MSU-BOZEMAN FACULTY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES November 15, 2000 PRESENT: Giroux for Sherwood, Miller, Kommers, Linker, Leech, Benham, Howard, Stewart, Larsen, Harkin, Nehrir, Mooney, Lefcort, McClure, Levy, Bogar, Jelinski, Lynch, Fisher, Scott, Griffith, Carlstrom. ABSENT: Young, Hatfield, Morrill, White, Anderson, Peed, Jost, McMahon, Locke, Lansverk, Bond, Kirkpatrick, McKinsey, Prawdzienski, Butterfield. The reguarly scheduled Faculty Council meeting was called to order by Chair Ron Larsen at 4:10 PM. It was determined a quorum was present. The minutes of the November 1, 2000, meeting were approved as distributed. Chair's report - Ron Larsen. - The Board of Regents meets in Missoula tomorrow and Friday. - All units are to report how they will replace course fees. - MSU plans to change to program fees (in programs such as Architecture, Media and Theatre Arts), and make small increases in equipment fees and tuition. - The changes will be cost neutral. - MSU will request an increase in spending authorization to renovate the Gardiner house. - An intellectual property policy addressing ownership of electronic course materials is on the submission agenda. - The policy is modeled after the patent policy. - If university facilities are used to develop the course materials and they are developed as part of the faculty's workload, the university retains ownership and any profits after costs are split 50/50 between the faculty member and the university. - If university facilities are not used and the faculty member develops the materials on her/his own time, the university does not claim ownership. - According to current MSU interpretation, the use of the faculty member's desk, computer, or the library does not count as "university facilities". - During discussion by Council members, it was asked how development of e-course materials differs from writing textbooks. It seems this is a copyright issue rather than a patent issue. - All comments made by members present were opposed to the policy as currently proposed. - The policy probably will be discussed with the regents when they meet with faculty leaders Thursday afternoon. - When the Special Review Committee was active a couple of years ago, a proposal was made and accepted that the administrative fee on designated accounts be increased. One-half of the increase was to go to the Office of Academic Affairs for academic enhancements. Since the administrative fee was increased, all of the money has been used to help balance the budget. - The Faculty Council Chair has proposed the designated money be put in the Provost's budget, as originally intended. Then, if necessary, it can be returned to the general operating budget. This would at least establish the precedent for this money going to the Provost's Office. - The Provost has proposed all new MSU and MUS academic programs pass through Faculty Council for discussion as part of the review process. - During discussion, it was suggested this duplicates the work of the Undergraduate Studies Committee and of the Graduate Studies Committee. - Faculty Council representatives on these two committees might bring information about proposed programs to Faculty Council as an informational item. - The resolution requesting the MSU pay date be changed to the first of the month following the work period has been sent to the President. - The memo requesting Deans' Council and the Provost immediately begin planning for a possible budget shortfall Spring Semester has been sent. - All Montana legislators have been invited to MSU December 15th, the last day of Fall Semester classes. Faculty are asked to open their classes to the legislators. Erin McGowan, ASMSU State Legislative Director, may be reached at erinmmc@yahoo.com or at 582-4130. - The Chair requested input from Council members, and the question of workload equivalency for distance learning classes was raised. Where is the issue being discussed? According to Rich Howard, a member of the faculty workload task force, it has not yet been raised in discussions by that group. It was pointed out that if faculty do not deal with the issue of time and effort needed to teach distance learning courses, it will not be raised. - The faculty workload task force is meeting every two weeks and is currently working on definitions. The Provost chairs the committee. - The committee hopes to have a policy to present by the end of the semester. - The policy needs to come to Faculty Council for approval. Faculty Affairs Committee report - David Scheerer. - The committee is temporarily setting aside its work on the Faculty Council By-Laws to discuss faculty review of administrators. Proposed Amendments to Faculty Handbook Sections 200-272 (Faculty Council and University Governance Council) - First Reading. - The definition of Faculty Council (220) has been rewritten to include a statement that Faculty Council has the authority to frame policy. - During discussion, it was recommended wording be added to make it clear faculty, through Faculty Council, make final determinations in matters of the substance of the curriculum, academic programs, and of degrees and the requirements to be met in awarding them. - Section 250 has not been written but is being left to the faculty affected by the description in the section (adjunct and research faculty). - It was suggested Section 232 be titled Faculty Council Executive Committee. The responsibilities of the committee should be included in the narrative. The committee's purpose is to act during summer or between-semester breaks on issues that pertain to faculty only. Normally, the University Governance Council Steering Committee acts during these recesses, but it includes representatives from both Faculty Council and Professional Council, and so it is not an appropriate body to act on issues relating to faculty only. Faculty review of administrators. - This year, the intent is to send each academic faculty member one form, which may be duplicated according to the number of administrators the faculty member chooses to review. - The review may be done on the web, but hard copies of the form will be available. - The evaluation instrument will be rewritten, with the help of someone involved in performance evaluation. - What results to disclose is still under discussion. Summative results may be published, but not specific results. During discussion, concern was expressed that summative results may not give information of any value. As there was no further discussion, the meeting was adjourned at 5:05 PM. Joann Amend, Secretary Ron Larsen, Chair