UNH Faculty Senate
Summary Minutes from 28 September 1998
I. Roll - The following Faculty Senate members were absent:
Balderacchi, de la Torre, Henke, McMahon, Morris, Niman, Pugh, Sohl, and
Williams. Excused were Bornstein, Crepeau, Draper and Gross.
II. Discussion with the President - President Leitzel said that, due to
planned enrollments which did not materialize, the academic departments
must adjust their budgets by $2.2 million, either by increasing revenues
or by reducing expenses. The Deans' Council prepared recommendations for
the president, which she has passed on to the senate chair and asked for
response from the Agenda Committee and the Academic Affairs Committee.
Academic program reductions usually also have revenue consequences, and
we must only look at net savings. Cost transfers to other units in the
university are not net savings. The president said that the Faculty
Senate does not have authority over the curricula of the colleges except
as they impact other programs. She added that we will need a group to
review proposals to be sure that they do not transfer costs to other
units and also to be sure that one unit does not encroach on another's
area. In addition, this group could give guidance regarding such issues
as general education, writing requirements, the number of credits allowed
per course, and so on. Faculty should consider interdisciplinary
programs and make recommendations on how to deal with them. No
displacement of faculty has been proposed in these budget
recommendations.
A professor asked what is the hope that the future will be different; and
the president responded that she expects improvements to result from
decentralization of the budget process, better enrollments, private fund
raising, increasing research funding and more industrial funding.
However, the surrounding states are pumping money into their financial
aid packages, and we cannot compete with that. Our alumni advocacy
network is taking shape. A faculty member pointed out that, if
responsibility-centered management were instituted, there would be
competition between departments, which would result in both good and bad
consequences. Before a decision is made, we should take a hard look at
what the principles and structures will be, since there is wide concern
about the plan.
III. Communications from the Chair - The chair said that the Campus
Journal will include a notice that everyone now should be using the
1998/99 parking permits. John Miller is our new faculty representative
on the Parking Appeals Board. The Faculty Senate's Library Committee
will take a tour of the new library. If faculty have any concerns or
questions about the library, they should contact Robert Stibler, the
chair of that committee. The library dedication will be at 1:30 on
October 1 in the Murkland Hall courtyard. A faculty advisory committee
on enrollment management is being set up. A committee from the Faculty
Senate is meeting with the provost to suggest a mechanism to minimize
negative academic impacts from competition between colleges resulting
from the implementation of responsibility-centered management, e.g.
teaching courses which would more appropriately be taught in another
college or adjusting credit hours to increase revenues. This committee
will include the Agenda Committee members and the chairs of the Faculty
Senate's Academic Affairs Committee and Finance and Administration
Committee.
John Crosier will speak to the Faculty Senate on November 9 in the 1925
room of the Alumni Center. He is president of the Business and Industry
Association of New Hampshire and will provide an outside perspective and
discuss ways to facilitate relations with the business community. In
addition to the Faculty Senators, certain members of the university
community but not the press will be invited to the meeting. There will
be a reception following the meeting.
The distinguished alumni event has been scheduled for February 7, 8 and
9, in order to recognize distinguished alumni, publicize the work of the
faculty and educate students and the public. The three alumni
participating this year will be nationally-known author Alice McDermott,
Dr. Bruce Watson who is the Institute Professor of Science at Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute, and Dr. Richard Linnehan who is an astronaut and
doctor of veterinary medicine.
IV. Minutes - The minutes of the September 14 Faculty Senate meeting were
unanimously approved with amendments to change one section to refer to
"about 1,250 fewer students apply", rather than admitted, and add
sentences saying that some senators had expressed concern about the
Agenda Committee's role in the budget process and that the president had
responded to a question about her role in the negotiation process by
saying that the negotiation process is one in which the president has no
direct role and that fair labor practices limit what she can say to
faculty about issues under negotiation. She added that she was
disappointed about the impasse.
V. Budget - The UNH budget is a smaller portion of the USNH budget now
than it was eleven years ago, from 72.7% in 1987 to 70.9% in 1998. The
annual grown rate in UNH revenue has been 6.9% since 1987, whereas the
system's annual growth rate of revenue has been 7.2%. The university's
general fund percentage from the state has gone down from 37.2% to 29.1%,
and its reliance on tuition and fees has gone up from 49.4% to 60.8%.
