Call to Order:

The meeting was called to order by Dr. Adrian Reuben on Tuesday, July 11, 2000, at 7:55 am.
The meeting was held in Room 100, Administration/Library Building.

Senators Present:

Basic Sciences: Kathryn Meier, Philip Privitera, Jerry Web, Mike Schmidt, Ed Krug

Clinical Sciences: Thomas Gettys, Mark Lyles, Paul Pritchard, Adrian Reuben, Leonie Gordon, Dennis Cope

Dental Medicine: Luis Leite, Jon Rampton

Health Professions: Gail Pashek, Andrea White

Library Science & Informatics: Elizabeth Connor, Joann F. Sullivan, Peggy Schachte

Pharmacy: Anne Spencer

Administrative Assistants: Melissa Foster, Vivian Hall

JUNE 2000 MINUTES

Dr. Reuben initiated the discussion of the minutes from the June 2000 Faculty Senate meeting, because these had been posted late on the Web page and there may not have been sufficient time for senators to read them.

Several senators expressed concern that the Executive Committee had overruled the Senate on a technicality whose validity they doubted.  It was further suggested that the Executive Committee had acted thus to appease the Administration, in some way.  There was no quorum at the July meeting and thus no approval or disapproval of the minutes could be voted. Nonetheless, the senators present informally expressed their disapproval of this particular section of the June minutes.

The Senate agreed to send out the latest draft of the Term of Appointment document with the changed title, namely "Term of Appointment for Non-Tenured Faculty," for general faculty comment.  It was decided to debate the document again at the August meeting of the Faculty Senate and vote upon it as soon as a quorum was present.  Several senators also requested that the minutes of the June meeting be revised to include a statement that the Executive Committee questioned the appropriateness of the motion and vote to change the Term of Appointment document title.

Dr. Reuben then read the relevant section of the minutes entirely for clarification and suggested adding an addendum to last month's minutes to explain why the June Minutes were not yet approved. As a quorum was not reached by the end of the July meeting, no vote could be taken and so the minutes of both the June and July meetings would be voted upon at the next Senate meeting at which there was a quorum.

Senators should make every effort to attend the August 1st meeting to allow full debate and voting on this important matter.

FACULTY SENATE WEB SITE

Dr. Reuben reported that the Faculty Senate Web site has been streamlined to focus on current information.Older documents have been archived.  He and Elizabeth Connor are working diligently to update the overall appearance, navigation and user-friendliness of the site.  Dr. Reuben asked the Senate for comments and/or suggestions on anything they would like to see that would contribute to the appearance of the site.

TOWN HALL MEETING

Comments about the town hall meeting will be discussed at the next meeting.

PRESIDENT'S COUNCIL -  REPRESENTATION, FACULTY RAISES

The Faculty Senate has been granted representation on the President's Council, which meets every Wednesday morning. Dr. Reuben noted that  serving on this council is a real achievement for the Senate. Dr. Reuben suggested that a subcommittee of the Senate draft a set of communication guidelines, to help the Administration better understand how to communicate with the Senate in particular and the faculty, in general. One of the topics discussed at a recent council meeting related to faculty raises.

NEW ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

Dr. Reuben thanked Vivian Hall for serving as the Administrative Assistant for the Faculty Senate.  Melissa Foster was introduced and will now serve as the new Administrative Assistant.

NEW MEMBER OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Dr. Reuben announced that Anne Spencer will replace Jason Cooper on the Executive Committee, as Jason Cooper is no longer at the university.
 

UPCOMING ELECTIONS

Dr. Reuben reminded senators that the senate's next elections will be held from August 22-31, 2000. Nominations and balloting will take place on the Web.
 

UPDATE ON WOMEN AND MINORITIES

Joann Sullivan gave an overview of the activities of the Faculty Senate's Ad Hoc Committee for Minority Faculty Issues. The committee was formed to study minority faculty recruitment at MUSC. She distributed copies of the minutes from their July 16, 1999 meeting which outlines some of the recruitment measures taken and ways they have used advertising as a means to recruit.

LEGAL REPRESENTATION

Dr. Reuben stated that an attorney has been identified as a possible legal representative for the Faculty Senate.  This individual is very knowledgeable of the Faculty Senate Handbook and is highly recommended by some MUSC faculty.  Due to the high cost of legal fees, Dr. Reuben suggested hiring this individual as needed rather than on retainer.

CHAIR EVALUATIONS

All faculty should have received a copy of the questionnaire used to evaluate chairs.  Dr. Reuben will be sending out reminders to complete and return them as possible. Dr. Reuben will also remind Dr. Higerd that some chair evaluations have not been sent to faculty in some departments.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 a.m.
 
The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 1, 2000, at 7:45 a.m. in Room 107, Administration/Library Building.