University of Minnesota, Morris

Campus Assembly Minutes

 

February 22, 2005

 

 

The Campus Assembly met on Tuesday, February 22 at 4:30 p.m. in the Science Auditorium. 

 

I.               Chancellorıs Remarks.

 

None

 

II.             Minutes from November 23, 2004 assembly were approved as presented.

 

III.           From the Executive Committee.  Matt Conner was elected to replace Michelle Page on Consultative Committee for spring semester.

 

IV.           From the Executive Committee.  Updated personnel, office and committee titles on the Constitution and By-Laws.

 

Bert Ahern made an observation that a two-thirds majority vote was needed for an amendment.  Rich Heyman asked if two-thirds were present today and if not, could we vote.  Greg Thorson asked if this was presented for information at an earlier meeting.  Sam Schuman said it was not, however, we could consider this the presentation and then follow up with a mail ballot.  Ahern suggested we simply vote at the next assembly meeting.  Mary Elizabeth Bezanson asked if this was urgent and expressed concern about the difficulty of getting two-thirds of the members in the room.  Thorson recommended that the proposal be on two separate sheets of paper per our constitution and by-laws.  Ahern believes it will be very difficult to get two-thirds to vote and noted that the University Senate, failing to have two-thirds present at their meetings, are now going with two meetings of which there is a majority vote.  He encourages the Executive Committee to think about allowing UMM to do the same.  Schuman said he thinks there are two problems:  the first is the problem of changing our constitution and the second is an attendance problem.  He added that we need to encourage better participation at Campus Assembly meetings.

 

V.             From the Curriculum Committee.  Course changes/additions were approved as presented.

 

Division of Humanities:

Humanities

1 new course

Hum 1002

English

Revision of Goals for College Writing GER

1 course revision

Engl 1011

Continuing Education:

3 new courses

Anth 2311

IS 2035

Hum 1552

Honors:

IS

1 new course

IS 3221H

1 revised course

IS 4994H

 

VI.           From the Deanıs Office.  New policy regarding Recovered Facilities and Administration Costs.

 

Fritz Schwaller presented the new policy regarding the recovery of Facilities and Administrative Costs.  These costs, formerly known as indirect costs, are part of many grants.  In the past our level of grant activity has been quite low, and so little heed was paid to how we might possibly use the facilities and administrative costs they generate.  In anticipation of higher levels of activity in the future, we felt it important to develop a policy and consult the appropriate committees regarding it.  This policy has been discussed by the Chancellorıs Leadership Team and approved by the Campus Resources and Planning Committee and is presented to the Campus Assembly for informational purposes.

 

VII.         From the Student Services Committee.  Mascot Policy.

 

Julie Pelletier reminded assembly members that under the proposed mascot policy, UMM will no longer intentionally schedule competitions with teams that use symbols, images, mascots, logos, or nicknames reflecting the historical use of stereotypical representations which dehumanize and oppress marginalized peoples.  There will be two levels of compliance with this policy:  the athletic director and the Student Services Committee.  James Bordewick, from the UR, asked how this policy affects printing sports stories in the Register.  Pelletier stated that student clubs and organizations will be held to a lower level of compliance.  The Student Services Committee asks that student organizations be mindful of the policy.  Mary Elizabeth Bezanson asks what happens if our Forensics team eventually has a meet with a school that has an objectionable logo.  Pelletier said the policy is for scheduled events and we only ask that people comply with the policy.  Bezanson asked for clarification regarding whether or not the Forensics team would be discouraged from inviting a team to campus.  Pelletier said the policy strongly recommends, but does not require.  Bezanson asked why we include marginalized peoples and wondered why would we dehumanize anyone?  Dave Swenson called the question.  Schuman asked for a vote for all those in favor of calling the question.  Motion passes by show of hands.  Schuman asked for a vote for all those in favor of adopting the mascot policy.  Motion passes by show of hands.

