Faculty Council Minutes

Minutes of Faculty
Council Meeting
Nov. 17, noon —
Cohen House

Present: Patten
(speaker), Akin, Ambler, Bayazitoglu, Braam, Cox, Dharan,
Droxler, Levander, Matsuda, Mutchler, Ostdiek, West, Wittenberg
and Zammito. Absent: Baker.

The agenda consisted
of: (1) Maternity Leave, (2) Approval of Minutes, (3)
Report on Termination of Appointments, (4) Distance Learning,
(5) Undergraduate Curriculum Committee Report, (6) Report
on Jones School Promotions Guidelines, (7) Expansion of
Number of Graduate Students Teaching Undergraduate Classes,
(8) Report on Search for Council Secretary and (9)
Other Business.

(1) Maternity
Leave: Ostdiek presented a detailed report on her findings
regarding Rice’s maternity-leave policy for faculty.
The two main issues with which she dealt were a) what is
the policy and b) what is the actual practice. Her report
did not deal with P&T issues or family medical-leave
issues. While many thought that a 6-to-8-week leave is customarily
given at the birth of a child, nowhere could she find this
to be written policy. She talked with several faculty familiar
with the issue, and there appears to be a wide range of
practice regarding adjusting teaching duties related to
maternity and childbirth. The exercise of discretion appears
to be driven by the timing of the birth relative to the
academic calendar and the rigidness of departmental teaching
schedules. Council unanimously agreed that the issue of
maternity leave should be forwarded to the University Standing
Committee on Faculty and Staff Benefits with a request that
it study the present policy and make recommendations to
Faculty Council.