Approved 1-17-02

Thursday
January 10, 2002
2:00 p.m.
MA 211K

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

PRESENT 
Bruce Christensen, Gary Dohrer, Dave Eisler, Mark Henderson, Ron Holt, Marie Kotter, Monika Serbinowska, Gene Sessions, Paul Thompson, Jenny Turley, Kay Brown - Secretary

EXCUSED 
Bill Clapp

MINUTES 
Bruce Christensen: Moved to approve the minutes from the November 29, 2001 meeting.
Second: Gary Dohrer
Outcome: The minutes were approved.

MATH POLICY 
Math Placement Policy – Monika Serbinowska, Bruce Bowen, Dixie Blackinton

The discussion centered around implementation of the Math Placement Policy. This is a placement policy to almost all math courses. Two options are available to students who are currently in the prerequisite course who wish to register for the next level course: (1) You allow students to preregister for the next level course, or (2) You block them. Prerequisites are complicated not only by the course they are currently in but by the grade they will receive upon completion of the course.

Areas of current discussion and planning include:

Two brochures have been developed and are in the refining stage. One is called "English, Math and You." This brochure discusses developmental courses in English and math and includes the college tier information. It will go out to every student. The second brochure is called, "Math FAQS." They have tried to anticipate all the questions parents, students or high school principals or counselors may have on the implementation of the math policy, i.e. What is the math requirement at WSU? What is the math placement process? How can I prepare for the math COMPASS exam? Is there a cost to take the exam?

Scheduled for January 29 is a general meeting with all academic advisors, college advisors, testing personnel, recruiting personnel, math faculty to go over these brochures in detail so that all internal employees are trained and educated on the policy and its implementation. They hope to encourage students who start coming for orientation sessions in April to come and take the Math COMPASS exam either before or after their orientation. They are drafting a letter that will go to high school principals and counselors that will outline why the new math policy was adopted. Included with the letter will be the two brochures. They are also drafting a press release for all the major local papers.

Students who take the COMPASS exam will not be allowed to register for anything other than what they were placed into. In subsequent registrations instructors will be given information letting them know which students have not met the prerequisites.

The Math Task Force has meet with representatives from the school districts. The school district representatives asked if it was possible for their students to take the COMPASS test their sophomore year so that counselors could meet with the student and their parents and let them know where the COMPASS test would place them at that point. Students will then have two more years of high school to enroll in math courses and increase their math skills. A web version of the COMPASS exam is currently being developed by ACT.

SEARCH COMMITTEES 
Currently three search committees are reviewing applications for the Dean of the College of Education position, the Dean of Continuing Education and the Vice President of Administrative Services.

Dean of the College of Education - Three finalists have been identified, Shirley Williams from the University of Saint Francis in Joliet, Illinois, Phil Wishon from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colorado, and Jack Rasmussen from Minot State in Minot, North Dakota. All three will be interviewed prior to the Olympic break. No internal applications were received.

Dean of Continuing Education - Three candidates have been invited to campus and will come prior to the Olympic break. All three candidates have Ed. D. degrees, little classroom experience. No internal applications were received.

Vice President of Administrative Services - Sixty applications were received. They have narrowed the group to five strong, impressive applicants. They are in the process of determining who will be invited for on-campus interviews. No internal applications were received.

RICHARD LIGHT 
President Thompson reported on the Richard Light follow-up discussion held December 4, 2001. He had the group do a one minute paper on two questions: What WSU should do to follow-up on Richard Light’s visit? What unanswered questions did they have at the end of the meeting?

Almost all responded that we should do something to follow up. Two models were suggested, (1) Put a small committee together to begin the work. (2) Use a more expansive model and don’t exclude interested people.

President Thompson is interested in moving forward and asked the Executive Committee for advice. Some felt that a small exclusive group might be seen as having their own agenda and questions of credibility may arise. On the other hand, large groups have difficulty functioning. Could a large group be organized that branch off into three or four areas of concern. We should be learning the things we can do to help students be successful. Can we identify things that get in the way of student learning? A clear objective needs to be maintained. President Thompson asked for suggestions of faculty members who might possibly chair this committee and forward suggestions to him.

