THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY \-. Washington, D.C. MINUTES OF THE REGUI-AR MEETING OF THE FACULTY SENATE HELD ON DECEMBER 14, 2001. IN THE ALUMNI HOUSE The meeting was called to order by Yice President Lehman at 2;20 p.rn. Present: Vice President Lehman, Registrar Geyer, Parliamentarian Pagel; Deans Folkerts, Futrell, Phillips and Southby; Professors Cawley, Divita, Duf[ Gallo, Griffith, Gupta, Haque, Harrington, Kennedy, McAleavey, Mergen, Miller, Pelzman, Robinson, Simon, West, Wilmarth, and Yezer Absent: President Trachtenbergl Deans Harding, Tong, Williams, and Young; Professors Castleberry, Glascock, Hoare, Johnston, Maggs, N"gy, Thornton, andZaghloul APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES Vice President Lehman requested approval of the minutes of the regular Senate meeting of Novemb er 9, 2A01. The minutes of the meeting were approved as distributed. INTRODUCTION OF RESOLUTIONS No resolutions were introduced. RESOLUTIONS I. RESOLUTION O1l3 6'A RESOLUTION ON RETIREMENT BENEFITS'' Professor Kennedy, Chair of the Appointment, Salary, and Promotion Policies Committee, read the text of Resolution 01/3 and changed the wording in the last line of Paragraph (2) in the Resolving Clause to read: "that the Faculty Handbook note that retirees may request such assistance; and.r, Professor Yezer moved that the phrase 'Sho have been and intend to remain active in their scholarly frelds will" be deleted from the last line of Paragraph (1) in the Resolving Clause since none of the services requested involved large expenditures. The motior, *r. seconded. Professor Emeritus Peter Hill spoke in support of the Resolution. Saying that the ability of faculty to retain voice and e-mail after retirement might seem very minor, but, for those faculty who remain active, it signals publishers and colleagues in the same field at other universities that they are still associated with G.W. In 1998, he said, a poll of approximately 300 emeritus faculty showed that 31, or about l}oh, rcmained engaged in \-, Faculty Senate Minutes, December l4r200l PageZ z1 research or other professional activities after retirement. That would seem a small number, he added, but these faculty were still producing books and articles. Professor Hill spoke briefly about the costs of providing the services described in the Resolution. He said that voice mail accounts cost approximately $8.00 per month, which would cost the University less than $100 for a yer of service for retired faculty, after which faculty would pick up the tab. While there was a charge, he said, for an e-mail account, it had not been possible for anyone to determine what this cost might be, but Professor Hill said that his impression was that the cost would be negligible. Professor Hill pointed out that the second and third ResoMng Clauses spoke to what might be termed "courtesies" that might be extended to retirees, such as help in getting relocated, and the possibility of obtaining shared office space. The inclusion of these retirement benefits in the Faculty Handbook, he said, would alert those who are about to retire of services available to them. Professor Hill suggested that a logical place to include this information might be at the end of Section 3 of the Handbook. Professor Hill then urged the Senate to adopt Resolution 0U3 to show that the Senate cared about its retiring faculty members. Professor Griffith asked Professor Hill if his impression after polling emeritus faculty was that about 107o would remain active, and Professor Hill said he thought that was the case, and he would not expect the number requesting these services to be much greater than that. Professor Griffith then said that he supported Professor Yezerts amendment. The question was called on the Yezer amendment, a vote was taken, and the amendment to Resolution 01/3 was approved. Professor Mergen asked if it was the intent of the resolution to regularize the provision of benefits to retiring faculty, because there seems to be a considerable discrepancy between departments in benefits provided at present. Vice President Lehman said that he thought this was a very important question, particularly with respect to the provision of shared office space. Since space available to house GTA's and part-time faculty in the departments varies widelp it is not clear that provision of shared office space would always be possible, and to make it uniform across departments probably could not be achieved. The question was called on the original motion as amended, a vote was taken, and Resolution AU3, as amended, was adopted. (Resolution0U3, as amended, is attached.) II. RESOLUTION OIl4'.A RESOLUTION ON THE FACULTY STATEMENT CONCERNING STRATEGIC PIANNING FOR ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE" Professor Duff, Chair of the Educational Poliry Committee, reviewed the maior features of the Resolution. The first WHEREAS clause, he said, was simply a recitation of the Faculty Code statement on ioint govemance . The second and third, he added, were somewhat related, with the second pointing out that faculty involvement should be sought Faculty Senate Minutes, December I4r20At Page 