University of Mississippi Faculty Senate

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Minutes of the Meeting of the Senate of the Faculty
Thursday, March 20, 2003, 7:00 p.m., Room 108, Law School

Meeting called to order with a quorum at 7:00 p.m.

Present: Edmund Acevedo, Milam Aiken, Brahram Alidaee, Deborah Barker, John Bentley, Luca Bombelli, Victoria Bush, Daisy Cheng, Laurie Cozad, Gregg Davidson, Steven Davis, Kirsten Dellinger, Michelle Emanuel, Laurdella Foulkes-Levy, Kris Gilliland, Matthew Hall, Amy E. Mark, Clifford Ochs, Michael Ponton, Anne Quinney, James Reid, David Rock, John Schetz, Bobbie Smothers, Ken Sufka, Diane Tidwell, Joseph Urgo,Charles West, Nancy Wiggers, Dawn Wilkins

Absent: Donna Adler*, Aileen Ajootian, Nancy Bercaw*, Judith Cassidy*, Wei-Yin Chen*, Rick Elam*, Ahmed Kishk, Charles Ross, Warren Steel*, Steven Stodghill*, Annette Trefzer
* Prior notification

I. Old Business
A. Minutes of the February 13, 2003 Senate meeting were approved without dissent.
minutes_20030200.html

B. Fall break and Winter Session: Chair recieved 40-50 responses: overwhelming in favor of both.

Senator Ponton moved to support fall break; second Senator Smothers. Handcount: 30 for, 2 opposed, 1 abstained.
Senator Schetz moved to put winter session on a future agenda; second by Senator Sufka. Motion passed without dissent.

II. Elections
A. Senator Michelle Emanuel was elected as committee chair for Academic Support Services.

B. Business senators caucused to elect Senator Charles Ingene to the Elections Committee.

III. Announcements
A. Reminder: please remind your faculty about the Frist Student Services Award nominations.
Two awards, named in honor of Dr. Thomas F. Frist, are made annually to a faculty member and a staff member who have provided exceptional services to students on campus. Faculty can pick up nomination forms in the Union, Johnson Commons, Martindale, Turner Center, Dean of Students office, or Chancellor's Office or submit it by e-mail at frist@olemiss.edu. Deadline for nomination is April 7, 2003.

B. SEC Faculty Governance Leaders conference on May 1 and 2 at Vanderbilt University. Chair would prefer to have 4-6 University of Mississippi Senate representatives attend.

C. Note Senate homepage revisions for 1.) Pending Policies & Procedures, and 2.) Links to Misc. Reports and Helpful Websites.

II. New Business
A. Reports from the Committees

1. Academic Affairs: Queried the faculty at large and got 3 responses. Please pick up the emails if you are on this committee.

2. Academic Support Services: nothing to report.

3. Faculty Governance

i. Quadrennial Reviews click here to access Suggestions from the Governance Committee
ii. Senate incentives: click here to access Initiative Package for Senate President and Secretary

4. Finance Committee

Health care insurance improvement subcommittee. Request for WRITTEN stories of problems with health care at this university to John Schetz.
Grant-based salary bonus plan subcommittee

5. University Services: nothing to report.

6. Committee on Elections: has sent out elections instruction. Request to meet for brief caucus after meeting

7. Committee on Committees: in 2-3 weeks will know which standing committee terms will be ending. Slate should go to the Executive Committee in April.

B. New Graduate Assistant for Senate for the Faculty: Laurie Zimmerman, a graduate student in Higher Education. Contact: lzimmerm@olemiss.edu

C. Graduate student insurance plan, Heather Webb

Handed out sample plan.
Improved plan would be primarily through student health.
Current plan is minimal, including no prescription plan.
Considering both optional and required plans.
Graduate student council is behind this movement; still taking proposals from insurance companies.
All international graduate students are required to have health insurance.
Requesting that the University to play for part of it; part of it will go onto the Bursar's bill and come out of financial aid or out of the student's pocket
Dental insurance is not included.
Suggestion: approach other universities in the state to include them in the pool. Mississippi State, for example has a large health center.

D. Faculty Executive Committee to appoint faculty to ad hoc univeristy committee
Senator Mark moved to grant the Faculty Executive Committee to appoint 2 faculty to ad hoc university committee; Senator Reid second. Motion passed without dissent and one abstention.

E. Establishing due process procedures for faculty charged with violating policies/procedures of the University. This issue has been assigned to the Academic Affairs Committee.

Meeting adjourned at 8:15 p.m.

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