REGULAR MEETING OF THE UNIVERSITY
OF DELAWARE
Meeting Minutes
2 May 2005
104 Gore Hall 4:00
PM
Members
excused: J. Firestone, J. Hill Stoner, E. Benson, C.
Izard, T. Hardie, R. Hampel,
A. Fox
I.
Adoption of the Agenda
There was an amendment to the agenda. The resolution under VI. B. 2. was removed and will be dealt with next year. The agenda was approved unanimously.
II. Approval of the Minutes: The meeting minutes of April 11, 2005 were approved unanimously.
III. Election of Senate Officers and Selected Committee Members – The election process was described by Carmine Balascio (Chairperson, COCAN). Nominations were requested from the floor for any of the offices; however, none was made. The candidates were:
a. President Elect – Dallas Hoover
b. Secretary – Donald Lehman
c. Committee on Committees Chairperson – Barbara Settles and Eric Rise
Later in the meeting following the counting of ballots (between the remarks of Burton Abrahms and Martha Carothers) it was announced that the unopposed candidates were elected and Eric Rise was elected to serve as chair of COCAN.
IV.
Remarks:
A. Provost Dan Rich.
Provost Rich stated that seventy-five searches were made this year to fill faculty positions at UD. He also noted that research faculty is a newly described position at UD. The Institutional Depository in Morris Library was implemented to house data that otherwise would be lost can be digitized at no cost and stored in the Institutional Depository. It is to help contain intellectual property and have easy access to it. There is a new UD Copyright Policy from deliberations of last year to update and upgrade copyright guidelines.
The latest on UD admissions is that the new class has higher quality in every category as compared to past classes. Numbers should approximately be the same as the previous. The same is true of graduate student numbers.
B. Burton Abrahms – Report on Recycling.
It was found from study that the UD blue bins for recycling are misunderstood. This was made evident by questions asked of the Faculty Senate. Approximately 19% of solid waste stream is being recycling at UD, and this is a strong effort as compared to other regional universities.
Gov. Minner is suggesting a recycle rate of 30%. At UD, fluorescent lights are recycled for mercury contained in these lights. Education of UD employees has been recommended to improve usage of blue bins.
It was noted that UD students are interested in doing more. A recycling manager is the norm at most universities. Hiring of a recycling manager and more recycling people was recommended. Suggestions were made to make recycling a topic in coursework, perhaps a recycling minor. It was felt that UD recycling is one of its best kept secrets.
C. John Courtright and Martha Carothers – Update on General Education Initiative
Martha Carothers presented updated information on the General Education Initiative. The First-Year Experience (FYE) was described. Other reviewed topics included the LIFE Program, First-Year Seminars, and Honors and Pathways. There are approximately 3,500 first-year students each fall at UD. Two FYE websites are active for UD students. Discovery & Experimental Learning was described (Study Abroad, Undergraduate Research, Service-Learning, Internships, Independent Study and UNIV courses). Capstone experiences will be pursued in the immediate future. GEI/CTE/IT Instructional Grants 2005-2006 were noted. GenEd Summer Institute will be run this summer, June 7 and 8, on Critical Thinking, Service-Learning, Capstone Experience, and Instructional Grant Session.
V. Announcements: Senate President Charles Boncelet
A. Linda Gottfriedson was awarded with the first Faculty Senate Service Award. She has served twelve years on the University Honors Committee which has been a tremendous amount of work.
B. President Boncelet noted all the people that helped him during his tenure as Faculty Senate President and thanked them. He made a plea for openness on campus.
C. The report on Grade Inflation at the University of Delaware was noted for
information.
VI. Item for Information
The new Department of Biological Sciences Graduate Program Policy was now available.
VII. Consent Agenda
A. Announcements
for Challenge: None
B. Resolution:
Faculty Handbook under Section IV: Policies and Procedures for Faculty, Academic Freedom and Standards of Conduct, Sexual Harassment was pulled for discussion from a request by K. Theobald. Discussion ensued. Concerns were given over effects to free speech.
