UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MILWAUKEE FACULTY SENATE MEETING M I N U T E S Thursday, December 19, 1996; 2:30 p.m.; Curtin 175 UWM FAC. DOC. NO. I. COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS 1. Chancellor Schroeder reported on the following: 1) The biennial budget. We probably won't know what the Governor will recommend until his State of the State address in late January. In the meantime, there is heavy lobbying for him to approve the 4% and 4% salary increase recommendation for each year of the 1997-99 biennium. If we do not know the dollar amounts, departments will allocate points, as they've done in the past. 2) UWM plans to join Internet 2, along with about 100 other research campuses. 3) With regard to the strategic plan, he has now met with all department chairs and held five meetings with faculty. The deans are preparing their planning documents, which will be used by the Provost in preparing his long-range planning document sometime in late February. The Adult Access Committee Report has been completed and copies are available. 4) A national search has begun for the Dean of the Graduate School, who may be in place by the beginning of the 1997-98 academic year. We are moving ahead on the search for the dean of DOCEx. 5) George Baker has agreed to serve as senate parliamentarian, replacing Professor Michael Waller, whose untimely death was a shock to all of us. The senate rose for a moment of silence in memory of Professor Michael Waller. In response to a question by Senator Schwartz, Chancellor Schroeder replied that no one has yet come up with logical, simple alternative measures of productivity to those currently in use. There are no easy answers. Senator McBride said that she had just heard that the Greater Milwaukee Committee, headed by Michael Grebe, has come out in support of UWM. Chancellor Schroeder replied that the GMC is very positive about UWM and that he is a member of the GMC subcommittee which is leading a major effort to provide UWM with greater flexibility. 2. Professor Margo Anderson, Chairperson of the University Committee, reminded senators to pick up a copy of a resolution on salaries of the combined UWS faculties to be submitted to the Board of Regents. Faculty representatives are presenting the resolution to their faculties for adoption and it has been approved on five campuses thus far. It will on agenda of UWM's faculty meeting scheduled on January 23. She also noted that copies of a possible amendment to the forthcoming Economic Benefits Committee recommendation are available. She reported that the accountability reports were received by the Board at its December meeting. UWM had met its five contact class hours standard in Fall 1995 and the accountability issue is quiet at the moment. Another thorny issue on the Regents' minds for the past year or more was that of excess credits to degree. The Board had suggested, among other things, surcharges for extra credits. The Board now agrees that it would be best to let the advising system handle this issue and see if the problem resolves over time. Senator Schwartz noted that Regent President Grebe had said that productivity in the system is level. In business, apparently, productivity must continue to go up. Does this mean the our productivity must continue to increase? Professor Anderson replied that, based on the December Regent's meeting, productivity as an issue seems to have evaporated. 3. No representative of the Student Association was present. II. SENATE ROLL CALL Professor George Baker, serving as Parliamentarian, and 38 senators were present. Senators Iverson, Nardin, Verdier, Davida, Levine, Mark McBride, McRoy, Jain, Ma, and Lima were recorded as absent. Senator Frank arrived at 3:30 p.m. III. AUTOMATIC CONSENT BUSINESS 1. The minutes of the Senate meeting held on November 21, 1996 were approved as distributed. IV. CHANCELLOR'S REPORT The Chancellor's report was received. V. SPECIAL ORDER OF BUSINESS 1. Nomination of a Candidate for an Honorary Degree to be Conferred in 1997 MOTION (O'Bryan/seconded): That the Senate convene in closed session for the sole purpose of considering the qualification of and balloting on the candidate nominated as a recipient of an Honorary degree from this institution. This motion is made pursuant to Wis. Stats. 19.85(1)(f). The motion was approved on a unanimous roll call vote: 37 YES, 0 No, 0 Abstentions. Voting Yes were Senators Brummett, Hamilton, Mbalia, Mulroy, Poulson, Schwartz, Skalitzky, Tatham, Yannay, Hutz, Kojasoy, O'Bryan, Perez, Solomon, Berkman, Cross, Gratz, Harris, Kritek, G. McBride, Murphy, Pope, Roderick, Ryder, Schneider, Schulz, Teeter, Thompson, Van Horne, Aborampah, Adesso, Anderson, Arora, Bradford, Freeman, Greene, and Kenny. Chancellor Schroeder announced that, consistent with past practice, any faculty member who wished to remain for the discussion could do so, but they would not vote. He reminded all present that the name of the candidate must be kept confidential until the approved candidate has agreed to accept this honor--sometime in February or March. He also announced that the senate would convene into open session following completion of the