HUMBOLDT STATE UNIVERSITY Academic Senate Minutes April 15, 2003

Chair MacConnie called the meeting to order at 4:05 p.m. on Tuesday, April 15, 2003, in Nelson Hall East, Room 102 (Goodwin Forum).

Members Present: Butler, Coffey, Derden, Dunk, Fulgham, Gill, Goodman, Klein, MacConnie, Martin, Meiggs, Mortazavi, Moyer, Nelson, Oliver (5-6 p.m.), O'Rourke-Andrews, Paselk, Paynton, Schwab, Shellhase, Snyder, Thobaben, Travis, Varkey, Vrem, Yarnall

Members Absent: Adkins, Dalsant, Luong, Richmond, Sanford

Proxies: MacConnie for Bicknell; Green for Cheyne; Platin for Kinney; Meiggs for Knox; Post for Novotney

Guests: J. Howard, College of Natural Resources and Sciences; V. Phillips, Undergraduate Studies; S. Smith, College of Natural Resources and Sciences; N. Sprotte, Enrollment Management

1. Approval of Minutes

It was moved and seconded (Klein/Meiggs) to approve the submitted minutes for April 1, 2003. Voting occurred and MOTION PASSED.

2. Announcements and Communications

Chair MacConnie announced:

President Richmond apologized for not attending today's meeting; he is in Long Beach attending an executive committee meeting.

Telephone interviews with prospective candidates for the provost position have been completed; the committee will meet tomorrow to decide who will be invited to campus for an interview. It is hoped that on-campus interviews will take place between April 25 and May 9, with the goal being to have all on-campus interviews completed prior to graduation.

The steering committee for the strategic planning group will hold its first meeting April 25.

The next senate meeting, April 29, 2003, will be the last meeting for this academic year. President Richmond has indicated that following that meeting there will be a reception at the Baywood Country Club from 6:15 to 7:30 p.m. for incoming and outgoing senators. Invitations will be forthcoming.

The seating of new senators and elections for senate officers for next year will be held at the April 29, 2003, senate meeting. The officers include chair, vice chair and chair of the Faculty Affairs Committee, and secretary and chair of the Educational Policies Committee. Those who are interested in a leadership position for the senate are encouraged to submit their name for any of these positions to either Chair MacConnie or Greta. Nominations also may come from the senate floor at the April 29 meeting. Ken Fulgham has expressed interest in running for chair of the Faculty Affairs Committee. Chair MacConnie stated that she is willing to serve as chair of the senate for another term.

Notice was received from President Richmond approving the Resolution on the Informational Designation in the Schedule of Classes for Courses Containing a Community Service Learning Component (#12-02/03-EP) and the Resolution Supporting Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities Bond Act of 2004 (#14-02/03-EX).

President Richmond sent an email regarding the ombudsperson position indicating that they are seeking someone to fill the position for a three-year term. Additional information may be found on the web at http://www.humboldt.edu/~hsupres/news. Anyone knowing of a likely candidate may encourage that person to submit his/her name.

A sign-up list was distributed to senators who are interested in receiving information from the statewide office regarding the budget or other items of general interest.

At the President's Cabinet meeting last week items discussed included (1) a budget update and (2) an update on facilities activities including the SBS Building.

Appreciation to Senators Moyer and Schwab was expressed for their assistance on the subcommittee for the outstanding student in academic disciplines.

Report from the senate chairs' meeting:

One item of interest is the degree to which academic senates and faculty are being engaged in both the budget process and the enrollment management process on the campuses. There is a wide range of levels of involvement from one campus to another. Enrollment management is a discussion item on today's agenda.

A summary of the Budget Summit, which listed the ideas from the brainstorming sessions, was contained in a memo from Richard West, Executive Vice Chancellor & Chief Financial Officer. It is unclear what happens next regarding the items identified during the summit. Richard West's memo does not make it clear that the items do not represent a consensus of the group. A copy of this memo is available to anyone who is interested.

An update on the CMS audit was provided by William Griffith, Vice President for Administration and Finance at Long Beach, who was there in place of Vice Chancellor West. Both West and Chancellor Reed were in Sacramento that day being interviewed by the legislature. William Griffith's report included some background information, and senators at the meeting provided Griffith with feedback regarding the lack of a feasibility study, the lack of a business plan, the appearance of a conflict of interest, etc. Video clips of the legislative session are available; if anyone is interested in receiving this email, let Greta know.