The amendment passed unanimously to remove “Using epithets or slurs” (proposed by J. Blits). This was followed by an amendment to remove the three remaining bullets including the introductory sentence (proposed by S. Pollock). The vote on the latter amendment was: In favor – 26 votes; opposed – 12 votes; abstentions - 3.
With the time approaching 5:30 PM, there was a vote on whether to hold an emergency session of the Faculty Senate in two weeks. The vote was: Meet in two weeks – 25 votes; Continue the meeting past 5:30 – 13 votes. The 5/2/05 session adjourned at 5:30 PM.
Resumption of the meeting
on
Members Absent: T. Angell, E. Benson, R.S. Brown, T. Deliberty, D. Doren, S. Gillian, S. Kikuchi, V. Martin, M. Robinson,
Members Excused: R. Cunningham, T. Evans, D. Sekel, N. Targett, T. Hardie, C. Izard J. Hill Stoner,
President Boncelet gave an update of actions taken when the meeting adjourned on May 2. Over the two weeks since the last session, a small group met to revise the section in question. Jan Blits read the proposed language as a substitute of what was deleted.
"Threatening, intimidating or engaging in hostile acts based on an individual's race, color, gender, religion, national origin, disability, veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law may constitute unlawful harassment, whether the harasser is a co-worker, supervisor, student or faculty member."
Discussion ensued. A suggested change was proposed in the first line of the section: “in acts that create an unlawful, hostile environment” to be inserted in place of “in hostile acts”. Discussion occurred on use of either “unlawful hostile environment” or “hostile environment”. The wording was proposed:
“Threatening, intimidating or engaging in acts that create an unlawful, hostile environment based on an individual’s race, color, gender, religion, national origin, disability, veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law may constitute unlawful harassment, whether the harasser is a co-worker, supervisor, student or faculty member."
Vote: In favor – 29 votes; opposed – 15 votes; abstentions - 2.
The proposition was then discussed.
One additional revision was suggested in the section before the bulleted items of Formal Redress, that was removal of “medical attention” so that the sentence in question would conclude: “. . . so that the individual can receive appropriate counseling.”
Vote: In favor – 44 votes; opposed – 1 vote; abstentions - 3.
VIII. Regular Agenda
A. Old
Business: None
B. New Business:
1. Confirmation of Appointments
2. Resolutions:
A. The Faculty Senate ad hoc committee on Grade Inflation (Don Lehman, Chair) with the concurrence of the Executive Committee (Charles Boncelet, Chair) propose the following resolution:
Whereas, the Faculty Senate ad hoc committee on grade inflation has found evidence of significant grade inflation at the University, and
Whereas, the grade inflation committee has conducted three open hearings, solicited comments, and generated discussion across campus, and
Whereas, the most important mechanism identified for controlling grade inflation is faculty accountability, and recognizing that grading is a faculty prerogative, and
Whereas, many faculty believe that transparency in grade distribution is an important goal, and
Whereas, in most classes, grade
distributions can be made public without violating students’ rights of privacy;
be it therefore,
1. Resolved,
that the Faculty Senate recommends
that chairs and faculty discuss grade distribution and
consider including it as a part of faculty annual appraisals; and be it
further,
2. Resolved,
that wherever possible, the
distribution of grades in classes and across departments be made public.
The friendly amendment is noted by black cross-outs and redfaced words. This was described by President Boncelet.
The two resolveds were debated.
1. Resolved,
The suggested revision was: “Faculty discuss grade distribution on an annual basis.” This amendment passed.
Votes: In favor – 44 votes; opposed – 1 vote; abstentions - 2.
2. Resolved,
Suggestions were that “that wherever possible” be deleted. Currently chairs have this information and can provide it to their faculty. Friendly amendment to strike “that wherever possible” was agreed.
Vote: In favor – 43 votes; opposed – 6 votes; abstentions - 2.
IX. Introduction of New Business – None.
Meeting adjourned 5:03 PM.
Dallas Hoover
Senate Secretary