Mānoa Faculty Senate Executive Committee
Minutes of March 23, 2009

1.  Acting chair Ross reported on last week’s ACCFSC meeting.  D. McClain mentioned that the Stimulus Package provides c. $159-179M for education, which UH will share with DOE.  Allocations will likely be around 2/3 to DOE, 1/3 to UH for CIP; ¾ to DOE, ¼ to UH for operational funds.  That may mean $16M for UHM.

            McClain also noted that students should not worry that “their program” will be cut because of the budget crisis.  It is not clear how this squares with UHM’s prioritization process and with a UHM budget cut of $39M.

2. Crosby reported the 2 topics dominated the BOR meeting:  BOR’s Articulation of Commitment to Native Hawaiians, and the Mandatory Student U-Pass Bus Fee.  There were also approvals of a UHM BBA in Entrepreneurship, an AS degree in “fire science” (HI CC) and an AA in Teaching (LCC).

3. Committee Reports

1. CFS:       Martha will be contacting committee members to forward an outstanding request for appointment in Chair Carol Kellett’s absence.

4. Old Business:

1. Pick-a-Prof.           Susan Hippensteele has consented to work with the UHPA counsel and the General Counsel’s Office to prepare a list of concerns of the faculty in relation to the distribution of grades to the Pick-a-Prof company.
2. Dossier Simplification Resolution.   Tom will be working with CPM to prepare the resolution for another reading during the April 15, 2009 senate meeting.

5. New Business:

1. April 15, 2009 Senate Meeting:        Reread of PBRC Resolution

                                                               i.      Policy for Consultation for UHM Reorganization Plans

2. Graduate Council.               There is a concern about the way that graduate faculty are named and removed from the list of UHM Graduate Faculty. It appears that the Graduate Council is making the decision on who can serve as graduate faculty. This calls for a clarification of the role of the Grad Council and the criteria for graduate faculty. This issue will be discussed with VCR&GE Ostrander during the next standing appointment with the SEC on April 13, 2009.

Regular meeting with Chancellor

1.  Budget:  Hinshaw noted that despite fiscal uncertainty, personnel terminations require advance notifications, and deadlines for some possible 8/1 terminations are very near.

Hinshaw noted the need for great caution in budget cutting, difficult because of timelines.  The recent major Reauthorization of the Higher Education act ties some states’ cuts in their education budgets to consequent federal funding cuts.  Balances in special funds determine UHM’s bond rating.  If RTRF funds are raided by the state, future funding will be jeopardized, resulting in fewer research $$ and far fewer education-driven $$ spent in HI.  These consequences must not be ignored.

Hinshaw also discussed employees’ situations.  With little progress toward an agreement between EUTF and medical plans, employees’ health-care benefits are in jeopardy come July 1.  This can have critical consequences for employees.

2.  Prioritization:  SEC noted that the data being used by VCs in prioritizing are not generally available to departments.  In addition, the deans’ prioritizations of the “lowest-third of maintain” classifications have not been made public.  Hinshaw agreed to investigate, noting that transparency is the key to prioritization’s effectiveness.

Respectfully submitted,
Graham Crookes