Faculty Senate Minutes February 11, 2003

The University of Iowa
FACULTY SENATE
Tuesday, February 11, 2003
3:30 pm – 5:15 pm
Lucas Dodge Room, #256 Iowa Memorial Union

Members Present: Judith Aikin, Pedro Alvarez, Steven Armstrong, Zuhair Ballas, Terry Boles, Phyllis Chang, John Cowdery, Bernard Fallon, Richard Fumerton, Sandra Guzman-Armstrong, Rebecca Hegeman, Ronald Herman, Erin Irish, William Johnson, Richard LeBlond, Patrick Lloyd, Charles Lynch, Mazen Maktabi, Kim Marra, Rachel Miller, Sue Moorhead, Paul Muhly, Barbara Muller, Harry Paarsch, Judy Polumbaum, Jon Ringen, Peter Rubenstein, Thomas Schmidt, Leslie Schrier, Linda Snetselaar, Katherine Tachau, Steve Thunder-McGuire, Tuong Ton-That, Richard Valentine, Carolyn Wanat, Robert Weir, John Westefeld

Members Absent: Abdel-Malek, Karim, Melissa Deem, Claibourne Dungy, Sonya Franklin, Carin Green, Alfred Hansen, Jean Jew, Sheldon Kurtz, Usha Mallik, John Moyers, Andrew Nugent, Thomas O’Dorisio, Bradley Phillips, Daniel Quinn, Richard Randell, Mary Reno, Shelton Stromquist, Paul Weller, Duane Whitaker, Howard Winfield, Jerold Woodhead

Members Excused: Amitava Bhattacharjee, Donald Brown, Corey Creekmur, Douglas DeJong, Kathleen Diffley, Edwin Dove, Lois Dusdieker, Paul Heidger, Julie Hochstrasser, Teresa Mangum, Ann Marie McCarthy, Lisa Oakes, Karin Southard

Faculty Senate Officers in Attendance: Jeffrey Cox, President; Margaret Raymond, Vice President; Craig Porter, Secretary

Guests: Jeffrey Patch (The Daily Iowan), Gigi Wood (The Press Citizen), Katherine Wynes (Office of the Provost), Al Hood (Emeritus Faculty), Jon Whitmore (Office of the Provost), Lee Anna Clark (Office of the Provost), Donna Katen-Bahensky (UIHC), Sandy Boyd (President), Dave Martin (Staff Council), Julie Thatcher (Faculty Senate Office),

I. Call to Order

The February 11, 2003 University of Iowa Faculty Senate meeting was called to order at 3:36 pm by President Jeffrey Cox.

II. Approvals

A. Meeting Agenda

The agenda was approved without modification by unanimous vote of the Faculty Senators in attendance.

B. Minutes – Faculty Senate,

The minutes of the Faculty Senate meeting of December 3, 2002 were approved without modification.

III. Announcements

A. Next Council and Senate Meetings

The next University of Iowa Faculty Council meeting will occur on February 25, 2003. The next University of Iowa Faculty Senate meeting will occur on March 4, 2003.

B. Committee Volunteer Recruitment, forms due February 14, 2003.

Voluntary service on University of Iowa Faculty Senate committees is essential to the functioning of the University and also supports the important concept of faculty self-governance. Pres. Cox urged the Senators to encourage their constituent faculty to volunteer for service on these important committees. Forms indicating interest have been distributed and are due to be returned by February 14, 2003.

