[In these minutes: 1. Update on Student Evaluations of Teaching, 2. U Pass Presentation, 3. Discussion with President Yudof, 4. Office for Student Development Changes, 5. Student Elections]
STUDENT SENATE CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE (SSCC) MINUTES
MARCH 2, 2000
[These minutes reflect discussion and debate at a committee of the University of Minnesota Senate or Twin Cities Campus Assembly; none of the comments, conclusions, or actions reported in these minutes represent the views of, nor are they binding on, the Senate or Assembly, the Administration, or the Board of Regents.]
PRESENT: Jason Reed (chair), Sabeen Altaf, Meggan Ellingboe, YeeLeng Hang, Jed Ipsen, Kevin Poppel, Chaz Rice, Tiffany Stedman, Aaron Street.
REGRETS: Reid LeBeau, Mark Uszenski.
GUESTS: Matt Clark, Vice Provost Craig Swan, President Mark Yudof.
1. UPDATE ON STUDENT EVALUATIONS OF TEACHING
Vice Provost Craig Swan discussed the state of student evaluations of teaching for the Twin Cities campus noting that the coordinate campus situations would be discussed later. Almost two years ago the University Senate approved a proposal to add ten student questions to the standard course evaluation forms. Results of these ten questions would then be published on the web pending an instructor's approval.
Because of the change to semester, use of the new forms and publication was delayed until last Fall. 87,000 forms from 1545 courses were processed of which 63,000 included the ten student questions. Consent was only received though for 151 courses. A main reason for this poor response rate was that there was no follow-up with faculty and many had forgotten about the change since the policy had passed. Vice Provost Swan said that he would make a commitment to increase the figure for this spring.
In regards to publication, the results will be available on the web but on a separate site from the other course information. A future goal is to integrate the student responses with each course, but this has been delayed because it involves PeopleSoft, whose other problems have taken precedent. Results will be available though before registration begins for Fall 2000.
For the coordinate campuses, the approved University Senate motion was not effectively communicated and therefore the campuses were not aware of this change. Information has since been sent to the vice chancellors to increase awareness and try to have the forms used for this spring's courses. During Fall, Crookston did have most of its evaluations on the web.
Kevin Poppel, the Crookston representative, said that evaluations were on the web only for certain courses, many of which were web intensive during the entire course.
Q: What was the membership of the group that designed the questions?
A: It was composed of students, faculty, and administrators. This is the same group that will be designing the web pages for the results.
Q; Language classes use a different evaluation form. How are their question incorporated into the results?
A: There are four different forms that departments can choose from, all of which include the ten student questions. Departments can also create an additional set of questions specific to their courses, but which would not be incorporate in the web pages.
Q: Will all forms that do not include the ten student questions be removed from use?
A: Eventually yes, but some departments have a backlog of forms that they will use first and then order more with the new questions included.
Q: Would it be possible to have students complete an evaluation outside of a class setting?
A: An in-class atmosphere seems to provide a more accurate account of the class since students would not be filling out four different class evaluations in a row. Evaluations outside of class could also cause a decrease in the response rate unless a returned evaluation was linked to the registration system so that a student would not be assigned a grade until the evaluation was completed.
Q: Are written comments included on the student evaluations? Would it be possible to include them on the web?
A: Written comments are incorporated in the main evaluation and are just available to the instructor. Only quantitative information will be placed on the web at first. Comments are hard since they require funding for people to enter them. Another drawback is deciding how they will be monitored since some private sites include unprofessional comments more about the instructor than the course itself.
Q: Are there different forms for undergraduates and graduates?
A: There are only four standard forms, which departments can choose between. Graduate courses do raise an interesting point since standard forms might not be the most appropriate devise for a class of only four or five students.
2. U PASS PRESENTATION
Matt Clark, MSA Vice President, said that a referendum regarding a $40 mandatory transportation fee was included on the ballot last spring and only failed by nine votes. Because of that small margin, a group has been looking at other ways to fund an initiative that would reduce traffic congestion on campus and debt from building more parking ramps.
Parking will see a 15% increase over the next six years, which will be passed on to everyone at the University unless another solution is found. President Yudof is in support of an alternative to parking, but wants students to be in support of any initiative as well. A federal grant is now available that would allow the University to fund the first few years with a smaller fee and gauge what the response would be.
Metro Transit was then asked to submit proposals, the first two of which were rejected since the student cost was too high. The third proposal, which includes a $5 mandatory student fee to cover all transportation costs and then a $50 per semester bus pass, was finally agreed upon by the University. The mandatory fee would be an administrative fee, not one allocated through the student service fees process, and would be managed by the Transportation Advisory Committee
Implementation of the program would begin in the Fall of 2000. The federal grant would supplement the program of the first few years, after which time the mandatory fee would be increased to $11 to cover the operating costs of the service. Long-term benefits of the service would allow the University to discontinue its own campus circulators and let students ride Metro Transit buses for which they would have the pass. Commuter rail, once completed, would also be accessible with this pass.
Many other committees and campus organizations are behind this proposal. Therefore, Matt Clark is trying to bring everyone together in a united front by early April.
Q: Will Metro Transit take over the operation of campus routes?
