Academic Senate
Minutes of the Meeting of February 18, 1998

Present: J. L. Anderson, M. Appleman, M. Breuer, K. Challoner, T.C. Cheng, A.Crigler, R. Curfman, R. Farley, G. A. Fleischer, N. Hanel (proxy for Julia Johnson), C. Hempel, H. Kaslow, P. Knoll, R. Labaree, F. Mason, W. Meezan, A. Mircheff, B. Nelson, M. Nichol, J. Nyquist, J. Russell, G. Schierle, C. Silva-Corvalan, R. Stellwagen, Y. Tang, W. Thalmann, N. Verma, W. Waugaman, M. Weinstein, W. Wolf, D. Yaden

Absent: M. Apostolos, D. Bunn, R. Chase, H. Cheeseman, E. Chemerinsky, B. Comrie, E. Cooper, S. Formenti, R. Guralnick, P. Heseltine, Janet Johnson, S. Nutt, S. Ross, K. Wilber

Guests: L. Armstrong, G. Albrech, J. Beierle, S. Chan, K. Glennan, T. Hollihan, D. James, R. Jelliffe, A. Marston, S. Pratt, J. Rhandolph, A. Richters, P. Shugarman, H. Slucki, B. Solomon, C. Sullivan, S. Tahara, W. Wagner, R. Wallach, A.Watts, C. Zaow

The meeting was called to order at 2:45 p.m. by President J. L. Anderson..

Agenda Item #1. Announcements.

President Anderson announced that the Senate newsletter has been distributed. It will also be published on the Senate web page.

Agenda Item #2. Approval of Minutes.

The Minutes were approved as presented.

Agenda Item #3. Grievance Process

Two sections in the grievance procedures were requested by President Sample to be deleted, as follows::

a) last sentence of first paragraph in section "h," on page 8, which has been on the table for three meetings, and

b) second and part of third paragraphs of section "d" on page 5 about legal counsel representation, requested just recently, and which reads: "Either party may be represented by legal counsel at the grievance hearing (i.e., by a person who holds a law degree.) If either side intends to be represented by legal counsel, it shall notify the other party of this intention at least 10 days prior to the hearing. Failure to notify will entitle the other party to a reasonable continuance to secure its own legal counsel." and "and their legal counsel if any"

The Senate decided to consider them separately. After lengthy discussions, the request in (a) was passed with a vote of 11 in favor, 10 against, and one abstention.

A motion was made to leave in the paragraphs cited in (b), unchanged. This motion was passed with a vote of 24 in favor, no against, and no abstentions.

Agenda Item #4. Discussion on Faculty Contracts

Three handouts were distributed: proposed new language for Section 2.3.d (p. 21 in 1987 Faculty Handbook), proposed Faculty Contract for tenured faculty, and proposed Faculty Contract for non-tenured faculty. President Anderson noted that the proposed contracts originated from Vice Provost SolomonŐs office, and are almost the same as the contracts proposed by Senate Past President Erwin Chemerinsky. Due to the Open Meeting scheduled at 3:30 p.m., the issue was tabled for discussion at the next meeting. President Anderson advised the Senate to take the forms and review them and to send any comments they might have to the Senate list server.

Agenda Item #5. University Policy on Violence in the Workplace

A draft of revised University Policy on Violence in the Workplace was distributed. President Anderson informed the Senate that the revised draft policy had been put together by Dr. Robert Farley and Dr. Carrie Hempel, both members of the Executive Board. Again, due to the scheduled Open Meeting at 3:30 p.m., the issue was tabled for discussion at the next meeting. President Anderson encouraged members to review the draft. Any comments/suggestions should be sent to him by e-mail.

Agenda Item #6. Open Meeting - Tenure and University Governance

Two issues were debated: "where tenure resides" and "what Faculty Governance really means".

Provost Armstrong spoke before the Senate. He explained why he believed that tenure could reside at the unit level. Senate members presented as to why tenure should reside at the university level.

After a long debate of the issue, the question remained unsolved.

There was a lengthy discussion on faculty governance, but no motions were passed.

Before the meeting ended, President Anderson suggested that members consider introducing new resolutions on the meaning of tenure. He also suggested that the issue of "shared governance" be a topic of future Senate white papers.

He advised the Senate to maintain frequent communication with the faculty and encouraged everyone to use the list server to share ideas.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:30 p.m.