announced business. Professor Velguth, Chairperson of the Honorary Degree Committee, presented the name of one candidate. Ballots (to be signed) were distributed and collected. The senate then rose from closed session. It was subsequently determined that the candidate was approved unanimously. VI. BUSINESS 1. Report from the Economic Benefits Committee 2075 Regarding the Faculty Career Ladder (Fac. Doc. 2035: Proposed 4/18/96; Amended 9/19/96; Referred to the EBC with Instructions to Report to the Senate at the December Meeting.) Associate Professor Mark Harris, Chair of the EBC, stated that the report is basically a comment on the document referred to him and the Committee is recommending an alternative motion. MOTION (Ryder/Van Horne): To approve the alternative motion as presented in Fac. Doc. No. 2075. Senator Schwartz said that Fac. Doc. No. 2035 was referred to the EBC to work out the details of the Cummings proposal. The first five points in the EBC's report have nothing to do with a salary ladder. Professor Harris replied that the Committee had no guidance on how to respond and it was not particularly impressed with the Cummings proposal. It did, however, think that there was and is a problem with salaries and presents a proposal for addressing that issue. MOTION TO SUBSTITUTE (Ryder/Greene): To substitute the following second paragraph for the second paragraph in the alternative motion. To address this issue, the Faculty Senate proposes that 1) salaries be increased to the 75th percentile of our peer institutions over the next five years, 2) UW-System present the salary package to the Regents before consideration of the biennial budget, and 3) UW-System and the Regents develop a model to reduce the irregular and widely varying salary increase we have experienced in the past. These changes would improve UWM's effectiveness in recruiting and retaining faculty and staff, and therefore improve the institution's academic quality and reputation. Senator Ryder explained that the Regents try to keep us at the median salary of our peers. This proposal would ask that we be at the 75th rather than the 50th percentile. The motion to substitute was approved on a voice vote. Professor Harris said that UWS salaries have lagged behind the cost of living and the Wisconsin Personal Income Index. Pick any year; we have progressively fallen farther and farther behind on these two measures. That is the motivation for the EBC's action. Professor Anderson said that the current system pits faculty against students. This motion would encourage the state to consider salary increases before the general biennial budget. Senator Schwartz noted that what is needed is a model that would induce regularity of increases and that is missing from this proposal. MOTION TO AMEND THE SUBSTITUTED PARAGRAPH (Brummett/seconded) as follows: In (3), substitute "stabilize and rationalize the salary increases." for "reduce the irregular and widely varying salary increases we have experienced in the past." Senator Van Horne, speaking against the amendment, suggested keeping the Harris language because we could stabilize and rationalize a tiny increase. The Brummett motion to amend was defeated on a show of hands: 10 YES, 22 NO. MOTION TO AMEND THE SUBSTITUTED PARAGRAPH (G. McBride/ seconded) as follows: In (3), replace "widely varying salary increases" with "wide variance in salary increases" and replace "we have experienced in the past." with "typical of the past." The motion to amend was approved on a voice vote. The motion presented by the EBC, as amended, was approved on a voice vote. 2. University Committee Motion to Amend ss. 5.181, 5.183,2076 5.184, and 5.186, UWM Policies and Procedures MOTION (Anderson/seconded): To approve Fac. Doc. No. 2076. The motion was approved on a voice vote. VII. COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE A motion was made, seconded, and approved on a voice vote to convene into committee of the whole. 1. Discussion of the Academic Planning and Budget Committee program procedures. Professor Anderson reported that Professor Petering, Chairperson of the APBC, could not be present to lead the discussion until 4 p.m. It was agreed to postpone this item rather than have the senate wait 30 minutes for Professor Petering's arrival. In the meantime, Senator Frank announced that over 300 evaluations each for the Vice Chancellor and Chancellor were received and would be tabulated, along with those for Dean Blackburn. MOTION (Van Horne/seconded): To rise from committee of the whole. The motion passed on a voice vote. VIII. UNFINISHED BUSINESS None. IX. GENERAL GOOD AND WELFARE 1. It was requested that the documents from the APBC be circulated well before the discussion is next scheduled. 2. A senator noted that he continues to read about Madison as being the flagship of the System. It may be realistic, but is distressing, nonetheless. 3. Senator Berkman advised the senate that he has proposed a resolution that is now before the University Committee for its review. He expects it to be on a forthcoming senate calendar. There being no further business, the senate adjourned at 3:39 p.m. Marilyn E. Miller Interim Secretary of the University