Faculty Senate Steering Committee - Minutes

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Present:  Paul S. LaFollette (Pres.), Joan Shapiro (V. Pres.), Mark C. Rahdert (Sec’y), Nora Alter (SCT), Mark Anderson (Law), Adam Davey (CHPSW), Joan Delalic (Engr.), Deborah Howe (SED) [teleconference], Forrest Huffman (FSBM), Michael Jacobs (Phar), Stephanie Knopp (Tyler), Jim Korsh (CST), Laurie MacPhail (Dent.), Jeffrey Solow (BCMD), David Waldstreicher (Fac. Herald),

Cheryl Mack (Coord.)

Absent: Karen Turner (Past President), Jeffrey Draine (SSW), Michael Jackson (STHM), Tricia S. Jones (Educ.), Charles Jungreis (Med.), Joseph Schwartz (CLA).

1. Call to order:

The meeting was called to order at 1:05 PM.

2. Approval of Minutes:

The minutes of the November 1, 2011 meeting were approved.

3. President’s Report:

President LaFollette reviewed the agenda for the November Representative Senate meeting.  Professor Luis Gonzalez del Valle, Provost Englert, and Senior Vice Provost Jones will all attend.  LaFollette has sent an invitation to Dean and Vice Provost for the Arts Stroker, but has not heard back from him.

LaFollette reported that he is doing some background checking to confirm what budgetary information is available in the Library, and how that information relates to what should be available, before writing to the President and Provost on the matter.

He also reported that Deans have apparently been given a draft of the expected white paper on reorganization from the Provost.  None has been given to us. He expressed the hope that the matter might be raised in exchanges with the Provost during the Representative Senate meeting.

LaFollette noted that the Faculty Senate and Faculty Herald jointly sponsored a symposium on faculty governance last year.  He asked whether there should be another symposium scheduled this year. In a brief discussion, it was observed that the symposium does not need necessarily to be an annual event.  Whether we hold one should depend on whether there is strong interest centering on a particular topic that will spark broad faculty participation.

4. Vice President’s Report:

Vice President Shapiro noted that there are still two vacancies on EPPC and three on CATA.  Since these are important committees we need to have these positions filled. Faculty members interested in serving should send a statement explaining their interest and a CV to senate2@temple.edu.

5. Collegial Assembly By-laws:

President LaFollette raised the issue of Collegiate Assembly by-laws. Last year, the Provost’s office drafted a template for collegiate assembly by-laws, which was reviewed and discussed by the FSSC as part of its retreat with the Provost. In response, the FSSC drafted a statement of working principles for Collegiate Assembly by-laws which differed in some respects from the Provost’s template. After that statement was shared with the Provost, he arranged a meeting between members of the FSSC and Deans, at which there was further discussion but no consensus. Since then, there has been no further activity, and progress toward putting in place new collegiate by-laws apparently has stalled. LaFollette raised the question what should be done next.  

Professor Solow reported that his collegiate assembly (BCMD) has developed and passed a set of by-laws which have been submitted to the Dean and University Counsel for review. The by-laws include some material drawn from the Provost’s template, but they also include material developed by the BCMD faculty. Other FSSC members noted that the College of Education completed an extensive revision of its by-laws before the Provost’s template became available. FSSC members from other schools and colleges reported that they were unaware of any activity in their units regarding by-laws.

A general discussion of what further action might be taken followed.  Since the discussion revealed some uncertainty about what the FSSC statement of principles from last year included, LaFollette will redistribute the statement for review and further discussion at a later FSSC meeting.

6. Status and Treatment of Non-tenure-track (NTT) Faculty:

Susan Balee (CLA), a NTT faculty member in the Intellectual Heritage department, delivered a presentation concerning some of the issues that NTT faculty face at Temple.  She reported that her presentation was based on her own experience plus what other NTT faculty have shared with her, partly in response to a recent Faculty Senate listserv discussion.  Among the more prominent issues she raised were the lack of multi-year contracts for NTTs (even those with relatively long experience), unexpected staff cuts and course load increases, wide variations in support for NTT that seem to depend on the attitudes and effectiveness of advocacy by department chairs, exclusion of NTTs from access to faculty resources, lack of strategic planning regarding the use of NTTs, and failure to consider NTTs as candidates for open tenure-track positions.  Balee distributed a set of “best practices” for NTTs developed by the Modern Language Association.  She recommended that Temple should adopt consistent policies regarding NTTs that track these practices.

A discussion of NTT policies and practices at Temple followed.  Members noted that there are substantial differences among schools and colleges in terms of the use and treatment of NTT faculty, and that there probably can be no “one size fits all” approach.  However, there was general agreement that there needs to be further discussion with the Provost about some of the issues raised in Professor Balee’s presentation.  There was general agreement that too many NTT faculty members remain on year-to-year contracts, and that this is destructive of productivity and morale.       

7. Old Business:

There was no further old business.

8. New Business:  

There was no new business.

9. Adjournment:

The meeting was adjourned at 2:50 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Mark C. Rahdert

Secretary