skip to main content
Faculty Senate
University of Mississippi

Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Meeting held in Bryant 209

 

 

Senators in Attendance:

            Susan Allen, Aileen Ajootian, Michael Barnett, Sarah Blackwell, Will Berry, Mark Bing, David Case, Judith Cassidy, Bill Chappell, Yunghee Chang, Jason Dewland, Robert Doerksen, Mark Dole, Anne Leigh Duck, Les Field,  John Garner, Jason Kovari, Soumyajit Majumdar, Mustafa Matalgah, Erwin Mina-Diaz.,  Ann Monroe, Mike Mossing, Stephanie Noble, Brian Reithel, Philip Rhodes, Charles Ross, Jeff Roux, Bashir Salau, Ronald Schroeder, Paul Scovazzo, Justin Sherman, Steven Skultety, Jason Solinger, Chung Song, Debra Spurgeon, Don Summers, Cristiane Queiroz Surbeck, Durant Thompson, Lollie Vaughan, Mark Walker, Donna West-Strum, Lorri Williamson, Ethel Young Minor, Ahmet Yukleyen

 

Senators absent with prior notification:

Melissa Bass and Alex Watson

 

Senators absent with replacements:

            Amanda Johnston replaced by Andy Paney

 

Senators absent without notification:

            Adnan Aydin, Douglas Davis, Daneel Ferreira, Carol Gohm, Zia Shariat-Madar, Brice Noonan, and Chris Sapp

 

Agenda

  • Senator Albritton opened the meeting at 7:00 p.m.
  • First order of business: Approve minutes of last meeting
    • Motion
    • Seconded
    • Approved with no abstentions
  • Second order of business: Treatment of excused absences for participation in intercollegiate athletics
    • Introduction of Karen Schiferl, Associate Athletic Director for Academic Support
    • Student Athletes, Juliana Smith and Regina Thomas, presented t a proposal regarding University related absences
      • Issues athletes currently face:
        • Taking a quiz/exam when traveling
        • Cannot take particular courses due to the attendance policy
          • Also interferes with prerequisites for subsequent courses
        • Although academic support currently provides documented excuses to teachers, some athletes leave on short notice
      • Proposed Changes
        • A consistent policy for all campuses and instructors
        • Policy would apply to all school related events (band, debate teams etc.)
        • Could allow exam proctors on other campus’ by an academic support staff
        • If leave on short notice, student will have 48 hours after the missed class to inform teachers
      • Karen Schiferl asks that the senate pass a resolution which would then move on to the undergrad council
        • Chair Albritton asks for questions from the senate.
          • No responses.
        • Chair Albritton asks if the senate would like to adopt this resolution.
          • Motion
          • Second
        • Senator Reithel motions to table the resolution until the February meeting
          • Requests feedback from the departments on the language of the proposal, as it is currently stated it would affect all instructors
          • Senator Bing seconds the motion
        • Senator Albritton asks for a vote:
          • Aye: Unanimous minus 1
          • Nay: 1 (Senator Young-Minor)
          • Abstentions: 0
        • Third order of business: Committee reports
          • Executive committee report
            • No report
          • Academic affairs
            • Senator Case reported that Senator Bass who serves on the Ad Hoc committee concerning a “dead period” has submitted a draft of the proposed policy to the academic affairs committee. Edits to the draft are currently being made and should be ready for presentation at the February meeting.
          • Academic support
            • Senator Williamson reported on several issues.
              • One time increase in pay
                • Initially thought it was to cancel out insurance adjustments, however is not related to insurance. The one time increase in pay was for retirement benefits.
                • Senator Williamson contacted Clayton Jones director of Human Resources who said public employee retirement in the state of Mississippi increased on July 15 from 7.25% to 9%, so everyone received a 1.75% pay increase to cover the increase in retirement.
              • Minority membership on departmental committees
                • To stay in accordance with university policy on minorities, African American faculty members serve excessively on committees within their own department and also in other departments who do not have minority representation.
                • Senator Young-Minor looked into the policy to see if it were from the university or the Department of Labor. Senator Young-Minor spoke with Wilma from EOC who said the policy was only a recommendation from the Department of Labor. The university decided to implement this policy.
                • Suggestions from Wilma from EOC:
                  • Departments need to become more creative when choosing minorities; include all racial and ethnic backgrounds.
                  • Use graduate or undergraduate students or staff members as minority representation
                    • However, problematic with issues of hiring new employment
                  • Senator Young-Minor is scheduling an open meeting with Wilma from EOC to discuss this issue further
                • OMT emails
                  • Issue concerning important information being missed among all of the other daily news in the OMT email
                    • Particularly: insurance adjustments in which employees were unaware
                  • Senator Williamson spoke with Clayton Jones director of Human Resources who responded: Department of Human Resources and office of Insurance corresponded with university employees through various forms of media over several months informing them of premium and benefit changes with the state health plan. The following is a list of correspondence:
                    • Human Resources posted a notice on Ole Miss Today with the subject headed “Health Insurance Plan Changes Effective 1/1/2011”
                      • This email was on OMT from 9/24/2010 until 12/31/2010
                    • This same document titled “Know your Benefits” went through campus mail on 10/1/2010
                    • These two form of notification were not the only ones that went out
                  • Finance
                    • No report
                  • University services
                    • Increase in fees at the turner center
                      • UM is about 1/3 the price compared to all other SEC schools
                      • Fees will continue to increase until 2013, at which point UM will be equivalent to the fees other SEC schools charged in 2009
                    • Governance
                      • No report
                    • Fourth order of business:
                      • None
                    • Fifth order of business:
                      • None
                    • Chair Albritton reminds senators that the next meeting will be held on February 8th
                    • Senator Albritton closed the meeting at 7:23 p.m.