The Unversity of Michigan Faculty Governance Senate Assembly Minutes

Present: Aboo, Aller, Annich, Becker, Brock, Brown (retiree), Burant, Carson, Cebulski, Chang, Combi, Dowling, Fraser, Garton, Giordani, Graham-Bermann, Green (retiree), Gull, G. R. Holland, Hollar, Hutchinson, Kim, Lachance, Lange, Lehman, Lemos, Li, Liu, Luera, Maddock, Matjias, Meerkov, Neuman, Ohye, Powell, Prygoski, Quint, Sabel, Schultz, Seabury, Sellers, Senkevitch, Smith, Stark, Stoolman, Streetman, Thouless, Volling, Watkins, Younker, Ziff, Zorn

Alternates: Cowdery (Flint - for Farmer), Durfee (Engineering - for Hu), Gest (Medicine - for Koopmann)

Absent: Agrawal, Ben-Shahar, Bhavnani, Fricke, Jackson, Ludlow, Potter, Pritchard, Sahiner, Smock, Younger

The meeting was convened by the chair at 3:18 P.M. The proposed agenda was adopted.

CONSIDERATION OF THE MINUTES OF APRIL SENATE ASSEMBLY
The minutes of 18 April 2005 were approved as submitted.

OPENING REMARKS
Chair Giordani offered a brief introduction and orientation to faculty governance for new members of the Assembly. He offered personal perspectives on governance structures in general and those at the U-M (http://www.umich.edu/~sacua/SenAssb/SenateAssemblyTalk_9_26_2005.pdf). He completed his presentation at 3:38 P.M. Secretary Lehman added a brief review of the jurisdiction and authority of the Senate Assembly citing from Regents’ Bylaws chapter 4 (distributed item 8).

FACULTY GOVERNANCE SERVICE AWARDS
Chair Giordani presented Faculty Governance Service Award plaques to three individuals for their exemplary service to the faculty.

The chair introduced the president at 3:44 P.M. President Coleman thanked the chair and members of the Assembly for this opportunity to address the Assembly. She read from prepared remarks subsequently posted at http://www.umich.edu/pres/speeches/050926senate.html

She concluded her prepared remarks at 4:18 P.M. and invited questions from the audience on any topic.

A member of the Assembly cited recent press reports and expressed concern about alleged incidents of racial epithets and slurs being expressed on campus. President Coleman responded that we must constantly work on ways to increase tolerance in our community. She said that a reporting infrastructure for such behavior needs to be created and that students need to learn how to report hateful acts. She said that the community needs to be continually on guard, and should work to socialize new students to our culture.

Another member remarked about lessened affordability of an education at the University of Michigan. He said that the U-M used to be almost free for everyone. He asked why money for education has become so scarce compared with the vast sums expended for hurricanes and wars. The president drew attention to a series of recent articles published in The Economist. She cited a decline in state funds because of competition with prisons, health care, and other social needs. She suggested that the resulting need for U.S. universities to diversify their revenue streams has made them stronger. She added that State support for public universities is still critical and would be very hard to replace. An enormous endowment would be needed to do so. She said that the pace of fund raising has accelerated, and that financial aid has likewise been increased for students who cannot afford the costs. She said that the U-M makes a guarantee to every Michigan family that it will construct a financial aid package to allow the student to attend the University of Michigan- a package that might involve manageable loans.

Professor Brown commented that there was evidence to indicate that the growth of student support services and facilities rather than faculty salaries were the reason for increases in expense of a university education. He asked whether the initiatives announced by the president were not to some degree a re-invention of previous initiatives like the Residential College and Inteflex. The president replied that every project that crosses her desk before going to the Regents has been vetted by faculty and deans. She said that, personally, she was shocked by the present state of various teaching space and research facilities, and that renovations were justified. She also cited the sorry state of the locker rooms at Michigan Stadium and said that it was not a frivolous act to renovate that facility. She said that she feels a strong need to be accountable and to be a good steward.

A member of the Assembly reported that she works with non-traditional students, and that her students are saying that their financial needs are not being met. She noted that for students less than 25 years of age, federal regulations submission of their parents FASAP information even if the students are living and working on their own. President Coleman replied that the constraint seemed to be the result of the federal regulations. She repeated that the university guarantees an adequate funding package for each student.

