Oakland University Senate
Thursday, October 13, 1983
Second Meeting
128, 129, 130 Oakland Center
MINUTES
Senators Present: Appleton, Brown, Briggs-Bunting, Bledsoe, Chagnon-Royce, Chapman-Moore, Chipman, Downing, Eberwein, Edgerton, Eliezer, Evans, Evarts, Feeman, Frankie, Gerulaitis, Grossman, Hamilton, Hartman, Hough, Kleckner, McClory, Moore, Pine, Scherer, Schimmelman, Schwartz, Shichi, Snider-Feldmesser, Splete, Strauss, Titus, Tomboulian, Windeknecht, Workman, Zorn
Senators Absent: Bertocci, Boulos, Burke, Champagne, Christina, Copenhaver, Coppola, Easterly, Federlein, Hammerle, Heubel, Horwitz, Howes, Ketchum, Lindell, McCabe, Moorhouse, Pino, Russell, Tracy, Tripp, Williamson, Witt.
SUMMARY OF ACTIONS:
1. Minutes of 26 April 1983: Moved, Ms. Titus; seconded, Ms. Briggs- Bunting. Approved.
2. Minutes of 22 September 1983: Moved, Mr. Titus; seconded, Mr. Downing. Approved.
3. Motion to amend the University Senate Constitution with respect to the Graduate Council. Moved, Mr. Feeman; seconded, Ms. Gerulaitis. Approved.
4. Amendment to delete the words "currently sponsoring a graduate program" from the membership specifications for the Graduate Council. Moved, Ms. Titus; seconded Ms. Briggs-Bunting. Withdrawn .
5. Motion to establish the Graduate Council as a new subcommittee of the Senate. Moved, Mr. Feeman; seconded, Ms. Gerulaitis. Approved.
6. Motion to fill vacancies in certain standing committees. Moved, Ms. Eberwein; seconded, Mr. Pine. Approved.
At 3:16 p.m., Mr. Kleckner called the meeting to order, proceeding at once to the momentous business of approving minutes of two previous meetings. Ms. Titus, seconded by Ms. Briggs-Bunting, moved approval of the minutes of 26 April 1983. For the benefit of new members, Mr. Feeman recalled that event as a record short meeting while Ms. Briggs-Bunting commended it as the best of the year; both regarded the record as accurate. Thus assured, the Senate gave unanimous approval to those minutes. Having confirmed the record of the previous year's actions, the body proceeded to establish a record of its most recent proceedings by approving without dissent the minutes of 22 September 1983 upon the motion of Ms. Titus, seconded by Mr. Downing.
The first item of old business was a constitutional amendment to revise the provisions under which the Graduate Council is established (Moved, Mr. Feeman; seconded, Ms. Gerulaitis):
MOVED that Article VI of the Constitution of the Senate be repealed and replaced by the language contained in the attachment entitled UNIVERSITY SENATE CONSTITUTION.
Mr. Chipman reported on the two hearings held by the APPC on the third and sixth of October, apparently concluding from the lack of attendant that the issue is not at present considered controversial. Mr. Zorn indicated that University undergraduates favor this proposal but pointed out that the University Congress does not represent graduate students and cannot speak for them. He informed the Senate that an organization of graduate students � thus far unfunded and unofficial �has begun to meet and hoped that a representative of that group might be seated on the new Council. Mr. Feeman, having just discovered the existence of such a body, volunteered to meet with its officers and invite them to attend Council meetings regularly as observers; he conjectured that a graduate student representative might, in time, be granted voting membership. Mr. Kleckner wondered whether a graduate student might be eligible to hold one of the student seats on the Senate and learned from Mr. Zorn that such a person might theoretically be accorded one of two seats � not that belonging ex officio to the Congress president.
