MEETING OF THE UNIVERSITY SENATE

Professor Martin Sampson, Faculty Legislative Liaison, spoke about a textbook pricing task force he served on for the University last year and how it relates to the state legislative bills on textbook pricing. For the legislature this session, the underlying context is that student indebtedness is a huge problem. A legislator commented that if the state returned to the model in which it covered two-thirds of costs, leaving just one-third for students to pay, it would cost the state $1 billion over the next two years. Textbooks have received attention since it is an area on which the state can exert effort.

He noted that as a faculty member, he has complained about textbook prices with publishers who come to him with new books to sell.

The bills in the state this session are related to bills in other states. The student leaders of MnSCU are pushing the bill, since the bill has provisions that relate better to MnSCU's system than to the University.

The original form of the bills had extensive provisions for faculty, bookstores, and publishers, which could have resulted in publishers refusing to sell in the state. Reduced bills have been submitted in the House and Senate.

The Senate bill requires a pilot project to make used books available to students. The University is exempt from this bill. The House bill does not exempt the University and includes a number of requirements for bookstores and publishers. The House bill also exempts trade books from these requirements.

A year ago, Vice Provost Craig Swan convened a group to look at the problem of textbook costs and develop a set of recommendations. After this meeting, the Chemistry department decided to get aggressive about textbook pricing in a few courses with large enrollments. The department had publishers bid on the contract and then selected books that would be assigned for a two year minimum.

Professor Sampson said that the House bill will likely not work for the University since it proposed a one-size-fits-all solution. One way to solve this issue is to increase the sensitivity of faculty to textbook costs for students.

Daniel Moore, Student Senate Chair, said that in his role he attends meeting of the Minnesota Office of Higher Education (HESO) Student Advisory Council (SAC). This group has been working with MnSCU and Representative Moe on this bill. The bill language is still being revised. He asked for student feedback on publishers providing more information on book editions, faculty providing book lists to the bookstore earlier, and bookstores making more information available to students.

A senator noted that Duluth is working on a policy that will require all professors work with the provisions of the state bill. Duluth originally was going to work on textbook rentals, but found it more feasible to work on cost control.

Q: Does the bill create more work for faculty, bookstores, and publishers or just make them complete requirements sooner?

A: At the University, there is already a fast timeline for faculty and bookstores. There is a difference between bookstores in the University system as not all are on-line. The director of the Coffman bookstore said that most requirements are already done, but any additional requirements would be worth a price cut to students. For publishers, they already have most of the information available, but they would need to make significant changes available in a central location for faculty and bookstores.

Professor Sampson noted that the bills also refer to academic freedom and course quality.

A senator said that Morris sent a letter to their faculty last year to ask for booklists earlier and this prompted many faculty to submit lists earlier than normal.

Q: For students, what is a reasonable timeline for knowing which books will be used the following semester?

A: This information should be available before book buy-back so the University knows that a book will be used for the following semester.

A senator noted that exceptions are needed for some areas, but Duluth is asking for a six semester commitment for book use in introductory courses or disciplines where the information does not change that fast.

Daniel Moore said that one goal is to increase faculty communication to students and the bookstores so students have time to look for books from other sources. A second goal is to communicate to the publishers that students do not want to pay for new additions each year when core material has not been changed.

Professor Sampson said that a last part of the bill requires HESO to host meetings to identify best practices. While this is a good idea, he thought that it would be better to challenge MnSCU and the University to each develop its own list of what has been done between now and next January.

Daniel Moore said that if the state bill does not require a report, the Student Senate could ask the University for this information next year.

Daniel Moore, Student Senate/Student Senate Consultative Committee (SSCC) Chair, said SSCC met with Vice Provost Arlene Carney in March to talk about student learning outcomes, which will be presented to the Senate in May. SSCC was in support of the proposal and is interested in hearing about implementation.

The committee also received an update on the student evaluation questions that are used for faculty. The Student Senate revised the student release questions almost two years ago, and then had them piloted and tested. They are waiting to be used on forms until the faculty questions are completed. The faculty working group used the student release questions as a starting point and adopted several of these questions for use in the faculty section. In the process, the working group also revised the student release questions to omit questions that were moved to the faculty section. SSCC was adamant about keeping the questions as approved.

Lastly, the stipend review committee is working on its proposal to be presented at the May Student Senate meeting.

Crookston – Richard Stangle reported that elections are being held and CSA is looking for student clubs to spend time at the University's State Fair booth to promote the campus.

Duluth – Jeni Kiewatt said that UMDSA is discussing textbooks, its spring retreat, improving its U Card program, alcohol education, and the taxi program. Elections are also taking place soon.

Morris – Adam Yust stated that MCSA has allocated technology fee money. The campus assembly approved legislation to mandate that each student organization have an advisor. Dean candidates will be on campus and elections are April 18.

GAPSA – Kristen Denzer said that GAPSA supports the Minnesota Dream Act. A campus-wide election and debate are scheduled in the next few weeks. GAPSA is also discussing late-night parking options for graduate and professional students. Some members recently traveled to Washington D.C. to meet with state legislators and will be traveling to Duluth to renew the contract with Medical, Pharmacy, and graduate students.

MSA – no report.

