The University of Oklahoma
(Norman campus)
Regular session - May 5, 2003 - 3:30 p.m. - Jacobson Faculty Hall 102
office: Jacobson Faculty Hall 206
phone: 325-6789
e-mail: facsen@ou.edu web site:
http://www.ou.edu/admin/facsen/
The
Faculty Senate was called to order by Professor Ed Cline, Chair.
PRESENT: Abraham (1), Baldwin (2), Beach (1),
Bozorgi (2), Bradford (0), Brady (0), Cline (0), Cuccia (2), Davis (3),
Devenport (3), Ferreira (2), Fincke (2), Frech (2), Gensler (1), Hartel (3),
Havlicek (0), Henderson (3), Huseman (0), Kauffman (1), Knapp (1),
Magid (1), McInerney (0), Milton (0), Morrissey (3), Newman (2), Ransom
(0), Robertson (3), Rupp-Serrano (0), Scherman (2), Sievers (3),
Striz (0), Tarhule (2), Vale (3), Watts (1), Wheeler (2), Wieder (0),
Wyckoff (1)
Provost's office
representative: Mergler
ISA representatives: Lauterbach
UOSA representatives: McFayden
ABSENT: Carnevale (2), Gottesman (1), Hanson
(2), Hart (3), Lee (1), London (1), Madland (4), Maiden (2), Pender (2),
Rai (1), Rodriguez (2), Russell (2), Taylor (1), Thulasiraman (3), Whitely
(3), Willinger (1)
[Note: During the period
from June 2002 to May 2003, the Senate held 9 regular sessions and no special
sessions. The figures in parentheses above
indicate the number of absences.]
________________________________________________________________________________
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Announcements:
Schedule of Senate meetings
for fall 2003
Summary of Speakers Service
program
Faculty retirees
Senate Chair's Report: Faculty salary with PeopleSoft system
Presentation of certificates of appreciation
Election, councils/committees/boards
Election, Senate standing committees
Election, Senate Secretary and Chair-elect
Proposed revisions in Academic Misconduct
Code
Proposed interim e-mail use policy
Resolution of Appreciation to Prof. Ed Cline
________________________________________________________________________________
The
Faculty Senate Journal for the regular session of April 14, 2003 was approved.
The
regular meetings of the Faculty Senate for Fall 2003 will be held at
3:30 p.m. in Jacobson Faculty Hall 102 on the following Mondays: September 8, October 13, November 10, and
December 8.
Summary
of the activities of the Faculty Senate Speakers Service for the past year:
From May 2002 to April 2003, the Faculty Senate office arranged for 53 faculty
and staff to give 107 talks to 52 organizations in 25 communities throughout
the state. The Faculty Senate and the
university sincerely appreciate the members of the Speakers Service who share
their expertise and knowledge with the people of Oklahoma.
The
following faculty retired during the past academic year. The Faculty Senate thanks these faculty
members for their dedication and contribution to our community.
|
NAME |
DEPARTMENT |
RETIREMENT
DATE |
CAME
TO OU |
|
Breipohl,
Art |
Electrical
& Comp. Engr. |
1-1-03 |
1984 |
|
Daniel,
Sean |
Music |
5-15-03 |
1982 |
|
Davis,
Mary |
Modern
Lang., Lit., & Ling. |
5-15-03 |
1975 |
|
Haynes,
Kathleen |
Library
& Information St. |
5-15-03 |
1985 |
|
Joyce,
Beverly |
Univ.
Libraries |
6-30-02 |
1972 |
|
Kelley,
Walter |
Mathematics |
5-15-03 |
1972 |
|
Lewis,
Jerry |
Drama |
7-1-03 |
1977 |
|
Marquez,
Ismael |
Modern Lang. Lit., & Ling. |
5-15-03 |
1992 |
|
Michaelsen,
Larry |
Management |
5-16-03 |
1974 |
|
Richardson,
Robert |
Law |
5-15-03 |
1964 |
|
Rogers,
Michael |
Music |
6-1-03 |
1985 |
Prof.
