March 29, 2007
Loyola Marymount University
Faculty Senate Minutes
March 29, 2007
Collins Center
3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Present: Cynthia Becht, Jeffrey Davis, Charles Erven, Véronique Flambard-Weisbart, Vicki Graf, Paul Harris, Chun I. Lee, Blake Mellor, Mel Mendelson, Ed Mosteig, Liz Murray, James Roe, Rhonda Rosen, Jonathan Rothchild, Sue Scheibler and Seth Thompson
Excused: Sonny Espinoza, Gary Kuleck, Yvette Lapayese, Jennifer Offenberg, K. J. Peters, Ralph Quiñones, Damon Rago and Nina Reich
President Graf called the meeting to order at 3:00 p.m. She began the meeting with a moment of reflection on César Chávez and the impact of his work on behalf of farm workers.
I. Approval of March 15 Minutes – President Graf
It was moved and seconded to adopt and approve the minutes of March 15. The minutes were approved unanimously.
II. Faculty Ballot for Handbook Revision, March 2007, Sole Item: Early Application for Tenure and Promotion - Elections Results – Cynthia Becht
- A total of 169 ballots were turned in from the faculty. Out of 169 ballots, 145 ballots (86%) “Accepted” the revision and 24 ballots (14%) “Rejected” the revision.
- The following comments were included on a couple of ballots:
• “This is fine but what would be more helpful would be an automatic 1 year extension towards tenure for every child born/adopted for a man or woman. Princeton has adopted this progressive policy.”
• “The timeframe is too unclear. When can faculty apply? I.e. ask chair and dean. After only 1.5 years if already 2 years elsewhere?”
• “About time.”
- The revision will go into the Faculty Handbook and will be in effect next year.
III. Rank and Tenure Promotions – President Graf
- President Graf congratulated all faculty who achieved tenure and promotion this spring.
IV. Update on Capital Campaign – Dennis Slon, Senior Vice President of University Relations and Bedford McIntosh, Vice President of Development and Alumni Relations
Dennis Slon
- SVP Slon expressed his hope that the newly renovated Collins Center will provide more opportunity to bring faculty and alumni together. He introduced VP Bedford McIntosh as the new manager of fundraising and alumni groups within University Relations. SVP Slon will focus his efforts on the Capital Campaign. The Capital Campaign will be expanded through 2011 in order to take advantage of the centennial anniversary. SVP Slon will be working with the deans to identify priorities for this campaign and will meet with the Board of Trustees to provide them with a new campaign dollar figure. He plans to meet with the Faculty Senate regularly to provide updates and receive feedback.
- A Mid-Campaign Capacity Study was conducted by Marts and Landy, Inc. to see how the campaign is doing. 552 surveys (a 14% response rate) were received, which was double the expected return. Study overview indicated that, although LMU is perceived as an institution that is strong and getting stronger, LMU needs to refine the campaign plan and emphasize the fact that the campaign is about advancing the university’s educational mission and aspirations. Study results show an enormous potential donor base that LMU has yet to tap. Most survey respondents could not articulate Capital Campaign goals.
- LMU will look to build a stronger volunteer corps. SVP Slon discussed strategies to engage donors, who are not necessarily interested in having their names on a building but who are very interested in knowing how their contributions significantly enhance LMU.
Bedford McIntosh
VP McIntosh made a State of the Capital Campaign presentation to the Senate that was created originally for the Board of Trustees retreat. The Capital Campaign has progressed well. LMU is currently ahead of its goals. Out of the 212 million dollars that has been committed, 150 million is already in hand.
Q & A
Q. How are you able to obtain information regarding alumni who are able to donate 8 figure donations?
A. We only get publicly accessible information.
Q. What would be your answer if asked what would LMU do with a 100 million dollar gift?
A. Fr. Lawton could answer that question. The pillars of any great university are its faculty and students. Possibly scholarship support. It would be something bigger than a single department or school.
Q. How is the library campaign going?
A. We have obtained 45 million dollars toward the 55 million dollar goal. We are planning on breaking ground in May 2007. The official groundbreaking ceremony will be held in October. This is Fr. Lawton’s highest priority.
Q. I am concerned about LMU’s image in the media. The general public does not know about LMU and I do not know why that is. We’re left out of many university and Los Angeles surveys. I think a donor would be more willing to give if LMU were more recognizable.
