Tuesday, 13 October 2009
2:00 p.m., EB 162
Meeting 2010-02

Meeting called to order at 2:04pm.

Roll sign-in

• Attendance sheets were distributed.
• Absent:
  • Departmental senators: Barlow (Interim Provost), Buttino (Film Studies), Clark (Dean, Business), Cordle (Dean, CAS), Elikai (Accountancy & Business Law), Evers (Accountancy & Business Law), Henry (Geography & Geology), Lerch (Anthropology), McCaffray (History), McCann (Dean, Nursing), Moore (Dean, University College), Reeves (Chemistry & Biochemistry), Shynett (Music), Usilton (History), Wray (Information Systems & Operations Management).
  • Committee chairs: Bingham (Student Affairs), Chandler (Bookstore), Murrell (University Curriculum), Willis (Library).

Approval of the September 2009 minutes

• If you were incorrectly noted as absent in the September 2009 minutes, please contact Bruce McKinney or Liza Palmer to fix it.
• September 2009 minutes were approved.
• [N.B. The remainder of the meeting was conducted out of the original order as presented in the agenda.]

Special order of the day

1. Election of Faculty Assembly Alternate Delegate

• This was deemed unnecessary by President McKinney and the Steering Committee.

Individual reports

1. Chancellor DePaolo

• [N.B. This presentation occurred fifth.]
• I thought we would start by handing out swabs and scales [laughter].
• I wanted to go last so that I could clarify any questions you might have.
• Budget. I can see your point of view, whether the Administration deserves applause or not, UNCW handled layoffs differently from any other UNC school, and in a way we should be proud of.  People are just grateful that they weren’t laid off.  We did not fill vacancies.  Every person on this campus is working more than they ever have before.  And that’s real.  Everyone is feeling that in really real ways.  Charlie or William, anything to add?
  • Maimone:  It was really a matter of planning that allowed us to do this.  But it was the planning that allowed us to maneuver through those reductions.
• Tuition and fees. Ed mentioned this was a 4-year plan from Erskine Bowles.  The total package would be 6.5% over four years.  In fact, the 4-year plan was only in effect for 2 years.  Erskine came to us because of the economy and told us that he didn’t want us to go anywhere near that.  This year, the Legislature has preempted us and said we will not have our normal campus-initiated raise.  But there will be a Legislature-initiated raise and we won’t see any of that.  We use campus-initiated raises for faculty salaries.  We have used it for financial aid and for other great needs on campus.  So far, we won’t be able to do this for next year.  That should be viewed as an additional cut because that is what it is.  They have not said anything about fees.  I guess, if I have a view on it at all, we might not come out with any fees.  But we should go through the process so we can at least identify our needs.
• I like Erskine’s action plan. Most of it suits us extremely well. He has probably taken some heat for putting K-12 first.
• The other major point that I think is a real policy shift is that we look at these other schools who are focusing on quantity, growing their enrollments.  I and many others always doubted whether enrollment growth was the right incentive.  I understand why they do it.  But what happened is that they were continually taking in more students to get enrollment growth money and those students were not prepared and they were not retained and graduated.  Erskine will go to a system that will recognize instead retention and graduation rates.  Some penalty will follow – not sure what it is yet.  But if you are taking in students and not graduating them, there will be a penalty. 87% retention this year at UNCW – our goal was 90%.  That is extraordinary. I think philosophically, this is absolutely the right thing the System should be doing.
• We are already administratively lean.  It says that UNCW has no academic cuts, that was looking not at our total cut of 10%, that was looking at the last 3% that Erskine instituted.  I know it is confusing. For that additional 3%, they wanted it over the summer.  They were upset with us, we could not give them those statistics over the summer because of faculty being away.
• Distance education – our numbers have doubled in the last two years.  Our numbers look great.  Our reporting improved.  That’s not one of the things high on my worry list.
• Finally, we have been without a mission statement for several years.  Our BOT approved several over the years but because of UNC Tomorrow, the BOG have not been approving them recently.  I am hoping they will approve this in the November meeting.
• Questions?
• Seidman:  I imagine there is a relationship between not raising our enrollment and our retention numbers?
• Absolutely.
• Will there be money that comes from good retention and graduations rates?
• I am hoping that will happen.
• Turrisi:  I am concerned about the effect of the losses (that aren’t losses) on the students.  There are positions that weren’t filled that might impact programs.  Has anyone looked at that?
• You’re right.  These losses have been devastating to us.
• Turrisi:  But it doesn’t look that way, if the message comes out that we didn’t suffer any layoffs.  Do we have some obligation to set the record straight?
• I set the record straight every day.
• Maimone:  We went through a 7% budget reduction plan – we implemented that plan.  What was presented to the BOG was only a portion of that.  The annual allocation requests are going through right now – the Planning Council and the Cabinet has made a strategic aim to focus our money back into the academic experience for the students.  We are very careful not to make any changes that we can’t sustain over time.  It’s a strategy to focus in on whatever monies are available – those dollars will be infused back into the system.
• I think you will see on the academic side some relief soon.  They asked us to hold back 10%.  At this point, they are not taking that entire 10%.  So we will have some money to put back to things.  My instructions are that that will go primarily to the academic experience for the students.  It is for the Provost and deans to makes these decisions.
• Lugo:  I think the problem as it is perceived is that the way it is presented is that we lost no faculty and that is wrong.  We lost faculty – last year, we were told we lost 11 faculty in CAS.  That I think is the perception we are complaining about.
• I understand that.  We were putting out very directly last year how many sections we would lose, etc.  What the press picked up was the latest set of numbers and that got out there.  It was at that point that Erskine said we’re only taking administrative cuts.  So we gave him more administrative cuts.  Again, I know there have been faculty losses.  I can’t control what is picked up by the media at a BOG event or how GA presents it to the BOG.  Does that make sense? I understand completely what you say.  You talk to your neighbors, they think this is all good. 
• Thanks.

