The University of Iowa
FACULTY SENATE
Tuesday, September 23, 2003
3:30 pm – 5:00 pm
LR1, Van Allen Hall

Members Present:  Judith Aikin, Terry Boles, Linda Boyle, Garry Buettner, Gloria Bulechek, Micheline Chalhoub-Deville, Kathleen Diffley, Claibourne Dungy, Carin Green, Gregory Hamot, Debra Haselton, Paul Heidger, Ronald Herman, Julie Hochstrasser, William Johnson, Michael Kelly, Sheldon Kurtz, Philip Lutgendorf, Donald MacFarlane, Mazen Maktabi, Usha Mallik, Teresa Mangum, Kim Marra, Jose Morcuende, Sue Moorhead, James Nepola, Lisa Oakes, Todd Pettys, Stephen Rayhill, Mary Reno, Thomas Schmidt, Gary Segura, Karin Southard, Janet Specht, Shelton Stromquist, Geb Thomas, Tuong Ton-That, Marcia Ward, Robert Weir, John Westefeld, Jerold Woodhead

Members Absent:  Pedro Alvarez, David Asprey, Jay Christensen-Szalanski, Thomas Cook, Melissa Deem, Bernard Fallon, Michael Flanigan, Alfred Hansen, Rebecca Hegeman, Jean Jew, Richard LeBlond, Pamela Nerheim, Andrew Nugent, Thomas O’Dorisio, Harry Paarsch, Bradley Phillips, Daniel Quinn, Richard Randell, Linda Snetselaar, Carolyn Wanat, Duane Whitaker

Members Excused:  Phyllis Chang, Corey Creekmur, Virginia Dominguez, Lois Duskieker, Sonya Franklin, Keri Hornbuckle, Erin Irish, Patrick Lloyd, Craig Porter, Jon Ringen, Paul Weller, Howard Winfield

Faculty Senate Officers in Attendance:  Margaret Raymond, President; Katherine Tachau, Vice President; Edwin Dove, Secretary; Jeffrey Cox, Past President

Guests:  Kristen Schorsch (Press-Citizen), Alex Lang (Daily Iowan), Vess Mitev (Register), Tom Owen (Gazette), John Beldon Scott (Art & Art History), Peverill Squire (CLAS Faculty Assembly), Lola Lopes (Office of the Provost), Betsy Altmaier (NCAA Representative), Lee Anna Clark (Office of the Provost), Pat Cain (Interim Provost), Kathryn Wynes (Office of the Provost), Kristen Sayre (Faculty Senate Office), Julie Thatcher (Office of the Provost), Charlotte Westerhaus (Equal Opportunity & Diversity), Charles Drum (University Relations), Richard Valentine (Civil/Environmental Engineering), Anna Diaz-Arnold (BICOA), Kate Gfeller (Provost Search Committee), Christine Grant (Health and Sports Studies), Maile Sagen (Ombudsperson)

I.  The meeting was called to order at 3:35 PM.

II.  Approvals

  1. Faculty Senate Minutes, April 29, 2003
    • Prof. Kurtz moved (second by Prof. Morehead) to approve the minutes of the Faculty Senate Meeting held April 29, 2003.  The motion was approved on voice vote.
  2. Recommended Replacement
    • Prof. Segura moved (second by Prof. Kurtz) to approve Prof. Jeske to replace Prof. Altman on the Faculty Senate, 2003-2004.  The motion was approved on voice vote.

III.  Reports

   A.   Provost Search Committee, Kate Gfeller

Prof. Gfeller presented an update on the state of the search for the Provost.  The Search Committee has been formed, and members of the Committee have met with the Faculty Senate and administration leadership, and have visited with all of the colleges.  The Committee has developed the following search criteria:

  1. The provost must be a scholar, and be an established intellectual leader
  2. The provost must have achieved the terminal degree in his/her field
  3. The provost must have administrative experience, preferably at a large institution
  4. The provost must posses personal and professional integrity

Prof. Gfeller reviewed the efforts to maintain the momentum of the search, and described a possible timetable for interviews and selection of candidates for on-campus visits.  She noted that the final selection will be made by President Skorton.

   B.   Interim Provost Cain

Interim Provost Cain was introduced and offered a few comments describing her work on a tuition policy and her working with the Board of Regents.

   C.   Faculty Senate President, Margaret Raymond

Prof. Raymond announced that the Faculty Senate bylaws require that the Faculty Council review all Council and Senate committees.  Prof. Raymond has requested Prof. Tachau to form an ad hoc committee to accomplish this task.

Prof. Raymond described a proposed policy for e-mail approval of committee replacements (attached) in the event that a replacement needs to be made in the interval between Faculty Senate meetings.  Prof. Kurtz moved (second by Prof. Cox) to adopt the policy. Prof. Aikin offered a friendly amendment to allow a 96-hour response time; the amendment was accepted by Prof. Kurtz.  The amended motion was approved by voice vote.

IV.  New Business

   A.   Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics (COIA)

MOTION: Prof. Kurtz moved (second by Prof. Tachau) “That the faculty endorses the COIA Framework and encourages the University President to accept the Framework as a guideline for improving college athletics, and to direct our NCAA Faculty Representative to pursue these matters with the NCAA.”

