Meeting Minutes of April 11, 2006
 Minutes taken by Valerie Hardcastle

Senators in attendance: Anderson, Blaci, Berry, Breitschmid, Brumberger, Bryant, Carrig, Collier, Crone, Denton, Easterling, Ehrich, Eriksson, Grene, Grisso, Harris, Janosik, Kadlec, Larson, Lener, Mann, McQuain, Mihalik, Nelson, Nickols-Richardson, Odendaal, O’Keefe, Pearson, Pfeiffer, Pleasant, Rinehart, Rojiani, Schreiber, Shingles, Standley, Stephens, Teulon, Viehland, Wood, Zajac

Guests: Amy Bell (ECE), Jim Thorpe (ECE)

1. Susanna called the meeting to order at 7:02 PM.

2. Senate discussion regarding whether we should change the agenda to include Michael Bliss’s new smoking resolution. The change was approved and the Senate recommended that the resolution go to the Academic Support Committee.

3. A call for quorum. There is quorum.

4. The agenda was approved with two additions (Bliss and announcements regarding elections).

5. Announcement from the floor: We need contributions to support the VT dependent and spouse scholarship. There year there were 20 applicants; everyone recieved $650. Comment from the Senate floor: There needs to be tuition waivers for dependents and spouses. This has been discussed with Provost.

6. Presentation by Amy Bell and Jim Thorpe: AY faculty should be given the option to choose 18 pay periods instead of 24. Because of deferred pay in the current system, we actually earn less than what is stated in our salary letters.

a. Questions from the floor: What do other universities in VA do? Brian Mihalik will find out. How are other deductions (health care, retirement) done, by pay period or by year? What do our employment letters actually say in this regard? Susanna will talk to Human Resources to get some answers.

b. The Senate asked that Amy Bell prepare a resolution on this topic to present to the Faculty Senate.

7. CFA Announcements:

a. Stop the Clock is a revision of a policy already in place. The difficulty has been in how the policy was applied. The goal is make it more of an entitlement so that its application is clearer. It came out of the Advance survey and focus group discussions. Suggestion from the floor: reword the preamble so that automatic granting with request language is clearer in whereas clause. The Senate endorsed the resolution (with the wording change).

b. Modified duties policies. Thi is a new policy; it puts us in line with our peer institutions. It helps us to be competitive with recruitment. Hire behind money is available to help with modified duties. Department heads do this already; now it would be officially supported. Comment from the floor: We need to correct the paragraph numbering of the resolution. The Senate endorsed the resolution.

c. Changes in Reconciliation Committee Policy. Leon Geyer requested that we add “discriminatory actions” to list of what can be grieved. Senate endorsed the resolution, with the addition.

d. Changes in P&T process. The goal is to get this policy correct. The proposed changes limit the department head’s potential influence. It is still to be decided whether this policy is suggestive or proscriptive. Comments from the floor: each department should have written policies regarding P&T process. Does one size fit all? Should we instead have written and approved procedures at each level, instead of mandating one way of doing this? Senate moved to defer approval to allow for more faculty input. Approved.

8. CEOD: Discussion on resolution making a component of the FARs. Comments from the floor: We need to make administrators accountable as well. We need to broaden the notion of “unit” to include any activities that promote diversity, not just those that promote unit missions. It is unclear what is required to satisfy the diversity requirement. Reword the resolution so that faculty have the opportunity to do these things as opposed to required faculty to do them. It is part of P&T dossier now, so this resolution is trying to make the FAR consistent with P&T requirements.

9. The meeting was adjourned at 9:12.

Faculty Senate, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061
Website updated on 7/28/06. Please contact Suzie Karlin with questions or comments about this website.