 

VIII.       From the Faculty Affairs Committee.  Proposal to create a Faculty Affairs Committee.

 

Before talking about the proposal to create a Faculty Affairs Committee, Bert Ahern expressed concern about the minutes from the last assembly meeting.  He noted that an administratorıs fiat cannot get rid of a committee.  The same process would have to be followed as always.  He added that the FAC is an innovation and if practice should disappoint, it can be ended.  He also felt his response to Jim Cotterıs comment was a compact way of expressing what he said.  He pointed out that a preponderance of those who voted for the FAC last time, voted for it.  He also acknowledged Mike Korthıs e-mail to the campus addressing his concern about the way in which committee members would be selected.  Ahern added that the reason behind the proposal was not to get at a fundamental problem of governance.  It was to address particular situations:  tenure, promotion, salary, workload and benefits that are not currently addressed.  In his 37 years, there have always been issues regarding salary levels.  Regarding the process for selecting committee members, he added that this is not an innovative or drastic change from past practice.  Currently, staff members recommend their constituents to the EC and student members are identified by MCSA and then recommended to the EC. On a matter like this, Ahern believes there will be different perspectives from administrators and faculty.   One has to be mindful of peopleıs interests.  Faculty aspire to have life long ties with the university and students who graduate from here, carry that degree for life.  Administrators are not always tied to the university, in fact, some have time limitations.  He added that he believes a mail ballot will need to be done again.   Mike Korth said that if committee members would be selected in the same process as other committees, he would be happy to support it.  He believes there would be different expectations if we use a different election process.  Janet Ericksen suggested an amendment in the membership, dropping the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs position on the committee.  Ahern said the Faculty Development Committee felt that the VCAA is in a position to provide important information and said the FDC would support the wording as originally presented.  Gordon McIntosh added that he supports the amendment.  Vicki Graham stated that in an ideal word, people should be free to express themselves.  However, we donıt live in an ideal world, and people are easily intimated.  She also supports the amendment.  Jeff Ratliff-Crain asked if this committee would be open for anyone to attend.  Ahern said yes, unless there was an executive session.  Ratliff-Crain said generally meetings and minutes are public.  He believes people need to be willing to be forthright on where they stand on things without worrying about retribution.  Graham said she was not referring to punishment or retribution, but just being about to say something without it being scrutinized.  Roland Guyotte called the question on the amendment only.   Schuman asked for a vote for all those in favor of calling the question.  Motion passes by show of hands.  Schuman asked for a vote for all those in favor of approving the amendment explaining that a yes vote means you approve the amendment, a no vote means you do not approve the amendment.   Amendment passes by secret ballot.  Mike Korth suggested removing the paragraph outlining the power and responsibility because of redundancy.  Ahern added that this was not in the original proposal.  Schuman said he would advocate for being redundant.  In the long run, he finds it worrisome that 15-20 years from now someone will go back and look at the workload, salary and benefits, etc. and think that the committee has the final say when this is certainly not the case.   Guyotte made a motion to continue the meeting for 10 minutes.  So moved.  Paula OıLoughlin said she would advocate for keeping the paragraph because she believes it will help in the future.  Even though it may be redundant, itıs not a big deal.  McIntosh agreed the paragraph should be removed.  Guyotte called the question on the amendment.  Schuman asked for a vote for all those in favor of calling the question.  Motion passes by show of hands.  Schuman then asked for a vote for all those in favor of striking the paragraph.  Motion defeated by secret ballot.  Schuman concluded the discussion by stating mail ballots would be distributed in the next couple of weeks.

 

IX.           Senatorsı Reports.

 

Fritz Schwaller reported that SCEP decided to eliminate the entire paragraph regarding not allowing anyone other than the faculty member from seeing the comments on the Student Opinion of Teaching Forms.

 

X.             Old Business.

 

None

 

XI.           New Business.

 

None

 

Adjourned at 6:10 p.m.