MINUTES
UAF FACULTY SENATE MEETING #133
Monday, December 12, 2005
1:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Wood Center Conference Room C/D

I	Call to Order – Paul Layer

Faculty Senate President Paul Layer called the meeting to order at 1:00 p.m.

A.	Roll Call

Members Present:  
	Members Absent: 	
Allen, Jane 	Berge, Anna	
Anahita, Sine 	Genetti, Jon	
Anderson, Jodie	Wiechen, Heinz	
Ayagarak, Nancy	Zhou, Wendy	
Bailey, Scott		
Brown, Liz		
Burleson, Derick		
Cahill, Cathy		
Chowdhury, Ataur		
Collins, Jim	Others Present:	
Cooper, Christine	Bult-Ito, Abel	
Corkern, Cliff	Gregory, Gayle	
Davis, Mike	Hapsmith, Linda	
Gray, Patty 	Jones, Steve	
Haugen, Lee	Layral, Sheri	
Illingworth, Marjorie	Leist, Pamela	
Iken, Katrin	Martin, Wanda	
Kawula, John	Mayes, Brigette	
Konar, Brenda	O'Neill, Dan	
Lan, Ping	O'Neill, Rory	
Layer, Paul	Schedler, Kathleen	
Newberry, Rainer	Wheeler, Walker	
Patil, Shirish		
Prakash, Anupma		
Rickard, Anthony		
Riley, Julie		
Roberts, Larry		
Thompson, Joseph (Siri Tuttle)		
Weber, Jane		
Wies, Rich		
Wolsko, Chris		
Zhang, Mingchu		

Non-Voting Members Present:  
	Non-Voting Members Absent:	
Morrow, Phyllis - Dean, CLA	Williams, Richard - Dean, CEM	
Salganek, Maya - Staff Council President 	Blanchard, Joe - ASUAF	
Stickel, Tim - Registrar	United Academics-Adjunct	
Hazlett, Susan - GSO 		
Porter, David - United Academics 		
Illingworth, Ron - ACCFT 		

B.	Approval of Minutes to Meeting #132

The minutes were approved as distributed.  

C.	Adoption of Agenda

The agenda was adopted with the deletion of Paul Reichardt, the addition of a guest speaker, Rory O’Neill, and a discussion item under new business I.  KUAC Resolution.   

II	Status of Chancellor's Office Actions 
	A.	Motions Approved:
1.	Motion to recommend approval of the proposed changes 
in BOR Policy and University Regulation (10.04.02-03).
2.	Motion on the Table of Substitution for non-UA Institutions.
3.	Motion to amend the policy on Probation and Academic 
Disqualification.
B.	Motions Pending:  none

III	Public Comments/Questions – 

Abel Bult-Ito spoke on the resolution on KUAC.  Abel crafted the motion.  The Whereas statements state factual information that has happened over the past six months at KUAC and responses by the Listeners Alliance and others.  The Therefore be it Resolved statements will tell the chancellor to fix the problems with KUAC.  This is the time to do this resolution as the KUAC Task Force made up of community representatives as well as KUAC management will probably come up with recommendations for regarding a community advisory board in the next couple of months.  For faculty to have any say in this issue, this is the time and chance for you to do so.  The most important part of the resolution is the formation of an elected community advisory board--not an appointed one, which the KUAC management is pushing for.  The Chancellor has not taken leadership to clear up these issues.  Mike Davis asked about the formation of the elected advisory board and if it was on the table.  

Dan O'Neill is a member of the KUAC Listeners Alliance, which is a group that formed shortly after the program changes that occurred in July.  Dan spoke about the programs on the schedule and what was eliminated.  What they felt was that every single program that might be said to come from the left (the liberal point of view) was eliminated.  Most of them were replaced by a business program.  Our group formed to protest these changes and to try work with the station to get address.  We haven't been able to succeed there.  Part of the resolution deals with issues of secrecy and access to information.  That spring from him trying to get information from the station management about things that might indicate the popularity of the program "CounterSpin", which was the main one that was cut that had the most support.  He was denied access to the pledge information and was told that the data didn't exist.  He filed a Freedom of Information Act request and later received that information.  He also filed a request about the membership of the community leadership council that had some advisory role in policy.   

Jim Collins asked who was on the committee.  Dan O'Neill indicated that there is currently a Task Force, which will design a community advisory board.  This is similar to what other community licensee's hold--20 out of the 26 in this state.  As a university licensee we don't have to have one by law.  We are asking that one be created.  

