President Chin called the September 24, 2008 Fall Faculty Assembly & Faculty Senate meeting to order in the Elizabeth D. Rockwell Pavilion of the M. D. Anderson Library at 12:15 p.m.
 
MEMBERS PRESENT:  [40]

MEMBERS ABSENT:  [11]        

MEMBERS ON LEAVE:  [1]

VISITORS:   

Renu Khator (University of Houston System Chancellor and University of Houston President), Carl Carlucci (UHS Executive Vice Chancellor and UH Executive Vice President for Administration and Finance), Dona Cornell ((UHS Vice Chancellor and UH Vice President for Legal Affairs and General Counsel), Elwyn Lee (UHS Vice Chancellor and UH Vice President for Student Affairs), Michael Rierson (UHS Vice Chancellor and UH Vice President for University Advancement), Dave Maggard (Director, Athletics), James Anderson (Executive Associate to the Chancellor/President), Malcolm Davis (Chief, UH Police, and Executive Director, Public Safety), Elaine Charlson (UHS Executive Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and UH Executive Associate Vice President for Academic and Faculty Affairs),  Ed Hugetz (UHS Associate Vice Chancellor and UH Associate Vice President for Planning and University Outreach),  Dave Irvin (UHS Associate Vice Chancellor and Plant Operations), David Bell (Assistant Vice Chancellor and Vice President, Academic & Faculty Affairs), Dennis Fouty (UH Associate Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer), David Small (UH Associate Vice President for Student Services), Daniel Gardner (UHS Assistant Vice Chancellor for Planning & Initiatives), John Powell (Assistant to the Chancellor/President, Communications), Oscar Gutierrez (Assistant to the Vice Chancellor/Vice President for University Advancement), Craig Ness (Executive Director, Academic Budgets & Administration), Richard Storemski (Lieutenant, UH Police), Ty Houston (Vice President of Constituent Relations, Houston Alumni Organization), Arthur Warga (Dean, C. T. Bauer College of Business, and Judge James A. Elkins Professor, Finance), Marco Mariotto (Dean, Graduate & Professional Studies), John Antel (Dean, College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences and Professor, Economics), Earl Smith (Dean, College of Optometry and Greeman-Petty Professor, Optometry), Stuart A. Long (Interim Dean of HONS, and Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering), Robert McPherson (Executive Associate Dean, EDU, and Professor of Educational Psychology), Cathy Patterson (Associate Dean, CLASS, Associate Professor, History, and Chair of the Graduate & Professional Studies Council), Jacqueline Hawkins (Associate Dean of Institutional Effectiveness and Outreach, College of Education, and Associate Professor, Curriculum & Instruction), Lynn Maher (Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders), David Papell (Professor and Chair, Economics), Lawrence Curry (Professor Emeritus, History), Rigoberto Advincula (Professor, Chemistry, and Chair, Research Council), Richard Kasschau (Professor, Psychology), Karl Titz (Professor, Hotel & Restaurant Management), John McNamara (Professor, English), Richard M. Armstrong (Associate Professor, Modern &Classical Languages), Farouk Attia (Associate Professor, Engineering Technology), Christopher Chung (Associate Professor, Industrial Engineering), Maria Gonzalez (Associate Professor, English), Hildegard Glass (Associate Professor, MCL), Rebecca Lee (Associate Professor, Health & Human Performance), Dov Liberman (Associate Professor, Educational Psychology), Marcella Norwood (Associate Professor, Human Development & Consumer Sciences), Demetrius Pearson (Associate Professor, Health & Human Performance), Jamison Day (Assistant Professor, Decision & Information Sciences), Deniz Gurkan (Assistant Professor, Engineering Technology), Karen Holt (Assistant Librarian, University Libraries),  Robin Howard (Assistant Librarian, University Libraries), Irene Ke (Assistant Librarian, University Libraries), Andrea Malone (Assistant Librarian, University Libraries), Bradley McConnell (Assistant Professor, Pharmacological & Pharmaceutical Sciences), Anne Reitz (Assistant Professor, Modern & Classical Languages), Alex Simons (Assistant Librarian, University Libraries), Lawrence R. Williams (Instructional Associate Professor, Biology-Biochemistry, and Chair of the Undergraduate Council), Christina Chan (Research Professor, Geosciences), Sam Dike (President, Student Government Association), Darla Beaty (Student), Michael Blunk (Student), Vivian Laveau (Student), Marjorie Chadwick (Executive Director, Writing Center), Patrick Daniel (Executive Director, Learning Assessment), Mike Glisson (Executive Director, Finance), Keith Kowalka (Executive Director, University Center, and Immediate Past President, Staff Council), Margot Frye (Director, Development, AG), Eric Gerber (Director, University Communication), Don Guyton (Director, Internal Auditing), Monica M. Lawrence (Director, Human Resources), Suzanne Kieffer (Director of Administration & Academic Affairs, Psychology), Alex Kopatic (Director, University Marketing, Law), Steven Liparulo (Director for Pedagogy, Writing Center), Amy Marks (Director, Annual Giving, University Advancement), Ann McFarland (Director, Office of Community Projects, GCSW, and President-elect, Staff Council), Joe Papick (Director, Child Welfare Education Project, and Member, Staff Council), Sandy Coltharp (Associate Director, Residential Life & Housing Services, and President of Staff Council), Javier Hidalgo (Associate Director, Residential Life & Housing Operations), Reginald Riley (Associate Director, Campus Recreation), Mary Benham (Business Administrator, Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture), Virginia Miller (Business Administrator, Human Resources), Lynn Smith (Department Business Administrator, University Advancement),Vanessa Adams (Assistant Business Administrator, Chancellor’s Office), Jennie Rivera (Assistant Business Administrator, President’s Office), Leslie Pruski (Executive Administrative Assistant, General Counsel’s Office), Theresa Singletary (Executive Administrative Assistant, Chancellor’s Office)Theresa Caldwell (Administrator, Provost Central Business Office), Christine M. Vasquez (Administrative Assistant, Advancement Services), Wilbert Taylor (Sr. Project Manager, General Services), Syvalia McKinley (Program Manager, Stewardship), Jyoti Cameron (Academic Advisor, CLASS), Keandra Ewing (Academic Advisor, BUS), Norma Sides (Academic Advisor, Political Science), Amber Pozo (Academic Advisor, Economics), Anna Barron (Affirmative Action/EEO Officer 2, HR), Reneé Fiorini-McManus (Specialist, Library), Sheila Childers (Supervisor, Digital Prepress, Printing), Markeda Wade (Coordinator, Communications), André Washington (Trainer, Information Systems, University Advancement), Steven Wellman (Generalist, HR), Dominic Johnson (Web Developer 2, IT), Scott Elder (Web Developer), Erica Sims (Office Supervisor, GCSW), Gail Tittle (Staff Coordinator, PSTI Training), Mike Emery (Staff Writer/Editor 2), Mayra Cruz (Reporter, Daily Cougar),

