Faculty Assembly
Faculty Assembly Meeting Minutes
December 14, 2004
Members present: Christopher Abelt, David Armstrong, Deborah Bebout, James Beers, Chandos Brown, Elizabeth Canuel, Clay Clemens, Robert Diaz, Alan Fuchs, Nancy Gray, Lu Ann Homza, Martha Houle, Katherine Kulick, David Leslie, Tom Linneman, Alan Meese, Robert Orwoll, Ann Reed, Ron Rosenberg, Wanda Wallace, Tom White. Ex-officio member present: Robert Archibald. Other Attendees: Geoff Feiss (Provost), Carl Strickwerda (Dean Arts & Sciences), Sam Jones
I. Call to order. President Abelt called the meeting to order at 3:32 P.M.
II. Approval of Minutes. The minutes for the meeting of October 26, 2004 were approved unanimously without changes.
Administrative Report (Feiss)
A report on specified term faculty appointments was distributed. The results
were similar to previous years.
Provost Feiss announced that a draft of the charter proposal is posted on-line. It can be accessed from the W&M home page, under Charter Initiative. Provost Feiss noted that there is a meeting on Thursday with a presentation by the President of the Council of Presidents. Provost Feiss indicated that some members of the legislature and the governor are interested in aspects of charter. However, it is still unclear what the fate of the Charter Initiative will be in the upcoming session of the General Assembly.
Provost Feiss provided a budget update. He indicated that any budget surplus is likely to go to transportation. It is unlikely that there will be any investment in the base budgets for higher education However, there may be some investment in capital budgets for ongoing construction projects that have gone over budget. The Governor's budget will be presented later this week
Provost Feiss announced that the announcement for summer research grant FRA will be released later in the week.
Tenure and promotion files are due in the Provost's office by next week.
Provost Feiss noted that there are a number of searches ongoing including a search for a new director of Muscarelle Museum. He announced that a Search Committee will be formed for the position of Vice President for Development so that search can begin as soon as new president is in place. This is important in order to maintain momentum on the Capital Campaign.
Presidents Committee on Diversity will hold a retreat on January 18th.
Athletic Task Force will have a retreat 14-15 January.
Update on Phased Retirement (Kulick). It appears that the administration and faculty governance committees have reached an impasse in developing procedures for a phased retirement program. She reminded the Assembly that there are two goals in establishing such a program: (1) facilitate faculty transition from full-time to part-time employment and (2) provide the institution with flexibility.
There are two models that take faculty member from full-time employment to part-time employment to no work. A question remains about when official retirement takes place - prior to or after part-time employment has begun. The IRS policies state that there cannot be an official agreement to re-hire prior to retirement and that there must be a 3-month gap prior to re-employment. This leaves faculty in an uneasy position if there can be no written or oral agreement. Heavy fines could be applied if the IRS determined there was a prior arrangement.
An alternative model involves the following scenario: a Full-time faculty member would renegotiate his/her contract in the years immediately preceding retirement to a part-time contract. Following a period of part-time employment, the faculty member would transition to full retirement. Under this scenario, there is the ability to have a contractual agreement.
The IRS came out with a new set of proposed regulations in November. The comment period extends through February 2005. These regulations underscore that there can be no agreement for future employment between an employer and employee prior to the onset of retirement. The regulations also address the issue of how to treat the part-time phase of the phased retirement plan if the phase occurs prior to formal retirement. They consider an employee in this phase 50% employed and 50% retired. As a result, the employee can collect up to 50% of their retirement benefits. Because they are 50% employed, the institution is required to make retirement contributions on the employed fraction. These regulations would make the phased retirement option less lucrative for the employee and more costly to the institution.
Under the state defined benefits plan (VRS), in VA, an employee cannot use their retirement account until they are retired. As a result, employees in this system would only get 50% of their salary. VRS will wait for the IRS guidelines to be finalized before proceeding.
Archibald - Does this mean there could be a phased retirement for non-VRS employees? ORPs may allow this but Kulick is checking into this.
Fuchs - Anything to preclude following the VPI model? VPI faculty retire without contractual agreement and after 3-months, negotiate part-time employment. Kulick replied that this is a possibility. Feiss - Strictly speaking, there is nothing to prevent this. But, it is unlikely that a faculty member would do this without a conversation and any conversation could be interpreted as prior arrangement.
Rosenberg - Effort on part of College or a group of universities to lobby IRS to allow universities to pursue this? Kulick - Faculty Senate of VA may be asked to consider this. No steps taken on this so far.
Houle - Does this mean that the committee cannot proceed until IRS regulations are set and there is a response from VRS? Kulick- The committee is waiting to hear from IRS and will consult with the ORPs.
Sam Sadler Report - NCAA self study report has section about how institution ensures it is compliance with NCAA regulations. The report also identifies the manner in which the athletic advisory committee will interact with various groups including the FA, the President, and the BOV. Until now, there has been no clear means by which these bodies interact with one another. The report recommends that the Athletic Advisory Committee report to the Faculty Assembly annually. The Athletic Advisory Committee should also meet with the athletic committee of the BOV and the President. Sadler would like FA's response to this recommendation. Report will be completed soon and will be posted. Abelt responded that the FA will expect a report from the committee in the spring.
Rosenberg noted that the bylaws for the Faculty Assembly do not include interactions with the Athletic Advisory Committee. Thus, there are some internal inconsistencies. He asked whether an amendment should be made to include receiving reports from the Athletic Advisory Committee.
Abelt responded that the Faculty Assembly has the ability to ask committees to report as needed.
Student Fee Transparency Motion (Homza)- Homza reported that a motion to increase the transparency of student fees was approved by Arts & Sciences. She also noted that the Student Assembly passed an analogous, but not the same, motion. Significant amendments were made before presenting the motion to the faculty of Arts and Science. Homza moved that the motion, "The Faculty Assembly recommends to the administration that all the fees comprising the General Fee be itemized in the Catalogue and on bills" be adopted by the FA. The motion was seconded by Armstrong.
Considerable discussion of the philosophical and practical implications of fee transparency ensued. Orwoll noted that while he favored transparency, it was not necessary to include extensive detail on the bills. He recommended that the motion be modified to read, "The Faculty Assembly recommends to the administration that all the fees comprising the General Fee be itemized in the Catalogue and its catalogue location be referenced on bills."
The amended motion was seconded and approved. The motion will be forwarded to the Provost for consideration.
Proposed Amendments to the Faculty Assembly Constitution and Bylaws (Abelt) - Abelt distributed proposed amendments to the Assembly Constitution and Bylaws. Homza introduced a motion to approve the recommended changes to the Constitution. Houle seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
Diaz made a motion to approve the recommended changes to the Bylaws. Homza seconded the motion. Members of the Assembly voted unanimously to approve the changes.
New Business -
Homza noted that the Faculty Affairs Committee (FAC) of the School of Arts &
Sciences has recommended a Task Force be established to review the goals and
procedures for student course evaluations. She inquired about whether the faculty
members in the other schools as well as the Faculty Assembly would be interested
in participating. Representatives from the Schools of Education, Business, Law
and Marine Science indicated interest. The Assembly also indicated its interest
in the student course evaluation process.
There being no additional business, a motion was made to adjourn at 4:48 pm.
Respectfully submitted by E.A. Canuel, Faculty Assembly Secretary.
