Faculty Senate Minutes
for March 30, 1999
PSF 28/98-99

The meeting was called to order by the Chair, Professor Fossum, at 3:35 PM in D137 Molinaro Hall. Senators present were Duetsch, Fossum, Gellott, Goldsmith, Gregory, Kavenik, Keating, Kinchen, Lindner, Lyter, Mandley, Meyer, Moy, Mullen, New, J. Olsen, Ostheimer, Piele, Richards, R. Rosenberg, Saffioti-Hughes, Schmidt, Snyder, Stathatos, Wang, Wallner, Warren, and Wright. Also present were C. Buck, D. Cress, A. Dudycha, R. Fattah, S. Johnson, S. Luke, L. Ross, R. Singer, R. Stolz, and S. Takata.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

The minutes of the Senate for February 16, 1999, were approved without objection.

REPORT OF THE CHANCELLOR

Chancellor Keating noted that the Governor's proposed budget only allocates sufficient funds for a two percent increase in faculty salaries. If that proposal is adopted, the Board of Regents would need to raise tuition by about five percent in order to fund the pay plan the Board has recommended.

The Chancellor described his recent memorandum on "Skim Criteria" as his effort to clearly state the basis for these distributions under the pay plan. In response to a question from Professsor Meyer, he said that people would be identified for such distributions on the basis of recommendations from the department chairs, the deans, and the Provost.

The Chancellor said that the campus' Plan 2008 is nearly complete and will be submitted for review by UW System Administration early in April. He also reminded Senators that the Board of Regents will be holding its May meeting at UW-Parkside.

REPORT OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMITTEE CHAIR

Professor Kavenik introduced Carl Buck, Director of Scholarships and Financial Aid, to make a presentation on UW-Parkside student loan default rates.

Mr. Buck reported that UW-P student bank loan default rates have declined somewhat, to 10.2 percent. Because of this relatively high rate of default, we are prevented from authorizing bank loans until thirty days after classes begin. Mr. Buck said that the UW-P Perkins loan default rate is now down to about five percent. He said that the number of Pell grants made has risen by 24 percent, in part because he has been able to convey more information about those grants to students in the University Seminar. Mr. Buck said that the family income of UW-P undergraduate dependents who receive aid is quite low, averaging just $37,000.

Mr. Buck said that, with out-of-state costs of $9,000 for attending UW-P, there has been substantial growth in student indebtedness. Despite the consequences for enrollment, he believes he has a responsibility to limit the indebtedness taken on by people who have little chance to be succeessful students. In this spirit, loans are not freely given to students with a lengthy record of poor academic performance.

Mr. Buck invited Senators to examine the new website his office has created.

QUESTIONS

There were no written or oral questions.

NEW BUSINESS

CREATION OF DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE

The Committee on Academic Planning recommended the following:

RESOLVED, that creation of the Department of Criminal Justice within the College of Arts and Sciences is approved, effective July 1, 1999, as described in Agenda Document 1.

Professor Dudycha spoke in support of the recommendation, noting that the growth of the program has exceeded expectations, also that recruitment of a program director has been very difficult with the current programmatic structure, and that the anticipated number of tenure-track faculty seems to warrant departmentalization. These considerations overrode the Committee's concern about the number of small departments on the campus.

Professor Rosenberg spoke against the recommendation, claiming that the program has attracted few new students and has instead cannabalized programs such as political science and sociology. He noted that crime rates have recently dropped sharply and that this does not bode well for future interest in this program. He argued that there were efficiencies in relying on the participation of faculty from various departments and that this departmentalization would weaken the interdisciplinary nature of the program.

Professor Takata said that her records do not support the contention that most criminal justice majors have switched from other majors; most declared majors are either new students or transfers. She went on to note that public spending on crime remains high. She also reiterated the importance of departmentalization for success in recruiting faculty. Professor Ross added that, although crime rates have declined, programs like this one continue to grow. He finds that students who major in criminal justice subsequently take many different career paths.

Mr. Mandley noted that students prefer to obtain a major in criminal justice rather than a concentration in a related major. Given our location, he felt the major would attract many new students to the campus. Vice Chancellor Ostheimer observed that political science has become a less popular major across the country and that the decline here may mirror that trend.

Professor Gellott said that she had participated in the most recent political science program review and had concluded that that program was diminished by the creation of the criminal justice major. Furthermore, she expressed confidence that crime rates do affect the demand for the program. Professor Rosenberg wondered why no institutional research has been done on this matter and why this department should be created now, when public spending on crime is almost certain to fall.

Professor Dudycha reported that the political science department has chosen not to object to the proposal on the floor. He went on to observe that there is a great deal of pressure on police departments to increase their minimum educational requirements for new recruits.

Professor Gregory wondered how long it would take to get the institutional data that would be needed to advance the discussion.

Associate Vice Chancellor Singer reminded the Senators that the proposal under consideration would simply create a department, not allocate faculty lines. He also reiterated that departmentalization would help attract new faculty.

Professor Snyder wondered what effect departmentaliztion would have on interdisciplinary staffing of courses and on the number of dual majors that would be declared. Professor Takata said that no staffing changes would result.

Professor Kavenik said that new students who were attracted to the program would more than pay for themselves by helping to assure our overall funding level.

Professor Wang reiterated that the search and screen committee had encountered difficulty recruiting a program director last year because candidates were uneasy about the administrative structure of the program.

Professor Gregory again insisted that more data should be obtained to support this proposal, especially since other departments were already having difficulty maintaining a critical mass of faculty and students.

Professor Ross observed that a program of high quality would attract students of high quality and enable the faculty to generate substantial grant income.

Professor Lindner said that he would like to see survey data regarding the need for the program, and also felt that the program had not yet had time to attract new students to the campus. Professor Rosenberg said that the prospects for growth were at issue and that any hiring should involve other related disciplines. He called for collection of assessment data. Professor Takata said that a needs survey had been done to get UW System approval of the major. She also reiterated that she has been able to track where students come from because she has processed articulation and transfer requests individually.

Vice Chancellor Ostheimer said that the campus has had budget problems in part because of a reluctance to accept change and fully support new majors. He added that a new program such as this would need some time to attract new students and faculty. Professor Lyter observed that a new program such as this would help retain students as well.

Professor Saffioti-Hughes said that this proposal needed greater support and moved to table the proposal. MOTION TO TABLE DEFEATED by a show of hands, with 10 in favor and 14 against.

Professor Moy moved the previous question. MOTION APPROVED by a show of hands, with 18 in favor, 3 opposed, and 2 abstentions.

The meeting adjourned at 5:00.