A: At first, no. These will continue to be managed by the University. In the long-term, as more students take advantage of the bus pass, routes can be reconfigured so that current campus routes would be covered and operated by Metro Transit. This would save the University money and give students alternates to current routes.
Q: In the long-term, would students have to pay each time they wanted to use a connector bus?
A: No since the projection is that 90% of students would have the bus pass. They would just show their pass and be able to ride without paying for every trip.
Q: Would campus trips take longer on Metro Transit buses?
A: No because Metro Transit is more efficient and monitors their routes more closely.
Q: Many students are afraid of the size of campus. Buses are a way to reassure them that they can get between the different campuses and banks, which is very important for residence hall students who do not have cars. How will this be dealt with?
A: Many residence hall students already have a bus pass or would be eager to buy one if they knew that it could get them around campus and the Twin Cities. This would seem to make new students less scared because they are guaranteed a transportation system.
Q: What is the projected enrollment?
A: Richard Pfutzenreuter, from Finance and Planning, would be the one with these statistics.
Q: What would be the incentive of this plan for a commuter student?
A: Just by paying the $5 mandatory fee, money is being used by Parking and Transportation to keep parking rates low. On campus parking currently costs a student at least $90 per semester which does not include the cost of gas, while under this proposal it would cost a student $55 to get to and from campus. This proposal provides a cheap alternative for all students to come to campus. Staff and faculty will also be offered the bus pass, but at a slightly higher rate because they will not be assessed the mandatory fee.
Q: How will the proposal benefit graduate students who need to be on campus late at night?
A: Metro Transit will meet late night needs by increasing the length of operation for routes that show high traffic. University ridership will shape new routes as well as service hours. A state law is also being considered which would guarantee more funding to public transportation.
Matt Clark then said that MSA has a resolution that they will be voting on next Tuesday, which will also be forwarded to the Student Affairs Committee for approval. He asked if SSCC would like to endorse the same resolution.
Jason Reed said that the resolution should be sent to Becky Hippert, who would then forward it to the committee and record the vote.
3. DISCUSSION WITH PRESIDENT YUDOF
President Yudof discussed the following topics with students before answering questions:
Legislative Session
The University seems to be fairing well. Legislators are supportive of a new
Arts Building, especially after touring the old structure. Most other projects
have also been well-received except for the Duluth Sports Facility which will
harder to encourage legislators to fund. Projects at Morris and Crookston
though also seem to be receiving support. The greenhouse project will probably
be in phases, which is not ideal but better than not at all. The most
important piece is at the end of the session when the University will want to
avoid getting caught in the crossfire between parties.
Budget
Faculty and staff compensation for next year will amount to an average 3% raise
with additional awards on a merit basis. To be able to support this plan,
tuition will need to be increased by over 3% since over half of the raise will
pay for these salary increases. While this is not fair, it is the only way for
funds to be raised since tuition dollars return directly to the colleges for
disbursement. Unfortunately, the more sales tax rebates that are given to
Minnesota residents, the more pressure there is on colleges to find other
funding sources for raises.
Enterprise Project
Main problems with the Enterprise project should be over now that the student
system is running more smoothly. When the University was looking for software
this was the only company to fit the needs of a large institution, but because
some products were so new many problems were experienced, mainly by students
and student service personnel. Since a letter from many large institutions was
jointly written and sent to the company, more attention has been focused on our
problems and potential solutions.
Sweatshop Labor
When this issue was first brought to the attention of the University, a task
force was established to look at joining the Fair Labor Association (FLA) which
would watch over licensed products manufactured abroad. Since discussions
first began, a new organization, the Workers Rights Consortium (WRC), has come
into existence as another possibility, although the WRC's founding meeting is
not scheduled until April 2000. The University does not have a big stake in
either organization since the amount of licensed products for the University is
much less than other institutions, so much less that all production could be
moved to nationally-based companies to avoid these problems. A forum was held
and 30-40 students were very vocal on the subjects. The task force is now
reviewing all materials and will be making a recommendation, but until that
point no organization will be joined.
Other
A: Admissions personnel from those two colleges have met to discuss this and other issues. From initial figures it looks like Duluth and Crookston will see increases in the number of students and this might also be seen at Morris. For this last year, the Twin Cities seemed to do a better job of marketing the college. This hurt Morris probably because of the lack on continuity in the Morris admissions office. If this position is filled and new marketing strategies are introduced, I do not see why Morris would not be more competitive and lure more students to its smaller, more intimate campus., as has been the case with Duluth in recent years.
Q: At the last Senate meeting, a policy was passed prohibiting students from selling their notes on the web. Why was class size not looked at in regards to this issue?
A: While classes may be too large for some courses that is not the driving factor behind notes on the web. There is a growing market for students to make money from notes that they already take and selling this information has a long history. There is no quick fix or easy answer to this problem. The issue of free speech will also need to be addressed. If a student photocopies a handout and places it on the web, then this is obviously a violation of free speech. On the other hand, a student who takes their own notes and then puts them on the web is a grey area. The policy might be over-inclusive and lead to censoring of students, which the University does not want. This issue will be fully examined before any further action is taken.
