Oakland University Senate
Third Meeting
December 10, 1998
Oakland Center,Oakland Room
3:10 p.m.
Agenda
Refreshments will be served
Respectfully submitted by the Senate Steering Committee.
A. Approval of the October 15th meeting minutes.
B. Information items
1. Report on enrollments
2. Charter Schools--Ms. Melhado
3. Golf Course update
4. Board of Trustees update
C. Old Business
None
D. New Business
1. Procedural motion to staff Senate standing committees (Mr. Andrews)
MOVED that the Senate approve the appointments listed below to Senate Standing Committees:
a. Academic Conduct Committee
Arthur Bull (Department of Chemistry) to serve as Chair, Winter 1999
b. Campus Development and Environment Committee
Arline Savage (School of Business Administration) to replace Edward Farragher (School of Business Administration), 1998-2000
c. Research Committee
Baruch Cahlon (Department of Mathematics and Statistics) to replace Devadatta Kulkarni (Department of Mathematics and Statistics), Winter 1999
Joseph Callaghan (School of Business Administration) to replace Austin Murphy (School of Business Administration), Winter 1999
d. University Committee for Undergraduate Instruction
Gene Fliedner (School of Business Administration) to serve as Chair, Winter 1999
Procedural motion: Debatable, amendable and eligible for final vote.
2. Motion to establish a policy for awarding financial aid to home-schooled students (Mr. Grossman)
MOVED that the Senate approve the following policy for financial aid assistance for home-school students:
Home-schooled students without a GED who wish to apply for financial aid will be required to take the ASSET Program: Basic Skills Tests (Reading, Writing, and Numerical) and obtain passing scores (as defined in the federal regulations) in order to demonstrate the "ability to benefit" condition necessary for any federal and state financial assistance.
First reading: Debatable, amendable but not eligible for final vote.
Comment: Students applying for federal financial aid are required to demonstrate "ability to benefit," with a high school diploma or GED being the standard measure for such a demonstration. Students without high school diplomas or GEDs (such as home-schooled students) cannot receive financial aid unless they take one of eight standardized tests approved by the U.S. Department of Education on October 25, 1996. Of these, the Committee recommends that OU require the ASSET Program: Basic Skills Tests, which, because of its inclusion of a writing portion, is the most comprehensive of the eight tests approved by the U.S. Department of Education for this purpose. ASSET is also the test of choice at two-year colleges within the tri-county area (OCC, MCC, SCCCC).
Because we expect only a few students per year to need testing in the foreseeable future and because OU does not have the sort of independent testing agency required by the federal regulations to administer the test, we will recommend that students make use of the testing centers currently available at local two-year colleges. Passing scores currently required by the federal regulations are: Reading = 34, Writing = 34, Numerical = 33
The regulations do not specify what the highest score levels are in each category. Adopting this proposal will allow home-schooled students without high school diplomas or GEDs to apply for federal and state financial aid.
3. Motion from the College of Arts and Sciences asking Senate concurrence with a College Assembly resolution. (Mr. Macauley)
MOVED, that the Senate concur with the College Assembly in recommending to the President and the Board that the Board of Trustees Document: Oakland University Administrative Policies and Procedures Subject #144: Oakland University Faculty Hiring Procedures be amended as indicated below in italics:
On Campus Interviewing
Following the screening and review of candidate pool data provided by the UDC* from Confidential Applicant Data, the committee shall recommend candidates to be interviewed, on Section C of the Faculty Recruitment Record. Section C must be completed and approved by the chairperson, dean or director of ERI, the director of UDC* and the Provost's Office. There shall be no a priori requirement or expectation that the list of candidates to be interviewed include persons of any particular gender, ethnic or disability classification. However, where there is evidence that qualified minorities, women or persons with disabilities should be available in the potential pool of candidates, or if the committee does not follow the procedures under IV.C. Search Committee, and elsewhere under V, GUIDELINES FOR IMPLEMENTING PROCEDURE, to attract qualified minorities, women or persons with disabilities, the committee may be required to continue the search for qualified candidates. The vitae of the selected candidates and the highest ranking women candidates and minority candidates not included as finalists must be provided. A decision to extend the search may be made by the Provost's Office, the dean or director of ERI, chair or the director of UDC* at any phase of the process.
*Office of University Diversity and Compliance
First reading: Debatable, amendable but not eligible for final vote.
Comment: This resolution was adopted by the Assembly on a motion from Mr.Bertocci who has provided the following background material.
During the 1997-98 faculty hiring year, the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost attempted to implement the Board of Trustees' Faculty Hiring Procedures by categorically refusing to approve all Section C recommendations for on-campus interviews that did not contain at least one candidate who was a person of color. This "expectation" was made of all hiring units regardless of the degree of diligence and good faith they had shown in following the procedures for affirmative action recruitment. Units were given no advance notice of this "expectation," and they came under its application even if they had not been assigned an ethnic diversity goal as part of their authorization to recruit.
Because the searches of several college departments were adversely affected by this policy, the Assembly of the College of Arts and Sciences unanimously adopted this resolution requesting that the board revise its procedures to forbid expressly this mode of implementation. Proponents of the resolution argued that this mode of implementing faculty hiring procedures is problematic for the following reasons: (1) it places an undue burden on hiring units whose disciplines have a limited national pool of women and minority personnel available, (2) it handicaps and frustrates searches by laying out post hoc affirmative action goals not expressly set forth at the onset of the hiring cycle and delaying the search processes of individual hiring units, (3) albeit unintendedly, this policy results in pressures on hiring units that encourages tokenism, in that units may perceive no choice but to bring to campus minority candidates they have no intention of hiring just to satisfy the requirement, and (4) the policy creates the appearance of a "short list quota," even though none exists, and thus exposes the university to the possibility of undesirable legal and public scrutinty. For these reasons, the Senate is urged to join the college in recommending change to the board.
E. Good and Welfare
Note: Several committees have positions available: Admissions and Financial Aid (1 vacancy, Winter 1999); General Education Committee (1 vacancy, 1998-2000); Research Committee (1 vacancy, Winter 1999) Please share these opportunities with your colleagues.