IV	A.	President's Comments - Paul Layer

Paul Layer traveled to Nome and Kotzebue to visit faculty in November.  He really appreciated the hospitality.  It was good to see another aspect of education at the university.  It was also interesting to learn about the interaction with the community and the relationships between the community and the campus.  

Another trip he attended was the American Geophysical Union (AGU).  It is a national meeting with about 12,000 participants.  There were a number of UAF students attending the conference and gave presentations.  There was a strong representative from both faculty and students.  Paul commended faculty who promoted students to attend the meeting.  This shows the breath of mission that we have to go from very high powered, professional and graduate studies to reaching the community.  There was really a contrast between the two trips.   

The Board of Regents met last week.  The occupational certification and workforce credentials were approved.  It is now up to us to develop programs and get them approved to meet workforce needs.  

The other issue is performance based budgeting and our performance in that review.  The Chancellor will discuss this topic.  

B.	President-Elect's Comments - Shirish Patil

Shirish Patil thanked everyone for their comments on the Strategic Plan.  It will be forwarded to the Chancellor this week.  

Statewide has been discussing retirement and benefits.  A new optional retirement program was presented to the Board and it was referred to a later meeting.  This needs more discussion.  There is a proposal for new employees hired in July 2006 to drop the university pension benefit. 

There is also a UA research environment study.  This will look at the financial strength of UA research enterprise including the research management component.  Some of the observations will include the facilities; the biomedical emerging projects and the university can take advantage of these; and outreach and integration with teaching.  

Shirish is also following the Accountability and Sustainability (ACAS) report.  President Hamilton wants to reconvene the team to review the ACAS report and update the progress made. 

Shirish is working with Rainer Newberry on duplication of courses.  

V	A.	Remarks by Chancellor S. Jones   

Chancellor Jones indicated that Paul Reichardt is in Juneau, meeting with the other provosts and deans of engineering.  

Legislative Outlook – Nothing is official, but the word coming out of the governor's office is that of the $43.5 million the UA system has requested, budget $38 million appears in the budget.  President Hamilton is going to push very hard to attempt to get that number up from $38 to closer to the $43.5 million.  Of the $5.5 million that isn't in there, $3 million is for items that will also appear in our capital request.  The other $2.5 million are bits and pieces of four or five different things.  What we had requested included covering the base level increases for our personal costs, the benefit costs, utility increases and other fixed costs over which we have no control.  For the most part that is in the budget.  In addition, it looks like $4 million to enhance UA research.  In addition to the $38 million, they have put into the governor's budget $2 million for UA scholars.  This will enable us to make the move from the top 10% to the top 15 % of high school graduates being eligible for UA scholars.  There is a group composed of a couple of regents working the governor hard to increase the $2 million to something $5-8.5 million to cover the entire UA scholars at the top 15% of the graduating class and increasing the $11,000 scholarship to a full ride for four years.  There is a lot of behind the scene work at trying to have UA scholars funding provided by the state and provided at an accelerated level.  The Chancellor encourages everyone to contact legislators. 

The Board of Regent's highlights – The Occupational Endorsements and Workforce Credentials were passed.  Another item that was discussed and needs further information was who has authority to create or eliminate institute, centers, offices, or programs.  They are trying to define what is a center, institute, etc.  The Board also approved the creation of the Alaska University Transportation Center that will be funded at $18 million for five years to be housed in INE and the creating of the Arctic Engineering Research Center, another $18 million federal appropriation that will be housed within the INE.  Both are system level entities but will be administered at UAF.  One item that captivated the Regents was a presentation by Judith Kleinfeld on Gender Gap.  She is concerned that we risk losing a whole generation of males because of underperformance, lower expectations, and generally falling very short of females on a number of very important measures.  

Wood Center cigarette sales – Maya and Jeff met with the Chancellor last week.  He asked for feedback from various groups.  He has learned that one day last week we stopped selling cigarettes in Wood Center.  It had nothing to do with looking at the long-term issue.  What happened was that earlier in the semester a Wood Center employee had sold cigarettes to a minor.  The penalty was an imposition of a 21-day period where we could not sell cigarettes in Wood Center.  We began that 21-day penalty period so that the bulk of it would fall over the holiday period.  

Chancellor Jones invited Paul Layer to attend the ribbon cutting ceremony at the Ft. Yukon Learning Center on Friday.  

KUAC – The Chancellor appreciates Dan and Abel’s interest.  This has generated a tremendous amount of interest and sparked a lot of energy over the course of that last couple of months.  He encourages the Senate to invite Greg Petrowich and Lori Richmond to speak to the Senate before taking any action on the resolution.  We need to pull this to some kind of closure that recognizes the depth of passion directed toward it.  This one generated even more interest than the cutting of the trees on West Ridge.  

