Senate called to order at 2:45 p.m. by President Peter Nosco.

Meeting adjourned at 4:40 p.m.

• Approved the March minutes
• Tabled:

Minutes approved as written with two abstentions.

Provost Armstrong was unable to attend the meeting.

• Professor Florence Clark has invited the Senate to her apartment for a brief reception at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday May 8, following the last Senate meeting of the school year. Following this reception, there will be an early dinner at 6:30 in Little Tokyo for the Senate, but only for those who RSVP to Connie’s invitation. Full information with the address of Prof. Clark and the name and location of the restaurant will be available at the next meeting.

• Voting deadline A reminder to vote for Senate Officers before the Friday, April 26 deadline.

• USCare Administrative Vice President Ed McCann has not been able to get those in charge at USCare to respond to his requests for a meeting. Professor Clark has volunteered to speak with USCare’s medical director. It is hoped that there will be something to report at the May Senate meeting.

• Technology Business Incubator report Last March, we the Senate voted to adopt and endorse the Technology Business Incubator report and to request that the Provost send back to the Senate the policies developed from these guidelines for subsequent review. President Nosco has conferred with the Provost, asking that he review it, and President Nosco expects to discuss the matter further when he meets with the Provost.

• Faculty Forum The Spring issue of the Faculty Forum will go into campus mail on April 26. The issue is dedicated to faculty benefits.

• President Nosco wanted to go on the record with his thanks to University Professor Solomon Golomb for his helpful intervention with the Faculty Center. It will save the Academic Senate a considerable sum this year and even more next year and in years to come.

Dean Slavkin from the Dental School presented a plan to move the site of the dental practice in September, 2002 from the Dental School to across the street in University Village. This will be a physical change and not a change in the services provided to the faculty and staff at USC. The plan is to have the offices open six days and two nights a week. This move will also permit the Dental School to offer more services to the community than can be accommodated with the clinic in its present location. Dean Slavkin noted that pediatric and orthodontic services would remain in their present locations.

The proposed changes in the Faculty Handbook were presented by Professors Odell and Manegold. Professor Odell indicated that these proposed changes were merely to clean up the language and to move parts to appropriate sections.

The discussion turned to the current tuition remission policy for dependents at USC. It was noted that one proposed change requires students receiving tuition remission to seek permission from the Provost’s Office if they need more than 144 units to graduate. Vice Provost Levine noted that this change is an improvement from the past, where students had to petition the Senior Vice President for Administration’s office for permission to extend tuition remission.

One Senator mentioned that his son had been denied permission to extend tuition remission when he exceeded the 144 unit limit. Vice Provost Levine pointed out that in the past, Dennis Dougherty’s office sometimes denied permission to extend beyond 144 units when it appeared that the student was not working toward degree completion. Vice Provost Levine went on to note that in years past when the freshman classes were not filled, it did not cost the University anything to have students receive tuition remission. Today there is considerable competition for places, and so every student receiving tuition remission costs the University money.

One Senator pointed out that the Senate did not receive copies of this Handbook change in advance and further suggested as a general policy that the Senate should not approve Handbook changes unless it is taken up by two Senate meetings.

Senator Moore moved that the resolution be Tabled, which was seconded. The motion to Table passed (14 yea and 12 nay votes with no abstentions).

Professor Odell indicated that this resolution would move some provisions and also make some substantive changes in this section. One proposal would delete a sentence (…"as each faculty member may deem appropriate and depending on the field or discipline…"). After discussion the committee agreed not to delete "depending on the field or discipline." Discussion focused on whether to delete "as each faculty member may deem appropriate." Some Senators expressed concern that this deletion could infringe upon academic freedom. Some felt a chair could use the statement against a professor who did not choose to write proposals or chose not to apply to a particular agency, such as the Department of Defense. Some Senators stated they felt it was their right as a faculty member not to write grants to fund their research. Professor Odell responded that the handbook covers the entire faculty and leaves it to the fields and disciplines to specify what counts as research. The handbook sentence under discussion only says that research can include proposal writing, not that any professor must write proposals. As before, a motion to Table this resolution was introduced and seconded; it passed with 20 yeas, 6 nays, and no abstentions.

Professor Dutton stated the Committee’s document is still being reviewed and he hoped that every Senator had read the draft copy that was distributed at the March Senate meeting. Professor Dutton reviewed the report's six key sections: 1) improving access to a customer-driven collection, 2) physical and electronic interdisciplinary centers, 3) electronic infrastructures, 4) a defined federal structure, 5) web-based services, and 6) renovation of information in communication facilities. He went on to mention that pilot projects will begin next academic year. President Nosco stated that the Executive Committee would discuss the recommendation found in this report with President Sample when they have their semi-annual lunch with him later in April.

Secretary General of the Academic Senate