Faculty Council Minutes

Faculty Council
Business Meeting
Tuesday, Nov. 12
Cohen House

Present: John
Zammito (speaker), Ed Akin, Stephen Baker, Steven Crowell,
Chandler Davidson, André Droxler, Deborah Harter,
Tom Haskell, Lynne Huffer, Hannah Landecker, Scott McGill,
Julia Morgan, Barbara Ostdiek, Bob Patten and Herb Ward.
Absent: Mark Wiesner

(1) Minutes:
The minutes for Sept. 24 and Oct. 22 were accepted as written.

(2) Appointments
of junior faculty on Faculty/University Council (Baker):
The speaker welcomed the new Council members (Landecker,
McGill and Morgan). Zammito stated that since Council’s
proposed amendment for the bylaws for assistant professors
was passed in the general faculty meeting Oct. 29, the first
two elections for the new two-year term for “Assistant
Professor” representatives for Faculty Council will
be held in the spring.

(3) Shepherd
School Degree Requirements (Zammito): Zammito called for
discussion of the developments in the general faculty meeting
Oct. 29. Council discussed the following:

A. Detrimental
effects of the unauthorized altering, via this year’s
General Announcements, of the undergraduate degree requirements
(how that affects the students, especially during the next
four years)

B. Lack of attendance
by the Humanities and Sciences faculty in the general faculty
meeting Oct. 29 and the impact that had on the resolution
presented for the first vote in that meeting

C. The priority
that “students not being harmed”

D. Legal aspects
(regarding the lack of continuity of the established degree
requirements)

E. Responsibilities
of the administration to the faculty/students/university
(especially pertaining to governance issues)

F. Council’s
plans for future actions/procedures (statement/resolution
by the Council, regarding the importance of adhering to
the procedures of faculty governance to ensure university
unity, which will be presented in written form to the
Jan. 29 general faculty meeting).

Council decided
to invite Jim Pomerantz, chair of the Undergraduate Curriculum
Committee, to the Faculty Council business meeting Dec.
17 to discuss with them the issues pertaining to curriculum
policy.

Zammito advised
the members that he, as speaker, will advise the president,
in light of present events, that the Faculty Council must
see and approve any changes in the General Announcements
regarding curriculum and degree requirements before it goes
to press.

(4) Maternity
Benefits (Huffer): Huffer will convene a meeting of the
Policy Committee to discuss maternity/family leave benefits.

(5) Agenda for
Dec. 16 (Council’s meeting with president and board
chair) (Zammito): The speaker stated that Council will meet
with the president and the board chair Dec. 16 to discuss
the agenda items not covered during their meeting with them
Oct. 8. Zammito said that he will send to Council a list
of the other agenda items (regarding mainly unity of the
university and the tendency of schools to want to become
autonomous) that they may want to discuss with the administration
during that meeting.

(6) New Business:
Deferred for lack of time.

(7) Adjournment:
The meeting was adjourned at 1:30 p.m. The next Faculty
Council business meeting was scheduled for Dec. 16, noon,
Anne and Charles Duncan Hall, Conference Room 1049.

Ellen Butler
secretary
A Resolution of Faculty Council:
WHEREAS, at the last general faculty meeting, less than
8 percent of the voting faculty decided an important item
related to continuing faculty control of the curriculum,
BE IT RESOLVED:
Faculty Council strongly encourages the faculty to take
a more active part in their direct governance responsibilities
by attending and participating in the Rice University General
Faculty Meetings.