MINUTES:  The minutes for the August 27, 2008 Senate meeting were approved.

REPORT FROM AND DISCUSSION WITH THE FACULTY SENATE PRESIDENT:  Wynne Chin

REPORT FROM AND DISCUSSION WITH THE UH SYSTEM CHANCELLOR AND UH PRESIDENT:  Renu Khator

Dr. Khator discussed the aftermath of Hurricane Ike.  She said she was sorry that the meeting could not be focused on the future of the University, but sometimes the past must be discussed so that everyone can move on together.  She added that she appreciated everyone taking the time to attend the meeting. 

Dr. Khator stated that many people were angry, frustrated, upset and with the decision to open the campus on Tuesday.  The final decision to open the campus was ultimately left to the President.   Dr. Khator took full responsibility for the decision.  Two documents play a role in emergency situations:  the Emergency Management Plan (M.A.P.P. 06.01.01) and the Business Continuity Plan (M.A.P.P. 01.03.03).  The Emergency Management Committee consists of 55 members involving faculty, staff & students [Editor’s note:  The President of the Faculty Senate is the only faculty member.  The faculty position was added in July 2001, post-Allison.]  A small group forms the Emergency Management Team that is involved in the decision making process about the campus.  Dr. Khator said that she had visited the campus each day prior to the campus opening on Tuesday.  She said the factors involved in the decision to reopen included:  (1) Facilities assessment.  She deemed the campus functional and safe to return.  The campus had electricity and water.  She felt that it would be a comforting place to come to for electricity, running water, a hot shower and air conditioning.  Any debris that was around campus would be cleaned prior to the campus opening.  (2)  Academic enterprise.  Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost indicated the academic side was fine.  (3) City and County Proxies.  The President said the city and county government called all their people to work, so it seemed reasonable that the roads would be clear for UH people to return to campus.

