REGULAR MEETING OF THE UNIVERSITY FACULTY SENATE September 15, 1997 SENATORS ABSENT: Pamela Cummings, Kathryn Denhardt, John Gallagher, Jeffrey Jordan, John Kraft, Annette Shine SENATORS EXCUSED: Bethany Hall-Long, Alan Horowitz, Larry Kalkstein, Mary Beth Miele, Ludwig Mosberg, James Mulligan, Bonnie Scott I. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA The agenda was adopted as presented. II. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES The Minutes of the May 5, 1997 meeting were approved. III. ELECTION OF SENATE PRESIDENT ELECT Victor Martuza, who was elected President-Elect at the May meeting, has resigned from that office due to arrangements made in connection with his early retirement. President Carroll announced that past practice indicates that a new election is called for, and that ballots and biographies of the nominees are included in the voting cards. Later in the meeting he announced that Michael Keefe had been elected by secret ballot. IV. REMARKS FROM PROVOST SCHIAVELLI Provost Schiavelli announced that the University of Delaware admitted the largest Honors class ever--about 450 in a class of 3,239 entering freshmen. The rate of growth in that program has been impressive. This year we intend to look at the way the Honors Program is structured, what experiences we want that particular population of students to have, and ways to continue that tradition. It is a very important recruitment tool for us, but it does put strain on both departmental resources and Honors Program personnel. -2- Numbers of applications have been going up 7, 8, and 9 percent annually the last four years. In the non-resident entering class, the SAT scores went up 15 points this year. It should help to have been named one of the top 25 public universities in the United States. Provost Schiavelli expressed thanks to Maggie Anderson for all she did for many years in the Office of the Provost and for her work in the Faculty Senate. V. ANNOUNCEMENTS BY PRESIDENT CARROLL President Carroll welcomed new senators and reminded senators about the procedure for registering attendance and excusing absences. President Carroll clarified Item B on the agenda. It is the intention of the resolution that the terms of the Vice President and Secretary be two year terms, and take office in alternate years. The President's semi-annual meeting with the faculty will be held on October 6 at 3:30 p.m. in 110 Memorial Hall. Senators were urged to attend. Jon Olson was appointed Parliamentarian. Standing Committee lists will be available by the end of September and there will be a meeting of Senate committee chairs on September 29. Dr. Carroll introduced the new Faculty Senate office staff, Rita Girardi and Karren Helsel and the members of the Executive Committee--Jon Olson, Chair of the Committee on Committees and Nominations; Joann Browning, Vice President; Frank Dilley, Secretary and Michael Keefe as President Elect. President Carroll asked of the senators that any items for the agenda be brought to the attention of the Executive Committee so that they can consider them as the agenda is assembled for each of our regular meetings. He also advised the senators that the October agenda will include addresses from Dr. Carol Hoffecker on the progress in General Education and Dr. Roland Smith or his designee will talk about the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant on alcohol abuse. VI. ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR CHALLENGE There were no announcements for challenge. -3- VII. OLD BUSINESS There were no items of old business. VIII. NEW BUSINESS There were four items of new business, each a proposed amendment to the Constitution or By-Laws, and each contained in the notice for the meeting. President Carroll asked Frank Dilley to explain each proposal, as Chair of the Rules Committee. He reminded Senators that constitutional changes require a two-thirds vote. Rules Committee Chair Dilley reminded the Senate that it does have the authority to amend the Constitution of the Faculty, except for Sections VIII, which allows the General Faculty the power to resume and exercise its full powers of the Faculty at a General Faculty Meeting, and Section X, which prevents the Senate from depriving the General Faculty of that power by amending the Constitution to accomplish that. A. The first proposal was to eliminate an inconsistency in the current By-Laws with regard to the procedure to be used when the office of President-Elect becomes vacant. It would make that procedure consistent with another stipulation in the By-Laws that a vacancy in any office filled originally by a vote of the Senate will be filled by a new election. The amendment was adopted, deleting the fifth paragraph in the By-Laws, L, Responsibilities and Powers of Officers. It is resolved that the following paragraph be deleted from Section IX of the Faculty Handbook: If the office of President Elect becomes vacant, the Vice President shall assume that office and a special election for a new Vice President shall be held. The Committee on Committees and Nominations will present a slate of at least two eligible candidates for the office of Vice President at the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Senate. B. The second proposal, amending Article I, Section II, paragraph 7 of the Constitution, is to provide more continuity in the membership of the Executive Committee by codifying what the Senate has in fact been doing in recent elections when it typically re-elects incumbents to the positions of Secretary and Vice-President. The proposal will be implemented by electing a Secretary for one year and a Vice-President for two years in the May election. The amendment was