UNH Faculty Senate
Summary Minutes from 26 October 1998
I. Roll - The following Faculty Senate members were absent: Connors,
Niman, Pugh, and Sohl. Excused were Brinker, Draper, Gaudette, McNamara,
Miller, Morris and Walsh. Four members of the Preparing Future Faculty
Program from Howard University were guests at part of the meeting.
II. Discussion with the President - President Leitzel announced proposed
program reductions and said that they can be reviewed on the Academic
Affairs web site. Some of the budget reductions are not yet firm and
will be decided later when more information is in hand. She will meet
shortly with the trustees and will discuss the budget reduction plan and
also domestic partner benefits. The university has recently been awarded
almost eighteen million dollars in federal funding for research. UNH is
able to attract federal, industrial and private funds but needs more
state funding. The university has requested a five percent increase in
its operating budget plus two percent more for instructional technology.
The University of Massachusetts cut tuition but increased fees; and it
substantially increased financial aid. A professor proposed that we tell
the legislators that UNH is losing students to states which give better
support to higher education.
III. Communication from the Chair - John Crosier of the Business and
Industry Association will speak to the Faculty Senate on November 9 in
the 1925 room of the Alumni Center. Deb Winslow will be the Faculty
Senate's representative on the General Education Committee. The
Senate's Academic Affairs Committee and Finance and Administration
Committee will meet with the vice president for financial affairs to
review the responsibility-centered management proposal and would like
input from faculty on this issue. Concern was expressed that many
crucial details of responsibility-centered management are not known. In
response to a question on whether the decision on responsibility-centered
management has already been made, the Senate chair asked senators to
express their concerns to the two Senate committees and said that he
assumes the chairs of those committees will bring a motion on this to the
Faculty Senate. The Faculty Senate now has a web site where its minutes,
agendas and other information are displayed.
IV. Minutes - The minutes of the October 12 Faculty Senate meeting were
unanimously approved.
V. Budget Shortfall - The Senate chair said that he will distribute to
the senators the comments made by the Agenda and Academic Affairs
Committees regarding the Provost and Deans' recommendations to meet the
budget shortfall and also the President's letter to the Provost
responding to those recommendations. The academic impact statement by
the Senate's Agenda Committee and Academic Affairs Committee tried to
take a university-wide perspective and to protect general education,
faculty and the library. Also the Agenda Committee reminded the Deans of
the need for formal review by the faculty of proposed program cuts and
also asked that all faculty vacancies which will remain unfilled should
be strategically chosen.
James Farrell read a statement expressing his disappointment at reading
in the press that the President has approved budget reductions, before
the proposals have been provided to the Faculty Senate for its discussion
and input. He expressed concern that the administration has apparently
used the academic input statement, written by the Senate's Agenda
Committee, to imply that the Faculty Senate had endorsed the cuts. He
stated that the Faculty Senate's constitution says that "The Faculty
Senate will be the legislative body that reviews and develops policies
concerned with the academic mission of the university". He claimed that
the Senate chair had given assurances that the Faculty Senate would see
and discuss the recommendations before they were approved by the
President.
The Senate chair said that he had not made such a statement. In response
to a comment that so far this year the Senate has not voted on any
motions but just listened to presentations from administrators, the chair
said that, traditionally, charges are given to Senate committees in early
fall and that, while the committees are reviewing the charges and
preparing motions, administrators are invited to talk with the Senate.
He pointed out that confidentiality was imposed by the administration as
a condition for the Agenda Committee and the Academic Affairs Committee
being allowed to review the recommendations and give early input.
Responding to a question about what effect the Agenda Committee and the
Academic Affairs Committee had on the budget recommendations, the chair
said that, when changes in general education were proposed, we asserted
the Faculty Senate's right to decide on general education requirements
and the President agreed. Also, we expressed concern for tenured faculty
and about proposed changes which would have a university-wide effect.
The two Senate committees which wrote the impact statement did not
endorse the budget reductions but commented on them.
A senator said that the imposition of confidentiality is unwise and
prevents the Senate from having input early enough in the process to
affect the outcome. He added that, during the presidential search, the
President had said that her administration would be very open with the
faculty on all issues. A motion was made and seconded that a special
meeting of the Faculty Senate be held on Monday, November 2, in 314
McConnell Hall to discuss these issues. A friendly amendment was made to
change the motion to refer to an emergency meeting of the Senate. If
this motion passes, the joint meeting of the Senate's Academic Affairs
Committee and Finance and Administration Committee with the Vice
President for Financial Affairs, to review the responsibility-centered
management proposal, will have to be rescheduled. Concern was expressed
that some proposed budget cuts were removed from the final
recommendations and that confidentiality was a protection for the people
and programs which were removed from consideration. A vote was called,
and the motion passed with one nay.
At the request of senators, Young Dawkins, who had been invited to make a
presentation on the UNH Foundation at today's Senate meeting, said that
he would be happy to return at another time for that purpose. The
senators will discuss the budget matters today and, at the end of this
meeting, reconsider the motion on the emergency meeting.
Great concern was expressed that, when decisions are made in small
groups, information is lost. However, if the press had gotten hold of
proposed cuts which were later removed, damage could have occurred to the
programs involved. A senator said that he compliments his colleagues on
getting as much out of the budgetary process as they did but that we
should try to change the process. Another faculty member proposed that
the Senate could keep confidentiality in the same way the Dean's Council
and the committees did. However, any faculty member has access to the
tapes of the Senate meetings, and the Senate minutes are put on the
Internet publicly, unless the Senate should decide to change those rules.
We should make it clear that the academic impact statement by the Agenda
Committee and the Academic Affairs committee was not an endorsement of
the budget recommendations and that the Faculty Senate does not endorse
the budgetary cuts that were proposed. We should say that, although the
Faculty Senate has an advisory role only, the Faculty Senate should have
timely input on all academic matters. Academic programs cannot be
discontinued without a year's review by faculty. The Agenda Committee
reminded the Deans about this process, and the President agreed. The
Senate chair was quoted in the press recently as saying that the state
should better support the university. A motion was made and seconded to
cancel the emergency meeting next Monday. The motion was defeated with
eleven ayes, 1 abstention and 23 nays. The emergency meeting will be
held on Monday.
VI. Adjournment - Today's meeting was adjourned.