The first meeting of the University Senate for 1998-99 was convened in the Whiting Proscenium Theatre, Rarig Center, Minneapolis campus, on Thursday, October 15, 1998, at p.m. Coordinate campuses were linked by telephone. Checking or signing the roll as present were 111 voting faculty/academic professional members, 31 voting student members, 5 ex officio member, and 3 nonmembers. University Senate Vice Chair M. Janice Hogan presided.

Professor Sara Evans, chair of the Senate Consultative Committee (SCC), started by saying that faculty and students are present because of the nature of shared governance at this institution. Universities are unique institutions in that they do not produce products. Instead, they generate and disseminate knowledge. A corporate and hierarchical model is not appropriate because the free flow of ideas is essential to what is accomplished here. Universities were created by faculty and students, and administration was only invented when there was too much work to achieve its goals. Faculty are ultimately responsible for defining the curriculum , certifying the degrees, and carrying out research. Along with this freedom comes a responsibility for an active role in governance. In addition, many University policies would not work without student and staff perspectives. Therefore, the Senate exists to provide faculty, staff, and student voices to the administration and Board of Regents.

She then described an overhead detailing the structure of the Senate and its committees. Each body brings a different voice and perspective to the administration. She added that if Senate members do not take their responsibilities seriously, then they will lose their voice.

Lastly, she talked about the annual Senate meeting schedule, calling senators' attention to which bodies are meeting on each date.

Other 1998-99 meetings of the University Senate are scheduled as follows:

A. Nepotism and Consensual Sexual or Romantic Relationships Policy

Approved by the:

University Senate April 16, 1998 Administration - pending Board of Regents - pending

B. Sexual Harassment Policy

Approved by the:

University Senate April 16, 1998 Administration - pending Board of Regents - pending

C. Amendment of the Classes, Schedules and Final Examinations Policy

Approved by the:

University Senate April 16, 1998 Administration May 27, 1998 Board of Regents - no action required

D. 2000-2001 University of Minnesota Calendar

Approved by the:

University Senate April 16, 1998 Administration May 27, 1998 Board of Regents - no action required

E. Amendments to the Conflict of Interest Policy

Approved by the:

University Senate May 14, 1998 Administration June 1998 Board of Regents July 10, 1998

F. Degrees with Distinction and Degrees with Honors Policy

Approved by the:

University Senate May 14, 1998 Administration May 27, 1998 Board of Regents - no action required

Agenda Items IV. through VI. are considered to be noncontroversial or "housekeeping" in nature and are offered as a "Consent Agenda" to be taken up as a single item with one vote. Any item will be taken up separately at the request of a senator. A simple majority is required for approval.

The Senate minutes are available on the Web at the following URLs:

The chair of the University Senate recommends the following officers for 1998-99:

MOTION:

To approve the following University Senate committee memberships for 1998-99:

DISABILITIES ISSUES - Faculty/PA: James Carey (chair), Gary Birnbaum, Deborah Brown, William Durfee, Nancy Eustis, Louise Mullan, Ken Myers, Deborah Peterson-Pearlman, Joe Reichle, Kimerly Wilcox, David Wuolu, 1 to be named. Civil Service: Tim McCluske, Suann Mitchell. Students: 2 to be named. Ex Officio: Sue Kroeger, Julie Sweitzer.

EDUCATIONAL POLICY - Faculty/PA: Judith Martin (chair), Gordon Hirsch, Robert Johnson, Laura Koch, Kathleen Newell, Jeff Ratliff-Crain, Palmer Rogers, Richard Skaggs, L. E. Scriven, Thomas Soulen. Students: 5 to be named. Ex Officio: Darwin Hendel, Christine Maziar, Craig Swan.

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY FOR WOMEN - Faculty/PA: Mindy Kurzer (chair), Marti Gonzales, Elaine Tyler May, Marsha Odom, Julia Robinson, Delane Welsch, 1 to be named. Academic Professionals: Judith Gaston, Karla Klinger. Ex Officio: Nancy Barcelo, Julie Sweitzer.

FACILITIES MANAGEMENT - Faculty/PA: Jane Phillips (chair), Cynthia Gillett, Charles Killian, Gary Malzer, Jean Montgomery, James Perry, Gail Peterson, Fay Thompson. Civil Service: Kent Rees. Students: 2 to be named. Ex Officio: Nancy Peterson, Harvey Turner, Lorelee Wederstrom, 2 to be named.

FINANCE AND PLANNING - Faculty/PA: Stephen Gudeman (chair), Jean Bauer, Charles Campbell, Catherine French, Wendell Johnson, Peter Robinson, Terry Roe, Charles Speaks. Civil Service: Gerald Klement, Susan Carlson Weinberg. Students: 4 to be named. Ex Officio: Richard Pfutzenreuter, Jane Phillips, Peter Zetterberg, 3 to be named.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES - Faculty/PA: Maria Gini (chair), James Chelikowsky, Susan Galatowitsch, Vicki Gaylord, Harold Grotevant, Laura Gurak, Gary Jahn, Andy Lopez, William Peterson, Marcel Richter. Students: 3 to be named. Ex Officio: Steve Cawley, Ann Hill Duin.

LIBRARY - Faculty/PA: Peter Wells (chair), Jill Gidmark, Mathur Kannan, Julia Kelly, Barbara Martinson, James Orf, Phillip Portoghese, Richard Richards, Paul Ruden, Robert Seidel, Warren Warwick, 1 to be named. Students: 4 to be named. Ex Officio: Norma Allewell, Karen Fischer, Joan Howland, Thomas Shaughnessy, Bill Sozansky, Owen Williams.

RESEARCH - Faculty/PA: Leonard Kuhi (chair), Bianca Conti-Fine, John Finnegan, Lorraine Francis, Burle Gengenbach, Eric Klinger, Scott McConnell, Richard Poppele. Civil Service: Phil Norcross. Students: 3 to be named. Ex Officio: Norma Allewell, Victor Bloomfield, Frank Cerra, Marilyn DeLong, 1 to be named.

SOCIAL CONCERNS - Faculty/PA: Robert Brown (chair), George French, Margaret Kuchenreuther, Joel Nelson, Doris Rubenstein, Friedrich Srienc, 1 to be named. Civil Service: Catherine Forseide, Jean Niemiec, 1 to be named. Alumni: Lori Clark, Mike Davey, Wesley Matson. Students: 7 to be named. Ex Officio: Julie Sweitzer, Amelious Whyte, 1 to be named.

STUDENT AFFAIRS - Faculty/PA: Kathleen Peterson (chair), Ted LaBuza, Chris Macosko, Maren Mahowald, John Romano, Diane Wartchow. Civil Service: David Lenander. Alumni: Laura Langer. Students: 9 to be named. Ex Officio: Jane Canney.

FOR INFORMATION:

ALL-UNIVERSITY HONORS - Faculty/PA: Joanne Eicher (chair), Vernon Cardwell, Shirley Garner, Seymour Geisser, V. Rama Murthy, 1 to be named. Alumni: Arnold Bigbee, Howard Juni, Jean Levander King, Les Krogh, Nancy Miller Lindahl. Students: 3 to be named. Ex Officio: Robert Bruininks, Gerald Fischer, Marcia Fluer, Cheryl Jones.

COMMITTEE ON COMMITTEES - Faculty/PA: Sally Gregory Kohlstedt (acting chair), John S. Anderson, James Cotter, Mary Jo Kane, Karen Karni, Cleon Melsa, Naomi Scheman, 2 to be named. Students: Heather Aagesen, Ryan Falk, Brandon Lacy, Jessie Roos, Barbara Van Drasek, 2 to be named.

CONSULTATIVE - Faculty: Sara Evans (chair), Linda Brady, Mary Dempsey, David Hamilton, Roberta Humphreys, Michael Korth, Fred Morrison, V. Rama Murthy, Matthew Tirrell, 1 to be named. Students: Jason Anderson, Jesse Berglund, Ryan Falk, Nathan Hunstad, Brandon Lacy, Deanne Nordberg, Martin O'Hely, Kelli Rusch, Gita Uppal, 1 to be named. Ex Officio: Jesse Berglund, Gary Davis, Stephen Gudeman, M. Janice Hogan, Judith Martin.

