Draft to be approved 5/2/12

The Metropolitan State College of Denver

 Faculty Senate

Wednesday, April 18th, 2012

3:20pm – 4:50pm

Tivoli 320 A, B & C

 

MINUTES

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Attendees: Akacem, Balogh, Bisio, Brodersen, Church, Collette, Corash, Davis, Delaney, DelCastillo, DeMuro, Denn, Drake, Duburguet, Dyhr, Elkins, Ethier, Flemon, Forgash, Fustos, Gibson, Glatz, Grevstad, Gurka, Hallam, Hancock, Hasley, Hernandez-Julian, Hill, Holloway, Jacobs, Johnson, Karris, Kent, Kleinfeld, Klimek, Komodore, Kuhlmann, Lamb, London, Louden, Lubinski, Malpass, Matthews, McVicker, Meloche, Murphy, Ortiz, Posey, Preuhs, Pytlinski, Quinn, Reid, Reimer, Rengers, Reyes, Rogers, Ropp, Rother, Rucki, Sahami, Saxe, Sidelko, Stephens, Svonkin, Vowles, Wanberg, Weber, Yeh, Zajdowicz, Zhang  Guests:  Huff, Thobani

 

 Senator Svonkin reminded the Senate that there was a Metro State Faculty Federation (MSFF) membership meeting in the basement of Golda Meir from 4:30p to 6:00p today.

 

I.                    Call to Order 

 

II.                 Approval of 4/4 Meeting’s Minutes (at Senate Website), VOTE.

 Discussion was called. No discussion.

 

 Vote was called.

 Minutes were approved.

 

III.              Announcements/Updates

  - Faculty Marshals are needed for the Procession Party for Commencement on May 13^th at 9a.m. Please contact President Sahami or Brooke Dilling.

  - Tenure Rights Taskforce Update:  The Taskforce is made up of members from the Senate, administration, Dr. Gene Saxe (Lead Plaintiff), and the union president of the union. The taskforce has been meeting weekly and hopes to have new language by the end of the semester. The goals were to address any unresolved issues remaining from the lawsuit, special property rights and tenure rights were protected and the language was clear.

  - The Strategic Plan was presented to the Board of the Trustees.

  - Upcoming All-Faculty Votes and Elections:

  --Dr. Gene Saxe was congratulated as the returning FACT senator by acclimation.

  --There are three candidates running for Faculty Trustee. A ballot will be sent out next Monday by Senator Hutto.

  --Constitutional changes on membership were sent out on April 5^th so the vote will be after May 5^th.

  --Some may have already received an email from the Provost about the Handbook changes (PTR Section) about promotion, post-tenure review, and emeritus status. The vote will come from the Provost’s office on Survey Monkey.

  --Senate elections will be held on May 2^nd meeting for all officer and caucus chair positions.

  -- Letters vs. Contracts survey from the Welfare Committee is a poll on where faculty stand on the issue of letters versus contracts.

 

IV.              Committee Report:  - FS Curriculum Committee  – Sen. R. Hernandez-Julian

http://www.mscd.edu/senate/assets/pdf/FSCC/2012/FSCCReportApril182012.pdf

 Senator Hernandez apologized for not including a packet in the committee’s report. It was:

 

LAS 1112-108 Communications, Arts & Sciences

The packet eliminated the reference to Level I in the language of Communications, Arts & Sciences.

 

Report to Metropolitan State College of Denver Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Curriculum Committee

April 4, 2012

Unless otherwise noted, packets are approved unanimously.

 

-Revisions to Purple Book language on Certificates approved unanimously.

-Substantive Curriculum Change Form approved unanimously.

-LAS 1112-92: CAS

Revisions to SLHS minor.

-LAS 1112-114: CAS

Journalism Courses archived

-LAS 1112-118: ENG 3521

Course modifications.

-LAS 1112-119: ENG 3522

Course modifications.

-LAS 1112-120: Math

Concentration Program changes.

-LAS 1112-122: EAS

Program changes for General Studies language.

-LAS 1112-123: SABS

Behavioral Science major archived

 

 Senator Hernandez reported that one major packet in the report was archiving the Behavioral Science program, Behavioral Sciences, Sociology, Anthropology. Starting in Fall 2013 no new students will be able to major in Behavioral Sciences.

