MINUTES
URBANA-CHAMPAIGN SENATE MEETING
December 6, 1999
A regular meeting of the Urbana-Champaign Senate was called to order at 3:10 p.m., in Foellinger Auditorium, with Chancellor Michael Aiken presiding.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
12/06/99-01 The Minutes of the November 1, 1999, meeting were approved as written.
SENATE COUNCIL REPORT
Senator Robert Rich (LAW), Chair of Senate Council, indicated that floor privileges were requested for the following individual, and he moved that such privileges be granted, to speak to EP.00.07, Rewording of Guidelines for General Education Courses - Natural Sciences and Technology, Professor Achsah Guibbory, Chair of the General Education Board. There was no objection.
Rich moved that the item distributed at the door, SC.00.10, Approval of Campus Budget Oversight Committee (CBOC) Nomination Slate, be added to today's agenda under Proposals for Action. There was no objection.
Senator Rich reported on the following:
Fifth Senate Review Commission (SRC). This body, chaired by Professor James G. Ward, has started reviewing the survey responses of senators; they expect to have a preliminary report to the Senate in February 2000.
S3. A final "consensus document" was released on December 1 (http://s3.ua.uillinois.edu/), with revisions suggested by CAT team members largely accepted by Interim Vice-President for Academic Affairs C. S. Gardner, who has been charged by President Stukel with taking lead responsibility for this initiative.
Multi-Year Contracts. This proposal appears on today's agenda for a "revised" First Reading, since USSP made what it considered to be substantive changes to the proposal since its First Reading on November 1.
Sanctions Other than Dismissal for Cause. Rich reported that USC is reconsidering its position on this matter and should report to the senates in due course.
Parental Notification Policy (PNP). Rich announced that Vice-Chancellor for Student Affairs (VCSA) Pat Askew will sponsor a Community Meeting to discuss PNP on December 8. Discussion of PNP was initiated by amendments to FERPA (Family Education Rights and Privacy Act).
Report of the Chancellor's Committee on the Status of Women (CCSW): "The Status of Women Faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign". Rich reported that Senate Council referred this report to the Committees on General University Policy and Equal Opportunity.
Rich announced that the following senators have agreed to serve as tellers: Steve Seitz (LAS), Richard Braatz (LAS), Jason Luther (ENGR), and Mark Roszkowski (CBA).
CHANCELLOR'S REMARKS
Chancellor Aiken was pleased to report that the campus has recently received encouraging budget news from the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE). The IBHE may propose a $150M budget increase for the state's colleges and universities for FY2001 (fiscal year ending June 30, 2001). If approved by both Governor George Ryan and the state legislature, it would be the biggest single-year increase ever for higher education in Illinois. The Chancellor added that the governor will deliver his budget address in February and forward his budget recommendations to the legislature shortly thereafter.
The Chancellor encouraged all present to participate in a new tradition and attend the first annual DecemberFest, to be held December 9 at Sixth and Green, sponsored by Campustown 2000 and a variety of campus vendors.
Chancellor Aiken reported that the campus is working hard to try and send the entire marching band (not just the pep band) to the December 30 Micronpc.com bowl game. He was optimistic that a resolution will be reached.
QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION
There were none.
CONSENT AGENDA
Hearing no objection, Chancellor Aiken declared the following proposals approved by unanimous consent:
12/06/99-02 EP.00.01*, Proposal from LAS to Revise the Undergraduate Geography Major in the Sciences and Letters Curriculum,
12/06/99-03 SC.00.08*, Deadline for Filing Nominations for the Faculty Advisory Committee.
PROPOSALS FOR ACTION
12/06/99-04 Chancellor Aiken presented for action CC.00.06*, Nominations for Membership on Standing Committees of the Senate. There were no floor nominations and nominations were declared closed.
12/06/99-05 By voice vote, the nominations were approved.
12/06/99-06 Chancellor Aiken presented for action CC.00.07*, Nomination for Membership on the State Universities Retirement System Members Advisory Committee (SURSMAC). There were no floor nominations and nominations were declared closed.
12/06/99-07 By voice vote, the nomination was approved.
