Faculty Affairs Policy Committee (FAPC) Minutes 01-14-2011

Attendance

Present: Alex Blazer, Ben Davis, Lee Digiovanni, Mike Rose, Susan Steele Craig Turner, Charles Ubah, Mike Whitfield

Regrets: Sandra Gangstead, Sally Humphries, Sandra Jordan, Fadhili Mshana, Bill Risch

Absent: None

Guests: Mike Digby, Tom Ormond

Activity and Agreements

1.  Call to order:  The committee chair called the meeting to order at 12:30 p.m.

2.  Agenda:  A motion to approve the tentative agenda of the 14 January 2011 as circulated was made, seconded, and approved.

3.  Minutes:  A motion to approve the 3 December 2010 minutes as circulated was made, seconded, and approved.

4.  Informational Items: A number of informational items were provided, some generating activity.

1.  
   
   
   
   1. Academic Year Faculty Availability in the Summer: Update on reviewing of letters to students with respect to the inclusion of language regarding summer faculty service work (advising, availability at orientations, summer accessibility of faculty to students, etc.) action from the 12-03-10 meeting.

The Provost responded by email to report on the progress of the Dean’s and Chair’s review of academic unit and departmental letters (respectively) to new students that may have language related to faculty summer service work (advising, summer accessibility of faculty to students, etc.). She indicated that the request was made to the Deans and Department Chairs and, as of yet, there has not been any report received by the Provost from the Deans for the results of their review of letters within their respective units.

One committee member suggested that the loop be closed on this matter by requesting that the Provost request updates from the Deans when the reviews of letters at the academic unit and department level is completed.  There was no objection to this suggestion although this suggestion was not made as a motion so received no formal endorsement by members of the committee.

A concern was made from the committee that the summer availability issue (expectations of faculty who are not under contract to work) was unresolved and that a statement from this committee was needed to protect the rights of the faculty and the legal standing of the university, i.e., labor laws. The complexity of this issue was raised in that some faculty have worked (without contract) during summer months to maintain laboratories or that untenured faculty may be under the impression (have a perception) that there is an expectation that they continue to work at the university (during the summer) while not under contract. Additionally, concern was expressed that faculty may not have Worker Compensation benefits if injured while working on the university property while not under contract. An earlier survey of this issue from a member of the FAPC committee indicated that 20 respondents (more than one-third of the total respondents) indicated that they were performing university duties during the summer without being under contract or compensated for the work.

A motion was made and seconded. A member suggested a friendly amendment that was not accepted.  Several minor modifications to the motion were accepted by the mover and the motion passed unanimously (as revised) as stated below. 

Motion 1:  (The committee charged the committee chair to forward this motion to the Provost.)

To recommend that the Provost instruct all academic administrators that no faculty member be required to perform duties while not under contract. Further, that refusal by a faculty member to perform tasks while not under contract shall not be considered during the tenure application process, annual evaluations or merit increase decisions.

A summary of the discussion of Motion 1:

•  
  
  
  
  •  
    
    
    
    •  
      
      
      
      • Faculty asked to work during the summer should be compensated for the requested activity.
      
      
      • Consideration should be made that faculty have the right to refuse to work during summer months, when not under contract, without negative consequences.
      
      
      • Open discussions should provide for a mutual agreement between faculty and administrators in the determination of fair and equitable compensation for work done when not under contract.
      
      
      • The general agreement among committee members was that faculty should not be harmed if refusing to perform service activities with no compensation or contract during the summer.

1.  
   
   
   
   1. Summer Pay Tax Withholdings / Extra Compensation

·         As noted above, the Provost was unable to attend today’s meeting. However, she provided updates via email.

§   Provost 01-14-2011 Update (Summer Pay Tax Withholdings): I was planning to provide an update tomorrow to FAPC pertaining to the request to review Summer payments and the unintended results (higher withholdings) of combining Summer 1 and Maymester. If you (or Dr. Rose in his role as FAPC Secretary) could provide FAPC the following information, I would be grateful.

Here is what I understand about this issue:

1.       We have to conform to payment dates determined by the system (USG’s new ADP) and payments must be on the first of the month.

2.       An internal decision was made to combine the payrolls of Maymester and Summer I. However, this is an internal decision. Thus, FAPC is free to study the issues and make a recommendation to me about whether or not to separate the payments.

3.       If Maymester payroll is separated from Summer I, then Summer I payroll will be delayed.

4.       For individuals who teach Maymester and Summer 1, an increase in withholdings takes place if the combined paycheck elevates the tax status for federal and state taxes.