3 from the beginning, especially on a proiect as important as the Strategic Planning for Academic Excellence. The third clause, he said, points out that the Faculty Senate is the obvious choice to achieve faculty involvement, and the failure to involve it is an action contrary to the spirit of Resolution9U3 adopted, as amended, October llrl99l. Finally, he said the fourth clause was the heart of the matter - that the criteria for Strategic Planning and Excellence are vague, the goals unclear, and the process flawed. The process has also, Professor Duffnoted, accelerated at an incredible speed. Faculty first received a memorandum from the Academic Vice President on November 14, iust a month ago. Columbian College was then asked for its letters of intent a couple of days ago. Factoring in the Thanksgiving holiday, this did not allow much time. As a result of all of the above, he said, the Resolution concluded by asking that this Strategic Planning proiect be put on hold for an academic year. This would allow an opportunity, he said, to more clearly define the criteriar goals, and process, and would allow adequate time for the formulation and submission of thoughtful faculty proposals. Professor Pelzman commended Professor Duffand his Committee for an excellent Resolution. An issue that is dealt with in contract law, he said, is that of unconscionability, and this can be substantial or procedural. At some point, what begins as procedural unconscionability can become substantial inconscionability. At issue, he said, was the definition of who represents the faculty. If the Vice President could choose representatives of the faculty, the Faculty Senate might as well be disbanded. If, on the other hand, the Faculty Senate, members of which are elected by fellow faculty members, represents the faculty, then the Senate should have been advised and consulted about the formulation of advisory Committees in the Strategic Planning process. To do otherwise, he said, was to embark upon a slippery slope, and the more the Senate is bypassed, the more disenfranchised it is. The Senate essentially would become a rubber stamp, he said, and this is not its proper role. The second issue, Professor Pelzman said, was that of the criteria for excellence. Many faculty, he said, selve as referees for scholarly books and iournals, and since faculty publish and do research, faculty know what excellence is and the Resolution is correct in observing that academic excellence can best be discerned by faculty. If one reads the criteria, and the preamble to the criteria, and examines the selection process involved in Strategic Planning, it appears that it involves converting an existing part of endowment assets into funded research. This is an interesting criterion, he said, since it asked, in other words, "can you generate funds." If so, he added, then such entities can become an excellent source for the University to support. But, he continued, support was not defined. Faculty would be running around like chickens with their heads cut offto compete for an Faculty Senate Minutes, December l4r200l Page 4 unknown pnze. This is called a contest, he said, but itts an as)nnmetric contest because the administration has answers but the faculty does not, and in fact the faculty does not even know what is at stake. Professor Pelzman concluded by reiterating his support for the Resolution because faculty need to send a message to the administration - and that message is -- if the administration wants to recreate what they consider to be the representatives of the faculty, they should disband the Senate. If they do not do this, the Senate should be allowed to participate. Secondly, he said, if the University wanted to create a process to look for excellence, instead of creating tta rush for excellencer" sufficient time should be allowed, and the rewards for participating should be disclosed in addition to possible resource reallocations. Of special importance, he said was whether or not there are monies to be held back, because every time the administration retains money, it amounts to a tax on those elements of the University who are doing very well; it is not a tax on those elements of the University which are doing badly. Professor Yezer spoke in opposition to the Resolution, adding that he would actually commend the administration for doing the same things that have been done successfully at other universities. The procedure utilized by the administration, he said, was not uncommon at all as a strategy to achieve academic excellence. He said that the tone of the Resolution is very negative, and it would be an unfortunate message to send when the administration was actually doing something right. Professor Yezer said that he had pafticipated in many planning exercises at the University, and some were useful, and some were not. Strategic Planning for Excellence would be a useful exercise, he thought. He then pointed out that faculty were involved in the process, and their ideas were being solicited. There was also no way, he said, to eliminate all conflicts of interest on any planning group of faculty. If, he said, the Senate were concerned about the method utilized