Loyola Marymount
University
Faculty Senate
Minutes
April 24,
2003
McIntosh
3 p.m.-5
p.m.
The meeting was
called to order at 3 p.m. by President Connie Weeks
Present: Matt
Dillon, Marc Lony, Michael Manoogian, Mary McCullough, Patricia
Oliver, Edward Park, K.J. Peters, Sue Scheibler, James Roe, Walt
Walker, Tricia Walsh, Connie Weeks, Thomas Zachariah
Absent: Jok Jok,
Edmundo Litton, Don Zirpola
The minutes of the
meeting on March 20 were approved.
I.
Announcement:
-Jok Jok awarded
Woodrow Wilson Fellowship.
II. Senate
Elections
- The last Faculty
Senate meeting extended the date for submitting the nominations and
consequently, the committee received three more nomination
forms.
- The
committee sent out ballots on Friday, April 4.
-
161 ballots were returned Friday, April
18.
-
The Committee counted the ballots on Wednesday, April
23. A majority of committee members were present at the time of
ballot counting.
-
The following are the results:
Chun I. Lee is
elected from College of Business (2 vacancies remain)
Marta Baltodano is
elected from School of Education/MFTH
Patrick Rago
elected from Fine Arts (1 vacancy remains)
Suzanne O'Brien and
Jok Jok are elected from History, Philosophy and Theology (1
vacancy remains)
Lily Khadjavi is
elected from Science/Math
Leland Swenson is
elected from Social Sciences
Omar Es-Said is
elected from Engineering
Victoria Graf is
elected as University At Large
-
Total of 9 new members.
-
Committee will keep all documents on file regarding
the election for one year. Anyone can request to examine the
record.
III. Larry
Flynt
-
Administration bans Flynt from speaking at LMU during First
Amendment Education Week.
-
Invited by ASLMU.
-
Student Affairs blocked Flynt's right to
speak.
-
Resolution proposed: The University should not block
anyone from speaking at LMU except for reasons of public safety
and/or security.
-
Vote: 6 for, 1 against, 4 abstentions.
-
Resolution passes.
IV. Exit Interview
with Kenyon Chan, Dean of Liberal Arts
- Chan is leaving
to become AVP at Occidental College.
- LMU has
established strong programs for students (First Year Institute,
Bellarmine Forum, Freshman English program.)
- Faculty support
at LMU is excellent: travel funds, research grants, curriculum
development grants, junior sabbatical program, University Hall
provides a great facility for many Faculty.
- Some facilities
need to be renovated-Film/TV, Fine Arts need new spaces.
- Issues for the
future:
1.
Multiyear/Multi-level Merit review: will unburden Faculty from
rituals like service reports and let them focus on
teaching/research.
2. Core needs to be
addressed: currently it is not integrated, and could be more
interdisciplinary and exciting for students. Was not a priority in
last five years because it was working. Needs to be more
thematic/powerful.
3. Tenure system:
LMU's system is problematic. Faculty come up for tenure review
after five years, but do not get promoted until the 7th
year. 6th year is spent in limbo. Selection, mentoring
processes are good.
4. Recruitment:
successful at getting new Faculty, need to work on keeping them.
Focus on housing program, rental program, raising salaries to
competitive levels.
5. Sense of
community: University Hall separates academic units, isolates
Faculty within villages. Need common areas (such as an eating area)
to build community for Faculty.
-Discussion:
Q. Is a 3-2 load a
practical and/or useful goal for LMU?
A. LMU is still
recovering from the move from 4-4 load to 3-3. University is still
working on funding additional Faculty needs. 4 unit classes will
provide a more intense experience for students and will make 3-2
load possible. Oxy has 3-2 load. Courses are 4 units but meet the
same number of hours as LMU's 3 unit
courses. More outside work is required of
students. Task force to investigate move
to 4 units should be formed.
V. Committee on
Committees
The
Committee on Committees presented 3 motions to the Senate:
- Move to add the
School of Film and Television to the following Committee structure:
Change the language in the Committee structure, where appropriate
to read: representatives from the Schools and Colleges (i.e. the
Center for Teaching Excellence Committee).