Auxiliary funds are ancillary activities such as dining services,
recreation, and the New England Center. Internally designated funds are
those funds which have been restricted by a decision within the
university, with such a decision being theoretically changeable by the
university. The university's general fund revenues have had an annual
growth rate of 6.1% since 1987, but the expenses have risen by 6.4%
annually. In terms of UNH general fund expenses, institutional support
from 1987 to 1998 has decreased by more than half, as a percent of the
whole general fund, from 13% to 6.1%; and financial aid has taken a
comparable rise, from 5.9% to 13%. Expenditures for instruction (support
to the academic departments) have increased a little, from 40.0% to 40.8%
of UNH general fund expenses. Support of the system is up from 3.6% to
4.9% of the UNH general fund expenses, and UNH now contributes about
eight million dollars annually to the system. The Vice President for
Finance and Administration is meeting to discuss this issue. When the
higher education price index is taken into account, state appropriations
per student have lost ground.
In future budgets, the cost of financial aid will be shown as an offset
to revenue rather than as an expense. The VPFA will check on whether
non-tenure-track faculty have increased more than tenure-track faculty or
vice versa. The unfunded liability for future post-retirement benefits
are viewed in different ways by the system and the university budget
planners. Since no new people can enroll in this program, it will
eventually disappear; and since the university can now pay for it from
the current benefits program, the VPFA feels comfortable with her budget
view in this regard. The only difference between the "as audited view"
and her "budget view" is in where the prior-year fund balance is listed.
The bottom lines are the same. A new item is the establishment of an EOS
reserve of $954,000, and so those funds will no longer wash through the
carry-forward section of the budget. A professor asked why there was a
half million dollar increase in our contribution to the system from FY
1997 to 1998. Academic departments were asked to decrease funding, but
the system funding increased. The VPFA will provide a further breakdown
of those system funds when she comes to the next senate meeting.
There has usually been about $3.7 million in carry forwards to the
following year. If the EOS reserve, which is a new category this year,
were added to the 1998 carry forward, that would be $2.3 million this
year. A faculty member asked how fast we depreciate computers, and the
VPFA will return with that information at the senate's next meeting.
Although on 6/30/98 UNH had a fund balance of $315.8 million, only $50.5
million of that is expendable. Quasi endowments are funds which UNH has
decided to restrict, such as for endowed chairs or library support.
Campus reserves should be 5% or eight million dollars but are actually
only three million dollars. $6.5 million listed as plant fund balances
for construction in progress are for Morse Hall and the Dimond Library.
This year's budget was balanced by the use of $3.2 million in one-time
funds. There is a $4.5 million deficit for next year which is being
dealt with now. The university was able to recover a $1.7 million error
in the calculation of the fringe benefits which UNH had to send to the
system. A professor asked why this university is having an enrollment
problem when other universities are not. A projection had been made
based on a bulge in the high-school graduation rates, and also other
states have increased their financial aid packages. Changes are being
made now in enrollment management at UNH. A faculty member in the
sciences said that we compete with other schools which have much more
modern equipment than we do. The vice president for finance and
administration asked that senators send any additional questions or
concerns to her on email at ccorvey@christa.unh.edu. She will return to
the senate at its next meeting, to discuss responsibility-centered
management.
VI. Committees - Chairs have been elected for all the Faculty Senate
standing committees, except for the Research and Public Service Committee
due to illness. Deb Winslow has been elected chair of the Faculty
Senate's Academic Affairs Committee and has therefore resigned from the
Agenda Committee. A motion was made, seconded and passed unanimously
that Don Chandler become the new member of the Agenda Committee.
VII. Open Mike - A web site for responsibility-centered management may
be reviewed at www.unh.edu/rcm, and there is also an article on the
subject in the Campus Journal. A web page for the Faculty Senate is now
being created. A professor thanked the vice president for finance and
administration for her presentation and asked that in the future more
time for discussion be allowed at the end of the presentation. The
meeting was adjourned.