Minutes of the Meeting of the

Saint Anselm College Faculty Senate

9 February 1999

Return to Faculty Senate site.

President Hammond called the meeting to order at approximately 6:00 p.m. Present were Senators T. Hammond, E. Rizzo, J. McGhee, D. George, D. Reagan, J. Romps, J. Spoerl, A. Kenison, D. Lavoie, S. Krantz, K. Staley, M. Brown, P. Pajakowski, P. Cordella, D. MacDonald.

I. President's Remarks:

The administration has informed President Hammond that the Governing Board has granted two additional sabbaticals for the academic year 1999-2000 in response to motion #1 passed by the Faculty Senate on 15 Dec. 1998. The Governing Board has not yet acted on motion #2 of 15 Dec. 1998, which called for a permanent increase of sabbaticals to 12 per year, since it has asked the recently formed Ad Hoc Committee on Faculty Workload to study the matter.

President Hammond personally delivered the $4100.00 raised for the Relief Fund for Hurricane Mitch to New Hampshire Catholic Charities, which forwarded the money to Catholic Relief Services.

II. Approval of Minutes for 19 January 1999:

The Secretary informed the Senate of the need to revise one part of the Minutes: it is apparently not true that all member schools in the NHCUC deny tuition remission for summer school to children of Saint Anselm faculty; we know for certain of one school that does so (Notre Dame College). With this revision, the Minutes were approved by a vote of 14 in favor, one abstention (moved by Senator Brown, seconded by Senator Pajakowski).

[The following two corrections have also been made in the Minutes for 15 Dec. 1998: Motion #2 was seconded by Senator Krantz, not Reagan, and the report of the Benefits Committee was presented by Senator Hammond, not by Senator Kenison.]

III. Committee Reports:

A. Tenure (Senator McGhee, Chair): No report.

B. Promotions (Senator Romps, Chair): No report.

C. Academic Procedures (Senator Cordella, Chair): The administration is actively considering holding the Mass at the beginning of the school year at a time that would make attendance more convenient for faculty and students alike, namely, at 4:00 p.m. on the first day of classes, with afternoon classes shortened to allow 4:00 classes to meet at 3:00. The mass may be followed by a barbecue on the quad.

The library is trying to find a way of making the faculty study on the second floor of the Geisel Library more accessible to faculty, e.g. by using a card lock so faculty could use their college ID cards to unlock the door. However, the attempt to have a computer and printer installed there for the use of emeriti is encountering some resistance due to concerns about noise.

D. Social (Senator Romps, Chair): The Senate will host a Social Hour at the pub on Friday, Feb. 12. The annual reception for retiring faculty will be held on Reading Day, Wed., May 5, at 3:00 p.m., in the Chapel Arts Center.

E. Information Technology (Senator Reagan, Chair): Senator Reagan wishes to inform all faculty interested in starting their own web pages to contact Mr. Drew Bennett in the Public Relations department.

F. Benefits (Senator Kenison, Chair): The administration has acknowledged receipt of the Committee's letter requesting enhanced retirement and dental benefits for faculty. The administration is studying the matter.

G. Grievance (Senator Rizzo, Chair): No report.

H. Election (Senator Spoerl, Chair): The Committee is currently preparing the lists of those eligible to vote and to be elected to the Senate. The first round of balloting will be either right before or right after Spring Break.

The Committee requested that the Senate make a minor change in the Election Committee Bylaws. Senator Spoerl moved, and Senator Pajakowski seconded, the following:

That the Saint Anselm College Faculty Senate Election Committee Bylaws be revised by striking the current text of Part III, Section G and replacing it with the following text:

"If a Senate seat becomes vacant before March 1, that Senate seat shall be filled by the person receiving the highest number of votes among those otherwise not elected to the Senate in the last regular election. If the vacancy occurs after March 1, that seat shall be filled by the person receiving the highest number of votes among those otherwise not elected to the Senate in the upcoming regular election. In either case, in the event of a tie, a run-off election shall be held as soon as is convenient (but only if necessary)."

The reason for the change is that the Bylaws currently call for special elections to fill vacancies occurring between the September meeting and the regular spring elections. However, special elections are quite inconvenient, due to the cumbersome nature of our electoral process.

