Academic Senate
Minutes
October 18, 2000
Present: K. Alexander, A. Crigler, W. Dappen, G. Davis, W. Dutton, J. Gates, D. Ghirardo, R. Goodyear, N. Hanel, C. Julienne (alternate for S. Sobel), H. Kaslow, B. Kosko, J. Kunc, R. Labaree, W. Mack, J. Manegold, J. Moore, S. Murphy, P. Nosco, J. Nyquist, M. Renov, B. Sarter, H. Schor, D. Stram, W. Tierney, D. Walsh, M. Weinstein, W. Wolf, B. Zuckerman
Absent: M. Apostolos, D. Bohlinger, F. Feldman, H. James, B. Knight, P. Knoll, A. Mircheff, M. Omar, J. Peters, E. Saks, D. Sloane, B. Solomon
Guests: R. Biller, M. Levine, H. Slucki, C. Sullivan
Senate called to order at 2:53 p.m. by President William Dutton.
Meeting adjourned at 4:40 p.m.
Action taken by the Senate:
1. Approval of Minutes of the September 20, 2000 meeting (Agenda item #3)
Approved with modifications and without dissent. Approved minutes are attached.
2. Senate elected members to the Nominating Committee (Agenda item #6)
Passed with one abstention.
3. Approval of Resolution 00/01-02: Department Chair's Selection
(Agenda item #7) Passed as amended: Yea =18, Nay = 4, Abstaining = 2. Approved resolution is attached.
4. Marshall Cohen, USC's mediator, will be invited to the next Academic Senate meeting. The purpose is to discuss the possible need for University Ombudsman.
Agenda Item #1. Memorial Comments about Professor Ennis Layne
Professor Ennis Layne died a few weeks ago at the age of 73. He had served as a President of the Senate, and as a Vice Provost as well as being highly respected and honored faculty member. Most recently, he was playing an active role in the Emeriti Center. Professor Robert Biller addressed the Senate regarding Ennis Layne's contributions to USC and invited others who knew him to comment as well. The Senate observed a moment of silence at the request of Professor Biller.
Agenda Item #2. Announcements by President Dutton:
1. Senate Roster: An up-dated roster is available. Only the School of Music is without representation.
2. Senate Team: Sion Lee, an undergraduate student in Biomedical Engineering, and recipient of a USC Trustee Scholars Award among others, has been appointed Managing Editor of the Senate's Web site.
3. Speaker's Series:
a. Professor Manuel Castells will be speaking on 26 October from 4-5.30 p.m. at ASC, followed by a reception.
b. Professor Hilary Schor welcomes ideas for future speakers.
4. Forum Newsletter: Doug Thomas, the Executive Editor, is planning to have each of this year's four issues focus on a relatively well defined issue. They include issues of diversity, distance education and distributed learning, the future of the library, and academic policy issues such as tenure clock and sabbatical policy. Issues are scheduled in November, January, February, and March so that they can inform our last meetings. Senators wishing to contribute to any of these issues should contact either President Dutton or Doug Thomas.
5. Letter to President Sample: As recommended by the Senate, President Dutton sent a letter to President Sample, congratulating him on the Los Angeles Times Magazine article and more. He sent a very nice personal note sending his heartfelt thanks to the Academic Senate and the faculty as a whole.
6. Senate Issues Questionnaire: Since Senators expressed an interest in ranking issues on the issue grid by their priority, a questionnaire was designed and sent to all schools to solicit the views of faculty council members. Senators are encouraged to notify their colleagues to encourage them to complete and return the questionnaire at their earliest convenience. It is hoped this will help foster more communication between the Senate and the Faculty Councils and Assemblies.
7. Distance Education Committee: The new joint Senate/Provost standing Committee on Distance Education and Distributed Learning has been formed, with Ellis Horowitz, School of Engineering, serving as chair. The committee includes key players in this area from across the University. The roster of members will be posted soon. As rapidly as we have moved to establish this committee, it is none too soon.
