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

10/19/98-01 The minutes of the September 14, 1998, meeting were approved as written.

SENATE COUNCIL REPORT

Senator Richard Schacht (LAS), Chair of Senate Council, welcomed the new Provost and Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs (Dr. Richard Herman), who joined the campus community last week. Schacht indicated that Dr. Herman would be making a few introductory remarks during the Chancellor's portion of the agenda.

Floor privileges were requested for the following individuals, and it was moved (without objection) that such privileges be granted, to speak to: EP.98.15 and EP.98.16: LAS International Studies Minor/Major, Professor Charles Stewart, Associate Dean of LAS, and Jane Woolfolk, staff assistant, College of LAS; EP.99.02: Revision of the Core Curriculum in Human Development and Family Studies, ACES, Professor Gerry Walter, Coordinator for Undergraduate Advising, Dept. of Human and Community Development; EP.99.04: Proposal to Establish a B. S. Degree in Aviation Human Factors, Prof. Gary Bradshaw, Assoc. Head, Aviation Research Lab., and Henry Taylor, Director, Institute of Aviation.

Schacht reported that Senate Council recently discussed the following:

USC Central Administration Budget and University Benefits Study Committee. Council approved the Committee on Committees' nominations to this body - Earl Grinols, Chair, Faculty Benefits Committee (one-year term) and James Ward, member, Budget Committee (two-year term).

Social Security numbers (SSN's). Schacht addressed the question raised at the September 14 Senate meeting regarding open access to SSN's via the new Library Online system. He received word from University Librarian Robert Wedgeworth that because the UI is a member of a statewide 48-library consortium, the SSN needs to be in the borrower's record in order to eliminate duplicate records. The SSN in a borrower's record can only be displayed by Library employees who have access to staff workstations, and Wedgeworth indicated that the Library is exploring options for possibly masking the display of the SSN in the staff module.

Tenure Issues (TI) Committee. Schacht announced (and Senator Don Uchtmann (ACES), TI Committee Chair, confirmed) that this Senate Council ad hoc committee will submit at least an informational progress report to the Senate before the end of the fall semester or early in the spring semester.

Annual Meeting of the Faculty. Schacht reported that Senate Council considered the combination of the Annual Meeting with the first Senate meeting (September 14) a modest success, despite the absence of President Stukel. He added that the President has accepted an invitation to address the Senate at its November 30 meeting.

Support Services Strategy Report (S3). Schacht announced the URL for this University document (http://s3.ua.uillinois.edu), adding that Senate Council has referred the report to the Committees on Budget, Campus Operations, and General University Policy.

Campus Budget Oversight Committee (CBOC). Professor James L. Robinson has replaced Professor Donald Ort on the CBOC this year and Professor James Peters has succeeded Ort as CBOC Chair; the nominations of Peters and Robinson were both approved by the Senate last spring.

Public Safety Training ("Heichel" report). A campus committee, chaired by Professor Gary Heichel, was charged with reviewing a possible consolidation of the Police Training Institute, Fire Service Institute, and the Institute of Aviation into a single "Public Safety" entity. Senate Council referred the committee's report to the Senate Committees on Educational and General University Policy.

Schacht also announced the appointment of the new Director of the University of Illinois Press, Willis "Bill" Regier, whose term will begin on February 1, 1999. Mr. Regier's press experience includes work at the University of Nebraska and Johns Hopkins University.

Schacht announced that the following senators agreed to serve as tellers: James L. Robinson (ACES), Billie Theide (FAA), Bill Walker (ENGR), and Richard Merritt (COMM).

CHANCELLOR'S REMARKS

Chancellor Aiken expressed his profound shock and sadness at the death of University senior Kevin Moore the previous day, apparently the victim of a shooting incident. He reported that a suspect in the shooting was arrested today. The Chancellor emphasized that because the fraternity house at which the crime occurred was not certified housing, the campus had no control over sub-lease arrangements made by the fraternity. He asserted, however, that the campus would meet with city officials to determine what measures could be taken to reduce the likelihood of future violent crimes.

In other matters, Chancellor Aiken urged all those present to review the aforementioned Support Services Strategy Report (S3), directing their attention in particular to the Executive Summary and the discussions of Recommendations 4 and 5. He acknowledged the stellar work of the Campus Advisory Team's (CAT) review of the S3 Report.

The Chancellor announced that Dr. Richard Herman comes to this campus very highly recommended, having most recently served as the Dean of the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Physical Sciences at the University of Maryland. He invited Dr. Herman, newly appointed Provost and Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs, to introduce himself to the assembly. (The Senate welcomed the Provost with a warm round of applause.)

