The University of Iowa
FACULTY COUNCIL
Tuesday, October 5, 2004
3:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Penn State Room, #337 Iowa Memorial Union

Members Present: Michael Cohen, Edwin Dove, Ronald Herman, Sheldon Kurtz, Philip Lutgendorf, Teresa Mangum, Frank Mitros, Sue Moorhead, Catherine Ringen, Karin Southard, Shelton Stromquist, Steve Thunder-McGuire, Jerold Woodhead

Members Absent: James Nepola

Members Excused: Judith Aikin, Paul Heidger, Linda Snetselaar, Paul Weller

Faculty Senate Officers in Attendance: Katherine Tachau, President; Richard LeBlond, Vice President; Claibourne Dungy, Secretary; Margaret Raymond, Past President

Guests: Kristen Schorsch (Press-Citizen), Michael Hogan (Provost), Tom Rocklin (Office of the Provost), Lee Anna Clark (Office of the Provost), Richard Saunders (Benefits), Kathryn Wynes (Office of the Provost), Raul Curto (CLAS), Christopher Squier (Office of the Provost), Marion Johnson (EFC), Julie Thatcher (Faculty Senate Office)

I.  Call to Order

Faculty Senate President Katherine Tachau called the meeting to order at 3:34 p.m.

II.  Approvals

   A.   Meeting agenda was approved by acclamation.

   B.   Faculty Council minutes of August 24, 2004

Professor Kurtz moved and second by Professor Cohen to approve the minutes of the August 24, 2004 meeting.  Motion approved by voice vote.

   C.   Senate Agenda, October 19, 2004

Professor Kurtz moved the approval of the Senate agenda for October 19, 2004 with second by Professor LeBlond.  Motion approved by voice vote.

   D.  Recommended Faculty Senate Replacements

Professor Kurtz moved that the Faculty Senate replacements recommended by the Committee on Committees chaired by Professor LeBlond be approved.  Second by Professor Cohen.  Motion passed by voice vote.  The replacements are as follows:

  1. William Clarke (Biostatistics) will replace Thomas Cook (Occupational and Environmental Health), 2004-2006
  2. Judith Heggen (Pediatrics) will replace Howard Winfield (Urology), 2004-2005
  3. Kevin Leicht (Sociology) will replace Virginia Dominguez (Anthropology), Fall 2004
  4. Lance Lichtor (Anesthesia) will replace Andrew Robertson (Biochemistry), 2004-2007
  5. Beth Pelton (Health and Sports Medicine) will replace Gary Segura (Political Science), 2004-2006 
  6. Colby Swan (Civil-Environmental Engineer) will replace Keri Hornbuckle (Civil-Environmental Engineer), 2004-2005

III.  Report: Faculty Senate President Katherine Tachau

Professor Tachau informed the Council that a report on the Intellectual Property Committee addressing the issue of distribution of resources from patents and other intellectual activity would be presented at the next Faculty Council meeting.  The issue of patents and copyrights will be addressed in the new policy.  Professor Tachau addressed the sexual harassment policy, which is currently under review.  She stated the Iowa Chapter of the AAUP had questioned who is a mandatory reporter.  The current policy seems to make all faculty mandatory reporters, thus not allowing any faculty to be a confidential resource for students, faculty and staff.  Proposed revisions to the policy will require only a minority of faculty to be mandatory reporters.  An update on this policy will be presented at the future Council meeting.

IV.  Unfinished Business

The meeting agenda was modified with consent of the Council to allow the inclusion of old business, which consisted of a discussion of the FRIC report on the General Education Fund (GEF) task force report.  Issues needing most immediate action are the GEF recommendation to a three-year vesting policy for TIAA/CREF and a reduction in the maximum allowable accruable vacation hours.  Currently, University of Iowa faculty and staff are vested in TIAA/CREF upon employment.  The GEF recommendation was for a three-year vesting period before becoming eligible to retain the University contribution.  Mr. Saunders said a review of the last three years indicated that of those individuals participating in TIAA/CREF, 14 retired or left the University with one year of service, only one was a faculty member.  Of the 30 who left the University after two years, 17 were faculty members and of the 20 who left prior to the third year, 10 were faculty members.  Mr. Saunders also stated that of CIC member institutions, the University of Chicago currently has a three-year vesting policy.  Northwestern University is considering a vesting policy, but has not implemented one as of this date.  He was unaware of any other CIC member institutions who had, or were considering a vesting policy.  Professor Kurtz stated the FRIC Committee was opposed to the GEF recommendation.  Professor Kurtz raised concerns about those individuals who were terminated by the University.  Thus, they may leave the University in less than the three years required for vestment not of their volition, but because of actions of the University.  Professor Ringen expressed concerns about a risk group of individuals on grants who might be terminated and not being engaged on another grant prior to the lapse of the three-year cycle.  Associate Dean Curto of Liberal Arts and Sciences informed the Council that most contracts from the College of Liberal Arts and Science are for three years.  Therefore, unless somebody was let go for cause prior to the three year contract, they would be eligible for TIAA/CREF benefits.  Discussion ensued on definition of three years, whether it was three academic years or three calendar years, how it would effect individuals on 9-month appointments.  Mr. Saunders stated that the three years is defined as three calendar years.  However, a policy would need to be established to address those individuals whose three year employment began in August and ended in May.

