Faculty Senate
August 30, 2007
Minutes
Called to
Order
The meeting of
the faculty senate was called to order at 4:15 p.m. in the Shaw Auditorium. Dianne
White Oyler, Secretary, presiding; Jonathan Breitzer parliamentarian recorded
the proceedings. Aminifu Harvey, outgoing Vice Chair opened the session.
Roll Call
The following senators were in attendance: Aghajanian, A; Akbay, A;
Autrey, D; Barlow, M; Barringer-Brown, C; Bell, J; Breitzer, J; Brooks, J; Chan,
A; Darnell, M; Dilday, C; Ellis, R; Gill, S; Goins, S; Han, S; Hackley, L.; Hernandez-Hinek, S; Johnson, O; Jones, C; Martin, S; Mattox, J; Montoya, D; Nickolov, R; Okhomina,
D; Orban, M; O’Shea, M; Peacock, J; Radford-Curry, B; Taylor, A; White-Oyler,
D; Wood, P;
Guests: Drs. Aminifu Harvey, Thomas Van Cantfort,
Vincent Otobo
Senators were reminded to sign the
roll call.
Dr. Mattox asked to add a
Resolution on Senate Attendance to the agenda as specified in section II.A.2.c
of the bylaws. This was followed by a discussion
of
whether or not it was permissible
to add an item to a Call Meeting Agenda.
Adoption of
the Agenda
The agenda was adopted as amended.
Dr. Harvey: Announced his resignation as vice-chair of the
Faculty Senate and as senator
from Social Work. He is part of a 14-member, scholars council—Community forum
tomorrow to enhance the relationship between university and community.
Admonished the new senators not to take the role of faculty senator as just
another committee, but as a crucial role. Don’t be on senate if you’re not going to
participate actively. He is withdrawing because of the travel schedule and his
research. In his two and half year tenure, Dr. Harvey has witnessed change in
the ethnic diversity of the institution, both students & faculty. Whatever your
position on it, he believes the role of Faculty Senate is to address this issues
He stated that FSU was founded by African Americans to address the
educational needs of
today. How do we keep the integrity of FSU and simultaneously address
this critical issue? One suggestion: diversity in terms of gender and ethnicity: one
thing the Faculty Senate should do is to make sure the composition of its
committees are ethnically diverse. This means that African Americans must run
for key positions on all committees, including executive committees. In closing,
the role of Faculty Senate in faculty governance and shared governance
awesome; however we only have concepts of those, not clear definitions. He
offered his blessings in this task; the work of the Faculty Senate is critical. He
offered hope that he would again be able to join the Faculty Senate again in the
near future.
Dr. White-Oyler—announced the election and thanked him for his
service to the senate. She invited past senate officer, Tom Van Cantfort to conduct the election for chair.
Tom Van Cantfort: The names on the ballot for Chair of the Faculty Senate Jeff
Brooks and John Mattox were generated by a nominations committee in April
2007. Are there any nominations from the floor? With no nominations from the
floor, he invited the two candidates to address the Senate:
Jeff Brooks: Shared his experience drafting revisions to the faculty handbook in 1996. He suggested that each department elect alternates to help the senate maintain a quorum.
John Mattox: Expressed frustration in experiencing a senate unable to do anything for two years, little acquaintance with parliamentary procedure; not having a quorum at meetings. He suggests requiring senators to actually participate. He stated that if we elect alternates, it would require a change in the governance document, difficult to do (2/3 approval vote of the entire faculty). Thus he concluded that we’re stuck with our governance document for the time being. Amending the by-laws can happen, and he charged the new governance committee with drafting a revised set of by-laws. I believe that shared governance is important, but most people don’t know what it means. He believes a competent and proactive senate will be a positive influence that is now lacking. He promised to work cooperatively with administration. He said that he did not have an agenda; he just wanted to be a facilitator so that the senate can serve as a venue for issues to be heard.
Dr. White Oyler introduced two student workers for the Faculty Senate: Ms.
LeAnn Blackmon who is the current a student secretary for the organization and
Ms. Samantha Bostic the Work Study student. The students distributed the
ballots and acted as the tellers. While ballots are being handed out: Dr.White-
Oyler handed out documents related to shared governance that had been handed
out at the pre-faculty conference by Judith Wegner from the UNC Faculty
Assembly.
Dr. White-Oyler announced that there were 29 ballots cast. Jeff Brooks, 6; John Mattox ,20; with 3 illegal votes. Dr. John Mattox is the Chair of the 2007-2009 Faculty Senate.
Dr. Mattox then conducted the elections for Vice Chair and Parliamentarian.
On the ballot for Vice Chair, Dr. Blanche Radford-Curry addressed the Senate. There was a call for nominations from the floor and seeing none, Dr. Radford-Curry was voted by acclamation.
On the ballot for Parliamentarian Dr. Jonathan Breitzer addressed the Senate. He did note that he was stepping into the breach for one year because his senate term ends in 2008. However, he is willing to work with anyone who would be interested in the position next year. There was a call for nominations from the floor and seeing none, Dr. Breitzer was voted by acclamation.
Chancellor Lloyd Hackley spoke to the Faculty Senate. He assured the body that he and his team were only here for the interim period to prepare the university for a new chancellor. He pledged to return to retirement at the completion of this task. He described some of his experiences at NC A & T as he prepared it for its new chancellor. Chancellor Hackley commented briefly on the problems at FSU beginning with problems in implementing the Banner system. He discussed the problems with the Nursing Program and announced that a State Nursing Sub-Committee recommended today that the FSU program be on probation. Another problem is maintaining full occupancy in the university housing across the street. Chancellor Hackley sees himself at FSU for a minimum of six months preparing the road for the new chancellor who would take office in July 2008. Before he left Provost Bell reminded him that they needed two faculty representatives for the Chancellor’s Search Committee.
The meeting adjourned to SBE140 due to a class scheduling conflict with Shaw Auditorium.
At this venue Dr. Mattox and the committee of the whole worked out the language for a Resolution on Senate Attendance, which was passed.
The Faculty Senate then elected two members to the Chancellor’s Search Committee: Dr. John Mattox (Natural Sciences) and Dr. Clara Jones (Psychology)
The Meeting was adjourned. There was discussion about the number of faculty representatives on the committee, and Dr. Mattox said that he would inquire into representation on the committee since the two representatives to the committee were from only one college—CBAS.
The meeting adjourned.
Jonathan Breitzer
Parliamentarian & acting Secretary
for
Dianne White Oyler
Secretary to Faculty Senate