Dana Center Conference Room
President MacDonald called the meeting to order at 11:05 a.m.
Present: Senators Brown, Cordella, D’Espinosa, A. Kenison, Krantz, Lee, MacDonald, Manuel, McGhee, Norton, Pajakowski, Rizzo, Romps, J. Spoerl and Wierda.
I. President's Remarks
Meetings with Fr. Jonathan, O.S.B., president of the college and Prof. Gary Bouchard, executive vice president following senate meeting in April. The discussion dealt with the three of the motions passed at the April senate meetings.
Governance
Fr Jonathan will report to the senate with respect to the ongoing governance review (see below).
Creaghe Room
There is no disagreement with regard to the use of this room. It should be primarily used as a quiet place for study by the faculty.
The question was asked, "What were the problems that were experienced in the past?" In the past, meetings had been scheduled in that room, interfering with faculty use.
Executive Vice President
Father Jonathan expressed the intention to act on filling the position this fall, either by starting a search or converting the current interim-appointment to a permanent one. The senate would then be consulted.
Budget and Planning Committee
President MacDonald will be submitting three nominees (John Romps, Arthur Kenison, and Joe Spoerl) to serve as a member of the budget and planning committee for next year.
Renovations of Dominic
There were a number of rumors regarding the renovation of Dominic Hall. President MacDonald requested infromation from the executive vice president. The response from Gary Bouchard indicated:
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The money to be used for this project was initially borrowed five years ago for resident hall renovations. Due in large part to the construction of new halls this money was never spent on renovations.
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Money was borrowed again three years ago (2.7 million) for the specific purpose of addressing postponed dorm renovations. That is the money which will be utilized this summer. It is the view of the president, the dean of students and the executive vice president that the college has a legal obligation to spend this money for the expressed reasons for which it was borrowed. Nearly all agree that the college has, at least, an ethical obligation to do so.
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Dean of Students, Horton, has led a committee comprised of members of his own staff and members of physical plant for a year to determine the best use of this money. They resolved that significantly changing the living conditions and lifestyles of 240 residents would be better than spreading the money thinly between three halls for more minor renovations. Dominic Hall has received no significant physical renovation or even new furniture for 40 years. It has long been identified by the dean of student's office as problem number one in residence life. The building will generate revenues totaling 1.5 million in the coming academic year. After renovations it will be possible in the future to make one wing male and another female which will make available an important option for the college's future. The majority of the expense in the renovation will be for new bathrooms and the creation of public space in the building, which currently has none.
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Bertrand and Brady Halls will receive more minor work this summer. All the dorm renovation work is being contracted out except for some minor finish work to be completed in-house.
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In order for this work to be completed, it must begin immediately after the students leave. The proposal has been approved by the planning and budget committee and will hopefully be considered by the Governing Board in the near future.
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Other projects likely this summer include: renovating the current advancement-phonathon space on the third floor of alumni, turning it back into academic (classroom) space. Installation of high-tech video equip. in Poisson and the accompanying purchase of mobile video carts; the federally funded renovation of the craft reserve site into the Institute of Politics (the quitclaim deed for this building was finally issued and signed on May 1, 2000 and the college's official ownership of the property seems imminent).
Senator Romps offered some additional information about this project from the budget and planning committee.
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Dominic Hall has been indicated as problem #1 in resident life on the campus. The outcome of this renovation will make it possible for Dominic Hall to be made co-educational. Newly renovated bathrooms and a public space will be created. The project will create a 3 level portico, which should match the new townhouses. The 1st level will be open, 2nd will house a lounge, and the 3rd will house beds that were lost in the renovation process. The net result will be the same number of beds.
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The question of the quantity of dorms on campus was raised
The school currently has open beds. The peak load on residential housing is in September. The bulk of the new beds that have been recently created are used by seniors. The school currently has 1540 students living on campus of 1820 total students. Typically, by December, every student who wanted to be relocated from a triple has been.
[Note added at the time of production of the minutes: The renovation project for Dominic has been postponed for at least a year. Apparently there was not sufficient time to receive the required approvals for the project to take place.]
Two additional items from the budget and planning committee were offered:
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In a report the the Board of Trustees, the College reported a 380 thousand dollar surplus for this fiscal year. Stronger tuition recepts were responsible for overcoming the anticipated 150 thousand dollar deficit.
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The school has been awarded approximately 950 thousand dollars from the New Hampshire Consortium to be used for improving technology on campus.
The creation of 3 technology classrooms and the acquisition of 3-4 portable technology classrooms (projector/laptop) are planned.
President MacDonald expressed the desire that the Senate and the faculty be better informed about major decisions being made at the College. Part of this involves being kept better informed by the administration. Also, the Senate needs to have significant items from Planning & Budget Committee placed on the Senate agenda on a regular basis.
II. Approval of Minutes
Senator McGhee (seconded by Senator Romps) moved that the minutes from Part 1 (past Senate) of the meeting of 11 April 2000 be approved.
The motion passed with 13 in favor and 2 abstentions
Senator Brown (seconded by Senator D’Espinosa) moved that the minutes from Part 2 (present Senate) of the meeting of 11 April 2000 be approved.
The motion passed with 14 in favor and 1 abstention
III. Committee Reports
Benefits (Arthur Kenison, Chair)
The committee must present a report to Father Mark by June 1 indicating what items should be considered for a voluntary retirement plan.
Under the previous plan, the retiree must be 58 to be eligible with 20 years service.
Two minor and two more major items of interest have been identified from information solicited from the faculty and general discussion.
The two minor:
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A request to pay for health insurance for 3 years or when normal social security begins.
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If the period of covered health insurance expires, allow the retiree to participate in the college’s group plan (similar to a COBRA program).