LEGISLATURE 
The Legislature is in session. Their first area of focus was to ask committees to cut some money from their budgets this year. They have assigned to higher education a 1.5 percent cut on top of a 2.5 percent cut. New revenue projections will be available the middle of February. Enrollment projections for next year will be made in March or April. Currently we are up about 5 percent, FTE is up about a percent and a half. We are seeing more late registration because of the early start of the semester.

The Legislature is proposing budget cuts for next year. President Thompson believes that they will take some money from our budget to fund half of our growth and then they will give us some money back. If all our growth were funded it would amount to about two million dollars.

The Legislative leadership and the Governor are not recommending any salary increases this year. The Governor recommend a 1.35 increase which would theoretically cover the increased cost in medical benefits.

We requested money last year for the Davis Campus. The Governor took that money away in May. We are now asking for that money back, and believe that we have a good chance at getting that money. The Legislature has been reluctant to bond in the past, but are now discussing bonding as an economic stimulus.

The Legislature meet with the Governor before Christmas and pressured him to change the state policy on guns. Persons who have concealed weapons permits can now carry a gun anywhere in the state.

PRESIDENT’S COUNCIL 
The Executive Committee passed a resolution a couple of months ago that a faculty representative sit on President’s Council. Gene Sessions and Gary Dohrer met with President Thompson and Dave Eisler to discuss the matter. President Thompson received a letter from Ron Hammond, Chair of the Utah Council of Faculty Senate Leaders (UCFSL) indicating that Weber State was the only state institution not allowing faculty representation on President’s Council. President Thompson talked with the President at the University of Utah and the President at Utah State University. Evidently, the University of Utah and Utah State University have two kinds of meetings. The larger group is called President’s Cabinet and they meet once a month. The other is a smaller group called the President’s Council which meets weekly.

President Thompson’s remarks - President’s Council advises the President, and has no authority to make policy. He felt is he included a representative from the faculty, he would also have to include a representative from the Professional Staff Advisory Committee and from the Classified Staff Advisory Committee. This would change the dynamics of President’s Council. He currently meets with each vice president once a week. He could meet every couple of weeks with the chair or vice chair or both to discuss issues of concern. If he feels that broader discussion is needed the issues can be discussed at Faculty Senate and at President’s Council. He could use the Executive Committee meeting as a time to inform faculty of issues coming before him. He was concerned about salary issues discussed at President’s Council with faculty and staff representatives present.

Executive Committee responses - It appears that governance happens separately from faculty. There is input separately from President’s Council, but that is different from someone sitting on that body and taking part in the discussion. There is something about the separation that makes it feel like a management body taking charge over the faculty. There is a mythology on campus about money and where it is and where it isn’t. If a faculty member were present they could dispel financial myths and add credibility to what is actually happening.

Gene Sessions indicated that the faculty used to be part of the Academic Council prior to splitting the group and establishing the Faculty Senate. What we now have is a management/ employee/client situation. What we need to have is a community of scholars managing an institution of higher education. Executive Committee members could not understand why President’s Council would not want to have the faculty point of view. President’s Council sets up an adversarial relationship between the faculty and the administration. The management versus employee model does not create a healthy environment.

Gene would like to see the model of faculty and administration working together reestablished. Why is it a problem for President’s Council to know how faculty feel? Faculty need to feel part of decisions being made. President Thompson was asked why a faculty member on President’s Council would make it more difficult for him than a President’s Council without a faculty member.

The time of academics moving up into the ranks of administration at the university is leaving us. Because of that trend it changes their relationship with the faculty. Many decisions have been made in the past without faculty input, i.e. P Card, student housing. President Thompson was very concerned that having a faculty member on President’s Council would change the dynamics of the group, but Executive Committee members felt it would change the dynamics for the betterment of the institution.

ASSESSMENT 
Ron Holt plans to make a resolution from the floor of the Senate for a moratorium on any new assessment at Weber State, and would like to see a sun-setting measure on current assessment. He requested feedback by email prior to the Senate meeting.

ADJOURN 
The meeting adjourned at 4:00 p.m.