Prof. Tachau stated that the COIA Framework (attached) represents the work of an alliance of disparate groups that may be able to solve identified problems with college athletics in a non-piecemeal way.  The role of the faculty at the various universities is to speak to academic values of the institutions.  The COIA Framework does this. Prof. Maktabi stated that the graduation rate of student/athletes at The University of Iowa is one of the highest in the nation, and wondered why the university faculty is being asked to endorse the COIA Framework.  Prof. Segura noted that the COIA Framework does not speak to graduation specifically, but rather the COIA Framework will help Iowa keep its good record by speaking to the larger issues of college athletics. Prof. Nepola stated that he strongly supports the concept of amateur athletes being amateur, but he asserted that adopting the COIA Framework may be used in deleterious ways when recruiting.  Prof. Nepola also stated that passing the motion may be interpreted by the coaching staff as a lack of support from the university faculty.  Prof. Aikin stated that the COIA Framework does not change what The University of Iowa does, but rather offers the University an opportunity to participate in a national reform movement to get all universities behind the points in the Framework. 

Prof. MacFarlane stated that it is not clear to him what effect the Framework will have on the actions of the University.  He stated that he believes that success in athletics yields educational rewards such as leadership, teamwork, and time management.  Prof. Tachau responded that the faculty’s role is to stress academics.  She stated that most sports instill wonderful values, but the profit from college sports programs is for the institutions, and also for TV, gambling, etc. To support her views she cited published statements from university presidents (specifically Bowen and Duderstadt), the Knight Commission Report of 2001, and a past NBC president, among others, who have made the point that college athletics (specifically college football and men’s basketball) is a “for profit” endeavor. 

Prof. Segura stated that student athletes should be given a chance to graduate.  Furthermore, as a member of BICOA, Prof. Segura stated that participation in athletics provides a learning experience for the student/athletes. However, only approximately 640 out of 30,000 students participate in organized sports at Iowa.  Therefore if the University supports an athletic program for the learning experience it provides, then the University should offer this experience to more students. 

Prof. Maktabi offered a friendly amendment to reword the motion to stress the success of the graduation rate of student/athletes at Iowa.  Prof. Kurtz declined the friendly amendment because the COIA Framework does not address individual universities, but rather a framework for revision at the national level.

Prof. Nepola reiterated his view that we do not have terrible problems with athletics at Iowa.  He stated that if the perception is that the faculty do not support the athletics program at Iowa then he sees the motion as being destructive. 

Prof. Aikin offered a friendly amendment to the motion that inserted the work ‘nation-wide.’  The amendment was accepted by Prof. Kurtz.

Prof. Cox stated that the COIA Framework did not come from The University of Iowa, but was formed from problems raised by presidential boards, faculty groups, and a national awareness of problems in collegiate athletic programs.  The goal is to protect the integrity of amateur athletics.  He stated that college athletic programs have become actual direct costs to the universities; this has even been recognized by the athletic directors.  The existence of the COIA Framework indicates that there is recognition by many groups (e.g., AAUP) of problems across many universities.

Prof. Hamot offered a friendly amendment to strike reference to President Skorton from the original motion.  The friendly amendment was accepted by Prof. Kurtz.

Prof. MacFarlane moved to table the motion.  The motion did not pass.

The motion was called for. 

AMENDED MOTION: “The faculty endorses the COIA Framework as a guideline for improving college athletics nation-wide, and urges our NCAA Faculty Representative to be directed to pursue these matters with the NCAA.”  The motion passed 31 in favor, 5 opposed.

MOTION: Prof. Tachau offered the following motion: “The Faculty Senate send the COIA Framework to BICOA and ask BICOA to review the Framework and comment by the end of the Fall Semester on which of the points in the Framework The University of Iowa conforms to, which BICOA supports, and which issues BICOA would consider problematic.”  The motion was seconded by Prof. Herman.

Prof. Nepola urged caution in adopting this motion.  He stated that if we adopt this motion then we are saying that we want the COIA Framework to govern the athletics program at Iowa.  Prof. Herman stated that the first motion represented a national action, not a local action.  The second motion simply asks BICOA to give advice on what we can do at Iowa.  Prof. Westefeld indicated that the effect of the motion will be to increase the communication between BICOA and the Faculty Senate.  Prof. Green inquired as to why these efforts are perceived to be hostile to athletics.  Prof. Nepola stated that any decrease in the number of scholarships would automatically be perceived as hostile to the athletic coaches and staff.  Prof. Buettner stated that if the goal is to save money, then reducing the number of scholarships is not an effective way to do so.

The motion was called (MacFarlane and Kurtz).  The motion passed (37 in favor, 3 opposed).

Prof. Arnold, chair of BICOA, requested a date when her committee should respond.  Prof. Raymond stated that the delivery date was up to her, but should be sometime before the beginning of the second semester.

   B.   CLAS Faculty Assembly Resolution, Peverill Squire

MOTION: Prof. Tachau moved that “The Faculty Senate send the CLAS Faculty Assembly Resolution to the NCAA for consideration.”  The motion failed for lack of a second.

V.  Announcements

  1. Prof. Raymond announced that the University Convocation will be held September 30, 2003 at 7:30 PM in Macbride Hall Auditorium.
  2. Prof. Raymond announced that the President’s Annual Keynote will be held September 24, 2003 at 4:00 PM in the IMU Ballroom.
  3. Prof. Raymond announced the dates of the next Faculty Council and Faculty Senate meetings.

VI.  Prof. MacFarlane moved to adjourn.  The meeting was adjourned at 4:55 PM.

 

Submitted by E.L. Dove, Faculty Senate Secretary