Faculty Council Minutes

Faculty Council Business Meeting
Sept. 11 — Anne and Charles Duncan Hall

Present: Bob Patten, speaker, John Ambler, Yildiz Bayazitoglu, Bala Dharan, André Droxler, Tom Haskell, Caroline Levander, Seiichi Matsuda, Barbara Ostdiek and Jennifer West. Absent: Ed Akin, Stephen Baker, Janet Braam, Gordon Mutchler, Herb Ward and John Zammito.

The agenda consisted of: (1) Approval of minutes of the Sept. 6 meeting, (2) Fall 2001 election results, (3) Report of Faculty Council Committee on Compensation, (4) Report of University Standing Committee on Salary Equity, (5) Report of convener of appeals and grievances, (6) Future business, (7) New business and (8) Adjournment.

(1) Approval of minutes for the Sept. 6 meeting: Minutes of the Sept. 6 meeting were approved as written.

(2) Fall 2001 election results: The election for a professor-at-large to a four-year term (2001-2005) on Faculty Council, replacing Patten, had one nominee, Lynne Huffer, Dept. of French Studies, who was thereby elected.

(3) Report of Faculty Council Committee on Compensation and (4) Report of University Standing Committee on Salary Equity: There was much discussion of comparing the salary variances, hiring practices and retention of faculty among Rice schools and in comparison with other schools. The council will continue to study the reports on salaries and compensation (2000-2001) that were presented by Dharan and Bayazitoglu and the report on salary equity from Steven Currall. In addition, the council will obtain detailed information from other sources, which will be used for comparison purposes.

(5) Report of convener of appeals and grievances: The speaker stated that Zammito asked him to inform the council that the appellant issue is being formally processed. Ambler and West will provide the council with copies of guidelines for procedures in analogous cases. These procedures/issues will be discussed during future meetings.

(6) Future business: (A) Policy modification to 201-97: The speaker stated that Policy 201-97 (now 201-01) has been signed by President Malcolm Gillis. Some fine-tuning may soon be necessary. (B) Procedures for tenure-track renewal appointments: Referred to Policy Committee. (C) WAC faculty resolution: Referred to Haskell for consideration.

(7) New business: AAUP asked the council to provide the statistics/figures regarding the number of courses being taught at Rice by nontenured faculty members. The reports received during the summer from the deans regarding classes/labs that were taught (2000-2001) by nontenured track faculty members will be studied.

(8) Adjournment: There being no other business, the meeting was adjourned at 1:20 p.m.

The next Faculty Council Business Meeting was scheduled for noon Tuesday, Sept. 25, in Anne and Charles Duncan Hall, Conference Room 3076.

Ellen Butler
Secretary