April 2014

FACULTY REPRESENTATIVE ASSEMBLY MEETING
April 11, 2014

Attendance: Mary Coussons-Read, Gayanne Scott, Mandi Elder, Michele Companion, Andrea Hutchins, Monique Dooley, Craig Elder, Peggy Beranek, Morgan Shepherd, Monica Yoo, Pam Carter, Rebecca Webb, Valerie Brodar, Suzanne Cook, Lisa Hines, Sonja Tanner, Norah Mazel, Anna Kosloski, Christina Martinez, Stephany Spaulding, Jeff Montez de Oca, Minette Church

Call to Order / Approval of Minutes:

Motion to approve the minutes from March 14, 2014 meeting by Pam Carter
Seconded by Minette Church
Motion passed with 15 in favor, 0 opposed and 2 abstentions

Reports of Visitors:

Mary Coussons-Read, Provost:
Program Prioritization is wrapping up. There will be an open forum on April 21 in Berger Hall at 11am for the rollout to campus. If you are in a unit for further action, meetings are scheduled with the Chancellor and whoever the unit reports to. We want to make sure we sustain things that are going well. Boulder is rolling out the same time as us. The Ferandino bill will affect our funding, if it passes. We wanted to put in a larger amount of non-tenure track faculty contracts, but now we're not sure if we can add more. We worked really hard with Legal on increasing the number of non-tenure track faculty contracts, which should be finalized soon. The RPT (Review, Promotion & Tenure) season is over and we're working with the colleges to take more of a proactive stance on the next group of faculty coming up next year. There will be a meeting on May 20 to review the process and become better mentors for the group next year. We will also work with the non-tenure track faculty group too. We are also trying to get the RPT process electronic and using Sharepoint for electronic dossiers. We are talking with the Faculty Assembly Executive Committee about planning a faculty retreat in the Fall and discussing faculty workload. We need help from the faculty in creating a special Commencement event so that faculty are encouraged to come. It is a big deal to have the faculty there. In planning the Fall faculty retreat, please let Sue know when the individual colleges are doing their Fall retreats so that we can find a date that doesn't interfere with any of those. Dean Reddy is the chair of the Online Education Taskforce and they are looking for opportunities to build out online programs. He is doing the legwork to check feasibility, but we are also experiencing system issues. There seems to be duplicate meetings or taskforces on the same issue, which is problematic. The Ferandino bill would change the way higher ed is funded at the core level. It will disproportionally underfund CU and smaller campuses of CU. It is supposed to be performance based, but it is really not. Mandi has requested a talking point sheet outlining this bill from our governmental affairs office.

Gayanne Scott, Resource Management Executive Director:
We are watching the Long Bill move forward and the Ferandino bill, which reshapes funding for higher ed. The Regents approved the tuition rates and compensation pools. We are changing from Sodexo food services to self-operating in May. There is a new parking lot going in between University Hall and the east end of campus, which should be ready in the Fall. The hub parking spaces are almost doubling. Students pay a transportation fee and there is no fee to park in Four Diamonds. How long can the Hub parking system support all parking areas?

Officer Reports:

President's Report
Uniform Grading Policy must be voted on by all faculty and large participation is needed - 2/3 of faculty in each college is necessary; it takes a major vote on all 4 campuses for any action to occur, otherwise it dies

Vice-President's Report
Only had 21% participation in Faculty Assembly election process (election results attached)

Past President's Report
No report

Reports from Standing Committees:

EPUS

Personnel & Benefits

Budget Advisory Committee + Attachment 1 + Attachment 2

Faculty Minority Affairs Committee

Women's Committee

Non-Tenure Track Faculty

Academic Computing:
Not present - no report

Library:
Not present - no report

Intercollegiate Athletics:
Not present - no report

Sustainability:
No report

PRIDE:
Not present - no report

Misconduct in Research, Scholarship & Creative Activities:
Not present - no report

OLD BUSINESS

• Motion 1:
  The Faculty Assembly Executive Committee moves that the following proposed campus standard for Latin Honors be approved:
  
  Proposed campus standard:
  To qualify for Latin Honors, a student must complete a minimum of 60 credit hours at the University of Colorado. Cum laude will be achieved by obtaining a University of Colorado (CU) grade point average (GPA) of 3.50-3.69. Magna cum laude will be achieved by obtaining a CU GPA of 3.70-3.89. Summa cum laude will be achieved by obtaining a CU GPA of 3.90 or higher. (Since ballots are still out in LAS, motion to postpone till May FRA meeting by Valerie Brodar; seconded by Sonja Tanner; passed with 7 in favor, 1 opposed and 9 abstentions)
  
   

NEW BUSINESS

   Discussion Items:

Discussion Item 1:
The Faculty Minority Affairs Committee proposed revisions to Faculty Assembly Bylaws on Section VI Committees (attachment A)

• Per Jeff Montez de Oca, the FMAC bylaws proposed to Faculty Assembly were kicked back to FMAC because they were inconsistent with the Faculty Assembly bylaws regarding membership. According to Faculty Assembly bylaws, Regular Standing Committees (FMAC) shall consist of 6-8 members appointed by the Assembly. FMAC has operated differently with a much broader member base and they want to continue with that operation, so they have proposed a 2-tier membership consisting of an executive membership and a regular membership. Faculty Assembly bylaws would have to be amended to allow that type of membership structure. Faculty Assembly committee sizes are dictated by the bylaws.
• A Regular Standing Committee should be faculty only since staff and students have their own governing bodies consisting of those committees. And a Regular Standing Advisory Committee can consist of a broader campus membership of faculty, staff, administrators, etc., however, they are not able to vote at Faculty Assembly. A straw poll was taken to see if a Regular Standing Committee should be faculty only, with the majority of the assembly voting yes and a couple abstentions.
• Another option would be to have a general campus committee which would include faculty, staff, etc. and move that part of the body of the organization under Kee Warner (AVCDI), and still maintain voting ability with the executive membership composed according to Faculty Assembly bylaws.

Discussion Item 2:
Proposed Faculty Assembly Bylaws Revision (attachment B)

• Basically cleaning up the Bylaws document to incorporate university and procedural changes that have been in practice but never recorded and updated in the Bylaws.
• Change in start date for new officers and committee chairs to July 1 for a better and smoother transition from one administration to the next.
• Name changes of the committees need to be recorded, except that the Budget Advisory Committee (formerly the Faculty Committee on the Budget) name change requires a 2/3 vote of the entire faculty for approval since its name is officially established in the Constitution.
• Election procedures need to be updated with the addition of the e-voting process.
• Various other items need to be updated to reflect current practices.

Adjournment:

Motion to adjourn the Faculty Assembly Meeting by Andrea Hutchins
Seconded by Michele Companion
Motion passed unanimously
Meeting adjourned at 1:58 p.m.