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FACULTY SENATE
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MINUTES
FACULTY SENATE
THE UNIVERSITY
OF ARIZONA®
Once approved, these
minutes may be accessed electronically at:
http://fp.arizona.edu/senate/minutes.htm
Visit the faculty governance webpage at:
http://fp.arizona.edu/senate/
1. CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order by Vice Chair of the Faculty Robert P. Mitchell at 3:04 p.m. in the College of Law, Room 140.
Present: Senators, Bergsma, Bruce, Burd, Christenson, Conway, Cuello, Dahlgran, G. Davis, O. Davis, Estrada, Green, Gruener, Hertzog, Hildebrand, Howell, Jenkins, Jones, Marchalonis, McKee, Mitchell, Mitchneck, Mountford, Murdaugh, Mutchler, Nolan, Pavao-Zuckerman, Pintozzi, Ranger-Moore, Ruiz, Salazar, San Martin, Schlager, Sebesta, Shelton, Songer, Spece, Sterling, Strittmatter, Ulreich, Willerton and Witte. C. Nagata substituted for B. Rodl. L. Aleamoni substituted for S. M. Smith. Robert Sankey served as Parliamentarian.
Absent: Senators Chandler, Corcoran, Cromwell, Cusanovich, D. Davis, Joens, Kiefer, Rodl, Sarid, Silverman, Smith, St. John, Tabor, Tatman, Thorn, Weinand and Zizza
2. OPEN SESSION
There were no speakers for the Open Session.
3. REPORTS
3A. ASUA President Erin Hertzog
ASUA President Hertzog gave the results of an ASUA survey that 5243 students completed about the proposed $60 increase in the technology fee to the Senate. Students are interested in a variety of things that could be accomplished with the technology fee, and eight students have applied to be on the IT Board. President Hertzog distributed an ASUA resolution that supports free speech in the classroom, in response to recent ideological agendas and proposed bills in state legislatures that threaten the free exchange of ideas on college or university campuses that are central to the learning process. ASUA will vote on this resolution at its meeting this Wednesday. GPSC already passed such a resolution on January 17, 2007.
GPSC representative and Senator Anne Murdaugh reported in President Thorn’s absence that GPSC passed a resolution in support of the free exchange of ideas in the universities. GPSC strongly supports free speech and opposes any sort of legislation that might inhibit academic freedom in the classroom. Turning to the issue of health insurance for graduate students, Senator Murdaugh said three companies have responded to the request for proposals but the tri-university committee is also looking to independent insurers for prescription, catastrophic, and dental coverage. On February 15-16, Senator Murdaugh and another GPSC representative will travel to Washington D.C. to take part in the National Association of Graduate-Professional Students-sponsored “Legislative Action Days,” to promote awareness on Capitol Hill of graduate and professional student concerns, to educate national legislators about the Higher Education Affordability and Equity Act, and to lobby for cutting student loan interest rates.
Vice Chair of the Faculty Robert Mitchell reminded senators that petitions
and biostatements for the upcoming General Faculty Primary Election are due
in the Faculty Center or with Faculty Center staff today at 5:00 p.m. The
General Faculty online election to approve the revisions to the Constitution
and Bylaws ends this Thursday, February 8, 2007 at 5:00 p.m. Online voting
involves simply logging on to Employee Link on the UA Website using your Net
ID and password and clicking on “Vote Now.” The whole process takes under a
minute. To request a printed ballot, please call the Faculty Center at
621-1342. Today’s Senate meeting was moved to Law 140 due to a class
scheduling conflict. It is not yet known whether we will be back in Law 146
for the rest of this term, so Vice Chair Mitchell advised Senators to please
watch their meeting call packets carefully for room changes.
