3 April 2001, Noon, Cohen House
Present: Bob Patten, Speaker, and Ed Akin, John Ambler, Yildiz Bayazitoglu, Stephen Baker, Bala Dharan, André Droxler, Seiichi Matsuda, Barbara Ostdiek, Caroline Levander, John Zammito, Jennifer West, Gordon Wittenberg. Absent: Janet Braam, Ed Cox, Gordon Mutchler.
The agenda consisted of: (1) Approval of the minutes of the 16 March meeting, (2) Discussion of Professor Thompson's motion on the agenda for 3 April faculty meeting: "All Rice language courses may be used by students to count toward group I distribution requirements." This has been ruled a two-vote item, (3) Report from Undergraduate Curriculum Committee on the 2003 calendar, (4) Discussion of revision to section 3.b.4 of Organization Policy 201.97: ADD "Unless a different agreement has been concluded, it is understood that an Assistant Professor taking such junior leave agrees to return to the university on the expiration of the junior leave and to remain in its service for at least one year thereafter," (5) Recommendation for change to section 3.d.6 of Organization Policy 201.97: ADD "Schools may, if they wish, subdivide the lecturer rank into three subsets, such as lecturer, senior lecturer, and university lecturer. Schools that undertake such a division must establish appropriate methods of evaluation and review for assigning lecturer ranks," (6) Report on 23 March meeting with President and Provost about revising faculty governance, (7) New business.
(1) Approval of the minutes of the 16 March meeting: The minutes were approved.
(2) Discussion of Professor Thompson's motion on the agenda for 3 April faculty meeting: "All Rice language courses may be used by students to count toward group I distribution requirements. "This has been ruled a two-vote item: Zammito reported that the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee has unanimously agreed to officially oppose that motion at the 3 April faculty meeting. It was moved and seconded by the Faculty Council to oppose changing the process by which the distribution of requirements is achieved. The motion passed (8 yeas, 4 abstaining).
(3) Report from Undergraduate Curriculum Committee on the 2003 calendar: The Speaker reported that one of the four calendars being considered will be recommended to the faculty at the 3 April faculty meeting. (Basically, it is the calendar that we have if we made no changes to the first semester for the fall 2002. In the spring semester of 2003, classes would begin on January 13, eight weeks before Spring Break and have Spring Break in the second week of March, which co-insides with HISD's traditional practice but not necessarily with that of private schools. We would then have a six week final lobe of that second semester, and no Easter break.) Copies of the recommended calendar will be provided at the faculty meeting.
(4) Discussion of revision to section 3.b.4 of Organization Policy 201.97: ADD "Unless different agreement has been concluded, it is understood that an Assistant Professor taking such junior leave agrees to return to the university on the expiration of the junior leave and to remain in its service for at least one year thereafter": It was agreed to move forward with this recommendation.
(5) Recommendation for change to section 3.d.6 of Organization Policy 201.97: ADD "Schools may, if they wish, subdivide the lecturer rank into three subsets, such as lecturer, senior lecturer, and university lecturer. Schools that undertake such a division must establish appropriate methods of evaluation and review for assigning lecturer ranks": It was moved, and seconded, that the Faculty Council defer consideration of the lecture ranks until next fall, and then examine the whole range of titles the university now employs for faculty.(approved unanimously)
(6) Report on 23 March meeting with President and Provost about revising faculty governance: The Speaker reported on his meeting with Dr. Gillis and Provost Levy. The president is not going to appoint a committee at this time. The Faculty Council will reconsider revising the structure of faculty governance in the fall.
(7) New business:
(A) Policy 201.97, revision of section 1. Academic appointments: A motion was made to delete the information about the Web site in "section 1. Academic appointments" and place a period after "Such programs will be identified in the Rice University General Catalog." (approved unanimously)
(B) Election: Baker asked the members to encourage others to run, and reminded those present of the deadline.
The meeting was adjourned at 1 p.m. The next Faculty Council Business Meeting is scheduled for Friday, April 20, 2001, Card Room, Cohen House.
Ellen Butler,
Secretary