The Chancellor invited everyone to attend the Holiday reception today at Wood Center from 4-6 p.m. and wished all a restful and safe holiday season.  

Performance Based Budgeting – This year a total of $1.2 million was allocated to UAA, UAS, and UAF in the latest round in performance based budgeting assessment and evaluation. Of the $1.2 million, UAF was awarded $75,000; UAS $175,000 and UAA received $950,000 dollars.  We did a less than adequate job in convincing the people at statewide who evaluated us that we had fully embraced the notion of performance based budgeting and that we had embraced the notion that we have objective, measurable, quantifiable metrics to evaluate our progress across a number of fronts.  We failed to convince the people who judged us that we in fact embrace these things.  At the Board of Regent's meeting President Hamilton reported on performance based budgeting but did not tell them that the allocation was so weighted against us.  He did say that the University broadly has made significant progress in the area of performance based budgeting.  Hamilton said that it has been a remarkable difficult process and he doesn't understand the reluctance to embrace performance based budgeting.  And, he stated that we will embrace it as an institution and will reward those that put it into practice.  

It give all of us impetus to figure out how to tell our story better.  The deans and directors have met with Paul Reichardt.  All of us are searching for where we fell short.  Generally, we are convinced that it wasn't in practice or intent, but simply in our ability to tell our tale in a convincing way.  We are going to report quarterly to statewide on the metrics and our progress in implementing and showing results.  We will develop a monthly score sheet to look at internally.  We will begin to tell our story much more forceful and regular basis than in the past.  

Patty Grey stated that it seemed to be about the presentation and not the quality.  Chancellor Jones indicated that it is not enough to expect someone else to dig in and see that we have performed.  We need to do that ourselves and put everything clearly and visible in place and be much more obvious. 

VI	Guest Speaker 

	A.	Kathleen Schedler, Associate Vice Chancellor, Facilities and Safety

Topic that Kathleen Schedler was asked to address are fixed cost increases.  Increased energy and fixed costs have affected anyone paying a bill throughout the UA system.  At UAF we were probable the first to state that we have a problem.  Kathleen stated she will talk about the UAF main campus costs but they are just as real at the remote sites.  We are looking for solutions as a whole for UAF.   At the Fairbanks campus we burn fuel oil and coal.  Coal is a very cheap way to have energy.  Fuel oil is now a very expensive way.  We are split about 50-50 with our capacity.  We have to provide heat and electricity to the campus.  The costs and the quantity keep rising.  We will not use less energy next year than we do this year.  Our individual electrical energy use is increasing.  We will continue to use more and the cost will continue to increase.  We are trying to keep the rise low.  The most occupants of a building will impact is 10% of the energy consumed.  Facility Services is concentrating on the other 90%.  Over that last two years they have been concentrating on the community campuses.  Between 2003 and 2004 cost increased and the bill for fuel oil was $200,000 more.  From 2004 to 2005 it increased $1.1 million.  This year we started projecting what the fuel oil costs would be and estimate that the shortage would be close to $2 million.  Kathleen can't reallocate that amount from an under funded facilities department.  They have put in a supplemental fixed cost increase to the legislature.  But, we don't find out about that until May or June.  How do we pay those bills?  Some will be through internal relocation.  Some will be from UAF's reserves.  We hope we can get a supplemental appropriation.  What was cut from the operating budget was M & R and R & R.  We need to get the increase into the base budget otherwise the increased costs snowball.  There are some things that we can do for energy conservation.  We are coming up with some energy guidelines.  One of the biggest things is don’t have an old fashion CRT computer monitor because they use 10 times more energy than a flat screen.  Turn off lights if you are going to be gone more than 15 minutes.  Put your computer to sleep over night and turn it off completely over the weekend.  

Jane Weber asked about the Gruening building and indicated that her office does not have any heat.  Kathleen indicated that Gruening was a strange building and they are working on it now.  They are going through building by building looking at the what system was put in and how it is expected to work, what is running today and how to make sense of it all.  

Jim Collins asked where on campus the fuel oil is being used.  Kathleen indicated that we have a central system but West Ridge uses more fuel oil.  The coal-fired burners are running full time.  The loads throughout the campus are growing.  

Maya Salganek asked about the chiller and the decisions made when they bought the new chiller.  Kathleen indicated that the cost for a smaller unit run on electricity was much smaller than a larger one run on steam.  Some really important decisions were made in 1960s that got use to the year 2000.  We are now making decisions that will sustain the campus until 2050.  Do we invest more first time money to put in another coal fired unit, because we know there is 100 years of coal and the cost will be very flat, or do we not have the first time costs and invest a smaller amount and subject the campus to higher costs every year.  We don't have the first time money.  