by the administration to select faculty to participate in the planning process, an alternative way of choosing might be suggested, but the resulting group would be iust as deeply conflicted as another. As to the claim that enough time had not been allowed for planning, Professor Yezer said that any unit at the University which has not developed a plan would be unlikely to be selected as a center for excellence. Further, he said that this stance implies incompetence. As to the issue of financing, he said he would suggest that people simply generate scaleable plans, which is done all of the time in industry. In conclusion, Professor Yezer said that he thought the Resolution was inflammatorfr and would send the wrong message, and he reiterated his commendation of the administration and its support of a planning process which as a matter of fact, was long overdue. Professor McAleavey spoke in opposition to the Resolution, and in support of Professor Yezet's remarks. He said he was discouraged by the 4e and 56 Whereas Clauses in particular. He said it seemed to him that in a broad sense, the goals of the Strategic Planning process were reasonably clear. He said he also agreed with Professor Yezer that any committee process would be flawed, and he added that he thought everyone had seen a {Iawed process produce decent results. Furthermore, he said it seemed to him that \,. Faculty Senate Minutes, December 14r2001 Page 5 the Strategic Planning and Excellence process might be an abnormal circumstance as cited in Resolution9l/3, and moreoever, it would be unworkable for the administration to seek Faculty Senate approval for the formation of every committee. Professor Gallo said that she would not repeat what Professor Yezer and McAleavey had said, but that she, too, opposed the Resolution for the reasons already cited. Professor Wilmarth said he had not intended to speak as he had not thought there would be opposition to the Resolution. He said he was greatly concerned by the exclusion of the Senate from the Strategic Planning process. This tended to reinforce the viewpoint that the Senate was considered by the administration to be increasingly irrelevant, a view which he said was unfortunate and contrary to the principles of shared governance embodied in the Faculty Code. There was nothing, he said, more central than strategic planning, and all constituents should be involved in it, including the elected representatives of the faculty, i.e., the Faculty Senate. Professor Wilmarth then moved that a new Paragraph 3) be inserted in the Resolving Clause of the Resolution to read " 3) encourage broad faculty participation in the formulation of strategic planning goals within each schoolr" and the current Paragraph 3) would then become Paragraph 4). His motion was seconded. Vice President Lehman responded to Professor Wilmarth by salrrng that, in fact, one \- of the first things he had instituted when he became Vice Presiderri was stategic planning. All of the schools have strategic plans and/ or strategic directions, he said, and most departments do as well, and these plans have been reviewed consistently on a yearly basis and have been an integral part of each deants annual report. As a starting point for any discussion about where the University stands concerning strategic planning, he said, it is important to note the continuing nature of this process. Professor Yezer spoke in opposition to Professor Wilmarth's amendment, saying he supported the sort of "bottom-upt'planning process involved in Srategic Planning. Discussion followed by Professors Duff, Pelzman, and Simon. The question was called on the Wilmarth amendment, a vote was taken, and the amendment was approved. Professor Griffith spoke in favor of the Resolution and outlined something of the history of Resolution9U3. This was adopted, he said, in the earlyyears of the Trachtenberg administration, when the President would claim that he had consulted the faculty about a particular matter. Upon investigation, it would become evident that some small group of faculty had been asked for its advice, and the President then thought consultation had been satisfied because he had talked to this group. The Senate, he said, did not think this was meaningful consultation, and so Resolution9l/3 was adopted, and the President largely agreed with it, sayrng that faculty consultation should be caried out through the Senate, perhaps not always, and particularly not in emergencies when time did not permit it. \\ / - Professor Griffith then said that he thought when faculty are named by the administration to a University-wide Committee, they are not answerable to their colleagues Faculty Senate Minutes, December l4rZA0l Page 6 in a way that Senate members elected by their Schools are. Senate members have a level of visibility and accountability which lends legitimacy to their deliberations. Professor Griffith then spoke about what has been termed ttthe rush to excellencer" agreeing with Professor Pelzman that faculty do not know how much money is involved in the Strategic Planning and Excellence process, or what the prize is. Although the Board of Trustees seems to support the process, he