C. Chautauqua, IMU Main Lounge, February 26, 2003, doors open at 2:00 pm

Pres. Cox introduced Senator Marra to educate the Senate of the subject of this upcoming event. Prof. Marra identified the source of the idea for this discussion “on public universities, citizenship, and the Liberal Arts and Sciences” as having been the Spring 2002 Faculty Council Retreat. At that event both Profs. Marra and Mangum endorsed a Chautauqua as an event, which would increase on-campus awareness of the meaning of “public” in education. Education of the larger university community in this fashion would allow a secondary benefit of improving our community outreach efforts. Profs. Marra and Mangum were aided in their efforts to organize this event by Dean Fred Antczak and JoAnn Castanga of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Dean Antczak provided the inspiration to frame such a discussion as a Chautauqua. These events were popular from the 1870’s to the 1940’s throughout the Midwest region. They had their origin in New York State in the city and on a lake named Chautauqua. Their goal was to bring culture to the middle of the country and they used entertainment to bring large members of the public to a meeting place where the community then engaged in educational debate. It is particularly fitting that this event has been thus framed since the University of Iowa houses a Chautauqua archive that is second in its importance only to that housed in Chautauqua, New York. Prof. Marra encouraged the Senators to spread the word so that as many faculty and staff participate in this event as possible. Participants will include President-Designate Skorton, Profs. Philip Kutzko, Jeff Cox and Amitava Bhattacharjee, Charlotte Westerhaus from the Office of Affirmative Action, Gina Patnaik, a senior in the CLAS and Rod Hise, CLAS Alumnus. Prof. Linda Maxson, Dean of the CLAS will host this February Chautauqua.

At the conclusion of Prof. Marra’s remarks Pres. Cox expressed his sincere thanks to Profs. Marra and Mangum for organizing this event.

D. Michael J. Brody Award Nominations due February 28, 2003

Pres. Cox reminded the Senators of the deadline for Michael J. Brody Award nominations. The award consists of $500.00 and an original work of art selected from the portfolio of a University of Iowa graduate student in art. He also reminded the Senators of Prof. Brody’s strong ties to the Senate as one of its founders and an early president and also emphasized the fact that this faculty award is the only one bestowed and controlled by the University of Iowa Faculty.

IV. Reports

A. University Hospitals and Clinics Administration, Donna Katen-Bahensky

Ms. Katen-Bahensky thanked the Senate for the opportunity to speak on behalf of our university-owned hospital, an important component of the University. She reminded the Senators of its importance to the State and the Nation in addition to the University and she hoped that her appearance would not only improve faculty awareness of the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics but also would serve to improve collegiality between faculty who serve as its medical staff and the remainder of the faculty of the University of Iowa. She thanked the Senate and Pres. Cox for her invitation and then shared several observations that she has made since her relatively recent arrival.

The first of these was her recognition of the extraordinary contributions of the outstanding faculty with whom she has had contact. She had anticipated that the leadership would be outstanding in their attributes but has come to happily recognize that all faculty at all ranks share an outstanding intellect as well as a willingness to share and to serve. In similar fashion she has come to realize that the staff share the same qualities as the faculty and bring an energy and a work ethic to the University that are outstanding. Ms. Katen-Bahensky then identified areas of opportunity for improvement and growth.

Budgetary issues and Medicare reimbursement are of great concern to the fiscal and operational health of the University of Iowa Healthcare and remain important areas of administrative and faculty effort. The need to improve information technology infrastructure is great at the University of Iowa Healthcare and is a top priority for the hospital and collegiate administration. Likewise the need to speed up improvements in medical technology is also a top priority. Ms. Katen-Bahensky also commented on the need to improve the speed with which important decisions can be made in order to remain competitive with local healthcare facilities and providers. Other needs include improvement in the physical facilities of the hospital in order to keep pace with a rapidly changing healthcare environment.

She finished her comments by recounting for the Faculty Senate changes that she has made in the hospital budgetary process to better engage hospital administrators with faculty and staff. She spearheaded this change because of her beliefs in the necessity to engage all of these parties in hospital budgetary decision-making and encouraged the Senate to endorse a similar model when it discussed item V.B on today’s agenda. Ms. Katen-Bahensky then asked for questions from the Senators. Hearing none she again thanked the Senate and Pres. Cox for her opportunity to speak.