12/06/99-08 The Chancellor presented for action BG.00.01*, Action in Support of the FY2001 Budget Request for State Appropriations. Senator James G. Ward (EDUC), Budget Committee Chair, moved approval of his committee's proposal, and encouraged all members of the campus community to write to the governor expressing their support for the FY2001 budget recommendations. Senator Stephen Kaufman (MED) asked why there was no mention of the tax-deferred matching savings plan (MSP), as endorsed by the senate last year. Ward pointed out that the senate-passed resolution on MSP asked that the plan be implemented beginning in FY2002.
12/06/99-09 By voice vote, BG.00.01 was approved.
12/06/99-10 Chancellor Aiken presented for action GP.00.02*, Resolution on University Senates Conference. Senator Steve Seitz (LAS), Chair of the General University Policy Committee, delivered the following prepared remarks, after which he moved approval of the two resolutions:
Resolution #1: When two or more senates have acted differently on a subject, the University Senates Conference shall attempt to promote agreement or consistency. This entails sending the issue back to the senates for further deliberation.
1. Asserted Ambiguity in the Statutes - bracket [3] under b. Functions
a. "If two or more senates have acted differently on a subject, the conference shall attempt to promote agreement or consistency.
b. Where agreement or consistency cannot be effected within a reasonable period of time, the conference shall transmit the related actions of the senates together with its own recommendations to the appropriate officials or groups within the University and shall simultaneously notify the secretary of each senate of its action.
c. Any senate may record and transmit its further comments to the same addressees and to the conference."
It takes a creative reading of these statutes to read the second sentence (b) as an alternative to (a) rather than a sequence to (a). The overall tenor of the statutes as well as any standard reading of this clause clearly suggests that the provision in the second sentence (b) is sequential to rather than an alternative for the first sentence (a). We have provided the complete text of the statutes regarding the University Senates Conference so the senators can read and judge for themselves.
2. The credibility and meaningfulness of the senates vis-à-vis the University Senates Conference is at issue here. Three questions help frame the problem:
a. Should the originating senates participate in the resolution of disagreements among themselves?
b. Should the University Senates Conference determine the limits of its own discretion?
c. Is the efficacy of actions taken by each senate impaired when the results of our deliberations can be changed without our review or concurrence?
3. We have here a contemporary instance of what Robert Michels (1915) referred to as the tendency toward oligarchy in participatory organizations (the so-called Iron Law of Oligarchy)
a. Some obvious limits of participatory organizations
i. They speak with many voices
ii. Their strategic promptness lags that of oligarchs which lags that of dictators
b. In seeing these limits, some impatient leaders pronounce participatory arrangements as inefficient or even incompetent, and in so doing furnish themselves with a practical, technical, and moral justification for oligarchy. That is, the decision making of the few replaces that of the many.
c. As the power of leaders increase, so does the organization's oligarchic tendency.
d. Any transfer of sovereign powers is an abdication of sovereignty.
Resolution #2: Where agreement or consistency among the senates cannot be effected within a reasonable period of time, the UIUC Senate shall record and transmit its further comments to the same addresses as the University Senates Conference transmittals and to the University Senates Conference.
1. The Statutes say we may, this resolution indicates we shall. [3] If two or more senates have acted differently on a subject, the conference shall attempt to promote agreement or consistency. Where agreement or consistency cannot be effected within a reasonable period of time, the conference shall transmit the related actions of the senates together with its own recommendations to the appropriate officials or groups within the University and shall simultaneously notify the secretary of each senate of its action. Any senate may record and transmit its further comments to the same addressees and to the conference. [boldface added]
2. Standard objection: if the board thinks there is disagreement, they will ignore the senates entirely and cast policy on their own.
3. This form of self-censorship is based on erroneous reasoning and misconception.
a. First, if agreement is that essential, then the understanding that our dissent will be forwarded should encourage greater USC efforts at consensus.
b. Second, the appearance of routine agreement diminishes the perceived need for senate voices before the Board of Trustees. It is easy to come to believe that anyone can speak for the three faculty/student senates if the Board is routinely unaware of the differences among those legislative bodies.
c. We are an educational institution and we should not shy from the task of educating people on why the strengths of participatory organizations outweigh their shortcomings. These were among the most hard-earned lessons of the 20th century and perhaps in our local endeavors they still carry meaning for faculty/student governance at the University of Illinois.
Senator Richard Schacht (LAS), expressed concern that Resolution #1 would seem to suggest that every time the senates could not agree on precisely the same statutory language, University Senates Conference (USC) would be compelled to return to the senates, ad infinitum. He characterized this arrangement as a "recipe for paralysis".
