Minutes

Of the

Faculty Assembly

Of the

University of North Carolina

124th Session

25 April 2003

Chapel Hill, NC

Agenda

 

I.                    First Plenary Session

 

1.      Chair Veit called the meeting to order at 10:32 a.m. with 34 members present.

 

The following members were absent as listed on the roll: Paul Gates, Lorin Baumhover, David Domermuth (ASU); David Pravica (ECU); Ali Khan (ECSU); Alvin Keyes (NCA&T); Percy Murray (NCCU); Harriette O. Griffin (NCSU); Barbara B. Moran, Diane H. Holditch-Davis, Sue E. Estroff (UNC-CH); Ann Newman (UNCC); James Evan, Anthony Fragola (UNCG); Stephen McNamee, Dan Noland (UNCW).

 

Present and signing the roll were: (ASU) Mark Venable; (ECU) Bob Morrison, John Cope, James Holloway for Brenda Killingsworth, Ralph Scott; (ECSU) Wayman Parson; (FSU) Blanche Radford-Curry, Genniver Bell; (NCA&T) Beryl McEwen, Edna Ragins; (NCCU) George Conklin, George Wilson; (NCSA) Bill McCord, Robert Collins; (NCSU) Fred Corbin for Philip B. Carter, Stephen C. Lilley, Paul Williams, Richard Bernhard; (UNCA) Donald Lisnerski, Duane H. Davis; (UNCCH) Steve Bachenheimer, William Smith; (UNCC) Jeff Passe, Mike Corwin, Rosemary Booth for Ann Newman, Meg Morgan, (UNCG) Bruce Kirchoff for James Evans, William Link, Richard Ehrhardt, (UNCP) Jose D’Arruda, Bonnie Kelley, (UNCW) Richard Veit, (WCU) Mary Anne Nixon, Mary Adams, Kathleen Wright, (WSSU) Jill Harp, Francine Madrey.

2.      The Minutes of the February meeting of the Assembly were approved as submitted by the Secretary.

3.      Report on sponsored research by Vice President for Research and Sponsored Programs Russ Lea. Vice President Lea gave an overview of the importance of sponsored research to the UNC System. He noted that sponsored programs is a faculty-driven initiative on all 16 campuses of the UNC System. Proposals requested in FY02 amounted to $2.4 Billion. Contract, grant and agreement funds awarded in FY02 were $840 million. Awards have risen from $367 million in 1992 to $840 in FY02.  Sponsored programs and research are important because the provide research fellowships and research assistantships, academic program support, teacher training and development, basic and applied research, collaborative research and travel grants and support the system infrastructure and distance Education. Sponsored programs are important to the UNC Long Range Plan 2002-2007 because of the creation and transfer of knowledge as evidenced by: support for basic and applied research, enhancement of the quality of life and the NC Economy, partnerships with industry and government, encouragement of collaborations, execution of technology transfer and apply information technology to R& D. Awards to the system were classed as Research (62%), Public Service (10%), Academic Affairs (8%) and Other (20%). Sponsorship of research is Federal (66%), Industrial/Association Support (8%), State Support (9%). Sponsored research is growing at twice the rate of state appropriations.

