PRESENT
Laine Berghout, David Ferro, Colleen Garside, Azenett Garza, Doris Geide-Stevenson, Ed Hahn, Sue Harley, Peggy Saunders, Kathleen Sitzman, Mike Vaughan – Kay Brown, Secretary

EXCUSED
Ann Millner

MINUTES
Peggy Saunders: Moved to approve the minutes from the February 11, 2010 meeting.
Second: Colleen Garside
Outcome: The minutes were approved.

ELECTION RESULTS
The following faculty were elected to the 2010-2011 Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate: Brian Rague (Applied Science & Technology), Colleen Garside (Arts & Humanities), David Malone (Business & Economics), Peggy Saunders (Education), Shelly Costley (Health Professions), Ed Hahn (Library), Michael Hernandez (Science), Sue Harley (Science), and Azenett Garza (Social & Behavioral Sciences).

There were 234 faculty who cast ballots which equates to 49% of the faculty participating in the process.

MOTION
Peggy Saunders: Moved to approve the election results as stated above.
Second: Colleen Garside
Outcome: The motion passed unanimously.

FACULTY EVALUATIONS
The students met with Brett Ellis, Chief Information Officer, to discuss putting faculty evaluations online. The Faculty Senate several years ago approved the evaluation questions and approved to have the information online through the student portal. The students took responsibility for putting the information online.

CHARGE
Faculty Senate Motion - "Charge the appropriate committee to write a policy or modify the existing policy with regard to timely and suitable consultation and notification of the faculty when it is deemed necessary to temporarily suspend a policy in the PPM."

As a result of the discussion at the February 25, 2010 Faculty Senate meeting regarding the suspension of PPM 3-51 by the Board of Trustees, the Provost recommends that the Faculty Senate Chair and/or Vice Chair attend the Personnel & Academic Policy Committee.

The Provost stated that President’s Council meetings are open meetings and the Chair of the Faculty Senate is welcome to come to those meetings.

PPM CHANGES
In light of the charge from the Faculty Senate, the PPM will need to be looked at carefully. A committee consisting of the Constitutional Review & Apportionment Committee along with someone from the Salary, Benefits, Budget & Fiscal Planning Committee, and someone from the Appointment, Promotion, Academic Freedom & Tenure Committee was suggested.

PPM CHANGES
In past years hard copies of PPM change were sent to departments. Changes in PPM’s are no longer sent out. Executive Committee members felt it was important to have departments across campus notified when changes in the PPM occur. This could be some kind of electronic email notification.

Discussion of the letter passed out by Mike Slabaugh and Spence Seager at the February 25 Faculty Senate meeting .

• The Executive Committee felt they were in error last August not thinking in terms of policy on the suspension of PPM 3-51.
• The Chair of the Faculty Senate needs to be aware of when a policy has been enacted.
• The Executive Committee felt they should have been given the opportunity to see the letter prior to it being passed out at the Faculty Senate meeting. Senators and the Executive Committee were blind sighted.
• Faculty Governance has a process.
• Accusations at the Senate meeting were inappropriate.
• A complaint was filed with the Attorney General prior to the February Faculty Senate meeting.

Discussion on Updating the PPM

• An ad hoc committee could be formed with representation from Faculty Senate Standing Committees to review the PPM.
• This should be treated as a project that has a beginning and an end.
• The review needs to be done fairly quickly.
• Could have all the Faculty Senate Standing Committees look at sections of the PPM for policies that they are responsible for, red flag the policies that look like they may in some way be a problem, and have an ad hoc group look at all the policies that don’t fall under any committee.

CHARGE
Doris Stevenson: Review the PPM for policies that may be obsolete or not consistently followed, assign Faculty Senate Standing Committees to red flag all policies that fall into one of those categories and create an ad hoc committee to deal with the rest of the PPM. Every committee would receive the charge to red flag problematic policies.
Second: Colleen Garside
Outcome: The motion passed unanimously.

CHARGE Sue Harley: Have the Constitutional Review, Apportionment & Organization Committee write a policy or modify the existing policy with regard to timely and suitable consultation and notification of the faculty when it is deemed necessary to temporarily suspend a policy in the PPM.
Second: Peggy Saunders
Outcome: The motion passed unanimously.

OTHER ITEMS

• Earth Hour - People all over the world are encouraged to turn off lights for one hour Saturday, March 27 from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Turning off the Clock Tower and the marque were suggested. Facilities Management will be contacted to discuss some other options. The Environmental Issues Committee will also be contacted.
• Contact Facilities Management and request that the air conditioning temperature not be so cold during the summer months.
• Calendar - Why starting January 2. The calendar will be discussed at the March 11, 2010 meeting.
• Use recycled graduation gowns.

AWARD
The Executive Committee discussed the nominees for the Faculty Governance award. Nominees: Spence Seager, Mike Slabaugh, Afshin Ghoreishi, David Ferro, John Armstrong and Eric Sweeden. The award will be presented at the March 25 Faculty Senate meeting.

ADJOURN
The meeting adjourned at 3:50 p.m.