ANNUAL ADDRESS TO THE REGENTS

On November 18, 1999, Senate Assembly / SACUA Chair Sherrie Kossoudji will present to you the annual central faculty governance address to the Regents.  SACUA members look forward to meeting with you in a more personal capacity later that day at Inglis House. 

KEY ISSUES AND REPORTS

Intellectual Property

Due to rapid growth and change in the area of technology and technology transfer, academic life is in the middle of a transformation.  Ideas about what technology is, how it should be utilized and exploited, as well as how revenue generated by technology advances should be shared, have all made intellectual property a topic defining the future of higher education.  The University's central administration has commissioned the Media Rights Task Force and is in the process of proposing changes to the Regentally adopted Intellectual Property Policy.  Senate Assembly, through SACUA and OVPR’s advisory committee, the Research Policies Committee, has had frequent communications with Vice-President for Research Fawwaz Ulaby, General Counsel Marvin Krislov, and DRDA Director Marvin Parnes concerning these proposed changes. 

Recruitment, Retention, Promotion, and Compensation of Faculty

Three Senate Assembly sub-committees have been in multiple year processes of preparing reports dealing with issues concerning the environment for faculty at the University.  The Tenure Committee reviewed current tenure granting procedures and developed proposed model policies promoting basic fairness and due process.  The Committee for a Multicultural University produced a report analyzing the difficulties encountered in the retention of minority faculty.  Finally, CESF spent years developing guidelines for determining the compensation of faculty.  As a follow-up to CESF's work, Provost Cantor formed a joint faculty/ administration committee to review current faculty compensation practices.

In addition, SACUA has been in the ongoing process of dialogue with administration concerning the issues of bylaw changes, executive committee elections, electronic privacy, parking, tobacco divestment, binge drinking, consensual relations between faculty and students, and Board in Control of Intercollegiate Athletics.