R Timko called assembly to order: 3:34 PM

1)    Reading and Approval of the Minutes of April 13, 2006: Motion and approval to dispense with reading of minutes (Murray).
Minutes approved (McEvoy)

2)    Old Business

a)   Constitutional Standing of First Year Committee and Election to the Committee.

• In April, in both senate and faculty assembly, there was discussion about the First Year Experience Committee. It is already a sub-committee but it is not listed in the constitution (appendix).
• D Murray: the intent was to have members of sub-committee rotate so that people serve 3 year terms. This means 2 positions would come up for election in the spring, not the entire committee (this has been done, seats have been filled).
• Elections for this sub-committee may be conducted next spring.
• Rule in constitution regarding Standing Committees (last line of Section V, section D) does not apply to sub-committee.  
• Duties of First Year Experience Committee now must be listed in appendix.

3)    New Business

a)   Recent Senate action on 12 Credit Hour Limitation for Students attending Summer School Sessions

Faculty Assembly reviews and discusses actions of the senate. Recent senate action on summer school limits students to 12 c.h. Exception: with advisor consultation this limit may be by-passed.

Does assembly wish to re-visit this issue?

Discussion:
V Jenkins: Why is this being done?

Answer: To come in line with how many credits students take during school term. Also, concern over “dumbing down” classes for overloaded students; students may not be able to do that well with that intensive study.

Yet, students have been doing this for years and doing well. There is a limit of 18 c.h. during the year. What evidence is there that students are not doing well?

A McEvoy: evidence is anecdotal; students complain that they have too much work, asking for extensions for papers or reduced level of writing.

D Murray: can’t a student take up to 15 with permission of advisor? Yes

S Young: every summer she has not heard anything from students not being able to do the work. The ones who are good do the work. If we are creating leaders shouldn’t we be encouraging this kind of work?

J Murphy: Senate makes recommendations to president. The president would like the summer to reflect more of what the limits are during year, she is uncomfortable with current policy. That is why it was brought up.

R Timko: # of credits should = # of weeks: this is the formula. There has been a very open, fluid policy in the summer. He has also seen students withdraw because they could not keep up with the amount of work.

K Thorne: if this forces a 2.0 student to meet with their advisor, is this a problem?

K Guenther: Last summer a student signed up for 18, she had to drop down to 12 because registrar would not allow it. Is this policy already in effect?

President Loeschke: this action is a problem; we have a responsibility to help students to achieve. She has a concern about quality and believes 12 credits is about right. We should look at data if there is any, as well as effective advising. Wants to be confident that more than 12 credits would be a good thing for the students. The GPA data may help her make this decision.

W Yacovissi: This is not an issue for Faculty Assembly; the issue should be kicked back to AAC, senate and departments.

V Jenkins: students have been allowed a maximum of 9 credits during 5/6 week sessions.

McEvoy: haven’t advisors played a bigger role because the students had to meet with their advisors?

Summer school has had minimal to none advising for students.

R Timko: senate has passed the motion (credit limit can be exceeded with permission of advisor). President Loeschke has reservations and has the right not to approve this piece of legislation. The purpose of this debate is to find out how faculty feel in case legislation has to be sent back for review.

J Murphy: perhaps it is not data but principle that is driving this debate.

A McEvoy: would 15 credits as a limit be a good number for consistency?

D Murray: there is currently no need for the students to petition. If this is in place it would allow for guidance.

S Young: Students often load up on credits. Making a limit might discourage our better students from taking classes.

b)   Survey of Satisfaction with Administration/Faculty Communications on Issues Relating to the University Community

Discussion:

V Jenkins: no one had any input into the change of students not having to meet with advisors.

D Siegart: Change driven by Datatel and chairs; the software will not support the old method; new software makes it much too complicated.

J Murphy: Datatel knows everything, why couldn’t it send an automated email to advisor to say “student just registered”?  Answer: too complicated

Other comments:

Satisfied with info from administration, not from IT and registrar.

Satisfied about the drug problem, dissatisfied with how football was handled.

Dissatisfied that faculty have not been consulted about limitations on the amount faculty can teach.

Faculty need to make a better effort to find out about where info is being offered, like the current open meetings on campus.

In last few years there seems to be more of an “us vs them” mentality.

Administration and faculty do seem to be a little more adversarial than in the past.

A Gaskievicz: Policies seem to be thrust rather than presented for discussion. There seem to me more grievances lately than the union has had in a while (like rules about summer school/faculty teaching load).

M Launius: we have had so much turnover in upper management… this explains a lot. We need to all work together more.

A Gaskievicz: would like to see more community, more faculty involved campus wide (maybe some faculty feel excluded?)

D Seigart: we do need to look in the mirror; as soon as she stepped into her new role, people started to treat her differently. She is faculty. She moved into her position to benefit the University. People seemed to assume the worst because she is now an administrator. The shift happened amazingly fast. Don’t assume the worst; it is a 2 way street. Appreciates it when she gets a response to something sent out.

c)   Information Budget Processes or Concerns

President Loeschke: Regarding budget: trying to make every year as open and transparent as possible. The meetings held provide opportunities to understand and provide input into the budget. Please come so there are not any secrets. There will be more meetings in Jan.

M Reid: if you see any way we can save $ PLEASE pass it along.

Pres. Loeschke: a wonderful possibility to save $ came from a custodian.

d)  Other

M Launius: Faculty Early Career Development program – junior faculty often don’t feel empowered to add their voice without tenure. She wants senior faculty to reassure them that they won’t lose their job if they disagree with someone.

4)    Adjournment

Assembly adjourned: 4:43 (B Loher/D McKee)