051204 min

President Auchmuty called the May 12 Faculty Senate meeting to order in the Farish Hall Kiva at 12:15 p.m.

MEMBERS PRESENT: [34]
BUS:        S. Khumawala, D. Rude
CLASS:   V. Brady, S. Craig, P. Gingiss, W. Herendeen, A. Jacobson, J. Kotarba, B. Lange, J. Middents,
                 J. Rushing, F. Schiff, G. Trail
EDU:        S. McNeil, A. Warner
ENGR:     O. Ghazzaly, S. Kleis, G. Paskusz
LAW:       S. Huber, P. Linzer
LIB:         S. Ferimer, M. Thomson
NSM:      G. Auchmuty, D. Blecher, P. Copeland, J. Eichberg, A. Ignatiev, E. Leiss, D. Wells
OPT:       R. Manny
PHA:      C. Pedemonte
TECH:    K. Greenwood, C. Goodson
GSSW:   H. Karger

MEMBERS ABSENT: [18]
ARCH:    D. Kacmar
BUS:      W. Chin, M. Parks
CLASS: K. Brown, B. Byrnes, R. Murray, D. Papell, G. San Miguel, R. Weldon
EDU:     M. Connell, C. White
ENGR:   T. Cleveland, T. Helwig, D. Zimmerman (w/E)
HRM:    K. Titz
NSM:    G. Etgen, K. Kadish
OPT:     S. Quintero

Jay Gogue (UHS Chancellor and UH President), Jerry Strickland (Interim UHS Senior Vice Chancellor and UH Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs/ Provost), John Rudley (UHS Vice Chancellor and UH Vice President for Administration & Finance), Charles Shomper (UHS Vice Chancellor and UH Vice President for Information Technology), Dave Maggard (Director of Athletics), Elaine Charlson (UHS Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and UH Associate Vice President for Academic and Faculty Affairs), Marco Mariotto (Dean of Graduate & Professional Studies), Robert Herrington (UHS Assistant Vice Chancellor and UH Assistant Vice President for Human Resources), Ed Apodaca (Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management and Admissions), Jerome Freiberg (Chair of FS-CoUG), Maria Gonzalez (Member of FS-CoUG and Athletic Advisory Committee), Stuart Long (Member of Athletic Advisory Committee), Theresa Monaco (Professor of CUIN), Meredith Duncan (Professor to the Law Center), Richard Scammel (NCAA Faculty Representative), John Robinson (Sr. Associate Athletics Director), Kevin Fite (Associate Athletics Director for Compliance & Eligibility), Maria Peden (Assistant Athletics Director for Student Athlete Services), Colin Shillinglaw (Director of Football Operations), T.J. Meagher (Compliance Coordinator), Becky Kraft (Secretary for Compliance and Student-Athlete Services), John Powell (Executive Speechwriter)

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
            Senators are asked to fill out summer schedules, especially contact information and return them to the Senate staff. The Senate needs to know how to reach all its senators during the summer months.
            The next Faculty Senate meeting is scheduled for September 1 at 12:15 p.m. in the Kiva of Farish Hall.
            To celebrate the contributions of UH staff, all benefits eligible faculty and staff are invited to the annual Staff Appreciation Lunch on May 19, from 11:30-1:30 p.m. in Lynn Eusan Park.
            The Senate has been invited to participate in planning the "welcome back" activities for students. "The Cat's Back” encompasses the first two weeks of school. To volunteer or to suggest events, please contact Sen. Anne Jacobson at: ajjacobson@uh.edu or call x33204.
            To keep up-to-date with the Faculty Senate, check out its Web page at:   http://www.uh.edu/fs/

KUDOS:
            The Faculty Senate offers kudos to Susan H. Hardin, Associate Professor of Biology and Biochemistry, on being chosen one of Houston’s top women in technology. Dr. Hardin will be recognized with a group of her peers at a gala June 12. Dr. Hardin also is president and CEO of VisiGen Biotechnologies Inc., a Houston based BioNano Technology company, which she co-founded with four other UH professors.
            Kudos to David Judkins, Associate Professor of English, for receiving the UH Distance Education Award.
            Kudos to Christopher Chung, Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering, who won the George Magner Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Academic Advising.
            Kudos to Elaine Charlson, Associate Vice Chancellor and Associate Vice President for Academic and Faculty Affairs, and thanks her for editing and proof-reading the long awaited 2004 Faculty Handbook.
            The Senate also wants to thank Joe Eichberg for his work as Chair of the longest running handbook revision committee in UH history. Additional, thanks to Ernst Leiss for his suggestion to put the Faculty Handbook on CD. As an experiment, Senators are asked to take a CD, use it and send their suggestions on how to improve this system – or just comment on the problems they experience to FSComms@uh.edu.
            Copies of the Faculty Handbook were presented to Dr. Strickland as the chief academic officer and to Dr. Gogue as the chief executive officer. One print copy each will be distributed to the Vice Presidents and the Deans. Two print copies go to the Library and there will be two print copies in the Faculty Senate Office. Now the printed version is finished, the Senate will work to put the Handbook on the Web.
            Kudos to Joseph Kotarba for hosting the first HouQual organizing luncheon meeting. The meeting was held at the University Hilton Hotel on April 23. HouQual is a network of Houston Area social and behavioral science researchers who use qualitative methods in their work. In the ecumenical spirit of the UH System Planning activities, researchers from fifteen colleges, universities, and research centers participated. Generous support for the luncheon was provided by GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceutical Company and the Department of Sociology.