B.	Rory O'Neill and Walker Wheeler – Office of Information Technology 

Rory O'Neill indicated that he was here for Steve Smith.  Rory assure everyone there was an email problem experienced by users on Wednesday morning that lasted 2.5 days.  Cathy Cahill asked if we have one server or if we could go to a two-server system.  Walker Wheeler indicated that over the past few months they have been in the process to allow us to move from one server to four servers.  The load would be distributed evenly for better performance.  Rory stated that beginning today there is a two-phase project of the merger of statewide IT and UAF IT.  Rory will be in charge of the email service.  Phase one will be working to stabilize UAF email services and put the application layer into a position to have multiple physical servers.  Phase two will collapse both email services together while retaining MAU branding.  There is talk about issuing students email accounts through the UA Portal and having faculty and staff on a separate system.  

Mike Davis stated that for the distance students this was very detrimental.  He asked if there was an analysis of what happened and if there were steps taken to ensure this would not happen again.  

Rory indicated that because of this event there are three reviews that Steve Smith is asking for.  Two are externally led and one is internal.  They are looking at procedure that are or are not in place and whether they were followed and looking at the response.  We acknowledge that we could have responded more quickly.  And, the communications.  Again, acknowledging the problem.  It became very clear to Rory that email is more important than Banner.  Email has such a broad and deep impact to all sorts of business at the university.  We are running a root cause analysis now trying to find out who was responsible and what equipment failed and putting ourselves in a better position so we would be faced with this again.  

Ron Illingworth indicated that this is important and we need to keep this in front.  We need a redundancy built in.  So, if a system goes down there is a backup system that will work.  Rory indicated that the backlog was the reason for the slow down.  The outage was very brief, but the backlog of message was enormous.  Mike Davis stated that it would be important to get a report on the result of the analysis.  

VII	Governance Reports 

	A.	Staff Council - Maya Salganek

Maya Salganek indicated that Staff Council will meet on Friday.  They did establish a wellness committee.  They will be discussing the issues of wellness at an ad hoc committee, which will meet tomorrow.  

They have completed elections and have nine new members.  They will be holding an orientation in January in lieu of a regular Staff Council meeting.  

They are looking at tobacco sales and will include a statement about the input from the unit/department involved.  

They are very glad that the Board of Regent's is holding off on action about the new ORP and other issue on pension plans.  Despite the statement there has been involvement of faculty and staff leadership, there has been no mention of it at the Staff Alliance meeting and certainly not at the UAF level.  It has been difficult to come to terms about it and other issues on the pension plans that will affect us directly.  At this point we don't have information.  

Employee tuition waiver -- we have been getting feedback on this and in general, staff feel that it's a good thing to be more accountable about where they are being spent and how they are utilized.  What staff is worried about is if your position changes at work that doesn't enable you to complete a course and will be asked to pay for the class because they didn't complete it.  

Another item Staff Council has been working on is rural sites and issue of training.  There is a lot of demand for training.  Many of the training opportunities are available on campus, but rarely are they available to rural sites in any form that is useful.  They will be looking at a resolution to continue to bring distance education opportunities in the form of video conferencing or actual person-to-person training of rural members.  

	B.	ASUAF - Joe Blanchard 

Joseph Blanchard was not available to give a report. 

	C.	GSO - Susan Hazlett

Susan Hazlett indicated that GSO is still inactive and there are no plans to revive it.  

VIII	New Business 

A.	Resolution of Appreciation for Gayle Gregory, submitted by the Administrative Committee 

The following resolution was read by Paul Layer and approved unanimously.  A framed copy was presented to Gayle.  

RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION

FOR

GAYLE GREGORY

WHEREAS, Gayle Gregory has served the UAF Faculty Senate in a manner deserving of the UAF Faculty Senate's esteem; and 

Whereas, Gayle Gregory has served as a member of the UAF Faculty Senate Curricular Affairs Committee since 1993; and 

Whereas, Gayle Gregory has served as a member of the UAF Faculty Senate Curriculum Review Committee since 2003; and 

Whereas, Gayle Gregory has served as a member of the UAF Faculty Senate Graduate Academic and Advisory Committee since 1996; and 

WHEREAS, Gayle Gregory has been instrumental in providing guidance and direction in the compilation of the University Catalog for many years; and 

Whereas, Gayle Gregory certified degree requirements for UAF’s annual commencement ceremonies since 1988; and

Whereas, Gayle Gregory has dedicated 25 years of service to the University of Alaska and the Office of the Registrar; and 

WHEREAS, The UAF Faculty Senate wishes to acknowledge the exemplary service rendered the faculty and the University by Gayle Gregory; now 

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, That the UAF Faculty Senate recognize the many contributions of Gayle Gregory to the University of Alaska Fairbanks and expresses its appreciation for her outstanding service.