Cline reported that 9-month faculty who are paid on a 12-month basis would
receive 12 equal payments under the new PeopleSoft system. Previously, those faculty members were given
two payments in June. Prof. Scherman
said his understanding was that the two payments in June were to finish the budget
year. Following a brief discussion,
Prof. Scherman suggested that the people on the 9 paid in 12 plan should be
asked how they would prefer to be paid and be offered the opportunity to change
payment plans. Prof. Newman asked about
the impact of the change on the end of the fiscal year. Provost Mergler said she had suggested that
Human Resources ask the Faculty Senate for its opinion on the change. She said she thought PeopleSoft did not
allow for two paychecks in June. Prof.
Cline said he would ask Human Resources Director Julius Hilburn to contact the
people affected and try to work something out for anyone who had a
problem. Prof. Kauffman said he thought
that was a reasonable solution, but that it was late in the ballgame to change
the way people expected to receive their pay.
Answering additional questions, Prof. Cline said the information he
received was that the June and July paychecks would be issued the last day of
each month.
Prof.
Cline expressed his personal thanks to everyone who served on the Senate this
year and to the Executive Committee, who worked very hard this year. Certificates of Appreciation were presented
to the following outgoing senators who completed full three-year terms
(2000-03): Carmela Gottesman, George
Henderson, Michael Lee, Andy Magid, Jeff Maiden, Dan Ransom, Lindsay Robertson,
Laurette Taylor, Denise Vale, and Lee Willinger. Certificates also were presented to other senators whose terms
expired and to the outgoing members of the Senate Executive Committee.
The
Senate approved the Senate Committee on Committees' nominations for
end-of-the-year vacancies on university and campus councils, committees, and
boards (attached). The names of the remaining volunteers will
be forwarded to the president to consider for the appointments he makes.
The Senate elected the following faculty to fill vacancies on Senate
standing committees:
COMMITTEE ON COMMITTEES
Continuing members: Connie Dillon (Educ. Lead. & Pol. St),
Ellen Greene (Classics), Valerie Watts (Music).
To replace Robert Cox (Political Science) and S.
Lakshmivarahan (Computer Science), 2003-06 term:
Keith
Gaddie (Associate Professor of Political Science, B.S. Florida State, M.A.,
Ph.D. Georgia, at OU since 1996)
S.
Lakshmivarahan (George Lynn Cross Research Professor of Computer Science, B.Sc.
M.D.T. Hindu College, B.E., M.E., Ph.D. Indian Institute of Science, at OU
since 1979)
FACULTY COMPENSATION COMMITTEE
Continuing members: Eric Anderson (Art), Roy Knapp
(Petroleum & Geological Engineering), Darryl McCullough (Mathematics).
To replace Aimee Franklin (Political Science) and
Fred Striz (Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering), 2003-06 term:
M.
Chris Knapp (Professor of Accounting, B.B.A., Ph.D. Oklahoma, at OU since 1988)
Fred
Striz (Professor of Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering, B.S., M.S., Ph.D.
Purdue, at OU since 1981)
FACULTY WELFARE COMMITTEE
Continuing members: Donald
Pisani (History), Myron Pope (Educ. Lead. & Pol. St.).
To replace Georgia Kosmopoulou (Economics) and Lee
Willinger (Accounting), 2003-06 term:
Bob
Dauffenbach (Professor of Management Information Systems, B.A. Wichita State,
M.A., Ph.D. Illinois, at OU since 1990)
Pat Weaver-Meyers (Professor of University
Libraries, B.S., M.L.S., Ph.D. Oklahoma, at OU since 1981)
To replace David Carnevale (Human Relations),
2001-04 term:
G.
Lee Willinger (Stambaugh Professor of Accounting, B.B.A. Ohio, M.B.A. Oregon, D.B.A.
Florida, at OU since 1990)
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE,
2003-04 term, 3 vacancies
To replace Sally Beach
(Instructional Leadership & Academic Curriculum), Steve Gensler (Law),
Karen Rupp-Serrano (University Libraries).
Jim Davis (Professor of
Journalism & Mass Communication, B.A. Maryland, M.A. Johns Hopkins, Ph.D.
Southern Mississippi, at OU since 1991)
Roy Knapp (Mewbourne
Professor of Petroleum & Geological Engineering, B.S., M.S., D.E. Kansas,
at OU since 1979)
Avi Scherman (Professor of
Educational Psychology, B.A. Hebrew, M.A., Ph.D. Michigan State, at OU since
1974)
Prof. Karen Rupp-Serrano
(Associate Professor of University Libraries) was elected Secretary, and Prof.
Valerie Watts (Associate Professor of Music) was elected Chair-Elect of the
Senate for 2003-04.
