Meeting called to order at 3:12 p.m. on Dec. 4, 2017
MINUTES SUMMARY
I. Roll – The following senators were absent: Bstieler, Clark, Finkelhor, Gardner, Gass, Herold, Minocha, Ross, Roth, Simos, Trauntvein, and Wake. Knowles, Tenczar, and Whistler were excused. Chris Clement, Debbie Dutton, Leigh Anne Melanson, Kerry Scala, and Nancy Targett were guests.
II. Remarks by and questions to the provost – The provost spoke about an issue that has been reported in the Union Leader and the New Hampshire about a proposed change to the long-standing policy that UNH pays tuition to the city of Durham school system for each child living in Forest Park, the university’s graduate student housing development. The university currently pays $17K per student to attend the Oyster River Schools, and last year paid about $120K for these enrollments. This has been a long-standing agreement between UNH and the city of Durham, and the university is working now to re-negotiate this policy.
The provost noted that the university also has an agreement with the Oyster River School District (ORSD) to allow teachers from the district to take courses at UNH, tuition free, up to a certain number of credit hours. She suggested that there needs to be a way to get our graduate students and their families out of the middle of these negotiations.
A senator asked if the benefits to ORSD teachers aren’t connected to those teachers having our students working and learning in their classrooms. The provost called it a symbiotic relationship with the school district, in which the teachers benefit from having our students in their classrooms, and we benefit from the teachers’ expertise.
A senator asked if the university will continue to pay the fee for students while the negotiations take place. The provost said that we are hoping to negotiate for a lower fee, noting that $17K is comparable to private school tuition. She said that the administration is working to make sure that our students and their families are not penalized.
Another senator asked if the university pays property taxes, which support the public schools, and the provost said that the university does not, which is why we have been paying this fee. She noted that in many other communities, the local university is considered a sufficient financial benefit to the city through other venues that such high fees are not charged.
A senator cited one of the articles about Forest Park, and asked if the report of $4,000/month in rent for a two-bedroom apartment is an accurate account, noting the potentially negative impact on such rents for our graduate recruitment. The provost said that that figure may be premature, and is not yet decided. She said that we don’t want to limit or harm our graduate student recruitment.
The provost said that she is looking forward to the analysis from the senior vice provost for academic affairs on student retention and ways that we can enhance our numbers at UNH. Our student retention average is currently 79.6%, and she believes that we can do better. She would like to see our retention rates in the low 90 percentile, although she noted that even at about 80%, we are well above the national average. She said that the report from the senior vice provost should be out early in the new year.
III. Remarks by and questions to the chair – The chair announced that the Agenda Committee will be looking for another room for our Senate meetings, one that will better facilitate our discussions so that all may hear and participate more effectively. Dan complimented the group on the good work that has taken place so far this year, and urged all Senate committees to bring forward any motions by February or March in order to provide sufficient time to fully discuss issues that have been raised during the committees’ work this semester. He noted that the brief committee reports during our last several meetings have been helpful and informative.
The chair noted that past chair Dante Scala is working on getting the data on teaching evaluations and bias requested in Senate Motion #XX-M12, from April 2016.
Dan said that a senator had raised a questions about statements regarding mandatory reporting for Title IX violations that faculty are required to report incidents that may have occurred many years prior, not on any UNH campus or related to any UNH course or activity. He said that early next semester, UNH Special Counsel Tracy Birmingham will be invited to speak to Senate in an effort to clarify this and other questions.
IV. Approval of the Senate minutes from November 6, 2017 – It was moved and seconded to approve the minutes of the November 6, 2017 meeting of the Senate. One correction was suggested in Item V. Thus adjusted, the minutes were unanimously approved, with two abstentions.
V. Report on the progress of president’s Task Force on Campus Climate – The chair asked Cristy Beemer, the Faculty Senate’s representative on the president’s Task Force on Campus Climate, to offer a brief report on the progress of the task force. Cristy began by noting that she will be on leave next semester, and that a new Senate representative will be needed on the task force for the spring semester.
Regarding the work of the task force, she noted that the students are very invested in the idea of establishing a social identity attribute or some kind of course moving forward which will address issues of diversity and identity. She acknowledged that the Senate has already reviewed the idea of a social identity attribute in Discovery, and added that the students are pressing hard for this. Another item discussed by the task force is some kind of diversity training for faculty.
