Auburn University Senate Meeting
6 April, 1999
Broun Auditorium
Absent: C.W. Alderman, L. Benefeld, W.R. Brawner, R. Brinker, R. Burleson, T. Brower, J. DeRuiter, J. Gluhman, J. Hansen, J. Henton, R. Kunkel, R. Jaeger, D. Large, D. Lustig, M. Mercer, R. Middleton, R. Mirarchi, V. Morgan, C.M. Moriarty, J.C. Neidigh, L. Myers, R. Perritt, J.T. Regan, S. Schneller, C. Skelton, L. Slaten, T. Smith, P. Sullenger, A.R. Tarrer, H. Thomas, H. Tippur, B. Turner, S. Tuzun, T. Tyson, L. Waters, M. West, D. Wilson, R. Wylie,
Absent (Subsitute): J. Bannon (P. Green), R. Bartlett (B. Peters), S. Bentley (C. Anderson), S. Bigili (W. Berry), B. Burkhalter (J. Fletcher), J. Cherry (A. Brown), L. Colquitt (C. Hudson), A. Cook (R. Kenworthy), L. Katainen (T. Madrigal),
The meeting was called to order at 3:10 p.m.
The minutes of the previous meeting were approved as posted on the Senate web page.
Announcements:
President Muse expressed his appreciation to Drew Clark, chair of the Program Review Committee, as well as the members of this committee for their on-going, hard work. They were very open, very professional and mature in their analysis. He hopes that they continue to serve a very viable role in the university.
Howze encouraged Senate members as well as their colleagues to join the Higher Education Partnership. He cited the importance of keeping the issue of higher education in the forefront of government activities in Montgomery. So far, Auburn has increased its membership from 15 members to 156 members. Wallace Malone, of South Trust Bank, has pledged $25,000 to the Partnership, if Auburn can match this figure in membership dues. Howze stated that Malone is an important business leader in the state who understands the importance of the higher education. Howze believes that if Auburn can increase membership, Malone will help to get other business leaders in the state to promote the interest of higher education in Alabama.
Committee Reports:
Swanson reported the following faculty members as candidates for Chair-elect and Secretary-elect of the senate.
For Chair-elect: Alex Dunlop, Department of English
Bruce Gladden, Department of Health and Human Performance
For Secretary-elect: Mary Boudreaux, Department of Pathobiology
Yehia El-Mogahzy, Department of Textile Engineering
Swanson asked senate members, as well their colleagues, to attend the General Faculty Meeting to next week (April 13, 1999.) Swanson added that the Nominating Committee had a difficult time finding people to agree to serve in these positions.
Howze reminded members about a provision in the constitution for an absentee ballot. Secretary Jean Weese had recently sent out an e-mail to the faculty about how to vote by absentee. If a faculty member needs to vote by absentee ballot, they must request one from the secretary in writing and also provide documentation as to why they cannot attend the meeting.
Hudson informed the Senate that he will be giving a report on health benefits at Auburn versus the other universities in the state at next week’s general faculty meeting. A text-only draft of this proposal has been posted on the web.
Hudson said that the committee has worked to develop a proposal for a tuition waiver program because that is one of the glaring omissions in the benefits of Auburn versus other universities in the state.
Hudson acknowledged members of the committee and added that this year, they broke into subcommittees and were successful in getting a lot more done. Members are: E.M. Albrecht-Piliouni (English), M. Boudreaux (Pathobiology), G.L. Brown (Sociology), D. Drake (Career and Student Services) Y. El-Mogahzy (Textile Engineering), D. Fadool (Zoology), R. Herring (Payroll), M.A. Kunkel (Counseling), M. Olliff (Library), M. Solomon (Consumer Affairs)
Hudson said that this proposal extends tuition waiver benefits to spouses and dependents, whereas now there is only a program for employees to receive reduced-cost tuition. Hudson maintained that the current program is costless to the program because the employee who takes advantage of that program can only enroll in a course for which there are empty seats. And unless you can argue that all of these people would have enrolled and paid tuition but now aren’t, then there is probably no lost revenue from the current program.
The committee’s proposal is based on the program offered at University of Alabama at Birmingham. Hudson pointed out that this program would only benefit a small segment of the faculty, but it would assist in improving morale, attracting new faculty and retaining current faculty. This would in turn benefit everyone, though not in equal amounts. Hudson moved that the tuition waiver proposal be accepted by the senate and then forwarded to the president so that it can be taken to the board.
M. Boudreaux informed senate members that this item has never appeared before the Board as an action item.
Hudson moved that the Senate accept the proposal for Tuition Assistance.
The proposal carried by voice vote.
