Call to Order
The April 12th, 2001, meeting of the NGCSU Faculty Senate was called to order by CEO Woods at 12:35PM.  The following Senators were present:  President Hansford, VPAA Buckhiester, Senators Anthony, Barnett, Biddy, Bielec, Chastain, Cronic, Friedman, Fuller, Gessell, Herbert, Jones, Kokkala, Larkin, Link, McCard, Mann, W. Morris, O'Neal, Reiselt, Richard, Sisk, Spraker, Stucke, Sumners, Temples, Thompson, Weinberg, Wiedmann, Williams, Woods, and Yeoman.  The following Senators were excused:  Armstrong, Broman, Campbell, Gannaway, and B. Morris.  Senators Delargy, Margeson, Shaw, Westerfield and Staff Council Representative Yawn were absent.  Assoc. VPAA Roberts-Betsch was a guest.

March 8, 2001, Minutes
CEO Woods submitted the minutes of the March 8, 2001, meeting for approval and called for any corrections or additions.  CEO Woods pointed out that the second 'minutes' should be deleted and replaced by 'meeting' under the heading "February 6, 2001, Minutes."  There being no other corrections or additions, a motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes as corrected.  The motion carried.

President's Report
President Hansford passed out a number of the new Georgia DOT State Highway map for the Senators to keep.  This is the map which features a photo of the NGCSU campus on the back.

President Hansford informed the Senate that a letter had been received from Chancellor Portch concerning the result of the state audit of NGCSU.  The audit resulted in a rating of Class A meaning there were no exceptions or findings as a result of the audit.  President Hansford acknowledged the excellent performance of the Business Office.

Regarding applications and admissions, President Hansford reported the following:  As of 4/3/01, applications are up 9%, admissions are up 3%, housing deposits are up 10%.  These figures lead him to expect an overall enrollment increase of 1-2% for next year.  The President also reported that NGCSU is "one of the few" institutions in the USG system to have "recovered on credit hours" since the transition from quarter system to semester system.

President Hansford announced that Mr. Owen King will be the Spring 2001 Commencement speaker.  Mr. Owen, an alumnus and friend of NGCSU, worked at Redstone Arsenal before starting up his own, very successful business.

Regarding the 2001-2002 budget, President Hansford reported that budget figures have not yet been received.  The Legislature has, however, approved an average merit salary increase of 4.5% for faculty and administrators.  The requested tuition increase of 3% has not yet been approved, but it is expected to be approved shortly.  We will probably receive level funding for next year in terms of the operating budget.  The expected increase in enrollment and tuition will create "some extra" funds.  President Hansford announced that the Chancellor would present the request for increases in fees to the BOR, and the BOR is expected to act on the request next week.  NGCSU has requested the following fee increases:  Athletic fee increased to $15.00/semester, parking fee increased to $25.00/semester, and student activity fee increased $3.00 per semester.  President Hansford was asked if there had been any response to the request for funding for the Forsyth County Initiative.  The President responded that there has been no response yet, but the Board is looking at the request.

President Hansford went to report that the new residence hall project is "moving forward."  We have put out RFQ's to developers and have received responses from two developers.  Their proposals will be reviewed and sent on to the BOR.  President Hansford reported that the "hope" is to begin construction in October or November with a move-in date of Fall 2002.  He stressed, however, that this timeline was predicted by the developers, not the university.

The President informed the Senate that he had met with the BOR last Friday and presented plans for a Center for Leadership and Learning Excellence.  He reported that he "felt good" about the meeting, but cautioned the Senate that it is a long process.  He hopes the Center will be on the list for approval in June.  Once approved, the project would be placed within the five-year funding cycle.  A question was raised concerning the siting of the Center.  President Hansford explained that it would probably be sited by or near the Student Health Center.  This siting, though, is still tentative.

In regard to Parents-Alumni Weekend, President Hansford announced that a lot of people are expected to attend.  Plans and preparations for the weekend are complete.  He went on to announce that this year's recipient of the Young Alumnus Award, Shawn Mullins, is expected to be present to accept the award.

CEO's Report
CEO Woods reminded all Chairs of Standing Committees, that end-of-year committee reports are now due.  He went on to say that he would prefer such reports to be submitted in electronic form for attachment to the minutes of the April 12, 2001, meeting.

He went on to say that ballots have been sent out to elect the tenured-faculty members of the Resolution Committee.

CEO Woods informed the Senate that he had received only one nomination for CEO of the Senate for the coming year.  This nomination was for CEO Woods.  He called for further nominations from the floor.  There were none.  Senator Friedman moved that nominations be closed and was seconded by Senator Barnett.  The vote was unanimous.

CEO Woods then called for nominations for the position of Senate Secretary.  Senator Chastain nominated Senator Brian Mann, who accepted the nomination.  Senator Cronic moved that nominations cease and was seconded by Senator Barnett.  The vote was unanimous.

