The fourth meeting of the Student Senate for 2001-02 was convened in 25 Mondale Hall, Minneapolis campus, on Thursday, March 28, 2002, at 11:35 a.m. Coordinate campuses were linked by telephone. Checking or signing the roll as present were 31 voting student members and 1 ex officio member. Chair Chris Frazier presided.

Chair Chris Frazier welcomed new student senators Elizabeth Fontaine, Sheryl Lazarus, John Schneider, Andres Torres, Thomas Walsh, and Carolyn Walsh.

MOTION:

To approve the Student Senate minutes, which are available on the Web at the following URL. A simple majority is required for approval.

http://www1.umn.edu/usenate/student_senate/020221stu.html

DISCUSSION:

With no discussion, a vote was taken and the motion was approved.

*The administration has reviewed this resolution and appreciates the sense of the Student Senate on this issue. The University of Minnesota has an articulated goal to increase retention and graduation rates of its undergraduate students. The administration continues to explore policy and practice options that would lead to meeting that goal. Consultation on these matters is taking place with faculty and students on a regular basis. As these issues continue to be discussed and changes to or development of procedures and policies result, the administration, through the Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, will continue to consult and seek the views of students and input from student governance.

*The administration has reviewed this resolution and appreciates the sense of the Student Senate on this issue. As these issues continue to be discussed and changes to or development of procedures and policies result, the administration, through the Office of the Vice President for Campus Life, will continue to consult and seek the views of students and input from student governance.

Chair Frazier did not have a report at this time.

Vice Chair Shawn Lavelle did not have a report at this time.

Khaled Dajani, Chair of the Student Senate Consultative Committee (SSCC), said that SSCC has been discussing changes to SSCC, which will be discussed under Item 10 on the agenda. Another issue has been a discussion of the full-time policy issue on the Twin Cities campus. He held a meeting of students with Vice Provost Craig Swan and Professor Richard Skaggs. An implementation committee, including students, is being formed to determine how to implement the 13-credit minimum policy. An oversight committee will be formed next year to evaluate the policy, and students will be involved on that committee as well.

Khaled Dajani noted that the Educational Policy (SCEP) did not pass a policy on limiting the number of withdrawals.

On the University Senate agenda, there is a statement on tuition banding from several committees. SSCC decided not to make a statement on this topic.

Lastly, the registration queue on the Twin Cities campus will be changing for next year.

Crookston – Matt McBlair said that CSA elections are underway for next year. He then noted that next year’s freshmen will be given the option to register for next fall and spring at one time. This policy will be tested on the freshmen, and then will determine if all students will be given the same opportunity.

Duluth – Nick Cecconi reported that election primaries have been completed. A referendum will be included during elections asking the student opinion on expanding the recreational sports facilities. A positive image campaign is being started to improve the community relations. He announced that the UMD Women’s Hockey Team won their second straight NCAA Championship.

Morris – Reid LeBeau said that Morris has conducted an athletics impact statement to help with a decision to move from Division II to Division III. MCSA will provide consultation, after which time the chancellor will make a decision. Campus elections are scheduled for the middle of April. He is still looking for an answer regarding the All-University Fee. Morris is also looking into the athletics department funding deficit.

Graduate and Professional Student Association – Patrick Pederson noted that Graduate and Professional Student Appreciation Week will take place during the first week in April. He then distributed a discount card to senators. GAPSA elections will be next Monday. GAPSA will also be revisiting the student service fess process in light of recent problems.

Minnesota Student Association - Dan Kelly said that MSA elections will take place next Tuesday and Wednesday. Final projects for the year include updating the website and working on the full-time issue. On behalf of MSA, he conveyed MSA’s full support for any and all of the proposed changes to SSCC.

Mark Allen, Vice Chair of the Council of Academic Professionals and Administrators (CAPA), said that the this original body was formed in 1980 as a result of the changing roles in higher education. More people were being hired to perform faculty-like duties, but in jobs that were not considered tenure-track.

The intention in 1980 was for a new classification to be created for roughly 200 people. Currently, there are 4000 people in this classification. Three years ago CAPA was an advisory committee to the President, established by the Regents, with 14 members. When President Yudof came to campus, CAPA met with him and explained the changes that had gone in the last 15 years. He encouraged the committee to change to elected representatives.

