Governance





Minutes of the Faculty Senate
for April 30, 1996
PSF 36-95/96

The faculty senate met for a special late spring meeting on Tuesday, April 30, 1996, at 3:30 p.m. in Molinaro Hall D137. Beach, Buenker, Canary, Dannehl, Feldt, Goldesberry (Academic Staff Committee), Gurnack, Lee, Lindner, Mayer, Meyer (chair), Moy, Murphy, Norton, Richards, Rovelstad, Schleiter, Schmidt, Smith, and Warren. Also present were Dean Greenebaum and Professors Johns and Lyter-Mickleberg.

Approval of Minutes

The minutes of the April 16, 1996, meeting were approved as distributed.

Suspension of Rules to Alter Agenda

Professor Feldt (Computer Science and Engineering) MOVED, SECONDED by Professor Schleiter (Sociology/Anthropology) that the order of the agenda be changed to allow the Chancellor to speak at this point in the meeting. MOTION PASSED on a voice vote.

Chancellor's Report

The chancellor offered congratulations to Dean Brown and the faculty of the School of Business on achieving accreditation. The chancellor said that she and the Budget Reduction Committee had agreed to put off meeting until the fall, when they will have a better idea what reductions, if any, will be required. She noted several themes that had emerged from the Regents' look at the university in the 21st century--transfer difficulties, poor advising, and the lack of attention in that study to diversity issues. The chancellor and the administrative council will be looking at ways to improve communication with the faculty, as through the senate and the university committee, and with the university community in general.

Old Business

Name Change for Physical Education

The previous meeting of the senate had laid on the table the following resolution:
RESOLVED, that the faculty senate approve the change in name of the physical education department to Health, Physical Education, and Athletics.
Professor Feldt asked whether any resolution had been reached on this matter. Professor Mayer (Biological Sciences) said that several members of his department still object to the use of the word "Health" in the name, thinking that it might cause confusion with the health sciences programs in Biological Sciences. He did understand now, as he had not before, that the use of the term by physical education departments was apparently common practice. Professor Lyter-Mickleberg (Physical Education) said that 7 of 11 programs in the state used the word "health" in their department name, as did national and regional organizations in the field. She added that the name change had nothing to do with any proposals for a new major in the department.

MOVED by Professor Warren (Dramatic Arts), SECONDED by Professor Lindner (English) to take the motion off of the table. MOTION PASSED on a voice vote.

Professor Dannehl (Physical Education) said this kind of question could only come up at UW-Parkside, and that even here he found it unbelievable that we were discussing this. He had thought the word "athletics" might be a problem but had not realized that the term "health" was copyrighted. Professor Lyter-Mickleberg added that other institutions which had programs with similar names also had biology departments and apparently did not suffer from the problems envisaged.

Professor Feldt said that since the question had been raised he was wondering whether other departments used the term "athletics." Professor Lyter-Mickleberg said practices varied. "Recreation" was a common term. Professor Dannehl said that at some larger places athletics and physical education were becoming more separate but they were not here. "We are what we are," he said, noting that about a 10th of the students here are student athletes.

Professor Mayer said that Physical Education did not teach the kind of courses his department thought of as involved with "health" but conceded that the name seemed to be a national trend. Professor Dannehl noted that his department taught Physiology of Exercise--as they also taught Psychology of Sport. Professor Lyter-Mickleberg said that "health" was an interdisciplinary concern. Professor Dannehl added that it was not a "trend" since the term had been used since the 1800's.

Professor Lindner called the question. There being no objection, debate was ended. MOTION PASSED on a voice vote.

NEW BUSINESS

Motion to Suspend the Rules

Professor Feldt MOVED, SECONDED by Professor Warren that the senate alter the agenda to consider first resolutions of appreciation and a new item, the merger of the business departments. MOTION PASSED on a voice vote.

Resolutions of Appreciation

Professor Feldt MOVED, SECONDED by Professor Lindner, that the senate pass the resolutions of appreciation as distributed at the meeting. MOTION PASSED on a voice voice.

Resolution on Merger of Business Departments

The University Committee presented the following resolution:
RESOLVED, that the faculty senate approves the merger of the departments of Administrative Science and of Accounting, Finance, & Information Systems into a single department; that it approves the name to be chosen by the members of the new department; and that it instructs the secretary of the faculty to make the necessary editorial corrections to the resolutions on implementing academic reorganization and to such other documents as may be necessary.
Since the motion was not on the formal agenda, Professor Norton (Administrative Science) MOVED, SECONDED by Professor Beach (Psychology) its adoption. MOTION PASSED on a voice vote.