The revisions in the Academic Misconduct Code
proposed by Assistant Provost Greg Heiser were discussed last month (see 4/03
Senate Journal and http://www.ou.edu/admin/facsen/03amc.htm). As requested at the April meeting, comments
were solicited by e-mail from the general faculty. Those comments were distributed to the Senators prior to this
meeting. Prof. Cline noted that the
comments were somewhat divided into those who did not want to change the system
and those who did. The Senate Executive
Committee suggested that section 2.3.1(A) be changed from:
"An
instructor may not elect to use the admonition option for an incident of
misconduct on a master's thesis, doctoral dissertation, graduate comprehensive
examination, comprehensive final examination, or term paper, but instead must
follow the disciplinary procedure set forth in sec. 2.4;"
to
"The
admonition option is intended for assignments and examinations that do not
involve a semester-long activity and where the impact on the grade is not
substantial and the incident in question is not of an egregious nature. The instructor may not use the admonition
option for an incident of misconduct on a final examination, a term paper or
project, an examination that determines the status of graduate students (e. g.,
qualifying, candidacy, general, comprehensive and certification examinations
and defenses of theses and dissertations), a master's thesis, or a doctoral
dissertation;"
Prof.
Knapp asked what the Executive Committee hoped to accomplish with the
change. Prof. Cline listed a few of the
reasons for the admonition option. Some
academic misconduct might simply be ignorance on the part of the student. An admonition would give a student one
chance without going through the full process.
The admonition, which is unofficial practice currently, would expedite
cases that are relatively minor. Prof.
Knapp said he was concerned about the phrase, “and where the impact of the
grade is not substantial.” He explained
that an exam in his course worth 20-25% was substantial, so he would be
foreclosed from using an admonition.
Provost Mergler said she believed the Student Association's position was
that an admonition would work except in cases where it would yield an F in the
course. She thought the students were
uncomfortable about yielding that much authority to the faculty without the oversight
of a full hearing. The proposed process
is used in the majority of the Big 10/Big 12 schools. Prof. Cline pointed out that faculty members were not obligated
to give an admonition. Prof. McInerney,
who wrote the proposed change in section 2.3.1(A), said he had tried to come up
with language that captured all the comments, and he was open to different
wording. Prof. Knapp said he did not
want to see faculty put in a corner. He
moved to delete the phrase, “and where the impact of the grade is not substantial.” The Faculty Senate approved the amendment on
a voice vote. The section would then
read:
"The
admonition option is intended for assignments and examinations that do not
involve a semester-long activity and the incident in question is not of an
egregious nature. The instructor
…"
Prof.
Devenport asked how repeat offenders would be identified. Prof. Cline replied that the admonition
would still be reported, and a second offense would automatically go to the
formal procedure. Provost Mergler said
the admonition would be reported either to the provost office or judicial
coordinator office. A web form would
probably be set up to make it easier.
Prof. Fincke asked whether faculty could check on previous offenses
before giving an admonition. Provost
Mergler said faculty could check a student's status with the provost office.
Prof.
Wieder cautioned that the new procedure would require some training of the
faculty, more than simply an announcement.
Provost Mergler said she would hold chair/director and committee A
workshops on the process. She reminded
the group that faculty did not have to use the admonition. Prof. Fincke noted that students were
excluded from honor societies if they had academic misconduct records. She asked whether that would also apply to
admonitions. Provost Mergler said an
admonition was not academic misconduct.
Prof. Cline reiterated that it would be up to individual faculty to
decide what was an admonitory transgression.
The Faculty Senate approved the proposal as amended (attached) on a voice
vote.
An
interim policy on e-mail use (see attachment below) was proposed by the
Information Technology Council, in collaboration with the Information
Technology office and Legal Counsel.
The proposed policy was sent by e-mail to the senators on April 29.
Prof.
Scherman said the policy protected the university but did not address the
problem of unwanted e-mail that faculty receive. He noted that commercial providers were able to provide tools to
prevent spam. Provost Mergler said the
problem had been debated at great length.
Because of the nature of controls, quite a few people would be unhappy
with the level of filtering if done by the university. In the interest of openness, the
administration chose not to control e-mail at the university level. However, individuals could install software
that would filter e-mail according to particular circumstances. For faculty who receive international e-mail
related to research business, the university might filter too much. Prof. Scherman said the people in the
computer center told him they could not help him. Provost Mergler suggested that he contact her office. Prof. Cline pointed out that filters
sometimes select e-mail that is not spam.