Provost Davis reported that his Provost’s Leadership Team has met to discuss the implications of a possible 2.5% - 3.5% general salary adjustment for all state employees. Provost Davis hopes for a four-pronged approach to hoped-for distributions. 1) He will first ask for principles for distributions by vice presidents and deans. The principles will include whatever constraints or language the state bill requires, plus explicit information about who is eligible, whether there will be cola, merit, market, or equity components, and whether performance evaluations need to be in place by a given date. Juan Garcia and Allison Vaillancourt will begin meeting with shared governance entities to gather their input similar to the input that used to be gathered from the University Compensation Advisory Team (UCAT). Then the vice presidents and deans will prepare guidelines for how decisions and deployments would be made unit by unit, and college by college, insisting that the vice presidents and deans connect closely with the shared governance groups within their colleges or units. Vice Provost Garcia and Vice President Vaillancourt will then receive, review and approve these plans and then prepare a report regarding the actual deployment and compare it to the guidelines/principles. Provost Davis turned the Senate’s attention to an article by David Horowitz and Tom Ryan called “Abusive Academics” that was posted January 19, 2007 on FrontPageMagazine.com. The article is a continuation of Horowitz’ attack on a long list of national universities where reside, in his view, “dangerous” faculty, mostly women, who promote an agenda of indoctrination through assigned texts and readings. A number of our UA faculty, programs, and courses are named in what can only be considered an assault on persons and on academic freedom. The article contains incomplete course descriptions and inaccurate statements as well as editorializing by the authors. Chair of the Faculty Howell and Provost Davis have prepared a response to this article, to be distributed to the Campus Community saluting and supporting our faculty at this time.
3E. President Robert N. Shelton
President Shelton commended the Provost and Chair of the Faculty for the clear statement of UA’s academic principles. He has spent much of the past week in Phoenix talking with legislators and committees. Proposition 300, which denies illegal aliens in-state tuition, is a concern of a number of legislators. President Shelton has assured them that UA will comply with this law, but will also continue to support access and affordability for all qualified students. Prop 300 does not address admission to the universities; it speaks to the use of state funds for financial aid. The two triggers are when an individual seeks Arizona residency or when any individual seeks financial aid. President Shelton said the UA needs to broadcast the message that the UA will continue to welcome all qualified students. Federal legislation may help with this issue but, in the mean time, UA is gearing up to conform to this law. In addition to his meetings with legislators, President Shelton has been attending state budget discussions in both the Senate and the House Appropriations Committee which he finds stimulating and interesting. He is getting to know the personalities of the state legislators and he believes that the University has many friends in the legislature and a staunch ally for higher education in the governor.
4. QUESTION AND ANSWER PERIOD FOR AGENDA ITEM 3
Senator Witte asked the Secretary of the Faculty and the Presiding Officer of the Senate to please return to distributing the Senate minutes on the faculty listserv, so that every faculty member receives the minutes. Vice Chair Mitchell agreed to discuss this request with the faculty officers and the Senate Executive Committee. The cost of mailing hard copies to the entire faculty was about $700-800 per month, when this practice ended about eight years ago. A message to the allfaculty listserv could be posted with a link to the Senate Minutes website as soon as they are posted, which is the morning after they are approved. Senator Gruener offered a motion that the Senate Minutes be distributed on email to the allfaculty listserv, or alternatively, with an email pointing to the website where the minutes are posted. Presiding Officer Mitchell asked for this motion to be brought up under new business late today.
Senator Cuello asked Provost Davis who will be receiving the response to the “Abusive Academics” article. Provost Davis said it will be distributed to the campus community. Whether it will be published elsewhere such as Frontpage.com or the Chronicle of Higher Education is something the President and others will need to discuss. Senator Mitchneck said the response should at least be sent to the Tucson Weekly which recently published an article along these lines. Provost Davis said his and Chair Howell’s first priority was to reassure our faculty that the administration supports them, similar to the support that President Likins and Senator McCain expressed when Malcolm Hughes was under attack for his views on global warming. Senator Hertzog said the problem with these attacks is that they make students seem like victims, which the students protest and resent. She added that students may become victims, however, if these bills pass because of restricted choices and limited programs or curriculums.
5. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF JANUARY 22, 2007
The minutes of January 22, 2007 were approved with one correction.
