Executive Committee Meeting

Boulder Faculty Assembly

Minutes

March 1, 2004

Attending:

Stein Sture, Vice Chair

Greg Carey, Secretary

Mel Branch, BFA Faculty Affairs Committee Chair

Dipankar Chakravarti, Minority Affairs Committee Chair

Andy Cowell, BFA Academic Technology Committee Chair

David Guenther, BFA Administrative Services Committee Chair

Bob Hohlfelder, Budget and Planning Committee Chair

Uriel Nauenberg, former BFA Chair

Jerry Peterson, At-Large Board Member

Mike Preston, BFA Intercollegiate Athletics Cmte Chair

Gail Ramsberger, Arts and Sciences Council Chair

Rodney Taylor, At-Large Board Member

Bill Waite, Academic Affairs Committee

Martin Walter, BFA Student Affairs Cmte Chair

Stephanie Martin, UGGS/UCSU Legislative Council

Guest Speakers:

Kent Zimmerman, President, CU Alumni Association

Scott Adler, Intercollegiate Athletics Committee

Media:

Jefferson Dodge, Silver & Gold Record

Not Attending:

Barbara Bintliff, BFA Chair

Cathy Comstock, BFA AAP Committee Chair

Mark Dubin, BFA Libraries Committee Chair

Clayton Lewis, Faculty Compensation and Benefits Cmte Chair

Marguerite Moritz, BFA GLB Affairs Committee Chair

Tom Mayer, Communications Committee Chair

Lori Seward, BFA Committee on Women Chair

Bill Kaempfer, Associate Provost and VC for Budget and Planning

A meeting of the Boulder Faculty Assembly Executive Committee was held on Monday,  March 1, 2004, in UMC room 425.  Vice Chair Stein Sture presided.  The meeting convened at 3:30 p.m. and adjourned at 5:00 p.m.

A.                  Minutes

MOVED by Carey and seconded by Preston that the minutes of  February 16, 2004 be approved.  The motion  carried without dissent. 

B.                  Chair’s Report

Vice Chair Sture welcomed everyone to the meeting and informed the committee that Chair Bintliff would be returning to campus on Thursday, March 4 in time to chair the BFA Assembly meeting.  He reported that President Hoffman testified against the Student Bill of Rights (SBOR) and he passed her official statement around the table for faculty to read.  Cowell asked if the President’s statement, which came after six months of silence, asked if the BFA might wish to orchestrate a stronger response at this time.  Sture suggested that the BFA wait and see what happens for a time, then the matter will be discussed at greater length by the Executive Committee and  a response crafted.  He stated that the faculty “are the university” and as such should state what is on their collective minds. Peterson stated that faculty deserve to be told earlier rather than later about the results as determined by the ICC and budgetary matters.  He asked who could tell the faculty anything about the budget, and Sture added that we are not really certain who we are talking to and that the BFA wants to respond in the right way, with maximum impact.  Carey added that rough draft responses exist on paper but that we were waiting for an appropriate time to respond.  Cowell asked if the committee was prepared to respond and such a statement can’t solely consist of the Chair making a statement.  For that voice to be there he assumed would required a resolution  which means a public document.  It would be one thing to respond publicly and another to do nothing, he added, and wait until “the next shoe drops”  and no prepared faculty response would be available. Sture assured him that there has been some “off the record” planning.  Walter stated that discussion would not have helped in the matter of SBOR and that in this case Hoffman summed up the situation eloquently and to the point by stating that it is simply “bad for business.” 

C.                  Special Report

Sture welcomed Kent Zimmerman, President of the Alumni Association.   Zimmerman described an alumni attitude survey which will be sent out electronically to faculty in an effort to determine the needs and wants of the alumni community and “what a great CU alumni association would do.”    Ninety-six percent of the CU alumni responding to the survey stated that their decision to attend the university was a “good” or “great” decision. He outlined some ideas for building a stronger community which would necessarily involve faculty as a critical part of the college experience:

·         Give incoming freshmen an examination within the first two weeks of school rather than wait until mid-semester

·         Award $5,000 as a monetary prize to a faculty person who would give a senior class “Last Lecture” at the end of spring semester

·         Create a “First Tuesday” tradition in the dormitories where faculty and students would meet informally over dinner and become “compatriots at [this] institution of higher learning”

·         Buyout teaching time and take a professor “on the road” in the spring to meet with parents and potential students around the country

·         “Operation Rhodes Scholar” or be able to focus the attention of talented students on the achievements of talented faculty and ensure these students are steered in the direction of available scholarships

·         Institute a faculty luncheon on a weekly basis and rotate the attendance; this is seen as an opportunity to improve communication

Nauenberg said that the Chancellor has been asked repeatedly to take a faculty representative on the road; Hohlfelder stated that he gives presentations to alumni when traveling and asked if this effort could be systematized to take full advantage when faculty travel abroad.  Zimmerman replied that the difficulty comes in keeping track of faculty travel plans.  Peterson thanked  the Alumni office for willingly providing CU hats and pins for travelers.  Taylor reported that a scholar in residence type of program is an extraordinary experience and a possible option the Alumni Association could develop.  Zimmerman asked if the faculty present  regularly  recommend good students for scholarships and academic opportunities and the answer was affirmative.   Branch suggested the  luncheon suggestion  could be rotated between programs and departments thereby focusing on one discipline at a time.  Zimmerman stated that he was looking for faculty who connect well with others and are great with groups of people to join alumni travel groups, that there is money allocated for this effort, and he welcomed ideas and suggestions from the BFA faculty.  He added that what faculty are doing professionally is fascinating to alumni.  Zimmerman can be reached at cualum@CU.EDU. 

