Oakland University Senate

Thursday, 22 September 1988
First Meeting

MINUTES

Senators Present: Abiko, Appleton, Banker, Barthel, Bhatt, Braun, Burke, Cass, Champagne, Chipman, Dahlgren, Downing, J. Eberwein, R. Eberwein, Eliezer, Fish, Frankie, Gerulaitis, Grossman, Hartman, Haskell, Hildebrand, Hough, Jackson, Karasch, Kleckner, Larabell, Lindell, Martek, Millwood, Muir, Pettengill, Pillow, Rosen, Schimmelman, Sherman, L. Stamps, R. Stamps, Stern, Theisen, Wedekind, Williamson, Wilson, Witt.

Senators Absent: Brown, Cardimen, Christina, Coffey, Garcia, Herman, Horwitz, Ketchum, Lauer, Maschke, Miller, Olson, Pine, Reddy, Riley, Sevilla, Tracy, Tripp.

Summary of Actions:
1. Minutes of 14 April 1988 (Gerulaitis; Stern). Adopted
2 . Motion to waive the second reading of #3 below (Pettengill; Stern). Approved.
3 . Motion from the Academic Standing and Honors Committee to expand committee membership (Wilson; Lindell). Approved.
4 . Motion from the Steering Committee to fill vacancies on Senate standing committees (Muir; Rosen). Approved.

Mr. Kleckner called the meeting to order at 3:14 p.m., welcoming colleagues to the first Senate meeting of the new academic year. He began by noting a typically light introductory agenda, then indicated that President Champagne would address the group briefly at the end of the business session. This session began with attention to the minutes of 14 April 1988, which were adopted without discussion (Moved, Ms. Gerulaitis; seconded, Mr. Stern).

With no old business encumbering the agenda, new business came forward immediately. Ms. Wilson, seconded by Ms. Lindell, presented a motion from the Academic Standing and Honors Committee to expand its membership:

MOVED that voting membership of the Academic Standing and Honors Committee be expanded to include a fifth faculty member.

Norman Kloosterman, chair of the Academic Standing and Honors Committee, and Elaine Chapman-Moore, one of its administrative members, stood ready to explain the proposal and answer questions, but there was no call upon their services. Sensing general goodwill toward the motion, Mr. Pettengill (seconded by Mr. Stern) moved that the second reading be waived so that the committee could be brought promptly to full strength and get off to a running start on the duties of the year. Unanimous support for this suggestion more than met the requirement of a two-thirds vote, and the main motion then won approval without any evidence of dissent.

Ms. Muir then presented a motion from the Steering Committee to fill vacancies on Senate standing committees (seconded by Ms. Rosen). In light of action on the preceding motion, she added a new section (e) to the list of committee changes:

MOVED that the faculty nominated below be confirmed as appointed to committees and terms as specified:

a.  Academic and Career Advising Committee
        Susan Hawkins to replace Mary Eddy (1988-89)

b.  Campus Development and Environment Committee
        Jon Froemke to replace David Housel (1988-89)

c.  General Education Committee
        William Schwab to replace Pamela Hilbers (fall 1988)

d.   University Committee on Undergraduate Instruction
        Mary Eddy to replace Kathleen Emrich as representative of the School of Nursing (1983-89)

e.  Academic Standing and Honors Committee
        Kathleen Moore to fill the newly created position (1988-90).

As usual, this staffing motion won unanimous approval. Mr. Kleckner thought that this action left Senate committees fully staffed for the time being and ventured the hope that it would take care of the year's needs.

No proposals came forward for the good of the order when the chair announced the good and welfare portion of the agenda, so ample time remained for information items. At this point, Mr. Kleckner yielded the floor to President Champagne to address his Senate colleagues.

The president welcomed the Senate back into session, encouraging its members to cooperate in this year's major projects, which he identified as institutional planning and the North Central reaccreditation visit. Characterizing the latter as a decennial opportunity to find out how well we are doing what we say we are doing, he professed his satisfaction with what Mr. Appleton and his team have succeeded in documenting: that Oakland University, despite its longstanding history of working with less-than-optimal resources, has overcome a number of challenges and achieved remarkable results. This review provides a welcome opportunity to demonstrate these achievements to external audiences while reconfirming our own sense of purpose.