6. APPROVAL OF CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS FORWARDED AS A SECONDED MOTION BY THE INSTRUCTION AND CURRICULUM POLICY COMMITTEE (attachment)
Senator Mitchneck requested to remove Consent Agenda item 1 [Motion
2006/07-24] for discussion. Consent Agenda items 2 and 3 forwarded by the
ICPC and detailed at the end of these minutes [Motions 2006/07-25 and
2006/07-25] were approved unanimously. Returning to Consent Agenda item 1,
Senator Mitchneck asked whether the second bulleted item in the proposal to
amend the grade replacement opportunity policy in the general catalog, which
reads that courses “which have been determined to be equivalent as indicated
in the Catalog course description” contradicts with the fourth sentence in
the justification that says that, “department faculty from UA South and main
campus will determine that their respective courses are equivalent.” ICPC
Chair Conway asked C. Pardee of the Office of Curriculum to respond. Ms.
Pardee explained that the statement in the catalog is not appropriately
compared to what is expressed in the justification. The justification is a
description of the process, of what is happening behind the scenes and added
that faculty are always charged with determining the equivalency of courses.
Students will then merely refer to the catalog to determine course
equivalency. Motion passed unanimously.
7. DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION: APPROVAL OF THE COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS ADMISSIONS PROPOSAL (attachment)
Instruction and Curriculum Policy Committee Chair and Senator W. Conway introduced the [Motion 2006/07-27] as a non-consent item which comes as a seconded motion from the Instruction and Curriculum Policy and the Student Affairs Policy Committee. ICPC supported it 10-0-0 and Student Affairs Policy Committee Chair and Senator John Ulreich said that, although not everyone voted, five of his committee members voted to support it during an electronic vote. The College of Fine Arts is proposing restrictions on its admissions requirements and began this process as an interim policy three years ago. Chair Conway asked Vice Provost for Instruction Hogle to speak to why he supports this proposal. Dr. Hogle said that, at the request of the Undergraduate Council, he declared a moratorium on the restriction of majors or minors, although Vice Provost Hogle and the UGC agreed that there might be extraordinary circumstances. Therefore, he created a Faculty Advisory Committee on the Accessibility of Majors, Minors and Courses. The Faculty Advisory Committee discussed this proposal to restrict College of Fine Arts admissions at length and agreed the issues were pressing and unusual enough to support forwarding the proposal to the UGC. There is some precedence for the proposal: professional degrees such as the Bachelor of Fine Arts which require auditions or portfolios have long been restricted, and the arguments for restricting the Bachelor of Arts degrees in Fine Arts were also convincing. Chair Conway asked Dean Maurice Sevigny and Associate Dean Jacqueline Chanda of the College of Fine Arts to speak to those reasons. Dean Sevigny explained that when he came here sixteen years ago, his college was a Faculty of Fine Arts in the College of Arts and Sciences. Since that time they have been on a slow evolution to become a college of five professional schools, competing nationally with professional art schools and conservatories. In professional schools, there is a misunderstanding between the BA and the BFA, which requires more intensity of performance at the senior level. The BA is also a professional degree, and BA students compete at the lower levels with the BFA students, and at some point they may opt to convert to the BFA. The BA prepares students for life and careers in the arts, but not in performance. CFA has not given up its liberal arts mission: CFA still offers a high number of Tier I and Tier II general education classes and still offers numerous courses for non majors. In the arts, he said, it is traditional in every school, to apply through portfolio or audition. The Dance program is an example: it is one of the top five in the nation, accepting one in fourteen applicants because of the quality of the program. In the past, everyone was accepted as a major in the College of Fine Arts with a 50% dropout rate between the freshman and sophomore years. The screening happened at that point, when it became the faculty’s job to advise students that they were not of the caliber to have a life in the arts. CFA decided this was not a good use of resources and since the interim admissions criteria has been in place, retention has risen to 80% and graduation rates have also increased. The intent is to encourage students’ success. Senators’ questions and comments included: 1) How many students are being rejected? Associate Dean Chanda said that only 26 students were not admitted, and looking back, 37.7% of 1002 applicants were admitted in the fall of 2004; 55.5% of 523 applicants were admitted in the fall of 2005, and 58.3% of 531 applicants were admitted in the fall of 2006. The trend seems to be increasing in the number of students who are admitted in relationship to the number of applicants. The total number of students in the program is decreasing; the current number of students is 1730 down from almost 2000 in the past. Part of the problem is that students aren’t completing the application process for UA/CFA. Once they are admitted to the UA, they fail to go on and complete the application to CFA. In addition, students are self-selecting out when they see that they don’t have the qualifications to apply. Dean Sevigny cited the example of Media Arts, which used to have 900 majors with only 8 faculty. CFA had to reduce the number of Media Arts majors and now requires portfolios with writing examples and grade point averages. 