WHEREAS, the University of Minnesota recognizes that students learn best in a diverse educational environment^[1]; and

WHEREAS, the University of Minnesota is committed to fostering a uniform campus environment of inclusion, knowledge, and understanding in which faculty, staff, and students learn to value diversity and to respect individual differences that enrich the University community; and

WHEREAS, ethnic background questions based on ethno-geographic origin provide for a more inclusive and consistent level of generality which minimizes confusion in ethnic classification schemes; and

WHEREAS, setting mandatory minimum requirements for admissions applications while leaving individual programs, departments, schools, and colleges the ability to augment their applications with additional options^[2] as they please allows for flexibility without compromising a base level of inclusiveness; and

WHEREAS, compliance at the University administrative level is essential for uniformity and ease of transition; therefore

BE IT RESOLVED, that the Student Senate recommends that all programs, departments, schools, and colleges restructure their applications for admission to base any ethnic background questions on ethno-geographic origin, with the mandatory minimum requirements for the ethnic background question wording to include the following:

ETHNIC BACKGROUND (CHECK ALL THAT APPLY)^[3]:
American Indian/Alaskan Native

Asian/Pacific Islander

Black/African American

Hispanic/Latin American

Middle Eastern

South Asian

White (non-Hispanic)

Other, please specify:^[4] ____________________________________
If you wish to self-identify further, please do so here _______________________________

and therefore

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the University shall exercise its right to augment the ethnic classifications mandated by any future resolution, proposal, or order from the U.S. Department of Education or similar governing body such that all categories stated above are included.^[5]

and therefore

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the PeopleSoft software used by the University for its faculty, staff, and students (for admissions and enrollment) be updated to reflect these changes.

Approved February 8, 2007 by SSCC.

DISCUSSION:

Bree Richards said that the University has no standard minimum for admission applications, so there are currently 26 different forms. This means that students are sometimes counted one way one form and another way on a second form. This resolution asks for mandatory minimum requirements system-wide, but still allows colleges to add additional categories for required reporting.

She noted that the federal government Department of Education is proposing some changes in their requirements, so this resolution would not be presented to the University Senate until federal government changes are finalized in June.

She and Mac Fadlallah have met with many departments and committees on this resolution, and administrative offices on implementing these changes.

Q: Why is one category 'White/non-Hispanic'?

A: This is to conform to federal government regulations. 'White' is usually considered to be Europe, but that area also includes Spain and Portugal, whose residents consider themselves to be Hispanic. Therefore the category is listed this way to make clear that these people should check the Hispanic box.

Q: What is the motivation for these changes?

A: It is meant to have categories based on ethno-geographic area, promote inclusiveness, and achieve basic consistency between University admission applications.

Mac Fadlallah said that this resolution tries to make the least changes to the current structure while accounting for areas that have not previously been included and still conforming to federal guidelines. This classification only applies to U.S. citizens and permanent residents.

Q: Are all of these categories required by the federal government?

A: No. There are certain categories that are required, sometimes by college, and all other categories roll-up into larger groupings.

Q: What are the changes being proposed by the federal government?

A: The changes will add a bi- or multi-racial box and change 'check one' or 'check all.' The current five federal checkboxes are White, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, and African American.

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

Whereas, It is the responsibility of the Student Senate to respond to the needs of our constituency, and

Whereas, the constituency of the Student Senate includes undergraduate, graduate, and professional students, and

Whereas, numerous members of our constituency are either Teaching Assistants or are taking classes under the instruction of a Teaching Assistant, and

Whereas, a reoccurring issue that is often discussed in various levels of student government on the University of Minnesota campus is the preparation level of Teaching Assistants, and

Whereas, there is currently no common policy, outside of the English language proficiency requirement, that is enforced university-wide regarding Teaching Assistant preparation, and

Whereas, the University of Minnesota possesses numerous resources, such as the Center for Teaching, that have the potential to aid in the preparation of Teaching Assistants, and

Whereas, it is in the best interest of both students and Teaching Assistants to have a common Teaching Assistant preparation policy for the whole university community because of the advantages of resource access, efficiency, and campus wide commonality, and

Whereas, the University of Minnesota is currently undergoing numerous structural internal changes regarding various policies and their enactment, and

Whereas, any change of Teaching Assistant preparation policy should occur in conjuncture with the larger and more in-depth changes on campus, therefore

Be It Resolve, the Student Senate shall work with organizations such as the Senate Committee on Education Policy, the University Senate, and other relevant groups to determine, through research and thorough discussions, what specific options are available for altering the current Teaching Assistant preparation requirements, and further, the Student Senate shall decide as soon as possible which option is in the best interest of our constituency and forward the proposal to the University Senate for possible approval.

^[1] University of Minnesota. Systemwide Academic Task Force on Diversity. Transforming the University: Report of the Systemwide Academic Task Force on Diversity. February 3, 2006. Retrieved October 31, 2006 from http://www1.umn.edu/systemwide/strategic_positioning/tf_final_reports/diversity_exec_summ.pdf
^[2] These are minimum requirements; each individual school or college is left with the discretion to add checkboxes as it sees fit—so long as subcategories of particular checkboxes are indicated as such. For example:

Hispanic/Latin American
¨ Puerto Rican American
¨ Chicano/Mexican American
The process by which individual schools and colleges add such checkboxes to their applications shall be left unchanged by this resolution.
^[3] As an alternative to stating “Check all that apply,” an application may state “Check only one” as long as “Bi- or Multi- Racial” is added as an option.
^[4] The “Other” category is highly recommended, but not mandatory. It is theoretically possible that an applicant may not “fit” into any of the above categories, but the extra burdens that an “Other” checkbox places on the University in terms of reporting requirements are not something that Project: Check It wants to impose.
^[5] Project: Check It recognizes that the U.S. Department of Education is in the process of undertaking similar revisions. We believe that these revisions are inadequate as they do not concentrate on making applications more inclusive; rather, they concentrate on making them more specific, particularly with respect to Hispanics. In doing so, the U.S. Department of Education is seeking to switch to a two-question system—one question specifically for Hispanics, and a second question for all other applicants. Should such a proposal pass and become the policy of the U.S. Department of Education, the University would be bound to comply; however, the University would retain its right to add on to the U.S. Department of Education’s scheme, which this resolution requires that it do.