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THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs
4008 Fleming Administration Building
Ann Arbor, HI
48109-1340
313-764-0303
MINUTES OF THE SACUA MEETING OF 25 NOVEMBER 1991
ATTENDANCE
Present:
Bard, Cameron, Debler, Diana,
Goeppinger, Hollingsworth, Jensen,
Marcelo, penchansky; Schessler,
Schwartz, Thorson
Guests:
President Duderstadt, Connie Cook
MINUTES
The minutes of the meeting of 11 November 1991 were
corrected and approved.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
"Thorns Among the Ivy", a conference on critical
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academic leadership issues for the 90's will be held January
20-22, 1992 in Naples, Florida.
Diana and Jensen attended the ere Faculty Leaders
Conference at Ohio state University.
A summary will be
prepared and distributed to SACUA.
Diana will not be attending the SACUA meeting on
December 2nd and Jensen will chair the meeting.
Interim vice President for Student Services Mary Ann
Swain contacted Diana regarding an incident that occurred in
a residence hall. A hearing will be held to determine if
the student should be dismissed. Swain requested that one
randomly selected SACUA member participate in the hearing.
University policy governing these matters will be determined
and a decision made based on the standing policy.
The changes in the format of programming taking place
at WUOM were discussed.
MEETING WITH PRESIDENT DUDERSTADT
SACUA congratulated President Duderstadt on his
appointment as head of the National science Board.
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Topics discussed were: Regents' future agendas,
upcoming important issues, and the scope and organization of
faculty governance.
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Page 2
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OMBUDSPERSON
A charge to formulate a position description for a
faculty ombudsperson was given to the task force last week.
SACUA hopes to receive the task force's recommendations by
January. SACUA will invite the LSA ombudsperson to a future
SACUA meeting.
LEGAL SERVICES
There have been delays in the formation of a Legal
Services Task Force.
SACUA will ask the task force to try
to obtain information on the frequency with which the
University has not provided legal defense to faculty
members.
Efforts to establish the membership of the fourperson task force will continue.
MATTERS ARISING FROM SENATE ASSEMBLY
SACUA discussed the possibility of devoting a Senate
Assembly meeting to discussion of undergraduate education.
possible speakers include LSA Dean Edie Goldenberg and James
Teeri, Director of the Biological Station.
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pECEMBER SENATE ASSEMBLY AGENDA
vice Presidents Kelly and Womack will speak on indirect
costs.
SACUA is also interested in discussing the
consequences of accepting grants for which overhead is
insufficient (e.g., Shannon grants).
Election of the SACUA nominating committee will take
place at the Assembly meeting.
Thorson will speak on the report of the Study Committee
on the Status of Lesbians and Gay Men.
It has been proposed that the starting and ending dates
for SACUA and Senate Assembly membership terms be changed.
Currently a term runs May through April for three years.
SACUA will propose to the Assembly that the terms start in
September and go through August for three years.
The SACUA
liaisons would also rotate in September instead of May.
SACUA will hold an election for Chair and Vice Chair the
last week of January, and the SACUA Chair will continue to
take office on May 1.
PRIMARY RESEARCH STAFF SURVEY
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A draft of the primary research staff survey was
distributed to SACUA. SACUA office staff will handle the
analysis.
SACUA members will review the survey and provide
their suggestions at the next meeting.
SACUA Minutes of 11/25/91
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OLD BUSINESS
SACUA will discuss at a future meeting how to proceed
with the revisions on the Rules Committee draft of the
Constitution, Bylaws, and Rules of the University Senate.
Wendy Lougee is willing to continue on the Information
Technology Policy Committee and will be invited to do so.
NEW BUSINESS
Hollingsworth will replace Dehler on the Tenure
Committee, and her appointment will go to Assembly for
approval in December; Dehler will replace Hollingsworth as
the SACUA liaison to the University Relations Advisory
committee.
