EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MINUTES                                         Approved 9-10-98

PRESENT:  Julie Arbuckle, Karen Dewey, Judy Elsley, Carl Grunander, Kathleen Lukken representing Dave Eisler, Judith Mitchell - Vice Chair, Diane Pugmire, Candadai Seshachari - Chair, John Sohl, Jerald Storey, Kay Brown - Secretary.

EXCUSED:  Dave Eisler, President Thompson

MINUTES

John Sohl:  Moved to accept the minutes of May 14, 1998.
Second:  Karen Dewey
Outcome:  The minutes were approved.

FRS TAX ID

Steve Nabor and Cindy Brewer from Accounting Services reporting. Vendors are kept on file with the W-9 I.D. information. When a PO is processed, the Purchasing Department checks to see if appropriate information is on file. The memo from accounting, sent campus wide, was sent as an information item. It does not reflect a change in current policy.

PARKING PERMITS

Dr. Seshachari referred to Randy Scott's memo regarding available parking for faculty. A couple of questions were raised with Craige Hall - (1)Why do people with continuing contracts have to go year after year after year to renew their parking passes? Discussion of reserving parking for continuing employees of Weber State. These reserved parking permits would include a payment deadline. This would move the burden of renewal of parking permits to faculty and staff. (2) Why do we have to provide an emissions test? We have students from other counties that do not require emissions certification. Kathleen Lukken will follow up on the parking renewal issue.

DIVERSITY GRADUATION REQUIREMENT

The Senate agreed with the concept regarding the Student Senate proposal to require one diversity course as a graduation requirement. Nikki Austin and Andy Smith were the two proponents of the student legislation. This will be one of the charges to the Curriculum and General Education Committee. Faculty are interested in this issue. Dr. Ulibarri, Assistant to the President for Diversity, is interested in how we will proceed with this proposal.

A clear definition of diversity needs to be developed. It would be interesting to see a variety of definitions from other universities regarding diversity prior to developing our own definition. What qualifies a course to be a diversity course? We need to look at groups that have not been acknowledged sufficiently. We need to look at quantity of content. The University of Utah is very specific with their diversity requirement, and there are a fairly small number of courses that are used to fulfill the diversity requirement. Should our definition include "primary emphasis" or "large content?" These courses should introduce the students to the general concept of diversity. Hopefully there will be choices in the general education courses that will also cover the diversity requirement. The committee was concerned about the number of credit hours required for graduation. They do not want to necessarily add an additional course to their program of study. Perhaps not just a course but a specific instructor's section of a course will be identified to fulfill the requirement. Discussion of a broad definition. Race is not the only indicator of diversity. Social class, gender issues, sexual preference also help students understand society.

This information should go to the Curriculum and General Education Committee with the idea of a sub committee being formed which includes members of the Curriculum Committee, Nikki Austin, other student representatives, and faculty representatives, including Sandra Powell.

In the charge to the Curriculum Committee we need to include the development of a definition. Second could be criteria for courses, focus, and dealing with minorities in a conceptual way. We need to help students understand how these issues relate to them. There needs to be some theoretical framework. The main focus of a course needs to be an over arching theoretical approach to diversity. Discussion of a psychology course filling a percentage of the diversity requirement, with history, sociology or English also fulfilling a percentage of the diversity requirement.

OUT GOING EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Dr.

Seshachari expressed his appreciation to the 1997-98 Executive Committee. This has been a remarkable working group. Special thanks to the outgoing members: Julie Arbuckle, Carl Grunander, John Sohl, and Jerry Storey. We will miss you. This is a shared governance. We have a remarkable working relationship with faculty and administrators.

ADJOURN

The meeting adjourned at 2:35.