ABSENT (SUBSTITUTE): C. Alderman (P. Cook), A. Dunlop (M. Jacobson), R. Gastaldo (D. King), R. Jenkins (R. Ripley), G. Plasketes (D. Sutton), W. Tucker (B. Ydel), R. Webb (C. Walker).

Chair Kent Fields called the meeting to order at 3:10 p.m. in the Broun Hall Auditorium. The minutes of the March 12, 1996, Senate meeting were approved as distributed.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

A. Provost's Office: Paul F. Parks

Parks announced that promotion and tenure reviews have been completed and letters have gone out. The Appeals Committee, which will convene April 11, consists of the regular members of the Promotion & Tenure Committee plus Michael Friedman (CH), Glenelle Halpin (EFLT) and Raj Mohan (SOC).

The Office of Undergraduate Studies and the Teaching Effectiveness Committee recently finished evaluating proposals submitted for Teaching Grants-in-Aid. More than 70 proposals were submitted, and a total of $114,751 was awarded. Parks noted that the Concessions Board made a one-time allocation of $100,000 toward these grants, and the Daniel F. Breeden Endowment for Faculty Enhancement contributed $15,000. Parks mentioned there would be a ceremony on May 7, 1996 to recognize the grant recipients.

Parks said his office was concerned about the growth of the entering freshman class at A.U. A record number of freshmen were enrolled last year despite the loss of faculty through frozen positions and retirements. Within existing A.U. policy, an attempt will be made to establish an enrollment target of 3,250 new freshmen, approximately the same number as in 1994-95. Parks said he would work with the Office of Student Affairs to devise an enrollment management program which would be presented to the Senate.

Finally, Parks announced a model program in the College of Architecture, Design, and Construction, that would encourage entering freshmen to devise plans of study several years in advance. Students who formulate and follow long-range plans of study would be assured of the availability of those courses.

U. Albrecht (MH) wondered whether, rather than limiting freshman enrollment, A.U. ought to increase enrollment (and subsequent classroom overcrowding) so that angry students and their parents would lobby the Alabama Legislature for more funding. Parks said his office dealt with complaints from parents, and students' demands for courses were not being met. He was concerned about the effect on upper-division classes when large numbers of freshmen reach that level of their programs, and about the inability to satisfy the demand for courses in the Core Curriculum. The current goal is to control enrollment and not diminish the quality of the undergraduate education.

M. Friedman (CH) was concerned that A.U. would not be as "well-rounded" if out-of-state enrollment was restricted, and he asked whether such action was being considered. Parks said he did not think so, but asserted that first priority should be to in-state applicants. He said there was "no intent" on his part to limit out-of-state students at the undergraduate level, at least to the extent that A.U. can still accept them and maintain program quality.

J. Hanson (Steering Committee) referred to an article in the March 31, 1996, Lee County Eagle which claimed there was a "fair to good chance" of a 4% raise for K-12, junior college, and retired teachers. Hanson asked how retired teachers could get raises when they were already receiving payouts from the State Retirement System. Parks said there was clearly a movement within the Legislature to give a 4% salary increase for K-12 teachers but he didn't think junior college teachers were included. He explained that periodic adjustments were made in the retirement system to give increases to retired faculty and staff, and he offered to find the procedures involved. Hanson said the article also indicated there was little chance of funding for raises at 4-year institutions. In fact, there was pressure to take $20 million from higher education and give it to at-risk K-12, possibly as a result of strong lobbying on behalf of K-12. Hanson asked if data were available comparing salaries of K-12 teachers in Alabama to those in other states in the region. Parks said the Southern Regional Education Board or the Alabama Commission on Higher Education probably had such data, and Sam Lowther should be contacted.

Hanson mentioned a recent report on National Public Radio which described the debate in the Alabama Senate about appointment of members to the A.U. Board of Trustees. According to the report, A.U. coaches Terry Bowden and Cliff Ellis, and former football player Bo Jackson, had called State Senators to express support for the current Trustee. Hanson asked whether the University had an official position on the confirmation of the proposed Trustee, and Parks replied firmly, "Absolutely not." Hanson then asked whether A.U. had an official position on the bill before the Legislature to increase the number of Board members. Parks said the original legislation sponsored by Senator Ted Little would have increased Auburn's Board by three at-large members who could be from out-of-state. Parks said, "That legislation was certainly not opposed by the University." He said the University had no official position on the revised legislation, which would allow the Board members themselves to choose the three new members.

B. Senate Chair: Kent T. Fields

Fields encouraged Senators to attend the University Faculty Meeting on April 9, 1996, at 3:10 p.m. in the Broun Hall Auditorium. The Chair-elect and Secretary-elect of the University Faculty will be elected at that meeting. Fields noted that Richard Zalik was unable to attend today's meeting, so the report on retaking A.U. courses for credit would not be presented.