 

 Curriculum approved unanimously by the Faculty Senate Curriculum Committee is automatically approved by the Senate unless there is a question posed by a Senator on the Senate floor. President Sahami called for discussion. No discussion.

 

 President Sahami accepted the report on behalf of the Senate. 

 

V.                 PRESENTATION, MOTION and DISCUSSION: Revision to certificate language in Purple Book – Sen. R. Hernandez-Julian

http://www.mscd.edu/senate/assets/pdf/attachm/041812/PBk-cert-section.pdf

 Senator Hernandez gave the motivation for these Purple Book Committee changes due to changes in federal regulations for what kind of paperwork and information needs to be collected by programs that do not grant a degree. Metro State certificate programs have been affected.

 

 Curriculum Committee motion was read into the record by Senator Hernandez:

 

To modify the certificate language as proposed in the document circulated and to align the rest of the Purple Book to be consistent with this document.

 

 Discussion was called.

 

 President Sahami asked what additional steps would now be needed due to these changes.

 Senator Meloche, Biology, asked what is meant by uniqueness of certificate.  

 

VI.              PRESENTATION, MOTION and DISCUSSION:   New Substantive Curriculum Change Form – FSCC, Sen. R. Hernandez-Julian

http://www.mscd.edu/senate/assets/pdf/attachm/041812/Substan-CurriculumChgForm.pdf

 Senator Hernandez explained the goal of the Purple Book committee was to simplify the paperwork needed to prepare curriculum packets. He introduced the new form that has been designed to look like a cover letter and then he went through each section.

 

 Curriculum Committee motion was read into the record by Senator Hernandez:

 

To adopt the proposed substantive curriculum change form and to align the language in the Purple Book to consistent with this new form.

 

 Discussion was called. No discussion.

 President Sahami asked senators to discuss the two documents in their departments and be prepared to vote at next meeting.

 

VII.           PRESENTATION and DISCUSSION:   IT monitoring software installed without consent/notification – (IT)^3 Members [Time certain: 8 min. Presentation + 5min. for questions] http://www.mscd.edu/senate/assets/pdf/attachm/041812/SCCM_Pres.pdf

 Senator Fustos spoke about Dr. Jordan’s recent email that reported that a new application had been added to computer systems in the background without the knowledge, discussion, and consent of faculty. He showed the new icon in the Control Panel that can manage computers remotely. He researched the capabilities of this software and what he found was very disturbing. Intended to collect technical data, the software can initiate data collection, turn on computers that have been turned off and perform operations such as harvest files and collect metering usage. Confidentiality and academic freedom rights are in jeopardy.

 

 Senator Glatz, Modern Languages and IT^3 Committee, read the motion into the record:

 

      WHEREAS, the implementation of the SCCM tool was not discussed in a process of shared governance; and,

WHEREAS, knowledgeable faculty have expressed well-reasoned concerns;

WHEREAS, the CIO has requested the removal of the SCCM tool.

BE IT, THEREFORE, RFESOLVED, THAT THE FACULTY SENATE:

1.      Endorses and supports the CIO’s efforts to have the SCCM tool removed from computers but thanks Dr. Jordan for temporarily disabling it.

2.      Respectfully, further requests a review of shared governance as outlined in the IT Policy Manual of 2009 and a return to sound practices and good communications.

 

 Discussion was called.

 

 Senator Reyes, Anthropology, was concerned with confidentiality when performing research on human subjects’ and data that may be embedded in software.

 Senator Kent, Anthropology, works with a human recovery team whose research may be part of cases that are still active. To have information compromised could put faculty at legal risk.

 Senator Gibson, Music, asked if faculty are going to try to determine what has been accessed – dealt with or destroyed.  President Sahami helped form a friendly amendment addition to address Senator Gibson’s point:

 

…to assess and disclose the data that was recovered.