Dr. Herman began by stating it was a distinct privilege and pleasure to address the campus Senate, citing his considerable experience of working within shared governance. He described how he has been acclimating himself to our academic community by reviewing the Framework for the Future, adding that a number of choices will need to be made about where the campus needs to invest. The Provost cited challenges such as faculty salaries, undergraduate education, and providing a supportive environment for research and education, as just a few that the campus is facing today. He looked forward to getting to know senators and other members of the campus community in the near future.

QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION

Senator David Piell (LAS), speaking as a member of the Senate Committee on Student Discipline (SD), asked why the campus elected not to renew the 25% release time agreement for the chair of the Subcommittee on Undergraduate Student Conduct. As a result, the workload of the Subcommittee has shifted to the SD Committee, creating a sizeable backlog of cases. The Chancellor replied that there are many committee positions on campus with heavy time commitments, but a very few that are so onerous as to warrant release time. He suggested Piell contact Senate Council Chair Richard Schacht to try and work out a mutually satisfactory arrangement.

CONSENT AGENDA

Hearing no objection, Chancellor Aiken declared the following proposals approved by unanimous consent:

10/19/98-02 EP.99.02*, Revision of the Core Curriculum in Human Development and Family Studies, College of ACES;
10/19/98-03 EP.99.04*, Proposal to Establish a B. S. Degree in Aviation Human Factors;
10/19/98-04 CG.98.04*, Proposed Revisions to Rule 103 of the Code: Use of University Premises and Facilities

PROPOSALS FOR ACTION

10/19/98-05 The Chancellor presented for discussion and action EP.98.15*, LAS International Studies Minor; Professor R. Linn Belford (LAS), Educational Policy Committee (EP) Chair, moved its approval. Piell asked if the College of LAS had determined if there was a demand for this minor. Belford replied that a similar minor exists in the College of Engineering; Senator Carl Altstetter (ENGR) confirmed that the Minor in International Studies in Engineering has graduated hundreds of students, and has experienced steady demand.

Altstetter questioned, however, the lack of a requirement that students conduct study overseas. Professor Charles Stewart, Associate Dean of LAS, and sponsor of the proposal, replied that the overseas requirement is an element of the International Studies Major only, as is the case in the College of Engineering.

10/19/98-06 By voice vote, EP.98.15 was approved.

10/19/98-07 Chancellor Aiken presented for action EP.98.16*, LAS International Studies Major; Professor R. Linn Belford moved its approval. Senator Thomas Abraham (GRAD) expressed concern about the seemingly nebulous credit requirement under the Professional, Technical or Scientific rubric for "twenty hours of topical studies courses combined into an intellectually or professionally coherent study…". Professor Charles Stewart replied that the curriculum adviser must approve the 20 hours of courses.

10/19/98-08 By voice vote, EP.98.16 was approved.

10/19/98-09 The Chancellor presented for action CC.99.04*, Nominations for Membership on the Military Education Council. There were no floor nominations and nominations were declared closed.

10/19/98-10 By voice vote, the nomination was approved.

10/19/98-11 Chancellor Aiken presented for action BG.99.01*, Action in Support of the FY2000 Budget Request for State Appropriations. Senator James L. Robinson (ACES), Budget Committee Chair, outlined the report's 4 recommendations-that the Senate: 1) support the FY2000 budget request, 2) direct the Senate Council Chair to communicate Senate support of the budget request to the IBHE Chair and newly-elected Governor, 3) encourage members of the academic community who interact with legislative candidates to ask about their support for higher education, and 4) ask senators to demonstrate their support by urging IBHE officials and the newly-elected Governor to fully fund the UI's budget request.

Referring to the accompanying tables, Robinson highlighted Strengthening the Academic Base, whose $16M seeks to hire and retain mid-career faculty lost during the lean budget years just a short time ago. He briefly summed the funding request for capital projects, the steady decline of state support per tuition dollar (from 12.8:1 in 1970 to 3.1:1 in 1999), and the widening deficit between UIUC and its IBHE peer group in relation to the mean salaries of full professors.

The Chancellor stressed that letters should be sent to the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) now, since the IBHE will forward their budget recommendations to the newly elected Governor in November. The new Governor will act by March 1, so letters to the Governor and other legislators are urged before that date. Each letter is perceived as representing the views of up to 500 constituents; a brief set of guidelines for writing letters to officials was included, as well as addresses for IBHE officials. Robinson moved adoption of BG.99.01.

Senator Al Kagan (LIBR) asked the following: Since the campus is aware that the IBHE will likely reduce our budget request before it submits it to the Governor, why do we not simply ask for more money to offset the IBHE reduction? Chancellor Aiken responded that the campus historically submits reasonable budget requests to the IBHE; artificially inflated requests would likely be viewed less than favorably.

10/19/98-12 By voice vote, BG.99.01 was approved.

