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Faculty Senate Minutes 2011-10-03

University of Wisconsin--Madison

shared governance document
October 3, 2011
Audio Recording

The meeting was called to order by Interim Chancellor David Ward at 3:33 p.m. with 172 voting members present.

1. Memorial resolutions were presented for:

Professor Emeritus Robert Edward Baldwin. faculty document 2281
Professor Emeritus Winston L. Brembeck. faculty document 2282
Professor Emeritus Louis W. Busse. faculty document 2283
Professor Emeritus Dean O. Cliver. faculty document 2284
Professor Emeritus Robert McKune Kingdon. faculty document 2285
Professor Emeritus Ivan L. Preston. faculty document 2286
Professor Emeritus Manindra K. Verma. faculty document 2287

2. Chancellor Ward presented his State of the University address.  He spoke about the fundamental change in higher education funding in the U.S. and around the world and the university’s need to determine a strategy to address that challenge.  He offered three ways that the university might use to leverage support for increased funding:
• Encouraging philanthropy to provide for both the university’s margin of excellence and base-budget expenses;
• Educational innovations to allow the reallocation of funding; and 
• Improving resource stewardship to allow for savings.

Chancellor Ward responded to a question from Professor Jeffrey Steele (District 55) regarding the recent controversy over affirmative action at UW-Madison, and to a question from Associate Professor Thomas Armbrecht asking the chancellor how the humanities fit into the current strategic plan and how the university is going to take advantage of some of the momentum built during last year’s “Year of the Humanities.”

3. Announcements/Informational Items.

Assistant Professor Noah Feinstein (District 27) invited assistant and newly tenured professors to participate in the new junior faculty caucus.

Professor Brad Barham introduced the members of the University Committee and spoke about the UC’s priorities and initiatives for 2011-2012, which include faculty teams to work on governance issues, budget analysis and allocation, and the new human relations/personnel system redesign.

4. Question Period.

Professor Janet Mertz (District 93) asked a question regarding efforts the administration is taking to make student campus id cards valid for voting purposes given the state’s new voter registration and identification requirements.

AUTOMATIC CONSENT BUSINESS

5. The minutes of 2 May 2011 were approved as distributed.

6. Chancellor Ward called attention to the Summary of Faculty Legislation and Faculty Senate Business for 2010-2011. faculty document 2288

CONFIRMATION OF APPOINTMENT

7. Professor Barham moved to confirm the appointment of Assistant Professor Erik Dent (Neuroscience) to the Commission on Faculty Compensation and Economic Benefits for 2011-2012.

The motion passed without negative vote.

REPORTS

8. Associate Professor Que Lan submitted for informational purposes the Advisory Committee  for the Office for Equity and Diversity Annual Report for 2009-2010. faculty document 2274

There were no questions or comments.

9. Associate Professor Thomas Armbrecht submitted for informational purposes the Committee on Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Issues Report for 2010-2011. faculty document 2289

There were no questions or comments.

10. Assistant Professor Erica Halverson submitted for informational purposes the Teaching Academy Annual Report for 2009-2010. faculty document 2277

There were no questions or comments.

11. Provost Paul DeLuca submitted for informational purposes the University Academic Planning Council Annual Report for 2010-2011. faculty document 2290

There were no questions or comments.

NEW BUSINESS

12. Professor Barham moved to adopt the Policy on Firearms/Weapons contained in faculty document 2291 that was distributed at the door, noting that the word ‘designee’ in the document should be the plural form ‘designees.’ faculty document 2291

There were several comments.

Police Captain Johnnie Diamante suggested revising the first paragraph of the policy to be consistent with UW System policy to exclude police/peace officers from the prohibition and to identify designees as “usually the chief of police.”

Professor Barham moved to amend the first paragraph of the draft policy by subjoining the phrase,“, usually the chief of police. This prohibition does not apply to those employed as a law enforcement officer or peace officer.”

The motion to amend was seconded.

Discussion continued.

The motion to amend passed without negative vote.

The motion to adopt the amended motion passed without negative vote.

The meeting adjourned at 5:02 p.m.


David Musolf
Secretary of the Faculty