Minutes of 20 March 2000 First Circulated 28 March 2000 Approved 17 April 2000

Minutes of 20 March 2000
First Circulated 28 March 2000
Approved 17 April 2000

THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
SENATE ASSEMBLY MEETING

MINUTES OF 20 MARCH 2000

ATTENDANCE
Present: Antonucci, Bernal, Birdsall, Bonner, Deskins, Karni, Dunkle, Foss, Gobetti, Guthrie, Karnopp, Kleinsmith, Kossoudji, Lawson, MacAdam, Malkawi, Marcelo, Marshall, Masson, Moseley, Navvab, Perfecto, Raisler, Robertson, Scheiman, Schteingart, Sheil, Taghaboni, Taylor, Trumpey, Uribe, Ward, Whitehouse Jr., Zorn

Alternates: None

Absent: Alcock, Anderson, Andrews, Bartlett, Boyd, Brophy, Brusati, Burns, Castle, Christiansen, Colletti, Dick, Erickson, Feldman, Harrington, Hart, Jacobsen, Jamerson, Juster, Kabamba, Kalisch, Karr, Konigsberg, Lubeck, Malamud, Mann, Mateo, Merchant, Murphy, Penner-Hahn, Rahme, Rocchini, Rosenberg Rosenthal, Savage, Schneider, Sears, Sedman, Teasley, Vicinus, Walker, Winger, Wingrove, Wright

1. Draft minutes of the Senate Assembly meeting of 24 Jan 2000

2. Draft minutes of the Senate Assembly meeting of 21 Feb 2000

3. Memorandum from P. Margolis to W. Ensminger, dated 5 Feb 1999, regarding Code of Student Conduct

4. Memorandum from B. Elias, A. Rafi, and J. Trapani to T. Schneider, dated 7 Feb 2000, regarding proposed amendments to the Code of Student Conduct.

Senate Assembly proposed Item for Action

5. Parking Census Winter Term 2000

6. Action Request to the University of Michigan Board of Regents from R. Kasdin, dated March 2000, requesting approval of schedule for parking permit rate increases

Regents’ Bylaw Sec. 11.21 The Department of Athletics: General Purposes

Chair Kossoudji convened the meeting at 3:17 P.M.

CONSIDERATION OF THE MINUTES OF 24 JANUARY 2000

The minutes of 24 January 2000 were approved as submitted.

CONSIDERATION OF THE MINUTES OF 21 FEBRUARY 2000

The minutes of 21 February 2000 were approved as submitted.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Chair Kossoudji called attention to distributed items 3 and 4, related to proposed amendments of the Code of Student Conduct. She pointed out that the document originating with the Civil Liberties Board deals with technical issues, whereas the document from the Michigan Student Assembly deals with substantive issues. She pointed out that the Student Relations Advisory Committee is still studying the matter and will subsequently make recommendations to the University President.

Chair Kossoudji informed members of the Assembly that the April meeting will be the final one of the year for the Senate Assembly. She said that the meeting will feature a debate about issues raised by the Michigamua situation, and that people willing to volunteer to serve as discussants should contact the Faculty Senate office.

SACUA ELECTION

Ballots for election of SACUA members were distributed and voting proceeded from 3:20 to 3:25 P.M. Ballots were collected and Ms. T. Dabney from the Faculty Senate office served as the teller. Winners of the vote in rank order were

Professor J. Gobetti

Professor J. Rush

Professor R. Lindner

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ACTION OF SENATE ASSEMBLY MARCH2000-1

Whereas, in the interest of fair and adequate disclosure of election results; and as a gesture of good faith to the University community;

Be it resolved that in all future elections of SACUA members by Senate Assembly beginning academic year 2000-2001, the results shall be fully disclosed by providing the rank order results of the candidates along with the actual tally results for each candidate.

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REPORT FROM THE BOARD IN CONTROL OF INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS

Chair Kossoudji introduced Professor L. Root from the BICIA at 3:27 P.M. Professor Root reviewed the role of the Academic Policies Committee within the BICIA, specifically its role in academic matters and eligibility. He then invited questions from the audience. Discussion topics included estimated magnitudes of the numbers of student athletes with academic difficulties, scholarship restrictions, and estimated success of student athletes after the award of a degree. Several members of the Assembly pointed out that it would be helpful to have a written report from the BICIA citing statistical data regarding the various points of discussion. Professor Bates, the U-M representative to the NCAA, declared that the purpose of the present meeting was to have general discussion and to solicit faculty input; he said that in the future the BICIA would prepare a written report as was requested.