The task force has established a number of subcommittees to study topics such as retention and recruitment of faculty of color. Cristy said that positive recommendations are coming out of the work of these sub groups, and noted that we have already seen good programming, all of which is promoted on the Building a Better UNH website.
A senator pointed out that an interdisciplinary Race and Ethnics Studies minor already exists in COLA, with over thirty participating faculty, and asked if that might not satisfy the desire for the social identity attribute for Discovery.
Another senator asked if the task force might investigate the enrollments for courses taught regarding race and related issues which focus on topics other than the Euro-American experience. She suggested examining if those sorts of courses are under enrolled, and if so, why that might be the case. She said there is a need for an institutional mechanism to promote change.
Cristy said that several the students on the task force are in the kinds of courses being described, and they have observed that the students who choose to take courses which emphasize diversity are the ones who are already engaged in the conversation. They would like to see some kind of required course in diversity/identity in order to target students who are not naturally drawn to the topic.
VI. Discussion and vote on Agenda Committee motion regarding reimbursement for travel for senators on Senate business – Erin Sharp, representing the Senate Agenda Committee, reviewed the proposed motion.
Motion: To establish a policy for the reimbursement of mileage from Faculty Senate funds when senators are required to use their personal vehicle to travel for official faculty senate business that is beyond the expected attendance at UNH-Durham campus biweekly Faculty Senate meetings and biweekly Faculty Senate standing committee meetings.
Erin noted that the Agenda Committee has also drafted a motion regarding travel reimbursement by the units for senators who must travel from Concord and Manchester to attend Senate meetings and represent their units, noting that while it is the Senate’s responsibility to reimburse representatives who travel in order to represent this body, at Board of Trustees meetings for example, travel reimbursement for those who represent our non-Durham campus units would naturally fall to those units.
There was no discussion, and the above motion was put to a vote, passing with 54 votes in favor, none opposed, and 2 abstentions.
VII. Agenda Committee motion urging units to provide travel reimbursement for non-Durham senators – Erin Sharp, representing the Senate Agenda Committee, proposed the following motion to establish a policy to reimburse Faculty Senate representatives required to travel to Durham from their respective non-Durham campuses in order to serve on the Senate.
Rationale: The faculty senate is the legislative body that reviews and develops policies concerning the academic mission of the university. Each academic department or unit elects one, two, or three faculty representatives to the faculty senate based on the department or unit’s size. Those faculty representing UNH Manchester and the UNH School of Law are required to travel from their home campuses to attend faculty senate meetings and, often, standing committee meetings, on the UNH-Durham campus. It appears that some senators serving units off of the UNH-Durham campus have received mileage reimbursement for this travel in their cars, while some have not, and that some representatives have received mileage reimbursement at some points in time, but not at other points in time. The purpose of this motion is to strongly encourage units off of the UNH-Durham campus to develop a consistent policy to reimburse travel expenses incurred by their elected representatives to the faculty senate.
Motion: The faculty senate urges units located off of the UNH-Durham campus (UNH Manchester and UNH School of Law) to establish a policy to the reimbursement of travel expenses incurred by their elected faculty senate representatives who must travel to the UNH-Durham campus to attend faculty senate and faculty senate committee meetings.
Erin noted that key to this motion is the establishment of a consistent policy. The motion will lay over until the next Senate meeting.
VIII. Conversation with the UNH Vice President for Finance and Administration – The chair welcomed Chris Clement, Vice President for Finance and Administration, Leigh Anne Melanson, Associate Provost for Finance and Academic Administration, and Kerry Scala, Associate Vice President for Finance. Chris said he would like to talk about our budget and review the state appropriation from an operating perspective and from a capital perspective.
He said that the administration is bound by an operating margin established by the USNH Board of Trustees, over UNH, Keene State, Plymouth State, and Granite State. The target operating margin for UNH is 3%, or $18.6 million. This year was even more challenging for us because our budget was built on no more than 2.5% expense year over year. This year we exceeded that 2.5% target in some areas, and we have been working to reduce our budgets and regain that margin, which we have not quite accomplished.