A. Visibility is really important. We are working on that, but with relatively thin resources. Teri Schwartz got an article on the School of Film and Television in the New York Times Magazine. One approach is to reach out to engage and educate the elite. We got good press on LMU’s Huffington Ecumenical Institute.
Q. Another area LMU could get involved in is in becoming a “green” campus. Following the Bellarmine forum, etc., we could get more involved in the environment.
A. That is a great idea.
Q. Going back to the million dollar question and what LMU would do with the money, what kind of response would work with a donor?
A. Interdisciplinary initiatives, cutting edge, the kind of thing that would create opportunities for people to engage in ways that have not been done before. To be a national model that other places could replicate.
Comment: In terms of visibility, it seems our focus is to ourselves not to others. The campus is introverted.
A. I agree. We do have a great story to tell and an excellent campus.
V. Update on Library and Plaza Construction – Al Tipon, Director, Facilities Management and Ray Hilyar, Director, Public and Environmental Safety
Library and Plaza - Al Tipon
- The Senate was given a slideshow preview of the first two phases of construction that will take place this summer. Construction will last through summer, 2009. A communication team has been assembled to help facilitate the communication of the construction process to LMU.
• Phase 1 – May 7 through June 1, 2007: Excavation
• Phase 2 – June 2 – August 5, 2007: New roads, utilities, pedestrian and vehicle flow changes and sidewalks will be created alongside the road. Foley Annex will be placed on the eastside of Foley, toward the back.
• Phase 3 – August 6, 2009: Completion
On April 12, the library plans will be inserted in the Loyolan and we will continue to add information in the Loyolan and on ManeGate. Webcams will be installed so that construction progress may be viewed throughout its duration.
Q & A
Q. When are the books going to be moved to the new library? Will the library be closed during that time?
A. We do not know specifics yet, but everything will be in place by August 6, 2009, the completion date.
Parking and University Access Changes - Ray Hilyar
- Public Safety is changing parking lot access in order to use more efficiently the spaces that are available on campus. Each student will be required to park in a specific lot near his/her residence, which will leave more parking spaces available elsewhere for commuter students, faculty and staff. Dedicated parking lot areas will be enforced only between 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on weekdays during the Fall and Spring semesters. After 4pm, all the parking lots will be open to everyone. Dedicated parking areas will not be enforced over breaks, weekends and the summer.
- To enhance security on campus, Public Safety has made plans to have the parking kiosk gates at the University entrance via Lincoln Blvd kept down 24 hours a day (currently they are left up). This will provide better control of visitors and parking and is a safer way to run the campus. LMU faculty, staff and students will use their one-cards to gain access through the gates . A third gated lane will be created to help move the incoming flow. During peak morning commute times, the guard at the kiosk will be authorized to open gates briefly to allow vehicles with proper LMU decals to pass through.
- Changes are scheduled to take place this August before the Fall semester begins.
Q & A
Q. At the Loyola gated entrance, vehicles often wait for someone to swipe their way in so they can rush in behind them.
A. There are cameras trained on that area and beyond. We can follow a vehicle by camera all the way to a parking spot and we pick those people up. Most of the time they don’t get away with it.
Q. Can loading zones be used for parking after 5pm?
A. No. Loading zones are always enforced. If you need to unload something, get a pass from the guard first to avoid any parking violations.
Q. How will you manage parking for theatre, sports and other special events?
A. We will ensure that those events are handled in the most efficient way possible and will open the gates.
VI. Update on Benefits – Margaret Halm, Benefits Manager
- The Senate was provided with a handout of the Health & Welfare Renewals 2007/2008. The Bridge newsletter was sent out to all faculty and staff. Open enrollment concludes on Monday, April 16. This year’s changes include:
• Single Co-Pay went up $10/month, which is still lower in percentage increase than other groups, but it will eventually increase to match the percentages of dual and family plans.
• LMU absorbed cost of the vision service plan benefit upgrade.
• PPO premium went down this year.
Q & A
Q. Where can we find information that pertains to out of pocket costs?
A. That information can be found on ManeGate under the H.R. tab, under “Get a benefits overview.”
Q. If the single co-pay plan is the same amount in both the PPO and HMO options, why would anyone choose an HMO plan?
A. The deductible is much higher for PPO.
Q. Has LMU thought of implementing a wellness program?
A. If you have a large corporation, you can institute that and get a reduction in premium costs. Right now LMU’s population is not great enough to really get a reduction, therefore, it is not worth pursuing at this time.
Comment: You could just document non-smoking, for example.
