Roll call and quorum check by John Mason filling in for Keith Woodbury.

Absent: Norm Baldwin, Jeff Richetto, Joshua Rothman, Nanda Hopenwasser, Lani Greening, Carol Donovan, Clark Midkiff, Keith Woodbury, Jessica Lacher-Feldman, Gordon MacNeil

The minutes of the February 18, 2003, Faculty Senate meeting were approved.

The meeting began with an announcement from the President of SGA, Jerry Arsanault. The SGA’s efforts to reduce waste on campus included reusable mugs. Each use of the mug is discounted by twenty percent. Several were handed out to the attending senators with more available in the SGA office.

President’s Report & Comments – (Steve Miller) Higher Education Day was not as well attended as last year but the effect was strong. Approximately 2,000 participated in the trip to Montgomery to meet with the Governor and Legislators concerning the budget crisis for education in Alabama. Transportation and lunch were provided. The word "reallocation" has been replaced by the word "accountability" in the budget crisis. This will affect all areas of academics in the University system including research dollars and the classroom. The Faculty Senate must be prepared for this situation and be a strong participant in the development of a plan.

Steve Miller expressed his sincere appreciation and thanks to the Steering Committee, the Administrative Assistant, Linda Knowles, thanks to Bob Sigler, Parliamentarian, Committee Chairs and Co-chairs and Joanna Hutt with Dialog. Steve attended 237 meetings this year representing the views of the Faculty Senate and the broader faculty. He recommended serving in the Senate. His first official action last year was to go across campus and meet the people that are part of the University. He was presented a plaque at a Student Affairs luncheon honoring him for opening avenues of communication. He urged the Senate to continue the process of openness and connection with staff, students, administration and faculty.

Associate Professor Susan Hamill of the School of Law addressed the Senate concerning her stance on an unfair and inadequate tax structure published in a Law Review article. The article stated that the timber industry was at fault for robbing the state of revenues and that the tax structure was immoral according to Judeo-Christian principles. She has received positive and negative responses including vindictive personal attacks and attacks on academic freedom. Efforts are being made to silence Professor Hamill by untruthful attacks and she interprets this as an attack on academic freedom and that this should not be tolerated. Professor Hamill urged support for the proposed resolution and that the University stand behind faculty members.

Senate Operations chairs Frannie James and Harry Price presided over the election of officers for the Faculty Senate. Paper ballots were passed out and nominations from the floor were opened. The request was made for the candidates to make remarks and answer questions. With the time limit, candidates were allowed to make comments, if they so desired, without questions. Nominations were compiled by Senate Operations in conjunction with the officers and those nominated and accepted the nominations were: President, Marvin Johnson and John Mason, Vice President, Mathew Winston and Secretary, Roy Ann Sherrod. Everyone nominated was contacted with some declining to serve. Nominations from the floor were: James Cover for Vice President and Don Desmet for Secretary. Don Desmet declined the nomination. There was a motion and second to close the nominations. The candidates stood and were recognized. Brief comments by the candidates included thanking those that nominated them and expressing their dedication to serving to the best of their ability. There were also brief histories of their service on committees. The ballots were collected, counted and the results were: John Mason, President; Mathew Winston, Vice President; and Roy Ann Sherrod, Secretary.

With the approval of Dr. Witt, the Committee on University Committees will have Wythe Holt appointed to a three-year term (2003-06) as member of the Faculty and Staff Benefits Committee and Frannie James as chair of the 2003-04 Faculty and Staff Benefits Committee. The CUC will meet on April 24^th.

Academic Affairs – (Beth Macauley & Garry Warren) This committee presented a revised "Resolution to Retain the Scholarship Enhancement Fee". The revisions included word changes that would include athletic and non-athletic events on and off campus. The Reallocation Committee dismissed this issue without discussion. Academic Affair committee members felt it should be revisited. This proposal would provide immediate dollars for the budget crisis the University is facing. Auxiliaries other than the Athletic Department pay nine percent administrative overhead costs. The Athletic Department pays four to five percent. The resolution passed with 2 opposed.