Professor Riles asked what is being done to make sure we are not lowering our standards as we pursue diversity goals. President Coleman replied that the yield rate from admission offers is increasing, and the result was an overacceptance rate this year. She added that based on test scores and GPA criteria, this is the best class we have ever had. Professor Riles responded that yield rates would be expected to increase if admission standards decline. He asked if there was any information available on-line that could be inspected. The president asked Professor Riles to contact Ted Spencer, Director of Admissions, for any information he desired. Chair Giordani observed that he had recently heard a report from the Director of Admissions describing an amazing rise in the quality of admitted students.

Professor Zorn commented that financial pressures force many students to take on part-time jobs that compromise the time available for studies. He suggested that the renewal of financial aid could be more dependent on effort and performance than is currently the policy. Increasing the level of need-based aid to those students who work the hardest could provide an incentive and needed support to the most able and dedicated students during their later years on campus. The president acknowledged that financial aid has been focused on need and not on merit. She asked how merit should be defined. Professor Zorn replied that coming to class was one obvious criterion. The president said that she was not opposed to looking into the issue.

Chair Giordani asked the president to talk about her national role in intercollegiate athletics. The president replied that she has on a national board for the NCAA, but that her term has just ended. She said she would continue to speak out and retain great interest in the subject even though she was no longer formally involved.

A representative from UM-Dearborn made reference to a report issued by faculty governance at that campus, adding that faculty have had no response from any administrator. The president said that she has seen nothing about it, but that the faculty should start making queries to the Chancellor.

A member of the Assembly pointed out that the proportion of faculty on the tenure track is declining. He said that participation in faculty governance includes a smaller and smaller share of the total faculty, and that perhaps clinical ranks and others need to be represented. The president replied that faculty need to have that discussion themselves, and that she could imagine things working out various ways.

The chair introduced the members of SACUA, and he reported that several committees of the Assembly are considering the role of people in clinical tracks and research tracks as well as librarians.

ITEM FOR ACTION
The chair called attention to distributed items 3 and 11. He noted that a draft version of item 11 had been distributed at the April meeting of the Senate Assembly. He said that SACUA had ongoing discussions with administration about the policy through the summer. The president signed the policy into effect during the summer. In response, he said, SACUA had developed a proposed resolution for the Assembly with which it was in unanimous agreement. He asked Secretary Lehman to review the concerns that led SACUA to propose the resolution (item 3).

Professor Lehman reported that the administration did not correct a number of key deficiencies that had been identified by elected faculty representatives in regard to this new Conflict of Interest and Conflict of Commitment policy SPG (Standard Practice Guide). These include:

Chair Giordani said that SACUA felt strongly that resolution of disputes about conflicts of interest or commitment should be in hands of faculty peers rather than the administration. He pointed out that the newly enacted SPG (item 11) calls for faculty discussion within the units and development of specific implementation plans. As a result, SACUA developed a model policy that could be enacted within units to correct deficiencies of the central policy.

Professor Senkevitch asked whether the new policy represents a diminution of faculty rights, and what the Assembly could do. Chair Giordani replied that the matter is up to discussion. Professor Lehman said that of course it is a diminution. It imposes a corporate value system on the products of the faculty brain 24/7. He pointed out that the Senate Assembly can register its dissatisfaction, but does not have the authority to repeal it, though its rules do permit it to advise the Regents.

A representative from the School of Nursing commented that it would be difficult for small units to maintain a large standing committee of faculty to deal with conflict of interest or conflict of commitment issues. Chair Giordani replied that small units might decide to have a single designated individual. Professor Zorn said that this is an area where consultation with your colleagues would be revealing. He said that the policy could have an enormous effect on the way that faculty professional life develops.

The chair said that members from the administration will attend the October meeting of the Senate Assembly for further consideration of this Action Item.

ITEM FOR INFORMATION
Chair Giordani called attention to distributed item 5, a report from a committee appointed by the past provost to review the tenure clock. He said that a panel discussion about the proposals will be held at the 21 November meeting of the Assembly. He added that initial response from the national AAUP was distributed as item 16. He said that an electronic version of item 5 is available on the provost’s website. Several Assembly committees will be reviewing the document.

OLD BUSINESS
The chair asked for approval of SACUA nominations for committee memberships (distributed item 6). The slates of candidates were approved with no objections or abstentions of record.

John T. Lehman
Senate Secretary
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University of Michigan Bylaws of the Board of Regents, Sec. 5.02:
Governing Bodies in Schools and Colleges

In each school, college, or degree granting division of the University, including those at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and at the University of Michigan-Flint, the governing faculty shall be in charge of the affairs of the school, college, or division, except as delegated to the executive committee, if any, and except that in the School of Graduate Studies the governing board shall be the executive board, and in the Medical School shall be the executive faculty.