University of Minnesota, Morris
Campus Assembly Minutes
November 19, 2009
I. ChancellorÕs Remarks.
Chancellor
Johnson plans to limit her remarks today due to the full agenda. This month has provided so many
opportunities to witness the liberal arts in action and to witness the members
of this academic community in action.
It has been a busy couple of weeks for the arts—symphonic winds;
jazz; dance; theatre; Morrisscapes—and weÕre looking forward to the
holiday choir concert. It has been
a busy couple of months for our athletic teams—a heartbreaking menÕs
soccer game; our basketball teams are underway; our football team has just
finished; and weÕve noted the accomplishments of cross-country and track and
golf. It is affirming to students
to see the results of their activism come to fruition with the recent victory
in relation to workersÕ rights and the production of athletics gear. This morning at the Stevens Forward
meeting, she had a chance to hear from our Green Corp student members reminding
me of how important our role is in this region and community. At the Board of Regents meeting last
week, the Finance Committee approved the financial plans for our wind turbines,
contingent on getting the proformas.
We are still working to get the power purchase agreement settled. Campus governance has been at work on
many fronts and one of things sheÕs witnessed this semester is the
cross-conversation among various campus committees. The interest from one to another in whatÕs happening can
only strengthen campus governance and she applauds the campus for that.
II. For Action. Minutes from 5/5/09 were approved as presented with one
minor editorial change.
III. For Information. UMM Constitution logistics.
Chancellor
Johnson reported that after the voting today and assuming that the proposed
constitution is ratified, the document will go to the PresidentÕs office for
final approval. There is a section
of the constitution that will not stand—Article I. Devolution of
Authority—because this is not how the Board of Regents works so that
section may need to be deleted.
This information did not come in time to include as an amendment.
Michelle
Page noted that the content of the proposed constitution has been worked on and
discussed for several years. The Executive
Committee brought forth a resolution that was approved by the Assembly. Additionally, the Executive Committee
and the Consultative Committee met to discuss the voting process. We are proposing that the balloting be
electronic with a simple yes, no or abstain. The ballot will be clean, so any relevant information about
URL links, etc. will not be on the ballot itself. All voting information will be included in the e-mail
invitation to vote.
Balloting will begin at 8:00 a.m. on December 2. Members of the assembly will
receive a couple of e-mail reminders during the two-week balloting window. No one will be able to see how the vote
is going until voting is closed.
At the end of the process, the Executive Committee will receive summary
data only. The raw data will be
held electronically by Computing Services. Should the constitution be ratified, it will take effect
beginning of the next academic year thus allowing for transition and
preparation to begin this spring.
The chancellor will charge the Executive Committee with implementation
of the transition. Executive
Committee plans to consult with the Consultative Committee and other relevant
individuals on the implementation process. The Executive Committee welcomes feedback about the transition
process.
We will
start by voting on amendments today with paper ballots. Once the amendments are completed, a
revised constitution reflecting the changes will be posted. The Executive Committee
worked to consult with the University style guide, our organizational chart and
human resources to make sure the changes of titles due to the reorganization
and general style issues are correct.
IV. For Information. Committee Replacements. Pam Gades replaces Karen Cusey on
Campus Resources and Planning Committee – approved as presented.
V. MCSA via Executive Committee
– committee placements approved as presented
Adam
Olson made a motion to modify the rosters with the following two changes: Katie Barron is on Faculty Affairs
Committee not the Faculty Development Committee. Andy Bistram is on the Student Center Committee.
VI.
Campus Committee Reports.
Campus
Resources and Planning Committee
Pete
Wyckoff reported that the committee recently voted to change the name of the
Community Services building to Welcome Center. The committee is working several charges from
Vice President Robert Jones to come up with a series of five-year plans.
VII. For Action. Amendments to the Constitution.
Chancellor
Johnson explained that she intends to call on each of the proposers to explain
their proposed amendment. For
clarity purposes, we will proceed with 1 and 3 followed by 2 and 4.
Motion
to act on proposed amendment #1 was approved and seconded.
Amendment
#1
Article VIII.
Membership Committee
Section
2. Responsibilities
The Membership Committee has the following
responsibilities:
A.
To assign membership and designate chairs of all standing and ad hoc
committees. This shall be done during the spring semester for the ensuing
academic year.
Amend
To:
Paula
OÕLoughlin asked for a point of clarification on whether or not the full
committee rosters including student representatives would need to be determined
in the spring. Ashley Gaschk said
the more substantial issue isnÕt the wording ÒrecommendÓ but the addition of
the entire new sentence because the language puts a pretty strong restriction
on students. She believes it would
be great if students could be determined in the spring but explained that itÕs
really hard because students donÕt always know their schedules. Jen Goodnough explained that MCSA
would simply make a recommendation to the membership committee. Adam Olson asked for point of order and
suggested that the chair of assembly should chair the meeting. Michelle Page said the language is
calling for rosters to be complete late in the semester after course schedules
for faculty and registration for students has been completed. There is not a special clarification
for students, it means all rosters.
Adam Olson said itÕs unenforceable and reduces the flexibility for every
constituency on campus. Mike
McBride believes special consideration needs to be given to students based on
the nature of student roles. Requiring a full roster of students seems to
reduce flexibility of our committee placements and reduces their ability to
place students on committees.
