Faculty Senate Council      
May 9, 2012

Present:  Amer, Aoki, Bravo, Cai, Curry, Edelstein, Hasen, Hegland, Hill, Lu, Newsom Kerr, Molony, Numan, Powers, Ramon, Said, Stewart-Frey, Sunwolf, Turkeltaub, Woolley, Zanfagna

Excused:  Kreitzberg, Murphy, Quatman, Racine, Riley, Shanmugan, Solomon, Whittall

Absent:  Appleby, Fedder, Kitts, Li, Meyer, Yan, Zarghamee, Modern Languages

Invited Participants:  Courtney Seymour, Associated Student Government (ASG) President, and Jack Bird, Lindsay Gray, Alan Nguyen; Robert Finocchio, Jr., Board of Trustees Chair; Michael Engh, S.J., President; Dennis Jacobs, Provost

•	The meeting was opened at 3:30 p.m. by President Greenwalt.
•	After noting some corrections, the minutes from the April 11 meeting were approved. 
•	A draft letter to Chair Finocchio was sent to the Council representatives for their review and comment.  The letter thanks the Trustees for their willingness to meet with faculty in January, and suggests several options for more opportunities at which the faculty and Board members can interact.   The letter also expresses interest in having faculty attend Board meetings as observers.  Comments can be sent to Daniel Ostrov at dostrov@scu.edu.

1.  HONOR PLEDGE PROPOSAL
President Seymour and three fellow students presented a draft proposal to implement an Honor Pledge for undergraduate students.  A traditional honor code traditionally governs behavior outside the classroom, and allows for student engagement in investigating, adjudicating, and sanctioning behavior.  The Pledge, a modified honor code in its initial stages, addresses issues regarding academic integrity that can grow to encompass social conduct as well as academic behavior.  The students have presented their proposal to the Academic Affairs and Student Affairs University Policy Committees.  

The students noted that the Honor Pledge is designed to not interfere or compete with the current Academic Integrity Policy.  Today’s presentation is to solicit more feedback on their proposal.  Some suggestions were that the language be simplified, direct and specific.  Also mentioned was that general language should be avoided so it is not interpreted at will; consequences of an action should be clear in the language. The Council was very supportive of their efforts to promote scholastic responsibility, and commended them for taking the first steps with their draft of the Honor Pledge.

2.  BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Chair Finocchio expressed his and the Board’s thanks for the dedicated work of the faculty, and said the Board is very open to more contact with the faculty.  He reported that a large amount of the Board’s time is spent on the budget, which, he noted, is always balanced. He said that this is becoming increasingly challenging due to outside pressures like the cutting of State and Federal student aid.  

He said part of the Board’s work is to continually move in the direction of the Strategic Plan as it is set forth. He said that preparation for the Capital Campaign is on their agenda also.  Chair Finocchio said this campaign will be bigger than the last one and, for it to be successful, it must be a broader-based effort.  He said more people will be involved in the next campaign.  He was emphatic in his belief that relationship building now between students and faculty is key to getting the financial support of the students when they are alumnae/alumni.

Chair Finocchio noted that the Board of Trustees is ultimately responsible for the success of the University, and their job is not to make detailed management decisions.  He said the daily operation of the University is under the purview of the University President to whom the Board provides counsel and support.  A constant activity of the Board noted by Chair Finocchio is looking for the appropriate people to sit on the Board, people with the right skills and perspectives who understand the mission and identity of the University.  Chair Finocchio closed his remarks by repeating that the Trustees are very interested in ongoing conversations with the faculty, and would be pleased to be invited again to a Senate meeting.

3.  CONVERSATION WITH THE PRESIDENT AND PROVOST
A question was asked of the Provost about best practices used for those who mentor and advise faculty applying for tenure or promotion.  Provost Jacobs responded that a meeting was held with faculty who sit on the rank and tenure committees.  He said the topic of choosing external evaluators was raised.  

The Provost said connected to this topic is the issue of conflict of interest, real or perceived.  He said evaluators should be scholars who are experts in their field and who will be objective in their report.  He said if there is a perception of bias, a report will not be considered as valuable as a report with no hint of bias.  Co-authors of work to be evaluated, for instance, may not appear to be unbiased; except in those fields where every specialist is likely to be among an article’s numerous authors, committees and candidates for promotion should avoid using co-authors as evaluators.

A comment was made that the entire process of tenure or promotion needs clarifying and standardization in the Handbook.  Provost Jacobs agreed, and said there needs to be clarity around the standards, but also a display of sensitivity to the disciplinary context.  President Engh mentioned that the overall idea is to have an equitable process for all applicants for tenure or promotion.  A member of the University Rank and Tenure Committee made the comment that not every member of the committee may be familiar with the specific scholarship of the applicant.  She suggested that a standard letter be prepared by the applicant’s department that will include the disciplinary standards and the departmental requirements.  The letter can then be forwarded with the application.  The President was receptive to this idea.

The President and Provost complimented the students on taking the initiative to develop an honor code.

Any documents distributed at this meeting are available by calling the Faculty Senate office at 408-554-5035.  Please refer to http://www.scu.edu/governance.cfm for additional information on the Faculty Senate and University committees.