said, it is not clear if they are willing to draw down the endowment, or commit to fundraising, Instead, faculty have been asked to simply name some of the projects they favor and then it will be determined if money can be found for these purposes, and this is very frustrating. Professor Griffith then pointed out the difference between strategic planning done by departments and Schools on an ongoing basis, and the Strategic Planning and Excellence process. He said that ongoing planning typically involved faculty making plans and setting goals, without the prospect of obtaining additional resources. Strategic Planning and Excellence holds out the possibility that unidentified resources might be available, but the resources are not identified, thus scaling proposals as suggested by Professor Yezer is very difficult since not even a starting point is identifred. Finally, he said, if the University wished to encourage interdisciplinary proposals, there is hardly anything more difficult than negotiating proposals between different academic units, and it certainly cannot be done in three weeks. Professor Robinson said that she agreed with Professor Pelzman with respect to process. She then asked about the history of this process, and whether or not the President had first expressed his views and plans concerning Strategic Planning and Excellence in June to the Board of Trustees at a retreat. Vice President [rhman said that that was correct, and that the Board had requested that the President present his vision for Academic Excellence along with instituting strategic planning to achieve it. The President, he said, chose to begin this process in June, 2001. Professor Robinson then observed that Strategic Planning and Excellence had been announced to the Faculty Assembly in mid-October, but that the Faculty Senate Executive Committee's input into the process had not been solicited. It would not have been difficult to do this, she said, inasmuch as the Executive Committee had met both in August and September and could have been consulted at the beginning of the process. The Faculty Senate could also have been consulted at their meeting in September. Professor Robinson then read the President's response to Resolution 9l/3 which said, "the administration will endeavor to consult with the Faculty Senate, as appropriate . . . we would not anticipate that there would be many occasions when consultation is ol'erlooked or determined inappropriate but we would be reluctant to surrender flexibility as a matter of policy." She added that it seemed to her that there were no abnormal circumstances that would prevent the administration from at least asking the advice of the Senate on the best method of approaching Strategic Planning and Excellence, Faculty Senate Minutes, December l4r Z0Ol PageT \-. or upon the formulation of Committees to carry it out. The issue, she said, really went back to the beginning of the process, and she added that she agreed with Professor pelzman about the role of the Faculty Senate in representing the facurty. Professor Yezer reiterated his opposition to the Resolution. Professor Gallo asked Vice President Lehman how the administration could defend the lack of Senate involvement. Vice President Lehman replied that the original planning process involved the Board of Trustees and the administration working together, and that ni fraa said from the very beginning relative to the Academic Excellence Committee that he wanted this to be done by faculty. In order to accomplish this, he said, he requested that the deans elect, if possible, or appoint, Committee members. Since the beginning of the process, he said, he felt it was totally a faculty process, and his desire for full faculty particifation beginning in the departments and moving upward in all of the schools satishia himthat facJty had-been properly involved. Professor Pelzman then asked Yice President Lehman why, when he met with the Executive Committee once each month, he had not consulted them. Vice President I-ehman said that he thought, in effect, that what he was doing was involving the faculty adequately, but that he would have no problem at all if the Faculty Senate winted to appoint someone to the Academic Excellence Committee. He added that he had full confid.rrte i' everyone currently serving on this committee. \- Professor Wilmarth then asked if extending the deadline until March 15ft or April lst for faculty input into the planning process would be a possibility. Vice President Lehman replied that he thought the latest acceptable deadline would be March 1" in order to allow time for the Academic Excellence and the Business and Service Committees to accomplish their work together and report to the Board of rrustees in May, 2002. Further discussion followed on the Resolution by Professors Pelzman, Gupta, Wilmarth, and Duff. Professor Griffrth moved an amendment to the Resolving Clause of the Resolution so that it would read: [Resolved] That the Administration decelerate pfftpone its Strategic Planning for Academic Excellence for €ne€sHaflrear as much ai possible -Senate in order to: 1) allow for appropdate4rculry Faculty input into the ' @ittee