Alternates: Ramona Reddy for Perry Wheless; Pat Moyer for Richard Lomax; Margaret Rice for Ann McFadden.

The Secretary of the Senate called the roll and determined that a quorum was present.

A motion was made to have the minutes accepted, with two minor corrections. The motion was seconded and carried unanimously.

Rob Ingram presented the President’s Report. Rob indicated that the Steering Committee had met with Sid McDonald, President Pro Tem of the Board of Trustees. Rob reported that Mr. McDonald said that the Board of Trustees has made the issue of faculty compensation a board priority. The Board plans to spend time meeting with legislators in their district and other legislators they know, to work on making salaries at the University competitive with other regional universities. Mr. McDonald suggested that the members of the Board of Trustees be invited to events held on campus. This would provide contact with different aspects of the University that the Board might not otherwise be a participant. The image of The University of Alabama, academic vs. athletic, is mostly public driven. Mr. McDonald said that only a small percent of the questions he is asked (by alumni and others) about the university concern academics, something he would like to see change.

Rob also discussed the status of the merger document. This is an ongoing issue. The sub-committee met with several deans to come up with something appropriate. The Provost carried this to the Council of Deans. The response was that primarily the Provost did not want any changes to be made in the document at this time. Ron Rogers and Cully Clark are willing to meet with Faculty Senate to see if anything else can be done. Marion Davis and Ben Wood met with them to see if any progress can be made. A key stumbling block is opposition to the idea of mandating a task force.

Rob also noted that the Steering Committee has met with Sybil Todd to discuss the diversity issue, primarily the Greek system. The general perception is that very little is being done. Rob has discussed the situation and the Senate’s concern with President Sorensen, who will discuss this with Sybil Todd. President Sorensen will address the Faculty Senate in December. Rob will continue to follow up on this.

There was some discussion by Senators about the history of the diversity issue on this campus, how staff sometimes view the faculty as not interested in the issue and only pontificate, how this is a misperception (Jim Taylor noted that the Senate has a strong history of serious engagement on the issue of diversity) and what the Senate might do to try to bring the issue to a good resolution.

Rob also indicated that he had met with John Dew, head of the Quality Council, about the quality initiative. The Quality Council wants to conduct surveys among various "stakeholders" in the University and thus wants to poll the faculty about the problems it sees and how to deal with them. The Quality Council’s focus is on the quality of services.

Again, there was some Senate discussion on this issue. Bing Blewitt noted that at some point the University should review the Quality Council’s impact on campus, with an eye toward determining whether the quality initiative achieved positive effects and should be continued.

There was no report from either the President or Secretary, so Rob asked for Senate committee reports.

Academic Affairs: Marion Paris reported that the committee is dealing with the issue of ownership of certain intellectual property rights and will have a report on this in the future.

Financial Affairs: Norm Baldwin indicated that the committee plans to meet with Bob Wright on November 2^nd. He noted that Senators should feel free to pass on questions they would like addressed to Vice President Wright. Norm also noted that President Sorensen provided a list of donations made to the University during September and will do this every quarter. It is interesting information and we should think about how we can best use it.

Norm also made the point that state funding alone will not solve the problem with the University falling short of regional average compensation for universities. State funding will not solve the salary problem.

Planning & Operations: Jerry Webster discussed energy management issues, which the administration has historically not addressed. The University Energy Management Committee has made recommendations about energy management, but the University administration does not respond. Jerry likened the University’s historic response to such recommendations to a black hole. A written report is attached. Rob spoke with Dr. Sorensen about the issue; Dr. Sorensen was not aware of the problems and had Bob Wright call Rob to discuss the matter. Chris Stripling, Energy Manager, was to update the Committee and address its concerns at an upcoming meeting.

Research & Service: Bing Blewitt reported that the committee is gathering information and trying to decide what the Senate’s role should be toward ACHE’s study of faculty workload. Bing noted that ACHE plans to collect date on teaching (how much classroom time, student contact time, faculty have) and other activities faculty engage in. ACHE will have a meeting on November 2, 3:30, in Carmichael. We are obviously concerned that ACHE understands what faculty are expected to do at a research institution (in terms of research, service, and teaching preparation). We have a copy of a draft ACHE policy on the workload study. We will need to decide how to approach this issue and how we might assist ACHE in making the study properly reflective of the many functions of faculty at a research university.