The two more significant areas of interest on the part of the faculty were:
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An increase in the college’s contribution to the retiree, from the current 40% of last year’s salary for 3 years to 50% for 3 years
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Make the voluntary retirement plan permanent
IV. Discussions with Father Jonathan, O.S.B., President of the College
Fr. Jonathan arrived at 11:40 a.m.
President MacDonald welcomed Fr. Jonathan, O.S.B., president of the college, and thanked him for coming to update the senate on the status of the governance issue at the college.
Fr. Jonathan thanked the senate for the opportunity to speak with the senate.
Fr. Jonathan started his remarks with a brief history of the governance review process.
In September 1998 Abbot Mathew and Fr. Jonathan sent a memo to the faculty indicating that a 3 year study of governance of college was being undertaken. A consultant was to be hired who could deal with governance models of religious organizations/institutions.
The consultant who was hired, Dr. Morey, has met on several occasions with Governing Board and once with entire monastic community. In addition Dr. Morey has interviewed all of the members of community. The results of this process have been reported to the governing board.
One of the first issues that needs to be addressed is whether to split the current single corporation (The Order of Saint Benedict of New Hampshire) into 2 corporations, one for the monastery and one for Saint Anselm College. The reason for this would be to protect each organization. Should this happen, there are legal ramifications that need to be considered, both civil and canon. As a result, on May 2 of this year, a civil lawyer (Bill Tucker from the firm of Wadley Starr) and a canon lawyer (Fr. Conn, S.J.)were consulted.
Members of the monastic community are being allowed to submit questions to the governing board, for discussion with these lawyers.
If the separation does take place, issues such as separation of assets and the status of the original charter of the school need to be considered.
Fr. Jonathan answered questions from senators.
Was there a time line for the project? The project started in 9/98 and is scheduled to conclude in 3 years (9/01)
Had other schools gone to the two-corporation model? What were the results and what are the ramifications? Yes. There is currently one corporation–Order of Saint Benedict of New Hampshire. According to the charter, the college can offer any degree program. Most of the information gathered to date is in favor of 2 corporations. This would protect each organization from an attack on the other.
What would be the impact on the governance within the college? This initial discussion precedes the questions of governance within the college. Once the corporate structure is settled upon, the question of who are the members of each governing board, can be addressed. One model could have them being mirror images. In another, they could be different. It is too early to say.
Apart from the legal ramifications, would you be consulting any other group—faculty, or board? Fr. Jonathan indicated that the faculty senate and head of the board of trustees would be consulted.
Will there be ramifications for the academic structure? Who would be on the governing board? That is unclear at this time.
With respect to other schools who did this 20-30 years ago, what were the results? There were good and bad results. The challenges are to come up with a model that will work for this campus. There are a lot of models out there.
Fr. Jonathan indicated that he was willing to keep the Senate informed regarding the progress of the process. Given the importance of this issue, in light of the reaccredidation of the college, the senate and Fr. Jonathan agreed to meet again during the January senate meeting.
Fr. Jonathan observed that with regard to NEASC report, the college needed to address the governance issue. This does not mean that it has to be changed, but it must be examined.
The senate thanked Fr. Jonathan. He left at 12:05 p.m.
Discussion centered on the changes in governance and how it will actually affect the governance within the college. The NEASC report was talking about the school’s administrative structure.
The point was made that the corporate reorganization of the monastery was not the purview of the senate.
The next step in the process is to have a plan in mind of what the faculty would like to see, so that when consultation does occur, a coherent plan can be presented. President MacDonald suggested appointing an ad hoc committee to look at the NEACS report with respect to governance and other issues related to accreditation of the college. There was general support for this idea.
V. Old Business
Committee recommendations for next year
Senator Brown, chair of the academic affairs committee, informed the senate that the numbers of appointees needed for 2 standing committees had increased and that additional recommendations needed to be provided to the executive vice president. Senator Brown provided a listing of the new appointees. (The amended list is attached.)
Senator Romps moved (seconded by Senator Lee) that the modified list be approved.
The motion passed unanimously.
Electronic distribution of agendas and minutes
Senator Wierda asked if it would be appropriate to attempt a trial period of electronic distribution of senate minutes and agendas. During the trial period, both electronic and hardcopies would be provided. After two or three months, faculty would be asked to express a preference. This should be possible in the fall when all faculty e-mail is converted to Microsoft Outlook and attached documents can be handled.
There was no opposition.
VI. New Business
Approval of senate committee assignments for next year
The list of committee assignments was distributed to the senate.
A senator asked whether rank should be a criterion for selecting members of the committee. The reason being that members of the committee should, if possible, be selected with a view of their experience in having been promoted themselves.
It was pointed out that there are no rank requirements for service on the promotions committee.
Senator Wierda moved (seconded by Senator Romps) that the committee assignments for next year be approved.
The motion passed unanimously.
Approval of Senate Meeting Calendar for Next Year
President MacDonald observed that there was a long agenda for the April senate meeting and that this seemed now to be the trend. Does the senate wish to extend the senate year by one meeting each year? If this change was desired, what needs to be done to accomplish it? The senate secretary will look into this issue.
Senator Lee moved (seconded by Senator Pajakowski) that the senate calendar for next year be approved.
Senate Meeting Dates for the 2000-2001 Academic Year
12 September 2000
10 October 2000 (College Day)
14 November 2000
12 December 2000
16 January 2001 (third Tuesday of January)
13 February 2001
13 March 2001
10 April 2001
The motion passed unanimously.
VII. Adjournment
Senator Romps moved (seconded by Senator Brown) that the meeting adjourn.
The motion passed unanimously.
The meeting adjourned at 12:50 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Derk Andrew Wierda
Faculty Senate Secretary