Call to Order:

The meeting was called to order by Dr. Adrian Reuben on Tuesday, June 6, 2000, at 7:55 am.
The meeting was held in Admin./Library Room 107. The May minutes were discussed and approved

Senators Present:

Basic Sciences: Daniel Knapp, Ed Krug, Philip Privitera, Michael  Schmidt, Jerry Webb

Clinical Sciences: Peter Carek, Dennis Cope, Thomas Gettys, Lyndon Key, Leonie Gordon,
Mark Lyles, Timothy Lyons, Maria Lopes-Virella, Adrian Reuben

Dental Medicine: Luis Leite, Jon Rampton

Health Professions: Richard Hernandez, Gail Pashek, Andrea White

Library Science & Informatics: Elizabeth Connor, Jennie Ariail

Pharmacy: Anne Spencer, Deborah Carson, Kurt Lorenz

Nursing: Elaine Amella, Francine Margolius, Sally Stroud

Administrative Assistants: Melissa Foster, Vivian Hall

PARKING FEES

The Senate discussed their dissatisfaction with the increase in parking rates effective July 1, 2000.
Several comments were directed at some users not being subject to the same rate increases as other
parking users. Dr. Knapp, who serves on the Parking Committee, stated that increased parking fees  would  ultimately help our bonding abilities to build new parking structures in  the future. The following parking resolution was read, discussed, voted upon and passed:

The Faculty Senate wishes to express its concern about the sudden announcement of a significant
increase in faculty and staff parking rates without prior discussion with the campus community. While an
increase in parking rates is not unexpected in that there has not been a general increase in several years,
the large projected sequential increases over the next four years constitute a very major change which
has not been clearly justified. Of greatest concern is the fact that the proposed changes, while projecting
major increases for the university community, do not in the first two years include any increases for
validated parking  for patients and visitors. As a result, faculty, staff and students will effectively be
subsidizing the parking expenses of two separate entities, the UMA and the Hospital Authority.  The
Faculty Senate calls upon the Administration to discuss further the issue of parking rates with the campus
community and reconsider the appropriateness of the proposed increases.

TIME OF FACULTY SENATE MEETING

Dr. Reuben raised the question of changing our regularly scheduled meeting to a different time to allow for more discussions.  A motion was made and voted on to leave the current meeting time at 7:45 a.m.  Many felt the current time accommodates those getting families off to school.

DATE CHANGE FOR JULY MEETING

Due to the July 4th holiday, the regularly scheduled Faculty Senate Meeting has been changed to July 11th at
7:45 a.m.  DUE TO UNAVAILABILITY OF OUR REGULAR MEETING LOCATION, THE JULY 11TH
MEETING WILL BE  HELD IN  ADMIN./LIBRARY ROOM 100.

TERM OF APPOINTMENT

Dr. Knapp distributed copies of the draft Term of Appointment Section from the Faculty Handbook. On 5/31/00, Drs. Knapp, Leite and Reuben met with Deans Keefe and Cormier  to discuss prior misunderstandings about proposed changes to the term of appointment section  of the Faculty Handbook. The two misunderstandings included disagreement over a final sentence  referring to tenured faculty, and the prior impasse that followed that disagreement.  The deans recognized some inadequacies of language in the previous draft and by mutual agreement, it was mutually decided by Deans and Senate representatives to further modify the text as follows:

Draft Term of Appointment Section of the Faculty Handbook
May 31, 2000 (Additions to existing Faculty Handbook are in bold print.)

Start of Draft

6.2.3 Term of Appointment

Appointment of faculty members with respect to term is of three types:

1. A twelve (12) month appointment
2. A nine (9) month appointment
3. Appointment for other specified periods of time

Appointments are made on an annual basis: Twelve (12) month appointments usually begin July 1st. Appointments for time periods other than twelve (12) months span the academic year of the college of primary responsibility. The initial letter of appointment and/or contract and subsequent  written notification of reappointment  specifying the salary, rank, term of appointment, and tenure status, is given by the department chairman or other responsible administrative officer with the approval of the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost.

Any change in term of appointment for non-tenured faculty must be based upon documented evidence  of financial exigencies or impending financial exigencies or of need for program redirection to insure the viability of a department or college. Efforts to make suitable reassignments of affected personnel will be made by the responsible administrative officers should the  faculty desire to retain his or her original term of appointment.
The recommendation and rationale for faculty term of appointment changes must be written by the Dean or responsible administrative officer and submitted to the Provost for approval. Following approval by the  Provost, written notice of the intention to change the term of appointment of a non-tenured faculty member shall be given, to the extent that appropriated funds are available and legislation permits, as follows:

A. At least (3) months prior to the expiration of the contract for faculty under his or her
initial faculty appointment.
B. At least six (6) months prior to the expiration of the contract for faculty appointed under
a second-year contract.
C. At least one (1) year prior to the expiration of the contract for faculty under a third
(3rd) year or subsequent-year contract.

End of Draft

This draft revision will be sent out to the faculty for their comments and approval.

ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION ABOUT THE TERM OF APPOINTMENT SECTION

During the discussion of the text of  section 6.2.3 (see above), a motion was made and a  vote was taken to change the title of the section (Term of Appointment) in  which the document  was found but it was realized before the end of the meeting that this  motion and vote were inappropriate because this would change the format of the Faculty Handbook. The Senate recognized that the revised document that was discussed (see above) affords more protection to non-tenured faculty, but at the same time the Senate recognized that the section leaves unaddressed the issue of term of appointment of tenured faculty.

PROPOSED ADDITION TO THE TERM OF APPOINTMENT SECTION

A statement was proposed in connection with voluntary change in term of appointment.  Despite considerable discussion,  this addition was defeated and deferred for future discussion.

SENATE ELECTIONS

Dr. Reuben reminded senators of this year's upcoming election directed by Dr. Francine Margolius. Nominations and balloting will take place on the Web. The call for nominations will take place from August 15th  through August 22nd. Elections will take place from August 23rd through  August 31st.

The timing of the elections process will allow newly elected senators to join meetings before their new terms begin.

SEARCH PROCESSES FOR CHAIRS

A senator made the observation that chairs of departments are being appointed without search committees.

SENATE WEB SITE
Dr. Reuben and Elizabeth Connor are discussing improvements and enhancements to the Faculty Senate Web site. The changes will include appearance, navigation and formatting of the Faculty Handbook.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 am.

The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, July 11, 2000 at 7:45 am. in Admin./Library Room 100.