8. A new Senate Task Force on Faculty Rights and Obligations in Research Compliance, chaired by Professor Walter Wolf of the School of Pharmacy, has been established. Invitations have been sent to prospective members. When initially proposed, this Task Force was met with some skepticism by some within the University, but as its mission has been clarified, President Dutton has seen a more positive response from the Provost's Office and the faculty.
9. Sabbatical Policy: Professor Greg Davis' Committee on Academic Policy and Procedures has agreed to review Sabbatical Policy in light of Senate White Papers. If they judge it appropriate, the Committee will make specific recommendations for consideration by the Senate.
10. Tenure-Clock: President Dutton has discussed next steps for the resolution of any change in tenure-clock policies with the Executive Board and the Provost's Office. In light of these discussions, a specially tasked group will meet within the next month to discuss the resolution passed at the May Senate meeting and determine what, if anything, should be moved forward to develop a change in the Faculty Handbook.
11. Dismissal Language in the Faculty Handbook: President Dutton has been working with the Provost's Office and the Executive Board on revisions of the language and had hoped to have a document that could be circulated to Senators by this time. However, it was the view of the Executive Board that too many differences of opinion still exist. Therefore, President Dutton has sent the working draft to the Faculty Handbook Committee. They will work with the Provost Office to arrive at a draft that can be circulated to the Senate for discussion.
There was some discussion from the floor regarding why the 1987 Faculty Handbook language was not just restored, as recommended by the Senate last year. President Dutton reminded the Senate that any language change had to be a joint effort of the Provost Office and the Senate. The current effort is to jointly improve and clarify the language.
Agenda Item # 4. Remarks by Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs M. Levine
1. NIH Research Misconduct: Regarding the incident in which a PI at USC wrote to Science to remove an article because it appeared that a post doctoral student had falsified data; it can be reported that the University had first notified NIH and then the Office of Research Integrity about the alleged scientific misconduct.. The University moving forward with its investigation and is following the process outlined in Federal Regulations.
2. Academic Leadership: Orientation for new faculty was conducted today. These orientations are an effort to begin to help new faculty build successful careers at USC.
3. Meeting of new Search Committees: There will be a meeting of the University liaisons or chairs from current search committees in order to facilitate the University's affirmative action efforts.
4. Retirement Policy: The Administration is currently working on redrafting the early retirement policy. In the interim, the University is tying to keep to the previously proposed policy as much as possible. Faculty desiring to retire should speak directly with their dean and may contact Dr. Levine’s office if some confusion exists.
5. Distance Learning at USC: Dr. Levine feels this may be the biggest issue facing the University during this next decade and is pleased with the current joint Provost/Senate efforts and the active role that the Senate has taken.
6. Strategic Plan: Dr. Levine recently visited Oxford University and noted that they have established a degree program available through distance, from whose experience we may learn. Some of their faculty members have interest in benefiting from our experience from interdisciplinary cooperation.
Questions to the Vice Provost:
1. Status of Memorandum from Dennis Dougherty's office regarding misappropriations of University property. Dr. Levine stated that he assumes that the current policy is still in effect. However, Dennis Dougherty's office is now considering redrafting that policy in light of suggestions from the Senate Officers.
2. Faculty Search Committee Meeting: Dr. Levine stated that the chair or liaison from the search committees would attend this meeting.
3. Questions were raised about the status of retirement policy: Dr Dutton argued that faculty are not left adrift by the present situation and may well be in a more flexible position to negotiate a retirement package on an individual basis. Dutton agreed, at the suggestion of Senators, that he write faculty with his personal assessment of the situation. Dr. Levine will inquire to see if Dennis Dougherty's office will post the retirement policy.
