Cooper to lead Holland Faculty Senate

After five ballots-give or take a couple-Dr. Robert C. Cooper Jr. is the new chair-elect of the Robert Holland Faculty Senate.

Cooper, a 20-year member of the College of Veterinary Medicine faculty, defeated Dr. Richard L. Still, an assistant professor of business law. The final vote was 27-5, with three abstentions.

Dr. Louis R. D'Abramo, professor of wildlife and fisheries, was selected vice chair over Dr. Robert E. Wolverton Sr., professor of foreign languages. The final tally after two ballots was 29-5.

Senate secretary, the advisory body's third leadership position, went unfilled at the April 23 meeting due to a lack of nominees. Following the deafening silence that concluded his call for nominees, current Senate Chair Euel Coats expressed hope that a secretary candidate or candidates could be identified prior to a special early May session of the representative body.

The incumbent secretary, Dr. Beverly Howell of the MSU Extension Service, did not seek a third consecutive year of service. Howell and the other incumbents remain in office until June 30.

The selections of Cooper, a CVM professor now in his second year on the senate, and D'Abramo were drawn out due, in part, to a rule requiring majority confirmation of officers; that is, at least 26 of the 50-person elected membership, not just those present. Two additional ballots for chair were voided when it was discovered that they had violated senate rules involving the nomination of candidates from the floor.

Coats, of Plant and Soil Sciences, and Vice Chair Paul W. Grimes, of Finance and Economics, were unable to run again since both are concluding the maximum six years of consecutive service specified by senate rules.

Among other business conducted at the afternoon meeting in the Seal M-Club Center, senators:

• Accepted, after a lengthy discussion and some voted alterations, a Charter and Bylaws Committee recommendation for creation of a university-wide committee to "develop specific protocols for determining tenure eligibility for existing faculty and positions, titles needed to meet Institution of Higher Learning policies and modifications necessary to integrate extension and research faculty into tenure considerations at department, college/unit and university levels." The vote was 27 for, three against and three abstaining.

• Welcomed new Faculty Senate office secretary Gail Bishop, formerly of the Office of Housing.

Time constraints resulting from officer elections and consideration of committee reports caused Coats to announce the special meeting to examine two major issues of importance to all faculty: proposed changes to the "Principles of University Governance" and a document addressing reduction-in-force procedures the university would follow in cases of financial exigencies officially declared by the IHL's board of trustees.

The special session will be held on May 12 at 2 p.m. The location had not been determined at press time.

The meeting-like all of the senate-may be accessed live over the Internet via the Faculty Senate Home Page or by clicking on the calendar event.

To view the May meeting or to get a complete summary of April's session, reach the home page by hitting the "Academic" icon on the MSU Home Page, then scrolling to "Organizations."