Ms. Titus then raised the question of why no librarian serves as a voting Council representative and why the faculties of units like Health Sciences that offer no graduate programs as yet are similarly excluded. She proposed an amendment (seconded, Ms. Briggs-Bunting) to delete the words "currently sponsoring a graduate degree program" from the membership specifications. Ms. Gerulaitis inquired whether this purpose could not be achieved by including members of other faculties among the three representatives appointed by the Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Study. Mr. Feeman responded that the composition of the Council had been discussed thoroughly in earlier stages of developing this proposal and that members of the current Graduate Council feel strongly that responsibility for maintaining and monitoring graduate programs rests principally on faculties, actually offering such programs. The voting membership of the Council has been kept deliberately small for the sake of efficiency. On the other hand, he agreed that it would be madness for the Council to ignore library resources and pointed out that the contributions of the library representative, Professor Merz, are recognized as singular important despite her non-voting status. He noted that other groups with an interest in Council actions have non-voting representatives as well and remarked that the Dean of the Graduate School also participates as a non-voting member. He emphasized the existence of a much larger advisory group, the Graduate Assembly, which will meet regularly to provide a broad range of opinions from a great variety of sources. By comparison to the current governance mechanism for graduate study, the Dean judged the influence of the library faculty to be much strengthened under the proposed system. Mr. Kleckner pointed out, in addition, that the Graduate Council established by this constitutional amendment would be a standing committee of the Senate � subject to its surveillance.
Mr. Chipman's assurance that any organized faculty that actually launches a graduate program will qualify for Council representation left Ms. Titus still concerned about the need for involvement of such groups while they are contemplating graduate programs or preparing and advancing proposals. Mr. Feeman asserted that any group with a proposal up for appraisal would definitely be invited to send spokespersons to the Council to function as advocates; nonetheless, actual responsibility for the quality of graduate study rests with the faculties directly involved. With the influence of faculties not offering graduate programs thus clarified, Ms. Titus withdrew her amendment. Mr. Grossman then raised a question about the status of the Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School. His reading of the Constitution left him in doubt as to whether that worthy were now a senator and would continue to be such should the new amendment be approved. Mr. Kleckner recalled that, by Senate action many years ago, the Dean of Graduate Studies had been granted a Senate seat. Even when retitled as Dean of the Graduate School, that officer had retained the seat; and there is no reason to fear his disenfranchisement when the title Dean of Graduate Studies may be restored by this action. With all questions resolved, the Senate unanimously approved the constitutional amendment. A referendum of all organized faculties will follow.
The corollary motion to establish a new standing committee then came upon the floor (Moved, Mr. Feeman; seconded, Ms. Gerulaitis):
MOVED that the Senate establish a standing committee called the Graduate Council, the charge and membership of which are specified in the attachment entitled UNIVERSITY SENATE � NEW STANDING COMMITTEE.
All doubts related to this motion having been resolved in debate over the constitutional amendment, it passed without either discussion or dissent. The Steering Committee then proceeded to expedite the work of University governance by proposing the following motion to fill vacancies on standing committees (Moved, Ms. Eberwein; seconded, Mr. Pine):
MOVED that the following persons be named to the committees and positions indicated below for 1983-84;
a. Professor Oded Izraeli to be appointed to membership on the Academic Policy and Planning Committee;
b. Professor Robert Gaylor to be designated chair of the Academic Conduct Committee and Professor Dean Purcell to be appointed to membership on that body;
c. Professor Linda Hildebrand to be designated chair of the Admissions and Financial Aid Committee,
d. Professor David Sidaway to be designated chair of the Teaching and Learning Committee and Professor Robert Schwartz to be appointed to membership on that committee;
and e. Professor David Shantz to serve as chair of the University Committee on Undergraduate Instruction.
Mr. Kleckner pointed out that these actions follow upon a wave of last-minute resignations. No dispute arose over the substance of the motion, but Ms. Hamilton objected to the wording of the commentary. She wished to expunge the statement "Professor Hamilton . . craves release from the chairmanship" of the Admissions and Financial Aid Committee and to replace it with the assertion that she "seeks temporary relief." The secretary, yielding to rhetorical authority, noted the correction. The Senate then approved the motion itself with unanimous support.