- Clarify the
membership of the Core Curriculum Committee to read: 7 tenured
Faculty members (two from College of Liberal Arts, two from College
of Science and Engineering, and one each from College of Business
Administration, College of Communication and Fine Arts, and School
of Film and Television.
- Clarify the
membership on Academic Planning and Review Committee (APRC) to
read: 9 Faculty (two from College of Liberal Arts, two from College
of Science and Engineering, two from College of Business
Administration, one from the College of Communication and Fine
Arts, one from the School of Film and Television, and one from the
School of Education(SOE); at least six members must be
tenured.
- The Multicultural
Affairs Committee, a University Committee, will change to the
Intercultural Advisory Committee under the leadership of Abbie
Robinson-Armstrong.
Discussion:
Q. Why is SOE not
included in Core Committee?
A. SOE does not
teach in the core. SOE doesn't offer an undergraduate
major.
- Friendly
Amendment to motion #2: The Committee on Committees will revisit
the question of adding a representative from the School of
Education to the Core Committee next year.
- All motions
(including the friendly amendment to motion #2) were approved
unanimously.
VI. Discussion with
Steve Combs and Robert Winsor regarding ESOF Report and Finance
Committee Letter
-
Recommendations of ESOF Committee: Reformulate and Empower (or
Disband) the ESOF Committee.
1.
The Faculty Senate should draft a written mandate for
the Committee.
2. The
Chair of ESOF should be a member of the Faculty Senate: Chair
should hear Faculty issues to get a sense of the body.
3. The
Chair of ESOF should be the Faculty representative to the Board of
Trustees Finance Committee: to facilitate coordinated efforts and
information.
4.
ESOF should be the locus for all information, reports, and
activities affecting the economic status of the Faculty: ESOF
Committee needs to be able to coordinate and consider all factors
affecting Faculty.
5. The
Faculty Senate should initiate a process to standardize annual
increases to the salary pool: standard increase should be tied to
cost of living; merit increases should be in addition to cost of
living increase; should use Bureau of Labor statistics report to
track inflation.
Discussion:
-
Someone to coordinate ESOF, and act as Board of
Trustees Committee representative may be hard to find. Involves
many responsibilities. Must also be a part of Fringe Benefits
Advisory Board, Child Care Committee, Housing Committee. May need
to consider joint appointments.
- Bigger issue is
that ESOF Report is futile. Senate has requested that the Board's
rationale for budget decisions be presented, but request has been
ignored. Budget making process should be transparent.
-
Father Lawton does consider ESOF report in budget decisions.
-
University hires new Faculty at competitive salaries,
but increases received by new Faculty are not equivalent to
increases at other universities. Faculty must receive top merit
increases in order to keep up with cost of living. .
-
Winsor's memo: Faculty representative not involved in
budget process until the third step, at which point the decisions
have already been made. Seems that most decisions are made at a
closed door meeting. The only representation the Faculty has at
this meeting is the ESOF report. Campus budget committee includes 4
Faculty members who are not involved in the decision
process.
-
Priority for ESOF recommendations: establish a group
to create a mandate for ESOF.
-
Steve Combs will compile information on the production of the ESOF
reports.
-
ESOF report and Robert Winsor's letter should to be
presented to Father Lawton with the support of the entire Faculty
Senate behind them.
-
Will address ESOF report and salary increases at the
Town Hall Meeting.
Action
taken:
-
A motion to receive Robert Winsor's report and
establish it as a basis for further action and discussion next year
as related to ESOF passes unanimously.
-
A motion to accept the ESOF report and distribute it
to all Faculty passes unanimously.
-
The Senate will revisit the recommendations that the
base increase be tied to cost of living and that administrator
salaries be capped.
VI. Topics for Town
Hall Meeting:
-
Free speech resolution
-
Faculty salary increases
The Senate thanked
Connie Weeks for her service as Senate President.
The meeting
adjourned at 5 p.m.
Next meeting (for
election of new officers): Friday, May 2, 3
p.m.
McIntosh
Submitted by:
Michael Manoogian
Prepared by: Becky
Herr