From a revenue perspective, we are holding our own, and are competitive in the northeast, where there are fewer high school graduates than in years past. We have about 123 more freshmen this year than last, but it required more financial aid to get them here. Our graduate student enrolments are down and our Navitas student enrollments are down.
On a positive note, we have the best faculty in the nation. Without those great faculty, we have no university. The state appropriation, although the lowest in the United States, is currently flat at $58.3 million. In these times, in New Hampshire, that is a good thing. Two years ago, the capital appropriation for USNH was 2.6 million for two years. This biennium, the appropriation is zero dollars. Chris asserted that, by law, the state legislature has a fiduciary responsibility for our academic buildings. We have had to take out a loan to fund improvements to Ham-Smith, McConnell, the Hamel Recreation Center, and the water treatment facility. These capital projects have been funded by our precious operating funds instead of through state funding. He noted that students have lots of choices in the northeast for higher education, and it is important for us to be able to provide students with the things they are looking for.
A senator asked how much of our current budget problems stem from credit hour generation across campus. She noted that in CHHS, enrollments are strong but it feels like every course is under tremendous scrutiny by the deans to justify its existence with ever increasing enrollment targets. This is hard on morale. Leigh Anne responded that undergraduate net tuition increased slightly, which gain was offset by an increase in financial aid going out to students. Graduate student revenues are down. Tuition credit hours for undergraduate students are about the same. As we look at our revenues, we’re asking if we can afford to have small classes. The senator pointed out that many decisions regarding financial aid are not made by faculty.
The provost said that it comes down to figuring out the net revenue coming in, and the financial aid packages use a sophisticated algorithm with the aim of giving out just enough aid to draw students here without giving out more aid than we need to. Some of that may translate into issues in class size. Student experience might be best with one-on-one contact with faculty, which is not realistic, but we are trying to find a fair balance. She said that class size and cost vary from class to class and from college to college. There needs to be flexibility with those variants, but we cannot ignore the necessary balance.
Another senator suggested that having some large classes might offset some smaller classes, particularly graduate classes, asking why faculty should bother agreeing to teach large classes when the effort makes no difference to the bottom line, and the decisions being made are not really reflective of the work being done. Nancy said she would take these concerns to the Deans’ Council for their perspective, noting that the issue is more nuanced than just straight numbers, and that there should be flexibility in decisions.
A senator asked about the borrowed money mentioned by Chris, concerned that the university might be haunted by dire financial consequences in the futures. Kerry replied that that the university system makes payments on our behalf. We have taken on no new debt. The chair asked from whom the money is borrowed. Chris said that the Ham-Smith renovation was funded by internal fund borrowing (IFB) from USNH with 3% interest.
A senator asked where the 3% operating margin goes at the end of each year. Is the operating margin the same as a reserve fund? Chris answered that it is invested back into UNH. Kerry said that operating margins and reserves are related, but slightly different. The operating margin represents an ongoing cost. Endowment returns, if positive, are an example of reserves, and are not part of the operating margin. At the end of the year, the reserves remain in the responsibility center units as defined in the RCM. Chris noted that the challenge with that is that, in order to maintain the unrestricted financial resources (UFR)-to-debt ratio at a healthy level, each unit’s financial health impacts the other units, and one unit with a positive ratio may be asked to not spend those funds in order to provide an appropriate overall ratio in support of another unit that may be struggling. This is one of the challenges of RCM.
A senator from COLA asked what happens in RCM when one unit is dramatically in the red. Chris replied that we are one UNH, and while there may be some units who are currently financially challenged, it is important to recognize that there are always peaks and valleys across all disciplines. At the senior level, we will continue to invest in the liberal arts. The provost added that this is not just a UNH issue; colleges across the country are dealing with the same problems. We need to ask ourselves if we are working efficiently, and appropriately utilizing our size and resources within the framework of the current market and those external drivers that influence our success.
The Graduate Student representative asked about the issue at Forest Park, and asked what the graduate students should be preparing for. Chris said that he does not have an answer yet, and that he is working with the president and the provost on this issue. She expressed concern that the graduate students will have to pay a penalty. Chris said that there will be no change until the administration finds a solution, working with the university, the school district, and with the town. Until then, we will maintain the status quo.