A copy of the Report of the Faculty Recruitment Survey was circulated which showed some interesting comparisons among the campuses, such as data on salary, number of hires, diversity, etc.

3. Committee and State Senate Reports

CFA - Senator Derden announced that CFA Chapter President John Travis was elected next statewide president of the CFA and will take office June 1.

Statewide Senate - Senator Snyder reported that the Academic Affairs Committee has two items to be voted on in May and would appreciate any input from the senators, students or Admissions employees. The first item is electronic applications. The Admissions Advisory Committee is recommending that only electronic applications be accepted systemwide; no paper applications will be distributed. The campuses will be obligated to help applicants, who are unable to apply electronically, complete the registration process. The second item is related to integrated teacher preparation programs, which will apply eventually to both multiple subject and single subject programs. Currently the process involves a student receiving a degree first and then receiving the teaching credential, which is approximately 35 units beyond the 120 units. The senate is pushing this item and the recommendation is a 120 to 135 unit limit on integrated programs; anything over 135 units will be difficult to justify. Those involved in the single subjects program should review this. It is not clear if the state is saying that all single subjects programs must be blended; the legislation written thus far does not differentiate between multiple and single subjects, it only refers to integrated programs and has removed the word blended. The motivation behind this issue is SB 81, which is threatening to put this item in legislation. The senate's position is to not have degree maximums legislated since there is no way to predict what will happen once such legislation is approved.

Another piece of legislation one should study is SB 550. This is a two-year bill, which is connected to master plan material and is aimed at articulation. The concern is that if the legislature has its way, there will be a single GE curriculum for the entire state, and there would be a single lower division curriculum for every degree program in the system. Senator Thobaben reported that Senator Snyder testified to withdraw the bill and have the Chancellor's Office deal with it. Hopefully we will be successful so that there will not be another piece of legislation involved in curriculum.

Regarding the budget, the latest word is that the anticipated budget cuts are to be somewhere between the governor's budget and the republican budget, which means an even higher reduction.

Associated Students - Senator Platin reported that the Student Fee Advisory Committee approved an increase in parking fees for the student permits from $54 to $67.50 with a recommendation that the Chancellor take this issue to the bargaining table and encourage the Unions also to propose raising fees. Elections will take place next week; there are two Professional Studies College positions and two all-university positions that still need candidates. There are four questions on the ballot: 1) satisfaction of academic advising; 2) the smoking policy; 3) the CNRS proposed fee; and 4) a sustainable building on campus. Mike Wilcox is now the advisor for student elections. The AS budget is finalized and the IRA budget process is beginning.

Senator Gill reported that she attended a press conference April 7 regarding AB 550, which would establish a systemwide committee to address the issue of raising fees. It requires that two public meetings be held to discuss the issue, and that students, faculty, staff and administration have representation on the board. She also attended a CSSA conference; information on this conference is available on line. Student trustee interviews occurred and Senator Platin's name is one of the three names forwarded to the Governor for consideration.

Student Affairs Office - Vice President Butler announced that a recommendation will be forwarded to President Richmond to raise parking fees across campus and a recommendation will be forwarded to the CSU system to use it as a reopener for contract negotiations. An internship position, coordinated through the Department of Government and Politics, is open. Students interested in serving in Washington DC for a term may get applications from the Student Affairs Office.

Educational Policies - The Committee is discussing the course repeat policy; additional information will be available at the next senate meeting. Senator Snyder announced that one of the recommendations from the Facilitating Graduation Report is to have a task force created that will review the executive orders on withdrawals, repeats, etc.

Faculty Affairs - The Committee is working on language for the whistleblower protection policy that will be aligned with the policy from the Chancellor's Office. It also is reviewing the policy and procedures for the Professor of the Year Award.

CFA - The CFA Assembly met last weekend and officer elections were held. CFA is concerned with several pieces of legislation including AB 1185, which addresses the question of closer scrutiny of administrative expenditures in terms of budget reductions. Also under discussion is the idea of having budget language included in the budget bill or the trailer bill that deals with likely budget reductions. A tape of the full hearings on the CMS audit and an edited version of the tape will be received soon; anyone interested in viewing either of these tapes may do so. Senators were encouraged to contact the CFA office on campus for more information.

OAA - President Richmond asked Interim Vice President Vrem to thank all who were involved with Spring Preview this past weekend. The event was well received by parents and prospective students; 471 prospective students were on campus and of those, 382 have been admitted. This is a substantial increase in the numbers from last year with 296 prospective students and 267 admitted. Interim Vice President Vrem cited several recent successes of Humboldt students in academic competitions, stating that Humboldt performed very well.