Some Senators objected that a Senate seat so filled should come open again in the next regularly scheduled spring election, to allow the faculty to decide by whom that seat should be held. Others noted that this would undermine continuity on the Senate. The Senate decided to vote on the motion as worded above and discuss changes afterward. The motion passed by a vote of 10 in favor, 5 opposed.

Senator MacDonald then moved, and Senator McGhee seconded, the following revised version of the previous motion, the sole change consisting in the addition of the italicized words:

That the Saint Anselm College Faculty Senate Election Committee Bylaws be revised by striking the current text of Part III, Section G and replacing it with the following text:

"If a Senate seat becomes vacant before March 1, that Senate seat shall be filled until the next regular election by the person receiving the highest number of votes among those otherwise not elected to the Senate in the last regular election. If the vacancy occurs after March 1, that seat shall be filled by the person receiving the highest number of votes among those otherwise not elected to the Senate in the upcoming regular election. In either case, in the event of a tie, a run-off election shall be held as soon as is convenient (but only if necessary)."

The motion passed by a vote of 10 in favor, 5 opposed.

Discussion turned to the Election Committee's report on options for dealing with Faculty Senators on sabbatical. Three options were presented for the Senate's consideration: 1. Do nothing; 2. Suspend rules for removing Senators who miss one semester's worth of meetings due to a sabbatical; 3. Elect alternates to fill in for Senators on sabbatical.

The consensus of the Senate was that the first option makes the most sense. Senators on sabbatical should either serve during their leaves, or resign so their seats can be filled at the next regular election, or not stand for election in the first place if they anticipate difficulties in serving a full three-year term. The change just made in the Election Committee Bylaws enables a Senator to resign upon learning of a sabbatical leave and then stand for reelection to exactly that same seat in the following year's election, should he or she wish to do so.

IV. Old Business:

There was some discussion of issues pertaining to summer school.

V. New Business:

Senator George moved, and Senator MacDonald seconded, the following:

That the following section be added to the Faculty Senate Bylaws:

"Section G: Voting

All votes of the Senate shall be by roll call except a) those votes on personnel matters or appeals when the Senate is in executive session and b) the election of the Senate President."

Points made in favor of this motion: The faculty at large should know, and have a right to know, how we vote as individual Senators. This will help them to make more informed choices at election time. While under current rules any Senator can call for a role call vote at any time, still we generally fail to do so, sometimes out of mere inadvertence. Making it a regular practice would solve this problem.

Points made against this motion: Under current rules, a single Senator's request for a role call vote is sufficient to bring it about. Perhaps we should think to do so more frequently, but making it automatic would be cumbersome and inflexible. The Senate has adopted similar motions in the past only to revert to the current practice after a short time. Moreover, advertising how individual Senators vote on every motion could increase political pressures on Senators from outside the Senate.

The motion was defeated by a vote of 12 opposed, 3 in favor.

The Senate also discussed faculty sabbaticals. A Senator criticized the criteria for granting sabbaticals as laid out in the Faculty Handbook. The Handbook currently states: "When not all acceptable requests can be granted, academic seniority may have to decide. Academic seniority involves not merely length of service, but also rank, years within rank, or degrees possessed" (p. 63). This means that senior faculty will always have an edge in getting sabbaticals: if, say, a junior faculty member who has gone 10 years without a sabbatical is up against a senior faculty member whose last sabbatical was 7 years earlier, the senior faculty member would most likely be given the sabbatical. To be sure, the next paragraph in the Handbook does go on to say: "All other things being equal, the professor having waited longest for a sabbatical leave will be favored in the case that there are more acceptable applications than available leaves." However, all other things never will be equal, since some applicants will always have more seniority than others. Thus, the criteria are heavily biased in favor of senior faculty. With ever more and younger faculty applying for sabbaticals, the current criteria could lead to an unfair distribution of sabbaticals.

The Senate directed the Academic Freedom and Faculty Welfare Committee to study this matter.

Senator Romps moved to adjourn; Senator Rizzo seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. President Hammond adjourned the meeting at 7:22 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Joseph S. Spoerl

Secretary to the Faculty Senate