The Vice Chair thanked  Zimmerman for his presentation.   Nauenberg suggested we take full advantage of this opportunity and the BFA should help out.  Sture added that the Alumni Association has a loose connection to the Foundation but the BFA should be able to make sure we can develop these ideas without any fundraising concerns.  A general discussion of the ideas he proposed followed. 

D.   Committee Reports

Academic Technology Committee Chair Cowell gave an update on the status, viability and cost to implement the Faculty Portal project.  The portal would cost approximately $700,000 and it would be an “efficiency vehicle” for faculty to go to one location on the web for a variety of information which is possible now with the student portal.  According to the printed update Cowell handed out to faculty, the array of services would be expensive and there is some skepticism as to whether the faculty need these services.   To include services like course web templates or research search tools would cost a tremendous amount of money.   The decision to create a faculty portal which features electronic course rosters, course email roster lists, photo course rosters, and course information entry has been piloted and approved for $30,000.  Ric Porreca is donating funds in an effort to improve the usefulness of  PeopleSoft software, and those  monies are not being diverted from other IT sources.   The BFA Technology Committee has been invited by  Schnabel’s office to serve as a subcommittee to learn more about portals and make recommendations to him about what faculty do and do not want.   Thousands of dollars will not be spent without specific faculty input and recommendations.

Scott Adler of the Intercollegiate Athletic Committee presented a resolution for the Faculty Senate to adopt the COIA (Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics) Charter which seeks to reform how athletics operates and is governed across the country.  This coalition formed to begin to find ways to begin the process of “reining in” intercollegiate athletics.   Ramsberger asked why universities are participating in the reform discussions but are refraining  from joining  the COIA.  Adler believes some of the participation is initiated by the chairs in faculty governance and he believes that some governance councils are under different administrative pressures than others.  Hohlfelder asked how this charter relates to our current problems  with the athletic department and Adler replied that a “best practices” memorandum is coming out to chairs of faculty governance councils regarding how the coalition sees faculty involvement in intercollegiate athletics.   The Intercollegiate Athletic Committee is working to develop a set of recommendations regarding the restructuring of the athletic department and Provost DiStefano is both encouraging and interested in what the committee does and reports.   The committee has also scheduled meetings with Chancellor Byyny and interim athletic liaison DiBiaggio.   Adler stated that the Intercollegiate Athletics Committee has been very involved for years with athletic reform topics but only now has his group captured the attention of the administration.  He went on to say we have a window of opportunity here and a real chance to make recommendations for changing the  operations of the Athletic Department.   Carey pointed out that the opportunity to vote on the COIA charter was on the BFA’s plate long before the current athletic recruitment controversy arose and that that fact should be brought to the Assembly on Thursday, March 4.  Hohlfelder added  that we have one last opportunity to make something positive of this situation and that the special prosecutor  will make recommendations and the faculty will need to step up and embrace the best of it and move beyond this current crisis.  In his view CU has the opportunity to become the “poster child of reform.”  Adler agreed and said that the independent panel will give its recommendation and something is going to happen and he felt that the faculty need not wait in order to begin this process.  His committee is not another group investigating what happened but rather can look at places where problems other than recruitment that currently exist and make specific recommendations.  Chakravarti asked about the range of proposals that have been successful at other institutions, and Adler  replied  that there is quite a range.  In addition to the changes made at Vanderbilt, a university in Florida brought its athletics program into its office of student services, which necessarily places more responsibility on the administration.  Adler is currently working on recommendations about length of schedules,  admissions of athletes, the number of scholarships issued, the length of practice time, coaching salaries and contracts, football and basketball camps, and he is trying to speak with as many people around the country who have been involved with athletic reform in order to hear their ideas.   Walter stated that we are dealing with “a national culture” here and one either decides to opt into it or out of it.  Adler agreed and added that there is a choice to be made by the university  whether or not and to what extent we will be involved  in athletics.  Cowell stated that this was the first time he had heard about the involvement of the BFA Intercollegiate Committee involvement and that it is important that we let people know this is going on and that this is certainly the biggest crisis CU has faced in his nine years on campus.  He expressed concern this matter be left to a subcommittee of the BFA but added that he hoped for a lot of communication from Adler and his group on a regular basis.  Cowell stated that he was not aware that Chair Bintliff had been communicating with Adler’s committee and stated that more communication is needed from Chair Bintliff to the Executive Committee on this matter.  Sture interjected that this discussion came up fairly recently, and Adler concurred that these discussions have taken place for years but the committee’s involvement in moving forward on reforms is relatively recent and within the last two weeks.  Cowell said that that the issue was not one of trusting the subcommittee but rather that the BFA needs to know about these developments regularly.  Hohlfelder stated he was also concerned that he had not heard about a faculty position taken in the matter of the athletics scandal, and suggested that Bintliff could assert that the BFA views this as a “golden opportunity” to insinuate Adler’s committee into the decision making process of the Athletic Department and that the faculty will probably not accept anything less.  Hohlfelder suggested that the BFA meet with DiBiaggio before decisions come out from the Special Prosecutor.  Carey moved that the COIA charter be presented in the form of a resolution at the March 4 BFA Assembly meeting and Nauenberg seconded the motion.  A vote was taken and the resolution to adopt the charter was unanimously approved.

Budget and Planning Committee Chair Hohlfelder stated that the budget process seems to be immobilized and that things are moving at a glacially slow pace.   Martin asked if the BFA plans to come out in support of specific issues confronting the university, and stated that the UGGS is currently writing resolutions regarding alternatives to TABOR.   Sture replied that her point was well taken. 

E.   Next Meeting

The next regular meeting of the Boulder Faculty Assembly Executive Committee will be Monday,  March 15, 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. in UMC room 425 and President Elizabeth Hoffman will be the guest speaker.

The Vice Chair thanked everyone for attending and the meeting was adjourned.