This change has been done. 40 different units have been identified and each elects representatives. The CAPA board now has over 40 members who meet monthly to look at issues similar to those discussed by the faculty and civil service employees.

For the first time in 20 years, CAPA has become active in attending Senate meetings. Representatives from this classification have served in the Senate, but there has never been a deliberate effort to have representation from the board. Another proposal to increase participation is being brought to today’s University Senate meeting. This proposal is a compromise between CAPA and the faculty, and is intended as a start to increasing eligibility and representation.

Q: When does CAPA meet? Does CAPA have a website?

A: CAPA meets the third Friday of every month except during the summer. There is an executive committee as well as four standing committees: benefits and compensation, representation and governance, professional development, and communications. The website is being updated and the address is: www.umn.edu/ohr/capa.

Q: With the allotment of specific academic professional seats, the overall committee size is growing. Do you know why the number of seats for faculty was not reduced when academic professional seats were added?

A: In the existing bylaws, the language has seats allocated for faculty or academic professionals. This change eliminates these split positions and adds specific seats for academic professionals, therefore resulting in a loss of net numbers across all the committees. CAPA asked for these changes simply to form alliances with other governance groups.

In closing, Mark Allen said that CAPA has been making a deliberate attempt to have academic professional representation on committees. He extended an invitation to the students to attend CAPA meetings so that they can work together with the students.

President Yudof said that a conceptual framework for the budget will be presented to the Regents in April. Specific figures will be provided in May, and the Regents approve the budget in June. He said that this will be a tough budget year since he needs to cut $23.6 million because of the state rescission. He predicted that tuition will increase more than 13.8% last year. This increase puts the University in the middle of the Big Ten in terms of cost. His problem is to preserve the institution without placing too heavy a burden on any one group at the University. Faculty salaries will be smaller than originally thought and some new programs will not be started because of a lack of funding.

Students will see a new tuition banding model in place for next year, in conjunction with a minimum course load. He noted that a minimum course load would be phased-in so that current students will not be impacted.

The All-University Fee will be discussed later today with the student body presidents. This fee is another form of tuition, but one that goes directly to central administration since tuition goes to the colleges. The fee allows central administration to provide funding for debt-service on a building at a campus where the student population itself is too small to support renovations and new initiatives.

In terms of the Mount Graham issue, President Yudof said that he has tried to slow down the process. He has talked with his American Indian advisory group and is trying to meet with other Minnesota American Indian leaders. He has visited Arizona and met with President at the University of Arizona. He is trying to talk with members from two Apache reservations close to Mount Graham. This is an issue of spirituality versus science. Students should be aware that Congress authorized these telescopes and that buildings are already constructed. The University is only a tenant in the space. The environmental situation is good despite what the media has reported. The site was originally moved to protect the red squirrel. While the site is not on the reservation, there are still spirituality issues for the American Indians.

President Yudof said that the administration is committed to Title IX. One of the reasons that deficits have increased is the he has put more funding into new teams and buildings. Any proposal would need to protect gender equity and preserve the positive culture of women’s athletics. Central administration does not have unlimited resources for athletics and students cannot assume this burden. Non-revenue sports are important, but a reasonable financial plan is needed. A plan has been proposed to sell a card that would allow students access to non-revenue sports.

Q: When you met with President Bush at Eden Prairie High School, did you discuss higher education with him? If so, what were his comments?

A: Most of the discussions centered on K-12 education because of President Yudof’s interest in literacy in the early grades. He noted that only 62% of children are taught to be functionally reading, but the evidence suggests that 95% can be taught. Causes of this low percentage are low income, inadequate intervention by the public schools, and lack of teacher training. A new assistant secretary for higher education was just approved by the Senate; he will speak to her about problems with some initiatives.

President Bush appeared to be sympathetic to higher education. The last two administrations have created a middle-class voucher system for higher education. Of the 14 million higher education students, 10 million have taken the tax credit. The federal government has committed more funding to this credit than to the G.I. bill.

The philosophy of aid following a student is a good start. No additional funding has been put into the system of higher education by the federal government which has forced institutions to increase tuition and recapture these federal funds. He is not sure that this is the right model and thinks that more money should be put into Pell Grants. There also needs to be direct investment in institutions by the federal government.

President Yudof is also concerned about the under-reaction and overreaction to security issues. There are series of new regulations from the INS regarding international students. Hazardous substances and vulnerable facilities are also a concern on campus. Many campus problems are from domestic radical groups and not international ones, so the University needs to remain open to international students.

