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Attendance: Approximately 60
Announced Agenda: 3 items
1. Approval of the minutes of March 17, 2004 (http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~facsec/facmin/04-03-17.html)
2. Reports of Standing Committees - Graduate Council proposal to change MA in Earth Science to MS in Earth Science
3. New Business - Faculty Council Forum on Athletics Report and forthcoming Faculty Council poll
4. Announcements
5. Adjournment
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President Malcolm Gillis called to order and chaired the General Faculty Meeting in McMurtry Auditorium of Duncan Hall at 4:02 PM. Derrick Matthews, student body president, and two representatives from the Thresher were acknowledged as being present.
1. Minutes of 03-17-04 faculty meeting - On motion duly made and seconded, the minutes of the March 17, 2004 faculty meeting were APPROVED as circulated in advance on the web.
2. Reports of Standing Committees - Graduate Council proposal to change MA in Earth Science to MS in Earth Science
Clarence Miller, Chair of Graduate Council, explained this request as a change in name only without any change in degree requirements of the program, stating that the MS title is more appropriate for this fairly rigorous degree program that requires at least 20 hours of course work plus a thesis. Additionally, the new all-course professional masters degree in subsurface geophysics is a MS degree. Moshe Vardi was puzzled that other MA degrees in science and engineering were not categorized as MS degrees. Miller believed many of the degree titles were based on historical practice. Jim Kinsey stated some of the MA degrees are non-thesis masters degrees and felt this could be a useful distinction.
With no further discussion, the question was called and a vote was taken. The proposal was APPROVED as presented.
3. New Business - Faculty Council Forum on Athletics Report and forthcoming Faculty Council poll
Speaker Ed Akin reminded the faculty that Faculty Council had been addressing the athletics issue for more than a year and shared that the Athletics Subcommittee report, slightly edited, has now been released to the public. There have also been focus groups conducted in connection with the McKinsey study for the Board of Trustees in which some of the faculty have participated, but the McKinsey report has not yet been released.
Marg Corcoran, Chair of the Athletics Subcommittee, explained that a few pieces of information in the report were changed or removed prior to its release to the public due to issues of confidentiality. An identifier appears where these changes/removals occur. No other changes were made to the report. Instead, introductory materials have been added for clarification. These include:
a) Ed Akin's cover letter dated March 2004;
b) Chandler Davidson's remarks to the faculty in November 2003, in which he
discussed the issue of "sheltered programs" and to some extent retracted
part of the language contained in the report;
c ) Malcolm Gillis' letter dated August 2003 (accompanied the report when it
was originally released to the departments); and
d) Chandler Davidson's cover dated July 2003 (accompanied the original report).
Two copies of the report have been sent to each of the colleges, two copies
to the library, and a copy to every academic department. Additionally a copy,
minus the appendices but including all introductory material, has been posted
on the web and linked to the Faculty Council web page. Faculty Council requested
the return of the original reports received in the departments last fall.
Corcoran explained a Faculty Council poll being conducted and requested all faculty members return the poll by April 14.
Bruce Etnyre asked for a chronology of what transpired to this point. He felt the conclusion of the Subcommittee's report found insufficient evidence to bring the issue to the general faculty and asked for clarification. Deborah Harter responded that the committee was a fact-finding group charged with determining whether there were legitimate questions regarding athletics and any reasons for concern. Chandler Davidson recollected that between the time the report was actually written in March 2003 and the time it was decided this issue go to the general faculty, there were a series of discussions between various entities in the university. It was decided by mutual agreement between Faculty Council and President Gillis that this document should go to the faculty for its consideration.
Robin Sickles asked the purpose of the poll. Corcoran responded the poll would be used to let the Board know where the faculty stands on issues of athletics. Some faculty members felt the information provided was insufficient to use in responding to the poll. Sickles believed it made sense to wait until after the McKinsey report was issued to allow faculty access to more information when completing the poll. Tom Haskell pointed out the McKinsey report was supposed to have been released in late February. The new release date is the beginning of May. The poll must be taken now if the faculty is to have a voice in this matter. Corcoran read over the questions contained in the poll for those who had not yet received it.
The design process of the poll was discussed and the absence of financial information noted by many in attendance. Haskell explained this poll was based on the poll taken during the 1991-92 review, and remained much the same for the sake of continuity and comparison.
Jim Castaneda felt some additional information to be considered was Rice's high percentage of graduating athletes as well as Rice's proven competitiveness in intercollegiate athletics. He cautioned against placing too much emphasis on SAT scores and was concerned that the wording in the report regarding possible 'sheltered programs' had not been removed, since the issue had been found to be unsubstantiated. Ann Wright also cautioned against placing too much emphasis on SAT scores and pointed out that a lot of changes in the admission process had occurred this year which were not reflected accurately in the report or the poll.
Sickles again objected to the timing of the poll and expressed concern about its statistical validity. Haskell said the committee stayed away from issues regarding disposition of funds because they felt the faculty voice was principally concerned with ethical aspects, adding the McKinsey report would be very focused on monetary issues and other quantitative kinds of data. Kinsey agreed that the financial aspects were a very important consideration and voiced his concern with the report and the poll as failing to address the complexity of issues involved. Harter remarked the the poll was simply another way of allowing faculty to answer important questions and voice their opinions about athletics prior to any Board action.
Sickles suggested that Faculty Council should have spoken to the Rice University Athletics Committee, since RUAC is charged with oversight of athletics. Further discussion ensued regarding faculty governance.
Carol Quillen thanked Faculty Council for undertaking this difficult task and acknowledged the labor and thoughtfulness that went into the project but agreed that financial issues were important. She also felt it important to consider how Rice, as an institution, responds and deals with the special needs of student athletes. Bob Patten suggested the faculty's primary responsibility was to think about the academic costs and decide whether these are acceptable. He also spoke of his recollection of Faculty Council contacting RUAC, and to the issue of improving faculty governance, advising his Faculty Council committee will be presenting governance recommendations to the faculty soon.
President Gillis closed the discussion by agreeing to the importance of faculty governance, and expressing his disappointment at the low faculty attendance at today's meeting. He ended by congratulating the faculty on the civility maintained in the discussion despite many strong opinions.
6. Announcements
Akin welcomed faculty to attend two upcoming Faculty Council forums on the issue of faculty governance to discuss changes being considered. He said other issues to be discussed at future meetings are self-scheduled exams and putting course evaluations on-line.
President Gillis reminded the faculty that Egyptian President Mubarak will be visiting campus April 14 and heightened security measures will be in place.
7. Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned 5:35 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Janis L. Cain
Secretary to the Faculty