Oakland University Senate
Sixth Meeting
Thursday, March 19, 1998
Gold Room C, Oakland Center
3:10 p.m.
Refreshments will be served
Agenda
Respectfully submitted by the Steering Committee
A. Information items
i. Name change-Department of Mathematical Sciences name is being changed to the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. (attachment A)
B. Approval of the minutes of the January 8, 1998 meeting.
C. Old Business
none
D. New Business
1. Motion from the Steering Committee to fill a Senate committee vacancy. (Mr. Dillon)
MOVED that the following person be confirmed as elected to the Senate committee listed below for the term specified:
Senate Planning Review Committee
Shannan McNair (winter 98) to replace Frances Jackson who is on sabbatical.
Procedural motion: Debatable, amendable and eligible for final vote at this meeting.
2. Motion from the School of Business Administration to approve a new Constitution. (Mr. Gardner)
MOVED that the Senate recommend to the President and the Board approval of the new constitution of the School of Business Administration.
First reading: Debatable but not eligible for final vote at this meeting. Senate protocol holds constitutions to be unamendable from the floor. If revisions seem to be needed, the document will be referred to its authors for reconsideration.
Comment: The revised constitution (attachment B, distributed to Senators only) has been approved by the School of Business Administration faculty.
3. Motion from the Steering Committee regarding public school academies (Mr. Dillon)
MOVED that the Senate recommend to the President and the Board the approval of the following public school academies:
High Scope Academy
Weston Technical Academy
First reading: Debatable, amendable but not eligible for final vote at this meeting.
Comment: Copies of the complete applications may be viewed in the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs. Due to time constraints, if a second reading of this motion is necessary, it will take place at an additional special meeting of the Senate on March 26, 1998 at 3:10 p.m in 202 O’Dowd Hall. Since the Board of Trustees will be meeting on April 2, 1998 to consider these academies, the regularly scheduled April 16th meeting of the Senate would be too late to provide Senate input.
4. Motion from the Steering Committee to amend Senate standing committee administrative membership specifications. (Mr. Grossman)
MOVED, that membership specifications for Senate standing committees be modified as follows:
1. Remove the specific position titles of administrative appointees on Senate standing committees and replace them with an equal number of slots reflecting the generic description: "Vice President for __________ designee, nonvoting" except that:
a. the number of VPAA designees on the Human Relations and Library committees shall decrease by one each; the number of VPSA designees on the Human Relations Committee shall decrease by one, and the VPUR position on the Budget Review Committee shall be removed;
b. the number of VPAA designees on the Assessment, Budget Review and Planning Review committees shall each increase by one, and the number of VPSA representatives on the Assessment Committee shall increase by one;
c. the chairs of the Graduate Council, the Honorary Degree and Steering committees, and the VPSA designee to the Academic Conduct committees shall be voting members of those entities.
2. The directors of the Office of Equity and the Office of Diversity and Compliance shall be added to the Human Relations Committee, both nonvoting.
First reading: Debatable, amendable but not eligible for final vote at this meeting.
Comment: For informational purposes, a copy of the prospective list is attached to the paper agenda (attachment C), with an indication of any changes from current committee arrangements. The Senate, of course, retains ultimate authority to alter or terminate this arrangement.
Current Senate committee membership specifications contain a mixture of generic and specific titles. The first part of the above motion is an attempt to bring some consistency and uniformity to the title and voting status of such administrative representatives. If adopted, this change would eliminate the need for Senate action to continually change the membership specifications simply to accommodate changes of titles of administrative positions for each committee, and it would also provide the flexibility for the vice presidents to make appropriate changes in administrative representation reflecting structural changes that relocate, reshape or create new positions.
The voting status of administrative designees would change from voting to nonvoting on the following committees: Academic Computing (2), Academic Standing & Honors (1), Assessment (3 - with 2 additional members), Budget Review (2 - with additional member), Human Relations (4), Undergraduate Instruction (1; 2 others are already nonvoting). Voting status would continue for designees who serve as chairs (i.e., the Graduate Council, Honorary Degree and Steering Committees) and for the VPSA designee on the Academic Conduct Committee.
If the motion is adopted, each spring the vice presidents for Academic Affairs, Finance & Administration, and Student Affairs would provide the Secretary of the University Senate with a list of the individuals selected for current membership on the standing committees to represent the divisions. The list would include name and title of each designated representative.
The second part of the motion makes changes in the membership specification for the Human Relations Committee which provide administrative representation more appropriate to the work of that committee and which leave the total committee size unchanged.
5. Good and welfare.
mar8agda