SALLY GREGORY KOHLSTEDT, Chair
COMMITTEE ON COMMITTEES

DISCUSSION:

The Consent Agenda was approved with no discussion.

APPROVED

Agenda Items VII. and VIII. are considered to be noncontroversial or "housekeeping" in nature and are offered as a "Consent Agenda" to be taken up as a single item with one vote. Any item will be taken up separately at the request of a senator. 100 affirmative votes are required for approval.

MOTION:

To amend the Senate Bylaws, Article III, Section 5, Educational Policy Committee, as follows (deletions are struck out, additions are underlined):

5. EDUCATIONAL POLICY COMMITTEE

The Educational Policy Committee is concerned with all matters that influence the quality of education at the University. It deals primarily with those affairs which affect educational policy and procedures on a University-wide basis.

Membership

The Educational Policy Committee shall be composed of 10 12 faculty/academic professional members, 5 6 students (including one from a coordinate campus), and ex officio representation as specified by vote of the Senate. Members shall be nominated by the Committee on Committees with the approval of the Senate. The chair of the committee shall serve as an ex officio, nonvoting member of the Senate Consultative Committee.

DISCUSSION:

The Senate Committee on Educational Policy (SCEP) requests its membership be expanded by two faculty members and one student. In recent years, and especially owing to the start of semester conversion, the workload of the committee has become too great for the existing membership to handle. SCEP has divided itself into a number of subcommittees this year, and there are not sufficient committee members available to carry out the work of the subcommittees as well as complete the other work of the committee. SCEP therefore requests that its membership be enlarged.

JUDITH MARTIN, Chair
EDUCATIONAL POLICY COMMITTEE

MOTION:

To amend the Senate Bylaws, Article III, Section 8, Finance and Planning Committee, as follows (deletions are struck out; additions are underlined):

8. FINANCE AND PLANNING COMMITTEE

The Finance and Planning Committee serves as the consultative body to the president and senior academic officers on all major issues of budget and planning, including the capital request.

The Committee may, from time to time, act as a Twin Cities campus committee, and take up matters exclusively of concern to the Twin Cities, and may appoint subcommittees to deal with issues that pertain only to the Twin Cities campus.

It shall have a permanent subcommittee on facilities management composed of 6 faculty/academic professional members (at least one of whom shall be an academic professional), 2 students, one civil service staff member, and ex officio representation from the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost (two representatives, including one from the Scheduling Office); Office of the Senior Vice President, Finance and Operations (two representatives); and Office of the Senior Vice President, Health Sciences. At least two of the members of the Facilities Management Subcommittee, one of whom shall be the chair, shall serve as voting members of the Finance and Planning Committee.

(no other changes)

COMMENT:

The appointment or dissolution of subcommittees should be relatively easy, and at the discretion of the parent committee. Some committees, such as Faculty Affairs, have long-standing subcommittees. Others may wish to appoint short-term subcommittees to deal with particular issues, as the Committee on Educational Policy has frequently done.

Another reason for removing the reference to the Facilities Management Subcommittee is that the Finance and Planning Committee, along with the members of the Subcommittee, agree that the charge to the subcommittee should be broadened to include Twin Cities support services in its purview, under the guidance of the Finance and Planning Committee. We are, in fact, proceeding in that fashion, with benefit to the faculty, staff, and students of the campus. It is the view of the Finance and Planning Committee having a subcommittee chartered in the bylaws is both inappropriate and unnecessarily restrictive.

The new language is intended explicitly to permit the Committee on Finance and Planning to take up issues specific to the Twin Cities campus, and to appoint subcommittees to deal with some of those matters. Rather than charter a separate "Assembly Committee on Finance and Planning," however, we recommend simply adding this authorizing language to the Senate bylaw.

STEPHEN GUDEMAN, Chair
COMMITTEE ON FINANCE AND PLANNING

DISCUSSION:

The Consent Agenda was approved with 122 votes in favor and none opposed.

APPROVED

MOTION:

To amend the University Senate Constitution, Article III, Section 4b, as follows: (language to be deleted is struck out; new language is underlined.

ARTICLE III. UNIVERSITY SENATE

4. Election of University Senate Members

...

b. The elected representatives of the students to the University Senate shall be chosen by secret ballot by the student constituency enrolled in the several institutes, colleges, or schools as specified in the bylaws. Only full-time students in each institute, college, or school shall be eligible to vote. Each institute, college, or school shall establish its own procedures to determine qualification as a full-time student. of those students eligible to vote.

There shall be one student member for each initial 1,000 full-time students or fraction thereof in each student constituency plus one additional student senator for each additional 1,000 full-time students or major fraction thereof in such constituency. At Morris and Crookston there shall be two student senators for each initial 1,000 full-time students or fraction thereof in each student constituency plus one additional student senator for each additional 1,000 full-time students or major fraction thereof in such constituency.

Any student who has twenty-four credits in residence at the University and at the time of voting is carrying at least nine credits in his or her institute, college, or school shall be eligible for election as a student representative to the University Senate. Graduate School students shall be eligible for election if they have nine credits in residence at the University and are full-time students at the time of voting or are certified as the equivalent of full-time students by the Graduate School. Continuing Education and Extension students shall be eligible for election if they have earned twelve credits in residence during the previous five years and are carrying three credits at the time of voting. Full-time students in each institute, college, or school shall be eligible to vote. Each institute, college, or school shall establish its own procedures to determine qualification as a full-time student.

To be eligible for election to the University Senate, a student must have earned the required number of credits in residence at the University, as described below:

• University College students shall be eligible for election if they have earned at least twelve credits in residence during the previous five years and are carrying at least three credits at the time of voting.

• All other students shall be eligible for election if they have earned within the past year and are currently carrying at least two-thirds the number of credits required for full-time student status as defined by the Office of the Registrar for their college of enrollment. Graduate School students carrying one credit ABD (all but dissertation) at the time of voting or who are certified as the equivalent of full-time students by the Graduate School shall be eligible for election.

The above amendments to the Senate Constitution were approved by the Student Senate at its May 14, 1998, meeting and are presented for consideration by the full Senate. If approved, the amendments will lower the Senate eligibility requirements allowing students to be eligible to serve as senators earlier in their college careers. This would allow more students to be involved in University governance and, hopefully, result in fewer vacant student seats. As a constitutional amendment 133 affirmative votes are required at one meeting or 100 at each of two consecutive meetings.

RYAN FALK, Chair
STUDENT SENATE CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE

DISCUSSION:

Ryan Falk, chair of the Student Senate Consultative Committee (SSCC), presented the motion to lower the credit requirement for eligibility for student senators. The rationale was to include freshmen who wanted to participate in governance and fill empty seats. The floor was then opened for questions.

A senator asked if this motion refers to semester or quarter credits. Ryan Falk responded that the motion is worded to cover both quarters and semesters.

With no discussion, a vote was taken and the motion failed to receive the required votes necessary for approval of a constitutional amendment. The vote was 124 votes in favor and none opposed. The amendment will be brought back for a second vote at the November 5 meeting.