Diana will speak informally with Connie Cook regarding
issues pertaining to the harassment policy.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 4:50 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
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Diane G. Schwartz
Senate Secretary
APPENDIX
LIAISON REPORTS
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Cameron: The Civil Liberties Board (CLB) met on
October 18 and heard updates and status reports on the
following topics: the Board for Student Publications
reorganization, the conference on Political Correctness, the
Regents' adoption of the Sexual Harassment Policy, the Bill
of Rights celebration, the civil liberties training of the
campus security force, the "chalker" case, the study of the
policy on Diag use, MSA recognition policy, secret reporting
to supervisors, full right to be represented by counsel, and
an impartial decision panel.
Most of the meeting was devoted to CLB's response to
the "From Invisibility to Inclusion" (FITI) Report. CLB did
decide to endorse the principle of having such study reports
prepared, and a letter to that effect was published in the
Record. CLB members were assigned to study various aspects
of the FITI Report to see which of its recommendations might
be implemented.
A question was raised as to the status of the
investigation of firearms incidents on campus. The Safety
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SACUA Minutes of 11/25/91
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and Security Advisory committee (SASAC) has been
investigating the first incident and will file a report and
recommendations.
SASAC will also review the second incident
as materials become available. A further question arose as
to how the faculty members on SASAC were chosen. Was SACUA
consulted?
And finally, with respect to faculty committees
in general, how are the Flint and Dearborn campuses
represented?
Hollingsworth:
The University Relations Advisory
committee meeting of October 25.
Holland officiated
because Checkoway was ill and unable to attend.
The meeting
opened with a discussion about WUOM programming and
management and comparisons were made to other similar radio
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stations in the area. The question was asked what should
WUOM be doing currently which it is not doing.
Harrison
asked the committee to consider what they thought the
mission of WUOM should be. Joel H. Seguine, station
Manager, will be asked to join the committee at the November
meeting.
Charts depicting listener surveys and financial
reports were distributed. They are on file in the SACUA
office.
Clarkson, Debler and Ness joined the Committee to
discuss the report of the Task Force on Future Governance
for Student Publications. Ness serves as the Chair of the
Task Force. Ness reiterated much of what he had said about
the report when he met with SACUA, e.g., that they had
looked at 15 other universities and that the arrangements
differ greatly, structurally, and legally. The student
position is that they should have greater autonomy
especially with regard to financial control.
The Michigan
Daily currently has an endowment of $2 million. The
Committee was of the rather strong opinion that there should
not be less control and did not agree with several of the
assumptions that had been presented as a basis for less
control of the student pUblications. A copy of the Task
Force report is on file in the SACUA office.
The Mission statement of the University of Michigan,
Ann Arbor, was distributed for review and discussion at the
November meeting.
A copy is on file in the SACUA office.
Penchansky: The Financial Affairs Committee
meeting of November 1. The primary activity of the meeting
was discussion of a proposed statement of Philosophy of
Staff Development prepared by the President's Advisory
Commission on Women's Issues. There was a diversity of
views; some members believe that staff development should be
related to skills useful for positions in the University and
for those with a commitment to the University while others
believe that it should not have to be position or University
related.
Cost implications were a key aspect of the
discussion.
SACUA Minutes of 11/25/91
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Topics for future discussion were identified, including
LTD insurance, Total Quality Management (TOM), staff
benefits, and environmental protection.
Dehler: The Student Relations Committee met on 8
November. The new MSA appointees to the meeting were
present along with its president, Jamie Green. The issue
under discussion was the role of students and student
government in the University's decision making process.
Jamie and the other representatives expressed the view that
with a spirit of good will on all sides that mutually
acceptable solutions should ensue. They were pledged to
negotiate student-administration differences. Later a
graduate student expressed the opinion that the situation
was not that idyllic and that student-regent communication
was completely lacking. He believed that the situation
could only be remedied by having a student regent. Such a
regent was deemed to be unrealistic, unlikely, and currently
unconstitutional for the State. Student government will
continue to be on the table for the next meeting, and
several leaders from college (student) governance groups
have been invited.