Chancellor Johnson asked if there are two issues at hand: one is whether or not the assembly has
the final approval of the slate and the second is the spring semester part of
the amendment. Barbara Burke said
that if the word spring is the contested element of the amendment, the
proposers could agree to delete the word spring. Sandy Olson-Loy asked how vacancies would be
filled. Michelle Page clarified
that the language of the amendment does not preclude changes in roster
membership. The membership
committee can bring forward committee replacements as needed. Mary Elizabeth Bezanson said that as a
member of the original task force and its chair, the group tried to address a
concern brought forward by a student member about the failure to include
students early on in committee work.
The original intent was to make sure students would be placed on
committees in a timely manner so they can be consulted and be a part of the
committee from the very beginning.
Roland Guyotte said in the history of UMM, governance has been very
slow. He believes it is good to
have a commitment of planning ahead thus making it easier for committees to do
their work. He would vote in favor
of this amendment.
Voting
Result: Amendment #1 passes
Motion
was made and seconded to proceed with amendments out of order.
Motion
to act on proposed amendment #3 was approved and seconded.
Amendment
#3
Article VIII. Membership Committee
Section 2. Responsibilities
The Membership Committee has the following responsibilities:
A. To assign membership and designate chairs of all standing and ad hoc committees. This shall be done during the spring semester for the ensuing academic year.
Amend
To:
Voting
Result: Amendment #3 does not pass
Motion
to act on proposed amendment #2 was approved and seconded.
Amendment
#2
Article I. Committees of the Campus Assembly
Section 2. Membership
In appointing members and chairs of committees, the
Membership Committee shall adhere to the following provisions:
A. The Membership Committee shall survey the campus community before making appointments to committees.
B. Members of standing committees shall be appointed in the spring to serve for the ensuing academic year. There shall be faculty representation from each division on each assembly committee whenever possible.
C. No person may serve simultaneously as a voting member on more than one of the following: Steering Committee, Membership Committee, core standing committees. This restriction does not apply to other standing or ad hoc committees or to the Consultative Committee.
Amend To:
A. The Membership Committee shall survey the campus community before making recommendations to committees.
B. Members of standing committees shall be recommended in the spring to serve for the ensuing academic year. There shall be faculty representation from each division on each assembly committee whenever possible.
C.
No person may serve simultaneously as a voting member on more than one constitutional committee or core standing committee.
This restriction does not apply to other standing or ad hoc committees. No voting
member of a constitutional or core standing committee may serve simultaneously
as a voting member on more than one of the following: other standing committees,
ad hoc committees. One person
serving as a voting member on any two committees is to be avoided whenever
possible.
Adam
Olson said MCSA is against this because it is explicitly directed at students. Just because faculty do not want to
serve on more than one committee does not mean that students do not want
to. Ashley Gaschk believes it
should be the choice of the student if they want to serve on more than one
committee. Mike McBride said there
are still a large number of vacancies on committees and because there are only
so many students, MCSA has placed every student who has come to them on a
committee. He believes having
student representation on a committee to accurately represent the student body
should be a greater preference to the campus than having no students serving on
committees. He hopes the assembly
values having student input on committees. Jen Goodnough said this is not just a workload issue. It is about shared governance and a distribution
of power. Jenny Nellis agrees with
the point Jen Goodnough was making.
If there is someone on campus who has a particular agenda, there is a
good reason for not having duplication on multiple committees. She believes the campus does want
to hear from students. Dave
Roberts said in principle the avoidance of duplication is good. The issue of not getting students on
committees has been a problem. Jen
Goodnough pointed out that the amendment does not forbid duplication, simply
that a voting member on any two committees should be avoided whenever
possible. Mary Elizabeth Bezanson
moved to call the question. Second
by Roland Guyotte. Voting
results for those in favor:
39. Opposed: 27. Discussion will continue.
Dave
Roberts believes the amendment allows an amount of duplication that is
appropriate given our historical problem of filling committee rosters. Jeff Ratliff-Crain said the reason the
wording ended up as it did was because of concerns about filing committee
spots, specifically for faculty in a small division, e.g. Education.
Motion
was made and seconded to extend the meeting until 6:15 p.m. So moved.
Mike
McBride moved to amend the amendment to strike any new language from item
C. Chancellor Johnson said
what we have in front of us is a hybrid of the two: A & B from the proposed amendment and C from the
language in the proposed constitution. A vote on amending the amendment resulted in the
following by a show of hands: 49
in favor; 11 opposed; 7 abstain.
Mary Elizabeth Bezanson called for point of personal privilege. She believes the decision to put
different changes into a single amendment now is confusing to assembly
members. Chancellor Johnson said
if the assembly approves the amended amendment, it keeps authority for
committee membership with the assembly and would not prohibit some duplication.
Motion
to extend assembly by five minutes was approved and seconded by show of hands.
Voting
Result: Amended Amendment #2
passes
Motion
was made and seconded to withdraw amendment #4 because it is irrelevant. Motion
passes. Sarah Buchanan made a
motion that wording of amendment #1 be applied to entire proposed
constitution. Second by
Bezanson. Voting by show of
hands: 29 in favor; 11
opposed. Chancellor Johnson
clarified that BuchananÕs motion would keep the wording unified throughout the
document to achieve consistency.
Adam Olson argued that was not what Buchanan said. Nancy Carpenter commented that the
motion was ill advised and at this point in the assembly meeting, there is no
longer a quorum and called the quorum.
Roland
Guyotte made a motion to adjourn.
Second by Jeff Ratliff-Crain.
Meeting
ended at 6:25 p.m.