Faculty Senate Minutes - 10/20/2005
Missouri Western State University
Faculty Senate Minutes
October 20, 2005
Blum Union 220
Senators Present: President Mullins (presiding), Andrews, Chevalier, de Gregorio, Gregory, Heider, Hunt, Kriewitz, Holian, M. Nandan, S. Nandan, Noynaert, Ottinger, Tushaus
Senators Absent: Fulton
Non-voting and Ex-Officio Members Present: President Scanlon, Acting VPASA Jeanie Daffron, Past Senate President Larry Andrews
Guests: Tim Kissock, Risk Manager; Dan Nicoson, Vice President for Institutional Advancement and Executive Director of the MWSU Foundation
Call to Order: President Phil Mullins called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m.
Approval of October 6, 2005 Minutes: (Heider/Ottinger) Approved
Approval of Agenda: (Heider/Ottinger) Approved, with movement of Risk Manager’s report.
Report from the Risk Manager
• The Faculty Senate had requested information about liability for advisors to student groups.
• The Policy Guide does not say much on this topic.
• The university does not have liability insurance, but the state maintains a fund that in effect makes us self-insured. The state fund pays for the judgment, but the University pays for legal fees.
• When you are acting within the scope of your employment, you are covered. There are gray areas.
• Last year the state passed some tort reforms that have an impact on personal liability. It is now harder to sue an individual.
• Free time on a trip is one of the gray areas. How do you protect yourself? One method is to have a syllabus or timetable that shows when official events are planned, and when students are on their own.
• The Risk Management office has release of liability forms that faculty members can request. (See Appendix A)
• When students are traveling to school events in their own cars, generally the state is not going to cover an accident. It is probably a good idea to get students who are driving their own vehicles to show their driver’s license and proof of insurance before beginning the trip.
• Students are not allowed to drive state vehicles. One loophole people try to use is to say that the student is work study, so they are an employee. For example, the student may be an employee in the library. It is still not a valid argument because driving is not within the scope of the student’s employment as a library employee.
Report from the University President:
• Last Thursday the CBHE approved budget requests. MWSU amount is $37.8. million. This year’s support is approximately $20 million. This reflects a new approach on the part of the CBHE. The new approach is to lay out fully what the institutions have asked for. Part of this approach is based on the way state agencies pick up mandatory increases in things like utilities and insurance. Most state agencies do not pick up these types of increases out of their budgets. However, higher education must cover the costs out of their own budgets. The CBHE is also including “Form Five Requests” for things such as new programs. There is also a small amount included for performance funding. This will be awarded to institutions that meet state goals. The state goals have not been established yet. For all of higher education in the state, this is a request for an additional $409 million dollars. We know that will not happen. However, this is a stance that we will not meekly accept what we have received in the past. There are several new mandates at the state level, including full funding of the K-12 formulas. These new mandates are likely to consume a large amount of discretionary spending.
• The joint legislative committee on capital funding visited Monday. There was an excellent response by the faculty and students from the Augenstein building. The meeting seemed to go very well indeed. On the negative side, there will probably not be any capital funding this year. Our Augenstein building is number three on a list of fourteen items. The CBHE renewed the endorsement of our position. The first time that we are likely to see capital funds in 2008. The CBHE is suggesting the award of bonds to fund the projects. Over the years, our position has moved from eleven to three. There haven’t been any items removed, but we have moved up because we have done a good job of educating people at the state level about the importance of the project.
• The higher education budget in the state had declined from 860 million Dollars in 1999 to 856 million dollars this year. During this same time K-12 funding has gone from 2.22 billion dollars to 2.56 billion dollars.
Report from the Acting Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs:
• We are now members of MOKAN, which is a state organization involved in travel abroad.
• The Graduate Committee is functioning.
Report from the Vice President Nicoson
Vice President Nicoson presented a series of PowerPoint slides discussing the Missouri Western State University Foundation. Vice President Nicoson explained the role of the Foundation, its governance and funding structure. The presentation also included information about the Western League for Excellence and its importance as an ongoing source of funding to support the mission of Missouri Western State University.
Report from the Senate President:
• President Mullins attended the fall meeting of the Missouri Association of Faculty Senates (MAFS).
• We have had two Executive Committee meetings. Dr. Daffron and Professor Tushaus attended a Faculty Senate Executive Committee meeting to discuss problems with the new outside employment policies and forms. A committee is undertaking revisions of the policy.
Committee Report
Greg Kriewitz summarized the year’s activity. All syllabi reviewed. Two courses were nominated for inclusion in General Studies. One proposal was withdrawn and one was declined.
The Senate had a discussion about the structure of the General Studies Program.
