Spring 2008, Issue 2

Newsletter

Message from the Chair

This year the Senate has focused almost exclusively on two items. In the first of these, the decennial review of the academic articles, a number of recommendations were made that have been approved by the Academic council and President Jenkins and will be voted upon by the Board of Trustees at their May meeting. The Senate recommendations can be found here. The second issue that concerned the Senate has been the initiative to recruit Catholic Faculty. The September 2007 address of Father Jenkins to the faculty and the release of the report from the Adhoc Committee to Recruit Outstanding Catholic Faculty (CROCF) stimulated much discussion on campus. The Senators gathered information principally from discussions with their colleagues and also from an anonymous survey completed by 500 faculty that resulted in nearly 2200 written comments. An informational meeting was held with Provost Burish, Father Robert Sullivan (Chair of CROCF) and Susan Ohmer (member of CROCF) in December. The assimilation and analysis of all this information required several weeks of work. While the Senate finds strong support for the maintenance of the Catholic character and a recognition of the importance of Catholic identity, there are a number of significant concerns. Two reports have been produced as a result of this work. The first is a position paper on the overall enterprise of Catholic Hiring that makes five recommendations and the second offers an evaluation of the specific CROCF recommendations. The Senate has recently met with both President Jenkins and Provost Burish to discuss these reports. They were also presented to the Board of Trustees. We hope that this work will inform the hiring policies of the university.

The 2007-8 Senate has now concluded its meetings for the year. The first meeting for the 2008-9 Senate will take place on May 7th. At this meeting a new set of officers will be elected, and the four subcommittees will also elect new chairs and identify issues for the coming year. All faculty are invited to raise issues through their representatives at any time. We wish you a pleasant summer.

Colin Jessop
Chair

Academic Affairs

The Academic Affairs Committee has been focused on the issue of Catholic hiring and the CROCF report and helped to draft the Senate's responses to both of those issues.

Judy Fox
Chair, Academic Affairs Committee

Administrative Affairs

The Administrative Affairs Committee has been focused on the issue of Catholic hiring and the CROCF report and helped to draft the Senate's responses to both of those issues.

Seth Brown
Chair, Administrative Affairs Committee

Benefits

The Benefits Committee continued its regularly monthly meeting with Human Resources and benefits representatives. A number of problems with Meritain were identified and actions have been taken to improve their efficiency and accuracy in processing claims.

Nasir Ghiaseddin
Chair, Benefits Committee

Student Affairs

The Student Affairs Committee collaborated with the Student Senate on two projects. First, we developed a clear and streamlined way for the Student Senate to communicate with the Faculty Senate on a regular basis. Second, we supported a Student Senate resolution to have a clock in every classroom. The Faculty Senate as a whole voted to endorse this resolution.

The Committee identified several other issues--Student Financial Aid, Student Course Loads, and Student Classroom Deportment--which were discussed without resolution owing to the full Senate's absorption in other pressing business. These issues will be handed over to next year's committee.

Tom Noble
Chair, Student Affairs Committee