Tuesday, December 4, 2001
The meeting was called to order by the Chair, Dr. Anne O. Kilpatrick at 7:45 AM on Tuesday, December 4, 2001 in Room 107 Admin./Library Building
MEMBERSHIP ROSTER:
College of Medicine, Basic Sciences:
Present were: Philippe Arnaud (Council Member), Janice Lage, Joan Olson and Sally Self
Absent were: Lucille London (Alternate) and Eberhard Voite (Alternate; excused)
College of Medicine, Clinical Sciences:
Present were: Narendra L. Banik, Connie Best, Timothy Carter, DeAnna Cheek, Gary Gilkeson, Subbi P. Mathur (Secretary), Terry O'Brien, Benjamin E. Saunders, Dean Schuyler, Thomas Steele and Renan Uflacker
Absent were: Paul Gold (excused), Barry Hainer (excused), Stanley Hoffman (Alternate), Mike Johnson, Philip Saul and Susan Tate (excused)
College of Dental Medicine:
Present were: Peter Kobes, Luis Leite (Council Member), Stephen Malley and Carlos Salinas (Alternate)
Absent was: Elizabeth Pilcher
College of Health Professions:
Present were: Richard Hernandez, Janice Hundley, Anne O. Kilpatrick (Chair)
Absent was: Gail Pashek
Library Sciences and Informatics:
Present were: Jennie Ariail, Mary P. Mauldin (Council Member & Web master), Nancy McKeehan and Joann Sullivan
Absent was: None (Great!!)
College of Nursing:
Present were: Ramita Bonadonna, Tara Hulsey and Francine Margolius (Vice Chair)
Absent was: None (Great!!)
College of Pharmacy:
Present were: John Bosso and Kit Simpson (Council Member)
Absent were: Joli Cerveny (excused), Katherine Chessman (excused) and Rachel Couchenour (Alternate)
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
The meeting minutes of November 6, 2001 were posted in the unapproved form on the web site and were available for review prior to meeting. The minutes for November were unanimously approved and passed.
MEETING PROCEEDINGS
7:55 to 9:00 AM
I. CHAIR'S REMARKS: Dr. Kilpatrick welcomed the senators and updated them on the following issues:
- Hiring of the Legal Counsel: This process was initiated during March 2001 under the premises of an ad hoc committee chaired by Anne Spencer, under the Direction of the immediate past Senate Chair, Adrian Reuben. The following were the quality assurance items proposed by the Committee and approved by the Senate in its April meeting: Item 1: Within the first year of inception, should the Senate determine that cumulative and anticipated contributions be insufficient to serve the purpose of employing legal counsel,then and in that event, the Senate may elect to disband the financial account and return all unused contributions to donors on a pro rata basis. After that time, should the Senate determine that cumulative and anticipated contributions be insufficient to serve the purpose of employing legal counsel, then and in that event, the Senate may elect to disband the financial account and donate all unused contributions to the unrestricted expendable fund in the Health Sciences Foundation. Item 2: An appropriate checking account shall be established at a local financial institution with signatory authority residing in the Chair and two executive committee members. Two authorized signatures will be required to authorize each transaction. So far, 9,300 dollars have been contritubed by our Faculty. The ad hoc committee has been interviewing several lawyers and has chosen two eminent lawyers as legal counsel for Faculty Senate. They are Mr. Frank Draine from Columbia and Ms. Martha Upshur from Charleston. Mr. Draine is well acquainted with the faculty affairs of MUSC and is willing to provide us with his services for a nominal fee of $200 per hour, with about estimated time of 2 to 3 hours for reviewing a document. Ms. Upshur appreciates the services rendered by the physicians and faculty of MUSC and has volunteered her services for a year. It was decided that both lawyers will be simultaneously consulted regarding the faculty handbook revisions. To start with, we shall consult them about the approved revisions that are being incorporated into the handbook. This is mainly to get them acquainted with our policies and procedures and to give feedback on sentence construction etc on the approved revisions. The Senate Chair will periodically report to the Senate on the proposed projects for the legal counsel and get the senators' input and approval. Dr. Kilpatrick urged the new senators and those who have not donated before to donate generously to the legal fund.
- Council of South Carolina Senate Chairs: Anne O. Kilpatrick and Mary P. Mauldin attended the meeting of Faculty Senate Chairs from the educational institutes in South Carolina and came back very impressed with the issues discussed at the meeting. The hot topic was the future of state-supported educational institutions. Mary P. Mauldin, besides being the web master for our faculty senate will be the web master for the Council. Congratulations, Mary.
- President's Council meetings: Dr. Kilpatrick has been regularly attending these meetings. The minutes from these meetings are available on the Administration Section of the MUSC web page. Dr. Ray Greenberg has sent a letter to the SC Budget and Control Board outlining the various measures that the MUSC has taken to balance the 4% reduction in budget allocation such as freeze in hiring, approval of 95% spending of allocated funds by individual colleges, and emphasized that furloughs cannot be implemented at MUSC.