"We had a very interesting summer," Mr. Champagne remarked, in an understated prelude to discussion of budgetary problems resulting from the August tuition rollback. He commented that his office had been involved in collective bargaining of two kinds: that with the faculty and that with the governor. Oakland, like several other Michigan universities, emerges from this experience facing a deficit (in our case approximately $1.6 million). Recognizing that an attempt to eliminate this full deficit in one academic year would result in weakened or crippled programs, he assured his colleagues that the university would work its way out of debt gradually in a planned and well thought-out manner. He anticipated a year of tight resources ahead but recalled that Oakland had survived such periods before.

With reference to APPC consideration of enrollment management in its planning effort, the president noted that current problems intensify the need to control enrollment. It would be shortsighted to admit additional students for the sake of tuition income when state allocations make no provision for growth. He described enrollment management as a matter of controlling numbers consistent with dollars available, noting that growth can be adjusted as needed. We seem to be faring well this year, with expected enrollment coming very close to the projected 9100 students. He thought that the university might choose to slow down the rate of decline for a year or two but reaffirmed institutional commitment to the basic goal of enrollment management.

He had been engaged in an off-campus educational effort, noting that last spring's budget process entailed many Lansing meetings to inform the governor and legislators about the financial pressures faced by state universities and to convince  them of the seriousness of these problems. Encouraged by awareness there of equity issues and hopeful that our governmental leaders recognize the need to address existing problems, he promised to continue exploring these issues and trying to deal with them. He cautioned, however, that funding imbalances will not be corrected in one year--or even two or three. Still, he declared himself optimistic about Oakland's future and hoped that it had turned an important corner by learning not to identify institutional excellence and maturity with enrollment growth. How well we are doing must be our absolute criterion, he argued, rather than how populous our campus has become. He advised realistic expectations. Although many persons had hoped early in this decade that the state would renew its interest in growth funding, it has by now become apparent that the level of increase in the overall state budget cannot any longer finance university growth as it did in the past. Actions this summer have set a precedent for tuition control that we can expect to become well entrenched. Thus it becomes more important than ever to pursue additional funding sources. The president believed that Oakland could respond to its situation without trauma--in a planned and reasonable way, and he identified the year's main project as demonstrating our achievements to the NCA and appropriate philanthropic agencies.

When the president, declaring himself eager to work closely with the Senate, invited questions from its members, Mr. Stamps inquired about the university's image. How are we perceived in Lansing: as we see ourselves or in the light of the infamous Governor's Commission Report from several years back? Mr. Champagne pointed out that the legislature had resolved the differences among categories of state universities by the simplistic expedient of declaring them all to be universities. Still, he recognized that there remain a favored few research institutions in Michigan, with Michigan Tech now joining the original "big three." Oakland is still trying to establish a distinctive identity based on its own research accomplishments, which--while demonstrably below those of the distinctively research universities--nonetheless exceed all other institutions among the other eleven. (We do about twice the volume of funded research as Western Michigan University, our closest competitor.) We continue trying to move ahead and make ourselves more comparable to the privileged three or four universities. He believed that the governor and key legislators recognize our academic quality and value Oakland's service role in a populous section of the state. Thus he anticipated no pressure to curtail any of our programs and discounted earlier fears of forced consolidation on a statewide level. He considered Oakland's reputation secure, even though the commission report from several years ago will continue to enjoy some sort of half-life until it is eventually superseded.

This assurance prompted Mr. Stamps to raise a related question. Does the local community recognize what we are? Can we overcome the tendency for people to blur our institutional identity with that of OCC? Mr. Champagne admitted he had no answer for this, confessing that he had worked on it to the point of being criticized for spending too much on public relations. His reluctant conclusion was that this is a problem we shall probably always have to confront, and he welcomed any suggestions short of the recurring one that we change the university's name.