2) It is wonderful effort that everyone can support, to improve the quality of your students but what about the impact on other colleges who do not have that luxury? Dean Sevigny said it is difficult to judge because some of these students may choose to go to other institutions or programs. 3) Does this seem like a dangerous trend of colleges having ever higher admissions standards than the University’s standards? For UA students, there is a huge disconnect between being admitted to the UA and actually being in this University, which is much more difficult that the admissions standards imply. 4) A majority of colleges do not have the luxury of hand-picking students, must educate whoever walks through the doors, in whatever numbers, and at whatever the cost is to the department. Dean Sevigny spoke to the one point of this argument, which is that in the real world of the arts, performance is highly competitive, and students must have a “pre-life” in the arts before coming here. CFA students are being prepared for this. 5) Is CFA becoming selective because of a lack of resources? Perhaps more resources should be allocated to CFA instead of limiting admissions, so that other colleges don’t become dumping grounds. Dean Sevigny said the college has 2000 majors, but they also have to control the numbers of people because they must guarantee stage time for students in dance or theatre. 6) Many senators might argue that there are real life-long prerequisites for their majors, as well, such as an English major who has not been a reader. What is the difference between an Art History major and an English or History major? Assoc Dean Chanda explained that the Art Education degree is a BFA, but the Art History BA requires an essay for admission. Talent-based financial awards are also a part of the CFA screening device. Presiding Officer Mitchell noted that the time allotted for this item had expired, and asked Senators Conway and Ulreich how to proceed. Senator Ulreich would like the Senate to vote today. Senators’ comments continued: 7) This proposal has a very direct bearing on the issue of UA’s mission of being a Research I university while embracing access. This seems almost impossible to attain and makes it difficult to attract faculty. 8) UA also hasn’t done a very good job of tracking students who move between programs. This is an issue that the Senate needs to discuss. 9) Students who are admitted to CFA but not accepted into a program because they were unable to audition, may come in as undeclared for one semester, but they must declare a major after they’ve auditioned, assuming they pass that audition. 10) Restricting the number of majors at the bachelor’s level, as Eller, Journalism, or CFA are doing, simply is not access. The Senate needs to address what happens to the students who are not admitted. Raising the bar is creating serious concerns for managing students who are not admitted to these colleges. 11) Is accreditation an issue for most of these programs? Dean Sevigny said that Art, Dance, Music and Theatre Arts all require national accreditation; Media Arts does not, but it is reviewed. SAPC Chair Ulreich said his committee met and discussed these issues and that this offers a pilot program for the UA to deal with the perennial problem of trying to be a Research I, student-centered, land grant university. Senator Gruener called for the question [Motion 2006/07-28] to end debate. Motion was seconded and carried, 29-11-0. Motion to approve the seconded motion from the Instruction and Curriculum Policy Committee and the Student Affairs Policy Committee to implement the new admission criteria for the Bachelor of Arts degrees in the College of Fine Arts carried, 31-4-3.
8. DISCUSSION ITEM: UA-UA SOUTH RELATIONSHIP (attachment)
Dean Gerald “Skip” Jubb offered a brief history of UA South’s existence and current status with a PowerPoint presentation. UAS activity began 43 years ago in Cochise County, with classes at Fort Huachuca and Sierra Vista. Some of UAS’ themes are accessibility, affordability, community embeddedness in five communities, flexibility to meet emerging needs, being an Hispanic-serving institution with over 30% Hispanic student population, close articulation with Cochise Community College and Pima Community College (East) as most UAS students come from these two institutions. Enrollment was down about 200 students this year, from 557 to about 352. UAS’ outreach components include outreach UA’s cooperative extension in Cochise County, the Sierra Vista observatory/telescope outreach to school children, an early learning center (preschool and daycare facility) at the Sierra Vista campus and a satellite campus at the UA Science Technology Park on Tucson’s southeast side which opened in August. UAS’ outreach in Douglas involves a small enrollment but the impact in this community is very much appreciated by the non-traditional students located there. The Arizona Folklore Preserve south of Sierra Vista is another UAS outreach as well as the Counseling and Advising Office on the Ft Huachuca base. UAS’ plans include increasing enrollment in ten years, making the 2+2 agreements work more efficiently, offering more scholarships, and filling the six faculty positions which are currently in ongoing searches. There are seven more positions to be filled later on. UAS wants to draw closer to the main campus and is participating with UA faculty on determining course equivalences for the purpose of catalog listings. Senators’ comments and questions include: 1) What is the enrollment capacity of UAS. Enrollment at the Science Technology Park is approaching capacity. UAS intends double or triple enrollment within the next ten years.2) How many tenured faculty are at UAS? There are about twelve tenured or tenure-track faculty at UAS, and 39 adjuncts, some of whom are on three-year contracts. 3) Does UAS have a curriculum committee? Yes, Senator Mutchler sits on that committee of one chair and four faculty members. There are two courses currently awaiting approval.