First off, Clark explained the constitution and membersship of the committee. The Rules Committee appointed the program review committee in January 1998. The committee is composed of three faculty members who serve three year staggered terms, and three ex oficio voting members of the adminstration, mainly the Associate Provost and Vice-president for Outreach, David Wilson; the Associate Provost and Vice-president for Research, Michael Moriarty; and the Associate Vice-president for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Graduate School, John Pritchett. The faculty members are K. Alley (Sociology and Anthropology), Y. Brady (Fisheries and Allied Aquaculture), A. Chapplka, M. Hein (Building Science), J. Rogers (Math), S. Silvern (Curriculum and Teaching), D. Sollie (HDFS). Clark thanked them for their hard work. K. Alley chose to abstain from those reviews conducted in winter quarter since her program, the bachelor’s degree in anthropology was one of those programs under review.
Last academic year this committee was charged by the senate and then Provost Paul Parks with reviewing 41 academic degree programs whose graduation numbers fell below 75% of the viability targets set by Alabama state law. The review period for those graduation figures was 1991-1996. The state law calls for programs that do not meet 100% viability in that period, or which do not bring their numbers up to viability for a three year period, of which this is the second, are subject to automatic phase out at the state level. All of the programs we reviewed last year are liable to closure at the state level, regardless of what Auburn does. About a year ago, the committee recommended that 11 of those 41 programs be retained with the understanding that they be monitored annually for their progress toward viability, that ten of the programs be eliminated and the remaining 17 be variously merged. At that time, President Muse and Provost Parks accepted our recommendations.
This year, in November 1998, Muse asked that the Program Review Committee take on an additional responsibility; to examine ten program or program options that had been identified through the process of reallocation planning as candidates for possible phase out or merger. Unlike the programs that we reviewed in the previous academic year, none of these programs were low-viability programs in terms of numbers of graduates, but they were variously judged to be relatively low priorities by their colleges or schools. In his recommendation to the deans, Dr. Muse had identified these programs as candidates for such action, but before taking anything to the Board, he asked the committee to advise him.
In our review we use three criteria: liability; centrality, to the extent that is possible to determine if this is the kind of program that Auburn University ought to be carried forward; and quality.
The committee did not directly take up issues of budget or financial implications of the various program closures, however found in their deliberations that it was impossible to ignore these. They tried to stay within the set criteria. Clark said that if the Program Review Committee recommend that a program on the list of 10 not be eliminated or merged, and if the recommendation then passed, the school or college in question would be asked to supply that level of money for reallocation from another source. In a sense, said Clark, we were being asked to second guess the colleges and schools represented by the deans about their own priorities. This was not necessarily a bad thing, but still a fact.
The committee’s deadline was April 2, 1999. All meetings except the first and last were open to observers. Clark reported there was good attendance at those meetings and that the spirit of deliberation was assisted by the openness of those attending. Each program under review was given the opportunity to appear before the committee. Five of the ten programs did not take advantage of that opportunity. Those that did appear before the committee showed a great deal of professionalism. During those meetings, the committee had before them a copy of the dean’s original recommendations to the president concerning reallocation. They also had copies of all materials submitted to the Commission to Review the Role of the University in the 21st Century at its public meeting back in November. We also had representatives at those meetings.
The ten programs under review were:
College of Business:
Elimination of the interdepartmental option for the PhD degree for Economics.
The committee recommended that the program not be eliminated.
College of Engineering:
Elimination of the B.S. degree in Aviation Management.
The committee recommended that the program be eliminated.
College of Education:
Elimination of the instructional design option in the master’s degree program in Education and Media.
This program was not contested.
The committee recommended that the program be eliminated.
Elimination of the trade and industrial education option within Adult and Vocational Ed degree, at both the bachelor’s and master’s level.
These programs were not contested.
The committee recommended that they be eliminated.
College of Liberal Arts:
Merger of bachelor’s degrees in sociology and anthropology to produce one joint program with 50% commonality in course requirements.
The committee recommended that the programs not be merged.
Merger of criminology and criminal justice programs.
These programs were not contested.
The committee recommended that the programs be merged.
Elimination of the master’s degree in music.
This program was not contested.
The committee recommended that it be eliminated.
Elimination of the master of art in political science.
The committee recommended elimination.
Merger of bachelor’s degree in Geography with the Department of Geology (College of Science and Mathematics). Prior to review of this committee, the departments had merged upon action of the trustees. In this particular case, the committee had recommendation from both the Dean of Liberal Arts, and COSAM.
The committee recommended that the bachelor’s degree in geography be retained.
President Muse has said that he intends to accept recommendations, with the exception of one, the elimination of aviation management.