*****************

B.	Motion to amend the policy on Graduate Advisory Committee membership for Interdisciplinary doctoral degree students, submitted by Graduate Academic & Advisory Committee 

Cathy Cahill indicated that the motion is designed to increase the number of faculty that can serve on INDS committees.  It now requires one person to be from a degree-granting department.  If you are in Liberal Arts you are out of luck because there aren't many so those faculty members get requested to serve on committee a lot.  This would allow a larger pool of faculty to serve on INDS committees.  The Graduate Dean has some guidelines for faculty to serve as a core member based on how much experience they have serving on other graduate committees.  Cathy clarified that other faculty may serve on the committee, just not as a core member.  The motion passed with 1 nay.  

MOTION: 
=======

The UAF Faculty Senate moves to amend the policy on Graduate Advisory Committee membership for Interdisciplinary doctoral degree students (2005-2006 UAF Catalog, page 169) as follows:  

[[  ]] - Deletion
CAPS - Addition

Doctoral Degree

The core advisory committee of doctoral degree students must consist of four approved UAF faculty members.  For interdisciplinary students, one advisory committee member must be from a Ph.D.-granting department OR BE APPROVED AS THE GRADUATE SCHOOL REPRESENTATIVE BY THE GRADUATE SCHOOL DEAN, BASED ON PRIOR EXPERIENCE ADVISING PH.D. STUDENTS.  Participating faculty above this number are considered additional committee members.  Committee membership must be approved by the home department, unit dean, and the dean of the Graduate School.  

	EFFECTIVE:  	Immediately

RATIONALE:  	It is often difficult for INDS Ph.D. students to find appropriate committee members from Ph.D.-granting departments.  Anthropology faculty are overloaded with requests, and Psychology faculty will be soon, since many INDS students are in liberal arts of social science fields.  Also, sometimes Anthropology faculty end up on committees where they have only a limited interest and familiarity with the research topic.  

*******************

C.	Motion to approve a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate for the Elementary Post-Baccalaureate Licensure Program, submitted by Graduate Academic & Advisory Committee 

Cathy Cahill asked that the next four motions be considered together.  They are all in Education.  This is the first set of post-baccalaureate certificates going through the process.  All the courses are currently in place for students to take toward state licensure.  This puts them into the category of post-baccalaureate certificates and the university would get credit for students completing the certificate.  The motions passed unanimously.  

MOTION:
=======

The UAF Faculty Senate moves to approve a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate for the Elementary Post-Baccalaureate Licensure Program.  

	EFFECTIVE:  	Fall 2006 and/or
		Upon Board of Regents' Approval.

RATIONALE: 	See full program proposals #27 from the Fall 2005 review cycle on file in the Governance Office, 312 Signers' Hall.

Elementary post-Baccalaureate Licensure Program - Year long program designed to provide students with course work and internship experience necessary to meet the UAF/Alaska Teacher Standards.  Current program results in an Alaska teacher license and this will add a UAF post-baccalaureate certificate.  Students can apply program credits to a M.Ed. in Elementary Education.   

*********************

D.	Motion to approve a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate for the Secondary Post-Baccalaureate Licensure Program, submitted by Graduate Academic & Advisory Committee 

The motion passed unanimously.  

MOTION:
=======

The UAF Faculty Senate moves to approve a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate for the Secondary Post-Baccalaureate Licensure Program.  

	EFFECTIVE:  	Fall 2006 and/or
		Upon Board of Regents' Approval.

RATIONALE: 	See full program proposals #29 from the Fall 2005 review cycle on file in the Governance Office, 312 Signers' Hall.

Secondary Post-Baccalaureate Licensure Program - Provides teacher certification program that includes coursework and internship to meeting NCATE standards, standards of academic specialty areas, Alaska Teacher Standards and Alaska Standards for Culturally Responsive School.  Current program results in an Alaska teacher license and this will add a UAF post-baccalaureate certificate.

*********************

E.	Motion to approve a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate for the K-12 Art Licensure Program, submitted by Graduate Academic & Advisory Committee 

The motion passed unanimously.