The next question came from Mr. Burke, who wondered what had become of Wayne State University's proposal a few years ago to build a branch campus in Macomb County. Mr. Champagne indicated that we are watching the situation there but are not worried. Several tax measures aimed at raising money to expand higher education programs in Macomb County have recently failed, although the issue can be expected to recur. Wayne offers some programs there now, and we have cooperated as well to the limit of our resources.

When Ms. Muir inquired about the effect of the state's new MET Senate tuition-investment program, Mr. Champagne volunteered to distribute to senators a newspaper article on the subject that he considered thought provoking. He recognized that the MET would increase legislators' concern with tuition increases by putting pressure on them to make up any difference between actual percentage increases and those projected for this program; the state is not obligated to make up the difference but will surely try. If our lawmakers respond to this pressure by coming through with strong enough average appropriation increases that universities can hold tuition down, then everyone stands to benefit. Still, we cannot hold tuition in the face of a 3% appropriation increase like this year's. He noted that there has been widespread public enthusiasm for the program, particularly in Oakland County. On this note, the president turned the chair back to the provost, who thanked him for his overview of summer events.

Mr. Kleckner proceeded to inform his colleagues about some interesting developments. We have a new member of the Board; James Sharp replaces Donald Bemis. Mr. Sharp brings both governmental and corporate experience to this office and is already well acquainted with Oakland University. Trustees Sims and Handleman have been reappointed to new terms.

Mr. Appleton and his legion of workers are now polishing our North Central self-study report. The visiting team will arrive on Sunday, March 12. its members, who can be expected to fan out over the campus to meet all sorts of folk, have now been identified. John LaTourette, an economist who serves as president of Northern Illinois University, will chair the team. His experience at that institution prepares him well to understand the political and economic climate in which we are working. Other team members include the following: Thomas Conry, chair of the Department of General Engineering at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; William Halloran, dean of the College of Letters and Science at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Louise Hay, chair of the Department of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago; Anne Koehler, chair of the Department of Decision Sciences at Miami University of Ohio; R. Marcus Price, professor of physics and astronomy and acting dean of graduate studies at the University of New Mexico; Irwin Rubenstein, professor of genetics and cell biology and director of the Plant Molecular Biology Institute at the University of Minnesota; and Nancy Ellen Talburt, assistant vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. This is a broadly experienced team.

Library growth over the summer is quite visible, and Mr. Kleckner admired the fortitude of librarians in coping with construction challenges. Although construction fell behind schedule for awhile, it seems to be catching up a bit. The timing of the move from the central core of the present library into the new wings remains uncertain, though the provost held out the hope that it could be accomplished during one of the breaks from classes--if not at Christmas, then in February. He apologized for the mess on the third floor, where unsightly plastic wrap now covers journals. This is the result of construction-related water damage. Injured journals are now being salvaged and the others protected.

The road situation is still a mess. Mr. Kleckner projected that the University Drive dual highway would be completed this year. other road work may come later, but for now what we see is what we get. Thoughts of Squirrel Road widening and other changes remain speculative.

The last information item recurred to the subject of enrollment that Mr. Champagne had discussed earlier. Enrollment seems to be tracking nicely overall within the university, but the balance of students within the institution calls for improved management so that we can get a better handle on where the students are among our various curricula.

When opportunity for questions and comments arose, Mr. Williamson noted that few honorary degrees had been given recently. He thought it high time that Oakland bestow this distinction on Woody Varner and wondered whether it was appropriate to make such a recommendation to the Steering Committee. Mr. Kleckner acknowledged that there has been a deliberate effort to diminish activity of this sort but thought it fitting to make such a proposal to the Steering Committee, which might also seek other worthy nominees. If the Senate wished to encourage the bestowal of honorary degrees, it was empowered to do so.

Having launched its business for another academic year, Senate then adjourned upon Mr. Stern's motion at 4:02 p.m.

Respectfully submitted:
Jane D. Eberwein
Secretary to the University Senate the