The President said that there were three options to consider:  (1) keep the campus closed, (2) open the campus and force everyone to come in or (3) to open campus and to have the flexibility to come if they were able.  It was decided to go with option three—to open campus with the flexibility to come to campus if the individual was able to come.  This was a difficult decision and good intentions do not equal good results.  Many people did not get the message, being without power or having evacuated.  Others got the message, but the meaning was not clear.  Radio and television stations only listed UH as open; there was no indication that people would not be penalized if they could not come.  There was a communication breakdown.  The University had a departmental telephone tree but again, without phone service, people did not get the message.  The PIER system worked, but only 25% of faculty and staff had registered.  Many did not know that there was a choice to come to campus or not.   UH could not operationalize flexibility; there were faculty with few or no students and students without teachers.

Dr. Khator said the decision was made based on the available information.  It was not full information and the proxies may have been the wrong proxies.  No matter what decision was made, it was likely to upset a lot of people.  Dr. Khator pointed out that during the consultation call to decide about opening, neither the Faculty Senate President nor the Student Government Association President were included.  In Lesson Learned, Dr. Khator said she needs the right voices at the right time at the table.  The President proposed to form a Task Force to Review Emergency Procedures.  Dr. Khator added that the task force could review all the e-mails she received about the situation.

On the positive side, the infrastructure and campus services did a great job.  The students were commended for handling a POD (Point of Delivery) site on campus.  The floor was then opened up for comments, questions or suggestions. 

Sen. Jowett questioned the use of the city as a proxy.  Eric Gerber, Director of University Communication, responded that he had spoken with Mayor Bill White’s Press Secretary.  The city asked all workers, except those who had evacuated, to come in but with the understanding that they would not jeopardize their personal safety.  Sen. Jowett pointed out the city employees’ job was to clean up the city.  The Mayor told the citizens to stay home.

Sen. Linzer said mistakes were made in good faith.  He walked two miles to campus, but Elgin was flooded.  His cell phone didn’t work and he was worried because he knew his Law students would show up.  He added that the discussion of guidelines is nice, but guidelines are secondary to common sense.  UH could have opened without classes.

Sen. Haun said even after a holiday re-entry to campus life is difficult.  UH could model after HISD and have faculty, staff and food services come to campus one day, and then have the students return the next day.  It would have given departments time to work out which classes will have faculty.  She added her home still didn’t have power.

Sen. Copeland stated that there were mistakes, but the President should always involve faculty and students in the decision-making process.  He said he tried to come to campus on Sunday to check his lab and was chased off.  Then he got the message that classes would resume; this was confusing as his class from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. would break the city’s curfew.  The campus is robust; since Allison it has a good infrastructure.   After Rita, then Chancellor/President, Jay Gogue, suggested that employees could come to campus to shelter during storms.  After he left, the employees were told to stay away.  People are on their own until the campus opens for business as usual.  UH should offer refuge to its people.

Sen. Ignatiev said in light of the hardware breakdown, UH needs a better process to communicate with people.  Aside from the open/close aspect, he noted that the Athletic Program continued on with the football team playing in Dallas as Ike was passing through Houston.  Most people had either evacuated or were without power from the storm, the game should have been cancelled.  Dave Maggard, Director of Athletics, said that he has written extensive e-mails explaining this choice, but the factors included:  (1)  the student athletes at UH wanted to play.  Most live at Cullen Oaks or Cambridge Oaks which had no power.  (2) the student athletes at the Air Force Academy wanted to play.  (3)  the game couldn’t be rescheduled and UH would have had to forfeit.  (4) CBS College Sports offered to broadcast the match if it was played in Dallas.  They subsequently backed out of telecasting as the weather in Dallas was bad due to the approach of Ike.

Sen. Hernandez said people are still without electricity and are suffering from post-traumatic stress.  UH doesn’t need a scapegoat, it needs responsiveness.  She suggested the University start a missing person telephone line for people to check on colleagues or report problems.

