Abstract of Oct. 10, 2011, Faculty Senate meeting

Western Today staff

October 11, 2011

Karen Stout, Faculty Senate President, called the meeting of the 2011-2012 Faculty Senate to order at 4:04 p.m.

Senators accepted the minutes of Sept. 26, 2011, as written along with the standing committee minutes.

President Stout reported that a first vote on the minor edits to the Bylaws of the Constitution would take place at the meeting; that the Students’ Rights and Responsibilities Code was forwarded to the ACC; and that a draft of the consensual relations policy would soon be available for senators’ review. Stout encouraged senators to serve on the Senate Library and Academic Technology committees and continued to request faculty to serve as Faculty Legislative Representative.

Stout introduced Cyndie Shepard and Karen Hoelscher, who thanked the more than 150 faculty who are participating in Compass to Campus along with the 800-plus fifth graders who will visit campus later this month.  Holscher has received funding to develop the student leaders in the program, many of whom are headed for education careers. Shepard added that school superintendents report that young students involved in the program are talking, reading, and writing for the first time about the possibility of going to college.

Provost Riordan described a nursing completion degree that would provide the liberal arts component for nurses who have completed their RN degree and enable them to achieve the BSN. The program would be self-sustaining and not involve the sciences, so campus science labs would not be impacted. Riordan emphasized that we are still examining if Western can sustain a quality program that fits our mission statement.

Mike Mana sat in for Steven Garfinkle, president of United Faculty of Western Washington, and reminded senators of the forum on the state of the faculty union at 4 p.m. Wednesday in Fraser Hall Room 4. All faculty, union members or not, are invited to discuss the negotiation of the second collective bargaining agreement.

Fabiola Arvizu, Associated Students vice president for academics, invited faculty to post student openings on university committees on Blackboard and to employ creative ways to educate students on the importance of this service and how students can benefit.

David Brunnemer, registrar, explained the current complex processes involved in hand-counting paper student course evaluations and then presented online alternatives. Senators asked for full involvement in a process that is used in faculty review and suggested that “bells and whistles” offered by off-campus providers are not as important as the individual qualitative data that faculty gather to improve their own teaching and student learning. Senators expressed concern about response rates, storage, security and access and prefer that implementation be preceded by a pilot program that will be fully vetted and analyzed by faculty. Senators encouraged a slower pace for implementation that provides options for non-tenured faculty and will ensure that a contract for such a product will optimally serve Western faculty and students in the future.

MOTION from Executive Council (passed unanimously by the Senate):  The Faculty Senate approves minor edits to the Bylaws of the Constitution of the Faculty Handbook. (See text below). The minor edits will be sent to the entire faculty and then voted on a second time at the next meeting.

Senators moved to a Faculty Caucus at 5:33 p.m. prior to adjournment at 6:12 p.m.

Appointments and Elections: Jackie Caplan-Auerbach, 2011-12 Officer

To:

  • UPRC: Daniel Larner, Fairhaven, through 2013
  • ACC:  Niall O Murchu, Fairhaven, through 2012

Vacancies:

  • One senator to serve on the Senate Library Committee
  • One senator to serve on the Academic Technology Committee

First Vote of Approval

Minor revisions to the Bylaws of the Constitution of the Faculty Handbook: (new text underlined, old text struck through). Only revised sections are included below. Entire text with markup is posted on the Senate website.

(Appendix One)

Bylaws

BL7.1  Appointments and Elections Officer

The Appointments and Elections Officer sits on the Faculty Senate Executive Council. S/he serves a one–year renewable term and reports to the Executive Council.  The Appointments and Elections Officer recruits Faculty to serve on all bodies which report to the Faculty Senate and oversees all referendums and elections, maintains the voting list with the Senate office, counts the ballots, and reports the results of elections to the Faculty Senate.  The Appointments and Elections Officer may make interim appointments (less than 1 year) to Faculty Senate committees subject to review and approval of the Senate.

BL7.1.3   The President pro tem then proceeds to the election of officers of the Faculty Senate in the order of President-elect, Secretary, Appointments and Elections Officer, and one at-large Senator as member of the Executive Council, announcing the result after each ballot and continuing to ballot for each office before proceeding to the next until one person has a majority and is elected. 

BL7.1.4    The Appointments and Elections Officer shall review, annually and in a timely manner prior to elections, the distribution of Senate seats within and among the Colleges, in order to determine whether representation is on an approximately proportional basis.  The faculty shall be informed of the proportional distribution.  When it is determined to be necessary, the Appointments and Elections Officer shall recommend to the Faculty Senate changes in the distribution of representation on the Faculty Senate.  However, each College shall have a minimum of one Senate Seat.

*   Area Representation: The thirty (30) Faculty Senate positions for the 2009-2010 2010-2011 Spring election were assigned as follows:  6 representatives from Natural and Physical Sciences (Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Engineering Technology, Geology, Mathematics, Physics/Astronomy);4 representatives from Social Sciences (Anthropology, PEHR, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, Communication Sciences and Disorders); 7representatives from Humanities (Communication, English, Modern and Classical Languages, History, Journalism, Liberal Studies, Philosophy);  3 representatives from the College of Fine and Performing Arts (Art, Art History, Music, Theatre Arts including Dance); 3 representatives from the College of Business and Economics  (Accounting, Economics, Finance/ Marketing,  and Decision Sciences, Management); 1 representative from Fairhaven College; 1 representative from Huxley College (Department of Environmental Studies; : Policy, Planning, Education and Geography, Department of Environmental Sciences); 3representatives from Woodring College of Education); and 1 representative from the Wilson Librariesy.  At its February meeting Tthe Senate voted to make the 30th seat the At-Large position for the Senate President.2009-2010.

