Academic Senate
Minutes from October 16, 1996
The meeting was called to order at 2:45 p.m. by Senate President, Erwin Chemerinsky.
Agenda Item #1. Approval of the minutes. Prior to the approval of the minutes, Professor Chemerinsky made four announcements cements:
(1) Michael Cody agreed to join the Executive Board as the Editor of the Academic Senate Forum, and the first issue of the Forum is underway.
(2) Eunice Howe has agreed to join the Executive Board as an Invited Member.
(3) The Provost asked the Academic Senate to evaluate and advise or approve the University Calendars for 10 years--1997 - 2007. During these years, the University will start semester classes on Mondays, rather than on Wednesdays. Faculty members may obtain copies of the proposed calendars by requesting them from the Senate office.
A call was made to approve the Minutes of the September 18, 1996 meeting. The minutes were approved as presented.
Agenda Item #2. Election of Nominating Committee Members. Kathy Glennan oversaw nominations for, and election to, the Nominating Committee. Four Senators were nominated to the Committee: Dan Schaeffor, Sylvia Formenti, Bernard Comrie, and Jerry Gates. These four Senators were subsequently elected, by consensus, to fill the four vacancies on the Nominating Committee.
Agenda Item #3. Resolution 96/97-04. Benefits for Domestic Partners. Discussion of Resolution 96/97-04 resulted in the adoption of one friendly amendment, the re-phrasing of the first sentence of the Resolution: "The Academic Senate urges the University of Southern California to adopt the following statement of policy." Resolution 96/97-04 was passed by the Senate with one abstention. It will be forwarded to the appropriate administrative office for approval and implementation.
Agenda Item #4. Provost’s Remarks. Provost Armstrong entertained questions from Senators. Two general concerns were expressed by Senators’ questions. First, a number of questions concerned the future of the Health Science Campus/Medical School. Provost Armstrong expressed optimism regarding the future, and discussed several positive avenues being pursued. Second, a number of questions were asked regarding faculty salaries, and whether faculty salary data are available. A number of questions were raised concerning faculty salaries, uncovering data on current faculty salaries, comparing the data to national databases and/or comparable institutions. At the conclusion of this discussion, Provost Armstrong discussed the "realities" of faculty compensation at a research institution such as the University of Southern California, and the Provost emphasized the importance of relating salaries to "excellence."
Agenda Item #5. A report was made regarding a request from the Medical Faculty Assembly which addressed: (a) the immediate history of the events which have occurred between University Administrators and the Medical School’s Faculty; (b) salary information (Health Sciences Campus and University Park Campus "Basic Science" faculty); and, (c) documents detailing Faculty Compensation and/or Faculty Productivity Standards.
Agenda Item #6. Update Report: Irvine Foundation Grant. Tu-Nan Chang discussed the rationale for pursuing the Irvine Foundation Grant. He advised that he has placed, temporarily, several documents on his Homepage. The current title of the project (adopted from White Paper #1) is "Merit-based Faculty Compensation System" (compared to "Performance-based" Compensation. Professor Chang discussed the general plan of holding a conference in February. Professor Chang was requested to provide information regarding the budget of the grant to Senate members.
Agenda Item #7. New Business. No new business was introduced.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:22 p.m.
Submitted by: Michael Cody
Editor, Academic Senate Forum