Minutes of the
Eighth Regular Meeting of the Twenty-Seventh Senate
Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne
April 14, 2008
12:00 P.M., Kettler G46
Agenda
1. Call to order
2. Approval of the minutes of March 17, 2008
3. Acceptance of the agenda – B. Abbott
4. Reports of the Speakers of the Faculties
a. Purdue University – N. Younis
b. Indiana University – M. Nusbaumer
5. Report of the Presiding Officer – S. Davis
6. Special business of the day – Memorial Resolution (Senate Reference No. 07-16) – J. Tankel
7. Committee reports requiring action
a. Nominations and Elections Committee (Senate Reference No. SD 07-17) – M. Walsh
b. Faculty Affairs Committee (Senate Document SD 07-9) – C. Hill
c. Faculty Affairs Committee (Senate Document SD 07-14) – C. Hill
d. Faculty Affairs Committee (Senate Document SD 07-15) – C. Hill
8. New business
9. Committee reports “for information only”
a. Executive Committee (Senate Reference No. 07-18) – B. Abbott
b. Executive Committee (Senate Reference No. 07-19) – B. Abbott
10. The general good and welfare of the University
11. Adjournment*
*The meeting will adjourn or recess by 1:15 p.m.
Presiding Officer: S. Davis
Parliamentarian: A. Downs (absent)
Sergeant-at-Arms: G. Steffen
Secretary: J. Petersen
______________________________________________________________________________
Attachments:
“Results of Senate Committee and Subcommittee Elections” (SR No. 07-20)
“Pre-Disciplinary Letter Policy” (SD 07-9)
“Proposed revisions of Procedures for Promotion and Tenure (SD 88-13)” (SD 07-14)
“Procedures for Promotion and Tenure” (SD 88-13)
“Proposed revisions of Procedures for Promotion and Tenure Guidelines (SD 94-3)” (SD 07-15 – recommitted to Faculty Affairs Committee)
Senate Members Present:
B. Abbott, N. Adilov, A. Argast, W. Branson, J. Burg, C. Champion, S. Ding, P. Dragnev, B. Dupen, C. Erickson, R. Friedman, J. Grant, T. Grove, S. Hannah, C. Hill, P. Iadicola,
J. Jackson, D. Lindquist, M. Lipman, D. Liu, G. McClellan, K. McDonald, L. Meyer,
G. Mourad, D. Mueller, A. Mustafa, R. Nelipovich, M. Nusbaumer, T. Parker, K. Pollock, M. Ridgeway, L. Roberts, J. Summers, R. Sutter, J. Tankel, C. Thompson, J. Toole,
G. Voland, M. Walsh, M. Wartell, N. Younis, J. Zhao
Senate Members Absent:
S. Blythe (sabbatical), S. Choi, J. Garrison, I. Hack, J. Hersberger, K. Moustafa, H. Odden, E. Ohlander, H. Samavati, R. Saunders, A. Ushenko
Faculty Members Present: S. Carr, M. Dixson
Visitors Present: E. Frew, R. Kostrubanic, P. McLaughlin, K. Soderland (Journal Gazette)
Acta
1. Call to order: S. Davis called the meeting to order at 12:02.
2. Approval of the minutes of March 17, 2008: The minutes were approved as distributed.
3. Acceptance of the agenda:
B. Abbott moved to approve the agenda as distributed.
The agenda was approved as distributed.
4. Reports of the Speakers of the Faculties:
a. Purdue University:
N. Younis: Good afternoon, Colleagues!
Reading Senate Reference No. 07-19, it is my observation that there are a number of committees this year that have no business because they report no business, such as the Purdue University Committee on Institutional Affairs which I chair. I am going to ask the Executive Committee to look at the committee structure with a view to dissolving committees for which there seems to be no regular business to conduct.
As this is our last Senate meeting for this academic year, I would like to thank all of the senators who served this year for their service to this great university, especially those whose terms are ending.
Lastly, I would like to express my sincere appreciation and admiration for the Senate secretary, Jacqui Petersen, who is competent and great to work with. Please join me to show our appreciation for Jacqui.
Thank you.
b. Indiana University:
M. Nusbaumer: I would like to echo a couple of Nash’s comments. As the chair of the Indiana University Committee on Institutional Affairs, we do everything the Purdue Committee does.
I also would like to echo the sentiments in terms of Jacqui.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Stan Davis as presiding officer, for stepping up at a time where we had a sudden and unexpected loss, and I appreciate his willingness to serve.
I would also like to thank my Purdue counterpart, Nash Younis, for working with me. I look forward to working with him in the next year as well.
I would also like to take this opportunity to recognize Professor Charlie Champion as he heads to retirement. All of you probably know Charlie as he has been a faculty member here for 34 years, and in that time has served no less than 4 terms as a senator in this body, including this year alone, being on both the Executive Committee and the Faculty Affairs Committee. Both of those are hard-working committees. Charlie, I thank you for your service to the university and to this body. You will be missed.
Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Mr. William McKinney as the incoming Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. As Speaker of the Indiana University faculty, I look forward to working with him to build a culture of professionalism, integrity, and mutual respect between faculty and administration. Such a relationship is in the best interests of IPFW and the communities it serves.
5. Report of the Presiding Officer:
S. Davis: My report will echo the same. Thanks very much to Jacqui who keeps things prepared and also to Gary Steffen for his service as the Sergeant-at-Arms. Hopefully he will be ready to get back to work here in the fall.
I would also like to thank Nash Younis and Mike Nusbaumer. It has been a pleasure working with them. Thank you, also, to all the senators who will be leaving.
The Senate leadership meets after every meeting with Chancellor Wartell and Vice Chancellor Hannah, and I think it is a very productive meeting, and I would like to thank them for their input, help and support.
I suggested that the Executive Committee look over, this summer and next fall, all the committees in the committee structure because we are finding out that some committees are no longer able to do the functions they were set up to do. There have been a lot of changes made within the duties of the university and the functions within the university. We need to get our committees aligned to properly service those.
Andy Downs is not here today, but I would like to thank him for keeping me in line up here. He always tells me that no matter what he says, I have the final word. He has been very helpful.
Thanks to all of you for a great year.
6. Special business of the day – Memorial Resolution (Senate Reference No. 07-16) – J. Tankel:
J. Tankel read the memorial resolution for Richard Hess. A moment of silence was observed.
7. Committee reports requiring action:
a. Nominations and Elections Committee (SR 07-17) – M. Walsh:
The Nominations and Elections Committee conducted the election to fill vacancies on Senate committees and subcommittees. (For results, see SR No. 07-20, attached.)
b. Faculty Affairs Committee (SD 07-9) – C. Hill:
C. Hill moved to approve Senate Document SD 07-9 (Pre-Disciplinary Letter Policy).
Motion to approve passed on a voice vote.
c. Faculty Affairs Committee (SD 07-14) – C. Hill:
C. Hill moved to approve Senate Document SD 07-14 (Proposed revisions of Procedures for Promotion and Tenure [SD 88-13]).
Motion to approve passed on a voice vote.
d. Faculty Affairs Committee (SD 07-15) – C. Hill:
C. Hill moved to approve Senate Document SD 07-15 (Proposed revisions of Procedures for Promotion and Tenure Guidelines [SD 94-3]).
C. Thompson moved to recommit to the Faculty Affairs Committee. Seconded.
Motion to recommit to the Faculty Affairs Committee passed on a voice vote.
8. New business: There was no new business.
9. Committee reports “for information only”:
a. Executive Committee (SR No. 07-18) – B. Abbott:
Senate Reference No. 07-18 (Senate Membership, 2008-2009) was presented for information only.
b. Executive Committee (SR No. 07-19) – B. Abbott:
Senate Reference No. 07-19 (End-of-the-Year Committee Reports) was presented for information only.
10. The general good and welfare of the University:
S. Hannah: This is my last Senate meeting of the past ten years in the position of vice chancellor. It has been my privilege and pleasure to serve with all of you. As a political scientist as well as someone who went to college in 1960, I have been in higher education a long time. It has been wonderful to be able to combine my passion, my profession, and my interest in politics in the way in which a university works. I appreciate all of your support during this time. I have enjoyed being a member of this body which represents the best of the academy, and that freedom in the exchange of ideas. We all do not have to agree. Thank goodness we all do not have to agree. It would be a sad thing if we all agreed. It would not be near so much fun, for one thing. Thank you all very much for your support, and I have great faith the university will move onward and upward. Thank you.
M. Wartell: I would like to report on a few things since this is our last meeting. I want to thank Susan Hannah – she really has done a great job for us for a decade.
1) A week ago yesterday morning, we had a tragedy, and I think the campus response was appropriate. George McClellan did a great job organizing that response. The candlelight vigil was extremely well attended. It was very touching. The student’s mother was there, as were a number of his family. I think the folks there did a beautiful job putting that together.
You received an e-mail about the situation which should have come Monday morning. That is in response to a federal law known as the Clery Act, and I think everything was done appropriately. There was great interaction and collaboration between our security folks and the Fort Wayne police. There are no suspects as of yet, as far as I know. You know as much as I do about it because I only get what I read in the paper. I am reasonably assured that this was a totally random act– wrong place at the wrong time. To end a life at 19 years of age is really tragic. In addition to that, he and his roommate came from South Bend together and had been friends since third grade. So, it is doubly tragic in that regard.
The folks I would also like to commend are the students against violence, the group that is on campus that really did a great job of informing the campus community in a very appropriate, sensitive way. While it is terrible to have these sorts of things happen, the campus responded very well. It affected a number of our students who live in campus housing, in very intense ways.
M. Nusbaumer: I do not know if you will have this information, but do we have a lot of students housed in that particular apartment complex?
M. Wartell: I do not know the answer to that.
W. Branson: I do not know the answer to that, either.
M. Wartell: I do not imagine it is that many. You are referring to the apartment complex across the street, across Hobson.