2. President of the Senate McKinney

• O. Max Gardner Award
• [N.B. This presentation occurred second.]
• An email went out from Sharon Lindgren.
• We have no nominations!
• It’s important that we nominate someone from this campus.
• Messer:  Are we going to do anything about the health care?
• My action is that I am going to try to get together with all the staff council and faculty senate presidents.  And then try to determine the audience to address these issues.
• Graham:  Olympia Snow is supporting the Senate Health Bill – maybe someone can address the tax consequences for us?  Mark – if you could run the numbers and bring it back to us, I would really appreciate it.
• If any of you want to work with me on this, please send me an email.
• Health Insurance
• [N.B. This presentation occurred first.]
• My father lost his job when he was 62, which required drastic family changes. So I am not an unbiased speaker on this topic but the information I will be presenting is true.
• PPT presentation.
• BCBS sent out this information a while ago.
• Faculty Assembly discussed this at length at the last meeting.
• In front of you, there is a printout of SC health insurance options (see page 19 of this PDF).
• This was on the NBC Today show, talking about NC specifically.
• Can anybody with more knowledge about BMI talk about it?
• If you are extremely muscular, you will have a BMI in the negative.
• Messer: The CDC does not use BMI as a valid tool.
• Does the tobacco ban allow for chewing tobacco?
• I think it is on tobacco products so chewing tobacco would be included in this ban.
• Turrisi: BMI measures proportions of fat in your body. That’s a reasonable number.
• Messer: The CDC does not recognize this measure.
• Black: I don’t think the insurance company should be coming in and randomly testing you.
• Gessner: This is being done elsewhere as a reward, here it is a punishment.
• Lugo: What is wrong is the assumption is that we are all guilty until proven innocent.
• Brubaker: How much are our rates going to go up to pay for all these people to go around and police us?
• Jackson: Blue Cross has one of the highest administrative rates. Bob Greczyn makes 3.99m a year.
• So children will be punished for the actions of their parents. As I understand this all, all of our records are no longer private because BCBS has opted out of HIPAA.
• Graham:  One of the reasons NC premiums are so high is because of the lobbyists. There are a lot of stupid things that NC is required to cover (chiropractics, etc.). That’s an opinion. Please keep this in mind.
• I’d like to thank the fellow faculty members who helped me prepare this presentation. I could not find data on how much BCBS spent on PSAs against health care reform. I will be extremely extroverted on this issue – I don’t think we should sit back on this one. SC gets choices – why don’t we get choices? I am going to do my best to make sure the status quo will not stay the same. I think it is despicable – we need answers from BCBS or the Legislature.
• Graham: We appreciate what you have done [applause].  The solution is buying insurance across state lines.  To pursue this outcome, you will have to climb into bed with some unsavory people, who advocate competition.  I do have to respect a free-market system.  Let’s buy that SC insurance.
• Messer:  I am wondering what we are going to do as a group?  It would be great to know how much weight we have as a UNC System.  It is illegal to organize in NC.  Could we ask the chancellors to write letters to the governor? 
• Chancellor: Bruce sent this to me and I sent it to Erskine Bowles.  I know Erskine already expressed concern about the benefits issue.  He is making a presentation to the Joint Education Committee this afternoon.  Hopefully we will know of it more.  Let me also add, Brad Wilson is a member of the BOG and was in fact the head of the BOG for a number of years.  He has often been very supportive of UNCW.  I think, from my knowledge of Brad, he is a very savvy guy and I think that because we have contacts with him and because Erskine has an obvious relationship with him that there are ways to discuss this with Brad.
• Gessner:  I think the fact that this is getting media coverage – I think by drawing attention to it, we make progress.  Already there is backlash and this is just today. 
