Minutes of 6 November 2006

Circulated: 7 November 2006
Re-Circulated:  10 November 2006

Approved: 13 November 2006

THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs

6048 Fleming Administration Building

Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1340

Phone: (734) 764-0303

Fax: (734) 764-6564

Internet Address:  http://www.umich.edu/~sacua/

Approved minutes:  http://www.umich.edu/~sacua/sacmin/sacuaminutes.html

MINUTES OF THE SACUA MEETING OF 6 NOVEMBER 2006

Present: Combi, Frier, Giordani, MacAdam, Meerkov, Potter, Riles, Seabury, Smith (chair); Lehman; Carr, Leu, Schneider

Absent:  none 

Guests:  C. Cook, C. Shaw, C. O'Neal, K. Brown

MATERIALS DISTRIBUTED:

1.        Draft Agenda

2.        Draft minutes of the SACUA meeting of 23 October 2006

3.        Portion of President Coleman’s visit in the draft minutes of the SACUA meeting of 23 October 2006 with changes indicated by her

4.        Draft minutes of the SACUA meeting of 30 October 2006

5.        Flyer advertising the 11^th Annual Raymond W. Waggoner Lectureship on Ethics and Values in Medicine on "Contemplating Pandemics:  The Role of Historical Inquiry in Developing Pandemic Influenza Mitigation Strategies for the 21^st Century" to be presented by Howard Markel on Wednesday, November 15, 2006 at 4:15 pm in the BSRB Auditorium and his talk "The Accidental Addict:  How Doctors like Sigmund Freud and William Stewart Halsted Helped Give Birth to the Addict" also on Nov 15 at 10:30 am in the MCHC Auditorium

6.        "No Undergraduate Left Behind:  Implications of the Spellings Report" by Jeffrey Lee in the Fall 2006 Michigan Conference AAUP Newsletter

7.        Association of American Colleges and Universities Statement on Spellings Commission Draft Report (August 2006)

8.        American Association of University Professors Statement on Spellings Commission Report

9.        Electronic mail message from Associate Provost Lori J. Pierce (via Assistant Provost Glenda Haskell) to SACUA Chair Charles B. Smith dated 1 November 2006 regarding proposed revisions to SPG 201.92 for SACUA review

10.     Draft SPG 201.92 Tenure Probationary Period:  Effects on Tenure Clock of Childbearing and Dependent Care

11.     Current SPG 201.92 issued 1/2/90

12.     Draft Procedures related to SPG 201.92

13.     Memorandum from Gloria Hage and Jeff Frumkin to SACUA Chair Charles Smith dated 10 October 2006 related to proposed preferred names policy

14.     Senate Resolution Concerning Gender Identity and Gender Expression endorsed by SACUA on 10 April 2006 and approved by Senate Assembly on 17 April 2006

15.     Regents Bylaws 14.06 Nondiscrimination and Affirmative Action (revised September 1993)

16.     SPG 201.35 Non-Discrimination

17.     SPG 601.6 Preventing Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation

18.     Chair Training/Development at U-M Peer Institutions

19.     Letter from Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Lester P. Monts to SACUA Chair Charles B. Smith  dated 2 November 2006 regarding recruitment of a faculty member to join a task force related to student requests for early information about textbooks needed for their courses and recruitment of a faculty member to join a task force to consider online teaching evaluations and placement examinations

20.     Memorandum from Teresa A. Sullivan to SACUA Chair Charles B. Smith dated 25 September 2006 regarding Chief/Assistant Chief Marshal Nominees

21.     SACUA/Senate Assembly Planning Schedule updated 3 November 2006

22.     Memorandum to Deans and Directors from Assistant Provost and Director of the Office of Budget and Planning Glenna Schweitzer dated 23 October 2006 regarding Data Displays – Resources Tables related to general fund budget trends, 1996-97 to 2006-07; general fund budget shares; and general funds growth rates

23.     "Coleman lays out vision for 'U' in 2017:  New initiatives include fund to match need-based aid donations" by Kelly Fraser from The Michigan Daily dated 10/31/06

