Minutes
Urbana-Champaign Senate Meeting
December 7, 2009
A regular meeting of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Senate was called to order at 3:15 p.m. on the 3rd floor of the Levis Faculty Center with Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Renee Romano presiding.
Approval of Minutes
12/07/09-01 The minutes of November 9 were approved as written.
Senate Executive Committee Report
Senator Joyce Tolliver (LAS), Chair of the Senate Executive Committee (SEC), provided the following report.
I want to be sure everyone has heard that Dick Wheeler has generously agreed to serve as our Interim Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs, pending approval by the Board. Dick will continue to serve as Associate Provost, so this represents a set of additional responsibilities for him. These responsibilities were part of the portfolio that Bob Easter was given when he agreed to serve as Interim Provost; since he is now serving also as Interim Chancellor, it made sense for the responsibilities to be divided in this way. Bob sought the advice of the Senate Executive Committee when he was considering this change, and we supported it most enthusiastically.
Also, by way of update, I hope you have all heard by now that there is a proposal circulating in the Illinois Legislature to include faculty representation on the Board of Trustees. This proposed legislation would also establish a committee to make recommendations about potential appointees to the Board; that committee would also include faculty members. I mention this proposed legislation because it is directly related to the Resolution that our Senate passed in August regarding this matter, and also with the proposal that the Campus Faculty Association generated last summer.
A few words of explanation are in order about the item labeled ST-74, which was distributed by attachment this morning and which was available at the door. This item is for information only at this point. Here is some background:
In October, the University Senates Conference was approached regarding a recommendation to amend the sections of the Statutes that describe the duties of the Chancellor and the President. Senates Conference opted to pass the recommendation on to the campuses with no comment. In accordance with our Senate’s Standing Rules, our Committee on University Statutes and Senate Procedures considered the recommendation.
Given their input, as well as that of the other two senates, the recommendation to amend the language regarding the position of the Chancellor was withdrawn. This is reflected in the Nov. 25 cover letter from Kathryn Eisenhart, who chairs Senates Conference, as well as in the Nov. 18 letter from Stan Ikenberry.
The recommendation regarding an amendment to the Statutes wording that describes the position of the President is still on the table. I received the documents you picked up at the door during Thanksgiving break, and passed them on to Bill Maher, who chairs USSP. USSP considered the new communications a week ago. They took into account the Statutes provisions that proposals to amend the Statutes may be generated either by one of the campus Senates or by the Board of Trustees; there was some question about when the proposal had been discussed by the Board. USSP members also kept in mind the stipulations in our Standing Rules that any proposal to amend the Statutes must be accompanied by a formal rationale, that all the sponsors must be listed on the proposal, and that it must be dated. Their consensus was that, in accordance with our Senate Standing Rules, we would need to see a formal proposal from the Board along with a rationale for the proposed amendment. I hope to see that proposal on the agenda for discussion and possible action at our next meeting, on February 22.
However, since the other two campuses are currently considering this recommendation, I thought that you should be informed of it.
We have reserved some time in today’s meeting to discuss the question of Open Access to academic publications. As I mentioned at our October meeting, Open Access is the subject of a nation-wide conversation, which has intensified in the past few months. MIT, Harvard, and, more recently, Emory, have approved policies that spell out the expectation that, when faculty members have their work accepted for publication, they will make a copy of that work available in the University’s electronic repository. Open Access policies do of course, carry important implications for issues of copyright, the power of academic journals, and perhaps the very nature of academic publication.
Because research campuses across the nation are dealing with these issues, the Open Access question was a key item on the agenda of the CIC Faculty Leaders conference that SEC Vice-Chair Matt Wheeler and I attended last month in Minneapolis. The representatives of the senates present at that meeting were largely in favor of encouraging campuses to adopt Open Access policies--providing that individual faculty members could opt out of the practice—and, as I insisted—that policies take into account disciplinary differences of research practice and of attitudes towards intellectual property.
Sarah Shreeves, who coordinates the Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship—IDEALS—has agreed to come today to help us to understand this issue. In order to do so, we must grant her floor privileges, so I will close by moving that floor privileges be granted to Sarah (there was no objection).