process that will recommend pioposals to the administrationl more clearly define the criteria for the propoials, the goals of the program, and the process whereby the centers will be Lhos.rr; 3) encourage broader faculty participation in the foimulation of strategic planning goals wit"nin each school; and 4) allow more adequate time for the formulation and submission of thoughtful faculty proposals. The amendment was seconded. Faculty Senate Minutes, December I4r2001 Page 8 Professor Harrington spoke in opposition to the amendment. Professor Robinson asked for the privilege of the floor for ProfessorJay Shotel. Professor Shotel said he was a member of the Academic Excellence Committee, and although he had not been appointed by the Faculty Senate, he had been appointed by the Senate to the College of Professional Studies Committee which he thought showed some degree of confidence in his ability to serve on behalf of the Senate. He said that he understood that the Senate felt they werentt consulted concerning his nomination to the Committee, but on the other harid, suggested that there are many faculty who are working very hard in what they believe to be the best interests of the University. He said that he had iust met with 25 facuky from the Columbian College the day before, and as he was from the Graduate School of Education and Fluman Development, that meeting would never have occurred had it not been for the Academic Excellence initiative, and this was something he had not seen happen at GW in his 30 years here. Discussion concerning Professor Griffith's substitute amendment followed by Professors Gallo, Yezer, Wilmarth and Griffith. Professor Wilmarth suggested trro amendments to the substitute amendment. The first deleted the word ttdeceleratett from the first Resolving Clause of the substitute amendment, and inserted the words I'postpone until March 15ft the deadline for faculty input into." Professor Wilmarth also moved that the words "into the constitution of the committee" be retained in the first Resolving Clause. Professor Griffith said that he would accept the first amendment, but not the second, which would require the deconstititution of a Committee that has worked extremely hard already. Professor Wilmarth agreed to withdraw the second portion of his amendment to the substitute. Professor Gupta seconded the motion. Discussion followed by Vice President Lehman, Professors Wilmarth, Griffith, Gupta, and West on the possibility of changing the deadline fromMarch 15'h toMarch l" and it was agteed thatMarch 1"'rvould be the deadline. A vote was taken on Professor Wilmarth's amendment (as modified) to Professor Griffith's substitute amendment, and it was approved. Professor Griffith then read aII of the proposed language of his substitute amendment, as it now stood, as follows: [RESOLVED] That the Administration postpone until March l"'the deadline for faculqv proposals to the Academic Excellence Strategic Planning Committee in order to: 1) allow for Faculty Senate input into the process that will recommend faculty proposals to the administration; 2) more clearly define the criteria for the proposals, the goals of the program, and the process whereby the centers will be chosen; 3) encourage broader faculty participation in the formulation of strategic planning goals within each school; and 4) allow more adequate time for the formulation and submission of thoughtful faculty proposals. The question was called on Professor Griffithts substitute amendmentr a vote was taken, and the substitute amendment was approved, with one opposed. The question was Faculty Senate Minutes, December l4r200l Page 9 \-, then called on Resolution0l/4, as amended, and the Resolution was adopted with three abstentions. (Resolution 0l/ 4 as amended, is attached.) Professor Duff asked Vice President khman if the March l"'date cited in Resolution 0l/4 was the date proposals were due to the Academic Excellence Planning Committee, and Vice President [,ehman responded that that was correct, and that he would send out a memo to the Deans the following Monday indicating that the February 15* deadline had f'. been extended to March UPDATE ON THE UNIVERSITYS PREPARATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESPONSE IN THE EVENT OF ANOTHER EMERGENCY Vice President Freedman began by acknowledging that for everyone in the room, the world had changed on September lfh. While the GV University Police Department has considerable expertise in dealing with various crises that we might experience involving law enforcement that could run the gambit from a fire in a building to a limited emergency in the city, nothing prepared it, or the University, for the equivalent of an air raid on that day when terrorists used our own planes and people as instruments of mass destruction. He said he thought that all of America, not iust GW, was caught offguard that daywhen, after watching the damage to the World Trade Center in New Yorlg those of us in D.C. found out that the Pentagon had also been hit, the State Department, World Banlg and various \-, government buildings evacuated, along with rumors of car bombs and sirens sounding everywhere. In addition, 23"d