The University of Iowa

FACULTY SENATE

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

3:30 pm – 4:45 pm

Terrace Room, 166 Iowa Memorial Union

Members Present: Judith Aikin, David Asprey, Jill Beckman, Susan Birrell, Linda Boyle, Garry Buettner, Gloria Bulechek, Christine Catney, Micheline Chalhoub-Deville, Jay Christensen-Szalanski, Michael Cohen, Steve Collins, Edwin Dove, David Drake, Denise Filios, Sonya Franklin, Richard Fumerton, Jennifer Glass, Thomas Grabowski, Carin Green, Kathleen Hanson, Judith Heggen, Paul Heidger, Ronald Herman, Julie Hochstrasser, William Johnson, Bruce Justman, Craig Kletzing, Sheldon Kurtz, Johna Leddy, Yi Li, Thomas Loew, Philip Lutgendorf, Usha Mallik, Renee Martin, Steve McGuire, David Min, Frank Mitros, Sue Moorhead, Jose Morcuende, Michael O’Hara, Harry Paarsch, Christine Pawley, Beth Pelton, Todd Pettys, Amy Poremba, Daniel Quinn, Richard Randell, Mary Hall Reno, Catherine Ringen, Jarjisu Sa-Aadu, Thomas Schmidt, Victoria Sharp, Linda Snetselaar, Karin Southard, Janet Specht, Shelton Stromquist, John Sutphin, Christie Thomas, Downing Thomas, Brad Thompson, Tuong Ton-That, Steve Vincent, Carolyn Wanat, Marcia Ward, John Westefeld, Catherine Woodman, Walter Vispoel

Members Absent: Kenneth Brown, William Clarke, Corey Creekmur, Virginia Dominguez, Michael Flanigan, Frederick Goodman, Mark Karwal, Michael Kelly, Lance Lichtor, Donald MacFarlane, Mazen Maktabi, James Nepola, Andrew Nugent, Thomas O’Dorisio, Bradley Phillips, Gary Russell, William Sharp, Colby Swan, Duane Whitaker

Members Excused: Daniel Balderston, Sarah Fagan, Lynn Richman, Geb Thomas, Jerold Woodhead

Faculty Senate Officers in Attendance: Katherine Tachau, President; Richard LeBlond, Vice President; Claibourne Dungy, Secretary, Margaret Raymond, Past President

Guests: Cheryl Reardon (Staff Council), Sarah Geake (Daily Iowan), Tom Rocklin (Office of the Provost), Charlotte Westerhaus (EOD), Mark Kresowik (UISG), Charles Drum (University Relations), David Skorton (President), Tom Owen (Gazette), Mark Schantz (General Council), Lee Anna Clark (Office of the Provost), Julie Thatcher (Faculty Senate Office)

I. Call to Order

Faculty Senate President, Katherine Tachau, called the meeting to order at 3:37pm.

II. Approvals

Approval of Minutes: Professor Aikin moved, second by Professor Ringen, to approve the Faculty Senate minutes of March 8, 2005 with the corrections submitted by Senate members. Motion passed by voice vote.

III. Reports:

A. University of Iowa President David Skorton

University of Iowa President, David Skorton, gave a brief informal report to the Senate then opened the floor for questions and answers. President Skorton informed the Senate that this year’s state legislative session was coming to a close. The legislature per diem terminates on Friday, April 29, 2005 and, historically, the legislature have concluded legislative business on or shortly after the last date of per diems. President Skorton mentioned he was particularly concerned about the compensation and vitality of the faculty. The Regents’ top priority is the transformation plan. The plan calls for the legislature to increase funding to the Regents institutions by $40 million per year for 4 years. This, in turn, will be matched by a Regents enterprise reallocation of $20 million per year. The third element is holding tuition to the median of a state public institutions, which currently is approximately 4%. President Skorton thanked Senate President, Katherine Tachau, for her leadership. He then opened the floor for discussion. Professor Collins asked if the goal of benchmarking faculty salaries to peer institutions was still the goal of the administration and the Regents. President Skorton responded that the university administration still has the same target of maintaining faculty compensation in the top one-third of peer groups. A second goal is to restore lines lost by attrition during recent budget cutbacks. He stated that it would take years to go back up the slope. Before the current round of budget reductions, the University faculty salaries were at the bottom of the top third of peer institutions. This has dropped to the bottom of the second third of peer institutions. In response to a follow-up question from Professor Collins, President Skorton stated that it was reasonable to assume that the University could return to its previous position (bottom of the top third) through the transformation plan of $40 million a year to Regents institutions for the next four years and the $20 million in reallocation is adhered to. President Skorton emphasized that there are some assumptions made in these salary projections, which could change depending on how peer institution compensation changes.