Address by and Discussion with University of Houston Athletics Director: David Maggard
            Mr. Maggard thanked the Senate for the opportunity to discuss what has taken place in athletics on campus. Sen. Kotarba is chair of the Athletic Advisory Committee, a very involved faculty advisory group that meets on a frequent basis to discuss just about everything that is possible to discuss within the Athletic Department. Mr. Maggard said he appreciates the advice and counsel he receives from this particular group. Mr. Maggard introduced members of the Athletic Advisory Committee, including Maria Gonzalez, Stuart Long and Richard Scammel, who is the faculty representative to the NCAA. Additionally, Mr. Maggard introduced a few people from the Athletic Department, including John Robinson, Jr., Senior Associate Athletics Director; Kevin Fite, Associate Athletics Director of Compliance; and Maria Peden, Assistant Athletics Director of Student Athlete Services.
            Mr. Maggard said there are 16 intercollegiate sports (nine women and seven men) with more than 300 student athletes involved. Of that number, 218 students are on scholarships. Many of the athletes are women or minorities -- African American in many cases. The scholarship cost now is almost $3.5 million, which Athletics has to raise as part of its subsidy. For Athletics, with scholarships, utilities, maintenance and administrative fees, it costs over $5 million before any team even steps on the field or court. Athletics has 40 coaches and 72 full-time staff and 19 support divisions.
            At the present time, 86% of UH’s student athletes are in good standing with a grade point average over 2.0. The average cumulative GPA is 2.62, a record high for the department. The average credit hours per semester is 13.3. A student athlete must carry 12 hours each semester or he/she is not eligible for competition. 11% of student athletes earn dean’s list honors.
            The NCAA looks at graduation rates for student athletes over a six year period. They recently looked at the freshman class of 1997. This was not one of the best classes that UH Athletics has had but the graduation rate was 48% for student athletes with 6% still enrolled. The graduation rate was 37% for the general student body. Of the rest 74% graduated or left in good standing or entered the professional leagues. Students who transfer from a community college are not counted. Students who leave the University are not counted. The NCAA is looking at a way to change this. Sometimes it really skews the graduation rate because a student athlete leaves in good standing; this is often the case with baseball at UH. For the most part students have left in good standing. But UH has not done a good job in basketball. Basketball on a national level has not done a good job and that is of primary importance to UH Athletics at the present time. In Football, one thing UH does is to require any student athlete who goes to summer school to take courses toward graduation. This requirement is intended to improve the graduation rate and to help the student make progress toward graduation. By the end of August the graduation rate for football players may be as high as 50%.
            The NCAA rates do not include transfers, non-scholarship student athletes or student athletes earning scholarships subsequent to enrollment, such as an academic scholarship or a need-based scholarship. UH has 100 student athletes who are receiving Pell grant aid. That means that many of UH’s student athletes have significant need in order to qualify for Pell grants. Student athletes have to take at least six hours toward graduation during the summer and pass at least nine credit hours the during previous fall and spring otherwise they are put in summer school. They cannot earn more than one F or one withdrawal.   On the table now are new NCAA academic standards which are going to be much more strenuous in the future than they are at the present time.
            Athletics spends about $700,000 on the student athletes’ services, academics special programs compliance and eligibility. This has increased significantly because of the amount of paperwork involved with the checking and certification. UH has a staff of eight full-time and 40 part-time tutors all year round who offer tutoring on weekends, late in the evening or early in the morning. UH received some money from the NCAA last year to add to the computer lab. Mr. Maggard invited the senators to tour the facility, saying Kevin Fite would be happy to show the facility off. It has been a tremendous help.
            Mr. Maggard said he has asked Maria Peden for a weekly report of the student athletes’ progress. This report also goes to the coaches. Student athletes have to be in class. This is one of the things Athletics is working on, making certain that students go to class. There are weekly meetings with academic counselors. There are classrooms for team study halls over at the center as well as group and individual study rooms.
            Mr. Maggard mentioned that there have been articles in the Daily Cougar about the outreach that Athletics has in the community. There are services that Athletics provides to elementary and middle school children. Many of the student athletes are involved.
            Career counseling and planning and placement are areas in which Athletics needs to do a better job. This is something that is really important. Drug and alcohol education is important to every campus around the country. It is one that UH needs to give a lot of attention. One thing that happens with student athletes that does not occur with other students is drug testing on a random basis. If something like marijuana is found, they have to go into counseling immediately. If it is something more than that, they are suspended for a year. The NCAA has testing programs in addition to UH’s testing program. This is also done on a random basis so that the student athletes do not know when they will be tested. Mr. Maggard stated that if all of the other students on this campus were tested, UH might find some interesting things about these students.
            Historically, the athletic success at UH has been terrific, although the past fifteen years has not been very good. The two big engines in almost any Division IA program are football and basketball. These are the only areas where a school can increase the revenue. That is true throughout the country with very, very few exceptions. The other sports are important. They help in fund raising and, from a philosophical standpoint, it is great to have men and women in a variety of sports. Mr. Maggard said in his view, the great research universities, especially State universities, like those in the PAC 10, the Big 10, the Southeast conference, and the NCC, all have very strong athletic programs and almost everyone of which receive some sort of subsidy from their university. The feeling is that Athletics is an important part of a broad education, otherwise as education could be done on-line. Athletics like other students activities provide interaction with the campus and with ideas. He added that he picked that up going to a place like Berkley. He said he appreciated how students and faculty interact, but it is more than just going to a class or taking a class on-line.
            UH needs to create a new tradition. Everybody talks about Phi Slamma Jamma and everybody talks about Guy Lewis and Bill Yoeman. UH needs to start a new tradition. There have been a couple of coaching changes. The first year UH was in the Hawaii Bowl. What an incredible experience that was for UH’s athletes; it was just fantastic. It was the most economical trip anybody has every taken to Hawaii. Athletics stayed under the budget. Very few of the coaches and athletes had been to Hawaii.   It was an incredible experience and UH got national television coverage. The game was also shown on Japanese television.
            Kevin Kolb is pretty good; he made freshman of the year. It was an incredible season for women’s basketball with lots of exposure and the NCAA championships. Joe Curl was not only conference coach of the year, but national coach of the year. Pictures of Chandi Jones were in every newspaper around the country and not only on the sports pages. Her picture was on the front page of USA Today.
            Baseball had a young team this year but UH was in the super region last year and the year before. Rayner Noble is doing a terrific job with our baseball team.
            Track and field had three conference champions this year. Leroy Burrell was conference regional coach of the year.
            Jane Figueiredo, UH’s diving coach, has been coach of the year for the past two or three years. She has done an incredible job. UH’s diving program is world class. Jane Figueiredo has done an incredible job and received a lot of attention for the University of Houston.
            Mr. Maggard said for Athletics compliance, every coach has to take an NCAA test before he/she goes out on the road. All the rules and regulations for the NCAA in terms of how many visits they can make, etc. Kevin Fite gives that test. Kevin worked for the NCAA before he came here. He has a very good understanding of how the NCAA operates. He does a terrific job for UH. There is a lot to this, including interpretation of rules, waivers for student athletes after they are injured and so forth. That is some of what the compliance office does, recruiting activities, playing and practice seasons. Teams can only practice so much in and out of season. It is a lot to track plus coordinate and monitor distribution of financial aid for student athletes.
            At the end of the year every coach and every staff member have to sign a form that states they know of no violations that have not been reported to the NCAA. That acknowledgment is sent to President Gogue, who signs off on it and sends it to the NCAA.
            Mr. Maggard said every time he has come to the Senate, everyone is interested in the financial picture of the department. Last year Athletics submitted a plan to reduce the subsidy from $10.8 to $6 million. This was to establish annual subsidy goals. While most people at the University think the tuition increases are great because they cover the cost of education, Athletics has to deal with the greater cost. Athletics has to figure out a way to pay for scholarships. It makes it harder to meet those annual subsidy goals. The plan is to increase the revenue which means getting better in football, basketball and other sports as well as to reduce expenditures, something Athletics has done this past year. The expenditures are about $21 million. Louisville spent $33 million on their athletic programs. UH Athletics’ goal is $9 million this year; $8 million next year; $7 million next and $6 million the next. This is a big time challenge because this University and this department have done very little annual fund raising. Athletics started this last year with Cougar Pride. It is going to take a while to get this program up and going. It was handled by an outside group before; not any longer. As for revenue, the better UH is in football and basketball; the better its revenue should be at the gate plus television and NCAA appearances. Mr. Maggard said when he came to UH he felt that expectations were far too low. He has raised those expectations. UH has to be a much stronger player in the Conference USA. The new Conference USA will aid Athletics in terms of expenses because of the travel situation. The conference includes some outstanding institutions like SMU, Rice, Tulsa, Marshall, and Central Florida. Mr. Maggard said that he stated that somebody took exception to the way he stated the problem last year, so he wanted to say it in a different way. UH Athletics’ problem doesn’t appear to be its expenditures, it is the revenue. The department is not creating enough revenue. As far as expenditures UH is in the lower quartile of the conference. So what UH needs to do is increase football and basketball revenue, increase revenue from other sports and increase its fund raising as well.
            As of this moment, Athletics has beat its goal for this year by a projected $65,000. Dr. Rudley and his group have been very helpful to Athletics. John Robinson and other people within the staff meet on a frequent basis with Dr. Rudley’s staff to track revenue as well as expenditure. They are working closing with the department on Cougar Pride, the fundraising activities, too.
            Athletics has to pay administrative charges. This year the department paid to the central campus, over $1 million; scholarships, over $3 million; and for utilities, maintenance, almost $1 million.
            The new programs and Title IX gender equity has also increased the cost of athletics around the country. The funding for the women’s programs increases the cost of Athletics and there hasn’t been very much fund raising for these programs because they are all relatively new. They are important programs. Some of UH’s best students are the women. It is very important for UH to provide an opportunity for minority athletes as well as female athletes on the campus.
            Cougar Pride was started just last year. It is going well.   The plan for 2004 is to raise $1 million more each year. That is tough to do, especially given the history of this program. It is a huge challenge. About $1.3 million has been raised thus far.
            How does Athletics raise money? There are suites, floor seats, golf tournaments, hall of honor, and major gifts. Athletics has to work on this much harder on raising year-end requests and endowment interest income. Some endowments have been set up interest going into the scholarship fund. This is the way Athletics raises dollars with things like golf tournaments. Mr. Maggard said he thought the best way to fund raise was to sit down with ten people, or five people, or two people and tell them about the program and ask them for a gift.
            Mr. Maggard said he has talked about the challenges Athletics has in terms of the revenue, in terms of the expenditures, and in terms of having a Division IA program. He added that he thought everyone wanted a Division I A program. Mr. Maggard said many of the people who give to Athletics also give to the University; people like John Moores, the Robertsons, the Cullens and the O’Quinns. These people give to a number of things. Not only do they give to athletics, they give to academics, etc.
            Athletics wanted to improve the graduation rates, and it will do that. The department also wants to improve its standings in the conference. Turning a thing like this around is not easy. When he became the Athletic Director, Mr. Maggard said it was not going to be a marathon; it was going to be sprint so he is pushing really hard. But to change some of these things will take time. Mr. Maggard said he thinks Athletics is on the right track in many, many areas. UH has a new basketball coach, Tom Penders. Art Briles has done a terrific job. UH has a lot other outstanding coaches.
            Faculty can ask Joseph Kotarba, Chair of the Athletics Advisory Committee, about what is going on or to see reports. Athletics wants to be as transparent as possible.
            Mr. Maggard then introduced Richard Zinser. Mr. Zinser said [from his written text]:

My name is Dick Zinser, and I’m a Development Director in the University Advancement office. My current role, as we move towards a potential capital campaign, is to connect, or reconnect, to alumni with whom the University has not had personal contact for several years, or never, particularly seeking those alumni who might have great giving potential.

I’ve conducted more than 100 interviews over the past six months in homes and offices. One goal is to determine how the individual remembers the University of Houston… As it turns out, a deep affection and admiration for UH is almost always the underlying sentiment. No matter how latent, it comes to the surface. And in so many of these contacts, a positive comment on UH Athletics is offered, unsolicited… From these interviews I am convinced that Athletics is the ‘glue,’ the common bond that keeps the alumni attached when other campus events and the classroom trauma and joy fade. They tell me that sports creates the ties that bring them back to campus over the years. These mutual, shared memories, and current experiences, joining with tens of thousands of like-minded fans, provide the smiles and the linkage that make both renewal of commitment and gift dollars easier to come by.

They have said to me: “Bill Yeoman was my hero. I’m glad he is still part of the University.” (and)“Dave Maggard seems to be a great Athletic Director; he is always at the games and events, encouraging the players and supporting the coaches.” (and)“UH will become Phi Slamma Jamma again. Forget Cougar High. We are on the way to great times.” (or)“Can you get me good tickets and a parking place?”

One real-life story, told to me by a Business College alum, the chief financial officer of a large pipeline company, as he sat behind his large desk in a large corner office in the Galleria area –

“My wife and I were cold, a mid-winter day in South Dakota with nowhere to go. There were no work opportunities for us there, and the climate was really getting us down. Home or not, we needed someplace new. It was a frigid Saturday in the late 1960’s. We turned on the TV and watched a college basketball game. The game. January 20, 1968. UCLA. On TV Houston looked warm, prosperous. The University of Houston looked exciting and successful, and they won. We wanted to win too, and within months we had moved to Houston, and here we are now more than 25 years later. Loved every minute since then.”

