Faculty Council
Tuesday, February 19, 2004, 11:45 a.m.
Cohen House, Esther M. Cohen Dining Room
Present: Ed Akin (Speaker), Lynne Huffer (Deputy Speaker), Stephen
Baker, Marjorie Corcoran, Steven Crowell, Michael Emerson, Deborah Harter, Tom
Haskell, Julia Morgan, Bob Patten, Caroline Quenemoen, Patricia Reiff, Herb
Ward and Mark Wiesner. Absent: Rebekah Drezek, and
Hannah Landecker, Guests: President Malcolm Gillis, Board of Trustee Bill
Barnett, VP for Finance and Administration Dean Currie and Provost Eugene Levy
(1) Minutes (2/10/04): The minutes were
approved.
(2 Financial Updates: President Malcolm
Gillis opened the meeting by presenting a review of financial and budgetary
information including a listing of the top twenty universities according to
endowment market value. Harvard University was listed as the university with
the top endowment market value and Rice University was ranked seventeenth. It was noted that Rice ranked number
five when considering endowment per student. President Gillis stated that Rice University has
performed better than average with a 4.7% average return compared to market
average of 2.9%.
President Gillis gave a review of development
campaigns, stating that they are on target to reach the goal of 1/2 billion in
just a few months-approximately April.
In addition, he explained that development giving is recovering from the
impact of Tropical Storm Allison which caused donors and investors to redirect
their funds to other sources. The
Development Office has established a strong infrastructure with several new
donors secured.
Gillis stated that there was a 3% increase
budgeted for faculty salaries, which sets aside a pool of money for the Deanšs
office to determine how to distribute. A concern was brought up regarding the
fact that a salary freeze was in place last year and the impact that would have
on faculty retention. Gillis
reiterated that there would be increases for the FY05 budget and that it would
be left to the offices of the various Deans to decide how to distribute the
pooled funds. Also in reviewing
the budget, President Gillis stated that the tenure and tenure-track faculty
numbers are 20% larger than 10 years ago; therefore, he feels that there is no
need to increase faculty size. In
addition, he stated there would be no need for any new capital projects with
the noted exceptions of the Main Street Facility and Library improvements and a
possible 10th college.
It was brought up and recognized that there was a need for space
improvements to current facilities and that there was a large cost associated
with facility improvement. Dean
Currie addressed concerns regarding the cost of these improvements and stated
that though these costs are high, they are low when compared to other colleges.
President Gillis detailed major increases to
expenses which included: 13% increase to moving expenses, 18% increase in staff
and dependent tuition waiver, 8% increase in liability insurance, 12% increase
to medical insurance and 87% increase to tuition remission with Trinity
University. Ricešs budget is based
on 3-year average. The increase in
spending from the endowment by Board decision may not exceed two and one-half %
for the next fiscal year.
Bill Barnett informed the council that the Board
of Trustees voted unanimously in favor of a joint research facility between
Rice University, Baylor College of Medicine and UTMD for the location on the
intersection of Main and University.
This facility would be approximately 40,000 square feet and might
consist of retail and commercial space including a possible location for the
new university bookstore. One
concern raised was parking in the Medical Center, which is close to its
maximum. Rice University has
rejoined the Texas Medical Center Association and is represented by Gillis. Gillis stated that the city is
restricting granting parking permits.
(3) Athletic Report: Marj Corcoran led a
discussion of suggested changes for the athletic report. Due to privacy considerations, it was
recommended to remove any information that could lead to identifying a
particular student from the athletic report. Examples include removing Table 5 and 6, Honor Code
Violations and Judicial Code Violations respectively. These decisions were based on recommendations from the
General Counselšs office. Chandler
Davidson passed out additional proposed changes during the meeting. Faculty Council members are to review
these proposed changes for discussion at next council meeting. Gillis wanted verification that the
proper cover letter would be included with the Athletic report. A proposed cover letter was distributed
at the council meeting but remained to be reviewed by the sub-committee.
(4) Salary Survey: Herb Ward discussed the
faculty salary survey. This was
the first salary survey completed since 2000-2001. He brought several key items to attention such as female
faculty members are paid lower than males, but are equal in peer groups. It was
noted Jones Graduate School has highest salaries, and that according to the
data evaluated, Rice University is sliding in faculty salary rankings. Gillisšs comments on the survey: 1. Cost of living adjustments needed to
be taken into consideration, 2. Information should be evaluated separately, one
evaluation to include only continuing faculty members and a second evaluation
to include continuing faculty members plus new faculty, 3. Every case of lost
retention is not salary, but facilities and graduate students, 4. Rice
University is good with spouse placement both inside and outside of Rice
community. A concern was brought
up regarding pay differences among the divisions and Assistant Professors
making more than Full Professors. Further discussion scheduled for the next
Faculty Council meeting.
(6) Adjournment: The meeting was
adjourned at 1:30 p.m., with the next Faculty Council business meeting
scheduled for Thursday, March 11, 2004, 11:45 a.m., Esther M. Cohen Dining
Room, Cohen House.
Sarah Holloman
Executive Assistant