Abstract of Nov. 23 Faculty Senate meeting

November 24, 2009

Daniel Larner, Faculty Senate president, called the 2009-2010 senate to order at 4:04 p.m. Senators accepted senate minutes of Nov. 9, 2009, along with the standing committee minutes. Senators expressed support for recommendations in the University Planning and Resource Council minutes that a capital campaign include models such as the Sustainability Initiative.

President Larner presented a first draft charge to a potential graduate advisory committee, which will be debated in the senate next quarter.

WWU Provost Catherine Riordan reported:

  • The smaller number of faculty members who will be hired for next year does not constitute a “freeze” but rather a prioritizing of positions until we know more about budget cuts.
  • Some funds are available to meet broad diversity needs, and Riordan and the senate will seek faculty members to sit on a diversity committee.

Marsha Riddle Buly, senate legislative liaison, urged faculty members to attend a town hall meeting tonight with Sen. Kevin Ranker and to use the opportunity to tell legislators that social services are sustained by supporting higher education. Faculty members are urged to sign up for Sen. Ranker’s newsletter.

Riddle Buly confirmed that Bill Lyne was instrumental in getting the tuition study tabled at the Higher Education Coordinating Board. The tuition study’s price tag discourages low-income students from participating even if aid packages and scholarships are available; the provost will study ways to develop direct tuition support.

Ramon Rinonos-Diaz reported the following:

  • Students are seeking additional ways to offset energy use on campus using the green energy fees.
  • Students are urged to register by Dec. 11 for Student Lobby Day in Olympia on Jan. 17. For more information, e-mail asvp.gov@wwu.edu.

Steven Garfinkle, president of the United Faculty of Western Washington faculty union, reported that on Dec. 3 four university presidents, four union presidents and four student body presidents will present a united front in Olympia and will buy breakfast for legislators at 7 a.m.; the first-time effort is expected to impact legislators’ views on higher education needs.

Senators heard a presentation on the Allied Health Initiative by Ronald Kleinknecht, Kathy Knutzen and Barbara Mathers-Schmidt. The initiative illustrates a potential consortium partnering with community colleges, technical colleges and four-year colleges as well as the broader community to address shortages in high-demand areas such as nursing, physical therapy, speech pathology and audiology. Such a partnership hopes to attract state and federal funding.

Constituent concerns:

  • Faculty members seek to end a practice whereby students enroll in 400-level classes with a plan to drop so that a friend can get into the class later; some departments address this by freezing the place that is dropped.
  • A search for the special assistant to the vice provost for research ought to seek faculty opinion since it is closely related to faculty scholarship efforts.
  • If the password system was modified to a two-tier system like that used by banks it would not require an annoying password change every 90 days. Web4U deserves priority in this because it contains highly sensitive information.

Senators adjourned at 5:46 pm.

Appointments and elections - Chuck Lambert, appointments officer:

  • To Faculty Senate: Chris Sandvig (Decision Sciences) for Mark Springer, winter quarter
  • To Cold Beverage Committee (on contracts): Kathleen Young (Anthropology), Babafemi Akinrinade (Fairhaven), Paul Bingham (Communication)