Executive Committee of the University Senate

Present: Dean Baker, Jan Hoffman-Clark, Tanya Goette, Provost Jordan, Karynne Kleine, President Leland, Ken McGill, Guests: Judy Malachowski, Amy Pinney, Matthew Rogers, Barbara Roquemore, Craig Turner, Catherine Whelan, Regrets: Christine Zuger Agreements: 1. Approval of Agenda: All present approved the agenda. 2. Approval of September 24, 2010 ECUS minutes: ECUS members approved the September 24th minutes. 3. Presidents Report: President Leland provided an update from the last Board of Regents meeting. The Chancellor has announced his intentions to retire in June. The Board of Regents will require all institutions to establish legality of all incoming freshmen beginning fall 2011. 4. Committee Reports: • Curriculum and Assessment Policy Committee (CAPC): Barbara Roquemore distributed a printed CAPC report for members and guests to review. The Modern Foreign Languages Proposal has been postponed and the committee has asked Dr. Fontenot and Dr. Fraunhofer to provide additional information before the committee acts on the motion. • Faculty Affairs Policy Committee (FAPC): Craig Turner distributed a handout summarizing the FAPC report (see attached). Amy Pinney stated that, due to the amount of income tax withheld, summer pay and extra compensation pay is a faculty concern. President Leland stated that administration was unaware of the summer pay issue. • Resources, Planning, and Institutional Policy Committee (RPIPC): Catherine Whelan reported for RPIPC. RPIPC will be looking into issues regarding the new common meeting time and the M-W-F classroom time. The committee surveyed the impact the new common meeting time will have on departments, student meetings, etc…Catherine is compiling the survey results for RPIPC review. RPIPC is also discussing and researching the impact the motor vehicle policy will have on the University. RPIPC will also be examining the issues surrounding student opinion surveys and drug testing for faculty and staff. • Student Affairs Policy Committee (SAPC): no report • Academic Policy Committee (APC): Amy Pinney reported APC is surveying faculty and students concerning the plus/minus grading system. Amy reported there has been a considerable amount of discussion between students online concerning plus/minus grading. The president of SGA has appointed a representative to come to the next APC meeting. Cyber bullying is another issue the committee is currently discussing. President Leland stated a message has been issued to the student body addressing harassment of other students. The safe space program is being brought to the forefront. President Leland will send the safe space information to APC. At this point in the meeting the chairs and guests of the standing committees were invited to stay for the endurance of the meeting or were excused. Craig Turner and Judith Malachowski elected to stay. 5. Bylaws Drafting Committee: The bylaws drafting committee members were announced for ECUS consideration. The nominated members are: • Karynne Kleine (CoE) • Craig Turner (CoAS) • Ken Farr (CoB) • Lisa Griffin (CoHS) • Alissa Torchia (SGA) • Lori Strawder (Staff Council) A motion was made to accept the members of the bylaws drafting committee, seconded, and approved. 6. USGFC Official Recognition & Institutional Representation: Ken McGill distributed a handout describing the USGFC. GCSU will need to report the election procedure to the USGFC. ECUS members discussed recommending that the Presiding Officer Elect as the most likely person to be the GCSU representative. ECUS will make the recommendation to the University Senate for endorsement. 7. USGFC Meeting: Jan Hoffman-Clark reported the next meeting of the USGFC will be November 19th at Fort Valley State University. Jan shared the upcoming agenda for the USGFC: a. Two year merger, b. USG Faculty Council Bylaws, c. Faculty Compensation, and d. Sectors in the University System of Georgia. Representatives for the USGFC were asked to solicit for items to be included on the agenda. All present agreed that the entire University Senate should be solicited for items to be placed on the USGFC agenda, however; the deadline (October 22) for adding items occurs before the GCSU University Senate meeting. Items to be included in the USFGC agenda are items that would affect the entire USG (i.e. Domestic Partner proposal, faculty compensation-to include reviewing the possibility of paying faculty over a 12 month period, and a USGFC representative on the Chancellor search). Jan asked for approval to add these two items to the USGFC agenda and all present approved for Jan to add these two items. 8. Sectors in the University System of Georgia: Craig Turner explained this agenda item. University Presidents of the University System of Georgia (USG) are partitioned into three reporting "sectors" and report to one of Chancellor Davis (Research Sector), Executive Vice Chancellor Herbst (Four Year Sector) or Chief Operating Officer Watts (Two Year Sector) Some faculty from institutions whose University President is not in the Research Sector communicated a perception that their University is treated as a "second-class citizen" by this reporting practice in the USG. These faculty requested that this matter be discussed at the 19 Nov 2010 USG Faculty Council meeting to determine whether this perception is widespread among USG faculty and to confirm the information on which this perception is based. 9. Endorsement: Karynne Kleine asked for ECUS to draft an endorsement recognizing Dr. Craig Turner and Dr. Elizabeth Combier from North Georgia College for their contribution on working to get the University System of Georgia this council. 10. Student Opinion Surveys: Provost Jordan reported there are no more discrepancies in the student opinion surveys (see attachment). The issue of using digital measures was discussed. The Provost informed all present that GCSU has bought six years of digital measure and there was a lot of due diligence involved. 11. Resale of textbooks: Provost Jordan informed all present there was an issue concerning the resale of textbooks and the Provost will be forwarding the issue to ECUS. 12. Draft October 25 Senate Agenda: • Web Site Report • Endorsement of USGFC representative 13. Smoking Areas: Dean Baker reported she has received a concern that there is no way to avoid a smoking area when returning to the Health Sciences Building from front campus. Actions: 1. Approved 2. Approved 3. No action needed 4. President Leland to forward Safe Space Information to APC 5. Approved 6. Ken McGill to make the recommendation to accept the Presiding Officer Elect as the USGFC representative. 7. Jan Hoffman-Clark to add Domestic Partner and Faculty Compensation to the agenda. 8. No action needed. 9. Karynne Kleine to draft recognition endorsement. 10. No action needed 11. Provost Jordan to forward issue to ECUS. 12. Ken McGill to post University Senate agenda. 13. Ken McGill to contact Pete Shields for procedural issue of smoking areas. November University Senate Calendar • US Committees November 5th • ECUS November 5th • ECUS and SCC November 12th • EUCS November 19th • Senate November 29th