24.     "Regent hopefuls swear off partisanship:  Stadium is only issue that inspires much dispute" by Gabe Nelson from The Michigan Daily dated 10/31/06

25.     "U-M regent candidates speak out:  New luxury boxes at stadium an issue that provokes dissension" by Dave Gershman from The Ann Arbor News dated 10/31/06

26.     "A Not-So-Professorial Watchdog:  Anne Neal has never worked at a college, but she has become a leading critic of left-wing faculty members" by Robin Wilson in The Chronicle Daily News: 11/10/2006, THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION

27.    "Coleman discusses emerging research, partnerships and challenges in State of the University address" by Kevin Brown and Nancy Connell in The University Record dated November 6, 2006 (with link to the president’s entire address)

Chair Smith convened the meeting at 2:30 P.M.  The proposed agenda was approved.

CONSIDERATION OF MINUTES

The minutes of 23 October 2006 were approved.
The minutes of 30 October 2006 were corrected and approved.

ANNOUNCEMENTS/UPDATES

1. The Department of Psychiatry will host the eleventh annual Waggoner Lectureship on Wednesday, 15 November 2006 at 4:15 P.M. in the BSRB Auditorium.
2. The distributed materials include articles relevant to the Spellings Commission Report.
3. The chair and vice-chair attended the CIC conference on faculty governance at Pennsylvania State University over the past weekend. Topics included scholarly publication and the structure of faculty governance at PSU.  Chair Smith provided an account of the meeting.
4. The chair will meet with LSA executive committee Tuesday, 7 November at 10:15 A.M. to discuss Assembly resolution regarding unit shared governance.
5. The chair and Professor Frier met with the provost last week.  Topics included (1) a potential faculty and staff benefits oversight committee, (2) the fact that the General Counsel will meet with the Senate Assembly on 27 November if Proposition 2 passes, and (3) the chair notified the provost about the work of Grievance Procedures Task Force.  The chair also asked for a list of all endowed professorships and lectureships.  Professor Frier discussed with the provost the ambiguity of the existing contract between the university and faculty members. He noted that the Faculty Handbook fails to reflect differences of opinion between administration and faculty as to what their duties and responsibilities are.  In response to a statement from the provost invoking "insubordination" (refusal to teach an assigned course) as a cause for revoking tenure under Regents' Bylaw 5.09, Professor Frier noted that there is nothing about "insubordination" in either the Handbook or the Bylaws.  Professor Frier also discussed issues relevant to the topic of gender identity.

LIAISON REPORTS

AAAC-

Professor Riles reported that the committee met and reviewed many standing issues.  It formed and charged a subcommittee to develop a draft advisory report to the Provost on responding to the Spellings Commission.  The subcommittee is chaired by Ben van der Pluijm.

AEC-

Professor Riles reported that  responses in the ongoing evaluation process are robust and comparable to those of last year.  Professor Seabury asked the SACUA chair to contact Senate Assembly members and ask them to remind their colleagues to participate.

Budget Study-

Professor Riles reported that Budget Study and CESF met with Robert Kelch to discuss the sale of MCare.

Grievance Procedures Task Force-

Smith reported that Task Force in on track.

Development-

Professor Meerkov reported that the committee operates as though it is chaired by the VP rather than by faculty.  He suggested that faculty may wish to develop a scholarship program that takes advantage of the matching funds for need-based scholarships that the president has offered to provide from endowment earnings.  The chair invited Professor Meerkov to develop a resolution for a future meeting.

School Committee-

Professor Meerkov reported that the school proposal will now become a College of Engineering initiative, and will likely meet on weekday afternoons.

Communication-

Professor Giordani reported that the committee met and discussed outreach activities.  He said the president also attended and talked about her initiatives.