A senator noted that, later in this meeting, the Senate will hear from the President of the UNH Foundation. He asked if the Foundation could assist with some of the financial issues that have been described today. He also asked how the faculty can help the Foundation in its efforts, and how we can connect these conversations.
Kerry suggested that if we can draw donors for existing projects, those current funds can ease operating dollars. Endowment gifts don’t have an immediate benefit to us, because we have to wait for those funds to become available. We need to balance our long-term and short-term solutions. She said that they are working with Advancement to draw in those funds, but it is difficulty predict when donations will come in.
A senator asked if it would be fair to summarize that UNH is currently in the black, but not far enough in the black to cover the Trustees’ target operating margin. Chris said that that is correct.
The chair asked for the discount rate on the freshman class, and the answer was that overall (not just freshmen) was about 30%. For the freshman class, it may be slightly higher.
IX. Discussion and vote on Academic Affairs Committee (AAC) report and motion on 5-year eUNH calendar – Shelley Mulligan, chair of the Senate AAC, brought forward the motion to approve the 5-year eUNH calendar. She noted that her committee’s charge was to review the proposed calendar, and that their proposed motion does not involve a discussion of the value of the current eight-week terms outlined in the calendar. Those terms have already been established. The task before the Senate is to approve the proposed calendar, and not to discuss the pedagogical value of these academic terms. Last year there was some discussion of adopting a seven-week term, but Terri Winters from Academic Technology felt that such a change would be too disruptive, and the AAC agreed with her. The proposed motion states:
The Faculty Senate approves the 5-year UNH E-calendar as provided by the Office of the Registrar (see addendum …). The calendar includes the start and end dates for each of 5 terms throughout the calendar year starting from AY 2018/19 through AY 2022/23.
A senator asked if it would be possible to get a general picture of what courses are offered on this schedule, their cost effectiveness and success rates. Shelley responded that the departments impacted by the calendar include Education, Occupational Therapy, Social Work, the MBA program, as well as assorted individual online courses. Scott Smith, former AAC chair, noted that the Paul College has used even a third calendar besides this one. He said that about fifteen years ago, the university found it was losing enrollments to online universities, and made a push to create competing online courses, using this schedule, among others. Over the years, there have been attempts to align the eUNH calendar with the regular campus schedule, and this eight-week schedule represents best practices in this area.
The motion was put to a vote and passed with 55 votes in favor, 0 votes opposed, and 5 abstentions.
X. Information Technology Committee report – John Gibson, chair of the Senate Information Technology Committee (ITC), reported on four items. The first was the redesign of the college and departmental websites. Terri Winters spoke to the Senate a month ago and demonstrated some mock-ups of the new designs. The ITC has been working with Terri for over a year on this project and John reported that the committee has been very happy with the responsiveness of Academic Technologies and Web and Mobile Development during this process.
John asked the senators to notify department faculty and chairs that the new websites will be coming this spring, noting that each college has a communication manager who can be contacted with input on those designs. These websites reflect us; our departments and our disciplines, and faculty input, oversight, and editorial control are essential. Engaging with the college communication manager and the department administrative assistant who will implement the changes will be important, to make sure that the text on the website reflects the programs and philosophies of each department. He also asked senators to notify their colleagues that data in myElements will be used to generate their faculty profile page. All faculty need to log into myElements and check and correct all data. That URL is https://elements.unh.edu
The Senate heard a presentation on the Student Success Collaborative (SSC) some time ago. SSC is a software system for student advising and predictive data analytics of student academic performance. We’re in the middle of the second year of the two-year pilot funded by USNH. The provost’s office is making efforts to engage colleges to test the student advising portion of the program, and University Advising and Athletics have done some preliminary testing. Further pilots in some CEPS departments this spring and in the Paul College next fall are also planned.
UNH IT has informed the ITC of potential changes to the UNH password policy. Current research indicates that frequently changed short passwords are not an effective securing measure, and that longer passwords/pass phrases which are changed less frequently are more secure. It is possible that the UNH policy may be changed to include longer pass phrases, a yearly change interval, and a simplified change process, which could take effect as early as next academic year.