• Gurganus:  I share your concern but I would like clarification on whom we should be made at.  We don’t have a BCBS policy now – it clearly said on the back of my card that BCBS is an administrator only.  While I agree with all the statistics, it’s not altogether that we have a similar plan to those in the other states.  I see this as a logical consequence of the State Legislature cutting off revenue streams.  When Molly Broad first came, she said, much more eloquently, that the benefits suck.  So let’s not, when we are looking at our dismay at this, it is not necessarily the private sector.
• It’s not going to do us any good to go after BCBS – we have to find the appropriate people in the Legislature and let them know that they let us down.  Some people in other states are demanding rebates – I don’t think that will happen here.
• Chancellor:  I think we need a better action plan.  I can’t believe that this is really going to continue.  I think Staff Senate and Faculty Assembly would be appropriate.  I would look at all those groups and be as methodical and calm about is as possible.
• I am not talking about unionizing here. 
• Fleming:  Before you spend a lot of time collecting a lot of data.  The UNC System has been collecting a lot of data about this over the years.  So that data is there, if you would like to get it from GA.  As the chancellor said, this is a changing landscape.  It is complicated, though.  That’s why I would encourage you to look at the comparative data.  
• I was just looking at the basics, the deductibles, the co-pays, etc.
• In regard to the State Health Plan, it does have its own Board of Trustees.  There is a wealth of information between the trustees and the Legislature.  The state put in over 300m to fill the hole after the mismanagement of the plan.  Before you do go through too much research time, a lot of that is out there and I would be glad to assist you with that.
• I am concerned that we don’t have a choice. BCBS covers 96% of people who live in NC.
• Jackson:  One of the reasons we don’t have a choice: we tried that before but because of our varying terrain, the companies pulled out.
• I just want to find out how SC can offer these different plans to their residents.  One of my frustrations is that these are people we give a lot of money to each month and they can’t even return a phone call.  To me, that speaks that they don’t care about the complaints we have.
• Gessner:  I am listening to the complexity of it, which some of us don’t understand.  For me the most important goal is creating awareness and not in an angry way.  So just putting those facts out there, it’s going to make people aware that there is a problem.

3. Faculty Assembly Report: Raymond Burt

• [N.B. This presentation occurred third.]
• I will begin with a description of Faculty Assembly. It represents all 17 institutions. We are allowed to send a certain number of members, depending upon our institution size (four plus Faculty Senate President, who serves as ex officio, for UNCW). There are a president and executive council.  They also set up task forces as necessary.  Every member of the executive council chairs those task forces. Meetings are divided into two parts; during the first half, GA reports to us (same report that they make to the chief academic officers in many respects). I want to remind us to go back to the special order of the day – we are missing one representative. 
• PDF presentation.
• Faculty Assembly's action plan this year. Erskine Bowles presented and said he was very proud of faculty during these budget cuts.
  • K-12 Education: Erskine says there will be no recovery if there aren’t improvements to K-12 education.
  • Online Education: The Sloan Foundation found that in terms of credit-hour education, the online courses that the system offers, if added up, would make it the 7th largest (in the system). We are better organized than the Phoenix system.
  • Retention: If you don’t retain students, you won’t grow.
  • Faculty Workload: They had been talking about faculty workload – discussions are about that would require a 4/4 workload.  I don’t know if this will be an immediate issue.
• Hate Crime Policies: There are some hate crime guidelines coming down, in response to an incident at NC State.
• Bob Nelson’s report – A number of institutions (like us, for instance) reported no losses on the faculty side.  The FA President said we need to gather a response to this report.
• FA Would like to question the mission of online learning. 
• I encourage you to apply for the FA position we have open.
  • President McKinney: According to the Bylaws, I have to pick one from an existing nomination.

