Minutes from April 15, 1998

Academic Senate Meeting
Minutes from April 15,1998

Present: J. L. Anderson, M. Apostolos, M. Appleman., K. Challoner, H. Cheeseman, E. Chemerinsky, T.C. Cheng, E. Cooper, A. Crigler, R. Curfman, R. Farley, R. Guralnick, C. Hempel, P. Heseltine, P. Knoll, R. Labaree, F. Mason, W. Meezan, A. Mircheff, B. Nelson, M. Nichol, S Ross, R. Stellwagen, W. Thalmann, Y. Tang, W. Waugaman, M. Weinstein, W. Wolf

Absent: M. Breuer, D. Bunn, R. Chase, B. Comrie, S. Formenti, Janet Johnson, Julia Johnson, H. Kaslow, W. Meezan, S. Nutt, J. Nyquist, J. Russell, G. Schierle, C. Silva-Corvalan, K.Wilber, D. Yaden

Guests: S. Pratt, B. Solomon, J. Zernik

The meeting was called to order at 2:50 p.m. by President J. Lawford Anderson.

Dr. Anderson announced that he invited Dr. Chemerinsky to come to the meeting and address the Senate regarding the Faculty Handbook issue. Due to other committment at 3:30 p.m. Dr. Chemerinsky was given priority to speak although the Faculty Handbook issue is further down of the Agenda items.

Immediate Past President Chemerinsky stated that both the Task Force he chaired and the Handbook Committee worked very hard last year. He also thanked Dr. Solomon, who put so much efforts to help update the 1987 Faculty Handbook. The proposed Handbook was almost ready for finalization when the Provost decided to put it off the table in March, 1997.

Dr. Chemerinsky also made comments on the proposed Handbook that this yearÕs committee has continued to work on. He stated that it is essential to update the Handbook because itÕs part of the agreement that the faculty signed with the University. However, he said to be very careful in changing the wordings specifically in the Grievance Policy. The Handbook should not be changed unilaterally by the President of the University, he said. Also, Dr. Chemerinsky explained why he disagreed to the proposed changes on the "communication" section of the 1987 Faculty Handbook.

President Anderson thanked Dr. Chemerinsky for taking the time to address the Senate.

Agenda Item #1. Announcements

President Anderson made five announcements:

a) The election of Executive Board officers and members at large for 1998-1999 is in process. He urged Senate voting members to turn in their ballots on or before April 30.

b) The Board of TrusteesÕ retreat was held two weeks earlier. One of the most interesting events of the retreat were studentsÕ presentations. The students spoke both positively and negatively about their experiences with USC faculty. President Anderson informed the Senate that the letter he had written to all faculty on April 9 was in response to the concerns raised by the students at the retreat.

c) The proposal for change of Tuition Remission submitted by the University Benefits Committee and the Executive BoardÕs response to the proposal were distributed at the meeting. President Anderson encouraged Senate members to read them and to forward comments to him. Professor Ross suggested to hold off the proposal until the committee has a complete Benefit package. There was no vote taken on the motion.

d) Dr. G.A. Fleischer, chair of the Task Force on Retirement, one other Task Force member and President Anderson met with the Provost to follow up on the issue of Retirement. President Anderson said that Deans were still studying the proposed retirement plans because of the budget impact that it may cause. The Provost has asked Vice President Dougherty to assist the Deans.

e) The Executive Board met with Vice Provost Sullivan to discuss the proposed Intellectual Property Policy. Professor Ann Crigler briefly explained the Executive BoardÕs concerns on the draft proposal.

Agenda Item #2. Approval of Minutes

The minutes of the meeting of March 18, 1998 were approved as presented.

Agenda Item #3. Faculty Handbook Committee Report

The draft proposal of the new Faculty Handbook was distributed to all Senate members. President Anderson thanked Dr. Solomon for all her work. He also thanked Dr. SolomonÕs staff for working so hard on the draft proposal.

The issue was discussed at length. Senator Heseltine made a motion, seconded by Senator Ross. The motion reads as follows: "Being that the current draft of the Handbook represents the best effort of the Faculty Handbook Committee, the draft should be forwarded to the President of the University for his review, as part of the collegial process." The Senate will vote on a final draft incorporating the PresidentÕs and SenateÕs comments on the final meeting of the academic year on May 4th. The motion was passed with a vote of 22 in favor, one opposed, and one abstention.

The Senate proceeded with the discussion and decided to vote on each section of the proposed new Handbook. Section 1, "Government of the University" was discussed and passed unanimously with amendment (in capitals) under the "Academic Organization" section that reads: Academic deans and directors are appointed for stated terms (normally five years) and may be reappointed following an appropriate review and evaluation. APPOINTMENTS AND REAPPOINTMENTS OF DEANS AND DIRECTORS ARE TO BE DONE IN CONSULTATION WITH THE FACULTY. Of academic deans and directors, the University Bylaws say the following:"

The paragraph after "7.2 Academic Deans and Directors." initially indented should not be indented because it is not part of the University Bylaws and on the first line/first sentence, the word "regular" was deleted: "The chairperson of a division or department shall be a full-time tenured faculty member."

Comments were made on several sections. As approved earlier, the Senate will continue to discuss the draft of the proposed new Handbook at its final Senate meeting on May 4.

Agenda Item #4. Discussion of Draft Policy on Acts of Violence in the Workplace

Due to time constraints, this issue was not discussed.

Agenda Item #5. New Business

There was no new business discussed.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:40 p.m.