University of Hawaii at Manoa Minutes of Faculty Senate Executive Committee, Sep 12, 2005

Manoa Faculty Senate Executive Committee Minutes of September 12, 2005

Present: SEC: Chairman Robert Bley-Vroman, Martha Staff, Barry Raleigh, Jim Tiles, Bill Lampe, Noel Kent and Robert Valliant; Albert Spencer, ACCFSC co-chair. Interim Chancellor Denise Konan and Heather Crislip joined the meeting about 4:30.

Senate Secretary Charlotte Mitsutani was present.

The meeting was called to order at 3:05 p.m.

The minutes for August 29 were approved.
Chair's report. The chair reported on his discussions with the Interim Chancellor. They revolved around two topics: the Hilo PhD program and the search for a Manoa chancellor. He also reported on his meeting with Joel Fischer, one of the leaders of the 'Stop UARC Save Manoa' coalition. The coalition is generally ok with the Senate's interim report on UARC.
Business of the day
1. Chancellor Search The Chair presented a handout that offered a concise explanation of what is meant by ``Faculty-led, Manoa-driven''. The committee discussed and modified the handout and came up with a timeline to press for: name chair of search committee by Sept 13; Have list of committee members by Sept 19; present to Senate Sept 21.
Committee Reports
1. CSA (Staff) - CSA met, but has not elected a chair. A volunteer will research alcohol policy.
2. CAB (Raleigh) - Met last week. Discussed the JABSOM budget. The budget will run a deficit of several million. Apparently President McClain has approved JABSOM's capture of the entire RTRF generated by JABSOM. Committee deferred discussion of the alcohol policy because the chancellor did not seem interested.
3. CFS (Raleigh) - Kent Bridges has forwarded two resolution on election voting. They call on CAB to revise the Senate bylaws to unambiguously permit electronic ballots are permitted and to endorse flexibility in the ballot and counting procedures.
4. CoA (Lampe) - CoA will offer a joint resolution on the alcohol policy because CAB did not take it up. Instead CoA will look into to. The committee invited the President to come before it -- without informing the liaison.
5. CAPP (Lampe) - Vice Chancellor Neal Smatresk will meet with CAPP in October. He wants his office to deal with certificate revisions directly and not pass them to CAPP. The committee is not in favor of this. Lampe renewed his request to CFS for 4 more members for CAPP.
  The committee also reaffirmed the role of the faculty in admissions policy. CoA, CoS and CAPP are all involved in student admission. It was suggested that a subcommittee of the SEC 3 standing committees might be formed.
  
  The SEC will seek funding for its representative to COIA from the chancellor's office.
6. GenEd (Kent) - The committee has decided it does not want to get involved in the mentoring question and plans to focus on articulation.
7. CPM (Tiles) - The committee discussed the State Legislature's transfer of a tenure track position from the School of Education to West Oahu. The committee recommended that the SEC write to President McClain, asking him to use his authority to have the position moved back to Manoa. The committee preferred a gradual approach to the matter: first send a letter to the president. If there was no action, then go public. The concern is that it might hurt UH accreditation if the news gets out.
  Tiles gave a draft letter to the SEC.
  
  The SEC also discussed the action of the committee going directly to the president and not informing with the Senate or the Chancellor. It decided what when such a route of communication was necessary, letters would go to the president 'via' the chancellor.
Meeting with the Chancellor
Interim Chancellor Denise Konan and her assistant Heather Crislip arrived about 4:30.
1. The chancellor began by updating the SEC on the chancellor search. She noted that she had talked with Raleigh. She agreed that the search should not be linked to the presidential search. She was in discussions with President McClain to find the best approach, to set the parameters and thought she might have something on paper in a week or so. She emphasized that she wanted an approach that all parties would be comfortable with: the BoR, the deans and directors, etc. She said that the deans wanted more involvement.
  The SEC emphasized that it was concerned with too much presidential interest in the search process and wanted it clear that the chancellor should not be seen as the president's deputy. The chancellor reiterated that she wanted something in writing that all parties were comfortable with.
  
  Bley-Vroman explained the handout ``The concept of Manoa-Driven/Faculty led''. He made it clear that neither the Senate nor the SEC was in charge of the process. The chancellor was in charge. The most the Senate/SEC had was a ``kind of veto''.
  
  The question of consultation came up. The Chancellor noted that she had other constituencies to consult: students, deans and directors, Kuali'i Council. Some on the SEC felt that lengthy, if any, consultations were unnecessary. It was the SEC's consensus that the search should move forward with alacrity. The committee wanted something to present to the Senate on Sept 21. The Committee felt that the senate should only approve the process, not change it.
  
  The Chancellor and SEC agreed that a written draft of the process was necessary before any kind of meaning consultation could take place.
2. Protocol matters. The SEC and the Chancellor both noted that problems were creeping in with protocol. SEC standing committees were going to the president and vice presidents without informing the chancellor's office. The SEC members admitted it was also a problem for them because they were not always informed. It was agreed that all future requests by committees for meetings, etc should go through the SEC.
3. Council of Governance Groups. The Chancellor said that she was considering setting up a Council of Governance Groups. Many groups were working on the same issues without knowing others were doing the same. The goal was to improve communication.
4. UARC. The SEC discussed ways of handling the UARC question. Since the contract has not been signed there is little to discuss. With no new information it should not be on the agenda.
5. RCUH. The president has agreed that Chair Bley-Vroman will speak at the BoR meeting. However, the senate's resolution is now non-operative. The BoR is going back to the position of 1993. Raleigh noted that UHARI is taking petitions to the BoR. Lampe noted that since the Senate hadn't addressed the issue, it would be difficult for the SEC to speak.

The meeting adjourned at 6:20pm.

Faithfully submitted
Robert Valliant

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