One isolated instance in which marketing paid off? I think not. There are too many similar stories and attitudes I hear. I believe that Athletics full tilt, to win, is not a luxury or a waste, it is an investment in spirit and bonding. Classroom days are not memory-makers, particularly for the working student. Give students and alumni and friends the playing field excitement, sharing it with the full University family. I hear that story over and over when I call on these prospective donors. Investment in UH Athletics pays dividends, I promise. Thank you.

      Sen. Linzer said he thought Mr. Maggard had done a good job and that there is a bright future, but there are a number of things to be considered. The graduation rate is a very important item but it is a little more subtle than just plain numbers. Sen. Linzer said he doesn’t care about the people who go to the NBA or major league baseball. His concern is for their peers, the ones who don’t make it to professional teams and who don’t graduate. These people are exploited by the University. The student athletes who don’t get a degree, who don’t get an education and who don’t have careers are the people this University should be helping.   The students who leave early and make it to the pros will take care of themselves. Mr. Maggard agreed it is important to help the student athletes graduate. The NCAA rules are going to be helpful in that area.
            Mr. Maggard said this is a very interesting market place.   He found out that UH has 8,000 or 9,000 students living in the Woodlands.   Mr. Maggard said he goes to the UC to have lunch with the students. Essentially they say exactly what the Alumni and faculty say, “I’ll come to the game if you will start winning; if you will make it exciting.”
            Sen. Copeland said he thought a couple of things are missing; they are kind of similar. He requested more information about accountability and justification. Last year when Mr. Maggard appeared before the Senate, he asked him what the criteria were by which the Athletic Director would want to be judged. Sen. Copeland added that Mr. Maggard declined to answer. There was no indication that there was some standard by which the faculty ought to judge Athletics. People in sports are really good at keeping score but not so keen on keeping score when it comes to using other peoples’ money. Think of what the faculty could do with the money. Athletics has spent over $20 million since Mr. Maggard took charge. Why is UH better off spending that money on sports exhibitions as opposed to hiring dozens of new faculty or hundreds of new staff or giving away thousands in student scholarships? UH ought to be concerned about what this does for the sons and daughters of Texas, not comparing it to some other athletic department that doesn’t have any relevance to the lives of UH students.
            Mr. Maggard said that is a good point.   He added that what he has indicated is that Athletics is providing a lot of students with opportunities for competition through sports. Athletics teaches sportsmanship. Athletics is providing student athletes with scholarships. Another part of this, is Athletics brings people back to the campus. Alumni, for the most part, not only give to athletics but they give to the University. The Moores School of Music and its Opera House was from an alumni gift as well as the Athletics-Alumni Center. Sports tend to be intangible unless one is involved with a professional team. Athletics gives people an opportunity to come back on campus so that they see it and think about it.
            Sen. Copeland asked Mr. Maggard if he means to say it is impossible to evaluate the value of that intangible.   Can he make a guess?
            Mr. Maggard said he is saying that everyone saw Athletics’ goals in terms of what the dollars were and in terms of graduation rates. The dollars are a measuring step. Graduation rates are a measuring step. Mr. Maggard added that the whole presentation was designed to give a justification and reason for Athletics’ agenda. There may be a whole different group of people who might agree or disagree with that.
            Sen. Greenwood said Athletics has to justify its program. The Board of Regents and the University as a whole has had to be justified. She added that she thought he has done a great job.
            Sen. Kotarba said he would raise a point that came up in one of the Athletics Advisory Committee meetings in terms of getting Alumni back here to give money. UH has a number of student athletes who have completed their play here and moved on with all these talents and training that the University has given them, but who don’t seem to donate. This isn’t unusual. Other University graduates, who have high incomes, also fail to donate to UH. This University needs to go after a whole bunch of different kinds of audiences. Mr. Maggard said absolutely.
            Sen. Karger said to put a little reflection on what Sen. Copeland was saying. That $10 million translates to about 170 faculty members which would be an increase of about 20% of the 870 faculty UH has now. That $10 million is by no means insignificant to the operation of the university.   Secondly, Sen. Karger suggested that Mr. Zinser should modify his comments in front of a faculty group. He has the wrong audience to present the idea that what goes on in a classroom is unimportant compared to what occurs on the field. In fact, that may be part of the problem he sees with the whole athletics program. Mr. Maggard said that is a good point. Faculty are evaluated by their peers and students as well.
            Sen. Lange said while Athletics may have an infrastructure in place, there are problems like students reading the newspaper in class and not showing up for class. Mr. Maggard said before he came to UH, students only had to take one unit in summer school. Now student athletes have to take six units in summer school toward graduation. Athletics is changing.
            Sen. Schiff said he attends all the football games. He added that he used to go to the basketball games. He said he likes sports, but subsiding professional sports is not UH’s mission and is a gross misuse of funds. Mr. Maggard said take a look around campus and see who has donated to this campus; look at names on the buildings. Sen. Schiff said he understood that the Moores Opera House was a gift and it was only because of Marguerite Ross Barnett convincing John Moores that he should give money to the athletic program; it wasn’t the other way round. Mr. Maggard offered to tell the story of how the gifts came to be given. Mr. Maggard said he knows John Moores very well and John Moores told him the story. Mr. Maggard was at the University of Miami at the time. Houston was playing the University of Miami on a Thursday evening on ESPN. John Moores was on the side lines of UH. UH took a terrible beating that evening. John Moores told Mr. Maggard that very evening he made a decision that he was going to change things on this campus. That is what he told Mr. Maggard personally.
            Sen. Brady said she had to disagree with her colleague. She was here at the time and she remembers very clearly that it was announced to the Senate that John Moores was convinced to give $20 million to the Music School instead of just Athletics. [Editor’s note: John Moores planned to give $70 million to Athletics. Marguerite Ross Barnett, bless her soul, convinced John Moores to give $16 million of that toward the School of Music – which became the Moores School of Music. However, Dr. Barnett then went to the Faculty Senate Executive Committee and made the following bargain – that if the group agreed, the University would substitute $16 million in HEAF to build the Music building, naming it for the Moores, then use the actual Moores money to create the Moores Professorships. They did and the rest is history.]
            Mr. Maggard said who began this University -- the Cullens, who are great athletic people, and the Robertsons, who are great athletic people. Mr. Maggard said appreciates what the faculty have to say and Athletics is committed to doing a better job in all the areas that have been mentioned.
            Dr. Gonzalez said two years ago she was appointed to the Athletic Advisory Committee. Mr. Maggard and she immediately locked horns. She told Mr. Maggard that she would measure him by graduation rates, the deficit, the retention rate, how effective the Athletic staff is dealing with student academic issues. Mr. Maggard has done a good job. Athletics is not going to go away on this campus. Faculty are going to have to live with this. The Board of Regents have made it clear that it is not going to send athletics away.   Dr. Gonzalez said she has sat on that committee and has asked Mr. Maggard to be as transparent as he could be with the strengths of this program. He has been. The numbers are up there. UH is looking at a $23 million program. She added that she is glad Mr. Maggard is addressing many of the problems. He has got MPs sitting over there tracking down these students and together they work very hard to teach these athletes that they are students as well as athletes. It is a challenge. Some of these students have done really well. Dr. Gonzalez said she has been very impressed; others have not. She said is has been very clear on her critiques of this university across the board. After two years Mr. Maggard has done a good job.
            Mr. Maggard said he appreciates the opportunity. He said he has enormous respect for all of the faculty, what they do and what it means to the university and what it means to the young people on this campus. Mr. Maggard thanked the Senate for its invitation and agreed to come back anytime.

