IU Northwest Faculty Organization Minutes, January 1997

FACULTY ORGANIZATION MINUTES
January 17, 1997

Call to Order/Approval of Minutes
Chair Don Coffin called the meeting to order at 10:10am. The minutes of November 14, 1996 were approved as distributed.
Chancellor's Business
- A. Enrollment. Off campus enrollment figures look good. Porter County sites will begin classes Tuesday, January 21, 1997. It is too early to determine if off campus enrollments are the result of new students, or existing students shifting to a new site. Due to adverse weather, enrollment census figures are not due until January 21, 1997.
- B. Hawthorn Hall. External construction should be completed between March-July 1997.
- C. New Building. The Bloomington architects have looked over the plans and met with local personal.
- D. Social Work Program. The program is in great demand and is expected to generate large enrollments and credit hours income.
- E. Accreditation of Business Programs. The Chancellor congratulated the division on their reaccreditation and stated that the site visitors were favorably impressed. The recently approved Masters Degree in Accountancy will probably require the creation of a new position.
- F. Child Care Facility. The money for the facility is tied to the new building.
- G. Campus Lighting. Building lights are being left on until 5:00am. The administration is working with NIPSCO to continue this practice without an increase in lighting expenditures. Improved lighting is both a safety and an image factor.
- H. Advertising. The highway billboards are receiving positive feedback.
- I. New and Publications. The department is now fully staffed. Meetings with local newspapers are scheduled.
- J. 30th Anniversary. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the awarding of IUN degrees. A special celebration is planned.
Vice Chancellor's Business
- A. News and Publications. VC Veeder encouraged everyone to examine the latest issue of Northwest News and cited the faculty accomplishments noted therein. The faculty expressed concern over the irregular publication pattern of Northwest News. VC Veeder responded that short staffing has affected publications. In addition, the department is taking on additional responsibilities and alternative distribution methods (ie: e-mail) are under consideration. Informational contributions were encouraged.
- B. Campus Service and Responsibility Initiative. A joint committee consisting of faculty, staff, and administration has been working with Bloomington personnel. The Committee hopes to facilitate and support success through the definition of goals and mission statements. During 1997 each department will develop their own service and mission statements, identifying how the department serves the campus, other departments, and the community. The statements will be published and distributed. The following year will focus on accessing outcomes and progress in relation to stated goals. In response, some faculty members stressed that quality is more important than quantity.
- C. Withdrawals. The faculty are reminded that they can not "give" a withdrawal, but that the process is student initiated.
- D. Faculty Computer Upgrades. The VC's office is working with limited funds and is trying to balance the need for individual upgrades and overall campus needs.
- E. Lilly Endowment. IU is receiving 8 million dollars from the Endowment. Lilly is concerned that Indiana is not producing enough bachelor degree students, therefore it is anticipated that the money will be used for retention. While no guidelines have been specified, three committees have been appointed: Bloomington, IUPUI, and a regional campus committee. Patti Lorimer Lundberg and Marilyn Vasquez are IUN's representatives to the regional campus committee. The monies are expected to be awarded in July. VC Veeder stated that it is unclear how retention will be defined and measured, and suspects that developmental education will be discussed.
  Some faculty expressed discomfort with the idea of students as customers and asked if IUN was a business. The Chancellor stated that we were a business if money is involved.
  Jean Poulard suggested that students receive a faculty advisor upon admission. The Chancellor responded that this has been discussed with Student Affairs and that a letter soliciting faculty volunteers was distributed, however response was low. Several faculty commented that they could not recall such a letter.
Chair's Business
- A. Elections. The elections process for next year's Faculty Organization officers is getting started.
- B. Computer Issues. The Executive Committee referred three issues to the Computer Committee:
  - 1. Web pages policy
  - 2. Performance of Computer Services
  - 3. Remote access to the IUN network
- C. Student Ombudsman. A proposal for a student ombudsman has been referred to the Student Affairs Committee.
- D. Retention. The Executive Committee wishes to create a Faculty Task Force on Retention to work with the existing retention committee. Interested parties should contact Don Coffin.
- E. TERA. Action on the Teaching Excellence Recognition Awards was postponed by the Board of Trustees. It is expected to pass. The Teaching Committee needs to quickly develop an awards process.
- F. Tenure ineligible faculty. The status of lecturers, clinical professors, etc. is under discussion by the UFC and campus wide information is being gathered. A policy may be forthcoming in March-April.
Committee Reports
- A. Resolution on the budget for the Social Work program. The resolution was read as distributed (see attached.) Discussion ensued and is encapsulated as follows:
  The basic issue is to make sure that faculty are actively involved in future budgetary issues, that it is the role, responsibility, and right of the faculty to be involved, and that this should be recognized and honored not just in context of the social work program, but as a whole.
  Resolution seems weak and focuses on the wrong thing.
  Reallocations seem to go from undergraduate programs to graduate programs and this inversion of the educational pyramid is dangerous and disconcerting.
  Faculty should balance academics not budgets.
  This is really an outgrowth of a 1996 Survey and Curriculum Committee action and does focus on social work. There were other programs last year, ie: the Masters in Accountancy, that were approved without faculty input.
  We should look to the future and anticipate future demand, not lock ourselves into being an undergraduate university only. We can't just protect the status quo.
  Following discussion, the resolution was passed.
Old Business

A. Constitutional Amendment. The Constitutional Revision Committee recommendation of November 7, 1996 and reported in the November 14, 1996 Faculty Organization Minutes was discussed . The amendment would add an elected representative to the Executive Committee. This position would be elected from and represent those Faculty without divisional representation (at present, Labor Studies, Continuing Education, Medical Education and Social Work.) If agreed upon, the amendment would than be voted on by secret, mail ballot and require two-thirds of all voting members to pass. Discussion followed:

Are the faculty members totally unrepresented? There are three At-Large members of the Executive Committee.
Since Medical Education has the largest faculty, it is possible that the Department will monopolize the position.
Could the amendment be amended to include language that would rotate the position among the departments? No, the existing amendment would have to go back to the Constitutional Revision Committee for changes.
Following discussion, it was agreed to forward the Amendment for a formal vote.

New Business
- A. SDI Diversity Initiative. Cecil Blake announced the First Annual Great Lakes Regional Conference on Diversity to be held April 1997. He appealed for faculty participation in Diversity Curriculum Development Workshops, and mentioned the Intercultural Conversations series and diversity training.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 12:00pm.

Submitted by: Ellen Bosman, Secretary

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FACULTY ORGANIZATION

MINUTES

January 17, 1997