Wednesday, April 19, 2006
1. Call to Order:
President Evans called the meeting to order at 1:50 p.m.
2. Approval of Minutes:
Minutes of March 21 were approved as presented.
3. Presidents Report:
The following Board Meetings have been scheduled: if any faculty are interested in attending, please email me at jevans@temple.edu
a) Academic Affairs Committee Meeting – April 24th at 12:30 p.m.; Budget and Finance Meeting – April 27th; the Board of Trustees Meeting on May 9th is an open meeting to all who will like to attend. By this time you should have received the salient results of the Faculty Moral Survey. The committee felt this survey has captured the mood of the campus. After the results have been digested by the Survey Committee, our findings will be distributed to the University; however Terry Halbert and I felt it was important that we share the results with the Presidential Search Committee.
b) Report on the Search Committee: Please remember as members to the search committee, we signed a confidentiality agreement which limits us from speaking on the identity of the candidates, but do permit us to speak on the process. The position was widely advertised in higher education journals, targeting Blacks, Hispanics and women. We had a very good candidate pool. We looked at every applicant, and shortened the list to 15 candidates. These 15 were further researched by directed references; after a secret ballot, the list was reduced to 8. All 8 candidates were interviewed; all asked that their names be kept confidential. We took another secret vote and came up with the final 3. Now a second set of interviews are set-up for the final 3. I will assure you that we are bringing in a good candidate. It’s important that we get back to our Conwellian tradition, that we have a good fundraiser, and that the candidate have an open managerial style. I’m confident Terry and I have presented the faculty views in this process.
c) Resolution: Art Hochner presented a resolution to bring the finalists to campus to be interviewed by faculty (attached). After much discussion, the question was called. The resolution passed with a vote of 15 yeas and 13 nays, no abstentions.
Jane agreed to see that all of the trustees on the Search Committee would receive a copy of this resolution, even though it had not had a second reading and did not come from a committee. Jane also asked, because of the outcome of the resolution and since it had already been decided that the final 3 candidates would not be brought to campus, should she step down as faculty representative on the search committee if the call to bring all three to campus was not heeded? The sentiment of the forum was that she and Terry are doing an excellent job representation the faculty and should continue on the committee.
4. Vice President Report:
The ballot for senate elections is not complete at this time. It will be sent out on listserv as soon as it is completed. This will be our first time voting on line and we hope all of you will participate in this process.
5. Old Business:
The letter to President Adamany, with copies to the Student Affairs and Academic Affairs Committees of the Board regarding change in policy concerning academic freedom was distributed (attached).
6. New Business:
A video of the testimony from Millersville University academic freedom (ABoR) hearings, and HR 177; was viewed.
7. Adjournment:
Meeting was adjourned at 3:20 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Maxine J. Chisholm, pro-tem
