University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Senate

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MINUTES
URBANA-CHAMPAIGN SENATE MEETING
December 3, 2001

A regular meeting of the Urbana-Champaign Senate was called to order at 3:10 p.m. in Foellinger Auditorium with Provost Richard Herman presiding in the absence of Chancellor Nancy Cantor.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES
12/03/01-01 The minutes of the October 29, 2001, Senate meeting were approved as written.

SENATE COUNCIL REPORT
Senator Robert Fossum (LAS), Chair of Senate Council, reminded all senators to remain in the auditorium for the Executive Session scheduled at the end of today's agenda; the Senate Committee on Honorary Degrees will present additional nominations for honorary degrees for Commencement 2002.

Fossum reported that he and Senator Susan Lamb, Chair of the Senate Committee on Educational Policy, met with representatives from Administrative Information Technology Services (AITS) to voice concerns about how the new software (re: UI-Integrate) will compute grade point averages (GPA's). No clear resolution has been reached in this matter.

Fossum reported that the University Senates Conference (USC) submitted UC.02.00, Revisions to the University of Illinois Statutes - Terms of Faculty Employment (ST-30), as approved by the UIUC Senate on October 29, to the President for submittal to the Board of Trustees. He added that Senate Council expressed its reservations to USC and to the President about the "provision that a recommendation by the elected committee against sanction will be final", indicating that this provision appears to abrogate the authority of the chancellor/provost.

Fossum announced that the following senators have agreed to serve as tellers: Michael Madonick (LAS), Jerome Packard (LAS), R. Linn Belford (LAS), and David Sansone (LAS).

CHANCELLOR'S REMARKS
The Provost spoke to four (4) broad themes relating to cross-campus strategic investments; the themes are elaborated upon in a document
attached and incorporated by reference to these minutes.

· biotechnology/bioengineering in a "nano" world
· the humanities in a globalizing world
· American institutions in a demographically-changing world
· arts in a technology-intensive world

Provost Herman encouraged all present to read the document ("Positioning the Campus for the Future") and to submit comments directly either to his office or the Office of the Chancellor; he added that a day-long retreat on these issues will be held in February. Dr. Herman pointed out that this initiative will not replace our usual budgeting process.

The Provost then reported that, due to less than stellar budget news from Springfield, the University may need to assume the state's portion of health care costs. For UIUC, that would amount to about $9M; we do not yet know if this may become a permanent adjustment to our budget. Other concerns related to a poor state economic outlook are that it may slow or stop our forward momentum in hiring new faculty - we added a net of 75 faculty members last year.

He turned the podium over to Interim Vice Chancellor for Research, Dr. Paul Bohn, to talk about the Post Genomic Institute (PGI), one campus venture whose development has been delayed due to budget constriction.

Dr. Bohn began by briefly describing the difference between Post-Genomic Initiatives and the Research Institute; the former is a set of linked activities/projects proposed by a variety of academic units (e.g., Colleges of ACES, Engineering, LAS, and Medicine).

The University Board of Trustees approved the final design for the Institute in September 2001, for a proposed location between Bevier Hall and the Morrow Plots; a national search for a Director is ongoing. Final bid documents should be completed in March 2002. While Governor George Ryan has issued a "stop work order", planning has continued with the hope that ground will be broken next summer.

QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION
Senator Peter Loeb (LAS) asked Senator Fossum if UC.02.00, Revisions to the University of Illinois Statutes - Terms of Faculty Employment (ST-30), has been changed since it was approved by the UIUC Senate on October 29, 2001. Fossum replied no, that Senate Council only expressed its concerns to USC and the President. President Stukel submitted the version passed by UIUC to the Trustees; the Trustees may make amendments to it.

Senator Loeb was disturbed by the initiative taken by Senate Council in this matter, which appears to undermine the sentiment of the Senate. Senator H. George Friedman (ENGR) requested that senators receive a copy of the letter that Senator Fossum sent to the President on behalf of Senate Council. Fossum agreed to do so.

Senator Thomas Anderson (EDUC) expressed his concern that the campus administration has not publicly responded to allegations by the News-Gazette that development of the South Research Park involved no-bid contracts and other possible irregularities. He asked how the administration is planning on responding and what steps are being taken to ensure that this type of allegation does not infect the PGI process.