NOT APPROVED

The University of Minnesota Equal Employment Opportunity for Women Committee (EEOWC) was chaired by Professor Toni McNaron until the end of November and by Professor Mindy Kurzer from the beginning of December through the end of the academic year. The EEOWC met regularly throughout the 1997-98 academic year. The major issues were:

Task Force On Salary Equity. The EEOWC held a number of discussions on the need to track faculty salary at the University of Minnesota by gender and race. As a result of the Rajender settlement, salary tracking occurred for a number of years by gender, but ended in 1996. Since then, the committee has attempted to continue this effort, but the individual responsible for the initial data analysis left the University and was not replaced. Committee members feel it is important for the University to continue tracking salary by gender as well as race at the faculty level. One of the main goals of this type of study is to identify whether there is a systemic problem that cuts across departments and colleges. The process for the project is complicated due to the need to examine the current databases and to develop a statistical model that could be used for tracking salary. There are problems in the model used for the Rajender analysis because the variables were based on the Rajender cohort, which no longer applies to the University faculty. It was recommended to use a similar model as the Rajender model, but to update the variables. The committee's primary concern is long term, and is most interested in working now on a project that will sustain over time. The committee met with EVPP Bob Bruininks, VP Carol Carrier, Dr. Peter Zetterberg, Vice Provost Robert Jones, and others at which time Professor Kurzer asked VP Bruininks for support from the administration. He noted that this type of study would be very important by fitting into the overall framework for the development of the new human resources database system. VP Bruininks also informed committee members that he supports the project. The task force was assigned and constituted by Executive VP & Provost Bob Bruininks and began meeting during the summer of 1998. In addition to a number of members of EEOWC, the task force includes a statistician, an economist, and staff from HR.

Academic Selection Guidelines. Carol Carrier, VP for Human Resources and Julie Sweitzer, Acting Director of the Office for Equal Opportunity, presented the new academic selection guidelines to the committee and distributed the "Faculty, Staff and Student Affairs Committee Proposed Academic Selection Guidelines." One important aspect of the new guidelines was that they hold deans and vice presidents responsible for how their searches are held and how they hire. A frequent complaint has been from departments who already had a qualified candidate in mind, but were still required to go through the formal search process. The new guidelines allow more flexibility and provide opportunities to departments and colleges to hire current University employees without holding a search. The Offices of Human Resources and Equal Opportunity will monitor the attention of the deans to diversity and will monitor the overall trends from college to college. Deans will continue to receive statistical information about their units, such as those related to the existing workforce, racial/gender breakdowns, and where the unit fits within the population, and flexibility will be taken away from deans who do not try to meet diversity expectations.

Proposed Senate Resolution On Faculty-Student Relations. The EEOWC reviewed changes made by a SCFA subcommittee to the Nepotism and Consensual Sexual or Romantic Relationships Policy following the February Senate meeting. Two primary concerns of the Commission on Women were: 1) the discussion seemed to be more about nepotism than sexual harassment; and 2) they are supportive of the use of strong language in the policy. The current policy seems to address sexual harassment and nepotism issues sufficiently, but concern was raised about the consequences that continued to exist even when individuals say no to sexual harassment behavior. Jane Whiteside attended a SCFA meeting and proposed clearer, stronger language to address behavior and relationships between faculty and students; the members of SCFA supported such language. Specifically, under Section IV. Compliance, middle of the second paragraph:

Because of the trust accorded to the faculty member or advisor by the student, the power differential inherent in the academic association, the difficulty of making alternative arrangements for grading and evaluation, and the risk of real or perceived favoritism toward the student in the relationship and potential harm to this student and other students, such relationships are very UNWISE and may violate other University policies, even when the prohibited activities have been eliminated.

The importance of continued dialogue about core values at this University was discussed. Although this process has been much longer and more tedious than expected, it was noted that the continued discussion has increased awareness of this issue by all of those involved.

President's Reception. A reception with President Mark Yudof and members of his administration was hosted by the Office for Multicultural Affairs and others to learn more about the women's community on campus; the EEOWC also co-hosted the event and several members attended to represent the committee. The reception took place on Friday, May 29, 1998 from 3-5PM in the Humphrey Ballroom at the Radisson Hotel.

The Senate Committee on Finance and Planning met 15 times during 1997-98. It held three additional joint meetings with the Faculty Consultative Committee during the summer of 1998. Major items discussed included the following.

The supplemental budget request and budget plans for 1998-99. The Committee consistently emphasized the importance of regaining an appropriate position in faculty salary compensation. It repeatedly expressed its concerns about the increases in operating costs of buildings, which divert funds away from academic programs. It also expressed its opposition to unfunded mandates to the colleges, which are a form of implicit retrenchment.

In the course of its budget review, the Committee examined "risk factors" that arise under the new IMG (Incentives for Managed Growth) system. Since revenues are now directly attributed to colleges, each of them bears a certain degree of risk, if those revenues fall short of projections. This review was originally generated by concerns expressed by the School of Public Health, as a result of its initial allocations of Indirect Cost Recovery money under the IMG plan. The Committee also expressed concern about the increase in collegiate and department balances and suggested that a "banking system" be introduced for the better use of those funds.

The 1998 capital request. Despite its concerns about the cost of servicing long-term debt and the operating costs of buildings, the Committee endorsed President Yudof¹s capital request.

The Committee also discussed with academic administrators the new Compact Planning Process. While it is generally supportive of the idea of the process, it has been dismayed by the lack of faculty participation in the development of the compact plans in some of the collegiate units. There was also discussion of the appropriate way in which to engage the academic community as a whole in the development of plans.

"Enterprise systems." The University is developing so-called "enterprise systems," to manage its affairs. These computer-based systems will deal with student records, human resources, grants management, and eventually other financial transactions. The costs exceed $40 million. The Committee has stressed the importance of using this occasion to simplify university processes and to make them more efficient and responsive, not just to replicate existing systems in electronic form. The Committee also urged the University to use centrally-available funds to cover these costs; a "tax" on departments to pay for these costs was eliminated, at least for the current year.

The Committee expressed its opposition to a draft policy that could have held departments and colleges directly liable for up to $50,000 of judgments rendered against the University. These costs were previously covered by insurance. The draft policy was withdrawn for reconsideration and revision.

At an operational level, the Committee reviewed plans to contract with an outside vendor for food services and expressed concerns about the controls that would be necessary. It also reviewed the plans of the Parking and Transportation Department to build or renovate facilities. The Committee pressed for moderation of rate increases to cover only essential operating and capital costs. It also insisted that the new garage in the Gateway Center be self-financed, with separate price structure, so that the high costs of its construction would not be spread to faculty and students elsewhere on campus. The Committee also endorsed continued support of mass transit operations for parking revenues.

The plans for the South Mall area, including parking, student union, and dormitory plans, were also discussed with the Committee.

The Committee reviewed various suggestions for the reorganization of the Finance and Operations area, after the resignation of Senior Vice President JoAnne Jackson. It suggested that the President should design a structure with which he could operate most efficiently and later endorsed his decision to eliminate the position of the Senior Vice President and to restructure the area. It also strongly supported placement of the Budget Office within the office of the Executive Vice President (the academic affairs office), as the most appropriate location for budgetary planning.

The Senate Committee on Finance and Planning was assisted by two subcommittees. The Facilities Management Subcommittee, chaired by Jane Phillips, brought two matters to our attention this year. It produced a comprehensive report on classroom management and renovation. It also did extensive review and prepared recommendations on the transportation and parking issues mentioned above. The Senate Committee on Finance and Planning endorsed both reports.

The Joint Subcommittee on Incentives for Managed Growth, chaired by Professor Catherine French, did an outstanding job of identifying issues related to the implementation of the IMG budgeting process. It has also begun to make progress in addressing some of the problems, in cooperation with the responsible administrators. (The Joint Subcommittee was created by this committee an by the Senate Committee on Educational Policy.)

Fred Morrison, Chair

The Senate Committee on Information Technologies (SCIT) met approximately once per month as a committee of the whole during 1997-98, and many more times in the context of the sub-committees on finances and technology-enhanced learning. The full report of the committee and its sub-committees, as well as the minutes of all meetings, are available for public inspection on the Committee's web site.

The questions and issues associated with the broad conception of a "digital university" make a direct and inescapable impact on all areas of faculty, staff, and student life at the University: Instruction, Research, Outreach, and Professional Service. The Senate Committee on Information Technologies is charged with concern for this area of the University's business and discussed various issues pertaining to it at length over the course of the 1997-98 academic year. The issues which the committee believes especially deserving of emphasis are presented below, in a rough order of their perceived priority.

Our most pressing concerns centered on issues associated with the incorporation of information technology into the teaching mission of the university. These involved two main areas: the issue of appropriate faculty encouragement and reward in the development of curricular materials and the issue of equality of access among the student body to these materials as they are added to the University's curriculum.

