are requested to the Senate President for consideration to the appropriate committees of the Senate.

 

 

To promote good communications and mutual understanding between the President of the College and the Faculty Senate, the Senate shall add Article VIII to the Senate Bylaws as follows:

 

Article VIII

Communications between the Faculty Senate and the Administration

Section I

 

Communications

 

I.1. Faculty Senate shall promptly consider formal written communications referred to it by the President of the College.

I.2. It is the expectation of the Faculty Senate that President of the College will promptly consider formal written communications referred to him/her by the President of the Senate

I.3. Whenever the College President, the Provost, or one of their designees appoints an ad hoc committee to deal with policy or planning, it is the expectation of the Faculty Senate that written lines of communication shall be promptly established with the President of the Senate and the Senate Executive Committee .

 

Section II

 

Responses

 

II.1 It is the expectation of the Faculty Senate that the President of the College or President’s designee, who is expected to be the Provost, will promptly respond in writing to formal communications from the Faculty Senate President.

II.2 The Faculty Senate President shall promptly respond in writing to formal communications of the President of the College as soon as the Senate has considered such matters.

 

 Discussion was called.

 Senator Fustos, Computer Information Systems, supports the motion that will allow for mutual membership.

 Senator Hagen, History, does not support the motion. She does not believe that policy, constitution, nor bylaws changes should be based on personality.

 Senator Reid, Philosophy, wanted to record his department’s general opposition to this measure. He feels that the appropriate target of trust is a not a function but a person.

 Senator Matthews, Music, reported that there was strong support for this motion.

 Senator Pytlinski, Art, reported that based on the feedback from her department she will be voting against this motion. Her colleagues asked what would be the benefit of the supporting this motion. She could not answer the question.

 President Sahami, Physics, reported that he and his department are against this motion. The Senate has a good communication model with the Provost. With this change it is unclear who would be put on the Senate because it is a decision the President would have to make and the language presumes to read his mind. That is not something to put in the constitution.

 Senator Dyhr, Math and Computer Science, commented on having an open or closed session.

 Senator Hernandez, Economics, thinks there is little to no cost to approving this measure and the appointment is symbolic. The President and Provost have a permanent connection to the institution and want to see it succeed just as tenured faculty do.

 Senator Hancock, Biology, reported the straw poll results of 15:0 not in favor of proposed modifications.

 Senator Saxe, English, feels that there is more happening than making a symbolic gesture. He recounted his historical perspective and wants a Faculty Senate that represents the faculty.

 Vice-President Worster, Music, spoke about the accomplishments achieved by working with the Provost and the external pressures that control many of the school’s functions. This vote will give faculty the power to vote for or against this item.

   

VIII.       VOTES on ITEMS VII and VII

 Senator Broderson, Management, made a point of order and asked if there was still quorum.

 Quorum confirmed: 54

 

 Motion 1 Vote: Chairs

           

             A=Yes; B=No 

             Passed with 79%

 

 Motion 2 Vote: Category II

              A=Yes; B=No

              Passed

 

 Constitutional Amendments will go to the full faculty and requires 2/3rds majority.

              A=Yes; B=Opposed

              Motion denied:  64% opposed and 36% approved

 

 Motion on formal exchange of requests

             Passed with 67%

 

 

 Motion on Responses                      

             Passed with 85%          

 

IX.              Motion to Adjourn

 

 Senate was adjourned.