MINUTES UAF GOVERNANCE COORDINATING COMMITTEE MEETING #40 Monday, February 16, 1998 Wood Center Conference Room A I Steve Nuss called the meeting to order at 3:35 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT: MEMBERS ABSENT: Craven, J. Combellick, M. Long, P. Frey, B. Martin, W. Richardson, J. Nuss, S. Schatz, M. Wilken, S. OTHER PRESENT: Mosca, K. B. The minutes to Meeting #39 (December 15, 1998) were approved with a correction on the spelling of Sukumar Bandopadhyay and Mark Begich. C. The agenda was adopted with the addition of item F. under Other Business, a motion regarding amending the 1998-99 academic calendar. II COMMITTEE REPORTS A. Intercollegiate Athletics Committee - S. Wilken No report available. B. Grievance Council - W. Martin There is one grievance at this time (classified.) The grievance has expanded because of more information coming in from the grievant's lawyer. The Grievance Council chose to hear the additional information at the same time. C. Health Issues - M. Combellick Michelle Combellick was ill and submitted a written report. The Health Issues Committee has been meeting monthly. Currently, lectures are being video taped and sent to rural areas upon request. Thus far, Seward Marine Center and the Juneau office of SFOS have requested tapes. UAF LIFE enrollment has more than doubled since last semester through the Student Recreation Center. We feel very positive with the way the things are going and are open to any suggestions that might help provide a better program to all faculty, staff, and students. The committee will be presenting a supervisor's training session on the UAF L.I.F.E. program on February 26 at 3:00 p.m. in 214 Elvey. Michelle provided her views also on the roll of the UAF Governance Coordinating Committee. The Coordinating Committee is a resource and a go-between for all three bodies of UAF governance (faculty, staff and students). The Coordinating Committee is a means of disseminating information to all three groups, as well as assimilating information from all three groups to provide a direct communication avenue with the Chancellor. III OTHER BUSINESS A. Upcoming Board of Regents Meeting ASUAF will have six students attend the Board of Regents meeting and lobby. The Governance Office was asked for clarification on whether it was appropriate for faculty and staff to e-mail legislators with a University user id. Although there has been no official word from Wendy Redman's office, it was decided that it is acceptable for students to use their user ids. However, faculty and staff are discouraged from using their university user ids to contact the legislators. It was further recommended that faculty and staff contact legislators individually via letters and POMs. Do not use University letterhead. Students will be watching the student policies and the tuition increase closely. ASUAF and the Student Coalition are opposed to a tuition increase. The fiscal outlook for FY99 is not positive. Faculty and staff will be attending the meeting and also lobbying. B. Discussion on Purpose and Mission of Governance Coordinating Committee Coordinating Committee members discussed the role and responsibilities of the Committee. The history behind the Governance Coordinating Committee is to coordinate issues which need to be addressed by faculty, staff, and students. When the new procedures where written, the governance bodies didn't want the Coordinating Committee to act without the individual bodies first addressing the issue. This committee also enables all the governance leaders to assemble monthly and address issues at hand. The committee structure was addressed especially item C. on setting up conference committees which affect multiple constituencies. Intercollegiate Athletics Committee, Rural Affairs, and Health Issues are three committees which affect multiple constituents. The structure of the Grievance Council is specified in the Board of Regents' policies. However, Rural Affairs has been inactive this past year or so. It was also stated that there are other mechanisms for rural issues to be addressed. Staff Council has a Rural Affairs Committee. Faculty Senate does not have a Rural Affairs Committee, but does have rural representation on a number of committees. The Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Public Safety, Transportation and Parking has been disbanded and a new committee was established by the Chancellor. The chair of that committee will give periodic reports to the Governance Coordinating Committee, but not sit on the Coordinating Committee. A question was asked if the Technology Advisory Board should give periodic reports to the Coordinating Committee. A suggestion was made requiring committees to submit a written report, which could then be included in the individual governance agendas. Article V needs to be rewritten to specify the types of committees, i.e. report only to the Coordinating Committee, permanent committee, etc. The issue of recommending the academic calendar was addressed. John Craven stated that Senate policies needs to be followed regarding the calendar. This has not been the case in the past. Chancellor Wadlow approved a motion on February 16, 1998 stating the Faculty Senate will draft the academic calendar to ensure that it meets Senate policies. The calendar would them go to the other governance bodies for consideration. Chancellor Wadlow would then have final approval. Members were asked to think about the Governance Coordinating Committee procedures and discussion will continue at future meetings. C. Student Action on Academic Computer Users Committee Students will be deleting this committee. Faculty and staff have already moved to delete the committee. D. Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Transportation, Parking, and Safety The Chancellor has disbanded this committee and it should be deleted from the procedures. The new committee chair will provide periodic reports to the Governance Coordinating Committee. E. Schedule March and April Meetings The following two dates were recommended for the next two Coordinating Committee meetings: Wednesday, March 11 at 11:00 a.m., and Wednesday, April 15 at 11:00 a.m. Schedules will be coordinated to ensure that this time is convenient for everyone. F. Amend 1998-99 Academic Calendar A handout was distributed regarding the signed motion stating that the Faculty Senate will draft the academic calendar. Ann Tremarello pointed out in an e-mail message that fall semester 1998 does not comply with the policy requiring 14 weeks. A draft motion was distributed changing the fall semester for 1998. The last day of instruction would be Monday, December 14, instead of December 11. The study day would be December 15 and final exams would be December 16-19. John Craven stated that he could not approve this motion because it violates Senate policy regarding no study day in the spring semester. Discussion continued and information will be requested from the registrar regarding the date when the calendar goes to press. Steve Nuss added that a memorandum was sent to Ann Tremarello requesting a draft calendar for 1999-2000. IV GOVERNANCE REPORTS A. ASUAF - S. Nuss ASUAF passed a resolution requesting that the Mathematics Department come up with a consistent policy on calculator usage in class. This has been inconsistent in the past. A question was asked regarding why 107 counts towards the core and 161 does not. B. Faculty Senate - J. Craven The Senate passed a motion in which they will draft the academic calendar to ensure that it complies with Senate policies. The following motions were approved at the last meeting: Ph.D. in marine biology, certificate and AAS in Microcomputer Support Specialist, stacked and cross listing - clarified the language, modified the date on freshman low grade notification which will be the sixth Friday of the semester, modification to Faculty Alliance constitution, and a motion on presidential search process. The Faculty Alliance met with the Board of Regents to address the issue and an advisory committee was established. The presidential search has been realigned and will include an advisory committee, three faculty (one from each MAU), a staff, a student, and a representative from alumni. The committee will meet with the consultant shortly and will be advisory to the Board of Regents. The C. Staff Council - P. Long Supervisory training for spring semester is up and running. The schedule is located on the Staff Council web page along with the audio conference training schedule for rural sites. Darlette Powell, chair of Staff Training attended the Chancellor's workshop and received suggestions for possible training topics from the workshop participants. Health benefits and leave share program have been put on hold because of the pending unionization vote. Staff Council is gearing up for their annual fund raising effort for the Carolyn Sampson Memorial Scholarship. The committee has acquired a number of prizes for the raffle and is in the process of organizing the staff picnic. V ANNOUNCEMENTS - none VI The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m. A tape of this Governance Coordinating Committee meeting is available in the Governance Office, 312 Signers' Hall, if anyone wishes to listen. Submitted by Kathy Mosca, secretary, Governance Coordinating Committee.