BL 7.3.4     Committees andReportage

The ACC shall maintain the following standing committees: Admissions Committee, the Committee on Undergraduate Education,the Council on University Programs, the Assessment of Teaching and Learning, General Education Requirements Committee, Graduate Council, Honors Board, and International Programs Advisory Committee.  The memberships of these committees are approved by ACC, and membership requirements are published along with the charge in the ACC Handbook and on the Faculty Senate website.

Curricular Committees of the Colleges, including the Teacher Curriculum and Certification Council and the Western Libraries Library Curricular Committee inform ACC of their memberships.

BL7.4.1  Membership of the UPRC shall be as follows:

Each university vice president or representative, ex officio, voting, including the Vice Presidents of 1) Academic Affairs, 2) Business and Financial Affairs, 3) Enrollment and Student Services; Affairs and Academic Support Services, 4) University Advancement, and 5) University Relations.

BL7.6        The Academic Technology Committee  [August 2008]

BL7.6.1     Membership. 

The membership of the Academic Technology Committee shall be as follows:

The Director of the Center for Instructional Innovationand Assessment (ex officio, non-voting);

 

BL8           Publication of Senate Agenda and Minutes

BL8.1         The agenda for any meeting of the Faculty Senate shall be posted on the Faculty Senate website and delivered by emailat least four days prior to the meeting. ; flyer; or by publication in FASTat least four days prior to the meeting.

BL8.2         An abstract of the minutes of any meeting of the Faculty Senate shall posted on the Faculty Senate website and delivered to the faculty An abstract of the meeting of the Faculty Senate shall be posted on the Faculty Senate and delivered to the faculty and administration through an email; flyer; and by publication in Western News Today or by publication in FAST as soon as possible after the meeting.

BL8.3         The Faculty Senate shall maintain in its filesand archives, official minutes of all meetings. 

BL9          Released Time for the President of the Faculty Senate

BL9.1        The President of the Faculty Senate shall receive .5 FTEF released time from other duties to carry out the responsibilities of his/her office as specified in the Faculty Contract.  The release time shall be returned to the Faculty Senate President's academic unit.  The University shall provideadministrative assistance to the Senate President and the Executive Council. secretarialservices from the non-instructional budget.

BL10       Meetings

BL10.1       Regular meetings of the Faculty Senate will be scheduled on alternate Mondays beginning on Monday of the first full week of each quarter.  , provided, however, that Sscheduled meetings other than the first meeting of each month may be canceled only if, in the judgment of the Executive Council, there is insufficient business to require a meeting of the Faculty Senate.

BL11        Agenda

BL11.2       Items from the Associated Students of Western Washington University will be placed on the agenda of the Faculty Senate and other items such as from the Faculty Legislative Representative or President of United Faculty of Western Washington from other bodies of the University may also be placed on the Senate agenda of the Faculty Senate at the discretion of the Executive Council, providing, however, that notice of rejection of any such request shall be given by the Executive Council to the Senate at the beginning of the next regular meeting.

BL12.4.3    Area Representative candidates are listed on the online ballot separately by Area Representative seat, are voted on separately by Area Representative seat, and considered separately in counting ballots.

BL12.7       Preparation of Ballots and Voting

BL12.7.1    The online ballot must specify explicitly the number of Faculty Senate vacancies to be filled in both Area Representative and At-large representative positions.  Ballots on which the voter has voted for more candidates than there are vacancies to be filled will be declared invalid and not counted either in the total vote for any candidate or in the total number of ballots case.  A warning as to the invalidation of ballots must be included prominently on each ballot in each election.

BL12.8       Publicity

BL12.8.1    The list of candidates is sent to all voting faculty, posted on the Faculty Senate website and delivered to the faculty through an emailand by ; flyer; or by publicationin Western News Today.  Faculty are also informed of faculty eligibility and proportional representation for that year.in FAST.

BL14             Faculty Referendum

BL14.1 A faculty referendum is a matter submitted to all the voting members of the Faculty.  In order for a referendum to passthe matter must receive a majority of all the votes cast in the election.A majority of those voting is necessary to pass a referendum.  Referendums are held as a result of a vote of the Faculty Senate or the vote of a General Faculty Assembly.  The results of all referendums are reported by the Appointments and Elections Officer to the Faculty Senate, entered in the minutes at that point, and as soon as possible sent to the President of the University and the Board of Trustees.  When a referendum results in a favorable vote on an issue of substance, the Faculty Senate is required to accept the Faculty position as binding and to take such action as is necessary and proper to carry out the decision of the Faculty.

BL16             Faculty Senate Members On Leave

BL16.1 Faculty Senate voting members on leave and unable to attend Faculty Senate meetings for one academic term or less will, in a letter to the President of the Senate, declare their seats vacant for that academic term, if possible seek another faculty memberfrom their areato fill the vacancy, and request the  and the Faculty Senate will to appoint a Faculty member to fill the seat that vacancy during his/her absence.