NGCSU Faculty Senate Minutes for January 8, 2004

Call to order

CEO Woods called the January 8, 2004 faculty senate meeting to order at 12:30pm.

Senators present: K. Hudson, K. Biddy, P. Buckhiester, E. Combier, C. Chastain, B. Friedman, R. Fuller, M. Gilbert, N. Hansford, K. Hislope, S. Irwin, E. Lewis, K. Mace, G. Mann, D. Morris, G. Olsen, M. Stone, B. Reiselt, C. Powell, L. Reeves. S. Smith, A. Stucke, A. Sumners, S. Wiedemann, J. Woods.

Senators excused: A Lu, A. Sampson, A. Schaffer

Senators Absent: C. Dare, A. Gaillard, A. Ghafarian

Visitors: L. Roberts-B., J. Pruitt, J. Brady

Minutes of November 13, 2003 meeting

CEO Woods submitted the minutes of the November 13, 2004 meeting for approval and called for any additions or corrections. Irwin moved to accept the minutes and Hislope seconded.  The minutes were approved.

President’s report
President Hansford reported that:
a. The governor has submitted the 2004 budget with the expected 2.5% cut that we submitted.

b.The 2005 budget will be submitted next week by governor with a 5% cut in that budget; our budget request reflects that cut as well.  The governor will propose a 2% raise.

c. NGCSU bought the Free family property across from the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant for a good price.

d. There was a flood in the bookstore over the Christmas holidays that caused minimum damage.  The insurance covers any damage.

e. The web page committee has worked on making our website up-to-date and user-friendly.  There will be a general university meeting on January 27^th for suggestions to improve it before it is finalized.  On January 13^th and 16^th unit web coordinators are assigned to attend a meeting to learn how to keep their sites up-to-date, etc.

f. Our emergency plan was expanded for terrorism alerts.  Actions are delineated for emergency ops center.  That will be sent out in the next few weeks.

CEO report

J. Woods reminded senators of the Senate election process to begin.  The department heads were notified of senators whose terms are ending. At-large senators will be elected next, standing committee memebrs next, and then the committee on committees will be begin its work.  New senators attend in April to elect the CEO and secretary, but their terms begin in June.

Registrar’s office announcements

Item 1
Jason Pruitt proposed a modification to the current enrollment verification process.  His office sends a letter to each departmental secretary and chair to request verification of all faculty for their class rolls.  The secretaries will print hard copies of each class roster and distribute to faculty.  The faculty is requested to verify rolls and email Lynne Saine with all discrepancies.  Faculty will then sighn a printed copy of that email to roster and return to the secretary.  The secretary will verify all faculty participation. The will ensure a minimum of errors to be adressed at the semester’s end.

Discussion
Wiedman: This request appears to put official responsibility onto department heads and their secretaries; but they are not able to force faculty to take roll.  Pruitt: Department heads are responsible for their faculty.  Woods: This allows for a written record signed by each faculty member and thus, the faculty member is accountable for problems identified later.  Roberts-Betsch suggested that department heads be notified 2-3 weeks after drop/add for reporting since military students are sometimes activated.

Pruitt states that registrar’s office wants faculty senate endorsement, motion, or input.  Friedman suggests that the Senate simply endorse this administrative change and that there does not need to be a motion and a vote.  However, Fuller moved that the Senate endorse the Registrar’s recommendation to the administration and Reiselt seconded the motion.

Discussion

The Registrar’s office sends mass emails out to remind students to drop classes that they are not attending by the deadline, and has considered a possible $25 per transaction fee after that deadline.  Reiselt moved to call the question and Friedman seconded. The move to call the question carried.  The motion carried.

Item 2

Currently the Registrar’s Office requires students to come and get signatures in order to withdraw from the institution.  Other institutions, such as Georgia Tech, allow students to give themselves a W on line in order to drop a class.  This and withdrawal from the institution are future possibilities for NGCSU students.  Students would be required to fulfill any outstanding fees before allowed to complete the process on-line.
Discussion
Pruitt said that the goal of the registrar’s office is to offer more services on-line for students.  Fuller cautions that students who withdraw when they are failing a course, merit a WF, not a W.  Buckhiester noted that the bulleten states that this is up to the instructor.

J. Pruitt was thanked for his participation.

No further announcements were made.

CEO adjourned the meeting at 1:20pm.

Respectfully submitted by E. Combier