February 15th, 2006
Attended by: Phil Droke, Glen Avantaggio, Katie Gulliford, Igor Glozman, Gloria Rose Koepping, Dee Skinner, Aaron Warnock, Buzz Wheeler, Darryl Brice, Tony Wilson, John Lindsay, Keith Paton, Gwen Spencer, and Jeff Wagnitz.
Meeting began at 3:05 p.m. in room 411 of the Library.
The Minutes from the February 1st, 2006 meeting were approved.
Old Business
Chair Phil Droke asked for the report from the PR & R subcommittee of Tony Wilson and Gloria Rose Koepping. Tony handed out a Diagram outlining the possible decision route of a complaint. The process has several routes a complaint may take instead of or in addition to the PR & R option. Some of these include HR, WPEA, HCEA, Coordinator, Division Chairperson, Dean or VP, President, Trustees, the Courts, or War (Humorous entry). After much discussion, many Senators still could not envision a circumstance that would warrant having a PR & R committee. Further, any PR & R findings would be unenforceable and inadmissible to a court of law. Some Senators felt this committee would only be used for petty gripes between Faculty while other Senators were reluctant to let the committee die because it presents another option for Faculty. It was pointed out that the Rights and Responsibilities of the Faculty are covered in the contract already and thus, the Union could respond to a problem or question in this area. For these reasons the Senate agreed to put it to a vote of the full Faculty, to decide whether we want to continue the committee or not.
At this point Phil Droke asked whether we should consider the whole constitution to see if there is anything else that needs to be changed. His rationale was that if we are going to ask the faculty to consider deleting one section of the constitution, we may as well see if there are other sections that need deleting or rewriting. Vice Chair Glen Avantaggio volunteered to assist him. Phil Droke also asked the Secretary, Gloria Rose Koepping, as a member of the Executive Committee, to join them on this subcommittee.
The Pure and Applied Science Division request for the Senate to alter the Science Distribution Language for the A.A. was revisited. For clarification, the Senate is considering replacing the last sentence of the A.A. description of the Science Distribution Language. The last sentence currently reads, “Students must choose at least one Science course that incorporates Laboratory (L) experience.”
As one of the Division’s Senators, Dee Skinner presented three motions on paper to the Senate.
Motion #1 was “Students must choose at least one science course that has a laboratory experience as a significant part of the course. This course must be at least 5 credits or part of a pair of courses totaling 5 credits. If the laboratory experience is part of a pair of courses, credit must be earned in BOTH courses to complete this requirement.”
Motion # 2 was “Students must choose at least one 5 credit lab science course or lecture/lab combination.”
Motion # 3 was “Students must choose at least one 5 credit lab science course or one 5 credit lecture/lab science combination.”
In a previous meeting the Senate had considered and discarded Motion # 1. Senators then considered Motion #2. They altered it to read, “Students must choose at least one 5 credit lab science course.” Katie Gulliford then made a motion to replace the last sentence of the A.A. description with the altered language. It was seconded by Glen Avantaggio. Futher discussion occurred. The question was called by Gloria Rose Koepping. The Senate voted unanimously to vote on the motion. The vote to accept the motion was 9 in favor, 2 opposed, no abstentions. The motion passed.
Phil Droke also reminded the Senate of the state’s mandated Common Course Numbering system that is being developed and shared among at least the Community and Technical Colleges. Someone asked which courses are considered common and Phil was going to check on that.
New Business
The formation of a Constitution subcommittee, as described above, was initiated to study the need for updating the Senate constitution.
Meeting adjourned at 3:50 p.m.
Next meeting is March 1st, 2006.
Minutes submitted by Gloria Rose Koepping, Faculty Senate Secretary