Absent:
Abbey, Costanzo, Heldberg, Klinker, Koerin, Malloy, Nixon, Peel,
Peng, Spottswood, Van Tuyle, Ward, Weaver, Yarowsky
The meeting was called to order by the President of the Faculty Senate,
Dr. Wesley Poynor, at 4:10 p.m.
Minutes for September were approved
with one change (the date of the VCU's Fall Convocation was incorrectly
listed as October 7, 2000. It was changed to September 7, 2000.)
1st year - 17 faculty mentors were matched with 17 students from the Turning Point classes. Some students saw their mentor only once so it was determined that a single mentor could reasonable handle 3 mentorees.Mentors work with students who have been place on academic warning. Senator Byles indicated that faculty can help by volunteering to serve as a mentor. Senators were encouraged to contact the faculty in their respective schools and communicate that the opportunity exists to volunteer for this worthwhile program. The fourth round of the program is scheduled to begin mid-January 2001. Senator Byles can be reached by e-mail at cmbyles@vcu.edu.
2nd year – Seven faculty had 21 mentorees
3rd year – The program was been expanded to include 22 faculty mentorswho volunteered to mentor to approximately 60 students. The program, which began in January 2000, had mentors meet with students 3 times during the 10 week period of the Turning Point classes. Students were allowed to choose whether or not to continue their relationship with their mentor following the conclusion of the class.
Senator Judith Lewis noted that the Provost's report on progress had not included any improvements on the MCV campus. The Provost reported that his office does not have control over the MCV campus, but that a number of improvements were planned for that campus, including the building of the Gateway Building and the renovations to Sanger Hall which are currently under way. The Provost indicated that Mr. Timmreck and Dr. Kontos had a copy of the report and that they would be open to an invitation to speak at a future Senate meeting on addressing problems with the teaching environments on the MCV campus.
Senator Alan Briceland asked whether the administration was checking into issues like who monitors that chalk is provided, or looks for equipment in need of repair in shared classrooms. Dr. McDavis responded that money was distributed through academic programs. He reported that members of the higher administration had recently visited 100 English 101 classrooms. He reiterated "We know what the problems are. Do we have enough money to fix things? No."
Senator Don Forsyth described his experience teaching in the Temple Building as at the "emergency" stage. He said "I physically can’t teach in these classrooms" (phone line is dead, no lights in building, using lights from the overhead projector to take notes, sometimes it’s 95 degrees in the room).
In response to concerns that money was being directed to the construction of new buildings while older buildings were not being sufficiently maintained, the Provost clarified that when funds are allocated for a project "like $28 million for the Life Sciences building, that you can’t take some money from X and spend it on Y". The allocation has a specific purpose.
The Provost essentially communicated that he hoped that VCU would get the money through the IPA and the bond issue to do the desperately needed renovations created by several years of deferred maintenance.
President Poynor pointed out that VCU had found money necessary to deal with the very costly IRB problem and that perhaps the issue of our teaching environment needs to be recognized as the emergency that it is. Several Senators provided examples of current untenable conditions.
Senator Lewis noted that emphasis had been placed on purchase of technology but that the university administration had not paid enough attention to the ongoing cost of maintenance for their capitol investments.
The Provost admitted that everything is decentralized by Departments
(Academic Units) and that there may be a need to reexamine how operating
funds are allocated and whether the university should have some offices
that deal with specifically with centralized issues.
Dr. McDavis closed his presentation with the statement "I will present
your passion to the group that I work with!"
Senator George Moxley commented that the administration's report reflects inadequate funding for maintaining the spaces where the work of the university, teaching students, is carried out on a daily basis.