Chair Kossoudji commented that a problem developed in a large course she held this term when a student athlete declared the need for a make-up examination on short notice, owing to a schedule conflict. Professor Root replied that sometimes an academic counselor retained by the Athletic Department will proctor an examination while the team is on the road.

Professor Foss remarked that he suspected that philosophical discussion about the place of athletics on a campus like the U-M has not occurred for several decades, but that such discussion would be appropriate. He said that discussion should include what coaches are willing to do if academic performance by one of their student athletes is poor. He said that the freshman ineligibility rule is a good idea. He added that faculty do not control the decisions regarding intercollegiate athletics, but that they need a strong voice in those decisions.

Chair Kossoudji thanked Professor Root and the members of his committee at 4:10 P.M.

VISIT OF H. BAIER AND P. CUNNINGHAM

Chair Kossoudji introduced Mr. P. Cunningham from the Parking Division at 4:11 P.M. Cunningham said that he and Baier were appearing at the meeting in order to provide an update on the parking situation. He said that despite the fact that 200 new spaces were added this semester, there is again a parking crisis on the Central Campus. He said that the Blue Crunch lot south of Central Campus currently serves 30 to 40 cars each day, most of which belong to faculty.

Cunningham declared that his office used monitors at the parking structures for the first two weeks of the Winter Semester, and for the week after Spring Break. He said the monitors were DPS personnel employed on an overtime basis. He said that the job of parking monitor was difficult to fill despite a pay scale of $10 per hour. Cunningham added that he has asked DPS to add two new enforcement officers, and that they should soon be in the field writing parking violation tickets.

H. Baier reported that the University of Michigan Board of Regents recently approved a request from his office for an increase in parking fees, by 1.5% next year, then 5% the following year, and 4.5% the year after that. He added that the parking fees can now be paid out of pre-tax dollars, but that to qualify for the tax benefit, the payment must be by payroll deduction.

Professor Deskins pointed out that despite extensive conversations and information exchange between faculty governance groups and the Parking Division, parking officials never once informed the faculty about their plan to seek increased rates. He said that there has been overselling of the parking spaces at a high rate, and he asked to learn the identity of the people who made the policy decision to oversell. He said that Parking is selling a product that is not present. Baier replied that the parking system is self sufficient and that revenue stays within the Division. He said that overselling makes sense, but that the question is by how much to oversell. Cunningham added that Parking sold 1000 more passes this year than last year. He said the criteria were the same. Baier said that there seem to be more adjunct faculty and they purchase either blue or gold permits.

Professor Gobetti declared that the request to the Regents for a parking fee increase is like taxation without representation. He noted that parking spaces would be eliminated when construction begins on the new Life Sciences complex. He said that the action was totally inappropriate and that people are being charged for service that is not delivered. Baier replied that the Blue Crunch lot exists for overflow purposes. Gobetti said that he resented the presentation of the rate increase as a done deed. Baier said that Gobetti made a valid point.

A member of the Assembly asked what the Parking Division was thinking when it converted the small parking lot behind N. Ingalls into an all Gold Permit lot. Cunningham responded that they had been told there was a shortage of Gold Permit spaces there and that Parking guarantees there will be parking for Gold Permit holders. He pointed out that Parking limits the supply of Gold Permits at 1000, but that there are currently 12000 Blue Permits. He said that Gold Permits are issued on first-come basis.

Professor MacAdam stated that she found it astonishing that given the hours spent on parking issues, that faculty governance was informed about rate increases only after the fact. She said that the faculty ought to receive a charitable deduction for their permit fees under the present circumstances. She pointed out that earlier Baier and Cunningham had stated that it was policy not to enforce parking abuse aggressively, but that now they are declaring a need to add staff.

Professor Marcelo stated that the parking problems being experienced on the Central Campus now have plagued the Medical Campus for 15 years. She said that people who are being paid salaries cannot even come to work because of the parking difficulties. She asked why the parking officials do not understand that the working community is growing older, and most people cannot ride bicycles to work with their computers and paperwork in tow. She said that the Parking Division was an architect of bad, inefficient policy.

Professor Zorn pointed out that a solution to parking problems at the University of Colorado was to hire student drivers to shuttle faculty across campus for meetings during the day. Cunningham said that it was not a bad idea.

Professor Deskins pointed out that parking access is important because he, for example, carries books and papers from his vehicle to his office every day. He asked if anyone gets free parking. Cunningham replied that there is free parking at remote lots. He noted that the University charges a fee for handicap parking.

Chair Kossoudji thanked the guests for their visit at 4:58 P.M.

OLD BUSINESS

There was no old business.

NEW BUSINESS

There was no new business. The meeting adjourned at 4:59 P.M.

Respectfully submitted,

John T. Lehman

Senate Secretary