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

03/17/03-01 The minutes of the February 17, 2003, Senate meeting were approved as written.

SENATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT

Senator Robert Fossum (LAS), Chair of the Senate Executive Committee (SEC), moved, without objection, that floor privileges be extended to Professors Fred Delcomyn, Philip Best, and Neal Merchen, respectively, Director, School of Integrative Biology, Head, Dept. of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, and Interim Head, Dept. of Animal Sciences; to speak to EP.03.18. Floor privileges for members of the Student Senate Caucus subcommittee on Dissection Alternatives (Michelle Rodrigues, Matt Berry, and Jon Fisher) to speak to the same proposal were also approved.

Floor privileges for Joe Harper, Professor of Agricultural Education, to speak to EP.03.16, were approved.

Dr. Fossum announced that the following senators have agreed to serve as tellers: Abbas Aminmansour (FAA), Barclay Jones (ENGR), Nicholas Burbules (EDUC), and Nancy O'Brien (LIBR).

CHANCELLOR'S REMARKS

The Presiding Officer spoke briefly about campus and University budget matters, and then turned the podium over to Dr. Charles Colbert, Vice-Chancellor for Administration and Human Resources, who spoke about a number of initiatives within his portfolio.

The Vice-Chancellor cited ongoing and future campus capital projects, such as those relating to central chilled water (campus chiller and the chiller plant), expansion of the Abbott Power Plant, the Bardeen Quad, proliferation of new and uniform street and building markers, as well as campus gateway systems (i.e., brick facades) on the perimeter of the campus.

Dr. Colbert announced that he would be stepping down as Vice-Chancellor on July 1, 2003, in preparation for his retirement in December. He thanked the Senate for the opportunities they have given him over the years to address this august body; the Senate responded with a warm round of applause.

QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION

There were no substantive questions.

CONSENT AGENDA

The Provost announced that the following proposals were approved by unanimous consent:

03/17/03-02 EP.03.11*, Revision of the Graduate Programs in Materials Science and Engineering,
03/17/03-03 EP.03.14*, Revision of the Teaching of Chemistry Option,
03/17/03-04 EP.03.15*, Revision to the Physics Teaching Option of the Sciences and Letters Curriculum in Physics in LAS,
03/17/03-05 EP.03.16*, Revision of the Teacher Certification Option in the Agricultural and Environmental Communications and Education Curriculum,
03/17/03-06 EP.03.17*, Proposed LAS Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Major in Gender and Women's Studies,
03/17/03-07 EP.03.13*, Proposal from the Council on Teacher Education to Revise the Earth Sciences Teaching Option in the College of LAS.

PROPOSALS FOR ACTION

03/17/03-08 Dr. Herman presented for action CC.03.09*, Nominations for Membership on Standing Committees of the Senate. Senator John Prussing (ENGR), Chair of the Senate Committee on Committees, moved approval of the slate of nominees.

03/17/03-09 By voice vote, CC.03.09 was approved.

03/17/03-10 The Provost presented for action FB.03.02*, Resolution on Benefits. Senator Norm Denzin (COMM), Chair of the Committee on Faculty Benefits, described the thought processes of his committee which culminated in the presentation of this resolution. He moved its approval.

03/17/03-11 By voice vote, FB.03.02 was approved.

03/17/03-12 The Presiding Officer presented for action FB.01.05*, Resolution on Health Coverage for Contraception. Senator Denzin hoped this resolution would serve as a catalyst to urge the campus administration to provide coverage for the full range of contraception services for its employees.

03/17/03-13 By voice vote, FB.01.05 was approved.

03/17/03-14 Provost Herman presented for action LB.02.02*, Report to the Senate on Scholarly Communication. Senator Bruce Wicks (ALS) summarized the history of this proposal and moved adoption of its five (5) resolutions.

Senator Nicholas Burbules (EDUC) had reservations about the language in the first resolution; specifically, he was not sure if "applying pressure to publishers" to reduce journal costs would be appropriate behavior on the part of faculty. Senator Wicks replied that his Committee felt some action must be taken to reign in journal costs that average 10-16% increases each year.

Senator Richard Schacht (LAS) moved to add the word "exorbitant" before "costs of journals" in resolution #1. This motion was defeated by voice vote.

Senator Lynne Rudasill (LIBR) believed that if faculty members have good working relationships with some publishers, they should be able to say something to them about the spiraling costs of academic journals.

Senator Terry Weech (LISC) moved to change "applying pressure" to "communicating concerns" in resolution #1 and to change "apply such pressure" to "facilitate such communication" in resolution #2.

By voice vote, both amendments were approved.

03/17/03-15 By voice vote, LB.02.02 was approved, as amended.

REPORTS FOR INFORMATION OF THE SENATE

The Presiding Officer presented the following informational reports:

03/17/03-16 BG.03.01*, Items Under Consideration,
03/17/03-17 GP.03.03*, Implementation of Severe Sanctions Other Than Dismissal for Cause,
03/17/03-18 EP.03.18*, Report of Information to the Senate on Alternatives to Dissection in Undergraduate Courses,
03/17/03-19 SC.03.08*, Report of the February 12-13 BOT Meeting,
03/17/03-20 HE.03.08*, Report of the February 4 BHE Meeting,
03/17/03-21 HE.03.09*, Report of the February 28 FAC/IBHE Meeting,
03/17/03-22 UC.03.05*, Report of the February 20 USC Meeting.

Senator Barclay Jones (ENGR), Chair of the Senate Committee on the Budget, addressed some details of his Committee's report (BG.03.01), distributed at the door, which relate to revenue enhancement considerations for FY04 and FY05 and the need for planning beyond those years.

Senator Schacht, Chair of the Senate Committee on General University Policy (GUP), briefly described the background and rationale for this proposal (GP.03.03), i.e., revisions to the University Statutes approved by the Board of Trustees in July 2002 called for each campus to develop and adopt its own implementation procedures for severe sanctions other than dismissal for cause.

Senator Al Kagan (LIBR) referred to section b. (3) (b) and suggested the slate for the hearing committee, submitted by the Committee on Committees, should be amendable by the Senate, and not subject to a straight up or down vote.

Senator Thomas Anderson (EDUC), speaking to section b. (1) (b), suggested that the term "faculty member" be changed to "participant", i.e., if the confidentiality of the process is broken by any party involved, it should trigger the appropriate response from the provost and/or chancellor. Senator Anderson also objected to the exclusion of emeriti and less than full-time professors for nomination to the hearing committee.

Senator Peter Mortensen (LAS), Chair of the Senate Committee on Educational Policy, speaking to EP.03.18, described a resolution approved by the Illinois Student Government (ISG) in fall 2002 as the impetus for the Educational Policy Committee to get involved in this issue.

Senator Janice Juraska (LAS) suggested that flagging courses that require dissection in the Timetable might deter students from enrolling, and she proposed that more detail be included in the Timetable.

Senator Thomas Anastasio (LAS) recommended that a student's request for accommodation (i.e., alternatives to dissection) must be in writing. Senator Byron Kemper (MED) had several substantive suggestions on overhead slides, which Senator Mortensen indicated he would share with his Committee.

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.