APPALACHIAN STATE UNIVERSITY
FACULTY SENATE MINUTES
September 15, 2003 (Approved as Amended)
At 3:21 p.m. on September 15, 2003, Chair Gates convened the Faculty Senate meeting
in the University Conference Room (224 I. G. Greer Hall).

I. ANNOUNCEMENTS
A. Gates welcomed visitors and asked that they introduce themselves.
(See voting sheet for visitors’ names.)
B. Gates announced that none of the retired senators were able to be present for the Appreciation Awards because of class conflicts. The Chair noted that he would find another way to distribute the awards to last year’s retired senators.
C. Gates reminded senators of the upcoming co-sponsored AAUP/Faculty Senate Social, Friday, Sept. 19th, 2003. The Chair noted that the event was particularly targeted at new faculty and asked senators to attend.
D. Gates announced the revival of the The Faculty Voice newsletter. He noted that it would be re-implemented for publication in hardcopy in order to re-establish communication with other faculty members.

Gates also reported on the Chancellor Search Committee process. Gates said he was aware of the perception of faculty that the search would be a closed process, and that he and other faculty had pressed hard with the Trustees for an open search, but they still favored a closed search. Gates said the search committee was interested in meeting with campus faculty and others in focus forums to receive input about the qualifications thought necessary for the position. Gates noted that there were three forums held, which “were astonishingly, poorly attended.” Gates has suggested that the search committee members meet with the Council of Chairs and the Faculty Senate. Gates noted that the proposed meeting could provide the senators with a forum for feedback and input to the members serving on the Chancellor Search Committee. Senators raised questions and made comments about the money allocated to the search process, especially with regard to the fees of the professional search agent employed by the search committee. Interim Provost Peacock confirmed that $200,000 had been allocated into a fund that included fees that would be incurred for the Chancellor and Provost positions. Gates said “The arrangement [with the agent] was a third of salary plus 15% overhead, plus out-of-pocket.” Senator Anderson questioned how the out-of-pocket expenses could reach over $100,000. Gates agreed with Senator Anderson and noted that he thought “it would be unusual” if the whole amount were expended. Senator Bortz asked if similar search methods involving professional search agents had been used at other UNC schools recently. Gates responded that there were open as well as closed searches that had taken place. Senator Waring suggested that “it would be nice for faculty to at least have statements of philosophy or priorities from the candidates.”

II. VISITORS
Gates announced that, due to time constraints at the present meeting, Harry Williams, Associate Vice Chancellor for Diversity, would postpone his report on diversity. The Chair noted that Williams would return with the report at the next Senate meeting.

III. MINUTES – The approval of April 14, 2003 minutes were postponed until the October 13th meeting pending the attachment of the 2002-003 Annual Reports, which was requested by Senator Simon.

Before continuing with the written agenda, Senator Moore called a point of order regarding the fact that the April 14th, 2003 meeting never officially adjourned due to a lack of quorum and that a vote was necessary at the current meeting.

Senator Yaukey moved and Senator Weiss seconded the adjournment of the April 14, 2003 meeting.

VOTE 1 Adjourn the April 14, 2003 meeting.
18 YES 0 NO 1 ABSTAIN
The motion passed.

IV. APPROVAL OF SPRING SEMESTER OFFICER ELECTION PROCEDURE
Gates announced that another official vote was needed in order to approve the Spring Semester officer election procedure that was conducted in May 2003. He reminded senators that a vote was necessary because the May meeting did not make a quorum.

Senator Muir moved and Senator Lambert seconded the approval of spring semester officer election procedure.

VOTE 2 Approval of the Spring Semester Officer Election Procedure.
19 YES 0 NO 1 ABSTAIN
The motion passed.

STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS
A. Election of Senate Committee Chairs
Gates held off on “A. Election of Senate Committee Chairs” on the written agenda until the last part of the meeting (*see list below, before Vote 7).
B. Agenda Committee (GATES, Peacock, Ward, Koch)
Gates introduced the first of three proposed resolutions from the Agenda Committee. The first resolution regarded teaching load and was presented by Senator Koch, who was concerned about issues of unequal and unfair distribution of workload hours currently required of faculty members. He also noted that, in order for Appalachian State to be a very good comprehensive university, the reduction of workload hours was essential in order to provide faculty members the time and resources needed for their required scholarly and creative activities. Senator Moore pointed out a few wording changes he thought necessary. Gates called for a vote on the resolution as amended by senators Moore, Koch, Marking, and others.