Professor Stromquist stated he was concerned a recent column by Mr. Yepson in the Des Moines Register fundamentally misunderstood the mission and function of the University. He expressed his concern regarding how the University educates the public. President Skorton responded the evidence indicates that the Governor has been very supportive of the University. Since the early 1980’s there has been a strong push by the legislature and business for economic development and for the University to be a major contributor to that process. President Skorton mentioned 1994 and 2000 economic impact studies that demonstrated the role of the University of Iowa in the economic development of the state. Both studies indicated the University played a major role as an employer and as a purchaser of goods and services. The role of the University has a larger impact that is difficult to measure. President Skorton went on to say there have been lively conversations concerning the role of the University regarding entrepreneurship among its members. Faculty members have varied opinions on this issue from the University policies and procedures concerning entrepreneurship are too loose, to the rules are too rigid and inhibit entrepreneurship. In response to the University’s role in entrepreneurship, the Intellectual Property Policy has been updated in response to many of the concerns of the faculty. President Skorton stressed the core mission of the institution is education, scholarship and service and that the Governor understands that. He stressed the Governor and his staff remain supportive of the transformation plan. In response to a Senators comment expressing pleasure with the recent appointment of Regent Gartner as President of the Board of Regents, President Skorton indicated that he has had a positive experience with previous Boards and with this Board. He is encouraged that the current Board is strongly in support of the transformation plan. President Skorton encouraged faculty to have dialogues with the Regents. He stressed that the Regents are accessible and receptive to input from faculty at Regents institutions.

Professor Kurtz questioned the outlook for the third year General Education Fund Task Force recommendations. President Skorton responded he had nothing positive to say about the first two years of implementation of the GEF Task Force recommendations. It caused people to lose employment and seriously impaired the ability of some units to function optimally. The $20 million Regents institution reallocation will be challenging, but President Skorton felt it can be done depending on the legislative response to the transformation plan. President Skorton expressed particular concern about units who do not have access to outside funds, be they federal dollars or alumni support. These units are particularly impacted by these reductions and need to be protected.

President Skorton was questioned about plans for tuition remission to facilitate the Graduate College units’ efforts be more competitive with peer institutions in competing for incoming graduate students. President Skorton said there were no current plans to implement tuition remission on this campus. In response to a second question concerning decoupling tuition among Regents institutions, President Skorton indicated that there has been a discussion about this issue among the Regents, however this issue has not been tested.

Senate President Tachau thanked President Skorton for his candid comments.

B. 2005-2006 Committee Nominations, Richard LeBlond

Faculty Senate Vice President LeBond recommended approval of the committee nominations listed in attachment 2. He called attention to the fact of two vacancies – one on the student publications committee and another one-year position on the Presidential Committee on Athletics, which should be filled by a faculty member whose primary responsibility is teaching undergraduate students. Professor Glass asked Vice President LeBlond how committees were assigned. Vice President LeBlond responded that the nomination process has several stages. During solicitation names are brought forward to the Committee on Committees, which looks for a balance in the selection process. In some cases there are specific requirements on the number of appointments from various units on campus. Professor Glass stated her concern that the present list of appointments contained very few women and stressed the importance of having gender balance on all Senate-appointed committees. Professor Ringen underscored the importance of gender equity and Professor Dungy indicated the same concerns hold for underrepresented minority faculty and faculty of color. Professor LeBlond responded that these are issues that the Committee on Committees and Faculty Senate Officers take seriously when soliciting nominations in the selection process. Professor Cohen moved, second by Professor Lowe, to approve committee nominations. Approved by voice vote.

C. Faculty Senate Election Results, Katherine Tachau

Senate President Tachau referred members to attachment 3, which lists the election results. Professor Kurtz moved, second by Professor Dove, to approve the election results. Motion approved by voice vote.

D. 2003-2004 Motion Summary, Richard LeBlond

Senate Vice President LeBlond referred the Senate to attachment 4, which contained the listing of motions approved by the 2003-2004 Faculty Senate. Professor Collins questioned the status of the March 25, 2004 motion to revise the policy concerning review of Deans. Senate President Tachau informed Professor Collins that this was among the priorities of the new Provost. President Tachau indicated that the internal auditors had recommended some changes and that these were among things under consideration. Associate Provost LeeAnna Clark noted that several changes had occurred since the motion was made, including comments by the internal auditor and the appointment of a new Provost. Professor Ringen moved, second by Professor Glass, to accept the summary report. Approved by voice vote.