Sen. Chandler said there is still confusion about absences.  It would be sensible to open the campus as a refuge, but there should have been no thought of scheduling classes on Tuesday.  He proposed UH become a leader in prevention of disasters and preparing for the forces of nature by improving infrastructures.

Sen. Sansgiry stated that he would like to question the decision to close UH on the Friday before Ike.  Most places closed on Thursday to give their employees for the hurricane.  When the decision was made to open UH, there should have been 24 hours notice.  Sen. Sansgiry added that this was also a missed opportunity to improve UH’s image.  UH should have been opened to the community, it should have helped the community.  He didn’t see much until the students opened the POD.  Dr. Khator responded that she was on television on CNN talking about the students.  James Anderson, Executive Associate to the Chancellor/President, said the community saw a very remarkable thing from UH.  He got a call from the Mayor late last week, asking UH to take a POD.  Within one day, UH had 1,600 volunteers who handed out 144,000 liters of water and 444,000 pounds of food.  Community and legislative leaders visited the site.  Dr. Anderson thanked the faculty, staff and students who helped.  He added that he put a call out to the colleges asking what each college could contribute and seven or eight responded immediately.

Sen. Rea suggested using KUHF, the Public Broadcast Radio Station located on the UH campus, to put out information to the faculty, staff and students.  Most people had battery-operated radios and, if everyone knew that this would be a source for campus news and information, they could get reports via the radio.

Maria Gonzalez, Associate Professor of English, thanked the President and her Cabinet members for attending the meeting.  She stated that she was without power for 10 days.  During that time she had grid envy and now that her power was restored she had grid guilt.  She asked about the decision not to pay people, who receive paper checks, on the Friday before the storm.  It hurt the people who were most vulnerable and depend on the money, especially students.  Carl Carlucci, Executive Vice Chancellor and Executive Vice President for Administration & Finance, responded that state law prohibited UH from paying before the pay date on the checks.  He was prepared to pay people on Monday, but all the banks were closed.

Sen. Sabatino said there is a saying, faccia lentamente l'alacrità, which means make haste slowly.  The Architecture building was damaged, including the college’s library and some faculty offices.  There are mildew and spores.  When deciding to open the University, it shouldn’t be black and white.  There should be a matrix for extreme and not extreme cases.

David Papell, Chair and Professor of Economics, stated that it was an excellent decision to open the campus.  There are showers and the ability to recharge cell phones.  The problem was the all or nothing approach.  Students had to decide whether to use their gas to come to class.  Dr. Papell received e-mails from students who didn’t know if they had enough fuel to make it.  He said he wanted to emphasize the judgment piece.  UH has students dispersed over nine evacuation zones.

Dov Liberman, Associate Professor of Educational Psychology, said he received comments from students including, “Don’t they know we have children?”  “Don’t they know we have homes with damage?”  “Don’t they know the Mayor said stay home?”  Dr. Liberman suggested that common sense should rule the mind set.  When making a decision, UH needs to see itself as part of Houston.  UH is a major research university in Houston.  The larger problem is that UH is not sensitive to what’s going on in Houston.  A memorandum went out about make up days without consulting faculty or students.  UH needs to examine itself mindset.  UH is part of Houston; use common sense.

Pat Bozeman, Librarian, stated that the problem with the Architecture gives UH the perfect opportunity to look at ways to protect Library materials and other expensive resources.  UH needs to allow its employees to take action without a waiting period to truck items or freeze dry resources and without arguing about whether to handle on-site or off-site.

Rick Kasschau, Professor of Psychology, asked about class make up days.  He noted that his Monday-Wednesday-Friday classes a week off while his Tuesday-Thursday classes are a week ahead.  Dr. Charlson said the Provost has decided that faculty can use the Reading Days on as needed basis.

Jamison Day, Assistant Professor of Decision & Information Sciences, said the University exists as a resource.  Look at any decision made in the context of how it affects many communities in many ways.  Promote systems that allow sub-communities into account.  A centralized process should be de-centralized.

Dr. Khator thanked everyone for coming and sharing their thoughts with her.  She said there are lessons to be learned from this event.  She added that she is proud to be at the University of Houston.  Dr. Khator jokingly requested that all additional e-mails be sent to the Provost.

The meeting adjourned at 1:45 p.m.