Q: Do all faculty post their notes on the web?
A: Some do but it is not required and the University would not want to make such a ruling.
Q: The Student Legislative Coalition (SLC), the student lobbying organization, is currently housed in two small rooms in Northrop Auditorium. Space was looked for in Morrill Hall, but nothing was available. What other options are available?
A: Space is tight right not because of the construction but send me an e-mail and I will look into it.
Q: How will the money received in the Glaxo settlement benefit graduate students?
A: One-third of the settlement went to the inventor, another third goes to the college, and the last third went to the Graduate School. The department of Medicinal Chemistry, of which the inventor was a faculty in, will use its share to update classrooms, replace chairs, and add new equipment to lecture halls. The Graduate School will use its share, $50 million, to create matching graduate fellowships which will be the only of its kind at the University. Many times when funds are donated to the University they are marked for faculty distinguished chairs, undergraduate education, or new buildings. This program will increase the visibility of graduate students by allowing donors to double the effect of their donation and will raise $100 million to be distributed to eligible Graduate School students.
Q: How is the capital campaign doing?
A: The University has collected $730 million out of the $1.3 billion target, but because of the way donations can be made, the actual money will be received by the University at different times. Also, the University cannot always choose what is donated, artwork versus a dollar amount, or what areas receive the most funding. Money that is received with no particular focus will then be targeted towards disciplines which usually do not fair as well as others. Of the total amount, only $500 million will be put towards endowments.
Q: Are donations targeted to areas when they are made?
A: The University would like more flexibility, but 96% of donations are specified because most donors have a particular focus or area in mind when the donation is made. One area that receives considerable support, and that I fully support, is student scholarships.
Q: What is happening with the University's health plan?
A: A committee, of which Carol Carrier and Dick McGehee are members, is looking into the problem. Because the University does not receive money from the state to pay fringe benefits and costs are continually rising, this committee is investigating the University becoming its own group to lower rates and increase flexibility.
Q: Will a tuition increase be for all campuses or just the Twin Cities?
A: Each campus will negotiate their own increase. To keep tuition low, the University is also looking at colleges and campuses that have excess capacity to see if there is a way for these colleges to slightly lower their non-resident tuition rates to attract more students and keep all colleges at maximum enrollment.
With no further questions or comments, Jason Reed thanked President Yudof for attending and talking with the committee.
4. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES
The February 3, 2000 minutes were approved.
5. REPORTS
CHAIR
Jason Reed reported that he attended the ABTS Conference this past weekend at
Michigan State and learned many new ideas which he will present to the
committee later in the year. The Policy on Class Notes was passed by the
University Senate last week and voting was mainly along faculty and student
lines with a few crossovers. The GPT resolution passed at the Student Senate
meeting, but was withdrawn from the Twin Cities Campus Assembly docket since it
only affects CLA students. The resolution will be forwarded to the President
for review and then will be presented to Dean Rosenstone to see what can be
done.
STUDENT SENATE CHAIR
Reid LeBeau was not at the meeting to give a report.
CROOKSTON
Kevin Poppel reported that Crookston elections will be on April 4. The campus
will be experiencing a 5% tuition increase and the student fee will also be
increasing to cover funding for new clubs and organizations.
DULUTH
Mark Uszenski was not at the meeting to give a report.
MORRIS
Chaz Rice left the meeting before giving a report.
MSA
Jason Reed reported that constitutional revisions have been approved. MSA is
also working on getting out the word regarding upcoming elections to increase
voter turnout.
GAPSA
Sabeen Altaf said that GAPSA will be instituting a trail period in which
cultural centers will have membership on the forum to increase contact between
groups and recruit more graduate students as members. A joint MSA-GAPSA fees
task force is also looking into the current feessystem. The Boynton health fee
is being discussed since currently graduate assistants and resident assistants
get back one-third of the fee because they have their own insurance, yet they
should actually be receiving almost the full amount back. GAPSA's special
assessment fee is also being looked into to make sure that all colleges are
paying and to make sure that none are double paying.
6. OFFICE FOR STUDENT DEVELOPMENT CHANGES
Jason Reed said that at a recent meeting between student leaders and the committee that recommended the change it was revealed that the new title would be Dean of Students and Vice Provost of Student Affairs. Most students reacted favorably to the change but some were skeptical of what this would mean to the reporting lines.
7. STUDENT ELECTIONS
Crookston - April 4
Duluth's - April 11 - 13
MSA - March 21 - 22
GAPSA and Morris to be determined
8. FINALIZE DULUTH TRIP
Since Mark Uszenski was not at the meeting, it was decided that Becky Hippert would contact him about visiting Duluth on March 23 and the send an e-mail to the committee.
9. OTHER BUSINESS
Becky Hippert said that since there were no undergraduates at the student focus group regarding health insurance, the committee might be contacted about the consultants talking to them at the April meeting.
Jason Reed introduced a resolution regarding faculty representation on the Student Service Fees Committee. A motion was made and seconded for its approval. A vote was taken and the resolution was approved.
With no other business, Jason Reed thanked all members for attending and adjourned the meeting.
Becky Hippert
University Senate