4.      Report by Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer Jeff Davies. Vice President Davies noted that the state budget is on a fast track this year. The House has already passed its version of the Budget and the Senate is expected to pass their Budget early next week. The two budgets will then go to a conference committee to iron out the differences in the two version. There is the possibility that we might see a budget that is very different from the present House and Senate versions. He next presented some details from the House version of the 2003-04 and 2004-05 Budgets. The Governor has proposed (and it is included in the House version) some $20.6 million reduction in the Continuation Budget, a one time .77% flexibility reduction for all campuses ($13 million), a 3% management flexibility reduction ($44 million) and a 1.5% reduction for Special Campuses ($3 million – to be applied to NC School of Science and Math, AHECs and UNC Hospitals) and $13.5 million escheats funds offsets. This last item is not a true cut, but a swap of funding sources to pay for scholarships for need-based students. On the positive side some $46, 590, 409 Regular Term Enrollment Growth funds were included in the budgets for both years. A tuition increase of $25 million for both years will increase resident and non-resident tuition rates. The House has placed in their version $2.8 million for aid to Private College Enrollment Growth. The Governor has also recommended $10,250,000 for need-based financial aid growth each year with some of this money to come from the Escheats Fund. Additional reductions include: $2.5 million for the MCNC, $500,000 for Alcohol Studies, $2 million from the Strategic Initiative Reserve, $1.6 million reduction in the continuation budget inflation increases for private medical schools, loss of a $10% reduction in Graduate Tuition remission ($3.47 million). Additional funds were provided for UNCC Doctoral transition and Teacher Education Funds, Special Needs Funds for UNC-A and NCSA ($1 million), $35,000 for an independent study of articulation agreements and $275,000 to fund the World View program at UNC-CH. He next noted some legislation of interest that was under consideration by the House: UNC Flexibility Guidelines, Escheats Funds, and UNC Bond Project Modifications. Vice President Davies noted that the House had recommended $1,807,175,882 for the first year and $1,842,091,822 for the second year of the budget. The Governor has asked for $1,837,130,696 for the first year and $1,872,081,636 for the second year. Delegate Lisnerski noted that the 1.6% salary increase was not keeping up with the rise the Health Plan costs. Vice President Davies note that the President was aware of this fact and that this causes great concern with regard to remaining competitive in the marketplace. Chair Veit asked that delegates be informed of what the Escheats Fund was. Vice President Davies responded that these are the monies that revert to the State from unclaimed bank and other accounts.