IV. New Business

A. Anti-Harassment Policy Revision, Mark Schantz

University Counsel Mark Schantz provided background information on the proposed anti-harassment policy. The purpose of the policy was to bring the anti-harassment policy in parallel with the sexual harassment policy. Mr. Schantz stated that first amendment concerns about the previous policy led to its redrafting. In addition to review by University counsel, Mr. Schantz sought advice from College of Law faculty Professors Byzanthum, Bus and Bonfield who provided additional drafting for sections 2b, 2c and 2c(2), which address the definition of harassment as related to speech. The new draft attempts to use wording to capture the distinction of language, which some may consider undesirable from language which poses an imminent threat. Motion by Professor Kurtz, second by Professor Aikin, to approve the anti-harassment policy. The motion passed by voice vote.

B. Diversity Charter Committee

Professor Tachau summarized the Diversity Charter Committee information contained in attachment 6 as elevating the role of the committee to that of a charter committee reporting to central administration. The specifics of the proposal of the committee, which would include faculty, staff and students must be approved by the Regents. If approved by the Regents prior to the onset of classes for the 2005 fall semester, the Senate could recommend appointments to the committee at a special meeting of the Committee on Committees in the fall. Professor Kurtz questioned whether Section 1a(3) overlaps with the responsibilities of the Human Rights Committee. Charlotte Westerhaus, Director of Equal Opportunity and Diversity, responded that no overlap existed between the diversity committee and the human rights committee on that issue. Professor Kurtz moved, second by Professor Cohen, to approve the motion. Motion passed by voice vote.

V. From the Floor

None

VI. Announcements

· League of Women’s Voters Legislative Forum, March 26, 2005, 9:00-11:00am, Iowa City Civic Center

· Faculty Council, March 29, 3:30-5:15, Penn State Room, 337 IMU

· Provost Address, April 14, 2005, 4:00, Shambaugh Auditorium, reception following.

· Faculty Senate, April 26, 2005, Terrace Room, 166 IMU

· Faculty Council/Administrative Retreat, May 24, 2005, Gold Room, Oakdale Hall

VII. Adjournment

Meeting was adjourned at 5:12pm.

Respectfully submitted,

______________________________________

Claibourne I. Dungy, MD, MPH

Secretary, Faculty Senate

The University of Iowa

2005-06 Organization Meeting

Tuesday, April 26, 2004

4:45 pm

Terrace Room, 166 Iowa Memorial Union

Members Excused: Daniel Balderston, Sarah Fagan, Lynn Richman, Geb Thomas, Jerold Woodhead

Faculty Senate Officers in Attendance: Katherine Tachau, President; Richard LeBlond, Vice President; Claibourne Dungy, Secretary, Margaret Raymond, Past President

I. Call to Order

Faculty Senate President, Katherine Tachau, called the meeting to order at 4:52pm.

II. Election of Officers, Margaret Raymond

Senate Past President Professor Raymond presented the candidates for office of Vice President and Secretary (attachments 1, 2 and 3). Ballots were distributed to voting members.

III. Senate President Opening Remarks, Richard LeBlond

Professor Tachau introduced new Senate President, Professor Richard LeBlond. Professor LeBlond gave remarks to the new Faculty Senate (attachment 5). Professor LeBlond began his remarks by thanking outgoing Senate officers Tachau, Dungy and Raymond for their efforts. Professor LeBlond shared his thoughts on the obligations and opportunities of an organized university faculty. He challenged the faculty to ask themselves “What are the unique obligations of and opportunities for the faculty as a whole, and what sort of organizational and inftrastructural support does “the faculty need to meet these obligations and take advantage of these opportunities?” He addressed methods by which the faculty can both indirectly and directly engage the University community and central administration. Professor LeBlond then addressed three sets of obligations and opportunities for the Senate:

1. Shared governance

2. The case for a public research university

3. Engaging the community

He stated the faculty has a unique opportunity to move forward and become a “Faculty in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts and provide leadership to the University community.” He closed his remarks by encouraging faculty to “work together to fill our additional obligations and take advantage of our opportunities as The Faculty of the The University of Iowa, a public research university that aspires to become one of the ten most distinguished public universities in the country.”

IV. From the Floor

None

V. Announcements

A. Election Results, Margaret Raymond

Professor Raymond reported that Professor Steve McGuire was elected the Vice President and Professor Michael Cohen, Secretary.

B. 2005-2006 Meeting Schedule (attachments 4)

The 2005-2006 meeting schedule was distributed. Senate President LeBlond indicated that the Faculty Senate Retreat previously scheduled for May 24^th had been postponed due to a conflict in President Skorton’s schedule. The retreat will be rescheduled for a later date.

VI. Adjournment

Meeting was adjourned at 5:13pm.

Respectfully submitted,

______________________________________

Claibourne I. Dungy, MD, MPH

Secretary, Faculty Senate