Present: Present: Abell, Abbott, Adera,
Adyemi, Anderson, Andrews, Beardsley, Bogacki, Boothby, Briceland, Brookman,
Carpenter, Certosimo, Corey, Cramer, Cummins, Dent, Dery, Donnell, Ghosh,
Guidarelli, Hague, Harvie, Heller, Holmes, Iuorno, Jeter, Johnson, Kester
(Watten as alternate), Kinney, Korzun, Kuemmerle, Lamb, Lewis, Mays,
McCain, McCreary, McDonnough, McMahon, McVoy, Moon, Munoz, Murphy-Judy,
Nicholson, Olds, Poynor , Pyles, Ream, Salandro, Sarkozi, Seago, Sholley,
Simons, Sutherland, Taylor, Thoma, Turman, Welleford, Wynne
Absent: G. Brophy , Chessin, Cooper (excused), Dewey, Hutchinson, Ingersoll, Jeter, Pitts, Putman, Thompson.
President Judy Lewis called the meeting to order at 4:05 p.m.
1. President Judy Lewis reported on meetings with the President, the Provost, and with Honors Program director candidates who recently interviewed. Judy was approached by Student Government leadership and asked to join in protest of the university cancellation of reading days on October 16-17 brought about by Hurricane Isabel makeup days. Judy told them that VCU was restoring class sessions the students had paid for and missed and that she supported the faculty working hard to insure that students get what they paid for. Judy also noted that this year’s SGA group seems activist in nature, which she applauds, though the Faculty Senate will not be joining them in this particular battle.
2. President Lewis reported on University
Council Academic Affairs Committee discussion of reorganizing the School
of Education into nine departments from three divisions. They also
approved a PhD program in Medical Physics. At their November meeting, University
Council will consider approving the faculty Bonus Plan and Faculty Sick
Leave policies discussed at earlier Faculty Senate meetings.
3. Dianne Simons, Chair of the Credentials and Rules Committee led a discussion of revising the Bylaws of the Faculty at VCU. Ultimately, changes in these Bylaws must be approved by a vote of the entire faculty, though the Faculty Senate is discussing them first. Dianne is working with Jimmy Ghaphery in VCU Libraries to design a web form for conducting the multi-part faculty voting process. Standing Rules and Leadership Guidelines also under review are ultimately the Faculty Senate’s to change, not requiring the faculty-wide vote that the Bylaws require. Five per cent of the Faculty must participate in a Bylaws revision vote for it to be binding. These latter two documents were deferred for later discussion and attention was focused on the Bylaws alone in this meeting. Changes discussed included the following:
- dividing the Faculty Senate Secretary’s job into two separate jobs (page 3, Article IV, section 2 b. ii.School of Medicine Senator Brenda Seago noted regarding page 2, article III about Administrative & Professional Faculty, that the School of Medicine has several Professional faculty serving as Senators. Considerable discussion and debate followed about whether the Bylaws should exclude Administrative & Professional faculty at the level of department chair/head or above from serving on the Senate. It was noted that the VCU Libraries also has Administrative & Professional faculty serving on the Senate, as noted on page 2 of the Bylaws document. Debate followed on whether all department heads or above administratively are also Administrative & Professional faculty and whether excluding department heads was a good idea or not. Conflict of interest by Senators who are also administrators was discussed. Provost McDavis noted that “most” department chairs are also Administrative & Professional faculty.
- Designation of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd alternates for Faculty Senate representatives (page 7)
- Nominees for Senator positions being informed of Senate meeting times so that those with schedule conflicts might choose not to run (page 8)
Dianne Simons withdrew her motion regarding the Bylaws changes for further deliberation and re-consideration at the November meeting. The majority present favored excluding department chairs from the Faculty Senate eligibility. This will be voted upon at the November Senate meeting.4. Provost McDavis presented the Faculty Bonus Pay proposal that University Council and perhaps the Board of Visitors will consider in November meetings.
5. Provost McDavis apologized to the faculty for not consulting with the Faculty Senate and Student Government Association in deciding to cancel reading days scheduled for October 16th and 17th. He appreciated faculty support of his decision and asked that faculty be flexible in handling conflicts caused by the schedule change.
6. Wes Poynor made a presentation for the Combined Virginia Campaign, noting that overhead expenses for each included charity were listed in the booklets provided with contribution forms. The website at http://www.vcu.edu/cvc will offer links to each included charity’s web site. Massey Cancer Center and the Hospitality House are the two VCU charities included this year.
7. Faculty Senate Vice-President Fred Certosimo encouraged all Faculty Senate Committee chairs and co-chairs to attend the Faculty Senate Executive Committee meetings each month (time and place of meetings are listed on the Faculty Senate main webpage). Senate Secretary Dan Ream has a mailing list including all committee chairs and co-chairs and will send agendas and meeting times in advance.
8. Senator Alan Briceland noted that faculty in the College has expressed concern about the closure of the Interlibrary Loan service point at Cabell Library and asked if other senators had heard similar concerns. President Lewis suggested that Senators discuss this with their school’s Library Advisory Committee representatives.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:35 p.m.
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Dan Ream, Secretary