5.      Report by Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Gretchen Bataille. Vice President Bataille noted that since this was the last meeting of the Faculty Assembly for the year she would provide a list of what she thought were the noteworthy accomplishments of the Assembly. She noted that Chair Veit did a great job of representing the Assembly at the Board of Governors meetings, where he reported on a number of items of interest to the Assembly. Chair Veit communicates well to the various constituencies the opinions of Faculty. She next thanked Assembly members for the work they did during the past year. She noted that she works frequently with the Provosts to stay in touch with local campus issues. Vice President Bataille noted that while the budget was an area of concern, the picture does not currently appear to be as bad as in other states. She appreciated the recognition by the Faculty Assembly of the role President Broad plays in the budgetary process. President Broad tries to move the budget agenda forward in the legislature. She noted that Governor Easley stated on National Public Radio recently that “Education is what would bring our state out of the current economic condition.” Vice President Bataille noted that she had worked with her counterpart in the Community College System, Vice President Delores Parker on enhancements to the articulation agreement between the two systems with regard to the educational arena. She noted that we could do a better job in the system with regard to teacher education articulation agreements. The Final Recommendations of the UNC/NCCS Task Force dated 17 April 2003 was distributed to Assembly delegations She asked that we look over the report and see what each institution can do to help. Vice President Bataille noted Allen Mabe feels that the current enrollment projections may in fact be too low and that we will need to work more with the community colleges to handle the student load. Some of this increased enrollment pressure is coming from adults who want to go back to school. Community Colleges can be the place where they can go to school and remain in their local communities. Vice President Bataille noted that the standardized admissions tests will be changing to include a writing component. She feels that this will help us with placement and admissions. She passed out a report from the National Commission on Writing in America’s Schools and Colleges dated 25 April 2003. She noted that this report was embargoed for another thirty minutes. Vice President Bataille noted that she was proud of the Board of Governors support of national academic priorities with regard to writing. She feels that this will get students who that can write better. She noted that seven campuses now have management flexibility to set and fix compensation, tenure and promotion. This coming year some campuses will be updating promotion and tenure documents to better reflect current practice. She noted with regard to the dispute resolution process that: 1) the process must be fair, 2) there needs to be quick resolution of grievances, and 3) there is the hope that mediation can be looked at as the first step in solving the problem at the level where the problem was brought up. Next Vice President Bataille moved on the budget issues which are a concern, but were previously covered by Vice President Davies. She noted concern with the cost of the vaccine for Meningococcal disease. While there is currently a bill that would require students to be inoculated, most likely the bill will be changed to say that students need to be made aware of the disease. This is yet another example of a potential unfunded mandate from the legislature. There is new legislation on Hazing. The old legislation stated that the student must be expelled. We anticipate that the new legislation that will require local campuses to have a local policy on Hazing. There is additional legislation covering military tuition on campuses. New legislation would leverage federal funds to support tuition for military personnel and these students would have no out-of-pocket expenses for tuition and fees. She is concerned about SARS and has talked with Chancellors and Chief Academic Officers. The Office of President is monitoring this especially with regard to local campuses policies. SARS is an equal opportunity killer in that it kills young and well individuals. Vice President Bataille noted that she is on a state wide Nursing Task Force looking at the Nursing shortage. There will be a role here for the community colleges programs such as the RN to BSN program. There is currently a shortage of faculty in Nursing. The UNCG On-line masters program in Nursing is designed to prepare teachers for the Community Colleges. Vice President Bataille provided an update to the Academic Affairs Division organization chart to be effective 1 July 2003. These changes were prompted by the retirement of George Antonelli. The new organization more rationally aligns the reporting functions within the student affairs unit. It also strengthens Betsy Brown’s involvement in international affairs. Looking to the future if there is any way Academic Affairs can be more responsive to the needs of the Assembly, please let her know. Delegate Passe asked about the Articulation agreements – Where is it going? Vice President Bataille responded that the agreements currently in place are only five years old. We need to look at opportunities to strengthen the Community Colleges, especially with regard to programs that led to Bachelor’s degrees. UNC is no longer a system where students come for four years and then graduate. Delegate Ehrhardt noted that he found it difficult to align programs in IT with the Community Colleges. These program were set up a number of years ago and the upper division requirements have changed. Vice President Bataille replied that we need to establish a core faculty so that these agreements become living documents. This is why we are doing a re-evaluation of the articulation agreements. Delegate Davis noted that as we look at articulation agreements, he hoped that we would look at how it would effect the different campuses. Vice President Bataille noted that all campuses have signed on to the current agreements in place. Delegate Lisnerski asked about the management flexibility on local campuses – what is the Spirit of the directive from the Office of the President? Vice President Bataille noted that from a personal perspective that the local campuses are most equipped to make these decisions. Delegate Conklin asked about foreign language requirements and physical education requirements especially as it applies to private colleges and universities. Vice President Bataille replied that we have no control over the privates. Delegate Morgan asked about the Writing Commission report and the new SAT. What will happened between how and when the new SAT are implemented in 2006? Vice President Bataille responded that we should look at the College Board web pages and starting thinking about how to implement this in the system prior to 2006. Delegate Pravica expressed concern about the quality of faculty and classroom instruction in the Community College system. Delegate D’Arruda asked if we need to do more with helping faculty in the Community Colleges with e-learning. Vice President Bataille replied that this was absolutely a good idea. She made note of the UNCG on-line Master’s program and than some Community Colleges currently offer associate degrees on-line now. Delegate Lisnerski asked about the need to re-affirm these articulation agreements. Vice President Bataille stated that the original agreements were for five year and that they are currently under revision.

 

The morning session ended for lunch at 12: 03 p.m.

 

II.                 Lunch

III.               Standing Committee Meetings 1:00-2:45 p.m.

IV.              Second Plenary Session

1.      Chair Veit called the Second Plenary Session to order at 2:52 p.m. with 35 members in attendance.

 

The following members were absent as listed on the roll: Paul Gates, Lorin Baumhover, David Domermuth (ASU); Alvin Keyes (NCA&T); Percy Murray, George Wilson (NCCU);  Barbara B. Moran, Diane H. Holditch-Davis, Sue E. Estroff (UNC-CH); Ann Newman (UNCC); James Evan, Anthony Fragola, William Link (UNCG); Stephen McNamee, Dan Noland (UNCW).