Approval of May and August 1996 Graduates

Noting that it was a formality, Professor Feldt presented the following resolution on behalf of the University Committee:
RESOLVED, that the Faculty Senate recommends to the Board of Regents that the students certified by the Registrar to have completed the requirements of the respective programs, in accordance with their degree summary (or the equivalent for graduate students), be granted their degrees in May or August 1996 as appropriate.
MOTION PASSED on a voice vote.

Proposed Change to UWPF 4.04(6)

Noting that it might allow for broader representation in the slate-making process, Professor Feldt presented the University Committee's recommendation that UWPF 4.04(6) be amended by adding "except that it may delegate this responsibility to an appointed nominating committee," so that the section would now read:
(6) The University Committee, consulting faculty preferences and department chairs, shall act as the nominating committee for regular and special Faculty elections, except that it may delegate this responsibility to an appointed nominating committee.
MOTION PASSED on a voice vote.

Proposed Changes to UWPF Chapter 6

The University Committee proposed the following resolution:
RESOLVED, that the Faculty Senate approves the changes to UWPF Chapter 6 embodied in the attached Agenda Document 1.
The secretary of the faculty said that the principal feature of the revision was a rearrangement of the chapter to make it somewhat less obscure. A definition of how "programmatic considerations" were to be evaluated had been added, parallel with similar definitions for other criteria. A post-Spoto reference to shared governance had been added to the section on merit, but more controversial matters had been left for a separate resolution. The section on post-tenure review had been brought in line with current practice. MOTION PASSED on a voice vote.
See PSF 41/95-96: New UWPF Chapter 6

Proposed Guidelines for Merit Pay Policy and Procedures

The University Committee proposed the following guidelines for Merit Pay policies and procedures:

RESOLVED,

(1) That the University Committee shall negotiate with the administration on behalf of the faculty in agreeing upon the annual procedures used to determine merit evaluations and salary increases, except that any major changes in existing procedures shall be brought to the senate for its approval.

(2) Faculty members who believe that they have been systematically discriminated against in this evaluation process may request that the Faculty Rights and Responsibilities committee create an ad hoc committee to investigate and report. If the review committee agrees that there has been discrimination,, it may recommend reconsideration by the department or administrative remedies.

(3) In distributing salary increases, the maximum amount allowed by UW System policy guidelines shall be distributed on the basis of merit.

(4) The bulk of the money shall be distributed on the basis of the departmental evaluations.

(5) Under the processes agreed upon as provided in (1) above, the administration may hold back some funds to address market and equity issues (including race and gender equity) and for cases where they believe that the departmental recommendation is too low. Departments may make recommendations on the use of these funds, and the vice chancellor shall make an annual report to the University Committee on the nature of the skim adjustments made.

(6) Under extraordinary circumstances, the administration may give a faculty member a lower salary increase than called for by the department recommendation; in such cases, there should be prior consultation with the department executive committee and the University Committee.

Professor Feldt said that the University Committee had been promising a resolution on this topic for much of the year but did not have full closure on the issue. Professor Wood (Chemistry) asked if there was new material on what departments should do, as opposed to what happened afterwards. The secretary of the faculty said that what material there was on departmental evaluations remained in chapter 6, though the proposal for an appeals procedure to Faculty Rights and Responsibilities was new. Professor Schleiter said the guidelines substituted this appeal for oversight by deans but such appeals would be difficult for junior faculty. Professor Mayer observed that junior faculty have trouble finding out what is going on and appealing under any system.

Professor Rovelstad asked if the resolution was binding or simply expressing the sense of the senate. The secretary of the faculty said that merit pay procedures were a matter of shared governance, so that any plan would need to be negotiated and could not simply be passed by the senate; the resolution before the senate was, in effect, to instruct those negotiating for the faculty on this issue. Professor Feldt said that it was not a complete set of instructions but a collection of principles.

Professor Beach (Psychology) asked for a response to Professor Schleiter's concerns. Professor Canary (English) noted that administrative skim could still be used in cases in which the administration thought a department had underrated an individual's contributions. He thought the issue was partly whether you worried more about deans punishing individuals or executive committees doing so. The chancellor said that administrative skim dollars were very small and had many uses. Professor Feldt said that at one point some on the committee had considered proposing a trade of more administrative skim dollars in return for allowing for no revision of departmental numbers, but that this proposal had proven controversial.

MOTION PASSED on a voice vote.
See PSF 42/95-96

OTHER

Report of the University Committee Chair

Professor Feldt said that he felt that the senate had had a reasonably productive year. The university committee still had committee appointments to do and might not complete work on the Faculty Service Award. The chancellor commented that she would very much like to give such an award, and Professor Feldt said he would be talking further with her about it.

Questions

There were no written questions. Professor Lindner asked if there had been any further word from the Governor's office. The chair said that there had been nothing since the letter earlier distributed.

Adjournment

The senate adjourned at 4:40 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Robert H. Canary,
Secretary of the Faculty