Faculty Life – (Wythe Holt and Nick Stinnett) The resolution supporting Professor Susan Hamill was presented by this committee. Remarks began with the reference in the resolution to the accusation that Professor Hamill has a "close affiliation with…American’s most liberal abortion advocacy group". The resolution states that this is false. Professor Hamill signed a petition three years ago referring to the legalities of Roe vs. Wade. The point was made that signing a petition does not "affiliate" you with that particular group. The question was asked if any economist reviewed the article published in The University of Alabama Law Review. It was not known if this was done. One opinion was that the resolution was about academic freedom and, on the other side, her views seemed to be endorsed. The Christian Coalition of Alabama has sent messages around Alabama attacking Professor Hamill’s credibility and one senator’s opinion was that they have a right to express their opinion just as Professor Hamill has a right to express hers and that the resolution requires further study. The Faculty Senate passed last year a resolution supporting tax reform and constitutional reform. The view of Professor Hamill should not be the focus of the resolution but the attack on academic freedom should be addressed firmly. It was suggested to reduce the size of the resolution to two or three sentences referring to tenure and academic freedom. It was also questioned if these personal attacks are threatening academic freedom. An amendment was proposed and seconded to state "we commend the legitimate independence of her research and decry this attack upon her and her academic freedom". Comments included the fact that the resolution is long and detailed. The amendment was withdrawn and the resolution will be referred back to the committee for revision. An alternative suggested was for the committee to work on the "therefore" clause at this meeting and bring it in for a vote before the meeting adjourned. The final decision was for the Senate, after agreeing on the substance of the resolution and revision by the committee, will be sent by email for input/approval from the Senate. Any objections should be emailed to Nick Stinnett.

The Faculty Life committee presented the "Resolution on Choosing Academic Administrators" to the Senate. At the last meeting it was decided to break the resolution into two parts since objections to term limits were expressed. A faculty web survey conducted by Testing Services determined that 73.6% (212) did not support the resolution and 26.4% (76) supported the resolution. There were some objections to the instructions sent with the faculty survey, however, the instructions did not change the negative response declining support of the resolutions. The decision was made at last month’s meeting to conduct a faculty survey to determine the sense of the faculty for information purposes concerning this issue. The resolution passed by a small margin at the last Senate meeting with a vote of 26 in favor and 4 opposed for the Faculty Life committee to divide this resolution into two parts and present for reconsideration by the Senate. The faculty members were not identified in the electronic survey. The survey could be used as information purposes only and the Senate can and should vote independently. It was suggested that the resolution include some proposal to provide training for faculty to be administrators and that a five-year review precludes some faculty member’s desire to participate in administration. A sample of sixteen institutions selected at random (John Hopkins, North Carolina, Ohio State, Ohio, Northwestern, Michigan, Indiana, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Florida State, Wisconsin-Madison, Princeton, U of Chicago, Western Ontario, Missouri, Colorado) taken by Harry Price revealed that each institution practices internal and external searches with the only exception being the University of Chicago that follows the practice of filling administrative positions with internal applicants only. The vote on Resolution #1 was 6 for, 23 against and 4 abstentions. The vote on Resolution #2 (term limits) was 6 in favor, 25 opposed and 2 abstentions.

The Faculty Life committee has the results of the faculty life survey asking faculty what the most important issues are to improve faculty life at the University. The results will be sent to each senator electronically.

Senate Operations – (Frannie James & Harry Price) The wording change in the "Protocol for the selection of ombudspersons for The University of Alabama, and a description of their responsibilities" would allow former administrators except former Department Chairpersons to serve as ombudsperson. The task of locating qualified and willing persons to serve has been difficult. The word "and" has been added to the following: 7) Candidates shall have the following qualifications: 2) tenure, b) rank of associate or full professor, and c) at least ten years of service as full-time faculty members with teaching and research responsibilities. The ombudspersons nominate a replacement for the member whose term is ending. The term "administrator" refers to faculty spending greater than 50% of their time in administration. The Faculty Senate makes the final decision on the qualifications and appropriateness of any nominated person. These changes in the by-laws must be presented at one Senate meeting and voted on in the following meeting of the Senate. This will be voted on in April and the sense of the Senate was that it would pass. The originator of the ombudsperson policy requested that the ombudspersons make another attempt to find a qualified replacement.

Student Affairs – (Clark Midkiff & Jeff Richetto) – A "Resolution Honoring The University of Alabama Students" commending them for their selection for the "USA Today Academic All-Americans" was passed unanimously. Those students will be invited to attend the next Faculty Senate meeting for a presentation.