Old Business
CEO Woods brought the following proposed changes to the By Laws to the Senate for the second time:
 

1.  Change "Executive Committee" and "Executive Officers" to "Executive Board" throughout the By Laws.

2.  Allow nominations by means of e-mail for the following positions:

At-Large Senator
Senate representatives to Standing Committees
Faculty representatives to Standing Committees
Elected members to Standing and Statutory Committees
Senate CEO
Senate Secretary

New Business
Senator Friedman presented the Committee on Committee's recommendations for committee membership for the coming year and moved that the recommendations be approved.  During the ensuing discussion the question was raised whether Morrie LeFavre holds faculty status.  It was pointed out that she is serving as an Assistant Coach and is currently a graduate student.  It was agreed that her faculty status would be checked.  If she does not hold faculty status, she will be removed from the committee and replaced.  A question was then raised as to the reason for three blanks concerning membership on the Advisement Committee.  It was explained that VPAA Buckhiester is responsible for appointing three members to that committee and has not yet done so.  VPAA Buckhiester explained that he is waiting to here if his choices are willing to serve on the committee.  Finally, the question was raised if a list had been prepared of the names of faculty members not serving on any committee.  Senator Friedman explained that he had a list of all faculty members and could determine who was not serving, but a separate list had not been prepared.  Senator Sisk pointed out that, in the past, such a list had proved extremely useful when putting together other committees.  She asked that Senator Friedman consider creating such a list.  Senator Link then pointed out that the preparation of such a list is a statutory requirement.  The vote was called, and the Committee on Committee's recommendations were approved unanimously.

Senator Friedman reported to the Senate concerning the response of the SGA to the Senate's recommendations to the President concerning faculty attendance at commencement and the scheduling of commencement.  Senator Friedman informed the Senate that the SGA was sympathetic to the faculty concerning their loss of time away from campus.  The SGA supported a resolution making faculty attendance at commencement purely voluntary.  The SGA, however, stronly favors weekend commencement ceremonies.  The SGA feels that such scheduling greatly enables the attendance of family members and friends.  Senator Friedman also reported that the SGA expressed severe concern on the part of students concerning the scheduling of commencement immediately following the final examination period.  The SGA is concerned for students who might participate in commencement only to learn later that they had not, in fact, successfully met all graduation requirements.  Senator Gessell then asked what had happened to the practice of Senior Exams.  VPAA Buckhiester explained that practice had been eliminated under Dr. Allen for some very good reasons.  The practice of Senior Exams had resulted in Seniors taking their final exams when the grading period was only about 80% over.  It also required that faculty members prepare a special, separate set of exams.  Additionally, it was found that some faculty members were simply exempting Seniors from taking final exams if they had a certain grade average.  Senator Wiedmann pointed out that the SGA's concern over students who "walk" and then are disappointed to learn that they had not, in fact, graduated was really no different from the problem that exists under the current system, namely, students who expect to graduate and then learn right before commencement that they will not.  The SGA's new concern is just the "flip side" of the current problem.  Senator Wiedmann asked if the SGA understood that the Faculty Senate recommendation called for the elimination of "live" diplomas.  She suggested that two distinct and separate issues were being conflated.  Senator Spraker pointed out that the Senate's recommendation tied the two issues together.  Senator Weinberg reiterated that the issues are separate and distinct.  He went on to state that, while it is embarassing for a student to learn that they will not graduate as expected, a student should know how close their are to failing a course before the final examination.  Senator Wiedmann asked Senator Friedman what, if any, sort of response the SGA expected from the Senate.  Senator Friedman explained that he was merely reporting to the Senate what occurred and no specific response was requested from the Senate by the SGA.

CEO Woods informed the Senate that the bylaws of the IRB had been submitted by Dr. Steve Smith.  The bylaws, CEO Woods explained, will be attached to and filed with the minutes of the meeting.

Announcements
Senator Weinberg reminded the Senate that Tuesday, April 17, 2001 is Honor's Day.  He went on to inform the Senate that, for the first time, the Great Debate will be conducted by students rather than faculty.  The topic of the debate will be the issue of sexual harassment.

Senator Wiedmann stated that, outside of her time in the classroom, her service on the Faculty Senate had been the most rewarding and fulfilling of all her experiences so far at NGCSU.  She thanked her department for allowing her to serve as Departmental Senator and thanked the Senate for allowing her to serve as its Secretary.  The Senate then thoroughly embarassed Senator Wiedmann by breaking into applause.  CEO Woods then expressed his personal gratitude to Senator Wiedmann for her service.

VPAA Buckhiester announced that the Sexual Harassment Committee, along with others, was sponsoring Project YES on campus the coming Monday.  All Department Chairs, Deans and Vice Presidents were invited to attend as much of the program as their schedules allowed.  He also invited all faculty to attend if possible.  The program will be held in Hoag, Rooms A, B, and C, and will run from 8:30AM to 3:30PM.  Amy Grizzle is collecting names of those who can attend even if it is only for part of the program.

There being no further announcements, CEO Woods adjourned the meeting at 1:25PM.

Respectfully submitted,
 
 
 

S.N. Wiedmann, Secreatry
NGCSU Faculty Senate