President Poynor stated that the administration had been very open to feedback and that the final report was extremely well done considering that the whole process had been accomplished in only 6-7 weeks. He expressed appreciation for the receptivity to feedback from the Faculty Senators who reviewed the document and indicated that it is very important for administration & faculty to maintain a "conversation" in regard to the document. The Provost agreed to make sufficient copies of the document for all Senators (minus the two extensive appendices). The appendices are available for review by Senators. Senators on the MCV Campus should contact Dr. Poynor and Senators on the Academic Campus should contact Dr. Briceland or Dr. Brilliant.
The Provost indicated that the IPA would be presented to the Board of Visitors on Friday (10/6/2000) and following their approval would be submitted to Secretary of Education. He stated that "We will continue to dialogue and have more conversations at the unit level." VCU will enter a period of negotiation with the Governor over the next two months. Dr. McDavis shared that in a letter from Secretary of Education Bryant that it was communicated to us that of the five institutions submitting this year that VCU had submitted the best IPA and that VCU should be quite proud of their efforts.
With this IPA and our other requests for funding, Dr. McDavis stated that VCU has communicated to the Governor and the General Assembly that "We want to be in line for every opportunity to get money" and that "we are going to get more aggressive in doing that."
Senator Briceland inquired about the relationship between funding and the performance measures. He noted that the concept of the IPA originated with Dr. Allen of SCHEV and that the original intention was more of a punitive effort. Dr. McDavis emphasized that the IPAs were "no longer that way." He reiterated that the IPAs in no way jeopardized base budget money. That process will continue just as it always has. The terms of agreement for the IPA only refer to new initiatives.
Senator McKelvey inquired about how the determination would be made about what initiatives would take precedence if the legislature decides to fund the IPAs at a lower level than what was requested. Dr. McDavis assured everyone that the University would retain the right to make those decisions if necessary. Dr. McDavis indicated that by volunteering to participate in the IPA process, that VCU had demonstrated to the Governor, the Secretary of Education and the General Assembly that "We are willing to walk a different path, if you are willing to fund us."
Don Gehring reported that "We do have supporters in the General Assembly and in the Governor’s office." He reminded Senators that last year VCU had received $22 million for indigent care and that this year that we would be asking for another $25 million for this purpose. VCU is the only institution of higher education in the state that has to contend with the high costs of a significant indigent care problem. The other state medical schools do not have the level of indigent care that Richmond has. Mr. Gehring stated that "Indigent care is keeping us from getting other things done." He announced that relief might come as a result of Senate Bill 337 which calls for elimination of the Certificates of Public Need (COPN). This bill has the support of the Medical Society, but is opposed by the Hospital Association. If COPNs were abolished physicians would like to have the freedom to build independent community-based facilities ("Doc-in-a-Box") that could compete with hospitals. Mr. Gehring indicated that the bill , if passed, would most likely phase out COPNs over a 4 year period of time. In exchange for the elimination of the COPN process new facilities would be required to take their fair share of indigent clients and to contribute to medical education.
VCU is also pursuing development of a new of state statute that would fund 100% of indigent care. This statute would "force government" to deal with the problem of provision of indigent care. Mr. Gehring informed Senators that once funding for indigent care was adequately addressed by the state that VCU could once focus on "academic concerns again"- like library funding, an initiative "that has been near and dear to the Faculty Senate."
Senator Christina Turner, co-chair of the Legislative and Statewide Relations committee encouraged Senators to vote for legislators that will fund higher education.
Senator Turner asked that Mr. Gehring please circulate information to faculty about contacting the appropriate representatives when these important issues were being discussed in the General Assembly. Mr. Gehring stated that is currently developing a draft of a letter that will go out to all faculty in regard to talking with legislators on issues of interest to individuals and to the University. He emphasized that when a faculty or staff are not acting on behalf of the University that they be perfectly clear that they are expressing their own views and not the official views of VCU.
The President announced that he is trying to have the Senate Webpage URL and the Senate e-mail address changed to something more useful for ease of access and for consistency from year to year despite changes in the officers.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:50 p.m.
Updated December 3, 2000, by Neil
W. Henry
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