- Mary P. Mauldin, our web master, has revamped our web page. The new web page will be launched in a couple of days. Subbi P. Mathur suggested that she makes a link to the American Association of University Professors that offers timely articles and advice regarding university affairs and to the SC Senate Chairs Council.
II. COMMITTEE REPORTS:
- Faculty Affairs Committee: Subbi P. Mathur reported that due to her active involvement in the approaching Faculty Senate Retreat, she did not convene the committee meeting this month. Since the Faculty Senate Retreat will raise a lot of faculty-related issues such as tenure, remuneration, contracts etc, it will be appropriate to hold the committee meetings after the completion of the Retreat. She urged all the members of her committee to email her with suggestions.
- Academic Affairs Committee: Philippe Arnaud said he will convene the committee meetings from next month onwards and identify the issues that the committee will work on during the rest of the year.
- University Affairs Committee: Since this committee does not yet have a chair, Dr. Kilpatrick urged Mary P. Mauldin and Connie Best to organize a meeting of this committee and elect a chair by the next faculty senate meeting.
- Governance Committee: Francine R. Margolius reported on the latest developments on inserting the approved corrections in the faculty hand book. Dr. Adrian Reuben has been helping her with this task.She has created a document entitled: Recommended Process, Procedures and Timelines Periodic Updating of Faculty Handbook. This document, presented as a separate link in the Faculty senate meetings minutes section, was unanimously approved by the Faculty Senate.
- Gender Equity committee Report: Deborah Carson who chaired this ad hoc committee and her committee have collected large amounts of data on women faculty issues during the past year, is unfortunately stepping down. Dr. Kilpatrick asked the senators for suggestions to replace her. Susan Tate, Connie Best, Kit Simpson and DeAnna Cheek are on this committee.
- Faculty Contracts Committee Report: Rich Hernandez reported that his committee has been meeting every Wednesday and is rounding up some specific proposals for a common faculty contract for all colleges. He mentioned that he will discuss the final proposal during our Faculty Senate Retreat, since the theme of the Faculty Senate Retreat, namely, Faculty tenure, fits in with the contracts.
III. OTHER BUSINESS:
- Faculty Senate Retreat December 12, 2001 "Tenure: Quo Vadis?" Subbi Mathur presented her plans for the Faculty Senate Retreat. She has invited the President, Provost and Deans of all Colleges to talk to us about faculty tenure and their views on its outlook. This will form the first half of the retreat. The second half will be devoted to a closed session of senators tackling the various issues of tenure. She outlined the learning objectives to be: (a) Criteria for Faculty Tenure at MUSC: Administrative Point of view; (b) Criteria for Faculty tenure at MUSC (Faculty point of view); (c) Mutations of tenure in different colleges and departments; (d) Does tenure mean guaranteed remuneration? (e) Faculty Contract issues; (f) Women Faculty and tenure; and, (g) Post-tenure review. Except for about six senators all others will attend. For those that cannot attend the retreat, she promised to post the Proceedings of the Faculty Senate Retreat on the Faculty senate website. She urged all senators to contact her by email with suggestions.
- Arts and Digital Imaging Department Review Report: Carlos Salinas chaired this ad hoc committee consisting of Subbi P. Mathur, Francine Margolius, C. Vera (Neurosurgery), Judith C. Wisniewski (Library Sciences), Jim Mentzel (Enrollment Services). This committee met with the technical staff from Arts and Digital Imaging such as Tim Roylance, Rhett Chaplin, Pat Clute and Carl Brown as well as John Runyan from the Finance Department to gather information and to find alternatives to closing the department. The following recommendations were made: (a) The Art Services and Digital Imaging Department provides services that cut across the entire university and provides professional quality services to the academic, clinical and research communities. As such it should be recognized and supported as such. (b) Remove this department from Finance and Administration and place it in the academic support system. (c) Subsidize at least 25% of the unit's operational funding. The management of Art and Digital should take the steps necessary to cut other costs and enhance revenues to fully cover the withdrawal of shared services funds ($ 125,000). (d) Conduct a comprehensive risk management review of the risks associated with the passage of research subject and patient information into the private sector that would result from closing this unit. Motion was passed to distribute this information to the senators and deliberate further at the next Faculty senate meeting.
- Parking Committee: Anne Kilpatrick asked for two volunteers from the Senate floor to serve on Parking Committee. Janice Hundley and Stephen Malley volunteered to serve on this important committee.
- MUSC Hazard awareness and management: Connie Best outlined the measures that MUSC will take in the rare event of a chemical or biohazard to the campus. Mr. Al Nesmith is the chair for this committee.
IV.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:00 AM. The next Faculty Senate Meeting will be held at 7:45 AM on Tuesday, January 8, 2002, at the Admin./Library Room 107.
Respectfully submitted
Subbi P. Mathur, Ph.D.
Secretary to the Faculty Senate