A. That is true, however, it would take a lot of administrative oversight and some people would have trouble with it. But it’s a good idea to look into what a wellness program might give LMU in terms of reduced costs.
- Please feel free to contact the Benefits Group and make an appointment.
VII. Discussion of Campus Climate Study – Ernie Rose, Chief Academic Officer
- CAO Rose congratulated faculty who have been awarded tenure and promotion.
- Results of the Campus Climate Study were not surprising. The study indicated that LMU is committed to diversity. However, the study also indicated that faculty of color, primarily women, feel the climate at LMU is not supportive.
- LMU is attracting notable faculty candidates, but more and more candidates are expressing that they do not see themselves being able to afford living in Los Angeles. We are doing better in recruitment, but not retention. Unused monies allocated to the faculty housing program shows that not enough viable options have been created.
- CAO Rose’s response to the Campus Climate Study will be a call to action, to look into results and engage faculty in discussion to make recommendations to form a plan of action.
Q & A
Q. The data from the Campus Climate Study has problems. Several data tables and the numbers make no sense. It has some mathematical impossibilities. Are these numbers real?
A. I cannot explain it statistically myself. I do not know if some weighting or adjustment was made.
Q. We heard about the Capital Campaign. Are there any plans within that to respond to issues raised in the Campus Climate Study?
A. Support for faculty (in terms of research scholarships and special opportunities) is what will come out of the campaign.
Q. Would this kind of campus climate data be shared with donors?
A. I don’t think so. This survey was done for our internal use. Most institutions do not have the courage to even address these issues in a self-survey.
Q. Table 13 (faculty satisfaction in LMU as organization) results of the Campus Climate Study highlights concerns over issues of accountability. What can we do in terms of an action plan to address these faculty concerns?
A. We have talked before of this. We are addressing problems of communication. Some things have become more transparent. Matt Dillon has served on Academic Affairs and it is important to have faculty present to ensure a balance. I think we are moving toward a more collaborative direction. I am going to produce an end-of-the-year report, which will show that. We will be talking about some pretty aggressive recommendations made by the Intercultural Committee at the Leadership Conference last May.
Q. Accountability of faculty is very transparent, but not transparent for administrators.
A. Fr. Lawton uses a 360˚ review process and you can ask him whether he would share that process. This semester we will be putting in place formative reviews for the Deans and the CAO position.
Q. Can you talk a bit about Human Resources and the contract situation?
A. The year before I arrived there was confusion about the 1994 memorandum about how teaching and service fed into the merit system. In the “general increase” area, the general percentage should be based upon the individual’s current base salary and extra merit based on average in rank across campus salaries. That was not done in 2005. Last year it was done correctly, but it was thought to be wrong; therefore, this year in error some contracts were sent out this year with general percentage increase based on average in rank across the university. We pulled back those contracts so they could be corrected. If the mistake was made in favor of the faculty, that first contract will be honored. If the mistake was made not in favor, that contract will be recalculated. A letter to that effect will be posted on ManeGate.
Q. I have a budgeting issues question. If the Capital Campaign is doing so well and student tuition is increased, then why do we have a 2% shortfall?
A. First of all, Capital Campaign money is very restricted. This year in the budget process, we were about 20 million dollars in requests over our revenue projections. We really needed to fix undergraduate financial aid and were getting to the point of collapse if we did not do anything about it. That plus faculty merit was 15 million dollars to fix. Everyone will take a 1% permanent cut across the board. Academic Affairs will put a freeze on open positions and then those lines will be released and eligible to be filled. All faculty positions that have not been filled will be frozen next year and if next year’s budget allows, they will be reopened. If circumstances do not allow all lines to be reopened at once, there will have to be some decisions made about which positions to reopen.
Q. You mentioned having a new policy perhaps in which the same faculty serving on the Committee on Rank and Tenure could not have a second vote within their departments.
A. I said I was troubled by that. We will look at that issue.
Q. A colleague commented that the R and T process is completely different here at LMU. We do not know anything at any stage of the process. It is completely opaque.
A. In the process from where I came, the faculty member knows what the department’s vote was and what the dean’s recommendation was and there is an appeals process in place at every step to aid the faculty member. There is a fair amount of messiness here that needs to be addressed to improve the process for all faculty.
Comment: Thank you for working for an appeals process.
President Graf thanked CAO Rose for his participation.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m.
Submitted by: Cynthia Becht
Prepared by: Rosa Calderon