Street was closed off, as well as the bridges leading to and from Virginia; at one point there was even a report that the subway had also shut down. Vice President Freedman said that a number of mechanisms were in place at GW to facilitate crisis communications on September lfh, and a means of immediate notification throughout the Universitywas in place using network e-mail, voice mail, and fax. Unfortunately, on September llft, the telephone system upon which these means of communications depend quickly became overloaded and sluggish. In some cases it was hours before people received faxes, e-mails, or voice mail; in other cases, with the large number of classes being held during the morning hours, faculry conducting coursework in classrooms had no way of finding out exactlywhat was going on, and eventually the University had to rely on a very basic system of runners going around the University to keep people informed. Vice President Freedman continued, saying that since that time, GWr like many entities, not iust in WashinSon and New York, but across the nation, has gone back to the drawing board, to research and consider options for expanding crisis management oPerations. In addition to putting in place many programmatic elements such as town hall meetings, seminars, and symposia, GW upgraded its website with a prominent link on the homepage to "America on Alert - latest information for the GW community." Designed as a first resort source of information, the University updates this page each day on topics ranging from the status of the campus, to information about University mailrooms testing Faculty Senate Minutes, December 14,200I Page 10 negative for anthrax, to sources of counseling for students, staff, and faculty members, and a message for students studying abroad. Also provided is the latest information from the White House's Office of Homeland Security, a report from one of the Security Preparedness Task Forces at the Medical Center, along with other pertinent information. In addition, he said, each parent of a GW undergraduate student \vill receive two vest-type "GW Connectiontt cards in the mail, which will provide helpful telephone numbers for easy reference. Community living and learning staff have also been issued two-way radio equipment, so that all residence hall desks can receive instantaneous notification in the event of another emergency. Vice President for Communications Michael Freedman then introduced Dr. John Petrie, who ioined the GW staff iust the past week as the Universiq/s new Assistant Vice President for Public Safety and Emergency Management. He said that Dr. Petrie was the former commanding officer of Naval Station Norfolk and comes to GW with a vast amount of experience in both emergency preparedness and higher education. Dr. Petrie earned his Ph.D. in International Law and International Security at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Dr. Petrie would workwith him, he said, as well as Ms. Stafford of University Police, and Mr. Yohe of Risk Management in formulating the Universiqfs emergency response. Dr. Petrie thanked the Senate for inviting him to th.e meetingr and said that he would be working with all of the constituencies of the University in order to coordinate emergency preparedness and public safety efforts. That would mean, he said, obtaining all of the input he could get, from the Vice Presidents to the Deans, faculty, staff, and students. This effort was already underway, he said, and he would begin the process of defining pertinent questions, gathering and assessing data, and preparing a concise statement of the next steps to be taken. He said he felt this effort would be successful if, in the end, the University community felt that GW was acting on behalf of every constituency and doing for them the best that could be done. Professor West then asked Dr. Petrie for his e-mail address, and he responded that he could be reached at iElrre@€gnLedu. Vice President Freedman then introduced Ms. Dolores Stafford, the Director of University Police, a long-time member of the University community, and the lead person in establishing new emergency plans for the University. Ms. Stafford began by saying that University Police have been working very hard with the D.C. City Emergency Management (old" Agency, and one of the things they have learned is that the agency had a number of plans, and since September 116, has created quite a number of new plans. For the first time, University Police have been able to obtain copies of these plans, so work is underway to coordinate the tq/o. It will also be necessary, she said, to ensure that the Federal emergency plans coordinate with the Ciqfs new plans. In this way, hopefully, all local laqr enforcement offices will be acting in concert, rather than repeating the scenario on September 116, when the District government was moving in one direction by closing streets and bridges, and the Federal govemment was moving in the other direction and ordering personnel evacuated., and the University was caught between the two. For the first time, the Ciq/s new Emergency Management Agency Command Center has the ability to stay in contact, on