Referring
to the "Enforcement" section, Prof. Kauffman asked who would
determine that an e-mail account was being used in a way that did not comply
with university policy. He said he
thought some due process should be in place before a decision was made to
disable an account. Prof. Cline said
the appropriate Vice President would determine the resolution. Prof. Kauffman responded that that would
happen after the account was disabled.
Prof. Cline said he thought the rationale was that the administration
had to move quickly if a computer had been taken over. Also, some situations happen over the
weekend. Prof. Kauffman said when
something like that happened to him, they contacted him first. Individuals who collect significant amounts
of data through e-mail could lose important information. Prof. Striz said he thought the idea was to
protect computer systems before something went wrong. An account might not have to be disabled unless there was danger
to the system. If there was no danger,
the individual should be contacted first and given a chance to respond. Prof. Scherman moved to add in the
"Enforcement" section, “Before an e-mail account is shut down, every
attempt will be made to contact the person responsible for the account.” Following friendly suggestions from the
floor, the sentence was changed to, “Before an e-mail account is disabled,
reasonable attempts will be made to contact the person responsible for the
account.” The Faculty Senate approved
the amendment on a voice vote.
Prof.
Abraham said he assumed that an e-mail sent to 2000 general chemistry students
under his supervision would not be considered mass e-mail. Provost Mergler said he was correct. Prof. Milton said he was organizing a
conference and was told that he could send e-mail as long as it was to a
reasonable list of people. Prof.
Deborah Trytten, Chair of the Information Technology Council, said mass mailing
is to groups of people defined on the Information Technology mass e-mail list
site, which is maintained by the university.
E-mail about a conference or to chemistry students would not constitute
mass e-mail. The Faculty Senate approved
the interim policy as amended (attached) on a voice
vote. The sentence added by the Senate
under "Enforcement" is underlined.
The Faculty Senate approved the following resolution
of appreciation to Prof. Ed Cline, outgoing Senate Chair:
Whereas
Ed developed a close and effective working relationship with the university
administration during the 2002-03 academic year,
Whereas
Ed’s efforts resulted in the initiation of a faculty development fund to assist
faculty with their research and creative activities,
Whereas
Ed has guided the university through the implementation of a number of
important policies including compliance, acceptable computer and Internet use,
and nepotism,
Whereas
Ed has taken the lead to reconcile the faculty and regents handbooks,
Whereas
Ed has strengthened faculty governance on campus and has been responsive to the
concerns and problems of faculty across campus,
Whereas
Ed has established working relationships with our sister institutions at the Health
Science Center and the Tulsa Campus,
Whereas
Ed set the boundary conditions for our budgetary crisis and used polar
coordinates to prevent faculty furloughs,
Whereas
Ed’s conic approach guided the university through the implementation of a new
health plan without the formation of multiple hyperbola,
Whereas
the movement of Ed’s agenda from Euclidean space to N-dimensional space only
tangentially left him at a loss for words,
Be it resolved that the Faculty Senate expresses its
sincere appreciation to Ed Cline for providing outstanding leadership and
service to the university faculty for the academic year 2002-2003.
Prof. McInerney presented a
certificate of appreciation and an engraved clock to Prof. Cline. He then assumed the office 2003-04 Senate Chair. Prof. McInerney thanked Prof. Cline for his
year of service as Chair. He said the
university had gone through tough times, and the outlook was probably not
exceptionally bright, but we still had progress being made. Faculty research, productivity, and teaching
are still progressing and increasing.
Our student body is getting better, and the facilities are getting
better. We need to be committed to keep
that motion going strong. He will work
closely with the administration to get the best faculty compensation package,
including health and other benefits, that we can in the next year. He will try to increase the faculty
development fund that was started by Prof. Cline so it will benefit more
faculty. The funds should be available
in the fall semester. He asked the
faculty to send comments or suggestions to him. He will try to do the best job that he can in the upcoming year.
The
meeting adjourned at 4:30 p.m. The next
regular session of the Faculty Senate will be held at 3:30 p.m. on Monday,
September 8, 2003, in Jacobson Faculty Hall 102.
____________________________________
Sonya Fallgatter, Administrative Coordinator
____________________________________
Valerie Watts, Secretary