Student Affairs: Dexter Gordon indicated that the committee’s primary focus this year has been on the diversity issue. The committee will next meet on November 12.

Senate Operations: Bill Andreen indicated the committee had no report, but asked people to please remember to send alternates if they could not attend a Senate meeting.

University Standing Committees

University Premier Awards Committee: Carmen Taylor reported that the Ramsey, Sullivan, Bloom and Mayer award applications have been sent out. These awards recognize outstanding junior and senior undergraduates. Carmen encouraged senators to participate in the nominating process.

Media Affairs Committee: Dexter Gordon reported that the committee met to address the Crimson Rag situation. The Crimson Rag is a commercial web site that links the Crimson White web page by placing it in a window on the Rag’s web site. The Media Affairs Committee asked the Rag to remove the link from its web page; the Rag has delinked, but is appealing the decision. Two representatives from Crimson Rag addressed the committee. The committee will meet Wednesday, October 20^th to consider the appeal.

Legislative Agenda Committee :Margaret Garner reported that the Executive Committee met with four legislators (Lason, Melton, Allen & Steele) on October 10. Their goal was to encourage the legislators to keep the issue of regionally low faculty compensation on their agendas. Margaret also reported that the preliminary budget hearings begin next month. Because of the failure of the lottery referendum, the pressures for educational money will be intense and we should be alert to new propositions that might involve the Educational Trust Fund. Lieutenant Governor Windom, for example, has proposed a plan to take money from the Higher Education budget to provide scholarships.

No old business.

No new business.

Meeting was adjourned at 4:15 PM.

October 8, 1999
Planning and Operations Committee, Faculty Senate
Report on Energy Management Committee
Marcia Evans and Jerry Webster, Co-Chairs

Both Co-Chairs have received a copy of the Energy Committee Final Report (FY 98/99). The report was completed last March and sent to Bob Wright, Vice President of Financial Affairs, with copies to Dale Taylor, Vice President over Facilities, and John Dew, Quality Control.

Marcia Evans met with Jeff Armstrong, Energy Management Committee chair and author of the report, in late August. He reviewed the report which lists specific targets for conservation by energy type, each of which is ranked by energy savings potential and estimated realized time frames. In addition to the stated energy targets, the report includes the recommendation that current and future committee members receive written notification of the recommendations that are selected for implementation.

Jeff expressed a concern that while historically the committee has made good recommendations, the recommendations have not been implemented. He has not gotten a clear picture of the University's financial commitment to energy savings. He would like for someone from administration to make a report at the first meeting of the energy committee on what recommendations from the report have been selected for implementation.

Marcia Evans met with Chris Stripling, Campus Energy Manager. Because lack of funding has been such a problem (during times of financial crisis, money was shifted from this area to other areas), the University is 7-10 years behind in deferred maintenance and energy conservation measures. With the addition of a full-time campus energy manager, funding, and consultants within the last eighteen months, UA has made some progress, especially in the area of data for energy expenditures. The Energy Management Committee and Facilities Resource Management both make recommendations for energy conservation; priorities are determined by the Energy Operations Committee which is made up of individuals from the Energy Management Department, Facilities Resource Management (the consulting firm), administration, and design.

At the meeting, Chris reviewed the Energy Management Committee's final recommendations item by item, explaining which have been implemented, which will be, and which will not. The Energy Management Department has not attempted to do much either in the area of water conservation which Chris sees as a landscaping issue or with recycling which he does not see as a responsibility of the Energy Department. As an aside, he sees apathy on the part of the faculty as one of the big barriers to making changes in energy conservation on campus. Increasing energy awareness is a time intensive endeavor that he feels needs to come from the top in order to be successful as well as worthwhile, Chris is willing to meet with the EMC to explain this information to committee members as well.

The Energy Management Committee has had no response to their report from administration.