Medical Affairs Advisory-

Professor Seabury reported:

This committee discussed the following topics:

• Growth of giant new medical centers, demolitions of old structures, congestion from construction sites and the impact on patients, staff, faculty, and strategies to increase beds.
• M-Care Sale to BCBS
• Closing of the Health Appraisal Unit
• Creation of "luxury suites" to attract middle East, oil rich Sheiks and other billionaires to the U of M Health Care System.

Student Relations-

Professor Seabury reported:

VP Harper presented a Powerpoint presentation on prior initiatives of the SRAC:

• Sexual Violence
• Fan Behavior
• Anti-Hazing
• Risky Drinking – U-Mix late night program
• Expect Respect
• Mental Health Services

The rest of the meeting concerned the revision of the Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities (SSRR):  22 amendments have been offered.  The process (2006-07) for reviewing and approving amendments was discussed.  A proposed timeline was presented for revisions to the SSRR which seemed very tight.

Multicultural University-

Professor Seabury reported:

The committee met for the primary purpose of establishing an agenda for the academic year.  The Committee reviewed its work from prior years:

            National Center for Institutional Diversity is up and running.

            Colloquia on Health Disparities

            Colloquia on Diversity in Complex System

            Discussion of prior committees focused on diversity (PACMA, COMU)

The committee discussed on-going issues:

• Letter from Chair of Presidential Advisory Commission on Women’s Issues (PACWI), Carol Hollingshead concerning the recruitment of women and minorities.
• Provost Initiative – Orientation and Training of New Chairs in order to raise consciousness about multicultural issues
• Discussion of the effectiveness of the undergraduate race and ethnicity course
• Prop 2

Lester Monts requested that Chair Smith put a link from the SACUA to Scott Page and Elizabeth Suhay’s "A Decision-Making Guide to MCRI."

BENEFITS OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE RESOLUTION

The topic was postponed until the next meeting.

MODIFIED DUTIES FOR NEW PARENTS SPG

The chair called attention to distributed items 9 to 12.  He asked members to transmit any responses to the proposal by 4 December.

VISIT OF GUESTS FROM CRLT

C. Cook, C. Shaw, and C. O’Neal arrived at 3:30 P.M.  After a round of introductions, Chair Smith invited Dr. Cook to make remarks.  Dr. Cook referred to distributed item 18.  She explained that many universities have centralized training for department chairs, and that provost Sullivan is interested in implementing such a program here.  She said that orientation is scheduled for 17 September 2007.  It will feature a pilot one-day program with follow-up activities.  She noted that LSA has lots of chair training opportunities with regular training and regular meetings.  The CIC likewise has a department chair training program, and others exist throughout the country, but U-M people have typically not taken advantage of them.  She said that chairs will learn about university resources, and lots of handouts will be provided.  She said she hopes to have the planned program be highly interactive, and hopes that networks will be established.  She stated that she will be interviewing people over the next months about potential topics for the training, and she reviewed interview questions with SACUA.

Professor Riles asked Cook how she intended to identify capable chairs.  Dr. Cook replied that she would ask associate deans and members of the provost’s office.  Professor Riles suggested that she should look at AEC results to discover the chairs that are highly regarded by faculty.  Dr. Cook replied that it was a good idea.  After discussion of additional questions, the guests left the meeting at 4:00 P.M.

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ACTION OF SACUA 110606-1

Professor MacAdam moved that SACUA endorses the proposed preferred name policy embodied in distributed item 13 (multiple seconds).

The action was approved by unanimous vote.

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GENDER IDENTITY SPG

Professor Frier pointed out the need for a new SPG to deal with gender identity issues.

OLD/NEW BUSINESS

There was no other old or new business.

EXECUTIVE SESSION

The meeting entered executive session at 4:15 P.M. and discussed a request for task force members from the office of the provost, as well as nominations for University Marshal.  Members were asked to send additional nominations by email.

The meeting adjourned at 4:20 P.M. 

Respectfully submitted,

John Lehman

Senate Secretary

University of Michigan Bylaws of the Board of Regents, Sec. 5.02: 

Governing Bodies in Schools and Colleges