Members Represented by Proxy:  College of the Arts: Kimberley Davis (pr. Shellie Nielsen); College of Business Administration:  Ernest King (pr. Shellie Nielsen), Scott Magruder (pr. Trellis Green); College of Education and Psychology: Sheila Alber (pr. John Rachal), Jesse Palmer (pr. John Rachal), Lillian Range (pr. Mary Lux); College of Health and Human Sciences: Susan Graham-Kresge (pr. Mary Lux), Mary Frances Nettles (pr. Michael Forster); College of Liberal Arts: Charles Bolton (pr. James Pat Smith), Michael Dearmey (pr. Kim Herzinger), Allan McBride (pr. Michael Forster), Stephen Oshrin (pr. Linda Dysart Goff);  College of Nursing: Janie Butts (pr. Deolinda Mignor), Norma Cuellar (pr. Deolinda Mignor);  College of Science and Technology: Dean Dunn (pr. David Beckett),  Mary Dayne Gregg (pr. DeAnna Douglas), University Libraries:  Karolyn Thompson (pr. Sherry Laughlin).

Members Absent:  College of Business Administration: Bob Smith; College of Education and Psychology: Marvin Lanmon;   College of Liberal Arts: Alexandra Jaffe (pr. David Hunt); College of Science and Technology: Douglas McCain, Charles Hoyle; College of International and Continuing Education: Mark Miller.

