Senators breeze through stuffy meeting

A high spirit of collegiality and an agenda devoid of contentious issues resulted in a Nov. 12 Holland Faculty Senate session able to adjourn after just 35 minutes of completed business.

An unseasonably warm afternoon and inadequate air conditioning in Memorial Hall's Coskrey Auditorium also may have played a part.

On all but one of five committee recommendations, the vote was a unanimous 41 "yeas."

Among others, senate decisions forwarded to President Malcolm Portera for consideration included:

-The endorsement of an Academic Affairs Committee report that MSU adopt the minimum classroom standards proposed earlier by a Campus Task Force on Classroom Standards. Based on those currently in place at Purdue University, the standards contain significant detail and cover a wide variety of topics, including general standards, air conditioning, lighting, network and multimedia connection controls, and chalkboards, among others.

In addition to endorsing the task force's proposed plan for upgrading classrooms, senators requested that Provost David Cole "investigate the availability of funds and staff to implement this action plan."

-A three-part recommendation of the Faculty Affairs Committee involving proposed changes to the Standing Committees listings.

First, senators said future issues of the annually updated report should indicate which committees include elected or appointed members. According to the Faculty Handbook, the following committees are elected: Academic Review, Faculty Grievance, Holland Faculty Senate, Graduate Council, and Promotion and Tenure.

Secondly, the representative body recommended elections for faculty membership on Courses and Curricula, Library and Teaching Evaluation committees. The election processes for these "should be codified and placed in the Faculty Handbook," senators said.

Finally, in the matter of standing committees, senators called for a change in the composition of the Academic Honesty Committee. The change would involve the election of one faculty member from each of the university's colleges and schools in the same manner and at the same time as faculty senate members are chosen.

In addition to the elected AHC members, the university president would appoint three faculty members and six students to join the dean of students, who serves as permanent secretary.

A complete summary of the November senate meeting can be read on the Faculty Senate Homepage, which is accessed via the MSU homepage by pressing the "Academics" button, then scrolling to "Organizations."