Finally, the ITC has obtained a non-voting seat for its chair on the Academic Standards and Advising Committee Plus (ASAC+). This is a committee of associate deans from all colleges plus the deans of the Library, the Graduate School, and students who meet with Terri Winters (Director of Academic Technologies) to plan and approve academic-related technology projects. This seat has been an effective conduit of information about academic IT for the ITC, and a good opportunity for the committee to represent faculty interests in the IT decision making process.
XI. Conversation with Debbie Dutton – The chair welcomed Debbie Dutton, Vice President for Advancement and President of the UNH Foundation. Debbie offered a brief update on the current campaign. We are in our seventh year of this campaign. The feasibility study done shortly after the campaign began indicated that we would be fortunate to raise $180 million. Debbie reported that we should well exceed that mark, with an anticipated $300 million. While our previous average was about $14 million per year, we are now averaging $42 million per year. She pointed out that what we are seeking is a continuous cycle of donations rather than peaks and valleys.
She showed the breakdown of funds received: $105.1 million for financial aid/student support, $20.8 in research support, $105.8 million for program support, $6.7 million for faculty support, and $41.1 million for capital purposes.
She compared the desired distribution of contributions to a pyramid, with a wide base small donations, to engage more people in the work of this institution. She said that the use goals for our funds include a goal to continue to build our endowment while also freeing some funds for current use projects. Her office works to connect donor interests with current institutional need.
As the campaign ends on June 30, 2018, we want to be ready to maintain the momentum of this campaign. Most donors do not donate because we have a campaign running, but rather because they have made a connection with the university, faculty, or administration in some way and want to advance the university. Our campaigns are just a structure to build and market our programs and track our success. The focus going forward will be on a flexible 24-month transition, from July 2018 to June 2020. New priorities will emerge in the strategic planning process of the new administration. Those priorities will be refined to form the basis of the next campaign.
A senator noted that some graduates/alumni have reported that they have never been contacted by the Foundation. Debbie said that, in the past, many opportunities to connect with alumni were lost, and her office is working to correct that.
A senator asked about the distribution of donations by college, and Debbie promised to get that information out to the Senate members.
A senator from COLA mentioned the importance of the newly designed websites to help departments maximize the potential to use their websites to interface with potential donors. Debbie said that the college communication managers all report to the Advancement Office, and they are working to unify that effort. She mentioned that the “603 Challenge” has been tremendously successful in encouraging philanthropy among our alumni by helping them choose their area of passion and direct their support. The senator said that people have reported difficulty in finding the link for donations to specific disciplines on the Foundation website. Debbie encouraged anyone in COLA who would like to connect with the Foundation for giving to contact one of the three COLA representatives; Tim Allison, Aaron Peters, or Jesse Jacobs.
The Graduate Student Senate representative asked if the report on the distribution of donations includes data on donations for graduate student tuition as well as undergraduate student tuition. Debbie said that it should, but that if it does not, she will send out those numbers shortly.
A senator asked if there is a way to increase the amounts donated to faculty support and research. Debbie said that one of the reasons that the support for faculty positions is smaller is that in order to endow a position, a large donation from a single donor is required. She noted that while donations for scholarships provide an obvious advantage for students, donations for faculty support also benefit our students.
A senator asked, if someone knows a potential donor who is ready and able to support a specific area, but that desire doesn’t necessary fit the university’s plan, what can be done. Debbie said that the plan is actually pretty broad, and that any such person should speak with her. She said her goal is to align our vision with a donor’s goal. Each college has its own gift officer, who could be a first contact with a donor, or she is also always available for such conversations.
Another senator noted the ups and downs in our national economy in the past several years, and asked if that has had an impact on the climate of donors. Debbie said that things are somewhat better today than they were ten years ago, but that there is still some uncertainty related to the market, and a tendency to make shorter term commitments. She said that gift planning has increased significantly. For those who meet a specific age requirement, gift planning allows a donor to leave a portion of their estate to the university.
The chair thanked Debbie for her time today.
XII. Annual Summary Report of Senate Session XXI – Past chair Dante Scala presented the annual summary report from last year’s Senate session. Dante noted that last year was a landmark session for the Senate, being the year that we welcomed CCLEAR faculty to the Senate, increasing the membership of the Senate by about a third. The benefit of the increased number of Senate members also introduced some organizational challenges, and also emphasized the importance of the work of our Senate committees in bringing well-prepared motions and reports to the full body. The Senate committees also spent meaningful time working with their corresponding administrators, which proved to be helpful.