REPORT FROM AND DISCUSSION WITH FACULTY SENATE PRESIDENT: Giles Auchmuty
            Pres. Auchmuty said yesterday there was a meeting with many of the people involved in planning the renovations on this campus this summer. Dr. Rudley and his staff have found money to renovate and improve many classrooms around UH including the Kiva. The plans for the Kiva are available in the College of Education Dean’s office if anybody wants to look at the changes being planned for this auditorium. There are also renovations being planned for AH, for some classrooms in ENGR, GSSW, and PGH. There were many suggestions about the plans. One plan that solicited comments was the new university policy that in every room possible they plan to replace the chalk boards with white boards. If anyone has feelings about that change, he/she should let the Facilities Planning people know about it because there was definitely differences of opinions on that.
            Pres. Auchmuty said the COC is working on procedures for setting up some new standing committees.
            Pres. Auchmuty said he is setting a group to plan inauguration ceremonies for Dr. Gogue in the Fall. He asked for volunteers to contact him at FSPres@uh.edu.

BUDGET & FACILITIES COMMITTEE, CHAIR – Saleha Khumawala
The meeting took place on April, 27, 2004 at 3p.m. in the Faculty Senate Conference Room. The following members were present: Steve Craig, Wyman Herendeen, Stanley Kleis, Ernst Leiss, Peter Linzer, Mary Beth Thomson, Al Warner, and Saleha Khumawala (chair). The topic was the Faculty Rebuilding Plan.
At its March meeting, the committee decided that it will work on a Faculty Rebuilding Plan for the remainder of the year. After an initial discussion of the different revenue streams, specifically the new inflow of resources from Designated Tuition and other sources, the committee has the following working plan.

The committee agreed that the request for representation of the BFC at the Annual Budget Hearings should be made to the President and Provost through the Faculty Senate Executive Committee at the next meeting in May of the EC with upper administration.
The committee will start its work on faculty salary compression by building on the initial data gathered by Senator Craig. All interested senate members are welcome to join the BFC in this task.

COMMITTEE ON COMMITTEES, CHAIR - Anne J. Jacobson
     The committee met on May 5, 2004. Members present included Anne Jacobson (Chair), Giles Auchmuty, Katy Greenwood, Steve Huber, Jerry Paskusz and Dale Rude.
      The COC has finished its list of recommendations for faculty membership in the standing committees.
      The Committee on Committee finalized a procedure for approving new standing committees. These procedures include drafting a proposal, consultation with the administrator advised by the committee, consultation with the COC and final approval by the Senate.
      The committee also drew up a form for the yearly report from chairs of standing committees.   In particular, information is requested that should enable the COC to assess both the general effectiveness of the committee and the extent to which it is able to deal effectively with relevant faculty concerns, if there are any.
      The Faculty Senate President is intending to propose new standing committees for the following administrators: Vice Chancellor/Vice President for Governmental Relations, Vice Chancellor/Vice President for Legal Affairs and General Counsel; and Vice Chancellor/Vice President for University Advancement. He is also proposing two new committees that would report to the Vice Chancellor/Vice President for Administration and Finance, including Human Resources and Purchasing/Plant Operations.
   The Chair of the COC will also be talking to Dr. Strickland about proposing a provost advisory committee.
   Sen. Jacobson said Dr. Strickland has generously said that he will help us with this “The Cat’s Back.”

EDUCATIONAL POLICIES & STUDENT AFFAIRS COMMITTEE, CHAIR – Dan Wells
The last committee meeting was held April 28. In attendance were Dan Wells, Peter Gingiss, Sara McNeil, George Trail, and Michael Parks. Not in attendance were Kenneth Brown, Ted Cleveland, Michael O’Connell, Guadalupe San Miguel, David Zimmerman, and Carole Goodson. The committee considered two issues at the meeting:

The development of textbooks and other educational material is a natural and desirable outcome of intellectual activity and should be encouraged. In addition, the selection and production of instructional materials by faculty is essential to providing quality instruction, and the freedom to choose instructional materials is central to the principle of academic freedom. Along with this basic academic freedom comes the responsibility to avoid potential for conflicts of interest and to strive to minimize costs of these materials to the students.

The ultimate decision on the use of such materials should rest with the faculty instructors. However, potential for conflicts of interest are present when textbooks and other educational materials produced by faculty members are required, recommended, or suggested for a class in which the faculty member is teaching and where the sale of such materials produces financial gain for the faculty member. To avoid a conflict of interest, one of the following actions must be taken:

The production of instructional materials such as class notes, workbooks, answer sheets, or custom texts intended for use either exclusively or primarily at the University of Houston shall be considered part of the faculty member’s assigned duties. It is expected that such shall be provided to the student at departmental or university expense or at most, the cost of reproduction through a commercial reproducer.