FORUM SPEAKER:  Dr. James Williams, Vice President for the Gulf Coast 
Dr. William addressed his comments concerning the question about whether or not the Gulf Park campus will be a 2 year upper division campus with graduate programs or a four year campus. The IHL board met and there were discussions in committee meetings which made him feel more encouraged  about the commitment to this expansion on the coast than he has felt in some time.  In regards to teaching lower division courses at the Gulf Park campus, there is a 1972 law on the books in Mississippi which prevents the eight universities from teaching lower division courses anywhere within a community college district except on the home campus.  There is a clause in the law where universities could request permission from the State Community College Board to teach lower division course work in places other than the home campus.  There hasn't been a situation where that has been approved.  Formal and informal requests were made in regards to teaching lower division courses at Gulf Park, to no avail.  The legislative delegation asked for the Attorney General's opinion on this question:  If the IHL board were to determine that  USM was a dual campus, would the 1972 law apply?  The Attorney General replied 1) the IHL is the constitutional body given the responsibility for governing the eight universities in the Mississippi constitution 2) In the laws and the charters which exist, only three cases exist where universities were defined by place; Jackson State University, Alcorn University, and the University of Mississippi Medical College.  In all other cases they are not defined as being located there by law.  He further concluded that it was up to and the authority of the IHL Board to determine where a university was located and, in his opinion, if the IHL chose to designate the University of Southern Mississippi as a University with two campuses, they had the authority to do so.  Last January, the IHL Board took that step which then was challenged by the Ayers claims that took it back to Federal Court.  The Gulf Coast proposal that the IHL had approved specified that there would be a limited number of freshman, beginning with  150 and capping off with 750 freshman in five years. In their missions process, they had to devise some kind of admittance requirements in addition to the 1995 decree that defined admission requirements for the state universities that would keep them at 150 students the first year.  The additional requirements would include a writing sample to make sure they were ready to do college level work and whether the student lived within commuting radius of the coast.  With Ayers, they could not impose these requirements and therefore, they revised the standards to say they will admit the first who come and qualify under the Ayers.  They started accepting applications again and the State Community College Board, not a governing board but a coordinating board, filed suit in the Hinds County Chancery Court.  That's where it is right now.  Ruben Anderson, a former State Supreme Court Justice, has been appointed by the Attorney General's office to represent the IHL in this case.  Dr. Williams was very impressed with the position he has taken.  This is going to boil down to a question of constitutionality of the 1972 law.  In the meantime, the IHL board, the Commissioner,  and the President have taken the position that we need to proceed, so we are currently accepting applications for admission into the freshman class beginning as early as this summer and finishing out the initial freshman class in the fall.  This has certain funding implications.  We have submitted a plan wherein year one the cost for expansion will be $1.1 million.  Funding that is currently before the legislature is $13 million below this year/s appropriation.  The IHL has submitted five or so priorities to the legislature:  1) Increase faculty and staff salaries, 2) the Gulf Coast expansion, 3) Technology, 4) Ayers implementation money, and 5) maybe library funding.  All this is based on getting back to this year's level of funding.  The Gulf Coast dilemma centers around if they admit freshman and the funding isn't there. The coast is firmly behind and supporting this expansion.  USM wants to be the institution serving the Gulf Coast.  Dr. Williams sees over the next several years the University of Southern Mississippi becoming the preeminent university in this state with a well established residence campus in Hattiesburg and on the Gulf Coast as a non residential campus which would offer much broader programs.  He sees this as USM capturing south Mississippi.  The northern third of the state has five of the eight universities clustered together.    He feels that increasingly the population center will be in southeast Mississippi.