FS03-04/09-01- Resolution on teaching load (as amended)-
New Language
The normal teaching load shall be 9 hours per week and may include teaching assignments either on or off-campus. Every effort will be made to avoid situations requiring more than 9 hours, and anything less than 9 hours will be considered as a re-assignment within that total load. A classroom contact time of 18 hours a week is considered a maximum load in any area where lecture hour equivalents cannot be, or are not, set forth. All credits for teaching and re-assignments in loads are to be given the person(s) actually performing the work or services involved. Faculty members are expected to carry their share of student advising and committee work in addition to the 9-hour teaching assignment.

Changes
Change the language in the Faculty Handbook, section 5.1.2 to establish a 9-hour teaching load as the standard.

Rationale
Changing the Faculty Handbook is necessary to reflect an increasing understanding among faculty and administration that Appalachian has evolved into more than a teaching institution. While teaching is still central to our mission, it is also the case that most faculty have research and other creative activity interests that must be accommodated in order for them to bring the latest information and innovations to the classroom. At present many faculty on the campus have a 9-hour load, but the distribution of that load is uneven both across the colleges and within colleges. This change reflects an understanding that all faculty need some time to pursue research and creative activities as part of their responsibilities within the university.

VOTE 3 FS03-04/09-01- Resolution on teaching load (as amended)-
20 YES 0 NO 1 ABSTAIN
The motion passed.

FS03-04/09-02-Resolution on admissions-
Resolution
The Faculty Senate calls on the Office of Admissions to minimize the requests for additional sections coming to the departments in the weeks before the start of the semester. Further, the Faculty Senate requests that all such demands go through the Office of Academic Affairs and that each new section added be accompanied by funding to hire new faculty or support the additional demands on faculty within the department.

Change
The goal is to change the practice of the Office of Admissions adding course sections.

Rationale
It is extremely disruptive to departments to have the Office of Admissions demanding that new sections of courses be added in the weeks before a semester starts. Department chairs are often then placed in the position of withdrawing reassigned time commitments made to faculty members, disrupting research and other plans made by the faculty.

In response to Senator Anderson’s query whether this actually happened, Senator Moore responded that the Office of Admissions had historically added unscheduled sections of classes, often within only a few days before a semester would begin. He noted that departments like History, English, Biology, Math, and now Political Science and Criminal Justice were particularly impacted and that the last-minute process of adding unscheduled classes had been going on for over the past 15 years at Appalachian. Senator Waring wanted to know if Department Chairs could refuse to have sections added. Senator Moore replied, “No. They have not been able to say ‘no’ under any circumstances.” Senator Koch determined, since chairs didn’t have authority not to accept, or to say “no” to unplanned additions of class sections, then “that was a problem unto itself.”

VOTE 4 FS03-04/09-02-Resolution on admissions-
20 YES 1 NO 0 ABSTAIN
The motion passed.

FS03-04/09-03- Resolution on office hours-
New Language
Each faculty member will be required to keep office hours during the regular academic year, distributed so as to provide students ready access to the instructor for routine conferences. Notices of office hours must be posted. Other conference hours should be arranged for the mutual convenience of students and the faculty member. During the term of a summer session in which a faculty member teaches, faculty members will be required to hold office hours.

Change
Change the language in Faculty Handbook section 5.4 in order to remove the wording specifying the number of office hours as 10 per week while recognizing the need to keep time for faculty and students to meet.

Rationale
Providing a specified time and place for students to meet is important to maintaining the contact between students and faculty outside the classroom. However, the current policy outlined in the Faculty Handbook has several flaws that need to be addressed.
1. The current policy was written for a pre-internet campus culture. Today students and faculty have many forms of communication and much of the communication takes place via email.
2. The time specified by the policy is onerous given all the other demands placed on faculty. Faculty are expected to be active and productive in their disciplines as well as perform service on the campus.
3. The current policy is insulting to the professionalism of the faculty. It creates a climate of disrespect for the faculty, suggesting that they are not sufficiently mature to understand the needs of their students.
Gates opened the discussion. Several senators shared their personal experiences in dealing with issues regarding faculty posting office hours, the need to reduce the number of office hours currently mandated in the Faculty Handbook, problems with office time management, workload, scheduling conflicts encountered when faculty attempt to meet with students during posted office hours, problems with students “dropping by” the office outside of posted office hours, and issues pertaining to professional treatment of faculty in the workplace (i.e., trust and respect for faculty for professional behavior).

