Faculty Senate Minutes
July 15, 2010
Call to Order:
Call to order: 4:10 pm, Riggle Room, ADUC
Senators Present: Doug Chatham, Robert Royar, Emma Perkins, Sam Wright, Kimberlee Sharp, Lesia Lennex, John Hennen, Rebecca Miculinich, Ron Morrison, Gilbert Remillard, Bev McCormick, Jennifer Little, Euijin Kim, Ritta Abell, Brent Rogers, Terry Irons, Ali Ahmadi, Royal Berglee
Announcement:
Faculty Senate Leadership Retreat will be held on August 19, 2010, from 8:30-4:30 at the Hampton Inn in Morehead.
Senate Actions: Status of the Senate Constitution
Prior to the June 10, 2010 Board of Regents meeting, a committee consisting of President Andrews, Provost Hughes, Royal Berglee, Beverly McCormick, and Ron Morrison met with the Board of Regents to discuss the changes the Board proposed to the Senate Constitution. The Board of Regents made and approved three basic types of changes to the faculty approved version:
1. Policy changes required by BOR bylaws or acceptable to the current BOR members
2. Changes made to be congruent with legal language requested by MSU’s legal counsel
3. Grammatical changes or corrections that were acceptable to the current BOR members
Prior to the meeting today, all Senators were provided with a copy of the Faculty Senate Constitution that was approved by the MSU Board of Regents.
A Senator noted other changes that the BOR made:
1. Removed compensation for the Vice Chair
2. Removed half time secretary position for Faculty Senate
Chair Berglee explained some of the changes and noted that the major operational procedures were not changed by the BOR. In order for the Senate to operate during 2010-2011 under the revised Constitution the Senate must approve the version approved by the BOR. The purpose for revising the Constitution was to make the Senate more efficient. Chair Berglee distributed a possible motion drafted by the Executive Council for adopting an interim Constitution.
The Senators discussed at length the changes made to the Constitution. The choices available to the Senators regarding the Constitution were:
1. approve the Constitution as approved by the Board of Regents with a yes or no vote
2. not vote yes or no today, and entertain a form of the motion drafted by the Executive Council
3. do nothing
After continued discussion, Senator Irons moved to ratify the Constitution as approved by the Board of Regents in June, 2010. Beverly McCormick seconded the motion.
Senators continued to ask questions regarding the reasons given by the BOR for the changes.
Hearing no more discussion, Chair Berglee called for a vote. Motion passed to approve the Constitution as revised by the Board of Regents.
Chair Berglee asked the senators to decide when the faculty as a whole would vote on the revised Constitution.
A suggestion was made that the Senate be given time at convocation to explain the need for the faculty to vote on the revised Constitution.
Chair Berglee has already asked for time at convocation to speak briefly. He will inform all the faculty of the answer.
Senator McCormick moved to adopt the constitution, as approved today, as the interim operational constitution for the academic year 2010 – 2011. Senator Remillard seconded the motion. The Senators discussed the motion. Chair Berglee called for a vote. Motion passed.
Senator McCormick moved to initiate the full faculty vote on the revised Constitution beginning the day after Convocation, 2010. The revised document would be sent to faculty the day after convocation and the faculty would have two weeks to return their vote. Doug Chatham seconded the motion. Motion passed.
Motion was made to adjourn. Motion passed.
Adjournment: 5:30 p.m.