** He then went on to point out that there were two new buildings in the architectural stage that are funded; a new library that will become  the centerpiece on campus and an advanced education center (new classroom building).  They are being designed by the same architects and will make fine additions to the campus.  A master campus use plan was developed last year as an expanded concept of the campus.  They are currently in discussion about purchasing the baseball complex owned by the city of Long Beach. That property would give more room for expansion.
**Discussion-The question was asked about internet courses and long distance courses.  Dr. Williams remarked that there were about 60 courses offered on the internet with more to come in the future.  He felt that that should be the reason for the expansion on the coast.  He would like to develop a good core of work that is done in more traditional ways, but make all those other things available to students like they are anywhere else.  Interactive television has been in place for about four years with good success.  However, there are not enough classrooms in Hattiesburg or on the coast with the proper equipment. The question was then asked about why upper division courses weren't beefed up.  Dr. Williams noted that the plan that was submitted to the IHL had three elements: 1) to strengthen the upper division/graduate courses, 2) to strengthen the relationships with the community colleges; and 3) to expand the lower division offerings.  Better mentoring was listed as the prime reason for a four year program. The 2+2 situation doesn't always work well for the student. Having them four years can offer better advisement possibilities.  Dr. Williams pointed out that the cost effectiveness in large freshman courses helps support major course offerings with smaller numbers.  It was also pointed out that students who take one course at a community college and three courses at Gulf Park are ineligible for financial aid.  As for the fundraising efforts, Curt Redden is in charge.  There will be two individuals from the Gulf Coast that will be part of the campaign.  The fundraising will be inclusive rather than separate in regards to the two campuses. One other factor that could affect the expansion is that in May, four board members will rotate off the IHL Board.  Three have been big supporters of this expansion and it's not known who is coming on.  There is also a fifth one that has not been confirmed by the legislature.  The coast has been working to get a four year campus for 50 years.  There are only three places in Mississippi growing:  Jackson, the coast and some in the Tupelo area.  Yet Southeastern Mississippi really hasn't gotten its fair share especially when it comes to education.  Dr. Williams concluded by saying that maybe if the delegations begin to think of themselves as southeastern delegations, they might get more clout against the strong northern delegations.
1.0  Call to Order:  The business meeting was called to order at 3:00 p.m.
2.0  Approval of Agenda: The agenda was approved with additions to new business.
3.0  Approval of Minutes:  The January minutes were approved as distributed.
4.0  Executive Committee Reports
4.1  President's Report:  Art Kaul
** Vice President Curt Redden reports that reaching a $100 million capital campaign goal would pose an "extreme challenge," based, in part, on the unresolved status of the Gulf Park expansion efforts.
** USM Public Relations and Broadcast Services will report to the Vice President for Advancement.
** U. S. Senator Trent Lott will be the speaker for the May commencement (evening session).
** Director of Equal Employment and Diversity:  Three candidates have been interviewed for the position, with the final interview taking place on Feb. 7.  The Faculty Senate President participated in luncheon "roundtable" discussions with each candidate.  The search committee hopes to make a hiring recommendation within a month.
** University Faculty Senate Association meeting with IHL Commissioner Tom Layzell, Feb. 9, 2000:  Faculty Senate Presidents from all IHL institutions met with Layzell to discuss four agenda items:  (1)  IHL's Appropriation request, (2)  health insurance, (3) tuition restoration/portabiltity, (4) post tenure review (the major topic).
       (1)  IHL Appropriation Request:  Layzell reported that IHL's FY2001 budget request was 17.94% greater than FY2000.  The legislature, citing lackluster tax revenues, reduced the IHL appropriation to $13 million below last year's funding level.  Although early in the legislative budgetary process, a $13 million reduction would be "relatively grim" and force "tough" allocation decisions.  He cautioned that the revenue and budget picture likely would change as the legislative process moves forward.
        A "Faculty Salary Comparison" contained in an "IHL System Profile" given to legislators discloses the following:

                  FY 1999 Average Salary                                                        FY 2000 Average Salary
Mississippi State                     $52,200                                                      $57,006
University of Mississippi     $52,100                                                      $55,860
Southern Miss                           $50,800                                                      $49,099
        Note:  It was subsequently learned that the USM figures were in error.  John Rachal (Chair, Benefits/Work Environment Committee) reported on Feb. 24 that corrected figures are believed to be  FY 99=$$50,835 and FY 2000=$52,934.  The corrected figures remain substantially below average salaries of Mississippi State and Ole Miss.
         (2) Health Insurance:  The substantial increases in costs and deductibles were prompted by massive red ink (approximately $25 million), Layzell reported.  An insurance advisory committee, of which Layzell is a member, awaits a consultant's analysis that is expected to advise how the insurance program may be bolstered (more likely, to be maintained).
         (3)  Dr. Layzell was advised that all but one of the IHL institutions' Faculty Senates had endorsed full restoration of the Faculty/Staff Tuition Benefit and making the benefit portable.  Note:  The Ole Miss Faculty Senate President indicated he was confident that endorsements soon would be forthcoming.  If so, unanimous endorsement would have been achieved and that position would be formally sent to Layzell and the IHL.
         (4)  Post Tenure Review:  Dr. Layzell said he would, if requested by the IHL, propose a post tenure review policy for IHL consideration that would offer a broad general framework for post tenure review while allowing each institution to develop its own system consistent with the institution's goals and mission.  Chief Academic Officers of IHL institutions on Jan. 19 took the position that any post tenure review policy should "not be overly prescriptive" and allow individual institutions flexibility in developing those policies.
          A. Kaul stressed to Dr. Layzell that if the IHL adopted post tenure review, the Southern Miss Faculty Senate was committed to a developmental approach with a "trigger" mechanism -- NOT an across the board mandatory post tenure review for all tenured faculty.
** The University Faculty Senates Association regular meeting, Feb. 16, 2000:  The UFSA unanimously adopted a resolution, modeled closely after the Southern Miss Faculty Resolution of Nov. 19, 1999, that concluded: "The University Faculty Senates Association considers the implementation of post tenure review as redundant and unnecessary, since each IHL institution already has an Annual Performance Review process in effect."  The resolution was presented to IHL commissioner Layzell, who made copies available to the IHL Board of Trustees.
** IHL Board of Trustees Meeting, Mississippi State, Starkeville, Feb. 16, 2000:  The IHL Academic and Student Affairs Committee heard a presentation on post tenure review from Dr. William McHenry, IHL Assistant Commissioner of Academic Affairs.  He defined post tenure review as a "peer driven faculty review process designed : (1) to evaluate performance, (2) to nurture professional growth, (3) to promote improvement, (4) to impose sanctions when improvement of tenure faculty members is not forthcoming."  Three basic post tenure review options have been adopted around the nation:  (1) "comprehensive periodic," (2) "triggered consequential" (the Southern Miss position), and (3) "combination: periodic and triggered."
         Mississippi State President Potera told the Academic and Student Affairs Committee that post tenure review would not do anything that annual reviews do, that annual evaluations are sufficient to address performance issues, and that "tenure is not a problem."  Alcorn State President Bristow stated that post tenure review does not pose an academic freedom issue or compromise due process in personnel actions.
         IHL Academic and Student Affairs Committee Chair Nan Baker asked Dr. Layzell to submit a proposed post tenure review policy for consideration at the IHL's March meeting.  Dr. Layzell said he would offer a broad "umbrella policy" that would allow individual institutions flexibility in implementing post tenure review.
** Southern Miss Grievance Policy:  Several faculty members have expressed dissatisfaction with the Southern Mississippi Grievance Policy, as stated in the Faculty Handbook.  President Fleming's assistant, Dr. Anthony Harris, also expressed concern about the grievance policy, indicating a willingness to work with the Faculty Senate and Staff Council to develop appropriately workable grievance policies.  A Kaul asked for volunteers willing to participate in an ad hoc committee to propose changes in the grievance policy.
4.2  President-Elect's Report:  Sherry Laughlin
S. Laughlin worked on drafting a resolution that would be presented under new business regarding our position, that if an "umbrella" post tenure review  policy were adopted by the IHL, that each university should be allowed to develop their own policies.
4.3  Secretary's Report:  Shellie Nielsen  No report.
4.4  Secretary-Elect's Report:  Michael Forster
Proxies were announced and an attendance roster was passed.
5.0  Old Business No old business.
6.0  Committee Reports
6.1  Academic and Governance:  Mary Lux
M. Lux distributed a report from the American Association for Higher Education Conference held in New Orleans, LA .  S. Laughlin and M. Lux attended the conference.  M. Lux stated that even places that have had post tenure review for ten to fifteen years are still struggling with this issue.  It's difficult to actually see if it is working.  The committee hopes to have more reports at a later date.
6.2  Administrative and Faculty Evaluation:  Kimberley Davis
B. Coates reported that the committee is still collecting the survey regarding the handling of the Student Evaluation of Faculty forms and are working on compiling the information.
6.3  Archives:  Shellie Nielsen   No report.
6.4  Athletic Liaison:  Trellis Green No Report
6.5  Awards:  Lillian Range
M. Lux reported that some decisions have been made and but that they were still looking over some of the materials.  They hope to finish in March.  Deadlines for nominees for the University and Professional Service awards were extended  and they now have some excellent candidates.
6.6  Benefits and Work Environment:  John Rachal
The committee presented three resolutions. The first dealt with the new requirement passed by the IHL Board in March 1999 to increase the required GPA to a 2.5 grade point average for faculty/staff dependents on the 1/2 tuition waiver benefit.  The committee sees this as an erosion of an existing benefit and does not regard this as a question of scholarship, but a rescinding of a prior benefit. J. Rachal moved and D. Alford seconded to have the Senate  suspend the rules in order to bring this to a vote today.   The motion to suspend the rules passed unanimously.  Discussion centered around 2.0 as being "in  good standing" rather than the 2.5.  It was not sure why the requirement was changed, but the committee's main point was that this is a benefit rather than a scholarship that could carry a higher grade point average requirement. The following  resolution passed unanimously and the text is available on the Senate web site.