MOTION:
=======

The UAF Faculty Senate moves to approve a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate for the K-12 Art Licensure Program.  

	EFFECTIVE:  	Fall 2006 and/or
		Upon Board of Regents' Approval.

RATIONALE: 	See full program proposals #28 from the Fall 2005 review cycle on file in the Governance Office, 312 Signers' Hall.

K-12 Art Licensure Program - Provides teacher certification program that includes coursework and internship to meeting NCATE standards, the national fine arts standards, Alaska Teacher Standards and Alaska Standards for Culturally Responsive School.  Current program results in an Alaska teacher license and this will add a UAF post-baccalaureate certificate.

*********************

F.	Motion to approve a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate for the School Counselor Certification Program, submitted by Graduate Academic & Advisory Committee 

The motion passed unanimously

MOTION:
=======

The UAF Faculty Senate moves to approve a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate for the School Counselor Certification Program.  

	EFFECTIVE:  	Fall 2006 and/or
		Upon Board of Regents' Approval.

RATIONALE: 	See full program proposals #30 from the Fall 2005 review cycle on file in the Governance Office, 312 Signers' Hall.

School Counselor Certification Program - Defined set of courses to recognize the professional training to become certificated as elementary and or secondary school counselors.  Current program results in an Alaska license and this will add a UAF post-baccalaureate certificate.

*********************

G.	Motion to approve the deletion of the Certificate in Phlebotomy, submitted by Curricular Affairs 

Rainer Newberry indicated that there was no reason not to delete the certificate.  The motion passed unanimously.  

MOTION:
=======

The UAF Faculty Senate moves to approve the deletion of the Certificate in Phlebotomy. 

	EFFECTIVE:  	Fall 2006 and/or
		Upon Board of Regents' Approval.

RATIONALE: 	See full program proposals #151 from the Fall 2005 review cycle on file in the Governance Office, 312 Signers' Hall.

*********************

H.	Resolution on sale of tobacco in Wood Center, submitted by Faculty Affairs and the Administrative Committee 

Shirish Patil indicated that in response to the Chancellor's memo, the following motion was drafted and approved by the Administrative Committee.  Jane Weber asked if we could include a statement similar to that expressed by Staff Council.  An additional statement was added requesting that in matter pertaining to a department the Chancellor will seek advise from the department affected by the resolution.  Shirish indicated that an analysis of Wood Center showed that the lost of $14,000 in revenue would affect their budget.  They would like to have some warning.  After further discussion and rewrite the amendment passed with 2 nays.  A friendly amendment was made to add the word legal prior to products in the first resolved statement.  The amendment motion passed unanimously.  

RESOLUTION

ON

SALE OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS IN WOOD CENTER

WHEREAS, The UAF Faculty Senate realizes the dangers of cigarettes and tobacco products; and 

Whereas, Cigarettes and tobacco products are legal products to purchasers of legal age; and 

Whereas, UAF Students are adults who can make informed decisions; now

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, That the UAF Faculty Senate recommends that the students decide what legal products are or are not offered in the Wood Center, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Chancellor involve appropriate organizational entities prior to implementation of policies directly affecting them.  

*********************

I.	KUAC Resolution 

A motion was made to move the item to the floor for discussion by Patty Gray and seconded by Rainer Newberry.  Rainer Newberry indicated that the resolution was long-winded and silly and what it says is that something needs to be done.  He asked if there was a more straightforward way of putting this more forcefully and less weak.  Jim Collins stated that it would be helpful if we had both sides of the issue.  We are hearing only one side and have not heard from the management of KUAC.  

Patty Gray stated that she was not so concerned about the programs, but what bothers her most is that program decisions were made without even any reading something before hand.  What concerns her most is cutting the public comment period from the Borough Assembly.  

Rainer asked who was actually in charge of overseeing KUAC.  That is whom we need to send the message to or get involved with in some fashion.  Abel Bult-Ito indicated that the Chancellor is responsible for the direction of KUAC.  The resolution is directed to him to address the issues, which he has been ignoring for the past six months.  They are not asking anything from the KUAC management at this time because they have been unresponsive.  The Therefore statements give direction for action we want to see by the Chancellor.  Abel sent a memo to the Chancellor about the secret council Greg Petrowich was using and he never responded.  One of the most important things we can do as faculty is ensure that we have an elected community advisory board that can advise them as to programming issues.  

Rainer stated that on one hand we want the Chancellor to investigate the issue and report back to us on what is really going on.  In addition, we want the Chancellor to set up a community advisory board.  Why don't we just say that and eliminate the dribble?  We know there are problems.  