 

Present and signing the roll were: (ASU) Mark Venable; (ECU) Bob Morrison, John Cope, James Holloway for Brenda Killingsworth, David Pravica, Ralph Scott; (ECSU) Ali Khan, Wayman Parson; (FSU) Blanche Radford-Curry, Genniver Bell; (NCA&T) Beryl McEwen, Edna Ragins; (NCCU) George Conklin, (NCSA) Bill McCord, Robert Collins; (NCSU) Fred Corbin for Harriette O. Griffin, Philip B. Carter, Stephen C. Lilley, Paul Williams, Richard Bernhard; (UNCA) Donald Lisnerski, Duane H. Davis; (UNCCH) Steve Bachenheimer, William Smith; (UNCC) Jeff Passe, Mike Corwin, Rosemary Booth for Ann Newman, Meg Morgan, (UNCG) Bruce Kirchoff for James Evans, Richard Ehrhardt, (UNCP) Jose D’Arruda, Bonnie Kelley, (UNCW) Richard Veit, (WCU) Mary Anne Nixon, Mary Adams, Kathleen Wright, (WSSU) Jill Harp, Francine Madrey.

 

2.      Chair Veit entertained the following resolutions honoring delegates:

a.       Delegate Davis introduced a resolution honoring Delegate Shirley C. Browning, which passed on a voice vote. Resolution 2003-Apr-#08

b.      Delegate Ragins introduced a resolution honoring Delegate Beryl C. McEwen, which passed on a voice vote. Resolution 2003-Apr-#09

c.       Delegate Kelley introduced a resolution honoring Delegate Jose D’Arruda, which passed on a voice vote. Resolution 2003-Apr-#10

d.      Delegate Veit introduced a resolution honoring the Vice Chair of Assembly, George Conklin, which passed on a voice vote. Resolution 2003-Apr-#11

e.       Delegate Morrison introduced a resolution honoring the Secretary of the Assembly, Ralph L. Scott, which passed on a voice vote. Resolution-2003-Apr-#12

f.        Delegate Passe introduced a resolution honoring Chair Veit, which passed on a voice vote. Resolution-2003-Apr-#13

 

3.      Report by Chair Richard Veit. Chair Veit thanked President Broad, the vice presidents, and Associate Vice President Betsy Brown for their work with and presentations to the Faculty Assembly. He noted that he had two satisfactory and fulfilling terms as Chair. One of his goals was to support the principles for academic freedom, tenure, and shared governance both in the university as a whole and on the 16 campuses. It is no accident that the strongest universities are those with the strongest practice of shared governance. Veit offered praise for outgoing UNCW Chancellor Leutze, who provided a model for effective shared governance. The Assembly was established because President Friday wanted a faculty body with which he could consult. While the Assembly provides an opportunity for faculty on the sixteen campuses to speak to and learn from each other, and for the faculty and the administration to speak to and learn from each other, the Assembly is rarely consulted by the UNC administration on policy decisions, and that highlights a weakness in UNC governance and a need for change. However, the future looks bright for the UNC Faculty Assembly.

