Abstract of Nov. 7, 2011, Faculty Senate meeting

Karen Stout, Faculty Senate president, called the meeting of the 2011-2012 Western Washington University Faculty Senate to order at 4 p.m. Nov. 7. Senators accepted the senate minutes of Oct. 24, 2011, and the standing committee minutes.

President Bruce Shepard reported that speculation surrounds the governor’s proposed budget cuts to Western by $6 million. Shepard emphasized the need to stay as engaged as last year when faculty, staff, students and the unions worked together to present an effective common message to the legislature. Shepard stated there would be no pullbacks from the commitments made to hire tenure track faculty, clear up bottlenecks and meet student demands. Debra Jusak, vice provost for Faculty Resources, sat in for Provost Catherine Riordan.

Steve Garfinkle, United Faculty of Western Washington president, reminded senators that the healthcare coalition of statewide unions has rejected the governor’s request to reopen the agreement which would raise the cost of our medical benefits.

Fabiola Arvizu, Associated Students vice president for academics, reminded faculty that ballots can be returned in Viking Union Room 714 on Tuesday between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. Western is one of the few universities to provide a voting ballot box on campus.

President Stout reported that chairs have been invited to the Nov. 21 meeting in order to give feedback on the policy on consensual relations.

Senators Jim Graham, Chris Friday, Stephanie Treneer and Vicki Hsueh will form a task force with the AS to discuss recent issues surrounding the Humans vs. Zombies game on campus.

Chris Cox, Dean of Libraries; Jeff Purdue, Collections Development; and Frank Haulgren, Interlibrary Loans and Delivery; presented information on resources and funding for the library. Nick Wonder, chair of the Senate Library Committee, also attended. Collections currently provide content valued at nearly $4 million through consortial savings on databases, subscriptions, document delivery and alliance journal packages. Purdue presented an overview of a “Demand Driven Acquisitions” pilot to be instituted as a result of budget reductions. The DDA pilot protects subscriptions by temporarily reducing the book budget and will be assessed at the end of one year.

In response, senators asked for the following information as the DDA pilot gets under way: Will a campus wide discussion take place to enable departments to inform the library of their needs in several areas, not just subscriptions? Who determines if a purchase is worthy? Will we still be obligated to purchase a journal package if only 70% of it is what we want? Is the major difference between the social sciences and sciences factored into cost per use? How can the library reinstitute a model it is discarding once it decides that funding for books is dependent on subscription reduction? Will it be first come first served for ordering books? How is print materials usage calculated since journal articles can be counted each time they are downloaded? (Students are provided with a link; librarians count the book when they reshelve it). Who is protecting smaller departments in these discussions?

Senators suggested that a proposal for an overall percentage and predictable amount that we peg every year for books should precede any discussion about subscription reduction. Purdue reported that departments will receive requests to categorize books and journals by various criteria.

Tina Louden, director of Academic Advising, and Aaron Ignac, assistant director of operations, Career Services, introduced Viking Career Link, an online job and internship posting service provided by the Career Services Center which includes 1,200 registered employers, with a total of 2,200 total job and internship postings open to students, alumni, faculty and staff . Faculty are asked to spread the word to students that filling out one simple request can result in a regular email alert as opportunities change and new and relevant postings open. Ignac will be glad to visit departments with more information on how the signup works.

Constituent concerns: Stout reported that Derek Yip Hoi had been elected chair of Academic Technology Committee and that at its recent meeting the committee had started discussion on two topics of concern: print quota, and DC++ usage (a file sharing device which students have used to download exams and answer keys).

Senators moved to a faculty caucus at 5:25 p.m. prior to adjournment at 5:49 p.m.

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

The Faculty Senate voted to elect Dan Boxberger, Anthropology as Faculty Legislative Representative through 2013; and appointed Troy Abel, Huxley College to the Academic Coordinating Commission, replacing Robin Matthews through 2013.