Minutes of Faculty Council Meeting
7 May 1999 - 12:00 noon
A227 Abercrombie Laboratory
Present: Wilson (speaker), Aranda, Caldwell, Cox, Dharan, Driskill, Gibson, Patten, Rea, Wittenberg, Yunis. Newly elected Council members: Jane Dailey, Andre Droxler, Martin Wiener. Absent: Akin, Bayazitoglu, Ghorbel, Meade.
The agenda consisted of: (1) Report from A&G Committee, (2) Request from Graduate Council, (3) Update on Spousal Hiring, (4) Update on Sexual Harassment Policy.
(1) Report from A&G Committee: A report from the A&G committee was discussed by Council.
(2) Request from Graduate Council: A memo from Ron Soligo, Chair, Graduate Council, was distributed stating that the Graduate Council unanimously voted to recommend asking Council to endorse the following:
"Specifically, the Council proposes to change the text in the General Announcements (top of p 72) as follows:
In the sentence reading ÔIn certain departments, students may receive a masters degree when they achieve candidacy for the doctoral degree.Õ We propose to add Ôor when they have met alternative departmental requirementsÕ.
In addition to the requirements already enumerated in the General Announcements (page 71), namely:
1) 30 semester hours of study (including the thesis)
2) 24 semester hours must be at Rice
3) Minimum residency is one semester of full-time study
the Council recommends the following additions:
4) at least 15 hours of course work must be at or above the 500 level,
5) all 30 hours of course work applied to the degree must be in the relevant field.
Finally, the Graduate Council recommends that all changes proposed by departments be endorsed by the appropriate Divisional Dean and approved by the Office of Graduate Studies with the advice of the Graduate Council."
Faculty Council unanimously approved endorsing Graduate CouncilÕs recommendation with the following change: No. 5 above should read, "relevant to the field" instead of "in the relevant field."
(3) Update on Spousal Hiring: Driskill presented a Report on Spousal Accommodation at Rice with the following recommendations:
1. Faculty Council should encourage departments to discuss and implement procedures for reviewing candidates proposed as spousal accommodation hires. Faculty Council should not formulate a university-wide procedure because of significant differences among departments.
2. The new and current Policy Subcommittees should continue to work over the summer and revise its suggested guidelines for departments that are developing their own procedures for use when spousal accommodation position are being considered.
3. The current and former members of the Policy Subcommittee should act as volunteers to assist departments that are developing its procedure.
4. The Faculty Council Policy Subcommittee should monitor the use of spousal accommodation and report to Faculty Council annually, updating our current information.
5. The subcommittee should be alert to other problems of implementation and application that might result in age discrimination and other problems.
6. The University should formalize its current practice of assisting new faculty through contacts with other universities and with corporations in finding opportunities for spouses. Spouses of current faculty as well as new hires should be able to use these resources. A person should be designated to assume this responsibility. Without becoming a placement service, Rice should take a leadership position in forming a consortium of universities to assist faculty spouses seeking employment.
Council considered the following actions:
1. The Faculty Council Policy Subcommittee should monitor the use of spousal accommodation and report to Faculty Council annually, updating our current information.
2. The formation of an ad hoc committee to help departments with spousal hiring issues.
3. Identify an individual whose responsibility it is to help find a spousal position either within or outside academics.
(4) Update on Sexual Harassment Policy: The report on Sexual Harassment Policy will be placed on Council's agenda in the fall.
Wilson thanked Aranda, Driskill, Gibson and Meade for their service on Faculty Council during the past four years.
The meeting was adjourned at 1:45 p.m.
Joan Reid,
Secretary