A copy of the committee’s written report is attached as Appendix B.
New Business
Adjourned.
Appendix A
Assumption of Risk and Release Waiver
By signing this Assumption of Risk and Release, the individual named below wishes to participate in the event described on Attachment A (the “Event”), and recognized there are risks of damage or injury arising from the activities specified in Attachment A or from other activities (including travel) that may be associated with participation in the Event.
By his/her signature below, the participating individual agrees to assume the risks and responsibilities surrounding his/her participation in the Event. In addition, the participant (including his/her heirs, assigns and personal representatives) agrees to release, hold harmless, and indemnify Missouri Western State University from and against any claims, demands, actions, causes of action, lawsuits, expenses, or losses (including attorneys’ fees) on account of property damage or personal injury (including death) arising out of or attributable to the individual’s travel to or participating in the Event.
This Assumption of Risk and Release Waiver applies to Missouri Western State University and all of its trustees, officers, employees and agents.
The undersigned acknowledges that he/she has read and understands this document.
Executed as of this ______ day of _________________, 20_____.
Printed Name: ____________________________________________________
Address: _________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Signature: _______________________________________________________
Signature of parent or guardian (in participant is under 18 years of age:
_________________________________________________________________
Attachment A
Description of event and Activities (e.g. hiking, travel by auto or bus, etc.)
List of potential risk exposures here, keeping the statement general (e.g. potential hiking dangers such as lightning, falling, wildlife, heat or cold, etc.):
Appendix B
General Studies 2005 Year-End Report
Final Report of the General Studies Committee
October 20, 2005
Committee Members:
Tedi Deka (Psychology)
Marsha Dolan (HIT)
Cindy Heider (Education)
Suzanne Hennessy (EFFL)
Mark Johnson (Engineering)
Greg Kriewitz, Chair (HPER)
Ken Lee, (CSMP)
Mark Mikkelsen (HPG)
Dave Steiniche (Gov)
Charges:
A. Review all courses in the Two-Year and Four-Year General Studies curricula, considering course syllabi and other pertinent information.
B. Review recommendations for changes, additions or deletions to the Two-Year and Four-Year General Studies curricula, basing recommendations on the following criteria:
a. The course must be designed for a general audience, not for students in a major or specialized program.
b. Generally speaking, a course should not have any prerequisites.
c. The course should support the philosophical objectives of General Studies as strongly as the course(s) which it replaces or for which it provides an alternative. Such support should be evident in two ways: in relationship to the philosophical objective to which the course applies directly and in relationship to other philosophical objectives which it also promotes.
C. Recommend to the Faculty Senate whether the current General Studies philosophy needs to be modified before the next review of the General Studies program.
Actions:
A. Per charge “A”. This committee reviewed all General Studies course syllabi for compliance with the philosophical objectives of the General Studies program. All Two-Year and Four-Year courses are in compliance. Over 50 courses were evaluated with many courses having multiple sections.
B. Per charge “B”. This committee received permission from Faculty Senate and CGAC to change the hours of PHY 110 from 5 to 4 beginning Fall 05. Permission was also granted from Faculty Senate and CGAC to more accurately reflect the number of course hours that may be taken from the General Studies program. The previous hours range for General Studies was 42-44, beginning Fall 05 it will show 42-46 hours.
Two new courses were proposed to the committee, these proposals are as follows:
•PHL 220 “Symbolic Logic” for inclusion in Category One – line 1.
•CSC 220 “Computers & Informational Technologies in Modern Culture” for inclusion in Category Four – line 2.
The HPG department withdrew the PHL 220 proposal at the General Studies meeting on September 13, 2005.
CSC 220 was defeated (6 against, Heider, Kriewitz, Deka, Nolan, Hennessey, Mikkelsen, 2 for, Lee, Mark Johnson & 1 absent Steiniche) in the September 13th 2005 meeting.
C. Per Charge “C”.
On many occasions this committee discussed the philosophic objective of the General Studies Program. A consensus was reached that the uniqueness of the General Studies courses allow for students to be exposed to experiences and data that may not be experienced in other courses or at other campuses. Furthermore, this committee also reached a consensus about the importance of keeping our General Studies offerings unique and should not attempt to emulate General Studies programs from other schools.
Based on the charges given to us no consensus was reached regarding a framework from which philosophic modifications would be assessed.
In conclusion, given the significant changes across the Western campus in moving to
university status, the General Studies Committee recommends that a
thorough review of the GS program be conducted when many of the current
changes have been implemented and found successful. This review should
probably be conducted by the next GS Committee to be active in 2008.
Respectfully submitted,
Greg Kriewitz, Chair
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