Academic Senate
Minutes from September 17, 1997

Present:  J.L. Anderson, S. Allerton, M. Appleman, M. Breuer, K. Challoner, T. Chang, E. Cooper, R. Curfman, R. Farley, G.A. Fleischer, S. Formenti, K. Glennan, N. Hanel, P. Helseltine, Janet Johnson, Julia Johnson, H. Kaslow, P. Knoll, W. Meezan, A. Mircheff, M. Nichol, J. Nyquist, S. Ross, J. Russell, G. Schierle, C. Silva-Corvalan, R. Sivitanidou, R. Stellwagen, W. Waugaman, D. Yaden
Absent: M. Apostolos, D. Bunn, R. Chase, H. Cheeseman, E. Chemerinsky, B. Comrie, W. Dutton, J. Grant, D. Grazman, R. Guralnick, C. Hempel, S. Nutt, H. Schor, S. Tang, K. Wilber
Guests:  M. Payton, S. Pratt, B. Solomon

The meeting was called to order at 2:55 p.m. by Senate President, J. Lawford Anderson.

Agenda Item #1. President Anderson introduced the members of the 1997/1998 Academic Senate Executive Board to Senators and guests. He then asked all Senators to introduce themselves. He made several announcements to the Senate:

a) the Academic Senate Retreat held on August 25, 1997 was a success and well attended.

b) white papers presented at the retreat are being reviewed by the Provost and relevant administrators.

c) the Senate will continue to work on unresolved issues of last year, including the question of where tenure resides, the Faculty Handbook, and Faculty Contracts.

d) the Academic Senate Web site will be updated and expanded to include the Senate resolutions, minutes, and white papers.

e) he is working with Professor Zernick of Dentistry in order for the Senate to have two list servers: 1) a "one way" list server that will disseminate information produced by the Senate; 2) a "two-way" list server where faculty can write comments and/or exchange ideas. President Anderson said that the big criticism about the Senate is that the majority of the faculty doesn't know what the Senate does or has accomplished. The creation of these servers should aid in solving the problem.

Agenda Item #2. Discussion and Voting of Resolution 96/97-14. Proposed Changes to the Academic Senate Constitution. Kathy Glennan, Chair of Rules, Membership and Elections Committee (RM&E), briefly discussed the resolution. She explained that it has been forwarded from May 7, 1997 Senate meeting. The motion was moved, seconded, and passed unanimously.

Agenda Item #4. Provost's Remarks. Because the Provost came earlier than expected, Agenda Item #4 was moved ahead of Agenda Item #3.

President Anderson welcomed Provost Armstrong. The Provost started with the message that President Sample would not be able to come to the meeting and apologized on his behalf. Provost Armstrong stated that he is looking forward to working with the Senate in 1997/1998 academic year. He advised the Senate regarding the issue of the Task Force on the Future of HSC, a resolution that was passed by the Senate. Due to broad spectrum of health care, he is currently forming a commission to further study the resolution. The Provost also announced that enrollment this year is up and that 65% of applicants were admitted. This is the first time USC ever closed admission on its May 1st deadline, he said. Applications for next year, to date, are already over 4,000 which is 2 1/2 times that anticipated. He also told the Senate that the admitted students are of higher quality. The Provost stated that the retention rate is still a problem and that a great deal of emphasis is necessary to increase the retention rate. The administration will conduct a number of experiments to improve retention, he said. Long discussion between members, guests and Provost focused on how to resolve retention problems. Before the Provost left the meeting, Vice Provost Barbara Solomon asked permission from the floor to allow her to briefly report about the Faculty Orientation held on August 25 and 26, 1997. She advised the Senate that the two-day retreat was extremely extensive and very successful. She praised Provost Armstrong for his effort and his insistence that a new reform be followed which made the retreat very productive. The first day of the retreat focused on faculty and students. The second day focused on research issues. The Senate and guests then joined Vice Provost Solomon in applauding the Provost.

Agenda Item #3. Resolution 97/98-01. Minutes and Recording of Academic Senate Meetings, was presented to the Senate. Following discussion, the motion was not passed with 19 opposed, 7 in favor and 2 abstentions.

Agenda Item #5. Election of Nominating Committee Members. Kathy Glennan, Chair of RM&E, oversaw nominations for, and election to the Committee: Samuel Allerton of Dentistry, Mel Breuer of Engineering, Julie Nyquist of Medicine, and Steve Ross of LAS History. These four senators were subsequently elected, by consensus, to fill the four vacancies on the Nominating Committee.

Agenda Item #6. Resolution 97/98-02. Faculty Availability To Students. Discussion of Resolution 97/98-02 resulted in the adoption of one friendly amendment, the re-phrasing of the second paragraph of the Resolution: "Therefore, it is resolved that faculty and administrators should work together to better enable faculty to increase their day to day availability to students and create opportunities for timely and individualized interactions by increasing their time on campus and/or by establishing and using alternative electronic means of communication." Resolution 97/98-02 was passed with one opposed and one abstention.

Agenda Item #7. Resolution 97/98-03. Improvement of Class Scheduling, was presented. Following discussion, the motion was passed with one opposed and one abstention.

Agenda Item #8. This item will be carried over to the next Senate meeting.

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