Oakland University Senate
First Meeting
17 September 1987
Minutes
Senators Present: Abiko, Appleton, Barthel, Bhatt, Bostick, Brown, Cardimen, Cass, Champagne, Chipman, Christina, Coffey, Copenhaver, Dahlgren, Desmond, Downing, J. Eberwein, R. Eberwein, Eliezer, Faber, Fish, Gerulaitis, Grossman, Hart-Gonzalez, Hartman, Haskell, Horwitz, Hough, Jackson, Karasch, Ketchum, Kiwicz, Kleckner, Lauer, Lindell, Maschke, Millwood, Muir, Olson, Pine, Rosen, Schimmelman, Sherman, Stern, Stinson, Tripp, Wedekind, Williamson, Wilson.
Senators Absent: Braun, Burke, Frankie, Herman, Moon, Pettengill, Pillow, Reddy, Riley, Stamps, Stillman, Straughen.
Summary of Business:
1. Steering Committee Election (Senate Elections Committee): J. Eberwein., R. Hough, S. Muir, R. Pettengill, M. Sherman, and D. Wilson elected.
2. Motion to fill vacancies on Senate standing committees (Hough; Stern). Approved.
At 3:16 p.m. Mr. Kleckner welcomed the faculty as a whole to the first meeting of the new Senate. He thought it fitting that the community hear from the president at the beginning of the academic year and especially appropriate this year when the University launches preparations for its 1989 NCAA accreditation review. Mr. Appleton, he informed his colleagues, has already initiated this work, ably assisted by a Steering Committee (not the Senate's) of approximately a dozen persons. He predicted that everyone would eventually be involved in this review process and promised that the Senate would receive periodic reports. He then yielded the floor to President Champagne, who delivered an address to the Senate and faculty at large as a means of renewing the dialogue he began last year in a series of faculty town meetings organized in cooperation with the AAUP. He took this opportunity to share insights he had gained from those conversations as well as those derived from reading in the literature of higher education.
Stressing his commitment to collegiate experience that strikes a balance between liberal education and technical instruction, he elaborated on the special responsibilities of a public university in modern America and applied that thinking specifically to Oakland University's role in fostering Michigan's economic health through its public service contributions. On that basis, he justified the University's commitment to the Technology Park as a venture appropriate to its comprehensive mission of teaching, research, and service. He then turned attention to the capital development campaign, reporting on fund-raising progress and tying external support for the Senate University's needs (especially the library expansion) to its visibility as a contributing force for economic development within the area. Warning that universities now face competition from corporate educational and training programs, he reminded the faculty that we must respond to the legitimate needs of the society around us and must do so in a way that maintains traditional academic values.
In this context, he then focused attention on the upcoming accreditation review, assuring his support to Professor Appleton and his associates and asking widespread cooperation with the self-study effort to take place this year. He itemized the four evaluative criteria used by the North Central Association and expressed confidence in Oakland University's prospects of demonstrating its quality. The self-study affords opportunity to define our strengths, identify our weaknesses, and initiate a planning process to set the direction of future institutional development. After identifying issues worthy of close examination during this process, he concluded his address by urging cooperative effort to make the best possible use of this accreditation experience to help the University prepare for the future.
In thanking the President for his remarks, Mr. Kleckner noted that the University accomplished an amazing number of things in the decade since the last review and faces a substantial agenda ahead. He then invited Senators to move forward for transaction of official business. Formally calling the business meeting to order at 3:55 p.m., Mr. Kleckner apologized for the unusual room arrangement and promised a more familiar pattern of seating at subsequent meetings. He introduced Dean Olson of the School of Health Sciences as a new member and welcomed the group as a whole--both new Senators and returning ones. Because minutes of the 27 April and 20 May meetings had been distributed late, he deferred consideration of those documents until the next session and invited Mr. Witt of the Senate Elections Committee to step forward at once to conduct an election for the six members of the 1987-89 Steering Committee. Eight names were placed in nomination and the following persons elected: Jane Eberwein, Robbin Hough, Sharon Muir, Richard Pettengill, Mary Sherman, and Diane Wilson.
The next order of business was a motion from the Steering Committee to fill vacancies on Senate standing committees (Moved, Mr. Hough; Seconded, Mr. Stern). Darrell Schmidt was elected to replace Augustin Fosu on the Academic Standing and Honors Committee for the 1987-88 year; Mary Van Sell to replace Kevin Murphy on the Research Committee for the same period; Kathryn McArdle- Pigott to replace Mary Ann Krammin for the academic year on the Teaching and Learning Committee and Wallis Andersen to replace Barbara Hamilton on that body for the fall semester.
