University of Minnesota, Morris

Campus Assembly Minutes

March 25, 2008

The Campus Assembly met on Tuesday, March 25 at 4:30 p.m. in the Science Auditorium.

I. Chancellor's Remarks.

Chancellor Johnson introduced Hilda Ladner, our new Assistant to the Chancellor for Equity and Diversity and Director of the Multi-Ethnic Student Program.

She also wanted to congratulate and acknowledge Barry McQuarrie and Janet Ericksen, recent recipients of the Morse-Alumni Undergraduate Teaching Award and Julie Pelletier, recipient of the UMM Alumni Award.

II. Minutes from 2/27/07 assembly meeting approved as amended.

III. From the Executive Committee. Update on UMM Constitution Revision.

Paula O’Loughlin presented the process and ongoing timeline for the constitution review.

Phase I

February 2006: Chancellor Schuman convened a task force to undertake revision of the current constitution. This is the first major revision of the UMM Constitution since the 1970s.

November 6 & 29, 2006: Open forums held to gather feedback for the revision process.

May 2, 2007: Revision Task Force presented draft of new constitution to Campus Assembly and disbanded.

Phase II

September 2007: Executive Committee assembled a “small team” to review the draft for errors, inconsistencies, and outstanding issues. Small team membership includes: Dave Roberts, Tammy Berberi, Eagan Heath, Carol McCannon, Jeff Ratliff-Crain, and Gwen Rudney.

October 15, 16, 17, 2007: EC held three open forums to gather feedback about the draft. The small team has been meeting 1-2 times per week to discuss and address major issues raised at these forums and in individual e-mails.

Anticipated Timeline:

End of March, 2008: Small team will complete its work and bring draft and summary of its work back to EC.

April 2008: EC will present draft to Campus Assembly.

Fall 2008: EC will officially bring draft of constitution to floor of Campus Assembly.

IV. Elections.

Elections were held for the 2008-2009 Executive Committee, Parliamentarian and Consultative Committee.

Executive Committee (1 year term, no limitations on terms)

Vice Chair - Paula O’Loughlin

Secretary – Michelle Page

Faculty/P&A – LeAnn Dean

Faculty/P&A – Sarah Buchanan

USA – Jane Kill

Parliamentarian (1 year term, no limitations on terms)

Greg Thorson

Consultative Committee (2 year term, 3 consecutive terms maximum)

Jennifer Herrmann (2^nd term)

Brad Deane (2^nd term)

Jon Anderson (1 year term as replacement for Margaret Kuchenreuther)

V. From the Dean’s Office. 2012-13 Academic Calendar.

The 2012-13 academic calendar was presented for action. Assembly members asked if changes could be made regarding start dates and holidays. Clare Strand explained that the start date is defined by payroll dates. Additionally, this calendar has already been approved by SCEP and even though it would not be impossible to change at this point, it would be very difficult. Peh Ng added that in the future, it would be helpful to have this discussion before the calendar goes before SCEP. Motion was made to defer the calendar back to Executive Committee and ask them to refer on or bring back as action or information item. Motion passes.

VI. From the Functions and Awards Committee. Scholar of the College nominations were approved as presented.

VII. From the Self-Study Steering Committee. Higher Learning Commission “special emphasis” self study.

Michael Korth reported that UMM will be considered for re-accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) in the academic year 2009-2010. The Evaluation team will be here on March 29, 2010. HLC will base its decision upon two major processes, a comprehensive institutional self-study and a visit by external peer evaluators. The guidelines from HLC are very explicit in stating that every self-study must demonstrate how the institution fulfils the five Criteria for Accreditation (and the twenty-one core components) but HLC also respects the distinctiveness of every institution and urges that self-study processes be created that honor the unique culture and values of an organization. Some institutions are encouraged to conduct “special emphasis” self-studies, which allow an institution to focus on institutional priorities and values in addition to the basic HLC criteria. UMM has been invited to take this path.

The Self-Study Steering Committee, comprised of Barbara Burke, Jeff Ratliff-Crain, LeAnn Dean, Roland Guyotte, Jacquie Johnson, Michael Korth, Pareena Lawrence, Sandy Olson-Loy, Tom McRoberts, and Gwen Rudney, was set up in November to oversee the self-study process at UMM. We recommend that UMM undertake a special emphasis self-study based upon the theme, “Practicing the Liberal Arts: Explore-Renew-Sustain-Lead” as interpreted in the attached document. We believe this theme reflects what UMM is about, capturing the distinctiveness of UMM and building on our recent planning efforts.

We seek the Campus Assembly’s endorsement of this special emphasis theme for UMM’s self study.

If the Campus Assembly approves this special emphasis theme, it will be submitted to the Higher Learning Commission for approval. Subcommittees will be put together this spring. The subcommittee will work during the 2008-09 academic year, pulling together evidence and evaluating it, culminating in subcommittee reports in the early spring of 2009. The steering committee will then assemble the final report and bring it to Campus Assembly for approval in the fall of 2009.

Margaret Kuchenreuther asked if language could be added in the “ explore” section of the document that includes the creative arts. Nate Swanson asked for explanation of “new knowledge communities” and what that means. Michael O’Reilly would like to see the inclusion of the word “ thinking” someplace in the theme.

Chancellor Johnson said the Self-Study Steering Committee was looking for endorsement to move forward. Motion passes.

VIII. From the Scholastic Committee. Credit maximum policy was approved as presented.

IX. From the Scholastic Committee. Academic Integrity Policy presented for information.

Barry McQuarrie noted that the only change is to add one line that states “the policy to prevent a student from withdrawing from a course when the penalty imposed for academic misconduct in the course is an F grade.”

X. Motion regarding Faculty Affairs Committee to remove the sunset date was approved as presented.

XI. Campus Committee Reports.

None.

XII. All University Reports.

Chancellor Johnson thanked Paula O’Loughlin, Eagan Heath and Dave Roberts for running the election.

XIII. Old Business.

None.

XIV. New Business.

None.