4. Budget Committee Chair Ed Graham

• [N.B. This presentation occurred fourth.]
• I will keep my remarks brief.
• My email address is edgraham AT uncw.edu.
• First, UNCW and the UNC System are currently under a BOG 4-year plan, capping raises of tuition and fees at 6.5%.
• A number of faculty incur expenses ourselves. It would be great if UNCW tracked these expenses so administration could take this data to stakeholders.  A lot of faculty have already paid for conferences themselves.
• We are operating under Senate Bill 202.  No raises for last year or this year – not sure how that impacts raises as a result of tenure and promotions.
  • President McKinney: I think those have gone through.
  • Cook: There is a way around that; you can access the retention pot if you get an offer in writing that is more than what you currently make.
• Tuition changes. We are authorized to increase tuition for 2010-11 for out-of-state students and graduate students.GA and BOG actions in the next month or two, they are largely unknown.  In May 2010, there will be a short meeting that could change these tuition rules.  So if we are assertive, we can make changes before the start of the 2010-2011 AY.
• Faculty concerns are with mandated fee increases. Dumas works with me on this. Fee increases might displace tuition increases. This is not the time to be proposing not easily defended new programs or enhancements.
• UNCW should keep track of additional expenses faculty have taken on in response to the modest salary reductions (i.e. furloughs).
• There was a lecturer in CAS that was let go.  UNCW otherwise has been able to retain everyone else through reassignments.  People really are important.
  • Turrisi: You’re talking about positions currently held?
• There were lots of recurring positions that were not renewed.  But they were not permanent positions.  We have fewer employees then we did last year.
• Keep in mind, additional budget cuts are possible, but the gravest portion of this particular budget and funding “correction” seems to have passed.
• I do return my phone calls and emails – and thanks for listening.

Committee reports

1. The University Curriculum Committee submits the following motion:

• [Motion 10-02-08] That the Senate approve the following recommendations:
  • Biology
    • Approve the establishment of a new option within the B.S. in Biology: The Biology Terrestrial and Freshwater Conservation Option (see UCC Form for BS in Conservation | Requirements for BS in Conservation)
  • Geography and Geology
    • Approve the establishment of a Geospatial Technology Minor (see UCC Form for Geospatial Technology Minor | Catalog Copy | Minor Description | Email)
  • Sociology & Criminology
    • Approve the establishment of a “Minor in Criminology” (see CRM Minor | Letter to CAS | UCC Form for Minor | UCC Form for Name Change)
• [N.B. The remainder of the meeting adhered to the original agenda.]
• Any objections to considering this as one motion?
• Any discussion?
• [Motion 10-02-08] approved.

Old business

• No old business.

New business

• [Motion 10-02-09] Motion from Faculty Senate President McKinney:  The UNCW rescind the fee for visitor parking on campus and allow visitor to park for free anywhere with the appropriate permit.
  • You probably got my email about the warning citations that went out – totally unnecessary.  We have email.  I don’t like the way that was handled, particularly with budget cuts; and we are told not to give out paper in classes.
  • I don’t think this sends a very positive message, having guest lecturers have to pay for parking.
    • Pullum: We need a second for this.
    • Cook:  [Motion 10-02-09] seconded.             
  • Discussion?      
    • Seidman:  What do you mean by visitor?
  • Any visitor.
    • Black:  Chancellor, if we pass this, will anyone lose their job?
    • Jackson:  [Motion 10-02-10] I move that this motion is moved to committee.
    • [Motion 10-02-10] seconded.
    • Discussion ?
      • We should send it to the Parking and Transportation Committee.
      • Noland:  That is not a Senate committee.
      • Black:  Do we have the authority to do this?
      • Gurganus:  We have the authority to recommend.
      • Posey:  I suggest that the committee be the Steering Committee.
      • Gurganus:  The motion on the floor is to refer.
    • [Motion 10-02-10] approved.

Announcements

• No announcements.

Adjournment

Meeting adjourned at 3:37pm.