It would be interesting to know whether or not an increase in withholdings is “typical” for individuals who teach both Maymester and Summer I. If it is uncommon, rather than frequent…then FAPC would want to weigh the number of individuals disadvantaged by a delayed check against the number of people disadvantaged by a combined payment, before making a recommendation.

My understanding of this issue pales against Susan Allen’s knowledge. It might be a good idea to ask Ms. Allen to attend a FAPC meeting to respond to the questions that will arise. She could discuss with authority the ADP requirements as they relate to the pay schedule.

§  Provost 01-14-2011 Update (Extra Compensation): As for the “Extra Comp” issue (new requirement that we modify contracts rather than use an extra comp form), we finally received additional information from the system on Dec. 24^th…so we are still working through the changes and determining what, if any, impact the changes will have on summer pay limits, staff workload, and our processes.

The committee chair indicated that his understanding was that presently ADP (the central payroll system) administrators set the summer payroll dates for GCSU payroll distribution and have recently (Summer 2010) done so with very short notice.  The payroll dates for the upcoming Summer term (Summer 2011) may not yet be available from ADP.

A motion was made and seconded.  After several modifications to the motion, the motion read as:

Motion 2: The Provost request that pay dates for Maymester, Summer I and Summer II coincide with the end of each term.

(Consideration postponed to 4 Feb 2011 meeting.)

Discussion included a consideration that there may be some delay in payroll should the motion be passed and implemented. Upon further reflection, a motion was made to postpone the motion on the floor and that Susan Allen be invited to the next (4 Feb) FAPC meeting. That motion was passed unanimously and consideration of Motion 2 by the committee was postponed to the 4 Feb 2011 FAPC meeting.

One additional comment was made that faculty may need to review whether or not their summer compensation is subject to deductions for retirement and social security.  No further discussion ensued.

1.  
   
   
   
   1. Student Opinion Surveys Concern - Student Participation Rate.  The following updates were received by the committee with no discussion.

Provost 01-14-2011 Update: I’ll make sure that updates are provided to FAPC as these projects are underway. The “welcome back” message will go to all faculty, so FAPC members should see it in their INBOX next week.

1.      Update on Provost shall ensure that all faculty receive appropriately detailed information about the observed reduction in the participation rates for student opinion surveys since conversion to an on-line collection system and the actions that are planned to address this concern action from 12-03-10 meeting

a.       Provost 01-14-2011 Update :  My “beginning of the semester” email to the campus was delayed due to our closure on Monday and Tuesday. I like to send that out after the first week of classes, when faculty have had a chance to settle back in to the semester. Additionally, I’m typically swamped with responses to parents and students who may not be 100% pleased with the grades they earned in the previous semester, or feel aggrieved in some way. So, my plan is to send that note next Tuesday. The “welcome back” message will include an update on the student opinion surveys along with other announcements. My hope is that this email, in addition to the spring visits to colleges, the December 2nd front page story in our campus newspaper, and reinforcing messages by the deans at their chairs’ meetings will combine to “get the word out” effectively.

2.      Update on Provost shall review how SOS narratives are being managed and disseminated to faculty action from 12-03-10 meeting

a.       Provost 01-14-2011 Update :  On the topic of the SOS narratives and the language on the syllabi, I want to pull a small “writing” team together to develop the language to be included on the syllabi and the narrative used by faculty. That will take place in a week or so. I try to keep messaging/requests to a minimum during the first week and last week of each semester.

3.      Update on Committee Chair shall share Motion 1 with ECUS for steering where Motion 1: To recommend that Student Opinion Surveys be administered to all classes with ten or more students. from 12-03-10 meeting

a.       Provost 01-14-2011 Update:  I am delaying making any public comment on the number of classes surveyed until you (committee chair) have a chance to inform ECUS.  I believe the deans will support this 100%.

b.      Committee Chair Update:  I will share this motion with ECUS at the 01-21-2011 joint meeting of Standing Committee Chairs with the Executive Committee.

4.      Update on Motion 2: To recommend to the Provost that standard language be developed that will appear on all course syllabi to inform and encourage students to participate in completing Student Opinion Surveys from 12-03-10 meeting

a.       Provost 01-14-2011 Update :  On the topic of the SOS narratives and the language on the syllabi, I want to pull a small “writing” team together to develop the language to be included on the syllabi and the narrative used by faculty. That will take place in a week or so. I try to keep messaging/requests to a minimum during the first week and last week of each semester.

