UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND
Kingston, Rhode Island
FACULTY SENATE
MINUTES
Faculty Senate Executive Committee Meeting #4 --
September 16, 2003
1. The meeting was called to order at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday,
September 16, 2003 in the third floor conference room in Green Hall,
Chairperson Beckman presiding. All members were present.
2. The minutes of Executive Committee Meeting #3, September 9,
2003, were approved as corrected.
3. The Executive Committee reviewed the final version of the
Agenda for Faculty Senate Meeting #1, September 25, 2003 prior to
forwarding it to Printing Services.
4. The Executive Committee was brought up to date on the
following matters of business that had been considered previously:
a. JSPC: Senator Boudreaux-Bartels brought to the
committee's attention a recent article in The Providence Journal,
which quoted Ms. Barrett as reporting that the JSPC approved tuition
increases. It was agreed that the statement must be clarified
immediately. The JSPC has received informational reports but has not
to-date taken any action to approve or disapprove anything.
It was agreed that Chairperson Beckman would bring this matter to
the attention of the JSPC at their next meeting for several reasons:
to discover how this misinformation appeared in The Providence
Journal, to set the record straight as to the activities of the JSPC,
and to raise the issue with regard to voting on matters brought
before the JSPC.
b. University Policies:
1) The Executive Committee considered the request for
determination as to whether the proposed Small Research Vessel Policy
requires review and approval by the Faculty Senate and agreed that
the policy should be brought to the Faculty Senate for action. They
decided to include the Small Research Vessel Policy, along with a
recommendation to approve it, in the Agenda for the October 30
Faculty Senate meeting.
2) The Executive Committee considered a request for determination
as to whether the proposed Safe Workplace Policy requires review and
approval by the Faculty Senate. It was agreed to forward the Safe
Workplace Policy to the AAUP before taking any action with regard to
the policy
c. Vice President for Administration: The Executive Committee
agreed that they needed more information about the position before
they could determine whether or not the change in name of the
position of Vice President for Business and Finance to Vice President
for Administration requires a faculty referendum in accordance with
Article VII paragraph 3 of the Faculty Senate Constitution. Ms.
Grubman agreed to provide the Executive Committee with copies of the
President's announcement of the change and a copy of the
advertisement for the position before the next Executive Committee
meeting.
d. CELS Faculty Governance Issue: The Executive Committee met
with Senator Feldman, Professor Atash, Chair of the Department of
Community Planning, and Professor Englander, Chair of the CELS
Curriculum Committee from 1:30 to 2:00 p.m. The department's efforts
to transfer from CELS to another college and the role of the faculty
in considering this matter were discussed.
It was agreed to ask the Provost to ensure that college deans are
aware of URI's faculty governance processes and procedures as stated
in the UNIVERSITY MANUAL and individual college by-laws. They also
decided to ask Provost Swan to meet with the faculty of the
Department of Community Planning to review the approval process with
them.
It was further agreed that the Department of Community Planning
would submit a formal proposal to transfer the department to the
College of Arts and Sciences to both the CELS Curriculum Committee
and the College of Arts and Sciences Curriculum Committee in order to
restart the process.
e. PCA Accompaniment/Complement: Noting that the President had
announced to the Senate that the proposed PCA
Accompaniment/Complement had been accepted by the administration, the
Executive Committee agreed that the PCA accompaniment should be sent
to all departments as part of a pilot project to discover whether
department chairs would find it a useful tool. Chairperson Beckman
agreed to communicate the Executive Committee's position to Provost
Swan, as well as to Assistant Provost Katz and to Vice Provost Swift.
f. Goals for 2003-04: The Executive Committee reviewed materials
prepared by both Chairperson Beckman and Senator Rosen with regard to
committee's goals for the 03-04 Senate. It was agreed to discuss them
further at their September 23 meeting.
5. The Executive Committee discussed the following matters with
regard to e-mail correspondence:
a. State of the Budget Address: It was agreed to ask
Vice President Barrett to include a comparison of the proposed budget
allocation to the actual allocation as part of the State of the
Budget address.
b. ASFCCE Issues: Chairperson Beckman said that she would draft a
response to Vince Petronio on behalf of the Executive Committee
before their next meeting.
c. AAUP Governance Conference: Ms Grubman reported that she had
informed Professor Ramstad, Chair of the Athletics Advisory Board,
about the upcoming conference which will emphasize faculty governance
issues with regard to athletics
6. Ms, Grubman announced that fall semester meetings with
President Carothers and Provost Swan had been scheduled as follows:
a. President Carothers from 1:30-2:30 on September 30
and November 18
b. Provost Swan from 1:30-2:30 on October 7 and November 25
The meeting was adjourned at 2:55 p.m.
Respectfully
submitted,
Sheila Black Grubman