No less important than the development of instruction and research is the concern to make the materials developed, especially the instructional materials, available to the student body. The committee discussed at length the need to bring university classrooms up to a "base-line" level of technological readiness. Several committee members also served on an ad hoc advisory committee to Executive Vice President and Provost Bruininks on this issue.

The committee's particular concerns in the area of resource allocation and funding models for information technology expenses were reflected in its appointment of a sub-committee (Sub-committee on Finances, Prof. Ronald Anderson, chair) to look into these questions in some detail. This sub-committee met frequently and worked hard toward the development of a more closely consultative relationship between the SCIT and OIT.

The committee's energetic support of the maintenance and upgrade of the infrastructure underlying both academic and administrative computing continued in 1997-98. It is important that the University remain among the world's leaders in the area of information technology.

Finally, the committee endorsed most strongly Vice Presidentís Bruininks' contention, voiced during our meeting with him in the Fall of 1997 and subsequently in conversation with the members of the sub-committee on finances, that our University's planning for the future can be only as good as our knowledge of our present resources and the present gaps in those resources. The committee urged the central administration to undertake a detailed analysis of the current distribution of responsibility for and expenditures on information technologies at the University.

Case Load. During the 1997-98 academic year, panels of the Senate Judicial Committee held hearings in one termination-for-cause case from the Morris Campus, one promotion and tenure denial case in the College of Agriculture, and a prehearing conference which led to the panel granting motion for summary judgment on a promotion and tenure denial case from the College of Liberal Arts. In addition to the above hearings, one other case was withdrawn, one case was dismissed as untimely, one case was dismissed due to lack of jurisdiction, and one case was referred to the Grievance Office.

During the 1997-98 academic year, the Committee addressed the following issues:

• Judicial Committee Rules of Procedure. On May 21, 1997, the Tenure Committee approved numerous revisions proposed by the Judicial Committee to clarify and streamline case processes in the Senate Judicial Committee Rules of Procedure.
• Executive Summary. A subcommittee was formed to gather information and draft a proposal in the form of an executive summary to accompany the Procedures for Reviewing the Performance of Probationary Faculty and to be reported at an annual administrative workshop. The committee met on May 28, 1997 with President Mark Yudof where Professor Fogelman stressed the importance for administrators to designate someone at each review level to have the responsibility of insuring that the procedures are followed throughout cases of tenure and promotion. President Yudof agreed to work with VP for Human Resources Carol Carrier on how to best disseminate the Judicial Committee's recommendations.
• Faculty Advisors. The Judicial Committee met with President Yudof on May 28 and described the difficulty Complainants have finding faculty members who are willing and able to serve as advisors in Judicial Committee cases. Inequities arise between the two parties in Judicial Committee cases when faculty members are unassisted with their cases, but University administrators have unlimited resources. President Yudof stated that he is willing to explore avenues that would level the playing field, such as providing release time to faculty members who are willing to act as advisors for those filing Judicial Committee cases.

Membership. The Judicial Committee is an all-faculty committee. Its members in 1997-98 were: Professors Ed Fogelman, Chair; Sue Brorson, Laura Cooper, John Dahler, Tim Dunnigan, Jim Farr, Bart Finzel, Shirley Garner, Ilene Harris, Curtis Hoard, Joan Howland, Sally Kenney, David Lykken, Jack Mandel, Takashi Okagaki, Marty Rossman, Michael Sadowsky, Alan Sinaiko, Michael Speidel, Billie Wahlstrom, Carol Wells, and Robert Yahnke. Ms. Karen Schanfield and Mr. Jan Halverson from the Felhaber, Larson, Fenlon & Vogt Law Firm continued to serve as the Committee's legal advisors. Members who served as hearing officers were Professors Laura Cooper, Billie Wahlstrom, and Tim Dunnigan.

Assignment to the Senate Judicial Committee involves work on very important issues and a major commitment of time of faculty members and the Chair would like to commend members of the 1997-98 Committee for their service in this vital University function.

The University of Minnesota Senate Library Committee was chaired by Professor Gerhard Weiss and met seven times during the 1997-98 academic year. The major issues were:

Minnesota Library Access Center. The Minnesota Library Access Center (LAC) is a state building made up of two caverns -- one to house special collections, archives, and manuscripts, and a second cavern to house books, journals, and microfilm. The new building is reported to cost approximately $40 million and will consist of reading rooms, MINITEX, staff offices/space, and exhibits, among other things. The materials to be stored in the LAC, which is scheduled to open in September of 1999, will consist mainly of materials that are not frequently used.

Renovation to Walter Library. The renovations to Walter Library will shift the traditional library to a digital technology center. The reading rooms on the second floor are expected to remain, the woodwork and ceilings will be restored, and the stacks will be removed. Although it was noted that the move of education and psychology materials to Wilson Library may be inconvenient to faculty housed on the east bank, the system finally pulls together the fields of the social sciences. To minimize the inconvenience, Wilson Library plans to make daily deliveries to the east bank. There has also been ongoing consultation with Science and Engineering and the Institute of Technology over the changes in Walter Library. The Library Committee believed that the importance of preserving a human quality in the libraries during the digital updates should be emphasized.

Statement from the Capital Campaign. The statement from the capital campaign, "The University Library -- Preserving the Past and Nurturing the Future," was presented to committee members. Effective January 1, 1998, any donations received by the University Foundation were to be counted toward the capital campaign; people contributed in record numbers to the University of Minnesota. President Yudof's theme of moving into the new century with updated technology at the University was captured in the case statement. Since the President has given chancellors of the coordinate campuses the responsibility of developing their libraries, the Library Committee only reviewed the case statement that applies to the Twin Cities libraries. Members of the committee made the following recommendations for changes to the draft statement:

• Add information about the fact that the University libraries store government documents as a service to the state and region.
• Change the titled to "The University Library -- Nurturing the Future and Preserving the Past" to emphasize new technology in the University's mission.
• Add the importance of the need for current journals to stress keeping faculty current with the latest research.

Compact Document. The Compact Document identified four programmatic priorities and program quality issues:

• Provide Information Resources to Support University Programs
• Expand Library Programs that Teach and Promote Essential Information Skills Required for Success in the Electronic Environment (Web-Based Initiatives)
• Take a Leadership Role in the National Digital Library Initiative
• Cooperate and Partner with Statewide, Regional, and National Initiatives to Promote Resource Sharing and Provide the Most Efficient Services Possible

Among the initiatives outlined in the Compact Document, other issues were discussed including faculty and staff issues, student/education and support issues, and the effects of IMG. The following revisions to the Compact Document were recommended by the Library Committee: 1) maintain consistency among the term "library" being either singular or plural; 2) comment that the University libraries will keep faculty abreast on new developments in information retrieval; 3) clarify the meaning of "diversity of collections;" 4) include the support for faculty research along with the lifelong learning of students already mentioned; and 5) clarify that enrollment is applicable, and the section should be appropriately completed.

Task Force on the Needs and Future of the University Libraries. Executive VP & Provost Robert Bruininks appointed a task force charged with identifying the needs and direction of the University of Minnesota Library System. The task force was asked to provide substantive recommendations to improve the operation and coordination of existing library resources, as well as creating an important proposal for the next biennial budget request. Executive VP Bruininks asked the task force to submit an interim report by August 31, 1998.

Library Budget. Members stressed the importance for the Library Committee to periodically review the expenditures for the library. A library expenditure report included all Twin City libraries and outlined the following information:

• Expenditures for the past year totaled approximately $26.5 million dollars.
• Expenditures for Information Technology totaled approximately $2.4 million.
• There has been a tendency to give the libraries non-recurring funds rather than recurring funds beginning in 1995-96.
• The unit price for serials (journals) is up 147%.
• Trends in library staff have been due to overall University retrenchments; although the number of staff has decreased, the demands for assistance in the libraries have increased.
• Service trends include a possible decrease in circulation due to accessibility of library materials through new technology.
• An Association of Research Libraries Statistics chart shows that the U libraries are spending more and more, but buying less and less.