Announcement of the good and welfare portion of the meeting brought a succession of invitations to the University community. Mr. Cardimen reminded his colleagues of the 6 October visit of David Halberstam to campus, which will entail a $25.00 per person lunch at the Shotwell-Gustafson Pavilion followed by a public address in the Oakland Center. This announcement prompted Mr. Kleckner to mention Coretta Scott King's visit, scheduled for September 29. Ms. King's presentation is sponsored by the School of Nursing., and Dean Lindell invited all those present to mark their calendars for the event. Later, Mr. Faber invited everyone to attend an upcoming reception sponsored by the University Congress for all faculty, administrators, and students.
Mr. Horwitz used the privilege of good and welfare to inquire about the University's address, wondering whether we are now settled in Rochester Hills. He noted that considerable money had been spent recently on stationery but suspected from a memo circulated the previous day on campus that further expenditure would soon be necessary. Mr. Kleckner, doubting that the University could accurately be said to inhabit any of its four contiguous communities, knew nothing of that memorandum. Ms. Rosen, however, had consulted its author and discovered that we shall, indeed, have to write Rochester Hills and a nine-digit zip code or face the prospect of having our mail returned to sender sometime in the foreseeable future (about six months into the new year).
Several information items followed this discussion. Mr. Kleckner began with good news concerning the library expansion. Bids should be returned soon, and Board approval of the low bid is anticipated for November. With Lansing approval gained shortly afterward, ground-breaking ceremonies could occur in December unless the ground freezes too firmly. The enlarged library is scheduled to be open in its new form for the start of the 1989-90 academic year. In the meantime, messy conditions loom during transitional phases. he thought it possible that people would have to go outside briefly, during one stage of construction, in order to get from Book A to book B.
The science building project also advances, with proposals now being solicited from architects. Faculty members will be involved in the selection of a recommended firm to be named by the Board; although the actual contract will be a state matter. When Mr. Stern asked what process is being used to determine allocation of internal space, Mr. Kleckner indicated that members of the affected departments would work on this matter. He then informed the Senate that long-distance planning has already begun to get another classroom/office building on the state list of eventual projects. This space would be needed to allow for any growth beyond the University's current size. The state cannot be expected to move on this project, however, until the science building is launched.
While on the subject of campus development plans, Mr. Kleckner reported that the firm of Johnson,, Johnson, and Roy has been gathering information related to the campus plan and prospects for change. officers of this company will bring in proposals that will affect the placement of any new buildings. They have been familiarizing themselves with current space uses and problems. He thought that the science building would be placed somewhere behind Dodge and Hannah Halls. The Campus Development and Environment Committee, chaired this year by Senator Schimmelman, will be working on this project with Johnson, Johnson, and Roy. That company is now focusing its attention on roads. Mr. Kleckner described the current proposal for roadwork to the west of the campus as set in "medium-firm Jello" rather than concrete. Nobody, he averred, is now planning improvements to Adams Road, on which planned congestion should reign for the foreseeable future. Divided boulevards are projected, however, for both Walton and Squirrel Roads--with a traffic pattern designed to facilitate campus access.
Discussion of road plans elicited a question from Mr. Williamson about the possibility of a traffic light's installation at the junction of 1-75 with University Road. Mr. Kleckner knew of no such plans and thought such an interim measure unlikely in view of plans to widen University Drive to six lanes starting next year. He pointed out that roads are already being developed at the north end of the Technology Park, in readiness for anticipated new tenants. The main question at present concerns the location of Squirrel Road, specifically the thorny matter of choosing which side will be widened. The county wants thirty acres of University land in the form of a long shallow strip along Squirrel Road. Mr. Kleckner projected that the University would eventually acquiesce in allowing some use of our land but that it would demand fair compensation. An appraisal process is starting now so that the values of the land in question can be established. When Ms. Hart-Gonzalez asked whether Butler Road would ever reopen, Mr. Kleckner deferred any firm answer until Rochester Hills determines its own wants. Upon a motion from Mr. Christina, the Senate adjourned at 4:24 p.m.
Respectfully submitted:
Jane D. Eberwein
Secretary to the University Senate