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April Meeting – April 27, 2015

1. Call to Order:

The April 27, 2015 (March) meeting of the University Senate was called to order at 4:06 p.m. in the Ropp Center, Room 105, by President Michael Swanbom.

2.  Roll Call:  Sandi Richardson

A quorum was met. Those absent without excuse or proxy are: Andy Cline and Lisa Merritt.

3.  Approval of Minutes:  March 2015

The minutes for March were presented for ratification; a motion to adopt minutes as presented was made by Jeff Pike and seconded by Dave Merchant. Motion passed by unanimous vote.

4. Old Business

  • Mike Swanbom informed the Senate that the faculty/staff have overwhelmingly voted in support of the Constitutional Amendment to enhance leadership continuity. The vote was 85% positive – 293 for/43 against. Although the President does not feel this vote is best for the university or professional careers, Dr. Guice will not oppose the change. The new constitutional amendment is now ratified.
  • The salary adjustment project was presented to Dr. Guice; he was in support of the hybrid initiative. Following discussion, a motion to adopt the resolution as written was made by Bill Stammerjohan and seconded by Ernie Rufleth. The vote was unanimous.
  • Dr. Leland Weiss of the Administrative burden task group gave a brief update regarding Hotel Planner. As a call to action, he requested faculty email him with as many specific instances supporting the objection to using Hotel Planner as a solitary booking portal.
  • Budget Powerpoint presentation to legislature posted on Moodle or view slide presentation here.

5. New Business

  •  Discussion regarding the new policy regarding inclusiveness/anti-discrimination policies. Much debate regarding the wisdom of changing the language of the policy to be more specific regarding the category called gender. According to legal counsel, gender is already a protected category.
  • Instances of known wronged parties or examples were requested. The argument for becoming pro-active and not waiting until offense is taken was posited.
  • It was agreed that there is value in making all policy statements carry the same language regarding non-discrimination and protected classes.
  • Steven Toaddy, Justin Kavalir, and Shawn Trivette volunteered to pen proposed policy language changes
  • The motion to stand behind University of Louisiana System Policy M-(11)a as written was made by Bill McCumber and seconded by Kathleen Heiden.
    Vote was 30 approve, 2 oppose, 5 abstain.

5. Voluntary Remarks:

College elections for the University Senate Chair award and Virgil Orr Junior Faculty awards have concluded. Packets from nominees are to be submitted by Friday, May 15, 2015. Winners by college are as follows.

University Senate Chair Award

  • Nominees 2015:
    • William Green (Applied and Natural Sciences)
    • Anthony Inman (Business)
    • Jerome Tobacyk (Education)
    • Leland Weiss (Engineering and Science)
    • Guy Carwile (Liberal Arts)

Virgil Orr Junior Faculty Award

  • Nominees 2015:
    • Paul Jackson (Applied and Natural Sciences)
    • Debbie Inman (Business)
    • Mitzi Desselles (Education)
    • Brad Cicciarelli (Engineering and Science)
    • Ernest Rufleth (Liberal Arts)

6. Adjournment:  The motion to adjourn was made by Steven Toaddy and seconded by David Merchant; the meeting adjourned at 5:00 p.m.

Sandi Richardson, Recording Secretary