Senator S. Seitz replied that this resolution only asks USC to adhere to the spirit of the Statutes, i.e., to allow the senates more opportunities to comment upon the actions of USC. Senator Al Kagan (LIBR) suggested that this resolution is only GUP's interpretation of the Statutes.
12/06/99-11 By show of hands, Resolution #1 of GP.00.02 was approved.
12/06/99-12 By show of hands, Resolution #2 of GP.00.02 was approved.
12/06/99-13 The Chancellor presented for action SC.00.10*, Approval of Campus Budget Oversight Committee (CBOC) Nomination Slate. Senator Rich, Chair of Senate Council, explained that there is one vacancy that needs to be filled in each of two disciplinary areas - Behavioral/Social Sciences and Engineering. He moved approval of the slate.
12/06/99-14 By voice vote, the nominations were approved.
PROPOSED REVISIONS TO THE UNIVERSITY STATUTES
12/06/99-15 Chancellor Aiken presented for information/revised first reading SP.00.06*, Multi-Year Contracts for Full-Time Non-Tenured Academic Staff. Senator Robert Fossum (LAS), Chair of the Senate Committee on University Statutes and Senate Procedures (USSP), stated this statutory change would allow multi-year (up to three year) contracts to be offered to non-tenured academic staff members. He reported that since USSP made a few revisions to this document after its First Reading at the November 1 Senate meeting, his committee felt it was prudent to present it today not as a Second Reading, but as a revised First Reading. This item will be presented for Second Reading (and vote) at the February 14, 2000, Senate meeting.
Fossum added that in response to a question from the November 1 Senate meeting, there are approximately 1400 people with qualified titles such as "visiting" as well as 2000 academic professionals who may be eligible for multi-year contracts under this policy.
Senator Kagan characterized this proposal as a "prescription for mediocrity" and, as such, is just another attack on the tenure system by hiring more people who will not be on the tenure-track. Senator Joan Klein (LAS) described the intent of this proposal as not to promote mediocrity, but to increase stability by allowing departments the opportunity to offer 3-year teaching and research contracts.
Senator Schacht believed that multi-year contracts will improve our recruiting and help us maintain our excellence because longer-term commitments from departments will be more attractive to promising candidates.
Senator Kagan acknowledged that this campus needs more faculty, but believed that our budget dollars (and recruiting efforts) would be better spent by creating more appointments on the tenure-track.
Provost Richard Herman announced his intention to put a committee in place to provide oversight of multi-year contracts; he added that this group might consider limiting the number of multi-year appointments. Ted Valli, Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, believed that this proposal would improve his college's recruiting of clinical faculty, and would not diminish tenure.
Senator Greg Girolami (LAS) asked about the procedures for non-reappointment as alluded to in this proposal. Fossum replied that USSP is working on such a statutory revision and plans to bring it for First Reading to the February 14, 2000, Senate meeting.
REPORTS FOR INFORMATION OF THE SENATE
Chancellor Aiken presented the following reports for information:
12/06/99-16 AB.00.01*, NCAA Recertification of the Athletic Program,
12/06/99-17 EP.00.07*, Rewording of Guidelines for General Education Courses - Natural Science and Technology.
Speaking to AB.00.01, Senator Stephen Kaufman expressed his dissatisfaction with the campus steering committee's decision not to include reference to the "Chief" in its report to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Senator Schacht, member of the steering committee, reported that while the NCAA stated that it was permissable for the campus to consider the issue of the "Chief" in its self-study, his committee decided not to include reference to this issue in its report. Kaufman believed that a disservice was perpetrated on the campus as a result of this omission.
REPORTS OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF OTHER MEETINGS
The Chancellor presented the following meeting reports:
12/06/99-18 SC.00.07*, BOT, October 14-15, 1999, J. G. Eden
12/06/99-19 HE.00.02*, FAC/IBHE, October 5, 1999, T. Weech
12/06/99-20 UC.00.03*, USC, November 11, 1999, G. Belford
12/06/99-21 UP.00.01*, UPC, October 18, 1999, J. G. Ward
The meeting was adjourned at 4:50 p.m.
Robert C. Damrau, Senate Clerk
*Filed with the Senate Clerk and incorporated by reference in these Minutes.