February senate votes include IHL, summer school issues

Continuing concerns about proposed College Board changes in higher education policies and bylaws were unanimously expressed at this month's meeting of the Robert Holland Faculty Senate.

At its Feb. 13 regular session, the advisory body also voted with a single voice to support recommendations of its Academic Affairs Committee regarding university compensation for summer school work.

In the matter of policy changes under consideration by the Board of Trustees, Institutions of Higher Learning, senators requested a further dialog in regard to tenure to programs, federally supported international travel and faculty credential upgrades.

The entire matter first came before the senate in October when Chair Leslie Bauman informed the membership that several of the proposed changes in policies and bylaws could possibly have a "significant impact" on MSU faculty.

In its subsequent review of the proposed board changes, the senate's Charter and Bylaws Committee found that a number of areas originally proposed by the IHL are no longer being considered or have been reworded to address original concerns. In particular, the definition of tenure, steps for tenured faculty dismissal and the text on intellectual property rights have been reworded so that faculty members "can fully support the changes," the committee reported.

"The Robert Holland Faculty Senate appreciates the consideration that the IHL Board gave to our previous concerns and endorses most of the changes that the board is currently considering," senators said in taking the 36-0 vote. "However, a few issues remain . . . [and] we would appreciate the opportunity for further dialog on these areas of concern."

The continuing concern areas include:

• Tenure to programs. "The proposed changes appear to weaken tenure substantially, since a 'program' is not clearly defined and can be interpreted very narrowly to mean the individual research/teaching area for an individual faculty member."
• International travel on federal funds. Senators said that, while the MSU faculty "understands the need to justify international travel on state funds," many instances exist when federal grants funding "specifically includes international travel for collaborative research efforts, educational training and service to international entities." Should disapproval of such a project ever take place, the action "would force the principal investigator to violate the agreed-upon requirements for fulfillment of the contract," senators said.
• Upgrading faculty credentials. On this issue, the IHL proposal calls for any faculty member at Alcorn State, Jackson State and Mississippi Valley State universities to be eligible for academic leave to pursue advanced training with full or partial salary payment during the leave time. Though they "fully support" this proposal, MSU senators said they felt similar consideration also should be given to the five other state institutions. "Minority faculty recruitment could and should be enhanced at all Mississippi institutions of higher learning," they observed.

Addressing the summer school issue, the Holland Faculty Senate concluded a long process that began its most recent phase at the December 1997 meeting. At that time, the Academic Affairs Committee was asked to review responses of the president's office to senate recommendations concerning a variety of summer school issues forwarded over the past three years.

In unanimously accepting the committee's report, senators are recommending to new President Malcolm Portera that:

• Faculty compensation be increased from 7.5 percent of nine-month salary per "25 percent effort" to 8.25 percent. Senators said this would "bring compensation for summer teaching and service work by nine-month faculty in line with the allowable compensation for externally supported summer research grants."
• A written explanation be provided to the senate "concerning the status of issuing summer contracts to faculty"-a request, senators noted, that they had first made as far back as February 1995.
• Administrative and marketing activities be "vigorously" investigated in order to "promote and enhance our summer school offerings, including schedule changes that will postpone the beginning of classes until after a majority of the state's public schools have ended their academic year." Senators said faculty members should be fully involved in all phases of this effort.

A complete summary of these and other business matters conducted at the February meeting can be read on the Faculty Senate Home Page, which is reached via the MSU home page <www.msstate.edu> by hitting the "Academics" icon, then scrolling to "Organizations."