Minutes
LCSC Faculty Senate
February 19, 2004

I.                     The Chair, Kathie Wilcox, called the meeting to order at 4:08 PM.  Those in attendance were:  Lynne Bidwell, David McCullough, Scott Brainard, Marilyn Heckendorn, Victor White, Susan Odom, Chris Riggs, Alan Marshall, Mike Vernon, Tom Urquhart, Heather Rogers, Arnold Caines, Robbie Reno, Jeff Matthews, Tony Fernandez, Diane Johnson, Justin Coleman, Leanne Parker, Linda Coursey

II.                   Introduction of visitors: no visitors 

III.                  The minutes of February 5, 2004 were approved as presented.

IV.                Treasury Report: As of January 31, 2004 the balances in the accounts were as follows: $210 in benevolence account, $2712.85 in the service account and $1542.15 in the allocated account.  The funds in the allocated account come from the Provost’s office and the contributors to the service account are Faculty Association members.

V.                  Chair’s Report

A.      New Faculty Senate Office – ADM 209.  The new faculty office has been moved and is open for business at its new location.  The Chair will have office hours on Tues/Thurs afternoons.  The Senate thanks the Provost for the new facilities. The office phone number is ext2832.

B.      Items from President’s Council: 

1)       President Thomas met in Washington, D.C. with Idaho congressmen to ask for appropriations, including funds for a skid pad.

2)       FIPSE grant $447,000 for native teacher education program was awarded.

3)       The President will meet with Governor Kempthorne in March.

C.      Compensation Review Committee: This committee, designated by a President’s Guidance Initiative and consisting of the Faculty Chair, Chairs of the PSO and CSO, the Budget Director and the Director of Instructional Planning and Assessment, is meeting to create strategic plan guidelines for salary increases.  This committee will report to each group’s constituency and to President Thomas. The next meeting will be in about 2 weeks. 

VI.                President/Provost’s Report:

A.      CAAP met to reexamine their missions statewide (2-year, colleges, and universities).  Under discussion were rules and regulations for how those missions will be handled outside of each institution’s area.

B.      NIC credits should be transferable to LCSC based on faculty input as to acceptability of the course. This is in compliance with our agreement to accept lower division courses to exceed the 70 credit hours transfer limit.

VII.               Old Business 

A.      Feb. 14^th “Coffee Talk” with Representative Mike Mitchell and Senator Joe Stegner:

1)       There were about 12 people in attendance for the Stegner Q & A session, and about 30 attended the session with Mitchell. 

2)       Stegner topics included: Medicare/Medicaid funding and funding for salary increases.

3)       Mitchell topics included a variety of issues with establishing a rainy day fund using the 1% sales tax and the concerns of home schoolers about legislative changes.

VIII.             New Business

A.  Standing Committee Reports

1) Administrative Procedures – Patricia Keith reported to the Chair that the committee will be meeting before the end of the month and will have a report at that time.

2)       Faculty Affairs – Jeff Matthews

·         The issue of dis-enrollment of non-attending students (those who sign up for class but never attend). This is a financial aid issue in Idaho.  The administrations will not move individually or differently from other state institutions, and would like ICHEF to take up this cause.

·         Employee Reaction to Administration:  The committee would like a single instrument for both faculty and classified staff.

·         The SRI instrument has an annual review/revise mechanism and the committee will plan for a yearly review for the instrument.

·         Academic Forgiveness Policy:  (see attachment) The Committee met with Student Affairs and was able to accommodate the concerns of that committee.  There was a motion to accept the policy as presented by the Faculty Affairs Committee.  The motion was unanimously approved.  The policy will be forwarded to the Provost.

3)       Budget Liaison – Kathie Wilcox: 

·         The committee met yesterday to respond to current events.  The Lewiston Morning Tribune reported that the 2% salary increase suggested for state employees would except higher education faculty.  The reported budget included only a 1% salary for higher education faculty with the increase tied to student tuition increases.

·         Governor Kempthorne will not ask the Legislature to change its recommendation.  (The Idaho State Constitution does not allow use of student tuition to pay salaries.)  The Legislature will probably make this decision in the next two weeks.

·         The recourse is the ballot box next November and a public awareness campaign through letters to the editors.   The ASB is asking students to write to their legislators.

·         President Thomas has said that she is committed to funding the 2% increase in the current budget.

The Budget Liaison Committee is considering the following policy recommendations:

·         The Budget Liaison Committee does not endorse a fee increase to pay for faculty salary increases.

·         A budget line item should be dedicated to providing funding for promotions.

The Committee has asked divisions to recommend their choices of the following options for a 2 % salary increase

1) The institution would collect the 2% and divide the dollar amount equally among employees. 

2) All employees would receive either 2% or $500.00 whichever is greater.

3) Every employee would receive a 2% increase.

4)       Faculty Development – Susan Odom: 

·         A Thinking Through Lunch topic will address how to balance faculty’s need for personal renewal with productivity and personal development.

·         The Committee looked at the policy and is discussing a more equitable point allocation policy by working to clarify the language.

·         The suggested form change would reflect a qualitative ranking.

·         The results of the changes will be forwarded to the Administrative Procedures committee.

5)        Curriculum – Mike Vernon: 

·         There were six proposals up for approval.  Details for the proposals are on the Curriculum Committee website.  The motion to approve the Curriculum Committee report was passed.

6)       Student Affairs – Wayne Carroll 

·         The Committee continues discussion regarding issues of campus life, dangerous intersections, and the LCSC grading policy.

·         Arnold Caines reported on ASLCSC efforts to improve dangerous intersections around campus.

·         A meeting between the Chair, Justin Coleman, Mary Wak Wak and the Provost is planned.  The topic of discussion will be gender and diversity issues. 

7)       Technology Advisory – Gary Mayton no report.  The committee requested that faculty respond to the technology survey and to contact Gary with constructive feedback to the survey.

8)       Next week the Internet bandwidth will quadruple when the implementation begins on Friday, February 27 after 5:00 PM. 

B.      There was no other new business.

IX.                 The meeting was adjourned at 5:40PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Linda Coursey, Secretary