Minutes

Faculty Assembly

September 25, 1998

First Plenary Session

Welcome: The meeting was called to order by President Gasaway at 1:05. Forty-five delegates were present.

Minutes: The minutes of the April meeting were approved without changes.

Announcements

Delegates were asked to contact Lolly with any changes to the assembly directory.
Committee lists: Delegates were asked to check their assignment; those wishing to change committees may do so, but should contact Lolly.
Faculty Assembly Actions: Chair Gasaway called attention to the list of possible actions the assembly might take which had been distributed as part of the welcome packet.
Delegates were asked to complete the "Faculty Assembly Delegate Information" form by October 10.
The conference room in the General Administration building will not be available for Assembly meetings in February or April. The Executive Committee is exploring other venues.
Announcements from the floor: George Wahl (NCSU) announced that the National Faculty Governance Organization might be meeting concurrently with the April meeting.

The Chairís Report President Gasaway reminded delegates that last year the Assembly set two goals: The first was to improve the efficiency of our meetings; the desire to become more proactive. She believes we made good progress on the first initiative, but had work to do on the second. The goals outlined by the Executive Committee for this year are:

Complete the Bylaw revisions
Investigate the committee structure to see if new committees are needed
Continue to become more proactive and to identify mechanisms for that to happen

Minutes and messages will be posted electronically. All delegates are subscribed to the listserv.

President Gasaway brought delegates up to date on four initiatives she has undertaken since the last meeting:

First, the inauguration of President Broad was successfully held in April
Second, the Task Force on Tuition worked over the summer and will report to the Assembly later
Third, the directory and listserv were prepared over the summer.
Fourth, the copyright colloquium was planned.

The Chair has been visiting faculty senates and hopes to visit the eight campuses she did not see last year. She indicated that she would respond positively to an invitation from each Senate chair to visit.

Finally, President Gasaway announced the election of Mr. Ben Ruffin as the Chair of the Board of Governors. Mr. Ruffin specifically mentioned that he would like to work with the Faculty Assembly in his acceptance speech. Mr. Ruffin will be invited to attend our February meeting.

At 1:20 the meeting was recessed so that delegates could attend committee meetings.

Second Plenary Session was convened at 3:40

Report from President Broad

The President introduced members of her staff who were attending.

Current situation with budget:

The Legislature has not yet approved the budget. Funding for enrollment increases (13.7 million) was approved as part of the continuing budget in July and those funds have been given to the campuses; Enrollment growth funds for students at a distance has not yet been enacted, but we hope it will be addressed before January. The awarding of enrollment increase money to students at a distance is seen as very important, particularly because these funds may become a major source funding in future years. This money will also be used to fund new positions.

Salary funding was approved yesterday and has been sent to the campuses. It is hoped that the increases will appear in the October paychecks. The 3% raise will be awarded on merit or equity and a 1% bonus will also be paid. The bonus may be used for those who were employed in 1997-1998 and the recipient MUST have received an increase from the merit pool. The range of the bonus is 1% to 2% (1% maximum applies to those who earn more than $100,000.) The President has conveyed her disappointment that the raise was not greater. The University anticipates requesting a 6% increase for the next two years.

The President expressed her concern that some important areas are being funded with nonrecurring money. If all tax reductions are passed, their effects will become most apparent in the future years as the reductions are phased in. Any dampening of our economy will have a drastic effect that could put the University in a very tight situation. Therefore, the use of nonrecurring monies is troubling. Also, during a period of dramatic enrollment growth, the University must be making capital investments now. The capital budget is particularly at threat if there is a decrease in revenue.

The President described some of the areas where the House and Senate versions of the budget differ

We have difficulty preparing a budget request for the future with no current budget.