B. Elections Committee, Julie Thatcher

Pres. Cox opened this discussion by thanking Connie Berman and our newly appointed administrative assistant, Julie Thatcher, for their hard work in establishing the ability to perform the Senate nominations and elections electronically. These two individuals along with Skip Kempnich worked closely with Information Technology Services to make this electronic initiative happen. The nomination ballets will be linked to faculty lists appropriate for the department and/or college of the voter. These lists were updated last November 1 and likely need updating. She encouraged the Senators to look at their collegiate lists to correct them as necessary.

The nomination period will begin February 14. There is a link on the University of Iowa Faculty Senate home page to nominations. The login will be HawkID based. Julie is aware of some difficulties with the change to the HawkID login system and encouraged Senators having difficulty logging on to contact her directly. The spreadsheet (Attachment 2) was then reviewed. Prof. Muhly questioned the “non-tenured” category under medicine. This designation refers to clinical track faculty members. Julie pointed out that there is a requirement for election of one clinical track faculty member from this college however the total number of openings (11) can be filled by additional clinical track faculty. There is, however, a 20% cap on the total number of clinical track faculty members who can simultaneously serve on the Faculty Senate. Associate Provost Clark identified an error in numerical tallies on this attachment. Subsequent to their correction Prof. Muhly moved and Prof. Tachau seconded approval of the Faculty Senate and Council tally sheet. The motion received unanimous approval. At the conclusion of this discussion Pres. Cox expressed his thanks to the Office of the Provost for facilitating and approving Julie’s change in title and position.

C. Faculty-Student Task Force on Undergraduate Arrest Rates, Judy Polumbaum

Following her introduction Prof. Polumbaum addressed the Senate by reading from a prepared text. The full text is provided as Attachment 3. At the conclusion of her reading she asked for questions from the Senate floor. None were asked.

D. Governmental Relations Committee, Downing Thomas

At the request of Pres. Cox, Prof. Thomas addressed the Senate on the activities of the Governmental Relations Committee. He began by distributing the FY2004 budget request pamphlet. A second pamphlet regarding University outreach efforts was provided to Julie Thatcher for copying and subsequent distribution to the Senate membership. Prof. Thomas advised the Senators that his committee meets regularly with Mark Braun and Derek Willard for legislative updates in order to keep abreast of key legislative events. He then identified the upcoming local legislative forum that will occur on February 22, 2003, at the Iowa City Civic Center at 9:30 AM as being an important meeting for faculty to attend. Prof. Thomas recounted Interim President Boyd’s efforts to strengthen University outreach efforts through an advocacy network and anticipated ongoing work with President-Designate Skorton to invigorate the outreach efforts of faculty and students. He advised the Senators that our legislators indicate that they need to hear from faculty and students rather than University lobbyists in order to better focus and frame their efforts on our behalf. Prof. Thomas concluded his remarks by summarizing the basis of the success of the University of Iowa as being that of access and quality. It is his belief that Governor Vilsack recognizes the University as an economic engine but that the University faculty and students need to support and disseminate this other, more fundamental, message. He then asked for questions.

Pres. Cox took the podium and reminded the Senators that outreach efforts on behalf of the University are crucial to its success. It was his experience that these community legislative fora are attended by every interest group in our community with the exception of faculty. He supported the concept of the importance of faculty discussing the University and its situation with our legislative delegation in spite of the frequent comments by our legislators that our discussion would be better focused in outreach communities. He concluded his remarks by applauding the recent addition to the Iowa City Chamber of Commerce legislative agenda of support for the University of Iowa educational programs.

E. Faculty Senate President, Jeff Cox

Pres. Cox announced that President-Designate Skorton will speak to the University of Iowa Faculty Senate on March 4, 2003, three days after assuming his role as president of the University of Iowa.