Library Tours and Demonstrations. The Library Committee was provided with informative tours of the various libraries around the University of Minnesota, including the Law Library, Music Library, and Biomedical Library on the east and west bank campuses. A computerized demonstration of the web interface was also provided, and summarized topics such as Lumina on the web, virtual electronic library, electronic journals, and research quick-start/study.

The University of Minnesota Senate Research Committee was chaired by Professor Len Kuhi and met eight times during the 1997-98 academic year. The major issues were:

Intellectual Property Policy. The Research Committee reviewed revisions to the Intellectual Property Policy, which assigns ownership of University employee creations. Committee members stressed the importance of clear-cut guidelines to handle licensing requirements because certain statements were too abstract and could lead conflict in some situations. The Research Committee approved the latest version of the Intellectual Property policy in November.

Conflict of Interest. Many changes to the Conflict of Interest Policy were required by NIH to be in compliance with their conflict of interest regulations. Proposed changes to the policy were presented to the Research Committee, the more controversial of those addressed the following:

• Income from sources other than the University of Minnesota must be disclosed (if it meets the fiscal limits), because income from within the U is already identifiable from other sources.
• Although royalty income from the university is exempt from disclosure, disclosure would now be required for income from other academic institutions, if it meets the fiscal limits.

Cost-Benefit Analysis Resolution. A Cost-Benefit Analysis resolution was produced by the Research Committee in response to concerns raised about the increasing costs, time, and energy resulting from greater detail in policies and procedures required not only here at the University, but at the federal level as well. The Chair presented the recommendation to the FCC which suggested the following additions: 1) note the increase in the number of regulations from funding agencies in Washington; and 2) discuss the over-interpretation of those regulations in the development of University policies and procedures. The Research Committee's resolution for a cost-benefit analysis was approved by the Faculty Senate in February.

Grants Management Committee. The Grants Management Committee (GMC) was formed with 2 primary goals in mind: 1) to get the university off exceptional status with NIH, and 2) to make the University run more efficiently. The Research Committee supported the work of the GMC, and was updated on a regular basis on its progress by its Chair Professor David Hamilton and WinAnn Schumi. The GMC sought to develop a relationship with the University Compliance Committee, which was primarily concerned with two issues: 1) there is substantial underreporting at the University; and 2) when there is reporting, the deans offices do not know how to handle the situation. The federal government has a set of guidelines that provide consequences for noncompliance; there are 6 such guidelines altogether, all but one of which the University is already addressing as part of their work plan. The one that had not yet been addressed by the University is to have consequences for noncompliance, such as termination of employment or a written reprimand placed in the personnel file. There are University policies providing clear consequences resulting from misconduct. Although the University's Code of Conduct describes expected behavior, it does not identify consequences for noncompliance.

NIH Status. The University provided the NIH with documentation of a corrective action plan in the spring of 1997 as a result of recent court proceedings. The plan has been developed through negotiations with the NIH and is comprised of four major areas: clarification of roles and responsibilities, refinement of polices and procedures, implementation of a training program for all those involved in research, and appropriate systems to support research activities. NIH was also informed about the Roles and Responsibilities documents and other reports on the Web, but expressed concern that these materials were not properly organized and therefore not easily accessible and understandable. The Grants Management Committee at the U of MN was ultimately made responsible for resolving all of the issues associated with NIH.

Roles and Responsibilities. The Roles and Responsibilities document addresses such principles as the definition and identification of responsibility, efficiency of decision-making, checks and balances for all decisions, achieving objectives and increasing compliance, positive and negative consequences, balancing of multiple obligations, and oversight. The committee is continuing its review of this document.

Indirect Cost Recovery. A council of associate deans was formed with the responsibility for research coordination, meeting with the Office of Research on a monthly basis to discuss the role of the dean's office in this process. The issue under consideration this year was indirect costs and whether the University should waive ICR charged to small, MN-based companies. First, the definition of small companies needed to be identified by net profits instead of number of employees. Second, it should be determined that all will pay a minimum level of ICR, which would be held centrally. It was suggested that funds be identified and used to invest in the indirect cost side of projects so that the University can charge companies 15%; additional funds might then be available to support traditional seed money applications that would be funded through ICR. The Research Committee agreed to support this effort.

Animal Care & Use Policy. The Animal Care & Use Policy reviews the use of live animals throughout the University system before they are purchased. A draft was presented to the Research Committee for review that more accurately described the program. The reporting line of the Animal Care Committee requires dual administrative oversight with reporting to the VP for Research and the Senior VP for the Health Sciences; the actual reporting, however, is to one or the other depending upon the department in which the situation occurs. The Research Committee reviewed the procedures and recommended that the Animal Care Committee report solely to the VP for Research. The committee approved final revisions made to the Animal Care & Use policy and procedures.

Oversight of Cloning. The committee reviewed 3 recommendations made by the Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) in an attempt to ensure that experiments are reviewed by the proper bodies: 1) oversight of the ban on cloning of humans clearly should be handled by the Human Subjects Committee; 2) experiments involving the cloning of animals should be reviewed by the Animal Care Committee; and 3) experiments involving the cloning of plants should be exempt from institutional review. Members suggested that it be made clear that plants are exempt unless there is involvement of recombinant DNA; it was also recommended that a cloning box on the BA23 form be added. The committee approved the recommendations with the suggestions set forth above.

The 1997-98 University of Minnesota Social Concerns Committee was chaired by Professor Eric Bauer and met 8 times throughout the academic year. The major issues were:

Burma/Total Oil Resolution. In the fall of 1997, the MN Free Burma Coalition (MFBC) requested that the committee recommend divestment from its stock in Total Oil which does business in Burma, a country with a military regime that has devastated the land and murdered thousands of Buddhists since 1988. The committee considered several options regarding the appropriate action to take, and obtained information from independent sources as well. A Burma resolution was written by the Social Concerns Committee, presented to the SCC on April 30, 1998, presented to and approved by the full Senate on May 14, 1998, and forwarded to the President on May 15, 1998. The resolution recommended that the University not invest in Total Oil Company stock until the reestablishment of a democratic government and redress of human rights abuses in Myanmar (Burma), or until Total Oil Company suspends its operations in that nation; it also called for the University to carefully consider the social impact of future investments in companies which operate in Burma until the reestablishment of a democratic government and redress of human rights abuses in that nation.

Proxy Votes. As part of its responsibilities described in the Regents policy Investment Social Concerns, the committee annually determines which shareholder resolutions should be of concern to the University and recommends specific votes on these resolutions. In 1998, the Social Concerns Committee voted on resolutions from the following companies: Citicorp, Intel, Walmart, Philip Morris, GE, United Technologies, and Boeing; Ahmanson, Norwest, & Summit Bancorp, Ford Motor, Home Depot, American International Group, Kohls & May Department Stores.

Culture Fair. The committee distributed an e-mail survey to several local international student cultural organizations to determine their level of interest in attending and/or participating in a University Culture Fair planned by the Social Concerns Committee, and received an enthusiastic response. The culture fair is planned to be an all-University event, first taking place as a pilot project on one of the coordinate campuses as a kickoff for planning a culture fair for the twin cities campus in the spring of 2000. The fair itself would consist of lectures, plenary sessions, cultural lunch buffet, discussion groups, and demonstrations by participating student organizations at the University. A motion was made and approved that the Social Concerns Committee feels it is desirable to hold a culture fair at a coordinate campus during the spring of 1999.

Public-Private Partnerships. A focus group met to discuss whether the Social Concerns Committee should propose to be involved when the U of M enters into public-private partnership contracts. The committee would serve strictly in an advisory role with no veto power and would review new contracts as well as the renewal of existing contracts. The most important criteria for committee evaluation of a public-private partnership are that it be University-wide, exclusive, and revenue-generating. The committee will continue to pursue this issue, but agreed that it first needs additional information before making a final decision. The role of the Social Concerns Committee in public-private partnerships will be one of the main issues to be addressed during the 1998-99 academic year.