On April 30 Charles Biles, recipient of the Outstanding Professor of the Year Award, will be offering a lecture, followed by a reception and a dinner. Proceeds from the dinner will go toward a scholarship fund for students. All senators were invited to attend this event.

Senate Finance - The budget policies committee is scheduled to meet tomorrow to set the schedule for the remainder of this academic year.

Student Affairs - There is a discussion item on the agenda today.

General Faculty President - The end of the year social will take place Monday, May 12, 5:30 p.m. at the Plaza View Room; the event is sponsored by the CFA, the General Faculty Association and the Academic Senate. Election results included Lou Ann Wieand, General Faculty President; Bob Snyder, Statewide Senator; Gwen Robertson, UCC representative from AHSS; Beth Wilson, UCC representative from PS; and Joanne Berke, Jeffrey Schineller and Julie Yingling, Professional Leave Committee members. A runoff will be needed for the UCC representative from NRS and two members of the UFPC.

Administrative Affairs - The Daly Building has been sold, and the developer plans to have much of the construction completed by fall. Negotiations for a cell tower on campus have concluded and should be operational sometime next fall. An architectural firm has been selected to facilitate the design and building of the BSS Building. Meetings with the future occupants of the building will take place in May. The renovation of the SBS Building is underway and is on schedule; most of the demolition has been completed and construction will begin soon.

The Facilities Planning Committee decided on the location of the cell tower by taking into consideration the best reception available as well as the aesthetics. An aviation blinking light is not required.

The telecommunications infrastructure project is in the beginning stage and is on schedule. Vice President Coffey will bring additional information on this item to the next senate meeting.

4. FAR Job Description Approval

Kathy Munoz, Faculty Athletic Representative, presented the job description for the FAR position at the February 11 senate meeting. The job description then was forwarded to the Intercollegiate Athletics Advisory Committee for its review. This has been completed and approved as submitted. It is now before the Senate for final approval.

It was moved and seconded (Fulgham/Klein) to approve the submitted FAR job description.

Discussion included:

Much of the language for this position was taken from the NCAA Handbook.

The key to the success of this position relies on whether the FAR has the necessary resources, such as release time, travel funds, adequate office space, etc.

Voting occurred and MOTION PASSED.

5. Discussion Item: Resolution Opposing the CRENO/RPI Proposition

Senator Platin provided background on this discussion item stating that Associated Students is asking for senate support of the resolution. CRENO is an acronym for Classification by Race, Ethnicity or Natural Origin and will be a California constitutional amendment. CRENO eliminates the gathering of data that are vital to identifying, tracking and rectifying racial or ethnic disparities in access to public higher education, academic achievement, hate crimes and incidents of discrimination. The detrimental effects of such an initiative include decimating a program such as EOP, obstructing the university's ability to address issues of racial/ethnic disparity as it relates to admissions and outreach, and identifying and rectifying discrepancies in the hiring, promotion and compensation practices on the Cal Poly Humboldt campus.

Discussion included:

The CFA has taken a strong opposition position to this legislation. One concern is that CSU has made a commitment to having diversity on its campuses. An initiative such as this one would prevent tracking information that is needed to provide reports on diversity, etc.

This type of initiative would not prohibit a news organization or private corporation from gathering such data on their own; however, such entities would not be able to use a university as a source for such data.

There was general agreement that the Student Affairs Committee should bring to the next senate meeting a resolution supporting the Associated Students' resolution.

6. Discussion Item: Enrollment Management

Chair MacConnie identified the joint letter from David Spence and Jackie Kegley contained in today's packet, which discusses enrollment management issues and the role of shared governance and consultation with the academic senates regarding many of the issues now facing the CSU. The Educational Policies Committee has reviewed a report on facilitating students toward graduation, which deals with the 120 unit minimum and strategies for helping students complete their education in a timely fashion. Input from the senate is requested regarding the role of the senate's participation in the process. Humboldt's Enrollment Management Advisory Committee has a broad representation from the campus community. Chair MacConnie reminded senators that there also is a call for representatives from each college to serve on the subcommittee on retention, recruitment and time to degree.