Q: What are the different issues facing public and private institutions?

A: There is an increasing gap between the best of the private institutions and the best of the public institutions. Among the 30 comparable public and private institutions, the University ranks 27^th in terms of faculty salaries, lagging behind by $22,000. The top 12 institutions in this group are also private institutions. Private institutions have increased tuition which makes it hard for public institutions to compete for faculty. Faculty retention affects attracting the best students. Another difference is that the regulatory environment is more complex at public institutions. There are also more constituency groups for public institutions.

President Yudof said that his fear is that all the great research institutions will be private one day because of current attitudes. An older population has a different set of priorities for state spending, which does not include higher education. Minnesota needs to be careful because there is no other institution to serve as a ‘back-up’ for the state, and many programs offered at the University are not offered by other institutions in the state because of the high infrastructure cost. Accessibility also needs to be guaranteed to all students, which is accomplished by the University.

Khaled Dajani, Chair of the Student Senate Consultative Committee (SSCC), introduced Item 21 on the University Senate agenda. Following a meeting of the University Student Leaders Forum (USLF), there was a request to look at changing the structure of SSCC. The first amendment closes a loophole which would allow one student to serve in two Student Senate leadership positions at one time.

A senator commented that these changes are one of the most proactive measures taken by the Student Senate in recent times. This is a way to streamline the process and get information to the coordinate campuses.

A vote was then taken and the motion was approved.

Khaled Dajani then introduced Item 24 on the University Senate agenda. This change would change the current structure from representation based on the number of students to equal representation from each campus. This item is for discussion at the University Senate meeting, but for action at today’s Student Senate meeting.

Dan Kelly, President of MSA, said that his organization would be losing seats through this proposal, but he said that he is in strong support of this motion since equal representation will help the Senate focus on system-wide issues.

A senator noted that while SSCC did approve this motion, MSA as a body did not consider this proposal, and has not taken a position on it. He said that he sees the benefits to the coordinate campuses from this proposal, but noted that proportional representation is the only way to be fair to all students. More issues arise from the Twin Cities that affect the entire system, although each coordinate campus is asked to bring its issues to SSCC meetings. Most coordinate campus issues relate to their campus, and therefore do not need to be addressed in by a system-wide body. Coordinate campus SSCC members were asked if they felt slighted by their representation and their answer was no.

A senator asked that a friendly amendment be made to the motion to include student body presidents as one of the two representatives on SSCC. Many campuses provide a stipend to the SSCC position, and cannot afford to pay another person to serve. The student body president already receives a stipend, so no additional funds would be necessary. There is also a problem finding one student to serve on SSCC, let alone two representatives as called for in the proposal.

Chris Frazier noted that the this motion appears on the University Senate agenda for discussion later this afternoon. Any changes that senators wish to make will be recorded in the minutes, but changes cannot be approved by the Student Senate for incorporation into the motion on the University Senate agenda.

A senator then commented that the United States Senate has two representatives per state. This allows for differences of opinion within the organization.

Another senator noted that the true definition of a Senate is a “governing body of some universities charged with maintaining academic standards and regulations, composed of representatives.”

A senator then said that he does not support the student body presidents on the SSCC. It is not logical to have these students as representatives since student body presidents should be concerned with their own campus issues. Representatives should be used to inform the presidents of what is happening system-wide.

Another senator said that it is a student body president’s job to work on University policy and not just campus issues.

A vote was then taken on the motion as written in the University Senate docket and the motion was approved with 17 in favor and 12 opposed.

With time for this item expired, Chris Frazier tabled discussion of the proposed amendment to the motion until the April 25 Student Senate meeting.

Khaled Dajani, Chair of the Student Senate Consultative Committee (SSCC), said that the Educational Policy Committee (SCEP) discussed the full-time policy and has decided to pass the discussion and implementation to the Council of Undergraduate Deans (CUD). Reasons for this are that CUD already produced a report which included a recommendation for a full-time policy and that a Senate policy would be harder to change once implemented. By allowing CUD to control implementation, problems could be responded to and fixed more quickly.

A senator noted that SCEP initially created a policy, to which MCSA drafted a resolution in response. The determination has been that each coordinate campus will be able to determine its own policy and implementation needs.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:04 p.m.