Regarding our concerns about differences in average salaries across the campuses: The President presented information on faculty salaries using data from the AAUP salary surveys. These show average salaries for each institution, and allow us to compare the institutions in the system to similar institutions nationwide. (The President's presentation slides are available at: http: //www.NorthCarolina.edu/pres/FA_SEPT98.PDF. The goal is that institutions within the system be at the first or second quintile compared to similar institutions. When only salaries are used, most UNC institutions compare favorably. However, when total compensation (including benefits) is examined, we do not fare as well as when salaries alone are examined. This is particularly a problem with our retirement programs, where we rank among the lowest in the country. These deficiencies are beginning to impact on recruiting. We are so far behind in the employer contributions to retirement that this is hurting our recruiting.

Looking at salary raises this year, we are substantially behind SREB states. Therefore, the University plans to make an aggressive recommendation to the Board of Governors regarding salary increases for faculty. At the front end of substantial enrollment growth it is imperative that we become competitive in the marketplace.

Report on action on resolutions and directives: Resolution 97-5 regarding release time for assembly chair: The charter does provide for release time for officers, but flexibility is important. Officers may desire release time during semesters other than when they hold office. GA plans to be responsive to needs, but desires to retain flexibility rather than putting a rigid process in place.
Computer Use Policy: The president would like to set up a meeting the Mr. Robinson and the Faculty Assembly committee after all issues have been defined to develop a new policy.
Copyright Colloquium: President Broad expressed her appreciation for our planned colloquium on copyright issues; she believes that this issue is extremely important and that many universities are taking a stand on copyright issues.
Adjunct and Part-time Faculty: Regarding the issue of growing numbers of adjunct and part time faculty: The President is carefully studying the report of the Sloan report on this issue. The UNC system is significantly below the rest of the country in the fraction of faculty who are part time. In 1992 our percentage was 17% compared to the national average of 42%. For comprehensive and doctoral institutions, the national average was 34%. We are now up to 19% in most recent surveys, but we remain substantially below most universities. The use of part time faculty seems to result from financial stress, where enrollments grow faster than tuition and units use one position to hire two part time faculty.

The aging of the full time faculty is also mentioned in the Sloan report. The influx of faculty in the 1960ís has led to a cohort that is now considering retirement. They are also highly compensated. Therefore, departments are often "tenured in" and must rely on part time faculty. Also, our policies on tenure are fairly rigid leading some faculty to prefer a part time status. The Sloan study concluded that part time faculty members did not degrade academic freedom. However, this is an important issue, and Dr. Carroll will be working with us to take a look at the composition of the professorate in the system, especially as significant number of faculty retire and as the enrollment growth increases.

Information Technology: Finally, Phase I of the information technology strategy is concluded; an RFP for consultants for Phase II has been issued. Phase II will cover three areas: Phase I identified what it will take to bring each campus up to standard; Phase II assesses what the cost will be for what is essential in software, equipment and training. The second part of Phase II will demonstrate "proof of concept" for information technology, probably including increased productivity in administration and administrative support. The third and final part of Phase II is to look for each campus to examine its plan (or to develop or refine one) to identify what it will take on each campus to have the resources necessary to make each campus plan become a reality. Gary Barns report on Tuition Policy Task Force The task force was convened in February to consider the basis the Board of Governors should used to set tuition, including graduate vs. undergraduate differentials. Two drafts of the report have been sent to each campus for review. A final draft will incorporate these comments. This will be revised and taken to the Board in November and the General Assembly in January.

The constitution requires that the benefits of education be given to our residents as inexpensively as practicable. The Board has always recommend that there be no increase in tuition, leaving it to the Legislature to determine what is practicable based on availability of funds. This has precluded any conversation about tuition policy. The Assembly can override any Board recommendation.

The most fundamental recommendation is that the Board of Governors should take the first step in making recommendations about tuition. We averaged an 8.1% increase in tuition over the last decade, exceeding the increase in income or in the CPI. We, therefore, are not doing a good job in keeping tuition as low as we might like. The first recommendation is to maintain low resident tuition for both graduate and undergraduate levels. Second, any changes should consider popular indices. Third, a schedule must be established at present tuition is not set until the legislature develops the budget. The problem is that this is usually long after semesters begin and tuition bills have been paid, so that students often have to pay additional money. More important, the current system precludes a rational budgeting process. If the Board starts the process, by setting tuition in October and fees in March, the process would be in place before the semester starts.