He then reported on his meeting with BICOA to discuss General Fund contributions to the Athletics programs as well as faculty concerns about athletics. He allowed that the meeting was helpful to the members of BICOA. He also pointed out to the Senators that our athletic oversight committee is one of the more effective in the nation in providing supervision over the academic life of student athletes.

A number of Senate related committees are in the process of their work. Despite significant discussion regarding its importance in relationship to the newly appointed President, the review of the Office of the President will proceed with the enthusiastic support of President-Designate Skorton. Prof. Altmaier will be chairing a committee to review the Tenure and Promotions Guidelines as mandated at the time of their last, substantive revision, approximately five years ago. In addition Prof. Porter is winding up work as chair of the committee to review the Clinical Track Promotion Guidelines. A report from the latter committee is tentatively scheduled for the February Faculty Council meeting. Prof. Ziegler has agreed to serve as chair of a committee charged with the review of the Operations Manual Procedures regarding the decanal review process.

Following these brief announcements Pres. Cox asked if there were questions from the floor. Prof. Rubenstein, College of Medicine, identified significant interest amongst his collegiate colleagues in the status of the research track proposals. Pres. Cox admitted that he was unaware of the exact status of the proposal. The report of the committee charged with studying the desirability of such a track at the University of Iowa, along with the response of the AAUP, is currently posted on the Faculty Senate web site. Provost Whitmore then addressed the question before the Faculty Senate. He allowed that the proposal will be further reviewed and discussed following the assumption of the university presidency by Prof. Skorton. While acknowledging that the proposal will eventually return to the University of Iowa Faculty Council and Senate for further faculty input, he suggested that broad campus discussion and revisions of the proposal need to occur and will take some time. Prof. Maktabi asked whether or not grade inflation is a problem with the University of Iowa and if there is data that might be shared with the Faculty Senate on this subject. Pres. Cox responded that Associate Provost Lola Lopes monitors this information and he indicated his willingness to ask her to present on this subject to the University of Iowa Faculty Senate. In the absence of additional questions Pres. Cox ended his report by proffering thanks to Interim President Boyd for attending the Faculty Senate meetings during his interim presidency and also specifically thanked him for his service as Interim President.

V. New Business

A. Proposed changes to Guidelines for Promotion and Tenure, Lee Anna Clark

Associate Provost Clark advised the Senators of the source for this initiative as having been a request of Interim President Boyd to recognize service to the state of Iowa during the promotion and/or tenure granting review process. The attached proposal adds “service to the State of Iowa” to the “Guidelines for Tenure and Promotion and Decision Making at the University of Iowa” in section I.B.(3)e.ii. and section I.E.(3). She advised the Senators that the change was made in the guidelines and not in the promotion and tenure criteria. She then asked for questions.

One Senator asked whether capitalization of the word state in the modification suggested that we were limiting recognized service to government. Echoing Associate Provost Clark’s comments that such was not the intent of this capitalization, a motion was entertained to adopt the proposed changes and to edit the word “State” to “state”. The motion was moved, seconded and unanimously approved without discussion.

B. Proposal for Faculty Senate/Staff Council Budget Committee, Paul Muhly

Pres. Cox began discussion by referring the Senators in attendance to the attachments in their agenda packet. He then identified the extensive discussions and debate that had occurred over this proposal amongst the Faculty Senate Officers as well as the Faculty Council. The proposal for modification was passed at the Faculty Council with a single dissenting vote. In spite of a lack of formal Senate endorsement, the attached proposal describes the current Budget Committee and its practices. He then introduced David Martin from the University of Iowa Staff Council whose appearance signalled his willingness to answer questions. He also identified the support of the Staff Council for the proposed change.