The University of Minnesota Senate Student Affairs Committee was chaired by Kathie Peterson and met 8 times during the 1997-98 academic year. The major issues were:

First Year Experience. The First Year Experience Program is a joint project between the U of M and the American Council of Education that explores ways to enhance the first year experience and improve student satisfaction, as well as improving student graduation rates. A subcommittee's plan was to forward a comprehensive report to the Steering Committee in December 1997 for implementation in the Fall of 1999 to coincide with semester conversion. A seminar was proposed to provide first-year students with a solid developmental background, study skills, and academic framework in an effort to combine their academic preparation with real life practical skills. Issues raised by the committee included whether the project should be housed in the department or central student affairs, who the instructors of the first-year seminar should be, whether the seminar should be required or optional, who the target audience of the first-year seminar would be, and where the responsibility for the seminar lies (college or university).

Office of Student Development and Athletics. The Leadership Curriculum Project came out of a focus group discussion with the Campus Involvement Center. It includes a minor in leadership development, courses in leadership development, and a focus on the social change model. The project was designed to educate students by linking interactive co-curricular and academic experiences while promoting responsibility, application of knowledge, enhancement of skills, building understanding, and integrating service across multiple contexts. The purpose of the project was also to develop individual capacity for continuous leadership development, appreciation and respect for differences, affecting social change, and global citizenship.

The College of Liberal Arts has been working on an application for a Bush Grant to develop a program on advising services. The grant resulted from the Career Advising Task Force that was constituted by the Student Affairs Committee during the 1996-97 academic year.

Web Based Development Project. An MSA resolution about advising at the University was brought to the attention of the Student Affairs Committee. The committee invited Ben Littman from the Web Development Team to provide committee members with a background on the new web project before acting on the advising resolution. The objective of the web-based project is to provide advisors and students with the tools for better communication. The new project is designed to: a) provide processes that students and staff can complete on their own; b) be a task-based program rather than office/department-based program; c) allow students to prepare a portfolio for their advisors to access; d) state the "what-ifs?" re: decisions students might make; f) integrate the extension program with the day school; g) be implemented specifically for semesters; and h) allow students to have their own home page with bookmarks to links used on a regular basis.

Senate Bylaws. A subcommittee reviewed the committee's relationship with student organizations and proposed that rather than having the University responsible for the finances and affairs of all of the student organizations, it was suggested that the section be revised to acknowledge that not all relationships with student organizations are the same. The committee recommended that the following phrase be added to the bylaws: "Š as described in the Policy on Registration and Classification of Student Groups for the Twin Cities campus and as defined by coordinate campuses." The revised bylaws were approved and forwarded to the Committee on Committees.

Bus Schedules. A number of transportation problems on campus were discussed: 1) the commute to and from the St. Paul campus is longer than the time allotted between classes for students; 2) there are fewer buses and many scheduling problems with the new routes. Representatives from the U Pass and Transportation Committees were invited to attend a meeting and student and staff concerns about the bussing issue were presented.

District Court Case re: Mandatory Student Fees. The Student Affairs Committee discussed the lawsuit against the University where five students alleged that the mandatory student fee was unconstitutional due to its violation of their 1st amendment rights. Mark Rotenberg, General Counsel, and Tracy Smith, who litigated the case, explained the nature of the case and the University's immediate plans to committee members. At the U of M, decisions about the allocations are made by a self-governing student fees committee; the benefits of such a process are that it contributes to a marketplace of ideas, exposure to things students may not ordinarily be exposed to, and gives students the power to select those individuals who are responsible for fees allocation. Committee members agreed that since the Student Affairs Committee itself appeared to be divided on the issue, since it could not predict the Senate's reaction, and that more information was needed about the plaintiff's intentions, it would NOT formally respond to the student lawsuit at this time.

Comprehensive Review of Leadership Roles. A proposal to conduct a comprehensive review of leadership roles was made to investigate the barriers to student development and leadership opportunities across the University. Professor Roger Harrold, Director of Research for Student Development & Athletics, was invited to a meeting to discuss the issue. A recent survey revealed that some students are considered disadvantaged (w/ regard to time available for leadership activities) due to financial responsibilities or family obligations. The Senate Committee on Committees also has a difficult time findings students willing or able to serve on Senate committees (other groups on campus report similar difficulties in finding students for leadership roles). Committee members commented on the fact that faculty members are often awarded a reduced courseload in exchange for serving on certain committees, while students are not compensated for their time. It was agreed that the University has much to offer, but may not be connecting with the students at the right time with the information they need.

Minnesota Student Association: Advising. The MSA sponsored a successful discussion panel on advising, where a valuable exchange for ideas and information took place; it is hoped that a resolution will be drafted for senators in other colleges to evaluate advising services in their units. Since the individual advising units had been conducting student surveys in the recent past, it was recommended that additional information be obtained from this source; members of the Student Improvement Committee should also be contacted, since they may also have an interest in this issue.

Graduate and Professional Student Association. Several issues before GAPSA were reported to the Student Affairs Committee, including: 1) a graduate student-mentoring program focused on matching the interests of students with university faculty and members outside the U community; 2) the Mutual Responsibilities document was approved; it is a policy statement addressing such issues as rights and relationships with advisors, faculty responsibilities, intellectual property rules, and expectations of students; 3) some graduate students attempted to form a union; 4) GAPSA also worked on the graduate student health insurance; a health care survey was distributed to graduate students across the U for their input; and 5) a national conference was held focusing on career advising for graduate students.

David Cooperman was a scholar in the oldest and best sense of the word. He was a voracious reader, an avid student of political and social thought, an expert on the holocaust, a guardian and champion of social justice, a community activist and mediator, an award-winning teacher, a student of languages (with proficiency in several), and an accomplished musician. In life as in his work, he was a man of passion, warmth, charm, intellect, and dignity.

David's career spanned a half-century at the University, where he received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in political science. Over the years, he taught in and chaired the social science program, Jewish studies, Scandinavian studies, and sociology. A true renaissance man, he was a gifted leader with a broad range of intellectual interests.

Early in his career, David earned a considerable reputation as an expert in urban and community affairs. Throughout his career, he was sought after by community leaders and politicians alike to help solve community problems. He also became an expert on the Holocaust-a subject that galvanized his fierce passion for social justice and his sociological interests in religious and ethnic communities. At his death, he was working on a book to explore the altruism shown by ordinary Norwegians who risked their lives to save Jews during World War II.

Virginia A. Harris, retired journalism faculty member of the University of Minnesota, died Thursday, June 4, 1998, in Thousand Oaks, California, where she had been hospitalized for several weeks. She was 84 years old.

Harris retired in 1982 after teaching advertising and broadcast courses at the University School of Journalism and Mass Communication for 17 years. She was the first woman appointed to the journalism faculty. Harris once said that her years at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication were the most challenging and rewarding of her career. Harris received the Distinguished Teaching Award from the Minnesota Press Club in 1971. For her television commercials she was awarded gold medals from the art directors' clubs of Chicago, San Francisco, and Minneapolis.

Harris was a member of the Association for Education in Journalism, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, American Women in Radio and Television, Women in Communications, Inc., and Theta Sigma Phi, a professional organization for women in journalism. In addition, Harris served on a number of the journalism school's committees: the admissions review committee, grievance committee, scholarship committee, and personnel search committee.

Within the University community, Harris served on the Office of Student Affairs Ad Hoc Committee on Educational Programming and Development of Living-Learning Activities.

A consistent feature of Harris's journalism courses was the incorporation of community action. Class projects involved advertising work for such organizations as the St. Paul American Indian Center, Indian Upward Bound, Zero Population Growth Group, the council for Exceptional Children, Hennepin County Municipal Court Services, the Metropolitan Cultural Arts Center, and the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs. Her students designed and produced brochures, information and educational materials, posters, and advertising copy for these and other organizations.

Harris's personal community work included acting in dramatic productions used by the University Medical School and National Public Radio. Her portrayal of Amanda in Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie" at Theatre in the Round is remembered warmly by many local playgoers.