We ask senators to stay for the entire meeting because the Senate will be considering nominations for honorary degrees in executive session as its last business item.
Tellers for today’s meeting are Senators Robert Ramirez (FAA), Tania Ionin (LAS) and Charles Roseman (LAS).
Chancellor’s Remarks
VCSA Renee Romano reported that cases of H1N1 on campus appear to have peaked about three weeks ago; she thanked all members of the campus community who kept sick children home when needed. She announced an initiative from student affairs that assists veterans who are returning to school after their tours of duty.
Dr. Romano turned the podium over to Associate Provost Mike Andrechak, who presented Short and Intermediate Term Financial Planning, Fall 2009. This presentation is available at: http://www.senate.illinois.edu/091207_ma.ppt.
The presentation focused on the state’s budget problems and dwindling support for the University, the temporary help from federal stimulus funding, our limited capacity for tuition increases, and the need for planning not just to cut costs but to increase revenues.
Questions/Discussion
Mike Andrechak thanked Vice Provost Barbara Wilson and Acting Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs (pending BOT approval) Dick Wheeler for their help in creating the budget presentation.
Senators called for the inclusion of faculty in campus budget discussions, especially with the increasing likelihood of furloughs.
Consent Agenda
Dr. Romano announced that since there was no objection from any senator, the following proposals were approved by unanimous consent:
12/07/09-02 EP.09.65*, Rename the Teaching of Social Studies Concentration in the BALAS in History as the Social Science: History Teaching Concentration in the BALAS in History, LAS
12/07/09-03 EP.10.10*, Proposal from GRAD and ENGR to Revise the M.S. and Ph.D. in Bioengineering
12/07/09-04 EP.10.16*, Proposal from Engineering to Revise the B.S. in Civil Engineering
12/07/09-05 EP.10.18*, Proposal from Engineering to Revise the B.S. in Engineering Physics
12/07/09-06 EP.10.24*, Proposal from the College of Media to Rename the Department of Advertising as the Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising
12/07/09-07 EP.10.25*, Proposal from the College of Engineering to Revise the Undergraduate Minor in Physics
12/07/09-08 EP.10.26*, Proposal from the College of Engineering to Revise the B.S. in Engineering Mechanics
12/07/09-09 EP.10.27*, Proposal from the College of Engineering to Revise the B.S. in Mechanical Engineering
12/07/09-10 EP.10.28*, Proposal from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences to Eliminate the BSLAS in Biology Honors
12/07/09-11 EP.10.29*, Proposal from the College of LAS to Revise the BALAS in Geography
12/07/09-12 EP.10.30*, Proposal from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences to Revise the Undergraduate Minor in English as a Second Language
Proposals for Action
12/07/09-13 The Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs presented for action CC.10.06*, Nominations for Membership on Standing Committees of the Senate, and its addendum distributed at the door, CC.10.06a, Nomination for Conflict of Interest and Commitment (COIC) Policy Review Committee. Senator Kim Graber (AHS), Chair of the Committee on Committees, moved approval of the nominations. There were no floor nominations and nominations were declared closed.
12/07/09-14 By voice vote, the nominations were approved.
12/07/09-15 Dr. Renee Romano presented for action RS.10.01*, Resolution regarding local governmental units banning video gambling machines due to their detrimental impacts on students and the general public. Senator David Olsen (BUS), one of the co-sponsors of the resolution, made editorial corrections.
12/07/09-16 By voice vote, the resolution was approved.
Committee of the Whole
The Senate approved a motion to enter a Committee of the Whole, to discuss Open Access Publishing. Professor Sarah Shreeves, distributed a background informational sheet (www.senate.illinois.edu/091207_sls.pdf), which defined Open Access, why it is used, how it is achieved in academe, recent developments, and how Illinois is approaching the issue.
Questions and comments included reference to the types of journals in which one is published, the importance of the peer-review process, and the necessity of looking at the larger, global picture when it comes to deciding whether or not to go the open access route.
Executive Session
The Senate approved a motion to enter Executive Session for purposes of discussing nominations for honorary degrees. The Senate exited Executive Session at 5:00 p.m.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m.
Robert C. Damrau, Senate Clerk
*Filed with the Senate Clerk and incorporated by reference in these Minutes.