February 10th, 2004 –Faculty Senate Minutes

 

I. At 3:35 p.m. the meeting was called to order.

 

II. Roll Call: All present except for: Kit Andrews, Bob Brownbridge, Keller Coker, Judie Rhoads, and Dovie Trevino.

 

Ex-Officio Members:  WOU President Conn, ASWOU President Jeremy Quintanilla

 

III. Minutes from last meeting were approved at 3:36 p.m. with 2 corrections suggested by President Conn.

 

Under IV A:  Dr. Dukes was previously at Colorado State University at Pueblo, rather than the University of Colorado at Pueblo.  

Under V B:  The second sentence should read, "Dr. Conn clarified that the students' proposal is being held back while consideration is underway regarding the formation of a Staff Senate."

 

IV. Reports from the Presidents

 

A. Senate President Janeanne Rockwell-Kincanon did not report.

 

B. President Conn's Report

President Conn reported that in the aftermath of the defeat of Measure 30, the Chancellor's staff is expecting some positions to be eliminated by June 3rd 2004. This is of concern for Western Oregon University, since we depend on the Chancellor's Office for services like legal counsel, internal audit, controller functions, contract negotiations, information technology services, and institutional research from the OUS system. Right now Governor Goldschmidt and others on the Higher Education Board are not inclined to eliminate the Chancellor's Office entirely.

 

President Conn also reported on the meeting of Presidents on Friday, February 6th. A big emphasis was placed on coordination and joint programs with community colleges. WOU needs to expand our ties with CCs and especially with Chemeketa Community College. Another recurrent theme was the idea that undergraduate programs should have far less oversight and more freedom of choice and market recognition. A suggested slogan was "more, better, faster".

 

Darin Silbernagel has completed the 2004 operating budget document which has been published and distributed to 50 units around campus. The President urged the Senators and the faculty body in general to give input on it, as well as correct any existing errors.

 

C. The ASWOU president Jeremy Quintanilla reported on his weekly meetings with President Conn concerning the $600,000 financial shortfall. He also reported that ASWOU is working on adopting a new confidentiality form for students where they are given the option of opting out of the WOU directory. Students will also be given the option of requesting that no information about their attendance status at WOU be released to any inquirers like potential employers.

 

Jeremy Quintanilla also reported that ASWOU is waiting on the Study Group chaired by Peter Courtney to finalize its decision on the Staff Senate before they can complete the document on Shared Communication.

 

V. Consideration of Old Business

 

A. This was tabled as per IV-C.

 

 

VI. Consideration of New Business

 

A.  This item was postponed until VII was completed. Sriram Khe, Janeanne Rockwell-Kincanon, Mary Bucy, and Casey Collett presented the Senators with a document on Information Competence, which is the ability of students not simply to use technology competently to access information, but also to bridge the critical divide between data and knowledge. The Senators responded enthusiastically to this document and it was suggested that it be considered as a part of the Strategic Planning.

 

 

VII. Report of IFS

 

Bill Linden, AOF attorney, was a special guest at this meeting. Bill gave an update on litigation between OUS and AOF.  State will claim necessity of reducing contribution; ORP maintains that a contract must be honored.  State has filed a motion for summary judgment.

 

It was noted that the ORP situation is precipitating the departure of some faculty, and that it is difficult to get faculty of the same quality due to the instability in the benefits situation (coupled with the ever-low salaries).

 

Details on the ORP situation can be found at http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~ifs/dirORP/7Feb04.html

 

IFS Senator and President Elect Bob Turner reported on the latest meeting of IFS which happened on February 6th and 7th at WOU. After Bill Linden's report, the IFS senators were introduced to MardiLyn Saathoff, higher education policy advisor to the Governor. She reported that she was working on gathering information from community stakeholders, figuring out policy issues and choices, and advising the governor. She mentioned that legislators perceive faculty members as ineffective and this impression impacts the way in which decisions concerning higher education are made. Peter Courtney urged universities to align themselves with one or more community colleges and to begin serious fundraising in the aftermath of the defeat of Measure 30. Chancellor Jarvis was optimistic about the new Board of Higher Ed and urged each institution to get in touch with at least one board member. Strong ties with CCs were emphasized again in the form of offering joint courses and degree programs, and sharing facilities.

 

 

VIII. Report of Committees

 

A.  John Rector was to report at the next meeting.

 

 

IX. A motion to adjourn was approved around 5:05 .m.