P. Iadicola: If the scenario was that that occurred at IPFW’s housing, are there measures in place to prevent such a thing from occurring?
M. Wartell: It depends on what you mean by prevention. Prevention could include putting a chain-link fence around the entire complex and having metal detectors at the entrances. That is a kind of prevention – we do not do that. There are over 200 cameras that watch the place on a constant basis. There is a computerized card-entry system in place. You cannot get into individual rooms or even get into the building if you do not belong there unless someone lets you in as a guest. Our police patrol regularly and often. Can we prevent it? Look at all the tragedies on campuses.
P. Iadicola: Those measures would certainly seem to be superior than what is at that student’s apartment complex.
M. Wartell: Of course, those apartments across the street are part of the city system. We are doubly protected in that the city police are responsible for protecting our campus as well as our campus police.
J. Summers: Do guests register, or is there any way to know who gets let in by one of the students?
M. Wartell: No, there is no registry of that sort. It is apartment-like living. There are a set of rules and regulations, and we are very careful about them. We are especially careful about substance issues: drugs and alcohol. We are very careful about violence as well. We have had a couple of instances where students decided that punching someone out is the best way to handle a problem. We dealt with that by removing those people from the premises.
By the way, we are very satisfied with the folks who manage our apartments. They have really done a great job – we have a first-rate manager. The resident assistants and assistant managers are very carefully chosen, and they are carefully trained. That has worked out extremely well.
M. Nusbaumer: I realize, as we have attempted on campus to test certain security devices and warning systems, that we have not had perfect success. I appreciate the efforts and honesty of how successful we are being in finding the glitches in that regard. It only serves to build confidence.
M. Wartell: There is no point in hiding it. We have tested the systems carefully. In one case, the software that we bought was found lacking. We are trying to either fix it or move to another software provider, and that is this Reverse 911 system we have been working with. We are working as hard as we can to make sure that the campus has reasonable security. Right now, we have one of the safest campuses in the country. It is an important and attractive part of the campus.
2) Since our last meeting, the legislature has concluded its business. The legislature reworded part of our appropriation so that we could go ahead with the Student Services building. We have a few hurdles to go through in terms of approvals: the Purdue Board of Trustees, Indiana Commission for Higher Education, and the state budget committee; but we are virtually all through the planning process for that building, and our hope is that we can break ground for that in November.
We hope to be breaking ground for the new bridge in July. The hotel is coming along at an appropriate pace. The Medical Education building is on time as far as we know. The Northeast Indiana Innovation Center is just beginning their new addition which the legislature provided for.
In addition, we are remodeling the Ginsberg building and its associated offices. The Philharmonic will move into there this summer, so we will have the Philharmonic offices on campus by this summer. We have been mothballing the other five buildings there, and we will see what we do with those as they become needed.
The legislature once again did a good job for us. The next legislature will be another long session where the budget will be in play. We will have to see what happens as the state is facing some financial difficulties. We have done very well up to now, and once again, whenever you see our legislators, please thank them because they have done a very good job for us.
P. Iadicola: Are there any plans for the opening of the Faculty Club in the new Holiday Inn?
M. Wartell: Yes, we have already successfully negotiated that.
We are in the planning stages for adding 450 beds. We would like to see the groundbreaking in October or November of this year. That will take us up to about 1200 beds. That is ten percent of our student body. That is the regulation that the Indiana Commission for Higher Education has approved for us.
3) We are in the process of developing a master plan for the campus. We are working with a national firm, and several of you have been involved with that. The projections we are working with are around 15,000 to 17,000 students on campus. The idea of having approximately 3,000 beds would be a healthy situation for us. Housing about 25 percent of the student body is not quite the kind of residential campus you think of when you think of a small, liberal arts school. It is also not even the kind of percentage you have at Purdue, because Purdue University is housing 12,000 students now of their approximate 36,000 undergraduates. That is really ballparking numbers. I think we would serve all of our constituencies well by having about 25 percent. That is what we will be looking for in the future.
The new master planning process is providing us with some ideas that are really interesting, and we will be sharing that with everybody soon at open forums. I am not sure when those are scheduled.
R. Friedman: There was one already.
W. Branson: We are going to do one more.
M. Wartell: You have done a great job this year – thank you. If you are not privy to the current enrollment numbers, Summers I and II are up. Summer I is up about 2.5 percent, and Summer II is up about 16 percent, which is a really nice number. Fall enrollment at this point is up about 8.4 percent. At this point it is looking very, very good for us. Thank you for all that you do.
S. Hannah: Since a lot of us are leaving, I would like to point out that this is Dr. Erin Frew’s last meeting. She is resigning, effective in June, and she has gotten us started in assessment and done it with grace as well as intelligence, and we have enjoyed her leadership and will miss her greatly.
S. Davis: Everyone have a great rest of the semester, good finals, and a restful summer, and we will see you next academic year!
11. The meeting adjourned at 1:05 p.m.
Jacqueline J. Petersen
Secretary of the Faculty