UNIVERSITY BUSINESS: None.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

A. Calendar & Schedules: Ed Ramey--Proposed calendars for 1997-98 and 1998-99 (Copies were mailed with the agenda for this meeting.)

Ramey said changes had been made in the 1997-98 calendar since its preliminary approval by the Senate last year. The Registrar needed more time between final exams and graduation, particularly in the Fall and Spring quarters. Also, the first day of final exams for Fall Quarter had been scheduled for Saturday, December 6, the day of the Southeastern Conference Championship football game. The revised schedule for Fall 1997 designated Friday, December 5, as "Dead Day", and Monday, December 8 through Friday, December 12 for final exams; graduation would be on Monday, December 15.

Ramey reminded the Senate that President Muse had rejected addition of the Memorial Day Holiday to the academic calendar. Ramey said the holiday was already in the proposed 1997-98 calendar, and the Committee decided to leave it in. C. Brunner (Secretary) recalled that Muse objected because the Senate had added the holiday--according to Kent Fields, Muse said he would consider the holiday if it was part of a calendar offered by the Calendar & Schedules Committee and approved by the Senate. Fields confirmed that the 1996-97 calendar did not contain the Memorial Day Holiday. He said the President received the calendar late, and also had objected to the fact that the Memorial Day Holiday had not been printed in bold-faced type. Fields said that he would take the proposed 1997-98 calendar to the President "tomorrow", if the Senate approved it at today's meeting.

U. Albrecht objected to changing the academic calendar because of a football game. Ramey said the calendar was designed for faculty, students, and everyone else involved with the University. He said he thought the overwhelming opinion of the students was contrary to Albrecht's. Ramey considered the change in final exam week to be a "minor adjustment" that affected only one day of the entire year, although he agreed that there were differences of opinion on the issue.

Gary Swanson (PS) pointed out that the dates for Senate and University Faculty meetings were reversed in the Spring Quarter calendar, and other Senators pointed out additional typographical errors. Ramey moved adoption of the 1997-98 calendar and accepted the corrections as friendly amendments.

J. Hanson proposed an amendment that would move the last day of classes for Fall Quarter 1997 to Friday, December 5, thus increasing the number of class days to 49. J. Wilhoit (AN) seconded the motion. U. Albrecht offered an amendment to Hanson's amendment, proposing that Fall Quarter 1997 start on September 24 instead of September 23. K. Easterday (CT) seconded Albrecht's motion.

Ramey said the change proposed by Albrecht would not be well-received by the A.U. Administration. He reminded the Senate that the Administration had rejected the proposed 1996-97 calendar because of the late starting date, and President Muse had urged the Committee to begin Fall Quarter as early as possible. J. Hanson asked why the Administration wanted this, and Ramey said the desire was to end Fall Quarter as early as possible and also to make the academic year "more coincident with the football year."

J. Wilhoit remarked that the one-week Thanksgiving break was costly to some courses because of weekly schedules, and the addition of one class day would help to offset this problem. H. Rotfeld (MT) asked why quarters seemed to be "shrinking"--ten years ago, he said, quarters at A.U. consisted of 50 class days, but now they are less than 9-1/2 weeks long. Ramey replied that as long as he had been on the Calendar & Schedules Committee, the number of class days had been 47 per quarter. He said he had been at A.U. nearly 30 years and did not recall 50-day quarters, but he agreed there should be more class hours. He reminded the Senate of a survey that found the length of the academic year ranged from 142 to 152 days at comparable universities, while Auburn's year had only 142 days. The Calendar & Schedules Committee had not dealt with this because of the ongoing debate about changing semesters. U. Albrecht advised that the Senate should not be considering lengthening the quarters at this time; salaries were not going up, so faculty would be "working more for less."

Ramey explained that part of the reason the A.U. Administration wanted the academic calendar to coincide with the football calendar was because parents complain that their children have to drive back and forth to attend the early-season games, and that was dangerous. H. Rotfeld quipped that such a reason might be considered a good argument for semesters.

U. Albrecht's amendment to begin classes in Fall Quarter 1997 on September 24 failed by voice vote. The original amendment proposing to move the final class day of Fall Quarter 1997 from December 4 to December 5 passed by a vote of 36 to 27. D. Martin (PO) asked what would happen to the proposed calendars if President Muse decided to switch to semesters, and Ramey replied that the Committee would have to revise the calendars accordingly.