At the suggestion of Prof. Tachau a friendly amendment to the proposal of July 22, 2002 entitled University of Iowa Faculty Senate/Staff Council Budget Committee was accepted. Under (b)(1)(a) the semicolon was replaced with a comma. Pres. Cox reminded the Senators that the acceptance of this proposal will abolish the Faculty Senate Budget Committee. Prof. Muhly echoed that statement with the proviso that there was a motion entertained from the Faculty Council to review the combined Budget Committee in three years. Prof. Lynch asked why the additional modification suggested at the Faculty Council discussion was not included. These changes included the review process identified by Prof. Muhly and also the change of the word “chair” in (c)(6) to “co-chairs”. Pres. Cox confirmed the intent of Council to include these changes and to pass them to the Faculty Senate for discussion. Prof. Tachau then moved approval of the proposal with the changes previously recommended by the Faculty Council. A second was offered and the motion to adopt the proposal with the changes identified in this document and in the Faculty Council minutes of December 10, 2002 was unanimously approved.

C. Athletic Resolutions Currently Under Consideration by the Faculty Senate

Pres. Cox referred the Senators to the Summary of Motions on the Subject of Athletics (Attachment 6) which includes those made at the Faculty Senate meeting of December 3, 2002 along with the substitute motion passed at the January 28, 2003 Faculty Council meeting with a single abstention. Several committees have been appointed to look into the matter engendering these motions. The report requested by Interim President Boyd of BICOA has been received and has been published in its entirety in the lay and University press. The Raymond Committee charged by Interim President Boyd is currently at work. In addition to these reports engendered by the Pierre Pierce case, the Senate will hear the Annual Report of BICOA at its final meeting of the 2003-3 academic year. Furthermore a subcommittee of BICOA is looking at the practice of paying for committee members and guests to attend bowl games.

Following the opening of the discussion to the Senators for questions Prof. Porter asked for clarification of the intent of the word “addressing” in the January 28 motion. Pres. Cox responded that this referred to an opportunity to discuss the reports directly with the president of the University. Additional clarification was requested concerning the use of the word “these” reports in the same motion. Discussion identified the reports referred to as the released BICOA report and the anticipated Raymond report. Prof. Lynch then added the clarification that the BICOA report had been released two days prior to the Faculty Council resolution of January 28, 2003. His summation of the discussion that occurred at that meeting reflected the opinion of the Councilors that the important issue at hand was to involve the Faculty Senate Officers in discussion with the President and with University Administration regarding the finding of the report. To place these matters in further perspective Pres. Cox referenced a report in a recent New York Times article of the establishment of the Coalition for Athletic Reform composed of members of the Association of Governing Boards and the AAUP. He reminded the Senators that this coalition was a direct outgrowth of the efforts of CIC members Robert Eno and John Nichols and involved direct input from the current and past Faculty Senate Officers. At this point Prof. Tachau moved to pass the January 28, 2003 Faculty Council motion as a substitute for those proposed at the Faculty Senate meeting of December 3, 2002. Discussion ensued regarding the replacement of “these committee reports” with a specific reference to either the BICOA and Raymond reports or, more broadly to “any reports of committees and panels asked to respond to the much publicized Pierre Pierce case”. In the ensuing discussion Profs. Lynch and Tachau reiterated the importance of empowering the Faculty Senate Officers to discuss these reports of great importance to the University faculty at large directly with the President. Following this discussion Prof. Tachau withdrew her motion at which point Pres. Cox summarized the extant and anticipated reports on this matter as noted above. In addition he acknowledged the efforts of the Human Resource Committee vis-à-vis their recent letter sent to Interim President Boyd requesting a larger look at the environment surrounding this event. Specifically they requested that the President empanel such a committee and this “broader climate committee” is currently in the process of appointment. At the conclusion of these comments a motion was made to substitute “the BICOA Committee, the Raymond Committee and the Broader Climate Committee” for “these committee reports” in the Faculty Council motion of January 28, 2003. The Senators then voted overwhelmingly to support this motion with one abstention.

VI. From the Floor

No further discussion was offered from the floor.

VII. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned by Pres. Cox at 4:50 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

________________________________________
Craig C. Porter, MD
Secretary, University of Iowa Faculty Senate