An ad hoc committee of Marvin Johnson, Music, James Coven, C&BA, Don Desmet, Physics, Wythe Holt, Law, Robert Moore, Mathematics, Charles Nuckolls, Anthropology and Jeff Richetto, Geography, presented a "Proposal for Equitable Relationships in Salaries between Colleges and Academic Units at The University of Alabama". The basic request of this proposal is to have higher raises allocated to the lower-paid colleges and to slow the pace of raises in the higher-paid disciplines such as Law, Business and Engineering. In a previous draft of the proposal, all funds for faculty salary raises derived from state funds and tuition, were to be divided into two parts before the final allocations to the various colleges was made. The first part was to be redirected from the college or academic unit with the highest average salary to the college or academic unit with the lowest average salary. The second part was to be allocated as a percentage raise being the current practice. The first part from the college or academic unit with the lowest average salary was to be redirected to the college or academic unit with the highest average salary and the second part allocated as a percentage raise. The total amount of money allocated to each of those two units in any given year was to be the sum of parts one and two. All other colleges and academic units were to be funded in an analogous manner with second highest and second lowest, third highest and third lowest, etc. funded by identical reciprocal relationships.

In Version II, the first portion was always to be at least 51% of the total amount allocated to each of the colleges and academic units to insure that some minimal progress toward an equitable norm for all colleges and academic units could be maintained.

The current proposal differs from Version II of the first draft in the following ways:

Additional observations and suggestions are itemized:

Observations by the ad hoc committee were that the importance of this proposal is not in the details of its structure or possible implementation. Any ambitious and complicated undertaking will necessarily inform its own structure and implementation over time as the need for more and more refinements are found and adopted. Its greatest significance lie in the fact that it addresses the growing disparity between levels of compensation among peers who are equally well qualified and who perform tasks which are academically equivalent and equisignificant in every way. In addressing this problem with a proposal for a practical solution, it affirms in the most tangible way possible, the highest principles of academic life, principles which require that all disciplines be supported without prejudice, bias, or presumption as to their relative significance. Continued failure to admit the negative impact this growing breach in levels of compensation between faculty from the various disciplines and continued failure to adopt effective ways of correcting this inequity threaten the integrity of our profession and its ability to sustain and nurture all disciplines critical to the survival of our culture.

Graphs were projected for all to see and more details of the proposal were pointed out. One committee member commented that his view was changed after study of this proposal. This could possibly be the mechanism to eliminate the disparities between professors of the same rank. Also appreciation was expressed for the hard work done by this committee. Some objections and points pertained to market values, competitive disadvantages in some areas and increased fees for some courses. The vote on the proposal was 13 in favor and 13 against with the President, Steve Miller, breaking the tie voting in favor of the resolution (14-13).

Meeting adjourned 5:30 PM

Whereas, the University Budget Reallocation Committee recommended that a scholarship enhancement fee be added to all tickets sold to all events on campus, and

Whereas, the scholarship enhancement fee was one of two recommendations that would provide actual dollars for 2004, and

Whereas, the state of Alabama is in a horrific budget crisis as indicated by Gov. Riley’s proposed FY2003-04 budget, which includes a 6.34% cut for The University of Alabama System,

Be it resolved that The University of Alabama Faculty Senate strongly urges that a Scholarship Enhancement Fee of 10% be added to all tickets sold to all events on campus and athletic events held off campus beginning August 15, 2003 which would increase revenues for academic divisions and programs by more than $1.5 million for FY 2003-2004.

Academic Affairs Committee

Adopted by the Faculty Senate

March 18, 2003

WHEREAS, five University of Alabama students have been named to the 2003 USA Today All-USA College Academic Team, the largest number of students from UA ever named to the USA Today team in one year and the most named from any college or university this year, claiming five of 83 spots on the list; and

WHEREAS, named to the First Team was Sarah Adair, a senior microbiology major, who hopes to pursue biomedical research. Named to the Third Team were: Kana Ellis, a senior psychology major who plans to attend law school; Allison Kellogg, a senior dance major who hopes to pursue a career in the performing arts; and Gabriel Walvatne, a senior interdisciplinary studies major who plans to attend law school. Receiving an Honorable Mention was Laura Medders, a senior journalism major who wants to be involved with urban community development; and

WHEREAS, since 1991, The University of Alabama has placed 22 students on the list. Critical in the process are faculty members who teach and identify competitive students, invite them to apply, help craft the applications, and mentor them through the process. This year’s faculty mentors included Dr. Bob Halli, director of the UA Honors Program, Dr. Fran O’Neal, director of the International Honors Program and manager of the Honors Program, and Dr. Hank Lazer, professor of English and assistant vice president for academic affairs; and