9. SENATE DISCUSSION OF CRITICAL ISSUES FACED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA (attachment)
Chair of the Faculty Howell continued the discussion begun at the last Senate meeting on January 22, 2007. She collated the critical issues that Senators emailed her about after the January 22 meeting and presented three overheads showing the categories these issues fall into, acknowledging that many of them have overlapping components: Financial Planning, Resources, Access/Outreach/Research, Rightsizing, External Relations, Undergraduate Education/General Education, Admissions Policies, State-based financial aid, Shared Governance at all levels and Higher Administration performance evaluations. She asked Senators to respond to an email that the Faculty Center will send, asking them to rank and/or combine these issues in order of which topics they would like the Senate to begin discussing first
10. EXECUTIVE SESSION
The Senate recessed at 4:45 p.m. to go into Executive Session.
11. NEW BUSINESS
Senator Gruener moved [Motion 2006/07-29] to ask the Faculty Center to inform faculty of the approved Faculty Senate minutes as soon as they are available. Motion was seconded. Senators’ comments included 1) This should be an “opt-out” listserv. The allfaculty listserv does not allow for opting out of selected minutes. Motion carried with one opposed.
12. ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:03 p.m.
Jennifer L. Jenkins, Secretary of the Faculty
Pamela S. Bridgmon, Recording Secretary
1. ASUA’s “Student Survey: Information Technology Survey Results”
2. ASUA’s “Resolution: Support of Free Speech in the Classroom”
3. Consent Agenda forwarded from the Instruction and Curriculum Policy Committee
4. Non-consent agenda item forwarded from the Instruction and Curriculum Policy Committee and the Student Affairs Policy Committee: “Approval of the implementation of new admissions criteria for the Bachelor of Arts degrees in the College of Fine Arts”
5. Dean Gerald “Skip” Jubb’s PowerPoint slides: Quo vadis UA South? Dated 2/5/07
6.
W. H. Howell’s Critical Issues overheads: 3 pages, beginning with “Financial Planning, . .”*Copies of material listed in the Appendix are attached to the original minutes and are on file in the Faculty Center.
Motion 2006/07-24 Seconded motion from the Instruction and Curriculum Policy Committee to amend the Grade Replacement Opportunity (GRO) Policy statement #2 in the General Catalog. Motion carried.
Motion 2006/07-25 Seconded motion from the Instruction and Curriculum Policy Committee to approve the implementation of Doctor of Philosophy with a major in Women’s Studies in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Motion carried.
Motion 2006/07-26 Seconded motion from the Instruction and Curriculum Policy Committee to approve implementation of Professional Science Master’s with a major in Economic Geology in the College of Science. Motion carried.
Motion 2006/07-27 Seconded motion from the Instruction and Curriculum Policy Committee to implement the new admission criteria for the Bachelor of Arts degrees in the College of Fine Arts. Motion carried.
Motion 2006/07-28 Seconded motion to close debate on the seconded motion from the Instruction and Curriculum Policy Committee to implement the new admission criteria for the Bachelor of Arts degrees in the College of Fine Arts. Motion carried.
Motion 2006/07-29 Seconded motion to ask the Faculty Center to inform faculty of the approved Faculty Senate minutes as soon as they are available. Motion was seconded. Motion carried with one opposed
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last updated
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