Tuition Waiver Requirement Resolution
Whereas:
1.  In March of 1999 the IHL Board changed the policy concerning tuition waiver for employee dependents;
2.  the new policy requires that for employee dependents to receive the 50% tuition waiver, the student must maintain a minimum 2.5 cumulative GPA     rather than the 2.0 GPA as stated on p. 13 of the current University of Southern Mississippi Fringe Benefits summary;
3.  a student is considered to be in "good standing" with a minimum GPA of 2.0;
4.  the issue is not one of scholarship but one of employee benefits; and
5.   the requirement is an erosion of an existing employee benefit;

Therefore, the Faculty Senate resolves that:

The IHL Board should rescind the 2.5 cumulative GPA requirement and return to the former long-standing policy of extending the benefit to any employee dependent who is in academic good standing (2.0 cumulative GPA) with the university.

The following two resolutions were presented for vote at the next meeting.

Faculty Computer Resolution
Whereas:
A number of full-time, tenured track faculty have not been provided office computers;

Therefore, the Faculty Senate resolves that:
The administration should insure that every faculty member be provided with an office computer.

Course Prerequisites Resolution
Whereas:
1.  Prerequisites are given for many courses in order to ensure that students enrolling for those courses have adequate academic preparation.  When students without sufficient academic background enroll in courses, one of two things is very likely to occur:  either (1) the student will make a very low grade, which is discouraging for the student and not a desirable outcome; or (2) the level of the classroom instruction will drop to accommodate the under prepared student, which means that academic standards will necessarily suffer.
2.  The Faculty Senate fully recognizes that it is impossible to bar students from enrolling for courses for which they have not completed the prerequisite, since at the time of enrollment they may be currently enrolled in the prerequisite course.  It is vital, however, that faculty members be alerted to any possible problems of this nature prior to the commencement of the course, so that they can determine whether any student should be excluded from the course.

Therefore, be it resolved that the Registrar should:
1.  notify the student in writing that he/she has not at that point met prerequisite requirements for one or more courses for which he/she has enrolled, and that if he/she has not completed all prerequisites listed in the bulletin prior to the beginning of the semester, permission to continue in the course will have to be sought from the instructor in question; and
2. notify each instructor (or, in the case of staff listings, department) of any students enrolled for a course who had not completed the prerequisite(s) at the time of registration.

Be it further resolved that the waiving of a prerequisite for a course is the exclusive right of the instructor of the course, not of administrators.

6.7  Constitution and Bylaws:  Allan McBride  No report.
6.8  Elections:  Steven Lohrenz
S. Lohrenz prefaced his report saying that he has developed the greatest respect for those that have done this job in the past.  His biggest problem has been getting a list of faculty, especially in the College of Science and Technology.  He has a couple of drafts out for the College of Science and Technology and Liberal Arts for anyone who would like to see them.
6.9  Environment (ad hoc):  Dick Conville  No report.
6.10  Faculty Development:  Karolyn Thompson No report.
6.11  Technology:  Dean Dunn No report
6.12  University Club:  Kim Herzinger  No report.
6.13  Transportation Committee:  Bill Scarborough No report.
 6.14  AAUP Liaison:  Michael Dearmey  No report.
6.15  Faculty Handbook Task Force:  David Goff
D. Goff noted that the committee would not meet next Friday at 2:00 p.m.  They usually meet every Friday except for the main Faculty Senate meeting in room 204 in the Library for anyone who would like to sit in on the meetings. The committee is very close to completing their charge and are in Chapter 11 right now.  They are basically correcting small errors of fact and things that have recently changed.  They have found some strange anomalies such as the section in chapter 11 about voting.  The version on line and some of the hard copies dated June or July 1998 have different wordings. Dr. Hollandsworth and the Provost have been notified of the discrepancies.  For chapter 11 the committee is trying to get an interpretation of what the unclear language in the handbook is supposed to mean.  The committee hopes to have a rough draft of changes for the nest Senate meeting.
7.0  New Business
J. Pat Smith presented a resolution adopted by the Faculty Association of the USM Gulf Coast that came out of a recent mandate from the Vice President requiring that all Gulf Coast faculty attend a customer service workshop. During the presentation of background information and reasons for this resolution,  more than one issue was identified that this resolution did not really clarify or address. It was suggested that, rather than creating problems over this, that the Gulf Coast faculty use this opportunity to engage in a dialogue over faculty development issues that are really important to them. It may give them an opportunity to find out if there are larger issues involved in this mandate.  J. Pat Smith moved to suspend the rules in order to vote, but the resolution failed to get a second.

In regards to the earlier Post Tenure Review resolution, J. Rachal moved and S. Nielsen seconded to adopt S. Laughlin's earlier resolution.  Discussion centered on fine tuning the semantics.  T. Green moved and K. Austin seconded to suspend the rules so this could come to a vote today. The motion passed unanimously.  D. Alford moved and S. Hubble seconded to adopt as amended the resolution on the floor.  The following resolution passed unanimously and the text is available on the Senate web site.

Post Tenure Review Resolution           
Although the Faculty Senate of the University of Southern Mississippi continues to consider post tenure review redundant and unnecessary due to well-established annual performance evaluations of all faculty members, it strongly urges that any post tenure review policies which may be adopted by the IHL be sufficiently flexible to enable individual institutuions to develop post tenure review policies that fit their particular missions and characteristics.
8.0  Announcements
9.0  Adjournment  The meeting was adjourned at 4:40 p.m.

Respectfully submitted, Shellie C. Nielsen, Faculty Senate Secretary