Individual campuses that wish to request increases in fees or tuition must satisfy a series of stringent criteria, to include:

An analysis of impact of the change on program quality
An analysis of impact on access for NC residents
Availability of financial aid
Analysis of whether students can afford the increase
Analysis relating revenue to costs
Analysis of peer institutions
Documentation of how funds will be used

Mr. Barns distributed a summary of the task force recommendations.

Third Plenary Session Convened at 6:50 with forty-five delegates present.

Executive Committee Report: Nolan

Reminded delegates of the colloquium on November 5

Outlined topics for discussion at the next meetings, including:

Potential enrollment surge

Distance learning implications

Workload and funding priorities

Review of post-tenure review

Presented some suggestion regarding how the Assembly may become more proactive:

Internship in GA for a faculty member
Requesting copies of requests from Legislature as they are made to GA
Possible reorganization of committee structure
Professional Development advisory committee Committee Reports

Academic Freedom and Tenure: Mackey

The committee proposes to address three topics this year:

Post tenure review to acquire documents from all campuses and to generally consider development of post tenure review

Scholarly communication to consider the privacy of information generated by academicians on the various campuses

Trends of UNC faculty by full time/part-time and tenure status. The group will monitor the number of tenured probationary and fixed term faculty who teach. They distributed a chart showing these numbers for each campus. They want to be sure that the rights of tenured faculty are not diluted.

Professional Development Committee: Rosenberg (for Pearson) Dr. Rosenberg first discussed the activities of the professional development advisory committee during the summer.

In 1997 the Board endorsed the continuing review of faculty performance, which included the need for post-tenure review and the need to provide professional development for faculty. The Assembly has also supported professional development, for both faculty and department chairs. The professional development advisory committee was created in the fall 1997 as a response to the budget cuts for ICUT. The Assembly presented a resolution to the President which led to the creation of the committee to examine programs that enhance faculty expertise in teaching,, instructional technology and assessment as well as programs dedicated to supporting the development of department Chairs.

The committee met seven times and visited each of the campuses to assess the needs and describe the programs in place to address the needs. They also examined other professional development programs. The final report, in its fourth draft, is available on the web site. The report:

Recognizes the changing needs of faculty and chair work

Summarizes the status of current programs, and

Recommends the establishment of a development initiative.

The Professional Development Initiative would have several goals:

Coordinate system wide efforts
Communicate knowledge among members
Plan and conduct initiatives with selected focus areas by working from a central office
A budget request will be submitted to provide for a director and staff as well as operating expenses.
Committee discussion: The group discussed issues related to the committee activity this year. It was felt that the report of the advisory committee was the main item. The committee hoped that the establishment of a central office would not diminish the development efforts now in place on the campuses, but would augment the local efforts. To insure this, the committee requests that:
"The new organization and its funding shall not replace existing teaching/learning center funding on individual campuses. It will provide additional coordinated resources/expertise/activities in each initiative area to be made available to all UNC faculty. Campuses which have not to date complied with Executive Memorandum to establish a teaching/learning center shall not use this organization, its funding or its activities in lieu of establishing and funding an on campus teaching/learning center." Faculty Welfare Committee: Howell In light of the relative status of Faculty benefits, the committee would like to request that President Broad place a member of the Faculty Welfare Committee on each of the study groups in GA and to be involved in any recommendations that might come from that, related to employee benefits.

The committee considered a request from a member that they examine salary equity across the system. The committee believes that their request to be part of study groups would be responsive to this request.

In response to a request from WCU and ASU to determine if more health care options might be made available to them, in light of the loss of HMOís in those areas, the committee will bring this forward as part of the benefits analysis being done by GA.

The group worked with Kitty McCollum, who pointed out that many issues would be included in the forthcoming analysis. For example, can parents be included in health care policies? Might we have an option for "just married" couples?

The committee also suggests that there be a strategy to increase the attractiveness of retirement by including things such as free classes at system institutions (even if under age 65), access to the library, computer facilities, and recreational facilities. The committee requests that the Chair ask the President to discuss these issues with the Chancellors.