Harris joined the journalism faculty in 1965 as a lecturer with considerable professional experience. Before turning to teaching, Harris served as director of field services and publicist for the American Rehabilitation Foundation/Sister Kenny Institute. Her advertising work included all television and collateral advertising for General Mills Bisquick. She was part of the creative team for new Betty Crocker products where she also researched, wrote and directed a multi-media production to introduce Betty Crocker's new Picture Cookbook at a Chicago conference of national food editors. The production was a mix of film, slides, a giant cookbook, live singers and dancers, and two narrators. She also researched and wrote all of Catherine Clark's Brownberry radio programs.

Before coming to Minnesota, Harris had extensive experience in the broadcast media in Illinois and South Dakota. She created and hosted the first live television show in South Dakota. With Francis Humphrey Howard (Hubert Humphrey's sister), she co-founded the South Dakota Women's Television Council that was composed of one representative each form every women's organization at the state or national level. These representatives were located throughout the state, and in the national political campaigns of the fifties, Council members became mini-town meeting participants who questioned candidates wherever they were in South Dakota. On daily radio and television shows that she also wrote and produced, Harris interviewed Adlai Stevenson, Estes Kefauver, Harry Truman, Eleanor Roosevelt, Hubert Humphrey, Richard Nixon, and Joseph McCarthy.

Her freelance experience included special projects for the Department of University Relations and for the Educational Materials Center in St. Paul. At the same time she developed audio-visual materials for textbook publishers, including Houghton-Mifflin, Random House and McGraw Hill.

Born October 19, 1914, in Lincoln, Illinois, Harris received her bachelor's degree in education from Illinois State and did post-graduate study at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Harris was preceded in death by her husband, Paul "Mac" Harris (1989), renowned past director of Minneapolis' Theatre-In-The-Round, and son, Christopher Harris (1994), a Peabody, DuPont, and Emmy award-winning Los Angeles broadcast journalist. She is survived by a younger son, Andrew Harris, a teacher of English Literature and Art, two grandsons, and one great granddaughter, as well as the widow of Christopher, two step-grandsons, and one step-great granddaughter, all of whom live in California.

The family suggests memorials to the Borvald/Sim Community Newspaper Internship Program or the George Hage Internship Program, both at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, 111 Murphy Hall, 206 Church St. SE, Minneapolis 55455; or to Theatre in the Round.

There will be no memorial service.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, students, guests, and members of the Faculty Senate. It's an honor to be together again with so many distinguished and influential people.

I must add, however, that I've lately become aware of how fickle the influence of academics can be. The other day I received 3 phone-mail messages, one from each of the gubernatorial candidates. When I called back, I found they all had the same question: "When are you going to do something about faculty salaries at the U?" Well, one can dream.

I'd like to introduce this report with some reflections I had one day while strolling around campus. As architects tell us, buildings and landscapes reflect our values and personality; they are an image of our self-perception. Thinking about this, I mused that too many late-20th-century buildings, on campuses across the country, tend to convey a sense of isolation, neither emulating others buildings aesthetically nor helping to define coherently their shared space. This architectural separateness may metaphorically image the separateness between academic disciplines and a lack of coherence in the realm of knowledge generally.

In the sciences and the arts alike, for decades the academy has been slicing and dicing knowledge into ever-smaller units of data, a process some define - and others attack -- as reductionism. And the information age itself, with its myriad voices and databases, exacerbates the problem. Our unifying vision dims. As the eminent entomologist Edward O. Wilson says in a recent book, people are "drowning in knowledge while starving for wisdom."

So my report today will have to do with addressing the broad issues attending community, in its various guises, and emphasizing synthesis over taxonomy, mutually affecting relationships over insularity, and cooperation above competition. But first I would like to apply a little hindsight, to review the progress of activities already begun, and then some foresight about where we're headed. (As for insight, I make no promises.)

I recently submitted to the Regents the proposed budget for the years 1999-2001, and they were enormously supportive - as they have been throughout my tenure as president. This biennial budget reflects a 5-point program for the University:

• improving the quality of the undergraduate experience.
  
• strengthening our outreach efforts, including agricultural, technology, and K-12 initiatives.
  
• fostering a more service- and preservation-oriented culture at all levels of University life.
  
• financing the education of health professionals.
  
• and yes, raising faculty compensation to competitive levels.
  

Returning to the five-point plan, let us recognize that undergraduate students are the very raison d'etre of a public, land-grant university. Our mission is to serve them; our moral obligation is to serve them. And without them, support for our graduate schools, professional schools, and research institutions would rapidly wither.

My vision is succinctly stated: I want the University of Minnesota to offer the highest-quality, most hands-on, most humane undergraduate education of any comparably sized public research university in America. So we've begun strategies to enrich undergraduate life and make it rewarding.

• in the area of academic advisement: increasing the availability of advisors, integrating their work with career counseling, and moving to the concept of assigned caseloads, which will enable advisors to be more proactive.
  
• investing more money in undergraduate research fellowships, particularly on the UMD and Twin Cities campuses;
  
• stronger international-study programs, including internships and student exchanges;
  
• renovated libraries and state-of-the-art labs and classrooms on all our campuses;
  
• liberal-arts education minors and certificate programs, to help CLA graduates receive both the best of a liberal education and access to job-related skills in information science, biology, business, and other fields; and
  
• an Academy of Distinguished Teachers, to give greater recognition to our most successful teachers.
  

Two other initiatives that outstandingly strengthen community are the University Convocation and the Freshman Seminars program.

The September convocation -- the first since 1969 -- drew nearly 3,000 new students to Northrop Auditorium, where they were welcomed by 125 distinguished faculty and administrators and a fired-up Marching Band. After speeches and the singing of "The Rouser," we handed out tee shirts and threw a big party on the mall. This festive event helped the newcomers feel at home and, just as important, put a human, smiling face on the University.

The freshman seminars provide a key for the door to academic life, through close, sustained contact with faculty members -- who are mentors as well as teachers. Under their tutelage, students begin early to develop their analytical and expressive skills.

Besides instilling a positive attitude and enhancing study skills, these limited-sized classes foster respect for the learning process and encourage all students to do their best - in effect treating every one of them like an honors student.

This year, nearly a quarter of our freshmen are placed in seminars, a remarkable increase from prior years. In January, we will ask the Legislature for 100 new faculty members, to give every freshman, on all 4 campuses, this experience. If this happens, Minnesota will be the first major American public university to do so. In the process we will strengthen many fine departments and schools, particularly in the social sciences and humanities.

Point 2 of the plan relates to agricultural research and community outreach, two areas at the heart of the state's economy. The University is also creating a comprehensive plan for facilitating the commercialization of technology and the transfer of knowledge.

We are establishing partnership centers at each campus, where the University works with primary and secondary schools on pressing problems. And we're strengthening the Agriculture Experiment Stations; setting up small-town and freshwater-research projects; and expanding student access through the Virtual U and the University Center-Rochester.

We must also continue to provide support for the Rapid Response Fund, a "fast-track" program to meet agricultural and natural-resource calamities. A painful example is the current farm crisis, brought on by adverse weather, crop disease, and falling prices.

The third item in the program has to do with paying attention to our infrastructure and promoting a service mentality. Reflecting the seriousness of this matter, I've asked the Legislature for $24 million in support of it. Infrastructure changes include steps to make the U accessible and user-friendly, such as proceeding to integrate more than 50 different databases into a "one-stop" source for registration, housing, financing, and other services. Other examples are the renovation of classrooms, improved maintenance and custodial services, and cleaning windows so we can actually see through them. (Transparency - what a concept!)

Service improvements are based on the idea that everyone, from top to bottom, is the recipient of services - be it our telephone, the heat in our buildings, academic advising, or a graduate seminar -- and each person, in turn, serves others. What's more, we serve not just by doing but by thinking, whether we're an electrician, a financial-aid officer, or a tenured professor. Consequently, everyone should be respected as a valued, contributing member of the community.

