Academic Senate Youngstown State University Youngstown, Ohio  44555

April 2, 2003

Note 1: Many thanks to Joan Bevan, Philosophy and Religious Studies, for taking minutes of the April 2 meeting.

Note 2: Please submit agenda items and cover sheets for the May 7, 2003, Senate meeting to Bege Bowers in the Provost’s Office by noon on Thursday, April 24,at the latest.  Provide both a hard copy and a disk or electronic copy of your report and cover sheet in Word or rich text format.  A downloadable cover sheet is available at the Academic Senate web site:

Note 3: If you want to read or print the pdf version of these minutes and don’t have Adobe Acrobat Reader, you may download the program at the following link: <http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html>.

To save paper, use the Acrobat Reader menus or toolbar to print the file, not the menus or toolbar in your web browser. 

Major topics presented/discussed and reports attached: 

Senate Executive Committee report focusing on Senate attendance, review of the Professional Conduct Policy, and grading policy for students summoned to active military duty; Integrated Technologies Committee update on Technology Master Plan.

Tom Shipka, chair of the Academic Senate, called the Senate to order at 4:14 p.m. and proceeded with an informational meeting.

Minutes of the 5 March 2003 meeting are posted on the Senate web site at <http://www.www.ysu.edu/acad-senate/minmar03.htm>.  They could not be approved because of the lack of a quorum.

To view the March minutes, click here.  Click your “Back” button as necessary to return to the April minutes.

Senate Executive Committee (SEC) / Report from the Chair:  Tom Shipka, chair of the Senate, delivered part of his intended report. The full report appears here:

Let me note for the record that our Senate Secretary, Bege Bowers, is attending a professional conference today, and her replacement is Joan Bevan, secretary in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies.  Joan has performed this duty previously several times, and on behalf of the Senate I express our gratitude to her.

Topic 1. Senate Attendance:  Dr. Bowers has put the Senate attendance record for this school year through the March Senate meeting on the Senate web site at <http://www.www.ysu.edu/acad-senate/attendance_2002-2003.pdf>.  I encourage all faculty and administrators, including the Provost and President, to take note of it.  The picture is not pretty:

• Only 13 out of 65 faculty Senators – 20% – have attended all 5 meetings. [Update: After the Senate meeting, two corrections were made on the attendance summary; 14 faculty Senators had attended all 5 meetings.]

• Only 37 out of 65 faculty Senators – 57% – have attended at least 4 meetings.

• 5 faculty Senators have not attended a single meeting.

• There should be 70 faculty Senators but there are only 65.  This is because 4 academic departments are listed as having a vacancy for department senator and 1 college has a vacancy in an at-large position.

• 2 administrative Senators have not attended a single meeting.

• Only 1 of 15 administrative Senators has attended all 5 meetings.

• Only 3 of 15 administrative Senators have attended at least 4 meetings.

• Only 6 of 15 administrative Senators have attended at least 3 meetings.

• Attendance by student Senators is decent but still in need of improvement.

The overall impression that I get from the attendance record is that many Senators don’t take their most important Senate responsibility – showing up – very seriously.  It is no surprise that making and holding a quorum is problematic for the Senate.  The Senate is the most important shared governance body in the University.  If attendance is a measure, many people who have agreed to serve as Senators do not value shared governance.  I do not accept the claim that people are too busy with other professional duties to attend Senate meetings.  If you look at the list of those with perfect attendance, it includes members of the University community who are exceedingly busy.  If these people can find a way to show up, then surely the rest of us can too.

If poor attendance continues, it may be time to take a fresh look at the structure of the Senate.  Perhaps we need to streamline the Senate.  On the other hand, a smaller Senate is not necessarily the solution to the problem of poor attendance.  A Senate consisting of 30 people where half aren’t committed to regular attendance does not strike me as an improvement over a Senate consisting of 100 people where half aren’t committed to regular attendance.  The best solution is for all of us in the University community to take our governance responsibilities more seriously.

Topic 2: Professional Conduct Policy (see <http://www.www.ysu.edu/acad-senate/prof_conduct_policy_11-02.pdf>):  Review of the Senate-approved Professional Conduct Policy continues by a committee appointed by President Sweet, consisting of Tom Maraffa, Bege Bowers, Jim Morrison, Sandy Denman, and myself.  Thus far, a variety of changes have been agreed to, including many proposed by Charles Singler and William Jenkins.  The review committee hopes to conclude its work in about a month so that the amended policy can be forwarded to appropriate committees of the Board of Trustees and then to the full Board for approval at the June meeting.

Once the new Professional Conduct Policy is in effect, it is my hope and expectation that allegations of ethical wrongdoing on campus will be processed under the procedures of this new policy rather than in campus or community media.  If these procedures are followed, the rights of both accused and accuser will be safeguarded, due to the provisions for confidentiality and due process.

Topic 3: Students Summoned to Active Military Duty:  A query has arisen as to whether students summoned for active military service are subject to the current rule by which a grade of Incomplete in a course automatically converts to an F at the end of one year if the course has not been completed.  Bill Countryman from Enrollment Services informs me that they are.  It may be appropriate to offer relief to these students on this policy since their departure from campus was unplanned, unavoidable, and perhaps involuntary.  I ask that the Academic Standards Committee take a look at this issue and prepare a motion on the issue, if necessary and appropriate, for the May Senate meeting.

Ohio Faculty Council (OFC):   The OFC report appears in Attachment 1 to the agenda for the April 2 Senate meeting at <http://www.www.ysu.edu/acad-senate/apr03_ofc.htm>.

Charter and Bylaws Committee, Elections and Balloting Committee:  No reports.

Academic Standards Committee (ASC):   A preliminary report appeared as Attachment 2 to the agenda for the April 2 Senate meeting at <http://www.www.ysu.edu/acad-senate/apr03_asc.htm>. The business referred to in the report will carry over to the May 7 Senate meeting.

Academic Programs Committee (APC):  No report.

University Curriculum Committee:  The report appeared as Attachment 3 to the agenda for the April 2 Senate meeting at <http://www.www.ysu.edu/acad-senate/apr03_ucc.htm>; no action is required.

Academic Planning Committee:  No report.

General Education Committee (GEC):  A list of newly certified courses appeared in Attachment 4 to the agenda for the April 2 Senate meeting at <http://www.www.ysu.edu/acad-senate/apr03_gec.htm>.  No action is required.

Integrated Technologies Committee:  The report, focusing on the Technology Master Plan, appears in Attachment 1 to these minutes.

University Outreach Committee; Library Committee; Academic Research Committee; Student Academic Affairs Committee; Student Academic Grievance Committee; Honors Committee, Academic Events Committee:  No reports.

New business:  None.

Adjournment:  Dr. Shipka dismissed the Senate at 4:17 p.m.