Abel asked if he wanted to eliminate some of the Whereas clauses to make it more straightforward.  He indicated that the most important thing is to make the Chancellor responsible for KUAC and the other is to get an elected community advisory board to advise the management at KUAC.  Those are the two key things.  Paul Layer indicated that the Chancellor does say he is responsible for KUAC.  That one may not send an appropriate message.  Mike Davis asked if the current director of KUAC is not responsive to community involvement, what guarantees do we have if there is an elected advisory board?  

Anupma Prakash asked a question about the community advisory board and if we ever had a board and was it elected or appointed?  Abel indicated that there was a community advisory board in the past but it was discontinued a few years ago and it was an appointed board.  

Jim Collins said that if we want to know what is going on, ask for an explanation from the Chancellor.  Abel stated that the idea here is to get some real community input into our public radio station and how the station broadcasts.  He thinks that can only be done if there is an elected community advisory board, elected by the members of KUAC.  Jim Collins indicated there were more constituents than KUAC.  What you want is a board that is very clear.  If you want to know what is going on, pass the resolution and ask the Chancellor to send Greg Petrowich to explain himself.  It seems that what people want is their own board.  In fact, the listenership of KUAC goes far beyond 485 people.  They reach out to an entire range that the station transmits to.  You are totaling ignoring an entire set.  How are you going to elect a board? 

Dan O’Neill stated that stations all over the country elect governing boards and they all manage to do it.  Typically those governing board appoint an advisory board.  The right thing is that it is coming in a democratic way, it is appointed by elected people.  He has eliminated the requirement that a university licensee should have a community advisory board, so ours was eliminated.  Now we have a problem where the listenership doesn't like some of the management policies and there seems to be a lack of trust.  The idea now is to establish a community advisory board even though one is not required.  If we can do that in a democratic way, then there is more likelihood that it will rebuild the trust.  No one has talked about who got to vote.  It could be by geographic region--it could be by those who contribute or those who listen.  The important thing is that it not be a management appointed board because, rather than a conduit for the community opinion, it becomes a mirror for the station.  

Patty Grey indicated that GVEA has a mechanism for polling the appropriate group of people who participate and allow them to democratically elect people to serve on the board.  She sees no difficulty in coming up with a way to elect a board.  

Mike Davis proposed an amendment to strike the first Therefore statement and in the final statement change the "correct the apparent mismanagement" to "address the management".  A vote on the amendment passed with 1 nay. 

There was no further discussion on the motion.  Mike Davis said he felt that we shouldn't wait for a response from KUAC, it's important to take a stand right now rather than wait a couple of months for them to get back to us.  He recommended that we vote on the resolution.  The resolution passed with 1 nay.  

RESOLUTION:
===========

WHEREAS, The University of Alaska Fairbanks provides an open academic environment that is and should be based on honesty and respect, and is committed to academic freedom; and

WHEREAS, The programming changes at KUAC implemented in July 2005 were made without consultation of the KUAC membership and listeners; and

WHEREAS, One of the programs eliminated, Counter Spin, had the sponsorship of an underwriter and received the highest pledges per half hour of air time during the pledge drive; and

WHEREAS, The general manager and CEO of KUAC, Greg Petrowich, withheld public information regarding fundraising totals for several months and only released some of the information after a Freedom of Information Act request was made; and

WHEREAS, The general manager and CEO of KUAC, Greg Petrowich, was insincere about some of the requested information by denying its existence; and

WHEREAS, The general manager and CEO of KUAC, Greg Petrowich, employed an advisory committee called the Community Leadership Council, and for several months kept the names of its members secret and only released this information after a Freedom of Information Act request was made; and

WHEREAS, About one-third of the KUAC membership, i.e., the KUAC Listeners Alliance of 454 people, have withheld pledges of a total of $48,600; and

WHEREAS, The KUAC Listeners Alliance requests that KUAC institute an elected Community Advisory Board to advice on major policy and programming decisions; and

WHEREAS, A KUAC Forum organized by the KUAC Task Force from 7-11pm on Wednesday, 7 December 2005, was attended by about 165 members of the public and at which about 75 people provided public testimony; and

WHEREAS, Of those 75 people testifying, all 75 expressed displeasure with the KUAC management; and

WHEREAS, Of those 75 people testifying, most spoke against the KUAC programming changes and a large proportion asked for an elected Community Advisory Board; and

WHEREAS, KUAC management is employed by the University of Alaska Fairbanks and answers to the Chancellor through the Vice-Chancellor for University Advancement and Community Engagement; now

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Faculty Senate request an explanation by Chancellor Steve Jones for the apparent mismanagement at KUAC that has led to the loss of confidence in the KUAC management by the listeners; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Faculty Senate request that Chancellor Steve Jones direct the KUAC management to release to the community public information when requested; and 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Faculty Senate request that Chancellor Steve Jones direct the KUAC management to take steps to better insure involvement of the public in major policy and programming decisions; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Faculty Senate request that Chancellor Steve Jones address the management at KUAC with appropriate actions, such as the formation of an elected Community Advisory Board.

