The Faculty Review Committee is advisory to the Provost. It hears grievances once they reach the Provost. Not every complaint is grievable. Three people decide what can be grieved: the President of the Faculty Senate, Chair of Faculty Review Committee, and the Chair of the Committee on Reconciliation. The chair of the Faculty Review Committee does not vote on grievances, but organizes and runs the panels, which have five members who essentially listen to the story. This is not a legalistic process with lawyers, but instead is an internal review process. The committee is just trying to find out what happened. It also considers appeals of P&T when Provost does not concur with University Committee. It is supposed to report to the Faculty Senate each year. The Committee heard three cases from last year; two appealed the P&T process.

There are eight members on the Reconciliation Committee, all volunteers. Its purpose is to resolve conflicts by facilitating conversations between faculty and administration with goal of reaching agreeable solutions. It is the informal part of the grievance process or it involves issues that aren’t grievable. The committee is a neutral third party, interested in finding common ground between parties. Normally committee members work in pairs. There are no minutes or other records kept; everything strictly confidential. The end product is an agreement signed by involved parties. The committee dealt with ten cases last year. The provost has accepted all recommendations that were forwarded to him. Some of the cases have dealt with post-tenure review; others were conflicts between faculty and supervisors; some were advisory in preparing appeals to tenure denial (procedural appeals, not on merits). More people need to know of the committee and its work. We also need better representation across colleges.

a. ORP (Optional Retirement Program) Update – Dwight Shelton received copy of the Faculty Senate taskforce report, as did Kay Heidbreder, Mark McNamee, Charles Steger, and Art Keown. They will provide feedback in the near future.
b. Salary Update – Dwight Shelton has been contacted and he is going to come talk to us about 60th percentile process next month. Right now we are at about the 40th percentile below where we should be.
c. University Council – Two resolutions on the judicial system passed
d. The BOV adopted the strategic plan and formal announcement of this will occur later this month. Faculty salaries continue to be important. Base budget adequacy still an issue; we have budget shortfall of $30-35 million (from a tuition shortfall).
e. The Senate webpage should include Senator’s photos. The media center has agreed to take photos free of charge. Dates for scheduling photos will be forwarded in the next few days.
f. The idea of a Faculty Club is gaining support. The BOV, the President, and the Provost on board with the concept. Bob Denton will present list of options soon.
g. Parking during games should accommodate faculty. Contact Steve Mouras with questions. Faculty need to ask for special parking tags from department heads to park near research building. There is a problem with parking after 5:00 p.m. before games – many faculty need to be here on business past 5:00 p.m.

a. P&T survey preliminary results indicate that most faculty do not think that assistant professors should serve on P&T committees. Beyond that, there is very little clarity. Faculty are split over whether heads or deans should serve, vote, or chair college committees.
b. The university is beginning to outline disaster preparedness strategies. We need to think through our own “essential functions” to help advise administrators in creating these policies.
c. The Commission on Faculty Affairs is starting to consider policies relating to a career path for instructors. The Faculty Senate unanimously voted in favor of the concept.

It has been suggested that faculty have option to take their pay over 9 months. Doug Martin recommended that benefits committee and finance committee takes look at it to understand problems/difficulties with this possibility. More information should be coming soon.