            In discussion Sen. Wells said committee thought that this is not something to rush in to quickly. This is not a formal proposal yet. The reason for this policy was multifold and included concerns about conflict of interest, concerns from the internal auditor that UH doesn’t have a policy and really needs one, and complaints from some students. The committee looked at a lot of policies from a lot of different places; some were very restrictive in the committee’s opinion. The UT policy was especially restrictive. It states that any textbook used in any class has to be approved by the dean and the president of the university. Essentially, the proposed policy states that if a faculty member assigns a textbook or instructional materials to his/her class and he/she stands to make a profit on royalties or other fees then there is a potential conflict of interest. The faculty member could either have a third party approve those instructional materials or textbooks, perhaps a department or college committee, and take the royalties or decline or donate the royalties or fees to a university scholarship fund.
            Sen. Linzer said this is really minor league. Essentially, one of the elements of the economics of the business is that publishers expect the faculty members to adopt his/her own materials. This thing is really counter-productive. It is saying to the faculty: don’t write books; write other things that can’t be used in the classroom. He added that he understands the argument for the students. He has heard it before, but it is not really that significant. Student evaluations will very well take care of a book that is the inferior that the professor uses. What if it is a book from a real publisher? There are a number of filters involved in this process. Sen. Wells said there is nothing in the policy that prevents faculty from using whatever materials they want in class.
            Sen. Leiss asked Sen. Wells to define profit. Because obviously anybody who has written textbooks at a certain level, like introductory college algebra, knows a person could have made a lot more money flipping hamburgers for the time put in writing those books. Sen. Wells said there is an issue with conflict of interest in requiring the students to buy something from which the faculty member makes money. That is the gist of the issue and that is why UH needs a policy. Sen. Leiss said this is a policy that basically will get rid of any incentive whatsoever to write textbooks.
            Sen. Gingiss said first of all, if there is so much little money to be gained by writing books or materials, then there is very little to be given up. Second, he said he would like incentive to do handouts of Powerpoint presentations in his class. In the high end, there are excellent textbooks published by a good publisher that many other universities are using. At the low end, one could charge admission for Powerpoint presentations. The principle is the same. Should a faculty member have the power to compel students to put money in his/her palm?
            Sen. Rushing said he is one of the leading scholars in the sub-field of his discipline and there was absolutely no textbook whatsoever, so the publisher and he agreed that was sufficient reason to put a book in the university classroom. Sen. Rushing said he worked with 13 authors to produce one. He added that he has earned about $317 so far, but he is not giving up that $317.
            Sen. Karger said in some ways the devil is in the details on this. A great many of the books that students will buy in a classroom are used books for which the author receives absolutely no royalties. How is the faculty member to determine which books in the class room are new or used?
            Sen. Leiss said he didn’t think his publisher would to tell him how many of his books were sold at UH? Sen. Wells said if faculty members could get the reports from the Bookstore at UH as to how many new books were sold to his/her classes.
            Pres. Auchmuty said this is only a draft. Let’s plan on having a serious meeting about this later. If people would like to write essays on this subject that would be fine.
            Sen. Wells said send comments to: FSComms@uh.edu.
            Sen. Trail said nobody has said anything about the last bullet, which seems to take care of all these problems.

Library faculty appointments may be assigned the ranks library assistant professor, library associate professor, and library professor. Library faculty appointments are within the University of Houston library faculty continuing appointment status. This academic status encourages and recognizes the contributions of library faculty to the teaching function of the University, to scholarship, and to service.

Individuals at each rank will have experience and qualifications comparable to faculty members at the equivalent level as outlined in the Library Faculty Bylaws. The minimum criterion for appointment to any library faculty rank is normally a terminal degree accredited by the American Library Association.

Appointment of library faculty, including the specific offer and all related conditions, will be the responsibility of the Dean of Libraries with approval of the Provost. In the case of law librarian appointments, the Dean’s role is delegated to the Law Library Director.

Library faculty are appointed for twelve-month terms. Prior to successfully achieving continuing appointment status, library faculty appointments are probationary and will be review annually.

Library faculty may teach within a college, department/school or serve on thesis and dissertation committees at the option of the individual college/school. Library faculty academic privileges shall be governed by the same regulations as regular faculty members as outlined in the Faculty Handbook.

Library faculty members are eligible for promotion within the library rank as a result of a formal review procedure. This procedure is stipulated in the Library Faculty Bylaws and approved by the Provost.

Adequate and equitable career salaries, properly graduated through the academic ranks, are established and maintained by the Library to provide incentive for professional growth, to support morale, and to recruit highly qualified personnel in a national market. Library faculty with administrative responsibilities receive additional compensation for these responsibilities.

g. Library Faculty: The library faculty will consist of members with the titles: library assistant professor, library associate professor, library professor. Library faculty appointments are within the University of Houston library faculty continuing appointment status.

Library Faculty Status: Rationale [Explanation from Judy Myers, Professor and Librarian]

Librarians at the University of Houston have had their own governance system since the early 1980s. This system is directly modeled on the faculty tenure track system. Librarians must progress through a series of ranks within a specified amount of time. In order to accomplish these promotions, a librarian must do more than the tasks associated with the actual duties of her/his job. It is necessary to demonstrate professional competence and commitment through scholarly activities such as research, publications, and presentations; significant involvement in professional associations; service to the community; and continuing professional development. If a librarian is unable or unwilling to meet the requirements of governance, then a terminal appointment is the result.

Librarians are treated in every respect the same as regular faculty at the University of Houston. They report through the Provost rather than through the Vice President for Administration and Finance. They have representation in the Faculty Senate and serve on faculty committees. All matters related to appointment, promotion, or discipline are handled the same for librarians as for faculty. Librarians are covered by the Faculty Handbook.

In order to clarify the status of librarians and to mitigate certain bureaucratic limitations, it is proposed that the University follow well-established precedent by calling them Library Faculty. Nothing about this change of label will change any of the rights and responsibilities that already apply to librarians at the University of Houston. It merely serves to depict their role within the University more accurately and enables the University to administer this group of employees more effectively and efficiently.

            Sen. Karger said the Library faculty status is fairly detailed. The committee discussed it. There were some questions raised and the discussion went back and forth through e-mail exchanges. Judy Myers provided the rationale and who says that there is a good consensus among the librarians about this definition. Sen. Karger urged the Senate to endorse the proposed Library Faculty.
            Sen. Copeland said what would be the effective change of saying this? Will this give faculty rights or privileges or responsibilities that they don’t already have? Prof. Myers said hopefully what this does is clarify to the rest of the world what the library faculty is now. Librarians are participating in the Faculty Senate and the university continuing appointments. It is just that every time there is a new administration, the Library Faculty have to explain who they are. So many places in the Faculty Handbook it says faculty and librarians. This should tell everyone who the Library Faculty are.
            Pres. Auchmuty said in the new Faculty Handbook there are other forms of faculty. One way library faculty differ from other faculty is in the way that their promotions are done, they don’t go through the same procedures as tenure-track faculty.
            Dr. Charlson said the issue is that most of the librarians, with the exception of three, are classified as staff. The librarians have continuing appointments and the faculty who are tenure-track have tenure. This is not a proposal that the librarians have made that they become tenured or tenure-track faculty. The dean is working with the librarians to come up with this proposal. In analogy it is more like Clinical Faculty.
            Pres. Auchmuty said one of the other groups that UH has is Research Faculty. Research faculty can be at any rank, assistant, associate or full professor, but they also are not eligible for tenure.
            Sen. Karger moved to approve this issue of Library Faculty for inclusion in the Faculty Handbook. The motion passed unanimously.