5.  Faculty Evaluation, Triggering Reviews of Department Chairs Work Group: Nothing to report.  A review of Part IV of the academic administrator evaluation and recommendations to the committee was requested of the work group.

6.  Post-Tenure Review Work Group: Nothing to report

7.  Desk Copies:

ECUS steered this issue to the committee and the Provost asked for recommendations for alternatives to reselling books that have been provided to faculty by publishers. As noted in the 03 December 2010 minutes from this committee, the Board of Regents Policy 3.10 includes language to “disallow faculty to resell sample texts provided by publishers or to take advantage of any financial incentives offered by publishers in the assignment of specific texts.” However, the BOR does not articulate or specify alternative disposition of textbooks provided by publishers. During the 03 Dec 2010 FAPC meeting, all committee members were asked to consult with their constituencies for suggestions of alternatives to reselling textbooks.

Several recommendations were made including:

·         Awareness of the “Text and Academic Authors Association” website (url: www.taaonline.net ) including a pamphlet that articulates this organization’s position statement on complimentary copies and used books.  The position statement is entitled “Stomp the Comp” and can be found online by starting at the homepage (url given above) and following the action issues tab and finding the “Stomp the Comp” link near the bottom of the page.  This pamphlet is also attached here as a pdf file.

·         A collection of several other university policies for the handling of unsolicited and solicited publisher books was provided (Georgia State University, Calvin College, Richmond Community College) and is attached here as a pdf file.  DeskCopyCollection.pdf

·         The committee brought the following recommendations from their constituents to this meeting:

a.       return unwanted desk copies to the publisher

b.      donate unwanted desk copies to the library (GCSU or public library)

c.       donate unwanted desk copies to develop a department library for department faculty and reference resources for student majors

d.      donate unwanted desk copies to a book recycling center

e.       donate unwanted desk copies to local “service groups” (nursing faculty donate such copies to local nursing clinics for reference materials)

f.       donate unwanted desk copies to interested institutions that may be clinical partners of this university

g.      donate and send unwanted desk copies overseas to a needy university (some needy universities might exist within this country)

h.      leave unwanted desk copies outside the office door to be picked up by students or colleagues

i.        donate unwanted desk copies to underprivileged students

j.        give extra textbooks out as prizes within a department

k.      centralize the disposition of unwanted desk copies at GCSU to an appropriate academic unit (possibly library acquisitions)

The committee charged the committee chair to forward all recommendations provided at this meeting to the Provost.

8.  Unfinished Business:  There was no unfinished business.

9.  New Business:  There was no new business. 

10.  Tentative Agenda:  Same items as the 14 Jan 2011 agenda as today’s meeting with the exclusion of the textbook issue.

11.  Adjourn:  There being no further business, a motion to adjourn was made, seconded and approved. The meeting adjourned at 1:45 p.m.

Actions Some activities lead to actions to implement the committee agreements.

4.A.1   Share Motion 1 from 01-14-2011 meeting with Provost Jordan. (Craig Turner)

4.A.2   Consider a closure of the loop on the review of letters for language on summer faculty service by deans and department chairs.  (Provost Jordan)

4.B.1   Invite Susan Allen to attend the 02-04-2011 FAPC meeting for consultation on ADP and summer pay dates. (Craig Turner)

4.B.2.  Ensure that Motion 2 is on the tentative agenda for committee consideration at the 02-04-2011 FAPC meeting.  (Craig Turner)

4.C.     Share Motion 1 from 12-03-2010 meeting with ECUS.  (Craig Turner)

5.         Review Part IV of the academic administrator evaluation and offer recommendations to committee (Susan Steele, Sally Humphries)

7.         Pass on to Provost Jordan constituency recommendations for alternatives to reselling desk copies provided by publishers. (Craig Turner)

10.       Set tentative agenda for 04 Feb 2011 FAPC meeting in consultation with the committee members.  (Craig Turner)

Tentative Agenda for the next FAPC meeting (4 February 2011 in Arts &Sciences 1-16)

1.  Post-Tenure Review (work group update)

2.  Faculty Evaluation, Triggering Reviews of Department Chairs (work group update)

3.  Informational (Academic Year Faculty Availability in the Summer, Summer Pay Tax Withholdings / Extra Compensation (Susan Allen will be present at the 4 Feb 2011 meeting), Student Opinion Surveys Participation Rate, Desk Copies)