Minutes of 15 February 1999
Circulated 8 March 1999
Approved 4 October 1999
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
SENATE ASSEMBLY MEETING
MINUTES OF 15 FEBRUARY 1999
ATTENDANCE
Present: V Anderson, R Bartlett, L Bernal, M Bonner, A Burdi, D Burns, R Christiansen, L Colletti, K Cooney, D Deskins, B Ensminger, S Erickson, M Feldman, R Gull, H Harrington, J Hart,
K Jamerson, B Karnopp, D Karr, B MacAdam, G MacAlpine, M Foss, J Lehman, C Loveland-Cherry, N Marshall, A Malkawi, J Merchant, Y L Murphy, M Navvab, J Rahme, J Raisler, R Robertson, P Rogers, M Rosenthal, J Scheiman, M Schneider, D Schteingart, A Sedman, R Sharf, R Sharp, M Sheil, K Taylor, P Ward, F Whitehouse Jr., G Winger, E Wingrove, S Wright, C Yocum, J Zorn
Alternates: Michael Rosano for Jackie Lawson
Absent: B Bleske, J Boyd, D Brophy, V Castle, T Croxton, R Dunkle, A Jensen, P Kabamba,
L Kleinsmith, S Kossoudji, D Lee, M Lomax, M Maehr, D Malamud (Sabbatical), R Mann, L Nagel, S Nolen-Hoeksema, M Shapiro, V Rosenberg, J Rush, S Teasley, J Turcotte,
MATERIALS DISTRIBUTED
1. Agenda for 15 February 1999
2. Senate Assembly Skeletal Agenda
3. Draft Minutes of 11 January 1999
4. Approved Minutes of 7 December 1998
5. Memorandum from Chair of Rules Committee to SACUA Chair, dated 8 February 1999 regarding reapportionment of Senate Assembly for 1999-2002
6. Item for Action
Chair Ensminger convened the meeting at 3:20 P.M.
CONSIDERATION OF THE MINUTES OF 11 JANUARY 1999
The minutes of 11 January 1999 were approved as distributed.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. The Grievance Policy Model developed by Senate Assembly has been approved by a majority of units and the Provost told the SACUA chair that she expects all units will have approved the new policy model by May.
2. The Academic Freedom Lecture, election of SACUA members, and a presentation by ITD Director J. M Griffiths will be features of the next Senate Assembly meeting.
3. Professor Gordon MacAlpine has been elected SACUA chair for 1999-2000 and Professor Lewis Kleinsmith has been elected co-chair.
PRESENTATION BY PROFESSOR FRED MORRISON
Chair Ensminger introduced Professor Morrison, University of Minnesota, at 3:30 P.M. Professor Morrison provided an account of events at the University of Minnesota during 1996 that brought its faculty to the brink of adopting collective bargaining practices. He concluded his remarks with brief discussion of future challenges facing tenure and the professoriate. He pointed out that the number of tenured faculty was holding constant or declining while the numbers of other university staff engaged in teaching and research was increasing. He said that if the trends represent the hiring of faculty members without tenure the practice defeats the purpose of tenure. He said that the practice needs to be regulated and pursued by faculty senates. Professor Morrison said that a second important challenge arises from a recent proposal by the Office of Management and Budget to develop guidelines that will permit public access via FOIA to the raw data of university researchers.
Professor Ward asked if the public and the Minnesota State Legislature supported the faculty position from the beginning, or if the support base evolved. Professor Morrison replied that the support evolved. He explained that in the beginning the head of Health Sciences at the University of Minnesota claimed that tenure was the reason why health sciences were losing month. He said that the faculty historically had not explained sufficiently why tenure exists. He said that the faculty
hired a public relations consultant and articulated the position that tenure permits people to work towards breakthroughs that may require far longer lead times than most private enterprises would invest in. He explained that hundreds of faculty mobilized and spoke with a common message.
Another member of the Senate Assembly asked if post tenure review was now in place at the University of Minnesota. Professor Morrison replied that such review should start functioning this year. He pointed out that Minnesota already had a merit review system and that there was no need to duplicate effort. He said that initial decisions to initiate review were made by the department head, and were taken to a committee elected by the faculty. He said that the review consists of a two year
evaluation followed by proposals for improvement.
Professor D’Alecy asked how so many faculty were mobilized so effectively. Morrison replied that the Faculty Senate used electronic mail to circulate a general alarm letter pointing out why a critical issue was at stake.
Professor Smith asked how critical the threat of unionization proved to be in the outcome. Morrison replied that there is a different between the laws that inhibit strikes from those that oppose organizing. He said that unionization represented a challenge to the unilateral decision-making authority of the Regents. He said that three points seemed most critical: Business people on the Board of Regents recognized that the institution had problems if the University of Minnesota felt the need to unionize unilaterally. The Regents thought they could pull off their attack on tenure in September and make it effective in October, but that efforts to unionize put in place a status quo order and gave the faculty time to organize. The administration was split on the issue, with university president and academic provost most closely allied to the faculty position, but opposed by the head of Health Sciences. He said that the budget officers of the university also supported the faculty position because they recognized how much money the faculty brought into the university budget.
A member of the audience asked if the events had any effects on the process for attaining tenure. Professor Morrison replied that it did not.
Another member inquired about the current relationship between faculty and Regents. Morrison replied that four of the original 12 Regents were lost in the course of the events. He said that the state is in the midst of the next round of elections and that turnover is on-going. He said that the chief proponent for removing tenure lost his position and that the chairmanship of the Board of Regents changed. He said that the new chair is a former professor and that relationships are improving.
Professor Morrison concluded his remarks at 4:25 P.M.
REAPPORTIONMENT OF SENATE ASSEMBLY SEATS
Professor MacAdam moved that the report of the Rules Committee regarding reapportionment of Senate Assembly representation be adopted and endorsed (Professor Ward seconded). The motion was approved by voice vote without opposition.
OLD BUSINESS
There was no old business.
NEW BUSINESS
There was no new business.
The meeting adjourned at 4:30 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
John T. Lehman
Senate Secretary