University of Mississippi Faculty Senate Minutes
October 8, 2013
The third meeting of the University of Mississippi Faculty Senate was called together at 7:00 PM on October 8, 2013.
Senators Attended or Excused: Mitch Wenger, Charles Ross, Philip Jackson, Patrick Curtis, Cliff Ochs, Adam Smith, Michael Mossing, Hunain Alkhateb, Brad Cook, Carolyn Higdon, Feng Wang, Tom Garrett, Mustafa Matalgah, Tom Franklin, Karen Raber, Annette Trefzer, Andre Liebenberg, Robert Holt, Jasmine Townsend, Oliver Dinius, Noell Wilson, Darren Grem, Vanessa Gregory, William Berry, Donna Davis, Lorri Williamson, Jennifer Brosek, Milorad Noviecvic, Milam Aiken, Nathan Jones, James Chambers, Mitchell Avery, Mei Yang, Valentina Iepuri, Micah Everett, Jos Milton, Laurel Lambert, Seongbong Jo, Daneel Ferreira, Zia Shariat-Madar, Rahul Khanna, Allison Bell, Robert Barnard, Rich Raspet, Greg Love, Marilyn Mendolia, Christian Sellar, Michele Kelly, Minjoo Oh, Joe Sumrall, Debby Chessin, Mark Ortwein, Michael Barnett.
Senators Absent: Ruth Mirtz, Cesar Rego,
The following departments were without representation as of this date: Leadership and Counseling Education.
Guests: Chancellor Jones
The Chair of the Senate opened meeting at 7:00 pm. He introduced the Graduate Assistant to Faculty Senate.
The first order of business was to introduce Chancellor Jones. Chancellor Jones referenced the Provost’s presentation from September 17, 2013 as he spoke about the present state of the university and then the future plans for the university. The Chancellor speaks to the Senate every Fall specific to the state of affairs at the university.
He discussed the landscape of public universities with financial support for public education going down. Chancellor Jones desires increased engagement with the state legislators to increase their awareness and understanding of the complexities of higher education. Chancellor Jones confirmed that faculty will need to be (more) accountable for what we do. Tuition dollars are more and more important …..tuition money is being used in broader ways….issues of intolerance and intolerant language on our campus have not been/are not/will not be accepted in any form. He suggest the senators read article from The Chronicle (Sept 9) that discusses diversity.
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Chancellor Jones stated that freshmen seem to have the greatest challenge of all groups in understanding how to live and work in a diverse society. There are minimal problems with seniors. A Senator asked about increasing the content specific to diversity in orientation sessions. Another Senator asked whether we are “walking the walk”, or “just talking the talk”. The same Senator referenced the academic charts, stating that they show little to no diversity, and gave specific examples. Chancellor Jones acknowledged this and stated that UM 2020 is encouraging more diversity in all aspects of higher education at the University of Mississippi.
Chancellor Jones discussed the increased enrollment plan for the next several years:
Freshmen class increase to 4000
Transfer students 2000
An increase size of the graduate school
The Chancellor thinks it is unfair for the legislature to cut funding and then complain about raising tuition. Next month Chancellor Jones will be asking the Higher Ed Board for an increase in tuition for the upcoming academic year.
Chancellor Jones discussed the need to accommodate for increases in student numbers. Currently the faculty student ratio is 19:1.
He explained the purpose and composition of the BIASES group. There are currently no faculty on it and the Senators requested faculty input in this group. President of Senate, Michael Barnett, discussed his role as the Theatre Department spokesperson during the latest diversity incidence. Chancellor Jones stated that just because there are no faculty on the Biases Response Team, does not mean that faculty will not have an opportunity to interact or react on/to issues and decisions.
The Senate requested that Chancellor come to this body (Faculty Senate) with any metrics or evaluation before approving them but the Chancellor stated that he could not commit to bringing those metrics or evaluations back to the Senate body before putting them in place.
The Chancellor stated that through the branding of the university there was a move to separate the branding of the academics from the branding of the athletic side of the university. He stated that there also is a review of the University symbols underway, with one of the reviews around the symbol “Ole Miss”. He was not in favor of addressing that specific symbol at any time in the near future. The Chancellor concluded his remarks with a willingness to come back any time to discuss any topic with the Faculty Senate.
Senate Committee Reports were opened and closed without report.
Executive Committee had no report.
Academic Affairs had no report.
Academic Support had no report. 2
Finance: had no report
Governance had no report
University Service had no report.
Old Business in front of the Senate was an update on the Ombudsman Program Task Force, which will again be convened early in 2014.
New Business in front of the Senate was a request for consideration of the Faculty Senate to be an organizational co-signer of the statement of support for the LGBTQ. Senators moved and seconded, no discussion, with a full 100% of the Faculty Senate voting to approve this motion.
Hearing no other new business brought in front of the October 8, 2013 Faculty Senate, the meeting was adjourned at 8:19 p.m. The next meeting will be November 12, 2013.
All Senators are thanked for attending to university business on this date.
Respectfully submitted,
Carolyn Wiles Higdon
Faculty Senate Secretary (2013-2014) 3