VOTE 5 FS03-04/09-03- Resolution on office hours-
20 YES 0 NO 2 ABSTAIN

The motion passed.Senator McGarry noted that at the last Faculty Senate Retreat there had been discussion about setting up a time frame for response from The Office of Academic Affairs about Senate motions and resolutions. Senators briefly discussed the issue. Interim Provost Peacock suggested that setting a 60-day deadline for response to the Senate’s actions would be a reasonable time frame. Senator Moore suggested adding a permanent status report on motions/resolutions to all future written agendas. Senator Simon requested that for clarity and for voting purposes, all future motions from the floor needed to be read out loud very clearly so that senators present could cast an informed vote.

Senator Bortz moved and Senator McGarry seconded the motion from the floor.

Senator Moore read the motion aloud as:
The Office of Academic Affairs will make written responses to Faculty Senate motions/resolutions within 60 days of Senate action, and that Faculty Senate meeting agendas must contain lists of the ongoing status of Senate motions/resolutions.

VOTE 6 Motion from the Floor on Response to and Status of Resolutions
21 YES 0 NO 0 ABSTAIN
The motion passed.

New Business:
Senator Muir introduced the issue of ISP Internet access through the SLIP portal, which was not being adequately serviced and often failed. Senator Rardin noted problems accessing library databases from off campus. Vice-Chancellor Ward explained they could be accessed by proxy. Senator Moore said that was so, but that Explorer users often find it doesn’t work; however, Netscape users had no problems. Senator Weiss said the Library was aware of these problems and was trying to fix them. Senator Yaukey pointed out it was “increasingly important to have someone [from the Faculty Senate] make regular reports back to ITAC.” Yaukey also suggested that this might be done by members of the Welfare and Morale Committee.

Senator Hall asked about the two remaining open seats to be filled on the Faculty Senate. Gates noted that one open, at-large seat was on the verge of being filled and the other open, at-large seat remained vacant.

Gates asked senators break into groups in order to meet with their chosen committees and appoint a committee chair.

2003 – 2004 Standing Committees & Ad-hoc Committees (as of the September 15th meeting and subject to adjustment):

_Agenda Committee (GATES, Peacock, Ward, Koch)
_Budget Committee (ANDERSON, Staub, Hall, Bush)
_Committee on Committees (vacant)
_Welfare & Morale Committee (MARKING, Arnold, Olson, Cramer)
_Academic Policy Committee (LAMBERT, Truett, Keasler)
_Faculty Handbook Committee (MOORE, Rardin, Yaukey)
_Welfare of Students Committee (MUIR, McKinney, Weiss)
_Campus Planning Committee (SIMON, Waring, Jamison)
_Ad-hoc Committee on Faculty Governance (Koch, McGarry, Bortz)
_Ad-hoc Committee on Distance Education (vacant)
_Ad-hoc Committee on Appalachian’s Attractiveness (vacant)

Senator Cramer moved and Senator Marking seconded to adjourn the September 15th, 2003 meeting.

VOTE 7 Adjourn the September 15, 2003 meeting.
13 YES 0 NO 1 ABSTAIN
The motion passed.

The meeting adjourned at 5:06 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Michael Moore,
Secretary

APPALACHIAN STATE UNIVERSITY - FACULTY PRESENT AND VOTING SHEET
September 15, 2003
Voting Symbols: Y = yes N = no A = abstain

VOTE 1: Motion to adjourn the April 14,2003 meeting.
VOTE 2: Motion to approve the officer election procedure-
VOTE 3: FS03-04/09-02- Resolution on teaching load-
VOTE 4: FS03-04/09-02- Resolution on admissions-
VOTE 5: FS03-04/09-03- Resolution on office hours-
VOTE 6: Motion from the floor on status and response of resolutions
VOTE 7: Motion to adjourn the September 15, 2003 meeting.

VISITORS: Dr. Bill Ward, Senior Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs; Dr. Tim Burwell, Interim Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs; Harry Williams, Associate Vice Chancellor for Diversity; Peter Petschauer, Professor of History.

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