The motion to adopt the 1997-98 calendar as amended was approved by voice vote. Ramey moved that the Senate grant preliminary approval to the 1998-99 calendar, and he accepted as a friendly amendment the suggestion by J. Hanson that the last day of Fall Quarter 1998 be moved from Thursday, December 3 to December 4. The motion to approve the 1998-99 calendar as amended passed by voice vote.

B. Academic Standards: Richard Zalik--Policy on retaking A.U. courses for credit (Zalik was unable to present his report at today's meeting.)

OLD BUSINESS: None.

NEW BUSINESS:

A. Retention Cross-functional Team: Paula Backscheider--Recommendation to create a Senate Committee for Student Retention (A copy of this report was mailed with the agenda.)

Backscheider described the work of the Retention Cross-functional Team and presented its findings and recommendations. She said the team discovered it was the first university-wide committee to address student retention. Referring to data in her report, she said A.U.'s attrition rate "evokes concern," and the team advised formation of a "Senate University Retention Committee" to deal with the problem. She explained that some students' profiles allowed prediction that they would need support, while others needed intervention at certain "key moments" in their academic careers. Backscheider said current retention efforts at A.U. were not coordinated, and funding was "uneven and marginal." The team thought a faculty committee should be responsible for retention efforts because the faculty are directly involved with students and are better suited for the task.

Backscheider then summarized the last two parts of the report, which dealt with data management and student affairs. She added that the loss of one-fourth of the freshman class through attrition was expensive, and better efforts at retention could help reduce those losses. She moved that the Senate endorse the report and its recommendations, including formation of a Senate committee on retention, and forward the information to the Faculty Handbook Review Committee. G. Howze (AEC/RSY) seconded the motion.

R. Penaskovic agreed with the need for a University retention committee and the recommendation that orientation be provided to transfer students. He questioned the relationship between large classes and retention rate, and Backscheider cited anecdotal evidence that freshmen taking four classes having more than 100 students each were "70% more likely to drop out." M. Melancon (HY) asked why students drop out, and Backscheider replied that grades were "fifth or sixth on the list" of reasons. The most common reason was financial, including the students' lack of understanding about debt; and the second most common reason was personal. The third was "benign transfer," such as a student who enrolls at A.U. but develops an interest in a program not offered here, or a student who finds it unnecessary to complete a degree program in order to gain knowledge applicable to an intended occupation. The problem is not the ability of students to do the work--the "number one reason" for failure, according to Backscheider, is "lack of class attendance." D. Martin questioned the need for another faculty committee when others were already working in related areas. Backscheider asserted that no existing committee dealt with retention; the proposed committee should work with those other groups. B. Liddle (CCP) pointed out that there was "a lot of information" available on retention, and the University should use it. She said the proposed committee would be helpful. G. Howze agreed that losing a large portion of the student body was a waste of money, and that the faculty would be the best to deal with the problem.

K. Easterday wondered why the Senate Academic Standards Committee had not been represented on the Retention Crossfunctional Team, but Backscheider asserted that Carol Daron, Assistant Provost for Undergraduate Studies, had represented that committee. Easterday was concerned about overlap between the proposed Retention Committee and the Academic Standards Committee, and he argued that study labs like those proposed by the team "had not worked." Backscheider said the Committee hoped to employ study labs anyway; she said A.U. was the only SEC school without one, and, for some highly motivated students, self-paced tutorial work was helpful. S. Tuzun (PLP) supported the report, but argued that recruitment was as important as retention. Backscheider said she was "very much persuaded that the new models for admissions would be very responsive to recruitment."

The motion to endorse the report, including the formation of a new standing Senate committee on retention, and to forward the report to the Faculty Handbook Review Committee, passed by voice vote.

B. Rules Committee Nominations: Kent Fields--Nomination of candidates for election to the Rules Committee (election to be held May 14, 1996)

Fields announced that nominees to the Rules Committee must be Senators. M. Friedman nominated Herb Rotfeld from Marketing & Transportation; B. Liddle nominated Constance Hendricks from Nursing; G. Howze nominated Tom Petee from Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work; and D. Himelrick nominated Jacob Dane from Agronomy & Soils.

RESOLUTIONS:

A. Resolution regarding the Board of Trustees: Kent Fields (A copy of the resolution was mailed with the agenda for today's meeting.)

The resolution was presented by Fields. I. Reed (TE) offered a friendly amendment changing the fourth "Whereas" statement to include President Muse. J. Hanson suggested that the "Therefore, be it resolved" clause be changed similarly. Fields accepted these changes as friendly amendments. The resolution as amended was adopted by voice vote.

K. Fields concluded the meeting by announcing this was his last meeting as Senate Chair. He thanked the Senate and declared, "It's been a lot of fun." A motion for adjournment passed by voice vote, and the meeting was adjourned at 4:40 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,


Cindy J. Brunner, Senate Secretary