Meeting Minutes - September 7, 2005
Call to order by President Rogers at 3 p.m.
Note: Normal order of business was suspended due to presentations by Lane Vosbury, representing the Compensation Practices Committee and by Randy Pawlowski, regarding an Academic Integrity Policy.
New Business:
Compensation Practices Committee:
President Rogers thanked the members of the Compensation Practices Group on behalf of the faculty. She then introduced the chairman of a subgroup of the original committee, Lane Vosbury.
Lane reported that the name of the group has been changed to the Faculty Compensation Group. The subgroup has been asked to develop a plan to move Seminole State faculty salaries into the top quartile of the faculty salaries of the 28 Florida Community Colleges and to present this plan to the Board of Trustees before March 2006. The committee is gathering data and attempting to equate that data to our 196-day contract at the Master's Level, focusing on the minimum starting salary. Items to be taken into consideration include: teaching loads, paid holidays, credit for years served, timing of implementation of raises, salary ranges of other institutions, and class size (will look at anomalies only). The issue of critical jobs and supplemental contracts will not be addressed.
The goal this year was to deal with the external inequities. Last year, the administration stated that the long range goal was to increase faculty salaries to put Seminole State in the top quartile in the state. However, the increase in level for each faculty member plus a 3 percent raise probably resulted in no advancement being made. The committee has no information on any raises given to faculty from our cohort group at this time. The subcommittee must calculate how our faculty compensation now compares to the other Florida community colleges; find a plan to move the salaries up; and to estimate how long it will take to accomplish this goal.
AVP Tesinsky added that she thought the Board of Trustees asked for this data by January. She also stated that an increase to the current raise is still under consideration. VP Sarnovsky said all the data is not yet available to determine if the College can increase faculty salaries by the 4.5 percent originally suggested.
A faculty member, who said that out-of-pocket copays have tripled, asked if the subgroup was investigating healthcare benefits as part of compensation. Lane answered that perhaps the subcommittee should include that in their calculations.
Another faculty member asked why the raises for all ranges were not set at 3 percent. Lane answered that the purpose this year was to enhance starting salaries.
Another suggestion was to compare the percentage of Seminole State's budget actually attributed to education to that of other institutions, using a formula.
Academic Integrity:
President Rogers introduced Randy Pawlowski, Director of Student Affairs. Randy explained that his duties include being the judicial officer for student conduct problems. He stated that cheating is rampant at Seminole State. The current Academic Integrity Policy is stated in the College Catalog on page 48. Instructors have three options if there is clear and convincing evidence that a student has cheated:
- Give the student an F for that particular assignment/test.
- Give the student an F in the course.
- Request that the student be removed from Seminole State.
Another possible remedy would be to mandate attendance in an Academic Integrity Course for anyone found guilty of cheating. Randy keeps a log of all students who have been found guilty of cheating. Several students have been suspended for cheating, but no one has yet been permanently expelled.
Randy feels that Faculty Senate should recommend a consistent policy to Executive Staff regarding Academic Integrity.
Faculty Senate Elections:
Three At-Large positions are vacant. One vacancy is due to Jeri Roger's becoming the Faculty Senate president, one is due to Lisa Valentino becoming the Dean of the Oviedo Campus, and one is a position that has remained vacant during the last year. The following recommendation was made, seconded, and unanimously approved.
Recommendation: Laurel Stevenson, Dan Gilmartin, and Linda Berlin are elected to fill the open At-Large positions on Faculty Senate.
The position of first Vice President of Faculty Senate is also vacant due to Lisa Valentino's new position. Greg Garrison and Susan Dooley both agreed to run for the position. Susan Dooley was elected by the Senators to fill this position.
Incomplete Grades and Withdrawals:
Currently, the policy governing the assignment of a grade of Incomplete (I) rests within each department or with individual faculty members of that department. The following recommendation was made, seconded, and unanimously approved.
Recommendation: The criteria for the assignment of a grade of Incomplete (I) should rest within each department or with individual faculty members of that department.
Currently, policies regarding the assignment of a grade of W, as opposed to an F, by faculty after the end of the withdrawal period have been determined by individual departments or individuals. The following recommendation was made, seconded, and unanimously approved.
Recommendation: The criteria for the assignment of a W or F should rest within each department or with individual faculty members of that department.
Faculty/Staff Parking:
Areas currently designated as faculty/staff parking areas may be eliminated. Senators were concerned about security issues as well as the ability for faculty members who teach on several campuses to find parking spaces in the middle of the day. Faculty senators are vehemently opposed to any change in faculty/staff parking areas. The following recommendation was made, seconded, and unanimously approved:
Recommendation: Faculty/staff parking areas should not be eliminated.
Announcement
The March meeting of the Faculty Senate will be held on March 8, rather than March 13, due to Spring Break.
Meeting adjourned at 5 p.m.
Members in attendance: Angela Aiken-McDonald, Patricia Cason, Janet Close, Rafael Davila, Kay Delk, Lucy Dzikowski, Barbara Entwistle, Mayra Eschbach, Greg Garrison, Rob Holborn, Barbara Hunnicutt, Sue Kellicut, Alan Kraft, Debbie Mead, Karen Schwitters, Jay Spalding.
There were 23 guests in attendance.