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Paul Layer indicated that he had just received a memo that is going to the President and the Chancellor and various others.  ASUAF conducted a referendum on "Should the Wood Center continue to sell tobacco products?"   There was overwhelming majority of students from diverse parts of the university who opposed the measure to stop the sale of tobacco products by a 74% vote.  Our resolution was endorsing the feeling of the students.  

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IX	Committee Reports

	A.	Curricular Affairs - Rainer Newberry 

Rainer indicated that they have received a few comments from departments about the +/- grades.  Most have been enthusiastic about moving toward a +/- system.  One question is how will that affect student's GPA.  They have asked Institutional Research to supply them with a comparison on the time period when advisory +/- were given.  Once that data is available they intend to take the following steps:  initiate a faculty discussion on the issue; ask UAF to initiate the student discussion on the issue; and to initiate a student referendum on the issue; and initiate a faculty referendum with statements of those opposed and in favor.  And based on that referendum, either drop the issue or bring it up to the Faculty Senate. 

The second issue is the academic calendar for the years 2007-2010.  The fundamental problems are that of Labor Day and where it occurs with regard to the calendar.  There is simply no way that we can make the 2010 calendar work unless we meet before Labor Day.  

	B.	Faculty Affairs - Jon Genetti 

A report was attached to the agenda. Anupma spoke about the 3-year vs. 2-year senate term. There is a concern that with a 2-year term the Senators are not up to speed and there was a suggestion that new members attend committee meeting before their term starts.  Another suggestion is there be an orientation session for new members to bring them up to speed on how the Senate functions.  However, recruiting faculty for a 3-year term might be difficult. They would like more input on the issue.

Anupma reviewed the other items the committee has been working on including the review of the draft process for appointment of Distinguished Professor.  

Marjorie Illingworth indicated that an orientation for new Faculty Senate members would be very good.  

	C.	Unit Criteria - Glenn Chappell 

The committee has not met.  They are waiting for unit criteria.  If units have specific unit criteria to submit, please encourage them to do so as soon as possible.  

	D.	Committee on the Status of Women - Jane Weber 

A report was attached to the agenda.  Jane said they are presenting the Faculty Work Life Survey report to SAC and to the Chancellor's Council.  She would like to thank Sine Anahita for the presentation to the Provost Council.  

	E.	Core Review - Mark Box

A report was attached to the agenda. 

	F.	Curriculum Review - Rainer Newberry

Rainer indicated that 157 course and program changes were submitted to the committee.  Of this number 152 needed more work or were withdrawn because they needed addition work.  The problems included contact hours and credits that didn't add up, impact to department weren't consulted, and inadequate syllabus.  The school/college curriculum councils aren’t doing their job primarily because there is so much turn over.  This committee is the last group to review the courses and look out for student's interest.  Two issues need longer range work:  practicum hours, and a good definition of what constitutes lecture or lab.  Some submissions have practical activities counted as labs and some are submitted as lecture.  There is also a fundamental inconsistency between assignment of lab credits.  In the sciences and engineering lab are 3 hours per week and it every other field lab are 2 hours per week. 

Patty Grey indicated that GAAC is having similar discussions.  Anumpa indicated that it would be helpful to have sample of good syllabus online.  

	G.	Developmental Studies - Cindy Hardy/ Joe Mason

A report was attached to the agenda.  The Committee has been working on addressing the Enrollment Management report on selectivity.  They will meet again on December 16.  

	H.	Faculty Appeals & Oversight - Larry Duffy

A report was attached to the agenda. 

	I.	Faculty Development, Assessment & Improvement – Lee Haugen 

A report was attached to the agenda. 

	J.	Graduate Academic & Advisory Committee – Cathy Cahill

A report was attached to the agenda. 

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X	Members' Comments/Questions -   

Tim Stickel indicated that grades for the Fairbanks and TVC Campuses are due Tuesday.  

XI	Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 3:30 p.m.

Tapes of this Faculty Senate meeting are in the Governance Office, 312 Signers' Hall if anyone wishes to listen to the complete tapes. 

Submitted by Sheri Layral, Faculty Senate Secretary.