10/19/98-13 The Chancellor presented for action EP.99.05*, Resolution on the Plus/Minus Grading System. Professor R. Linn Belford (LAS), Educational Policy Committee (EP) Chair, explained that his committee felt it was not unreasonable to require instructors to announce at the beginning of the semester whether or not they will employ the plus/minus grading system. He moved its approval.

Senator Joseph Oberweis (CBA) moved to amend the resolution by changing "drop" to "add" as in "…faculty should be REQUIRED to announce to their classes…(before the drop add date)…". The motion was seconded and approved by voice vote.

Oberweis moved to insert the phrase "preferably in the syllabus" after "announce" in the first sentence of the resolution (see above). The motion was seconded and approved by voice vote.

Senator Anthony Jacobi (ENGR) stood against the resolution, and pointed to the potential for a rash of capricious grading complaints if an instructor changed his/her mind about using the plus/minus system. Senator Richard Engelbrecht-Wiggans (CBA) expressed reservations about being forced to use the same policy for all sections of a course, especially if sections of different sizes suggested different grading policies.

Senator Friedman moved to divide the resolution into 2 motions, with the first sentence "…faculty should be REQUIRED…" as the first motion and the 2nd and 3rd sentences of the resolution to serve as the second motion. By show of hands (39-26), the motion to divide was approved.

Speaking to the 1st part, Senator Piell moved to replace "should be" with "are", as in "…faculty should be are REQUIRED…". The motion was seconded and approved by show of hands (45-28). A motion to close debate on the first part of the resolution (which requires 2/3 vote) was approved by show of hands (46-22).

10/19/98-14 By show of hands, the 1st part of EP.99.05 was approved, as amended. A motion to close debate on the 2nd part of the resolution was approved by voice vote.

10/19/98-15 By voice vote, the 2nd part of EP.99.05 was approved.

PROPOSED REVISIONS TO THE SENATE BYLAWS

10/19/98-16 The Chancellor presented for action SP.99.05*, Proposed Revisions to the Bylaws, Part D.6.(b) - Committee on Campus Operations Membership. Senator Robert Fossum (LAS), Statutes Committee Chair, characterized this proposal as a housekeeping measure designed to update a pair of titles of ex officio members of the Senate Committee on Campus Operations. He moved its approval.

10/19/98-17 By voice vote, SP.99.05 was approved.

10/19/98-18 Chancellor Aiken presented for action SP.96.07*, Proposed Amendment to the Bylaws, Part D. 1. (b) - Senate Council Membership. Senator Fossum stated the Statutes Committee (USSP) sought to eliminate the awkward "caucus" election of Senate Council members by and from among faculty committee chairs. The Committee selected what they believed were the chairs of senate committees best suited to carry out the prescribed duties of the Senate Council. Fossum added that approval of this proposal would allow the Senate to elect each faculty position on the Council. He moved its approval.

Senator Joan Klein (LAS) objected to the characterization of the Senate Council caucus election as a "crap shoot", and expressed concern that the designation of chairs of a number of Senate committees as permanent Council members would be tantamount to creating an "underclass" set of committees.

Senator Heidi Von Gunden (FAA), Chair of the Equal Opportunity Committee, believed that any committee chair that is a senator deserves an equal opportunity with her/his peers to serve on Senate Council. Senator H. George Friedman (ENGR) thought the work of Senate Council would be (and has been) seriously hindered if the chairs of the committees named in the proposal were not members of the Council in any particular year.

Senator Stephen J. Kaufman (MED) questioned the absence of committees which specifically addressed issues of interest to students. In light of the numerous and varied objections raised, Senator Carl Jones (VMED) moved to remand the proposal back to USSP for further study.

10/19/98-19 By voice vote, the motion to remand SP.96.07 back to USSP was approved.

REPORTS OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF OTHER MEETINGS

The Chancellor presented the following meeting reports:
10/19/98-20 SC.99.03*, BOT, September 2-3, 1998, K. E. Andersen
10/19/98-21 UC.99.01*, USC, September 24, 1998, G. G. Belford

COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE DISCUSSION

Senate Council Chair Richard Schacht moved that the Senate exit their regular agenda and enter a Committee of the Whole Discussion, for purposes of discussing Library Issues. There was no objection.

University Librarian Robert Wedgeworth began by describing the enormous amount of change in the library system in the past couple of years, and he indicated that the budget crisis which our library has been faced with recently is one which mirrors the situation at other academic libraries nationwide.

Wedgeworth described the wealth of information available on the library websites across campus as an illustration that the campus has no choice but to continue to invest in building/updating an informational infrastructure.

Senator Alex Scheeline (LAS), Chair of the Senate Committee on the Library (SCL), delivered the following prepared remarks:

The University Library is an essential resource for all scholarship on this campus. It is also an immensely complicated organism. One can not in a few minutes adequately describe even a fraction of the issues facing those who gather, purchase, index, organize, store, preserve, access, distribute, and evaluate informational materials. The Library is in fact a reflection of the entire modern world, with all its conflicting and interacting demands, expensive and expansive.

