Faculty Council

JANUARY 9, 2003

315 GERLACH HALL

330-530

Present: 45

Guests: ?

1. Update on STRS

Mr. Larry Lewellen, Associate Vice President for Human Resources updated the Council on the crisis facing STRS. He said that they are raising the amount of contribution to stabilize the fund and trying to reexamine assumptions that they have made about the use and contribution to the system. FCBC is examining the issue as it relates to OSU Faculty. He indicated that they might need additional support from Faculty Councils and other similar groups. There were several questions from members of Council.

2. National Championship Commendation

Chair Mumy read a draft of a commendation for the National Champion Football Team for their outstanding season and commitment to their reflection of values and academic performance and progress of the student athletes. The Council approved the idea unanimously.

3. COMPH Proposal

There were presentations by several members of the Executive Committee on the Proposal to eliminate the cap on Clinical Faculty in clinical departments. Professor Steve Pinsky described the history of the proposal and outlined the consultation process between Steering, Faculty Council and the COMPH. He summarized the proposal into three points: the cap will be eliminated in only clinical departments, Clinical Faculty will not be involved in P&T decisions, and they will follow Faculty Rule 3335-3-34 which states there must be at least 10 tenured faculty in every department. There were several comments regarding undergraduate and basic science curriculum, the hiring of Clinical Faculty and the role of Clinical Faculty in hiring procedures, and the role of clinical faculty as administrators. Dr. Pinsky noted that this process should be a role model for future consultative processes.

Professor Doug Macbeth noted that while the process was very good, the proposal itself is flawed. He discussed the issue of tenure as one of the main areas of the proposal. He noted that this proposal strikes at the heart of the university—TIUs.

Professor Robert Levine discussed the cultural differences between the medical school and the general campus. He also discussed the issue of not treating academics as a business with the medical school as an anomaly. Dr. Levine noted that this might be what it takes to allow the medical school to succeed.

There was significant discussion and debate on the subject. The proposal passed 24-yes, 10-no, 12-undecided.

4. Report on Decanal Consultation Best Practices

Professor Marilyn Blackwell, Past Chair of Faculty Council, gave a summation of the results of the survey on Decanal Consultation from last year. She encouraged greater faculty interaction with Deans, however, she maintained that the Deans need to buy in to the proposal for it to be effective. There was discussion on the validity of the statistics that were used in deciding the report. Dr. Blackwell said that a more in-depth survey would have been helpful, but the comments from the responses seem to also indicate that something is awry. This issue is a top priority for Winter Quarter and will be discussed at future meetings.

The meeting was adjourned at 515.