In terms of phased retirement, the group wishes to clarify what "emeritus" status means on campuses now. The various phased retirement policies do not clearly state when individuals are eligible to become emeritus faculty members. There was concern that the phased retirement programs on some campus may diminish some of the rights of faculty compared to individuals who choose normal retirement. The committee requests that the Chair ask the President if an attorney could review the phased retirement documents to compare the legal rights of faculty in phased retirement programs to other faculty.

Fred Eckel has been placed on a committee of GA to examine whether a mutual fund may be created to permit direct investment by faculty members. This committee will meet in late October.

Keith Howell has been named to a committee of GA to examine the results of phased retirement and post tenure review on the faculty work life.

Faculty Budget: Fogarty Reviewed the most recent annual survey from each campus to determine the involved of each campusí faculty in the budgeting process. The committee will look at fees this year.

Met with Mr. Ken Grogan to review budget priorities for the next biennium, although this is difficult in the absence of legislature action on the current budget.

The committee will examine the impact of budget reversions on each campus as a result of the "span of control study. This has had a particular impact on libraries. Chapel Hill had 1.4 million of the total 3.5 million cuts.

In response to questions about the "space study" the space standards of all institutions in the country were surveyed and compared to those in our system. About half our campus had representatives on the committee.

Planning and Programs: Caton The committee met with Gary Barns to discuss issues related to assessment, especially student outcome measures. GA has not mandated any assessment, although they continue to survey sophomores and alumni one year after graduation. There is some discussion about surveying employers and about the use of commercially available standardized surveys to assess the learning environment. GA has not mandated any assessment, and although there may be more initiatives in the future, Mr. Barnes does not believe the need to be cumbersome.

Enrollment surge Judith Pulley. There is concern among the campuses about the impact of more students. Several databases are used to make predictions about the projections for growth., including the number of high school seniors, high school graduation rates and the U. S. Census. These were combined with other demographic data and given to each campus. GA is not mandating nor requesting that the campuses meet the projected demand and the decision whether or not to grow rests with each institution. The campuses do provide GA with their enrollment plan and works with them in planning the capital development that would be required to accommodate the growth. In doing so, they assume that the average classroom will be used 35 hours each week. In another matter, campuses are being asked to define their role for off campus instruction. Finally, although the creation of a new campus has been considered, this does not appear to be a very likely outcome.

The committee will concentrate on enrollment growth and distance learning issues this year.

Faculty Governance: Smith The committee has finished its work on the Bylaws revision.. The proposed Bylaws will be voted on at the November meeting, which means they must be distributed by October 5. These will be placed on the web site. To summarize the changes:
Sexist language has been removed
Information may be distributed electronically
Ad hoc committees may now include members outside of the university
The number of delegates will be monitored by the Chair
Reference to the Presidentís Administrative Council has been removed
The composition of the nominating committee has been changed
The restrictions on public access have been removed Old Business Gib Smith voiced the concern that President Broad was not available for questions after her presentation. He presented a motion that:

"The assembly respectfully requests that the agenda for each meeting provide adequate time for the President to entertain questions from the Assembly and that the Chair convey this request to the President."

In order to discuss the motion, the Assembly waived its requirement that motions be made 24 hours in advance by unanimous vote.

After discussion, the motion carried.

Other The Assembly asked Lolly to write the President a letter supporting her efforts and thanking her for her efforts to improve our benefits.
Topics for discussion in November:
After some discussion, the members decided to explore distance learning in February. For November, the group will ask Mr. Robinson to update us on grievances that have reached the Board of Governors.

Lolly directed delegates to the agenda for the forthcoming copyright colloquium. One discussion group will be added for the research directors. Delegates will be the 52 Assembly members, the campus attorneys, and the director of each campus library. Given the funding devoted to this activity, it is important that all delegates, or their alternates, attend.

Adjournment at 8:41.

Respectfully submitted:

W. D. Siegfried
Secretary