II. Primary Caregiver Leave Policy (Approved by FAC):

Primary Caregiver Leave

The primary caregiver leave policy covers full-time benefit-eligible faculty members in the following categories: 1) Primary caregiver of a new-born child; 2) adoptive parent or primary care provider of a child under the age of six years; and 3) care provider for an ill or elderly family member where use of sick leave is not in accordance with State policy. A full-time faculty member in one of these categories, who is also the person's primary caregiver, will be entitled to one full semester leave at full pay. During this semester, the faculty member will be free of teaching, research, and administrative responsibilities. The semester covered by this leave will be chosen at the discretion of the faculty member, as long as it is completed within 9 months after birth, adoption, or notification of need for eldercare. Each faculty member shall have only one primary caregiver leave entitlement per person needing care and it may not be divided.

The primary caregiver is the person in the household who has primary responsibility in terms of time and commitment for the active care, custody and welfare of the person in need of care. A faculty member applying for primary caregiver leave must complete a signed statement with the Office of the Provost certifying that (s)he is the primary caregiver and supply supporting documentation if requested.

Upon written request to the Provost, the tenure clock and contract terms of a faculty member who has taken a primary caregiver leave while holding an appointment without tenure will be extended by one year. The maximum number of extensions an untenured faculty member may receive for primary caregiver leave is two.

Instructional or administrative responsibilities of the faculty member during the semester of leave may, at the discretion of the department and dean, be delayed; distributed among other faculty with appropriate expertise and workload availability; or taught by lecturers paid from a central pool to be maintained for this specific purpose by the Office of the Provost. Application for funds from this pool will be made by the department through the Dean with supporting documentation.

A faculty member planning to take a primary caregiver leave under this plan should inform his or her Department Chair and Dean in writing (with a copy to the Provost), ordinarily at least three months before the expected start of the leave and in all cases no later than 30 days before the start of the leave. Failure to provide timely notice may result in a denial of the primary caregiver leave. Faculty members covered by outside grants or contracts during the period of the primary caregiver leave will normally arrange no-cost extensions of grants where possible. If a faculty member does not wish to be released from the obligations of a grant or contract, the faculty member may nonetheless be relieved from other administrative or teaching duties in conformity with the primary caregiver leave policy.

“As is implicit in early research by Arlie Hochschild (2003, originally 1975) the tenure system creates a structural bias against caregiving …. The tenure-track years often coincide with the prime years for child-rearing. If the demands placed on tenure-track faculty are sufficiently high, then successful faculty will either avoid children altogether, find a partner or spouse willing to perform most child-rearing tasks, or sequence such that either children are raised before beginning an academic career or tenure is achieved prior to child-rearing. The norm of motherhood in tandem with sex discrimination lead us to predict that women will more often engage in these productive bias avoidance strategies than men, hence generating disparate outcomes” (Drago and Colbeck, 5).

“Our colleges and universities cannot expect to hire and retain the best and the brightest absent a recognition of and accommodations for family – and life – commitments beyond the workplace” (Drago and Colbeck, 13-14).

“On April 30, the Faculty Association of the Graduate School of Social Work requested that the Faculty Affairs Committee of the Faculty Senate change the proposed primary caregiver leave policy to include primary caregivers and domestic partners of full-time benefits eligible faculty members will be included.”

            Sen. Karger said this motion was unanimously passed by the Social Work faculty. The change would read primary caregiver or domestic partner.
            Sen. Copeland asked if the Senate was talking about domestic partners who are not primary caregivers? Sen. Karger said the purpose of the amendment was to implicitly state domestic partners in the primary caregiver proposal.
            Sen. Brady said let’s not kick in doors that are already open. There is no need to have domestic partners. It has already been taken care of by the primary caregiver. It is not a necessary motion. It doesn’t make sense.
            Sen. Middents said in fact in the committee very consciously left this open as a possibility. The amendment would be picking fights that don’t need to be picked.
            Sen. Jacobson said number 2 seems to do that, “adopted parent or primary care provider.”
            Sen. Pedemonte said he is on the Faculty Affairs Committee and there are minor points that should be discussed by the administration. His colleague asked him to point out two things. One is the question of the period being a semester. It should be any time of the year. The other question is stopping the clock for one year which is something that some of his colleagues think should be discovered when they leave.
            Sen. Ignatiev said the debate on the amendment is out of order and called the question.
            Pres. Auchmuty said the vote is on the amendment made by Sen. Karger. The amendment failed.
            Pres. Auchmuty then called for a vote on the caregiver policy as stated in the draft document. The caregiver policy passed unanimously.

FOUR--All members of standing committees shall be appointed from the membership of the Faculty Senate. The Senate standing committees are: the Budget and Facilities Committee, which shall conduct a continuing review of the university's financial resources, including the ways in which such resources are actually spent; the Educational Policies and Student Affairs Committee, which shall review and recommend policy concerning the substance and presentation of undergraduate and graduate education, shall review the operations of the appropriate administrative offices with respect to the implementation of existing policy and the promulgation of policy changes, and which shall create and maintain more effective coordination and cooperation with student organizations at the University of Houston, shall be concerned with the improvement of campus life, and shall review the operations of the administrative offices responsible for the promulgation of policies concerning student and campus life; the Faculty Affairs Committee, which shall review and recommend policy concerning the conditions of faculty employment, and shall review the operations of the appropriate administrative officials with respect to the implementation of existing policy and the promulgation of policy changes; .the ~~Legislative~~ Scholarship & Community ~~Relations~~ Committee, which shall ~~conduct continuing reviews of the university's legislative relations policies, including the formulation of strategy, and of~~ serve as liaison between the Faculty Senate and both the internal university's community ~~relations, including outreach programs~~ and the ~~interaction with internal and~~ various external-local and regional—communities that the University serves. ~~constituencies to improve the standing of the university in both the political and business arenas~~. The committee shall assist faculty in three areas: promoting scholarly activities; conducting scholarly activities; and communicating scholarly activites.