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Cameron: The Civil Liberties Board (CLB) met on
November 15 and heard updates on the Political Correctness
conference, the Bill of Rights celebration, the campus
security force training, and the tear gassing incident on
South University. CLB received a report from Marty Gold on
the University's "family housing" policies which outlined
the possible civil liberties questions the Board might
discuss. Questions were once again raised as to how the
student and faCUlty representatives on the Safety and
Security Advisory Committee (SASAC) were chosen and whether
those members were in fact responsible to their
constituencies. Sallie Churchill reported on the approved,
revised Sexual Harassment Policy and expressed continuing
concerns about its civil liberties implications.
specifically, reports of alleged violations being made to
the accused person's supervisor without notice to the
accused at that time; the fact that the
friend/counselor/attorney accompanying the accused to the
hearing cannot participate; and the fact that verbal conduct
is still defined as harassment in the policy. It was
decided that the Chair should suggest to the Provost's
office that it and we prepare an information booklet to be
distributed to the University community, explaining the
procedures for bringing and for defending such charges.
Debler: The University Relations Advisory
Committee met on 22 November and Walter Harrison led off the
meeting by outlining the changes in the University's
external relations organization. There are two parts to
this undertaking. One is for state and local matters under
Richard Kennedy and a second for national matters under
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Harrison. Thus, Henry Johnson's activities were subsumed
under Kennedy's office. At the same time the Alumni office
had additional needs that interested Johnson. Timing and
the Ann Arbor News article were unfortunate; however, the
Record's article sets the matter straight.
Mel Manis introduced a scholarship plan by xavier
College that rewards scholastically excellent high school
students who have a record of public service with a
scholarship that covers tuition, room, and board provided
they do not have gainful employment while in school and do
work 10-15 hours on community service projects sponsored by
Xavier. The question was raised about the merit of having a
similar program here.
Further discussions should ensue.
A length presentation of WUOM's goals in the coming
years was given by Joel Seguine. It appears that the recent
donation drive was a success and that his result assures the
station manager that the new directions that have been
started for the station meet with listener approval.
Accordingly, the station will try and become more "news and
info" and less "classical music ll •
This trend is made
awkward because the station currently serves Grand Rapids as
the classical music station.
It is perceived that the
switch in emphasis is made difficult by the personnel who
oppose it. Hence, movement will be slow.
Finally, it was agreed that the current "mission
statement" of the University is too long and that there is
considerable merit in a more succinct one. This topic will
be revisited at future meetings, after copies of other
university mission statements -- short ones -- have been
reviewed~
Schessler: The Budget Priorities Committee met
jointly with PACE (Provost's Advisory Committee on
Excellence) on November 21 for an information session on
staff benefits primarily presented by Chandler Mathews,
Associate Vice President for Finance and Controller, and Don
Thiel, Director of Financial Services. Benefit cost
projections for the next five years were shown, and the
University's economic well-being is likely to be heavily
affected by rising benefit costs, especially for health
care. The University might also be required in the next few
years to recognize its liability for future benefit costs
for benefits promised to retirees. The UM is more affected
by retiree benefit costs than many of its peers, not only
simply because of its large number of employees, and
therefore of retirees, but also because the UM pays the full
cost of health insurance for its retirees. At many other
institutions, the retirees stay in the group plan but pay
for their own premiums. The UM is looking for ways to
reduce costs and to reduce the future liability. Lists of
possibilities have been constructed which could yield large,
medium, or small savings; BPC will continue discussion of
the suggestions in a future meeting. One that was approved
by the Regents in 19BB requires that, for employees hired
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SACUA Minutes of 11/25/91
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after 1988, those retiring BEFORE age 62 will pay the fUll
costs of their own benefits UNTIL age 62. The effect of
this will not be known until 2998, as ten years of service
(depending on age) is the minimal requirement for retirement
eligibility. Among the possibilities is further
consideration of some type of flexible benefits plan. The
entire question is further complicated, since spiralling
health costs are a national problem, by the perhaps
increasing possibilities of change to be dictated at the
federal level, such as a national health care or insurance
plan.