Faculty Assembly
THE FACULTY ASSEMBLY
THE COLLEGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY IN VIRGINIA:
MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 28, 1999
The meeting was called to order at 3:35 p.m. with 27 members in attendance.
The minutes of the meeting of May 11, 1999 were approved as distributed.
Assembly President David Lutzer introduced Ashleigh Schuller. She will serve as the student government's liaison to the Faculty Assembly for the 1999-2000 academic year. Ms. Schuller is a sophomore planning to major in government.
I. Administrative Reports
A. Provost Cell reported on the annual administrative retreat that took place over the summer. The retreat included the president's staff, all vice presidents, and deans. The meeting laid the groundwork for a year-long conversation on campus about where William and Mary should go over the next decade. Three broad themes emerged from the retreat. These are:
William and Mary and the campus experience
William and Mary and the community
William and Mary and the world
The overarching purpose of this process will be to consider how the College educates students for lives of responsible citizenship and leadership. The Provost elaborated briefly on each category. The first theme concerns what specifically we do on campus to prepare students for leadership and citizenship. The community theme looks at the College's larger involvement with the local community and asks what can we do together for our mutual benefit. The world theme concerns how William and Mary can go out to the larger world and how the College can bring the world to Williamsburg. Relevant questions under this theme include: Should we increase the numbers of students studying overseas? Should we have more international students on campus?
Related to the Provost's comments on the community theme, President Lutzer reported that he and Vice President Bill O'Connell will represent the Assembly at meetings of Crossroads. Crossroads is a collaboration that involves major institutions (governmental, educational, and private) in the region. It focuses on the future development of our part of the Peninsula. William and Mary is a member of this group.
II. Reports of Standing Committees
A. Academic Advisory Committee. Committee chair Katherine Kulick reported that AAC unanimously approved a proposal to provide early contracts for continuing faculty who have visa renewals pending. AAC has referred the matter to the Assembly's Executive Committee for consideration. The AAC is also providing input to the Faculty Survey working committee on additions, deletions, and revisions to the 1996 Faculty Survey
B. Committee on Committees. Committee chair Joe Scott reported that COC had endorsed the membership on search committees for two administrative positions, the Head of the Global Exchange Office and the Vice President for Development. President Lutzer reminded the membership that Assembly approval of faculty representatives on such committees is required. The Assembly unanimously approved the slates of candidates for both committees. However, assembly members expressed serious concerns that the rush to approve membership on the Vice Presidential search committee precluded more meaningful consultation. In response to a question from Sue Peterson, Joe Scott stated that COC will try to achieve appropriate gender representation on college committees whenever possible.
C. Executive Committee. President Lutzer reported that the Executive Committee sent a letter to President Sullivan over the summer expressing appreciation for his service to the College community and his efforts to strengthen the College. Lutzer also reported on the Provost's agreement that all issues that come before BPAC may be shared with the Assembly Executive Committee.
D. Liaison Committee. Refer to the committee's written report in the agenda for the September 28, 1999 meeting.
III. Old Business
President Lutzer referred the members to the following proposed bylaws changes that will be necessary if the proposed changes to the Assembly's constitution are approved by Arts and Sciences and the schools. The first three proposed changes are largely housekeeping changes that take care of some oversights last May. The fourth change adds a committee to the list of committees that report to the Assembly.
A. Modify Article IV, Section 5 to read as follows.
Article IV, Section 5. The Executive Committee shall monitor all Assembly committees to assess their continuing usefulness; at least once every four years, review the jurisdiction, composition, and activities of university-wide committees to asses whether the committees, individually and collectively, meet the needs of the university; and present recommendations to the Assembly for modifying the university-wide committee structure. IN ADDITION, THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE SHALL RECOMMEND TO THE ASSEMBLY THE MEMBERS OF ITS STANDING AND SPECIAL COMMITTEES, AND FACULTY MEMBERS OF CAMPUS-WIDE COMMITTEES, EXCEPT AS PROVIDED IN ARTICLE VII, SECTION 3.
B. Modify Article VII, Section 1 to replace mention of the Committee on Committees (which would no longer exist) by the Executive Committee. The final sentence of Article VII Section 1 would read "Purposes and charges for such university-wide committees shall be determined by the Provost or other appropriate persons upon consultation with the EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE."
C. Modify the wording of Article VII, Section 2 to bring it into line with the Standing Rule that we passed last year concerning duties of the Committee on Committees. Those duties are assigned by the new Bylaws to the Executive Committee. The proposed Section 2 would read "On the advice of the Executive Committee, the Assembly shall recommend to the appropriate appointing authority in a timely manner, the individuals who represent the faculty on search committees for university-wide administrative positions (including President, Provost, VICE-PRESIDENTS, and University Librarian), and on all UNIVERSITY-WIDE standing and ad-hoc committees other than long range planning and long range advisory committees. Terms of office ..." The remainder of Section 2 would be unchanged.
D. Modify Article VI "Other committees reporting to the Assembly" to include the University Development Advisory Committee as item f) in the listing, with the description "CONSULTS WITH THE VICE-PRESIDENT FOR DEVELOPMENT AND OTHER MEMEBRS OF THE ADMINISTRATION TO COMMUNICATE FACULTY PERSPECTIVES ON GOALS FOR DEVELOPMENT, AND TO RECEIVE TIMELY REPORTS ON FUND-RAISING PROJECTS AND PRIORITIES."
Lutzer reviewed the purpose for each specific bylaws change and explained that these changes will not go into effect if the constitutional changes are not approved. The Assembly voted on the proposed changes as a package and approved all of them by a vote of 27 to 0.
IV. New Business
President Lutzer presented the following list of proposed Assembly goals for 1999-2000. The goals were developed during the Assembly retreat in August.
A. Student Financial Aid: to support increases in student aid at the undergraduate, graduate, and professional levels, and to create an ad hoc committee to report to the Assembly before May, 2000 on the College's policies concerning undergraduate student aid and other issues related to undergraduate admissions.
B. Comprehensive Faculty Development Model: to assign to an Assembly committee the task of designing and proposing for Assembly approval a model faculty development program that includes all phases of the professional lives of faculty members, throughout the entire period of their appointments at the College, and in particular to support an increase in the Faculty Research Committee budget in order to bring it to the per capita level of the period between 1992-3 and 1994-5. The committee report on the comprehensive faculty development model should be available to the Assembly by May, 2000.
C. Roles of the Assembly: to make a series of changes in the Assembly to enable it to represent the faculty more effectively, including obtaining approval for the new constitution and bylaws, providing new charges to revitalize important university-wide committees, and continuing the successful Faculty Assembly retreat each August to review the role and goals of the Assembly. To help the Assembly identify issues of greatest concern to the faculty, the Assembly will sponsor a faculty survey every third year, starting in 1999-2000.
Alan Ward mentioned that the idea of a rolling (ongoing) Assembly agenda emerged from the retreat. President Lutzer concurred that these goals would carry over to subsequent Assemblies if they are not achieved during the current academic year.
The motion to approve the Assembly goals for 1999-2000 passed unanimously.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:28 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Roger Baldwin
Secretary
