Purdue University Calumet
Minutes
of
the Purdue University Calumet
Senate Meeting
of  October 3, 2001
SFLC 321

PRESENT: Senators, D. Barbour, C. Barczyk, M. Cahn, K. Corey, V. Damusis, H. Daubek, T. Dougherty, A. Elmendorf, J. Hack, L. Hopp, N. Houshangi, M. Joyce, M. Longas, D. Niedner, B. Robinson, J. Russett, M. Ryan (Sergeant at Arms), S. Scachitti, D. Underwood-Gregg, E. Vockell, C. Winer, (Presiding Officer); Chancellor Cohen; Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Singer; and; Parliamentarian S. Lerner, SGA President C. Sizemore and Secretary A. Agosto-Severa.

ABSENT:  Senators, R. Bennett, E. Bouktache, G. Barrow

GUESTS:  Beth Pellicciotti, J. Allen Johnson, D. Steuer-Wagner

I.          Call to Order.
Call the meeting to order.

II.        Approval of the Agenda.
The Agenda was approved.

III.       Approval of the Minutes.
The minutes of the September 2001 meeting were approved.

IV.       Chancellor’s Report.
The Chancellor publicly thanked everyone on campus for what he felt was an extraordinary community response to how we handled the terrorist attacks on the 11^th of September and the aftermath of that tragedy. He stated that he was especially proud of the initiative that the students took in organizing the candlelight vigil and the fundraisers they have conducted to date.  The message is that we are part of a larger community and shows that there is a lot of caring going on at Purdue Calumet. 
He also addressed the university’s position in terms of the state budget. The Chancellors of the regional campuses received a memorandum from the President informing them that the governor has ordered a strategic hiring freeze and a reduction of out of state travel by state agencies, in preparation for what looks to be a billion dollar shortfall. The senior leadership of the campus will be meeting this week to begin to identify ways to implement the President’s request, and the President has made four requests of all the Chancellors. The first request is that all vacant positions should receive high-level review before approval to fill a position is granted. We may have the right to fill positions but we will be looking at those positions very carefully. Also, request for out of state travel will receive similar review and should be approved only for very high priority purposes. We will set up a mechanism where we can review out of state travel request. This is not to say there will be no out of state travel, but there will be priorities set. Capital purchases should be deferred, or if they can’t be deferred, limited to the most essential items. So we will take a good look at what we were planning to do with Capital this year, and that we should conserve our non-recurring balances. The Chancellor was fairly optimistic that Purdue Calumet is in pretty good financial shape. What we will need to do is to come up with a plan for how we would isolate and return monies if we needed to do that. We understand that in order to run an educational enterprise, we will have to spend some money, and we do not expect that we will shortchange our students. So expect that we will be staffing courses, and that will be our high priority. This may be a short-term issue, it may be a longer- term issue, none of us are in a position to say right now, we may loose some recurring funds or we may not, and that is again it is too soon to tell. What is clear is that we must proceed with our Strategic Planning; we must operate as if we have the funds to go ahead. So it is not our intention to stop Strategic Planning, it is not our intention to hold off on the things we can possibly do, and move forward as best as we can within the financial realities. We will continue the plan; we will continue to operate as if over the next three to five years we will implement our plan. So I’m hoping that we’ll all adopt the attitude of being optimists and skeptics at the same time and understand that from the skeptical side, we may not get all these funds, but still act as optimists, and carry on and carry forward. So we won’t be fooled and feel deflated if things don’t quite fall our way, but we won’t have put our own handcuffs on.
Question: Chancellor Cohen was asked, “What is the anticipated duration of the freeze—end of the calendar year, or fiscal year”?  The Chancellor responded that this freeze is being driven by the lack of revenues of the state and they are currently below their projections.  If revenues pick up, then there is no reason to have the freeze. So we are the logical consequence of that, and all state agencies and all programs that are funded by the state. So if we’re in for a short recession, and then a turn around, it might not be a big deal. If we’re in for a long recession, it could be a long time problem; nobody knows the answer to that. What we do know is that our best hope is to do the things that will help build the economy in the state and the region. We can remind people that higher education is an investment not an expense. So that when it comes time to cutting the state budget, and when it comes time to conserve funds, he stated that we want to make the case, that higher education needs to be seen as one of the mechanisms that the state will use to work its way out of a recession.

V.                 Report of the Chair of the Senate.
The Chair commented that not everyone had their Senate nameplates, even though they were available at last month’s meeting. We are in the process of doing a search to locate them.

Other items that have happened in the past month are: On Friday, September 21^st, the Chancellor, Becky Stankowski, J. Allen Johnson, the new executive assistant to the Chancellor and I went to West Lafayette.  The Chancellor made his presentation to the Board regarding our campus’ Strategic Plan. I made a report to the Board that referenced the activities of our Senate and some of the special activities that our faculty participated in after the September 11^th acts of terrorism. I’m pleased to report that no one had any questions of either of us.