4.      Report by President Molly Broad. President Broad noted her personal appreciation for the leadership of Chair Veit. Thanks to the investment of time he made, shared governance remains viable in the System. He has exercised a strong leadership role with the Assembly. President Broad noted that the House has passed the budget in record time. She expects that the budget will be passed by the Senate next Wednesday. The Governor was facing a budget gap of $1.4 million dollars. The House version of the Budget supports the Board of Governor’s agenda. The current House budget supports: need based financial aid, full flexibility in budget cuts (which is very important for local campuses), and preserves overhead receipts. A number of amendments to the budget were defeated. She fully expects Senate to adopt a budget that is similar in most respects to the House version. There is concern that the April 30th tax returns will not meet projections. Will have a House and Senate budget conference meeting following the April 30th figures. Members of the Office of the President will be at their post. At this point things become a brand new ball game. Any additional cuts will have a permanent long-term impact on the University. President Broad noted that she had testified before a number of legislative committees. It is imperative that we strengthen the economy of the state. There is a growing realization that education will play an increasing role in the recovery in North Carolina. Recently over 100 students demonstrated the impact that undergraduate research has at a “Capital Symposium” at the legislature. Their timing was perfect. The President feels that the faculty play an important role in the life and mission of the university. Over 30,000 degrees will be confirmed this Spring. At the same time over 100 of our seasoned teachers and researchers will retire. We will need to address this issue in the future. The May Board of Governors meeting will present the O. Max Gardner award and Board for Governors Award of teaching excellence. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has named Richard Huber of UNC-CH, the North Carolina Professor of the Year. President Broad noted that research in the system was an extraordinary trajectory in progress. University grants topped $840 million dollars with an increase of $80 million this year. Research dollars are increasing at three times that of state appropriations. This level is attributed to the quality research of our faculty. We need to be cautious for the future. The Bush administration budgets will call for the leveling off of funding. This will present real problems with the future level of funding and growth. President Broad concluded with the following items of special importance. There is a new Board of Governors Policy of the Awarding of Joint Degrees. This is important for a stronger future because it reflects the co-operation of campuses. The President anticipates the growth of joint degrees among system institutions. President Broad next made some remarks about the engineering studies. The Board of Governors has received a feasibility study with regard to Engineering Schools at ECU, WCU and UNC-A. The study concluded that North Carolina graduates a sufficient number of engineers and does not need more programs. Certain programs such as Bio-medical and Software engineering may be offered as Master’s level programs and will pave the way for joint programs for these three schools. While the study was started by the legislature, the implementation of these programs was after thorough study. The President noted that academic programs must emerge from the faculty and not from external sources. In closing the President noted that the Governor of Kansas Kathleen Sebelius vetoed via line item veto, $3.1 million from University of Kansas, the School of Social Work budget due to concerns about the use of obscene materials in the classroom. There is concern that we are replacing academic judgment with political ones. She also noted that there was concern that Federal agencies were placing restrictions on faculty with regard to sensitive but unclassified research reports. This results in overly simplistic substitutions again for sound academic judgment. We must be in opposition to this. We must oppose any intrusions into the academy. Delegate Davis asked about the 6% salary increases proposed by the President. President Broad noted that we will not receive this amount, but this is not for any lack of trying on her part. Salary increases apply to all of state government and must be viewed by the Governor in that light. We are no longer competitive on the national market. There is concern also about rank salary compression. These issues are troubling to the President. Larger increases are not likely in this cycle. Delegate Carter noted that President Broad would receive an Honorary Doctorate from NCSU in May. Delegate Lisnerski asked if the 1.6% increase is merit money. Vice President Bataille replied that it is merit, market and equity adjustments.

5.   Associate Vice President for Faculty Support and International Programs Betsy Brown next reported on the Senior Faculty Survey. Funds for the survey have been received from TIAA/CREF and will be administered this fall. On the professional development front, two workshops will be conducted for departmental chairs this June. Associate Vice President Brown noted that she enjoyed working with Dr. Veit during the recent unpleasantness over the UNC-CH Freshman reading assignment. She noted also that Chair Veit had a positive influence on the Board of Governors outcome on this issue

6.      Standing Committee reports, action on motions

a.       Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee, Mary Adams. Presented Resolution for Recognizing the Importance of Service in Promotion and Tenure Decisions. Resolution 2003-Apr-#14 passed on a voice vote. Presented a Resolution … on faculty participation in new teaching technology. Resolution 2003-Apr-#15 passed on voice vote. Presented a Resolution Concerning Administrative Growth. Resolution 2003-Apr-#16 passed on voice vote.

b.      Budget Committee, Duane Davis. The committee’s main project was to make a web page dealing with budget issue. This page was up but for some reason cannot be found on the new Office of the President web site. Committee talked about the upcoming budget currently in the General Assembly. The question is how can the committee be helpful with upcoming legislation? One way might be to compile comparative data with other states regarding budget cuts, salaries, and budgetary restrains. Committee is drafting a resolution to the Board of Governors Budget Committee. Committee also talked about new items to be placed on their web page.

