NGCSU Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes of June 12, 2003

Call to Order

The June 12^th, 2003, meeting of the NGCSU Faculty Senate was called to order at 12:32 PM by CEO Woods.  The following members were present:  President Hansford, VPAA Buckhiester, Senators Chastain, Fuller, Irwin, Lewis, Mace, Mann, Pomphile, Reiselt, Wiedmann, and Woods.  Assoc. Vice President Roberts-Betsch attended as a guest.  The following senators were excused:  Benton, Combier, Friedman, Ghafarian, Hislope, A. Lu, D. Morris, Olsen, Reeves, Sampson, Schaffer, Sommers, and Stucke.  The following senators were absent:  Biddy, Dare, Gaillard, Lu, Powell, S. Smith, and Sumners.

CEO Woods informed the Senate that, in the absence of a quorum, the Senate could conduct no business but could receive reports.

President's Report

President Hansford informed the Senate that the '04 budget had been approved and signed by the Governor.  He went on to say that the '04 budget appears very similar to the '03 budget including the '03 cuts.  He explained that there is no way to know yet whether the '04 budget will experience any additional cuts.  The Governor has, apparently, decided to wait until the end of summer to see what state revenues are like before, possibly, calling a special session of the legislature.

President Hansford pointed out there was some good news.  A tuition increase of 10% has been approved, and this increase in funding has allowed the university to create some new faculty positions.  He went on to report that summer enrollment is "up substantially" and fall enrollment is expected to increase approximately 3% over the previous fall.  Cadet recruitment is also up with an expectation of a total cadet enrollment of 600+.

Regarding campus improvements, President Hansford informed the Senate that the renovation of Lewis Hall is almost complete, and Lewis will be ready for occupancy in time for Fall Semester.  He went on to outline a plan to relocate the road leading from the drill field to Main Street so that the road will line up with Sunset.  This plan also calls for the widening of Sunset and, hopefully, the installation of a traffic light at the intersection of Main and Sunset.  The expense of this road work will largely be covered by DOT and other non-university funds.  Senator Reiselt inquired about the renovation of Plant Ops.  President Hansford responded that those renovations are on schedule with bids to be let soon.  These bids will involve both the renovation of the old Plant Ops building as well as the new Plant Ops location.

CEO's Report

CEO Woods informed the Senate that the 2003-04 schedule of Senate meetings is now up and available on the Senate's web site.  The most recent report of the Committee on Committees is also available and lists the memberships for committees for the coming year.

New Business

CEO Woods reminded the Senators that, in the absence of a quorum, the Senate could not conduct any business.  He did, however, want to inform the Senate of an item that will be introduced at the next meeting.  Four or five faculty members got together and, via email, contacted CEO Woods with the following proposed changes regarding Promotion and Tenure procedures.  The proposal calls for two changes as follow:

Section 4.5 Promotion and Tenure

    III.Guidelines for Preparation of the Application for Promotion and/or Tenure

        3. The documentation file contains supporting documentation such as published materials, abstracts, evidence of creative work, letters of support from no more than three individuals who know the candidate's academic work, annual performance evaluations, acknowledgments of awards, etc.  Publications must be "in hand," or an acceptance letter that is verifiable must be presented as evidence.  Tabbed and labeled dividers should be used . . .

        4. In addition to the dossier and the documentation file, the applicant's personnel file shall be made available to the promotion and tenure committees and shall play an active role in their decision making process.

(All changes are in bold.)

The rationale for the first change was given as: "Candidates applying for promotion and/or tenure must present verifiable evidence so that the committees reviewing their documentation can easily discern its validity."

The rationale for the second change was given as: "Under the Georgia Open Records Act, all pertinent documents must be made available to evaluating committees by the Administration."

VPAA Buckhiester pointed out that an individual's personnel file is not at present used or available unless a specific request for it is made under the Open Records law.  CEO Woods pointed out that "shall be made available" is something different from "shall play an active role."  VPAA Buckhiester brought the Senate's attention to the fact that the rationale offered for the second change assumes that the information in a personnel file is pertinent.  CEO Woods told the Senate that he would contact the faculty members seeking the changes and try to get some clarifications and additional explanations/justifications for the proposed changes.

CEO Woods called for announcements.  There being none, the meeting was adjourned at 12:51 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

S. N. Wiedmann (In the absence of Secretary Combier)