The detailed scrutiny of committees both within and outside the Library currently under way may move us in a useful direction, but I think it is a delusion to think that miraculously, in a few months, the Library will command the same heights it appeared to in, say, 1970. Just as the Encyclopedia Britannica appeared to touch on all Western knowledge in its 1911 edition, but now we understand that there was much human activity it completely ignored, so libraries, ALL libraries, can no longer be comprehensive because, in fact they never were; we just didn't realize it at the time. Our task is not to encompass more material than Harvard's library and the Library of Congress combined, but rather to reach some consensus as to what Library THIS campus requires in order to adequately serve the needs of the campus, state, national, and international communities.

Fortunately, the Librarians on this campus are quite astute. There have been situations in the past where their insight has been well hidden from the campus community. Thus, I would encourage everyone to go visit two branch libraries in the next few weeks: the one closest to your own discipline, and one completely removed from anything you know much about. You will discover that no two libraries suffer from exactly the same problems, nor can we devise a single set of criteria by which to allocate funds among disciplines. We can not work solely bottom up nor top down. And we can not work hard for a few months, devise a solution, and then leave things running on autopilot. A web of communications among Librarians, users, and administrators, continuing over many years, is the only way we can gradually evolve the Library along with the community it serves.

I came to the Senate Committee on the Library with many misconceptions. One was that the Library was working smoothly. Anyone who recalls the frenzy last fall when massive subscription cancellations seemed inevitable will realize how naive my original view was. A second misconception was that money alone could solve the Library's problems. The Mengler Report indicates clearly that more funds may well be required, but the issues facing the Library are not exclusively those of financing. The 118 pages of raw recommendations from the strategic planning subcommittees for the Library that reached Bob Burger's desk last week are tangible evidence of this assertion. In cooperation with the Library, the Senate Committee on the Library is surveying the various parts of the Library to get some idea of what budget the Librarians believe we need. I hope to be able to report the results of this survey at the December Senate meeting.

Walt Kelly indicated a piece of our problem many decades ago with his much-quoted line from Pogo, "We have met the enemy, and they are we (or is that, 'they is us?')." In my own field, the American Chemical Society's journal costs about one tenth of what the commercial competition costs, and because it is used so heavily the cost per use is only 63 cents, vs. the commercial journal's $19.21. Is the commercial journal worth the money? If we canceled our subscription, would other libraries be willing to pay the consequentially higher subscription fee? Should I quit sending articles to the commercial journal and encourage others to also, in effect, boycotting it so that the most important work doesn't appear there and thus our need for the journal decreases to the point where we don't care if we don't subscribe? Would such an attempted boycott be legal or ethical? How does all this interact with academic freedom?

How might electronic access or document delivery alter the economic and scholarly balance? So you see, the Library's problems and opportunities have an economic dimension, but it's more complicated than that. Without studied answers, we can not devise the Library we wish to build. Librarians can not answer these questions in a vacuum. If non-Librarians try to precipitate answers without our Librarians' professional guidance, we may end up destroying rather than maintaining and enhancing our scholarly reference resources. We must proceed together.

Professor Philippe Tondeur (LAS), Chair of the Campus Library Policy Committee (CLPC), described the charge to the CLPC as fourfold: 1) work with the Library to address the challenges identified by the Library Task Force; 2) assist/collaborate with the Library, the Senate Committee on the Library, and the Library Strategic Planning Committee (LSPC) in its formulation of a strategic plan; 3) examine how the Librarian and the strategic plan deal with collection priorities, technology issues, staffing models, and budget priorities; and 4) report annually to the Provost and Campus Budget Oversight Committee (CBOC) on priorities and needs of the Library. As a basis for the emerging strategic plan for the Library, the CLPC has formed ten working groups on the issues of: user education and instruction; space and facilities; reference and user services; collections and document delivery; external relations; personnel; technology, systems, and access; fiscal management and development; administration; and research.

The CLPC is in the process of examining draft reports from each of the ten working groups. Comments from the CLPC, in light of its charge, will affect the shape of the emerging strategic plan. The CLPC will interview both the Library Executive Committee and the Librarian on issues needing critical attention, draft a commentary on the evolved strategic plan, and make recommendations to the Provost and the CBOC by early 1999. Tondeur concluded by emphasizing that the Library Task Force found the Library to be significantly underfunded, and that the Library must become an important strategic priority for the campus in the coming years.

Each speaker invited interested parties to forward any comments or questions they may have about any aspect of the campus library. Schacht thanked the speakers for their time and moved that the Senate rise and report for purposes of exiting the Committee of the Whole and adjourning the meeting. There was no objection.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:15 p.m.

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