Minutes of Faculty Council Meeting

27 October 2000 &endash; 12:00 Noon

Cohen House

Present: Akin, Ambler, Baker, Bayazitoglu, Dharan, Droxler, Levander, Mutchler, Ostdiek, Patten, Wittenberg. Absent: Braam, Cox, Matsuda, West, Zammito.

The agenda consisted of: (1) Approval of Minutes, (2) Speaker's Report.

(1) Approval of Minutes: Minutes of the previous meeting were approved as written.

(2) Speaker's Report:

a. The speaker, Robert Patten, announced that he has been appointed by President Gillis to attend University Council meetings.

b. The speaker stated that the Faculty Council secretary, Joan Reid, is retiring and asked members to help find a replacement. The position is posted on the Rice employment website.

c. Hearing no volunteers, the Speaker appointed himself to the Standing University Committee on Faculty and Staff Benefits.

d. As Cox was out of the city, his revised report on Faculty in Departments Terminated not for reasons of financial exigency was not discussed. It will be sent to Council members prior to the next meeting. Council is eager to act on this report and plans to do so at its next meeting.

e. After Council's October 13 meeting Patten and Cox met with the provost to discuss the Jones School Faculty Governance Policy. Council reaffirmed its conviction that all promotion and tenure procedures need to be equivalent throughout the university. Any alterations of policy must go through Faculty Council and be ratified by the governing bodies of Rice. Unless, and until, university policy is modified all schools must adhere to the accepted procedures in place at this time.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:00 p.m. The next Faculty Council meeting will be held at 12:00 noon on Friday, November 17, at the Faculty Club.

Joan Reid, Secretary