The committee’s Spring quarter 99 activities will include resuming the work they did last year. They will return to the issue of low viability programs whose continued existence is threatened by state law. The committee has embraced the basic philosophy that Auburn should, to the extent possible, be the master of its own fate, and should start looking at these programs before the state starts telling us what to do with them. The very low viability programs that the committee recommended a year ago for retention were recommended for pending annual review of their progress. This quarter, we have asked the deans involved to give us new recommendations concerning these 11 programs. The committee is still receiving those. Clark stated that some progress has been made toward viability. In a couple of cases, another course of action is to be recommended by the dean.
The group that we looked at last year were programs that fell below 75% of the viability target. That left the top quartile programs that, according to the law, were not viable but had not been looked at last year. There are 14 such programs at Auburn. These were degree programs whose graduation rates did not reach 100% of the targets set by the state, but whose graduation numbers fell between 76%-99% viability. This quarter we are looking at those programs too. Clark is happy to report that at least 50% have made very clear progress toward achieving viability. In total, the committee will be looking at these total 25 programs.
This past summer, Clark appeared before the senate and outlined a general proposal for ongoing program review. As soon as the committee gets out from underneath their specific and time-driven charges, they hope to come back to the senate with a specific proposal for ongoing program review.
Y. El-Mogahzy (Textile Engineering) asked if the committee had a figure for cost-savings. Clark said they did not have a specific figure, but believes it was a fair amount. El-Mogahzyi also asked if administration programs were viable. Provost Walker replied that large cuts had been made in administrative offices as well, including the Provost’s area as well as Vice-president’s Don Large’s area.
Muse stated that the percent reallocation for administration was two times greater than that of other areas.
Other Items:
The election for Rules Committee members will be May 8, and will be in the form of a ballot vote. The top three vote receivers will win the election.
Ralph Henderson (Small Animal Surgery and Medicine) nominated Ed Morrison (Anatomy and Histology). Alex Dunlop (English) nominated Michael Watkins (Philosophy). Gary Swanson (Past chair) nominated Marie Kraska (Vocational and Adult Education).
Resolution on Non-Tenured Teaching Faculty: Alex Dunlop
Dunlop stated that this motion was in response to the recent proposal on non-tenure track faculty. There were a number of concerns regarding this proposal, which failed to pass at last month’s senate meeting.
Dunlop made a motion that the senate accept the resolution. T. Madrigal (Foreign Languages) seconded the motion.
PROPOSAL CONCERNING THE WELFARE OF NON-TENURE-TRACK FACULTY
RESOLVED:
(1) that the Senate urge the University Insurance and Benefits Committee to give high priority to extending health and other insurance benefits to part-time faculty on a prorated basis, and
(2)that the Senate establish a continuing committee of six tenured
faculty members, three non-tenure-track faculty members, two heads or chairs of departments, and one representative of the central administration to address the special concerns of temporary and part-time faculty.
C. Bailey (Steering Committee), told Dunlop that he is sympathetic to the intent of the proposal, but asked if he had looked at what the costs would be, and how many people it would benefit.
Dunlop replied that they do not have a figure for the cost. And he thinks the number of people would be relatively small, estimating a total of less than 200.
C. Curtis (Provost’s Office), a non-member of the senate, requested permission to speak. She stated that none of the part-time employees in her office have health benefits or insurance, or if they do it is very minimal. She asked if there had been consideration in your resolution that would call for extending this to all part-time employees (including A&P and staff) at Auburn University.
Dunlop said that there had been no consideration as of yet, but it might be something to consider. He then asked how many part time A&P and staff there were. He expressed that a great enlargement might cause the Insurance and Benefits Committee to find it too costly. Dunlop asked if they would be adding huge numbers. Curtis said not in the research area, but she was unsure of other areas.
An friendly amendment was made to the resolution.
Revised Resolution :
(1) that the Senate urge the University Insurance and Benefits Committee to give high priority to extending health and other insurance benefits to part-time faculty and other part-time employees on a prorated basis, and
(2) that the Senate establish a continuing committee of six tenured faculty members, three non-tenure-track faculty members, two heads or chairs of departments, and one representative of the central administration to address the special concerns of temporary and part-time faculty.
J. Novak (Ag Economics) asked what the status was for graduate students in regard to the amendment.
T. Madrigal (Foreign Languages) said that graduate students are covered by health insurance sold by the university. He also pointed out that if a department does not have all of the money allocated toward fringe benefits, these funds are kicked back to the administration. Therefore, he believes that this resolution will not be as costly as it might seem.
The resolution carried by voice vote.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:25 p.m.