There was also considerable discussion concerning visiting professors.  Were the plan to be implemented, visiting faculty participating in our retirement program would not be able to access University contributions if their visiting professorship was for a period of any interval less than three years.  This was seen as a negative that would have serious implications for recruiting visiting professors.  It was also seen as the potential of creating two classes of visiting professors, those with and those without a faculty home.  Mr. Saunders stated the policy, if implemented, would grandfather those currently employed at the University of Iowa and would only affect new hires.  In response to members of the Council, Mr. Saunders stated it would be very difficult to include exceptions to the policy, particularly if they favored more highly paid faculty, and expect vested retirement policy to pass the stringent review process. 

The Council decided not to take a straw vote on the GEF Task Force recommendation, but to ask the University administrators present and Mr. Saunders to report the spirit of the conversation to President Skorton.  The Council had three major areas of concern:

  1. The impact of the proposal on visiting professors
  2. The impact of the proposal on faculty and staff terminated by the University, and
  3. The proposal would put the University at a disadvantage in recruiting faculty and staff

The next item discussed was the vacation policy.  The current policy allows individuals on 12-month appointments to accumulate up to 400 hours of vacation time.  The GEF recommendation is to limit accumulation to 1 year or 200 hours of accrued time.  This would represent a savings of approximately $38,000 in the first year and $150,000 per year by the tenth year.  Professor Kurtz indicated the most communication to the FRIC Committee was in opposition to this proposal.  Opposition to the GEF recommendation was expressed by several Council members.  Professor Woodhead stated that member College of Medicine faculty have difficulty taking earned vacation time because of clinical and medicine obligations and would be opposed to any reduction to accrual rules.  Professor Kurtz informed the Council the FRIC Committee recommended against the GEF Task Force recommendation of reducing the accumulated hours from 400 to 200.  Professor Mangum stated she felt uncomfortable supporting a measure that would not affect her as a 9-month appointee, but would have negative impact on her colleagues with 12-month appointments.  No vote was taken, however the Council recommended that Mr. Saunders and administration officials communicate these concerns to President Skorton.

Professor Kurtz, Chair of the FRIC Committee, reported that the committee will meet its goal of increasing flex credits.  He indicated that health insurance rates have been finalized for 2005.  He said that some plans will have an increase in health insurance premiums.  Professor Kurtz also stated that a proposal to allow faculty on phased retirement to access their TIAA/CREF funds was forwarded by University administration to the Board of Regents.

V.  New Business

   A.   Charge to Committee to Review Charter Committees

The charge to review charter committees was discussed.  Professor LeBlond addressed the issue that currently there is no institutional home for issues of diversity.  There are several ad hoc groups that address this at the faculty, staff and student level.  The Human Rights Committee has not specifically addressed the issues of diversity as part of its charge.  Provost Hogan informed the Council that one of the charges given to him by President Skorton upon his arrival was to address the issue of diversity.  He concurred with Professor LeBlond that there is no current home for diversity on campus.  Provost Hogan informed the Council that he would be forwarding a recommendation to President Skorton to create a charter committee on diversity.

Professor Raymond thought it would be useful to obtain information on how charter committees perceive that they are functioning.  Professor LeBlond felt a self-evaluation instrument would be a useful tool to help committees evaluate their strength and areas of concern.

   B.   Advice to the University of Iowa Fiscal Responsibility ad hoc Committee

Professor Tachau reported to the Council that the Fiscal Responsibility Committee had an ad hoc task force to address the University Code of Behavior.  This issue was prompted by the Sarbanes-Oxly legislation.  While this legislation was originally intended for the corporate sector, non-profit organizations and academic institutions have begun to explore methods of addressing fiscal responsibility and establishing secure channels for reporting of fiscal malfeasance by anonymous members of the faculty and staff. 

Professor Tachau informed the Council of an ad hoc committee, on which she was a member, appointed by President Skorton to address the University Code of Behavior.  Professor Tachau mentioned that Code of Behavior is addressed in several places, including the Faculty Code of Behavior, Faculty Handbook and the University of Iowa Operations Manual.  Associate Provost Clarke stated that the Faculty Ethics Policy may be appropriate whether to determine if the policy needs updating.  She suggested it may be appropriate to start by looking at existing faculty and staff ethics policies.  Provost Hogan mentioned that the staff had updated a draft of the Staff Ethics Policy and wondered whether the faculty would like to do the same.  Professor Lutgendorf moved with second by Professor Kurtz to instruct the President that the subcommittee was not the place to establish an the Iowa Code of Ethics that would apply to faculty.  The motion was approved by voice vote.

VI.  From the Floor

Professor LeBlond moved, Dr. Moreland second, that the agenda for the October 19, 2004 Faculty Senate meeting be amended to include the FRIC report by Professor Kurtz.         

VII.  Announcements

  1. University Convocation, October 5, 7:30, Macbride Hall Auditorium
  2. Iowa AAUP Conference Meeting, October 9, 9:00, Iowa Room, 335 IMU
  3. NCAA President Myles Brand, October 12, Richey Ballroom, IMU
  4. President Skorton’s Annual Address, October 13, 4:30, Main Ballroom, IMU
  5. Faculty Senate, October 19, 3:30-5:15, Lucas-Dodge Room, 256 IMU
  6. Faculty Council, November 2, 3:30-5:15, South Room, 179 IMU

VIII.  Adjournment

Meeting was adjourned at 5:03pm

 

Respectfully submitted,

______________________________________
Claibourne I. Dungy, MD, MPH
Secretary, Faculty Council