REPORT FROM AND DISCUSSION WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON SYSTEM CHANCELLOR AND UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON PRESIDENT: Jay Gogue
Dr. Gogue said he has a bond hearing that starts at 2:00 p.m. but he wanted to very briefly mention a few things: (1) He is completing his first academic year for the University of Houston. He thanked the faculty for their support and kindness. He added that even when there have been disagreements, everyone has been civil. (2) When he first came there was a need to focus on shared governance. As a new person here, Dr. Gogue said he hoped the administration has done a better job. He expressed his appreciation for the Faculty Senate President serving on the Cabinet of the University. He also expressed appreciation for the various committees and service to this institution.
(3) He thanked everyone for supporting the creation of a pool for staff to be able to receive tuition remission this year. That was the number one priority of staff to provide scholarships for staff to be able to go back to school and take at least one course. (4) Dr. Rudley is still working on parking garages. Everyone is still talking about location. One of the things that will be ready by the Fall is the addition of 800 parking spaces. (5) Of the new tuition and fee money, 70% goes to increase the number of faculty on this campus. This money doesn’t do all the things that are needed but it is a commitment by the institution in the area that has been missing. (6) During the Strategic Planning process, one clear message that came through to the Board of Regents was the need to look at UH’s faculty to student ratio. Hopefully UH will see some additional improvement in that area. (7) In the area of federal relations and Washington type programs, Dr. Gogue reported that at this stage in the federal budget UH has somewhere close to $20 million identified. UH may not get the whole $20 million but in the past six years UH had been averaging about $2 million in terms of direct appropriation. (8) Dr. Gogue complimented Dr. Strickland, Dr. Rudley and the campus for finding the funding for classroom renovations. Last year about 50 classrooms were renovated and another 40-50 this year. That will give UH probably half the classrooms with some degree of refreshment to them.

REPORT FROM AND DISCUSSION WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON SYSTEM INTERIM SENIOR VICE CHANCELLOR AND UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON INTERIM SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS AND PROVOST: Jerald Strickland
            Dr. Strickland said it has been a good nine months for him. He expressed his appreciation for all the support he has received from the Faculty Senate and the entire faculty.
            One change this year is holding individual college commencements. Dr. Strickland reminded everyone to attend. He said he will get the chance to visit six of them and Dr. Gogue is going to visit as many as he can. There will be members of the Board of Regents and representatives of the University Administration at every commencement.
            The strategic planning process has two more meetings scheduled. Right now the committee is going through setting priorities. There are over 20 different areas that need to be addressed. Some priorities that are not very high or expensive items may be finished today. Other items are very costly and will be time consuming for everyone. The priorities will be discussed at the Board of Regents retreat on June 15. It is expected that there will be a substantial number of very high priorities and as many as six to ten lesser priorities.
            Dr. Strickland said there was great interest and attention paid to student-faculty ratios. He added that he had no idea what that really meant on this campus. It is not a very good one. Faculty know that. But the Regents see that this is something the University needs to address. Faculty hiring was talked about all the time.
            There was also something that Pres. Auchmuty mentioned many times -- faculty collaboration across the entire system. That isn’t something that people think about on a day to day basis. It is something that the Faculty Senate Presidents have discussed as the collective and collaborative of scholarship and research through teaching. There was also an interest in collaborating across the campuses on graduate student development, taking students who show promise and putting them into other universities within the system to allow them to grow and develop, particularly minority students who are exceptional. UH could have its own farm team through the three other universities that could feed into the Masters and PhD programs on this campus. That was something that Pres. Auchmuty especially brought to the table for consideration.
            There was an interest on the part of the system and regents to address the demographic change that will occur within the next eleven years. The committee looked at what was going to happen within the greater Houston area by 2015. Richard Murray shared this information with the group on two occasions. There is going to be one to two million more folks in the greater Houston area. That is more than several states.   If UH is going to be the urban research institution and deliver upper level education to the greater Houston area, this has to be addressed. There are at least two to three new multi-institutional teaching centers that could grow. One of those is in the 290 and 1960 areas; one is an expansion in Sugar Land where the current campus is; expansion along with the Wharton County Community College; and Pearland would like very much to have a MITCS, a System center where all the universities contribute. The leading institute in Pearland would be UHCL. There is also a strong interest in the Texas Medical Center. These four places are on the table for the regents to consider. Needless to say there is great interest here, on this campus, about organizing a Health Sciences Division that has a greater connection to the Texas Medical Center.
            Sen. Jacobson said she knows that one of the things that the Provost has been doing is encouraging deans to consult with their faculty. How many faculty have been consulted by their dean on the college budget? Dr. Strickland said it is a slow process. Encouraging deans and associate deans and department chairs supervisors to seek counsel with their faculty is not the culture yet. As part of the budget hearings this year Dr. Strickland asked each of the deans to share with him the process they used to develop things. Most of them didn’t really have a lot to say about that.   Dr. Strickland said he had a chance to talk with them about that. The change is occurring. At least the Provost Office is doing its best to encourage them. The recommendation from the faculty to have the Budget and Facilities Committee members sit in on the college budget hearings discussion next year may make a difference.
            Sen. Pedemonte said Pharmacy was consulted.
            Sen. Jacobson said that she is concerned that the rhetoric will change before the reality. In fact the rhetoric has changed. People said they got called into college meetings and they said they have all changed. Seriously people are saying that but then nothing happens.   Dr. Strickland said he is doing his best. Every time he has a chance. He added that the faculty should keep telling him things and he will share them.
            Sen. Leiss said there is somewhat of a mental problem. Some deans believe that if they tell faculty something, they consult with faculty, but consultation is a two-way street; not a one-way street. Dr. Strickland said he thinks a lot of deans tend to do that; consultation should be two-way.
            Sen. Karger commended the Provost on trying. Consultation is how to build a shared vision of what the university ought to be. He said he wanted to applaud Dr. Strickland’s efforts in doing that.
            Dr. Strickland said the most important thing that has been done this year is to go through this strategic planning process. All of the presidents of the Faculty Senates at the table all of the time changes the nature of the discussion. The relationships between the Faculty Senates, the Regents and the Administration seem to have improved.
            Pres. Auchmuty said the Faculty/Staff Campaign is on-going at present. People who make contributions now will be put into a drawing to have a wine and cheese tasting at the Hilton Hotel in the Wine Cellar. There is a real incentive. Individuals get to choose where their contributions go. Faculty who academics are much more important than athletics should support a scholarship fund and get a chance at having a very nice wine tasting as a prime reward.