Faculty Senate Minutes - 12/7/2000

FACULTY SENATE MINUTES
December 7, 2000



Call to Order


President Mikkelsen called the meeting to order at 4:12 p.m.


Senators present


Bargar, Caldwell, Greiert, Hamzaee, Klostermeyer, McLear, Mikkelsen,
Nelson, Noynaert, Roberts, Tapia, Williams


Senators absent


Fowler, Radmacher


Ex-officio


None


Guests present


Todd Ekdahl, Kathyrne Mueller, Mohammad Najafi, Fred Nesslage


Minutes of the previous meeting


The minutes of the November 2, 2000, meeting were approved as presented
(Nelson/Caldwell).


Meeting agenda


The agenda for today's meeting was approved by unanimous consent
(Noynaert/Roberts).


Report from college interim president


There was no report from Dr. James McCarthy, college interim president,
who was in Jefferson City attending the governor's conference.


Report from vice-president for academic affairs


There was no report from Dr. James Roever, vice-president for academic
affairs.


Report from the faculty senate executive committee


President Mikkelsen reported that the mid-term grading policy submitted by
the faculty senate had been tabled by the CGAC. The Student Government
Association had earlier voted against the proposal by a margin of 19 to
0. Mikkelsen said that discussion of the issue might come up again at the
February meeting of CGAC.


Mikkelsen stated that the meeting of the Master Plan Committee scheduled
for December 8, 2000, may change because of the expected announcement of
the hiring of a new president for the college. He noted that a new Focus
Group for Student Affairs had been formed because of recruitment concerns,
especially regarding the recruitment of mid-range students. The next
meeting of the Enrollment Management Committee was scheduled for December
12, 2000.


Mikkelsen explained that the Faculty Senate General Studies Committee
continues to meet. It is examining every general studies course with an
emphasis on proceeding toward identification of specific assessment tools
for competencies "why" and "how". The General Studies Committee has been
asked by the Faculty Senate Executive Committee to develop procedural
rules for the future regarding to whom the General Studies Committee
should report and concerning the role of the Faculty Senate itself on the
issue of general studies. A report from the General Studies Committee is
expected also to include an analysis of the size and composition of that
committee and whether its decisions should be subject to revision by
another body (e.g., the Faculty Senate).


Mikkelsen announced that the consensus of the Faculty Senate on the
"food-and-drink policy" put forth by Martin Johnson, dean of the division
of liberal arts and sciences, and by Jeanne Daffron, dean of the division
of professional studies, was that the second alternative is preferable to
the others. This alternative would prohibit use of food and drink only in
carpeted classrooms, computer laboratories, and the MWSC library. This
proposal will go to the CGAC for its February meeting at the earliest.


Mikkelsen noted that the North Central Re-accreditation Report is now
available online. It states that MWSC needs to improve in its assessment
of the effectiveness of general studies courses.


Mikklesen said that a general faculty meeting was being planned for
Tuesday, January 30, 2001, for two basic reasons: 1) such a meeting was
required to take place thirty days before the next election to consider
constitutional amendments already proposed; and 2) to discuss salary plan
proposals by the Faculty Senate Salary Committee.


Mikkelsen asked for and received consensus support from the Faculty Senate
for a charge to the Faculty Senate Promotion and Tenure Committee to
review policy statements regarding "conflict of interest." This is to
determine if those statements are adequate to meet with problems that may
arise.


Mikkelsen stated that the committee of faculty representatives
interviewing the candidates for the college presidency had made a report
to the Board of Regents on December 5, 2000. That report was consistent
with input from the faculty and was read in closed session.




Report from the computer center


Fred Nesslage, data communications coordinator, addressed the Faculty
Senate. He represented Mark Mabe, director of the computer center, who
was unable to attend the meeting. Nesslage discussed the issue of moving
away from the Pine e-mail program. He identified the reasons for the
recommendation that Pine will be eliminated: 1) maintaining Pine took a
large part of his own personal work time; 2) since Pine is a public
program, it can easily be broken into by others, and, therefore, it lacks
confidentiality; 3) Pine is exceedingly difficult to read with attachments
and "html" formatted messages; 4) MWSC is attempting to move away from the
HP system because of financial costs; and 5) other systems may provide
more power at reduced costs. Nesslage explained that the advertised date
for removal of Pine was January 1, 2001. He said that Eudora is more
secure as long as no one has physical access to the computer on which it
is being used. WebMail can be quite secure as long as a person logs out
properly.


Mohammad Najafi, associate professor of Engineering and Technology,
addressed the meeting in behalf of retention of the Pine program. He
asked if the Faculty Senate could conduct a survey of faculty preferences
between Pine and Eudora.


Nesslage reiterated that the major issue at hand was a staffing
issue. Mikkelsen identified the issue as one of maintaining the UNIX
system.


Noynaert expressed his concern over doing away with Pine without adopting
a standard e-mail package. Hamzaee concurred with Noynaert.


Nesslage responded that all IMC people will be trained on Groupware with
the hope that it will become the standard e-mail package. He said that it
will be easier for faculty and staff to go from Pine to Eudora than from
Pine to Groupware. He also noted that Pine slows down e-mail transfer.


Mikkelsen requested at least one additional month for faculty to make the
transition. Nesslage agreed to forward this message to Mark Mabe. He
foresaw no problem with the extension.


Report from the calendar committee


James Bargar presented the report of the calendar committee for AY
2002-2003. Considerable discussion ensued. The major issue under
examination was that there would only be two days of classes following
Thanksgiving break before final exams began. Bargar responded that this
had occurred only because Thanksgiving in that year was very late in the
month of November. Timely notification by the Records Office to students
regarding issues of probation and suspension causes this calendar change
to be necessary. A motion was made to accept the report
(Nelson/Williams). The motion was approved unanimously (see Attachment
A).


Report from the fringe benefits committee


A mid-year report from the faculty senate fringe benefits committee was
submitted. It noted that the committee had had one meeting on December 5,
2000. The report was accepted.


Report from the faculty senate salary committee


Todd Ekdahl presented a preliminary report from the faculty senate salary
committee. He emphasized three recommendations upon which his committee
wants the faculty senate to take action. He also identified two other
developing proposals that will become recommendations in the final report
submitted by the committee in the Spring (see Attachment B). The faculty
senate received the preliminary report, which will become the basis for
discussion at the general faculty meeting being called for January 30,
2001.


Old Business


Time limitations precluded consideration of the rest of the agenda.


New Business


See Old Business.


Adjournment


The meeting was adjourned at 5:30 p.m. (McLear/Nelson).



Respectfully submitted,



Steven Greiert
Secretary