adopted. It is resolved that the Constitution be amended to allow for two year terms for the Vice President and the Secretary of the Senate. -4- At the first regular May meeting the Senate shall elect a President Elect, and in alternate years, a Vice President or a Secretary from the full time voting faculty of the University. The President Elect shall assume the office of President of the Senate in the second year of office. The Vice President shall serve for two years and may not be reelected. The Secretary shall serve for two years and may not be reelected. The Secretary of the Senate shall also serve as Secretary of the University Faculty. C. Current bylaws imply but do not state clearly that the elected Chair of the Committee on Committees and Nominations is an officer of the Senate, entitled to a seat on the Senate. The simplest way to clarify this matter is to amend the description of the Executive Committee in Section III of the Standing Committee System to state that the Chair of the Committee on Committees and Nominations, who is in fact elected by the membership of the Senate, is an elected officer of the Senate. The proposed change in the composition of the Executive Committee was discussed and adopted. It is resolved that for consistency in wording of the constitution, Section IV of the Faculty Handbook be amended as follows: This Committee shall be composed of the elected officers of the Senate, who are the President of the Senate, the President Elect of the Senate, the Vice President of the Senate, the Secretary of the Senate, and the Chairperson of the Committee on Committees and Nominations. D. At the time of the last reapportionment, the issue of the awkwardness of assigning a rather large number of Directors, Librarians, Physicians, Counseling Psychologists etc. to academic units for the sole purpose of determining how many Senators each unit would receive was discussed, and the Chair of the Rules Committee said at that time that the Rules Committee would be returning to the Senate with a proposal to modify the Constitution. The Rules Committee proposes a set of changes to accomplish several useful things. i. It proposes that only those people who are currently considered faculty by the Colleges be considered in determining how many senators an academic unit should have. ii. It favors the current practice, hitherto made possible by the College of Education's allocating two of its seats to the Professional Librarians assigned to it for apportionment purposes, and proposes making this practice permanent by stating that the composition of the Senate should include two Professional Librarians. -5- iii. It notes that separating out the Librarians makes it possible for the number of faculty senators elected by the academic units to be restored to its originally intended total. iv. It suggests that the sometimes used rule that if the application of the formula used for calculating the numbers of Senators should result in a number assigned to academic units less than 50, a recommendation will be made to the Senate as to how to get that exact number be made permanent. After a brief discussion, Section III, paragraph 2, and the first two paragraphs of Section IV, of the Constitution were replaced by the following paragraphs: It is resolved that Section IV of the Faculty Handbook be amended as follows: For the purpose of determining representation on the University of Delaware Faculty Senate (hereinafter called the Senate), the relevant members shall be the full time members of the Unit whose primary or secondary appointments are listed as faculty or professionals who have been granted active voting status by the Unit. Any questions involving the assignment of a faculty member to a Unit shall be resolved by the Senate (or a Committee that it designates). The Senate shall consist of the President of the University, the Provost, the Vice President for Student Life, the Vice Provost for Academic Programs and Planning, the Vice Provost for Research, the Deans of the Colleges, the elected Senate officers, the elected faculty senators of the Units, two elected professional librarians, and four student senators of the University. Each member of the Senate (hereinafter called a senator) shall have the right to vote. In no case shall the number of non-elected senators exceed twenty percent of the Senate. Each Unit shall elect a number of senators equal to the whole number part of the ratio of fifty (50) times the number of voting faculty (defined in Section III, Item 2) for that Unit to the number of such voting faculty of the University, with the added proviso that each Unit shall be granted at least two (2) senators. Should application of this recipe yield other than fifty (50) elected senators, the Senate shall review and approve recommendations to adjust this total to fifty (50). -6- The duly constituted undergraduate student government and the graduate student government will each elect two students from the full time student body. In the absence of a duly constituted graduate student government, the Committee on Graduate Studies shall have the responsibility for arranging the election of the graduate student senators. President Carroll announced that there would be a reapportionment under these rules during the current year, which would restore reapportionment to the every other year schedule which was adjusted to accommodate the recent reorganization. President Carroll asked if there were other items of new business, reminding the Senate that such proposed items could not be acted upon until the next meeting. There being none, the meeting was adjourned 4:40 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Frank Dilley, Secretary FBD/rpg