c.       Faculty Development, Bonnie Kelley. Delegate Kelley and Associate Vice President for Faculty Support and International Programs Betsey Brown will meet with the Teaching and Learning Center Directors. The committee met with Betsy Brown regarding budget requests for Faculty Development. Faculty Development enhancements were not included in the currently proposed budget. Committee looked at agenda issues for next year including Faculty Development implementation in articulation agreements. It was suggested that their be joint workshops with Community College faculty for development purposes. Talked with Frank Prochaska, Executive Director of the Teaching and Learning with Technology Collaborative about the recent TLT Conference. The Committee offered some suggestions for topics at next year’s TLT conference. A number of presentations regarding Faculty Development from the TLT Conference will be on the TLT web site soon.

d.      Faculty Welfare, Don Lisnerski. Presented a resolution on waving the requirement for in-state tuition for spouse and dependents of eligible state employees. Resolution 2003-Apr-#17 passed on voice vote. Discussed concerns with the state health plan. House version of the budget would provide additional funds for the state health plan. There is however about a $150 million short fall in the plan. State retirement system will be funded at 0.25% rate in the new budget. There is a change from BB&T to Prudential for faculty 401(k) plan management. Legislation that went into effect January 1st allows use of 457 and 403(b) plans to purchase credits in the state retirement system.

e.       Governance, Jeff Passe. Presented Resolution to Revise Election Procedures of the Faculty Assembly, Resolution 2003-Apr-#06 for adoption. Motion passes on voice vote. Chair Veit withdrew Resolution 2003-April-#07 on Making The Code accessible to the campuses. Chair Veit commends Vice President Leslie Winner for swift resolution of this issue. The Committee looked at issue of the presence of the Chair at Board of Governors meetings. Committee will present a new resolution in September asking that the Chair be made an ex-officio member of the Board of Governors. The Committee hopes to develop a series of standards for faculty governance in the fall. Criteria will be developed at the September meeting and brought to the Assembly in November. There will be a orientation session for new Assembly delegates, probably in late August.

f.        Planning and Program, Steve Lilley. The Committee met with Alan Mabe, Vice President for Academic Planning regarding the UNC System planning process. It was noted that we have a steady increasing mix of in state, out-of-state and international students coming into the System. It was also noted that the budget cuts this year were about equal to our enrollment increase monies.

g.       Technology, Jose D’Arruda. The Committee met with Frank Prochaska, Executive Director of the Teaching and Learning with Technology Collaborative. Dr. Prochaska gave the Committee a report on the March 2003 TLT Conference. There were 275 attendees, with a mix of 50%/50% Faculty and Staff. Over 90% of evaluations for the 2003 TLT Conference were positive. Next year the Conference will feature more individual workshops, a popular feature of the Conference. The Committee met with Henry Schaffer, NCSU Professor of Genetics & Biomathematics and Coordinator of Special IT Projects. Dr. spoke to how libraries will have to be responsible for the transfer of information from format to format. The NCSU Libraries for example are providing facilities to transfer software and data from 5.25 inch floppies to 3.5 inch floppies. The cost of acquiring published printed journal is something that libraries are struggling with. An important issue is how to archive on-line courses. Computer disk storage is not down in the twenty-five cents a MB range. Dr. Schaffer believes that students will drive wireless technology on campuses. Each campus need to evaluate their technology needs on an annual basis. On the NCSU campus Dr. Schaffer offers customized technology workshops for 7 or more faculty. This would be a good idea of have on the other campuses. The Committee brainstormed for new ideas for next year. Working with Community College faculty on technology issues and reviewing new technology are areas the Committee will consider next year.

 

Chair Veit adjourned the Assembly meeting at 4:59 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Ralph Lee Scott

Secretary

The Faculty Assembly of the University of North Carolina