He praised the work of each of the seven standing Senate committees and thanked the committee chairs for their efforts, citing the eighteen motions passed by the Senate, as well as the main projects reviewed by each committee. He also reported on the work of the two ad hoc committees who completed their charges last year, the Teaching Evaluation form Implementation Committee and the Teaching Evaluation Standards Committee. He noted that the Agenda Committee moved to amend the constitution and bylaws of the Senate, as well as presenting three other motions.
All Senate motions can be found linked on the Senate website at www.unh.edu/fac-senate/senate-motion
The full text of the Annual Summary Report of Senate Session XXI can also be found on the Senate website, under the “Chair’s Welcome” section, https://www.unh.edu/fac-senate/annual-summary-report
The chair thanked Dante for his report.
XIII. Student Affairs Committee report on policy on animals on campus – Susan Endrizzi, representing the Student Affairs Committee (SAC), presented information about the ongoing development of a policy on animals on campus, which the dean of students spoke about earlier this semester. The policy is still in its draft form after two years of work by the administration.
Susan said that a service animal is defined as
- …a dog (or sometimes a miniature horse) that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability
- the work or tasks performed by a service animal must be directly related to the individual’s disability
An emotional support animal (ESA) is
- …an animal that provides emotional support which alleviates one or more identified symptoms or effects of an individual’s disability
- An Emotional Support Animal does not necessarily need to be trained, and is not limited to any specific type of animal
The Fair Housing Act (FHA) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) require public universities to consider requests for an accommodation to allow an emotional support animal in University housing where pets and other animals are generally not permitted. UNH must consider requests for academic or employment-related accommodations under the American’s with Disabilities Act (ADA) and/or Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Dogs which qualify as service animals are generally permitted anywhere on campus, including classrooms and food service facilities. Students may request an ESA as an academic accommodation under Section 504, but the evaluation of the request would be different from the evaluation of an ESA as a housing accommodation under FHA.
The current draft of UNH’s policy on animals on campus states that:
Animals are restricted from all UNH facilities on all campuses and Wildcat Transit with the following exceptions:
1.Service Dogs as allowed under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
2.Approved Emotional Support Animals as allowed under the Fair Housing Act or Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as reasonable accommodations.
3.Animals associated with University-approved research projects.
Animals are allowed on general-use public sidewalks, lawns and seating areas when under the control of the owner as outlined in the Procedures section.
Susan noted that there are currently 45 ESAs on campus, adding that the process to establish a real need for an ESA is a lengthy one. She said that there have been some issues in the dorms and some evictions, but that these legal issues in housing are not within the Senate’s purview. However, students are beginning to ask to bring ESAs into classrooms, which has become a problem since there is no firm policy in place. She said that the new policy will cover both students and faculty. Students may apply to bring animals to class, and the final policy must be worded so as to leave room for the acceptable exceptions.
The Student Affairs Committee has examined the draft policy and have raised several concerns and asked for clarification on certain issues, including the issue of allergies of students and professors in classrooms. In the “Owner responsibilities” section of the policy, there is a statement (B.2) that animals may not be left unattended, but it was noted that when students leave their animals to attend class, the animals are unattended.
Section C of the Procedures portion of the policy document outlines the causes for which an animal may be removed from campus. The SAC asked who will enforce this policy and carry out such removal, if necessary.
A senator noted that the draft policy allows for research animals, but that there is no wording regarding animals used in teaching courses on campus. Susan invited the professor to suggest appropriate wording that could be shared with the administration.
A member of the SAC noted that the policy will end the practice of faculty bringing their pets to work with them. It was noted that the AAUP has an agreement regarding faculty and pets with the administration, but the senator said that the AAUP will not oppose the new policy. Susan said that the dean of students said that faculty and staff are welcome to petition for need, just like students may. It was also noted that pet fish appear to be an exception to this policy, and need no approval.
XIV. New Business – There was no new business.
XV. Adjournment – Upon a motion and second to adjourn, the meeting was adjourned at 5:02 p.m.