 

 Senator Sidelko, History, mentioned the Mac compatible software Casper and the need to address it as well.   President Sahami framed a Friendly Amendment that addressed Senator Sidelko’s concern and added:

 

            …and Casper

 

 Senator Gurka, Math and Computer Science, believes that mention of particular names of software should be excluded and descriptions of the capabilities listed instead that faculty would not approve of. She wanted to know if personal, comingled, information could have been accessed and who was the person who put the software on the Admin domain and refused to remove it.

 

 Senator Glatz read the motion with Friendly Amendments into the record.

 

 Senator Gurka, Math and Computer Science, was puzzled about the information this software collects from campus computers that IT already had.

 Senator Hernandez supports the idea of making this motion broader to include all tools of this nature  and he and President Sahami fashioned the language of a Friendly Amendment:

 

…SCCM, Casper or similar tools.

 

 Senator Posey, Women’s Studies, read a line from Dr. Jordan’s email that calls for the motion to address ownership of intellectual property.

 Senator Denn read Dr. Jordan’s email as the software was removed.

 Senator Glatz, Modern Languages, reported that the CIO requested that the software be removed on April 9^th.

 Senator Ortiz, Tech Com, asked if this tool was pushed out to student labs and affects their privacy.

 Senator Gurka, Math and Computer Science, thanked Senator Fustos for discovering this issue and all his work finding out what was going on.

 

 Vote was called.

 The resolution was approved by a vote of 66:1.

 

VIII.        PRESENTATION, MOTION and DISCUSSION:   Declaration of Major Policy – APC, Sen. G. Denn

http://www.mscd.edu/senate/assets/pdf/attachm/041812/Declar-of-MajorProp.pdf

 Senator Denn, Academic Policies Chair, introduced Senator Murphy.

 Senator Murphy, Accounting, addressed the policy to require students to declare a major.

 

 Senator Murphy read the motion into the record:

 

 The Academic Policy Committee recommends that the policy with respect to degree seeking students declaring a major be implemented as follows:

 

1) Students must declare a major before completion of 45 credit hours.

2) A registration hold will be placed on a student’s account prohibiting registration until the major is declared.

3) Students who transfer in more than 45 credit hours must declare a major before registering for a second semester.

 

 Discussion was called.

 

 Senator Meloche, Biology, and his department were concerned that there are a lot of holds put on student’s registration and frequently it is unclear to them what they are supposed to do to take it off and that makes it burdensome.

 

IX.              PRESENTATION, MOTION and DISCUSSION:   Last Day of Attendance Policy – Sen. G. Denn http://www.mscd.edu/senate/assets/pdf/attachm/041812/LDofA.pdf

 Senator Denn introduced Senator Gibson and the changes in logging student grades.

 Senator Gibson, Music and Academic Policies, discussed new Title IV federal mandates requiring documentation of last date of attendance for any student who receives an F, U and UE.

 

 The motion read into the record by Senator Gibson:

 

The Academic Policy Committee recommends that the policy with respect to the recording of the Last Date of Attendance (LDA) be implemented as follows:

 

1) Faculty who report a “U,” “UE,” or “F” grade to a student for any reason will report the student’s LDA when entering grades online.

2) For reporting purposes, the last date of active participation in the class will be considered the LDA, which must be one of the following:

 

a. Physically attending or participating in class (such as a class activity)

b. Submitting an academic assignment

c. Taking a quiz or exam, interactive tutorial, or computer-based instruction

d. Attending a school-assigned study group

e. Participating in online discussions about academic matters and/or initiating contact with faculty to ask questions about subject matter

 

Active participation does not include:

f. Logging into an online course without active participation

g. Academic counseling

3) If a student never attended class, the date of the first day of class will be reported as the LDA.

 

 Discussion was called.

 Senator Fustos, Computer Information Systems, wondered what the difference is between A and F.

 Senator Louden, Theatre, had a scenario where a student showed up at the end of the class and still get credit.

 Senator Hasley, CIS, asked for an explanation of the 60% rule.

 Senator Gurka, Math and Computer Science, read the exact language of the 60% rule.

 Senator Ortiz, Tech Com, asked about active participation. Students have access until the last day of class in the online environment.

 President Sahami asked senators to discuss this topic in their departments and be prepared to vote at next meeting.

 

X.                 Adjournment

 Vote was called.

 The Senate was adjourned.