No private motions being offered for the good of the order, Mr. Kleckner proceeded to report various items of information. Both the commission considering the future of the Center for Health Sciences and the Commission on University Excellence have begun their work, laying the groundwork for their eventual reports. The University is now seeking approval from the legislature for the next step in planning an enlargement of the Kresge Library. A study just completed having shown the feasibility of constructing additional library space in sequential stages, several alternative architectural possibilities for immediate doubling of library space have been developed with front or back wrap-around designs offering the greatest promise of architectural compatibility with the existing structure and efficacy of space utilization. Design selection and the resulting detail drawings and sketches represent the next step, for which legislative funding is now under consideration. All remaining design work could be completed in another year or so, after which construction could begin as soon as the requisite funds are available. Mr. Schwartz, encouraged by hope of library expansion, then raised the sobering question of whether there would be any books to occupy the additional shelving. Both Mr. Kleckner and Mr. Feeman reported success in enlarging the library book acquisition budget over the last several years. Ms. Frankie acknowledged a fifteen-percent increase for such purposes this year over last year's budget, which itself exceeded the one before by $100,000.00. Even though the legislature would be funding capital improvements rather than intellectual ones, the University has committed itself to acquiring books.
With business thus discharged, Ms. Briggs-Bunting called for adjournment, and the Senate complied. The meeting concluded at 3:52 p.m.
Respectfully submitted:
Jane D. Eberwein
Secretary to the University Senate
PROPOSED LANGUAGE: UNIVERSITY SENATE CONSTITUTION ARTICLE VI (proposed - approved by the Graduate Council in April 1983 and by the University Senate 13 October 1983)
GRADUATE COUNCIL
i. A Graduate Council shall be established as a permanent standing committee of the University Senate. It shall make recommendations to the Senate regarding graduate study, as provided in this Article of the Constitution. The Senate shall review the recommendations of the Council and submit its recommendations to the Provost and the President. The Graduate Council shall be chaired by the Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Study, with its membership otherwise consisting of one representative from each organized faculty currently sponsoring a graduate degree program, plus three other representatives to be appointed by the Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Study.
ii. The representative from each organized faculty shall:
1. be a full-time, non-visiting faculty member of any rank;
2. be selected by the organized faculty to be represented according to procedures established by the organized faculty ;
3. serve terms determined by the units represented.
iii. Representatives appointed by the Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Study shall:
1. be full-time, non-visiting faculty members of any rank;
2. serve terms determined by the Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Study.
iv. The Graduate Council shall be responsible for:
1. making recommendations to the University Senate regarding proposed and existing graduate programs, including recommendations for program suspension or discontinuance. The Graduate Council shall seek, when necessary, the advice of other appropriate University bodies concerning the impact of new programs or changes in existing programs.
2. rendering advice to the Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Study on all matters concerning graduate program administration and support and ongoing graduate study activities as the Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Study may request.
3. conducting periodic reviews of graduate programs with reports of findings submitted to the University Senate and other appropriate bodies.
4. appointing subcommittees as necessary to assist the
Graduate Council in its recommendations. The subcommittees shall report their recommendations to the Graduate Council. The Graduate Council may make specific
delegations of authority to the subcommittees to assist the Graduate Council in carrying out its responsibilities.
5. recommending to the President all candidates for graduate degrees.
v. The Graduate Council shall meet as often as the Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Study deems it necessary in order to fulfill its responsibilities, but it must meet at least once each academic semester.
CURRENT LANGUAGE:
ARTICLE VI of the Constitution of the Oakland University Senate (Ratified and Amended 2 May 1977; Amended 6 May 1982)
GRADUATE COUNCIL
i. A Graduate Council shall be constituted with powers to make recommendations to the University Senate for the institution or termination of graduate programs and to the Provost, regarding all graduate programs of instruction, with regard to general and specific degree requirements at the graduate level. The Graduate Council may make recommendations to the Dean of Graduate Study on administrative policies pertaining to the operation of graduate programs.
ii. The Council shall consist of the deans of the organized faculties sponsoring graduate degree programs; a faculty member selected by each department authorized to offer a graduate degree program (or by each committee serving in lieu of a department for the sponsorship of a degree program); a representative of the University Library; and the Dean of Graduate Study, who shall serve as chairperson. If the organized faculty sponsoring graduate degree programs does
not have departments, then it shall be represented by at least one faculty member selected by that organized faculty.
iii. A six-member Executive Committee shall be established by the Council to act in accordance with the bylaws approved by the Council. The Executive Committee shall consist of five members elected by and from the Council and the Dean of Graduate Study who shall be ex officio and non-voting. The Chairperson shall be elected by the Council.
iv. The Graduate Council shall be responsible for the recommendations to the President of all candidates for graduate degrees.