A second item deals with the request made by Maureen Muha, the LASS Dean’s secretary, on a new effort to establish a memorial wall in memory of those who lost their lives on September 11^th.  The “wall” will be located in the SFLC. The purpose of this activity is to raise funds for those families who were unfortunately left without family members after the September 11^th tragedy. I’ve indicated that faculty are interested in pursuing a plan with them that would be something meaningful and represent our concerns for those unfortunate families that are no longer whole.

The Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs reminded everyone that the President would be joining the Chancellor next Wednesday for a reception for faculty and staff at 4:00pm at the Center. The President will provide a brief address, and it may address the state of the state.

VI.       Special Business of the Day.
Senate Document 01-11.  Revisions to governing tenure procedures.
Faculty Affairs Committee.  For Discussion.

T. Elmendorf introduced the two documents, which were approved by the Faculty Affairs Committee at their most recent meeting. The genesis, or at least partial genesis of these documents came from an initiative of the Teacher Education Advisory Council, which was asked to bring forward a proposal for promotion and tenure of faculty who hold joint appointments. The committee examined their document, and basically rejected it out of hand. They felt that the scope of the document was too narrow. And that would be ongoing possibility of the existence of joint appointments in between programs that didn’t necessarily include the School of Education. That we should draw a new document that would allow for such appointment without reference to the School of Education, and content provided departments so that such items could be dealt with on a systematic basis. Senate Document 01-11 is purely concerned with that kind of modification.  The relevant change consists primarily of one sentence that reads, “In case of joint appointments, the administrative heads of each appointing academic unit shall provide for proportionate representation and participation congruent with the following provisions for single appointments.”  The document proceeds as it has always done and was approved by this senate previously.  So in those cases when a candidate with a joint appointment comes up to tenure, as governed by this document, that special committees, primary and area committees will be formed in a manner that is proportionate with the manner of the candidate’s appointment.  The only other change to the tenure procedures document is to delete practically all references to departments from the document, and replace them with references to the academic unit, since some academic units forming primary committees are no longer considered departments but are rather schools. That concludes the discussion of document 01-11.

The motion to move the document for action was made by Professor Damusis.

Seconded by Professor Robinson.

Motion approved.  Document PASSED.

Senate Document 01-12 Revisions to governing promotion procedures. Faculty Affairs Committee.  For Discussion.

This document deals with promotion procedures and was motivated by the same considerations and the same sort of document put forward by the Teacher Education Advisory Council.  However, there is also an additional issue that is contained within this document, namely, the possibility of removing the West Lafayette administrators from Panel C.  The committee was generally in favor of this idea, but is waiting to hear the results of a discussion between the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and the Provost that was supposed to take place but has not yet occurred.

As with previous document, the committee inserted language allowing for joint primary and area committees for the consideration and promotion of candidates with joint appointments, and deleting the two West Lafayette administrators from Panel C.  The references to departments have also been cleaned up.

The discussion will continue and the document will come up at next months Senate meeting for approval.

Replacement of Senate vacancies.  Nominating Committee.  For Approval

The document was assigned number 01-13.

M. Ryan introduced the document and commented that the changes to the existing document are a result of a few changes in Senators.  Professor Longas, replaces K. Rowberg, former representative from Chemistry and Physics, we have Professor Bill Robinson replacing Tom Roach from Communications.

Motion to approve document was made by Professor Ryan. Seconded by Professor Dougherty.   Document PASSED.

Report of the Curriculum and Education Policy Committee:

The following documents, which were posted, will be considered. 

The Chair called for approval of the document as presented.  Document PASSED.

VII.     Unfinished Business.
There was no unfinished business.

VIII.    Reports of the Committees.

Agenda Committee.

Elmendorf reported that the Agenda Committee met, and approved today’s agenda.  The committee also considered the agenda items submitted by Professor Joyce, and routed those agenda items to the appropriate committees.

Academic Support Services Committee.

No Report

Student Affairs Committee.

T. Dougherty reported that they did not have a formal meeting, but they do have a charge, and therefore he asked the committee members to forward their schedules to him, so a meeting can be scheduled.

Curriculum & Educational Policy Committee.

J. Russett reported that the committee met twice and dealt with the documents on today’s agenda.  The committee is changing the curriculum template.  The template should be easier to fill out, with directions that are literally in the document.  This will ensure that the documents submitted are more complete and this will also help eliminate errors and problems.

Faculty Affairs Committee.
T. Elmendorf reported that the Faculty Affairs Committee met and approved the documents on the agenda today.

Nominating Committee.

M. Ryan reported that they have not had a meeting but asked the members of the nominating committee to stay after today’s meeting.

Student Government.

C. Sizemore reported that Purdue Calumet Student Government has the following activities this week.  There will be a charity concert on Friday, Alumni Hall. It’s $5.00 for students and faculty with I.D’s, $7.00 for non-students and members of the university community. If they bring a non-perishable item, it will cost $5.00 to attend.  He encouraged everyone to come and show support. The event will be from 7PM to 1AM and they will have seven (7) bands.  The money raised will also go to the New York and Washington tragedy and is a part of the organization’s theme.

IX.       Other New Business.
None

X.        Adjournment.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:20 PM.