WHEREAS, USA Today selects the "best of the best," what it considers the top 20 students in the nation for its First Team and includes Second and Third teams and Honorable Mentions in its "All American Academic Team." Students are chosen for their grades, awards and activities, leadership roles and their ability to use their academic skills outside the classroom; and

WHEREAS, a Barry Goldwater Scholar, Adair received a scholarship for her potential as a future scientist, a Phi Kappa Phi Research Award, and a research grant to help fund her undergraduate research in the Caldwell biology lab. Last year she received the McWane Foundation Research Fellowship to begin funding her Parkinson’s research. Adair is also active in the community. Two nights a week for the past three years she has volunteered for the Good Samaritan clinic in Tuscaloosa – a free clinic that serves patients who have no insurance and limited income. Adair also founded a student journal to help students publish their own scientific research and testified before an Environmental Protection Agency subcommittee on the pollution of Alabama’s groundwater supply; and

WHEREAS, last year’s National Honors Student of the Year, Ellis has received numerous scholarships including the William P. Bloom Scholarship Award, the Henry Pettus Randall III Scholarship, which recognizes the most outstanding research project for the year, and the XXXI Amanda Taylor Watson Scholarship, given to the top XXXI student. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Omicron Delta Kappa National Honor Society, Mortar Board Honor Society, and other honoraries. Active in numerous civic endeavors, including Habitat for Humanity, Ellis saw a need to introduce honors freshmen to the university setting before their freshman year and created a program called Alabama Action. She has delivered several national presentations on how to have successful honors program student associations and summer opportunities for honors students; and

WHEREAS, recipient of the James B. Rogers Jr. Mortar Board Scholarship and the Miss America Community Service Award, Kellogg is a member of Omicron Delta Kappa Society, Lambda Sigma, Cardinal Key and Blue Key. A dancer, she has performed in the Alabama Repertory Dance Theatre and is a member of Dance Alabama. Kellogg was named a 2002 Point of Light Foundation National Volunteer of the Day and received the Doublemint Aces For Campus Excellence Award, a national grant given for her work in providing underprivileged children with dance classes. She teaches free dance classes through a program called "A Time To Dance." She has several on-going school programs where she mentors students and classes, including Make A Difference Day. She also created a program called "Star Kids," which teaches children how to use their gifts and talents to serve the community. She designed coloring books and program pamphlets and produced a video for the now copyrighted project.

WHEREAS, As part of his undergraduate McNair Scholarship, Walvatne conducted original survey research in criminal justice, which will be published in UA’s "McNair Scholars Journal." He began by studying the attitudes of Tuscaloosa County criminal justice professionals toward victims, offenders, the community and the criminal justice system. By comparing these answers to the restorative justice principles of the system, victims and offenders, he was able to determine if the participants would be open to this innovative approach to justice. He has presented the results of his research at three professional conferences. He has received numerous awards and honors: Academic Walk-On Scholarship, Outstanding Sophomore, the Samuel Thomas Barnes IV Memorial Scholarship, the McKinley Student Excellence Award; and the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society award. A talented writer, he is the senior editor of the New College Review, a nonfiction undergraduate magazine written and produced by New College students.

WHEREAS, through her Computer-Based Honors minor, Medders is developing a database and template for grant writing at the Tuscaloosa Family Resource Center, which will enable the agency to apply for larger and more complex grants with greater ease. Her study of social inequality and educational gaps in the United States as part of her journalism major has prompted her to write for several publications both on and off campus. She has received numerous honors and awards: First Place, Georgia Associated Press Association for Deadline Reporting, Randall Undergraduate Research Award, Journalism Academic Achievement Award, XXXI’s Women’s Honor Society, and Outstanding Sophomore in the Computer-Based Honors Program. Her many activities include: Circle K International Service Club, Crescent East Housing Projects tutor; Holt Middle School’s GEAR UP Program tutor, A Time to Dance volunteer teaching jazz, ballet and modern dance classes to boys and girls in local housing projects, and Kid’s Club volunteer;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Faculty Senate of The University of Alabama that it commends these five students for their excellence in academics, service and leadership and congratulates them on their being named to the USA Today All-USA College Academic Team.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Senate also expresses its gratitude to the faculty who aided and mentored these outstanding students to achieving the honor.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this Resolution be included in the permanent minutes of the Senate.

Proposed by Student Affairs Committee

Adopted unanimously by the Faculty Senate

March 18, 2003