The issue of new ceilings for campus enrollment probably will be discussed at the May Board of Trustees meeting. There was some discussion as to whether the campuses were invited to provide input to the Chancellor's Office on enrollment caps. According to Senator Snyder, the vote will be on raising the system maximum. Given that Humboldt is far below the system's maximum, that may be why Humboldt was not consulted. What is under consideration that is of interest to Humboldt is the process for raising the enrollment ceiling. It is hoped that this will be part of Humboldt's strategic planning process. Any recommendation at the campus level to increase its maximum enrollment requires a master plan revision and should be part of the strategic planning process. Comments should be forwarded soon to Senators Thobaben or Snyder.

One issue involved here is the mechanism adopted by each campus establishing its FTES target goals. Humboldt's senate has not been involved in this process for a long time. This letter suggests that whatever the target is, whether an increase in the cap is requested or not, somehow the senate should be involved in setting such targets. This is welcomed as an important part of the senate's business.

There are three types of committees on campus: (1) administrative committees, which give advice to the administrators and the policy already is set; (2) senate committees, which recommend policy to the administration; and (3) university committees, which have both an administrative function and a policy function, such as the UCC. If the Enrollment Management Committee is not setting policy, but is advising administrators on existing policy, then there is no senate role and it would be appropriate to have very few faculty on it. If the work of the subcommittee to the Enrollment Management Committee involves examining the issue of time to degree at Humboldt and making recommendations for improvements, then this is an academic issue. The issue of enrollment management will become more important since it appears as though the system is heading toward impaction. For example, enrollment management options such as no applications in certain areas will be accepted; or the application process is stopped early; or no transfer applications will be accepted, etc., all have an impact on departments. Regarding the Enrollment Management Committee, it needs to be made clear that either all policy issues come straight to the senate or the structure of the committee is changed. A structural change in the committee would be preferable so that the senate would have a hand in forming the policy at the beginning rather than reviewing a policy and attempting to revise it.

In order to decide how to restructure the committee, probably the history of the Enrollment Management Committee would need to be reviewed. [A committee has been around for two to three years, and it was established during Ron Maggiore's term as Dean of Enrollment Management, with the intent of broader enrollment input from across campus. Some changes occurred when President Richmond decided he wanted to give it a higher profile: he is now chairing the committee and adjustments to the membership have been made.] [It sounds as though the committee started informally and was charged with advising the dean for enrollment management. Its scope has moved past the initial charge and it is doing more important things. It was suggested that the committee structure be discussed by the senate.] [Not many policies have been promulgated by this committee and so far fairly mundane issues have been discussed.] [Some campuses have a large advisory group and a separate enrollment management committee that is charged with addressing policy issues.] [These are reasonable suggestions and President Richmond should be involved in any further discussion.]

There also are some important marketing issues that need to be addressed.

Time to degree and required number of units have been mandated from outside the campus and the campuses have no control over that. In addition, some departments are mandated by outside agencies regarding requirements, such as nursing.

Many students do not know what they want to do and change their major, thus increasing their time to degree. [From a student's perspective: 1) what classes a student attends is only one part of the college experience, much learning occurs outside the classroom or from taking elective units; 2) a broad-based plan coming from the Chancellor is worrisome because there are so many differences among the campuses; and 3) the push to move students out in order to make room for new students only marginalizes those students in the system.]

Senators should review the Facilitating Graduation Report because it includes ways of helping students graduate that are disturbing, such as language regarding re-educating faculty who have a large number of students failing their class so that more students pass the course.

According to the Chancellor's Office, the average number of units for graduating CSU students is 145. The Facilitating Graduation Report says that we will make a plan and report on our progress in reducing that number. It is crucial that faculty be in control of this process. [It is important to remember that the 120 unit language refers to a minimum, not a maximum. Programs may exceed 120 units, they just need to justify the reason for this. It is not a difficult process. When the directive regarding the 120 unit minimum was issued, campuses were given the assurance that 120 units is the minimum and there will be no attempt to set any maximums.]

Have students been polled regarding their satisfaction level on time to degree? [Most students who have reported dissatisfaction with their time to degree claim that any dissatisfaction is because of their own choices (such as changing majors), not because of the process.]

How does the system deal with the number of students who need to be accommodated without penalizing students already on campus. There is a fine balancing act required.

Pushing students to graduate sooner may result in more students on probation, more students who will be disqualified, and more students who will drop out.

There appears to be a consensus to look at the Enrollment Management Committee and possibly have two committees. It was suggested that this issue be referred to the appropriate committees for future deliberations.

It was moved and seconded (Fulgham/Goodman) to adjourn the meeting.

Meeting adjourned 5:25 p.m.