4. Dismissal language: Dr. Dutton answered that it is hoped that a draft will be produced soon.
Agenda Item # 5. Reports of Committees
a. Zumberge Faculty Research and Innovation Fund Report - W. Dutton
President Dutton requested that Senators read the report and provide feedback to him or to Vice Provost Sullivan. It was noted from the floor that the amount of funding has not increased over the past several years, despite its apparent success.
b. Academic Policies and Procedures Committee – G. Davis
1) Whistle Blower Report: Dr. Davis reported that the Senate Academic Policies and Procedures Committee looked into whether or not there needed to be a whistle blower policy at the University. He reported that the committee felt that there is already such a policy at USC. The USC Office of Compliance with Laura LaCorte as its Executive Director fulfills this policy. Dr. Davis further mentioned that those reporting compliance issues would remain anonymous.
It was noted from the floor that even with the best efforts to keep things anonymous it does not always happen.
2) Ombudsman Report: Dr. Davis noted his committee concluded that there might not be a need for a University ombudsman since Dr. Marshall Cohen, USC's mediator, currently fills that role. Dr. Dutton will invite Dr. Cohen to the next Senate meeting to discuss his role of a mediator and, Dr Davis agreed to return to continue discussion of an ombudsman at the University.
Floor discussion ranged from having the ombudsman serve as a true mediator or acting as an advocate for the faculty, to whether a University paid person could be independent, and to the fact that issues an ombudsman would address should be brought up early rather than late in the process. It was also suggested that perhaps the faculty could hire their own ombudsman/advocate. Senators were encouraged to review the Ombudsman Report of the Committee in light of this discussion.
Agenda Item #6. Appointment of Nominating Committee
President Dutton presented the slate of candidates for Senate Nominating Committee: Drs. Goodyear, Education; James, LAS; Kunc, Engineering; and Nyquist, Medicine. All were elected with one abstention. These faculty will join four members of the Executive Board (Bill Dutton, Hilary Schor, Ann Crigler, and Wendy Mack) to form the Nominating Committee.
Agenda Item # 7. Resolution 00/01-02: Departments Chairs' Selection
After an extensive discussion, the amended resolution was passed by the Academic Senate (Yea =18, Nay = 4, Abstaining = 2). An earlier attempt to table the motion failed for lack of a second. The passed resolution is below and attached.
Senate Resolution: 00/01-02 Department Chairs' Selection
WHEREAS, a fundamental precept of shared governance is the ability of faculty to express freely and openly their opinion and preference about who should be their department chair,
WHEREAS, the manner in which faculty express their opinions and preferences may vary depending upon the nature of the department and the expressed desire of the faculty,
BE IT RESOLVED THAT,
1. The Academic Senate affirms the policy stated in the Faculty Handbook regarding selection of department chairs;
2. The Provost should annually inform deans of the policy and report to the Senate regarding adherence to the policy; and
3. Faculty who believe the policy has not been followed should bring this to the attention of the President of the Academic Senate and the Provost.
Handouts distributed at the meeting:
1. September 20, 2000 Minutes
2. Executive Board Resolution 00/01-02, Department Chair's Selection
3. Executive Board Resolution 00/01-03, Process for Amending the Faculty Handbook
4. James H. Zumberge Faculty Research and Innovation Fund Report
5. Whistle Blower Report
(Memorandum from Gregory Davis, Chair, Senate Academic Policies and Procedures Committee to William Tierney, President Academic Senate dated April 14, 2000)
6. Ombudsman Report
(Memorandum from Gregory Davis, Chair, Senate Academic Policies and Procedures Committee to William Tierney, President Academic Senate dated April 19, 2000)
7. Election of Nominating Committee Members, October, 2000
8. Voting Members of the Academic Senate, 2000-2001
9. Academic Senate Roster, 2000-2001
10. Senate Issues Survey Form
11. Chair Selection Background material
12. Copy of pages 12-14 of Faculty Handbook
Respectfully Submitted,
Jerry D. Gates, Ph.D.
Secretary General of the Academic Senate
Approved at the November meeting