UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE FACULTY CAUCUS 16 OCTOBER 1995 MINUTES SUMMARY I. Roll - Caucus members absent were: Anderson, Forest, Gross, Laudano, McHugh, McNamee, Mebert, Sivaprasad. Excused were Boccialetti, Denman, Jolley, Shippee-Rice, Tucker and Young. II. Minutes - The minutes of the previous meeting were approved. III. Presidential Search - The consultant to the presidential search will meet with all constituencies and all colleges. The meeting with the Faculty Caucus is on Thursday, October 19 from 2:15 to 3:30 in the Biological Sciences Building, G-15. The consultant will listen to all concerns, questions, comments and thoughts. In addition, ideas can be sent on electronic mail through kcdiller@christa.unh.edu and cgannett@christa. unh.edu. The presidential Search Committee plans to screen credentials at the end of November, meet with semi-finalists in February, and have finalist visits in March. IV. Open Mike (1) A question was raised about the budgetary task force procedures and how late information, upon which recommendations are based, was received. The language departments will be up for review, but what numbers are being used? To what extent is the process open or confidential? The provost replied that the task forces have tried to be more open than in the past and have used the network for drafts. The recommendations themselves came forward at the end and were keptconfidential. The draft includes recommendations from the Deans' Council and from the provost's office. The task force reports will be available on UNH information electronic mail by Wednesday, and the UPC will report to the president with recommendations in mid-November. After recommendations are made to the president, the procedure will vary depending on the item in question. Any changes in language requirements would have to come to the senate for approval. Any recommendations for displacement of faculty must follow the rules in the collective bargaining contract. There will be a meeting of the University Planning Council this Thursday. Currently three positions are vacant: COLSA, LA, and CEPS. The deans of COLSA and CEPS will conduct elections according to their usual procedures. The election for the liberal arts position on the UPC will be conducted by the Academic Senate at the request of the liberal arts dean. Nominees for the LA position are Carolyn Mebert who is the current member, Steve Reyna, David Rich man, Jack Yeager and David Andrew. Will the library and UNH-Manchester have seats on the University Planning Council? The provost brought this question to the president and does not have an answer at this time. Will it be clear which recommendations of the deans and the provost have the imprimatur of the UPC and which do not? (2) The Campus Journal reported that Russell Carr and Karl Diller resigned from the chairs' budget and planning committee. When asked for information about this, Russell Carr said that, based on comments he made to the Academic Senate, a number of committee members felt that he violated confidentiality and misrepresented the position of the committee. He said that he was told that if the committee decides that black is white, he must report that black is white. In addition, these members felt that questions Carr raised in the senate meeting were irrelevant to the task of the committee and that information he gave the Academic Senate would hamper the credibility of a report the committee would present to the university. Committee members David Watters and Karl Diller were not present when the vote was taken to replace Russell Carr as chair of the chairs' budget and planning committee. Karl Diller said that he believes the group met on Friday and completed their work. The provost said that he would like to pull together the participants, explore the assumptions, identify disagreements, and come to a conclusion. The provost added that Carr's data was correct but was not the whole picture. Carr replied that he did not draw conclusions but only suggested that there is reason to raise questions. He agrees that there is more to the picture. David Feldman proposed a motion that it is the sense of the Caucus that Senator Carr's presentation to the Academic Senate two weeks ago represented his opinion and his opinion only. Other faculty supported this motion. Carr said that he did tell the senate that he was working with the chair's budget and planning committee and that the discussion had been heated. However, none of the data he presented was from that group. He got the data in August, before that group met. Some faculty spoke against the motion, saying that the chairs' budget and planning committee does not report to the Academic Senate and is not responsible to it. Also, no other members of the chairs' group are here to present their side of the discussion. The provost said that the motion could be helpful in order to keep the group together. The group need not have a unanimous conclusion, and minority reports could be submitted. A professor said that we are making a `themÓ out of people who are us, and that is dangerous. He does not like the motion but agrees with the other speakers that Carr did a good job. William Stine proposed a friendly amendment that it is the sense of the Caucus that, in Senator Carr's presentation to the Academic Senate two weeks ago, he presented publicly available facts and that we support the work that he does. Others said that they would like to hear from other members of the committee, and one professor asked for a progress report of the chairs' budget committee. Another commented that we cannot try to rewrite history. Friendly amendments were agreed upon to add `honestly and objectively' before `presented', to replace `and that we support the work that he does', by `and did not attempt to represent the opinions of other members of the commission'. A faculty member asked for support for Senator Carr, and the question was called. The motion, that `it is the sense of the Caucus that in Senator Carr's presentation to the Academic Senate two weeks ago he honestly and objectively presented publicly available facts and did not attempt to represent the opinions of other members of the commission', passed on a voice vote. V. Faculty Senate - The chair of the Judiciary Committee presented a draft constitution of a faculty senate and said that the committee is unanimous in support of this proposal. In 1968/69, the faculty senate was abolished and a unicameral senate was established with thirty faculty, thirty undergraduates, and 22 graduate students, administrators and staff. The 1973 accreditation report listed problems with the university senate; and in 1977 a faculty majority was restored to the academic senate and an independent student senate established. The faculty majority was about the same as it is now: sixty-two percent. There were minor reforms from 1987 to 1991; and 1990 saw the advent of collective bargaining, the council of chairs, and the president's cabinet. The 1993 accreditation report discussed the effectiveness of the current governance system; and in 1995 the academic senate retreat, which included the provost and students, discussed favorably the principle of a faculty senate. On 2/20/95, the academic senate unanimously passed a resolution to endorse the principle of a faculty senate with strong linkages to other governance bodies. Such linkages would be with the student senate and the PAT and operating staff councils. In April of 1995, the Judiciary Committee presented to the Academic Senate four models of a faculty senate. There is no generic model, and so one should be chosen which responds to local needs and developments, to exploit what is already in place. The Judiciary Committee proposes that the academic department chairs constitute the faculty senate, since they are experienced and knowledgeable, have the confidence of the faculty, and get compensation for their extra responsibilities. There would be fifty-six senators including the library, UNH-Manchester and the Thompson School. The committees of the faculty senate would recommend legislation to the senate. Administrative offices would provide information to the senate committees and would advise them. Most of the committees would be composed entirely of faculty senators. Some concerns were raised that the chairs of departments would not necessarily be representative of faculty and that open meeting laws of the state would hold sway. The draft has not yet been presented to the council of chairs. A proposal was made that this matter be discussed in a special meeting of the faculty caucus on Monday, October 23, from 3:10 to 5:10 in 314 McConnell Hall; and the motion passed. This meeting will be for discussion only unless there is a quorum. The meeting was adjourned.