The Provost replied that the News-Gazette series alleges possible misconduct by other people and entities and he could not speak for them. He asserted that the PGI process is entirely different from that of the South Research Park.

Senator Friedman asked when the Senate would see the formal proposal to establish the Post Genomic Institute. Dr. Bohn indicated that the proposal would be forthcoming shortly.

CONSENT AGENDA
Dr. Herman announced that, absent the objections of any senator, the following proposals under this moniker were approved by unanimous consent.

12/03/01-02 EP.02.04*, Proposal from FAA to Revise the Minor in Music,
12/03/01-03 EP.02.11*, Proposal from ACES for a Minor in Quantitative Methods in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences,
12/03/01-04 EP.02.13*, Proposal from ACES for a Minor in Fiber Sciences,
12/03/01-05 EP.02.14*, Proposal from ACES for a Minor in Animal Sciences,
12/03/01-06 EP.02.15*, Proposal from the Department of Chemical Engineering for a Singapore Study Abroad Option in the M. S. in Chemical Engineering,
12/03/01-07 SC.02.06*, Deadline for Filing Nominations for the Faculty Advisory Committee.

(EP.02.11 was approved with the caveat that a determination be made regarding the minimum number of hours required for a campus-wide minor. It was subsequently determined that provisions of EP.02.11 satisfied the campus minimum of 16 hours.)

PROPOSALS FOR ACTION
12/03/01-08 The Presiding Officer presented for action CC.02.05*, Nominations for Membership on Standing Committees of the Senate. Senator Michael Murphy (ACES), Chair of the Committee on Committees, moved approval of the slate of nominees. There were no floor nominations and nominations were declared closed.

12/03/01-09 By voice vote, the nominations were approved.

PROPOSED REVISIONS TO THE SENATE BYLAWS
12/03/01-10 The Provost presented for action SP.02.04*, Revisions to the Bylaws Part D.1 - Senate Council. Senator Joseph Finnerty (CBA), Chair of the Committee on University Statutes and Senate Procedures, briefly described this proposal, which would change the name of Senate Council to the Senate Executive Committee (SEC) and codify a couple of existing SEC responsibilities; he moved its approval.

12/03/01-11 By voice vote, SP.02.04 was approved.

REPORTS FOR INFORMATION OF THE SENATE
Provost Herman presented the following reports for information:
12/03/01-12 IT.02.01*, Interim Policy on Appropriate Use of Computers and Network Systems,
12/03/01-13 EP.02.17*, Implementation of the Quantitative Reasoning II Component of General Education,
12/03/01-14 HE.02.03*, Report of the November 9, 2001, FAC/IBHE Meeting,
12/03/01-15 UC.02.02*, Report of the October 19, 2001, USC Meeting,
12/03/01-16 UC.02.03*, Report of the November 8, 2001, USC Meeting.

Senator Jan Novakofski (ACES), Chair of the Senate Committee on Information Technology (IT), reported that his committee has met with Chief Information Officer (CIO) Peter Siegel and members of his staff to address concerns that the IT Committee had with earlier iterations of this policy. He added that there are a few details to be ironed out in the policy before it will be brought back to the Senate for a vote at its February 4 meeting.

Senator Friedman expressed his disapproval of the number of hyperlinks (i.e., URL's) in the policy. As a style, he found it disconcerting and he preferred that a synopsis of the information found at the hyperlink be provided in this document.

Regarding violations of bandwidth guidelines, Senator Thomas Anderson reported that the Senate Committee on Student Discipline has discussed disciplinary procedures and suggested possibly inserting reference to such procedures in this policy. Senator Novakofski responded that his committee has discussed this matter and they are not entirely convinced that disciplinary matters belong in this document.

EXECUTIVE SESSION
The Senate approved a motion to enter Executive Session for purposes of discussing honorary degree nominations. The Senate exited Executive Session at 4:35 p.m.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:35 p.m.

Robert C. Damrau, Senate Clerk
*Filed with the Senate Clerk and incorporated by reference in these Minutes.