The fourth item, financing the education of health professionals, is necessitated by a dismaying set of factors beyond the University's control: declines in government funding, the aging of the populace, the transition from acute, hospital-based care to community care, and the deleterious effects of managed care on clinical revenues -- historically a source of substantial funding for health-professional education. This is a national phenomenon. As TIME Magazine recently put it, there is a "collision between money and medicine" that is most acute in "the elite academic medical centers that have always led the way in training the next generation of doctors."

To avoid this collision in the short term, we are working to stabilize the sources of financial support for health-professional training; over the longer term, the University must work with the state's Medical Education and Research Costs Advisory Committee and other state and federal partners to secure a viable future. We will ask the Legislature for $32 million in recurring funds for strengthening health-professional education, and $5 million for preventive medicine and community initiatives. The health of health education can't be left to chance.

Neither can salary levels. In a very concrete sense, the excellence of faculty and staff are pivotal to the entire University renaissance. Without your excellence in teaching, research, and outreach, nothing else works - no undergraduate improvements, no legislative support, no widening of our role in the community or the world. Only the joint efforts of faculty and staff can implement the massive interdisciplinary initiatives of the last session and the crucial priorities of this one.

To attract and retain talented faculty, compensation must be competitive with that of our peer institutions. But, as everyone here knows, it's not. While we've made some improvement, levels at this campus are still near the bottom among the top 30 research universities. And the scale for our teaching and research assistants is equally dismal: ninth in the Big Ten and 13% below the national mean.

Someone recently noted that to neglect salaries is to defer maintenance on the intellectual capital of the University - something I am determined to prevent. Accordingly, my biennial budget request includes a $96 million increase for faculty-staff compensation.

Our progress thus far should give us confidence that lasting, meaningful change is possible through our efforts. With that in mind, I'd like to again raise the question I began with, namely: In this fragmented, post-modern information age, how do we go about reinvigorating a sense of community and common purpose here at the University? Let me suggest some approaches.

One is to make deliberate, salutary changes in our physical surroundings. I refer to the Campus Renaissance currently going on, both in the Twin Cities and at the coordinate campuses. The Renaissance is occurring both within our physical boundaries and beyond: besides beautifying the buildings and landscape, it also seeks to facilitate access, to connect us more closely with the community, to simplify governance, and to return decision-making authority to the colleges and departments.

To illustrate some of these aims, let me describe 4 representative projects: renovations of Walter Library and 2 Crookston buildings, the new library at Duluth, and the new Science and Math Building at Morris.

A major theme of the Walter design - indeed, of the Campus Renaissance itself - is to preserve the past while nurturing the future. Except for a small addition in back, the exterior will retain 100% of its original appearance, carefully cleaned and repaired to look as grand as ever. Inside, details like brass lamps on the reading tables and original-design chandeliers will likewise honor tradition. Yet, the library will also house a Digital Technology Center and some of the newest, most sophisticated electronic equipment on campus, including "power walls" and supercomputers. There will also be computer-science teaching rooms, featuring 100 workstations, for undergraduates.

At Crookston, the renovation and reuse of two venerable buildings, Owen Hall and Knutson Hall, reflect our good stewardship of existing facilities, while also providing much-needed space for a student body half-again larger than the one 5 years ago.

The Duluth library bespeaks our commitment to access and to serving the needs of the greater community.

• The building itself is both a real and a symbolic entrance to the large pedestrian concourse, graciously inviting students and visitors into a compact, interconnected complex of buildings.
  
• The student-friendly interior provides ample study space - plus group-study areas, for the first time - and facilities where library users can learn to access materials electronically.
  
• Even beyond the campus, the library offers on-line access to other colleges, making it the largest and easiest-to-use research facility in the whole northeast region.
  

On many levels, then, the campus renaissance will begin breaking down some of the attitudinal dichotomies separating us:

• we vs. they;
  
• past vs. future;
  
• ours vs. yours;
  
• this discipline vs. that one.
  

The conception of education as a social process and function has no definite meaning until we define the kind of society we have in mind.

• Consequently, this trend toward unification must carry over to the ways in which we organize ourselves and our work, whether in interdisciplinary research or in curriculum improvements. And off-campus partnerships and collaborations must grow. In the business world, the University must strengthen its alliances with leading companies, just as, in the academic realm, it should do so with other universities, with the K-12 system, and with our sister institutions in Minnesota.
  

The last of my suggested approaches to unification has to do with spirit - not the transcendental kind, as in spiritus mundi, but something closer to esprit de corps. Though less quantifiable than budgets or programs, our group spirit has tangible importance in our work.

Among recent books on how societies and large organizations govern themselves, one of the best is Robert Putnam's Making Democracy Work. Putnam argues that what he calls a "civic community" underlies the success of governments, political systems, and ultimately personal satisfaction.

He lays out 4 criteria for the civic community, which I believe can apply fruitfully here:

• Civic engagement;
  
• Political equality;
  
• Solidarity, trust, and tolerance; and
  
• Social structures of cooperation.
  

Political equality includes more than equal rights and obligations. A civil community, says Putnam, "is bound together by horizontal relations of reciprocity and cooperation, not by vertical relations of authority and dependency."

Solidarity, trust, and tolerance and social structures of cooperation refer to the means through which we interact with one another, and the structures set up to reinforce the positive nature of these interactions.

Putnam concludes - and I agree -- that the more deeply rooted the civic community, the more civic virtue will prevail among citizens; consequently, the more trust and cooperation there are, the more effective and responsive the governing institution will be.

I am optimistic about the future.

• I believe we have a superb faculty, an extraordinary staff, and wonderful students.
  
• I believe that the Board of Regents, the faculty, and I share a deep, mutual respect.
  
• No less important, I believe we have the support of the people of Minnesota.
  

• A physical integrity in the campus environment, where all buildings are easily accessible, all classrooms well equipped, all signs easy to read;
  
• An aesthetic integrity among our structures, based on shared values and shared deliberations;
  
• An ethical integrity, based on the ideals of community and civility; and
  
• social integrity, reflecting a spirit of cooperation, tolerance, and mutual respect.
  

Thank you very much.

Response: Most of the steel construction has been completed. There is great enthusiasm since it will serve as a gateway to the University, while housing the Alumni Association, the University Foundation, the Medical Foundation, as well as a Heritage Gallery featuring the arch from Memorial Stadium. Another visitor information center will also be included. It has been largely financed by private funding. The building will also feature a modest-sized ice sheet in the front.

Question: The Morris campus applauds the attention that has been given to the undergraduate initiative, but do you conceive of distinctive roles in the undergraduate initiative for each campus?

Response: These roles will be related, but they are not identical. Morris will also have freshmen seminars, but the approach to them might be different. Another distinction will be in regards to the new Math and Science Building. Faculty will be able to think through what undergraduate liberal education should resemble for the 21st century. The Twin Cities and Duluth will be able to offer more undergraduate research initiatives. The University also needs to double or triple the number of students who study abroad. Faculty and the chancellors at each campus will need to discuss their approach to seminars.

Question: Crookston faculty support in the increase in freshmen seminars. What is the role of the institution versus the role of the individual campuses or units in designing freshmen seminars?

Response: The intent is to have a hands-on experience with a professor and to improve the students' writing and analysis skills. This would require some parameters, but there cannot be one format for all. The strategy is to solicit funds first. Faculty should be working within their own units.

Question: During the Senate meeting the quality of the overhead projector was terrible. In terms of multimedia and supercomputing, would it be possible to buy a new overhead projector?

Response: The University has working overhead projectors. We just have not shared them with the Senate Office. I will make an unconditional promise. We will provide the Senate Office with a new overhead projector.

Question: Has there been any consideration of extending the Beautiful U project to the coordinate campuses?

Response: This is the decision of each chancellor. Additional funds will be available if the University receives funding for infrastructure support. My feelings are that Morris has done a wonderful job of beautification, and lead me to consider this project for the Twin Cities.

Question: The University has been talking about the proposed University budget request to the Legislature. It is an 18% increase, and some people in Crookston feel that this is a large amount. They then ask if we really expect it to be funded. My answer is yes, but how should we respond to this statement?

Response: First, people need to understand that this is a two year budget, so the increase is just 9% per year. Second, faculty and Regents agree that the University had several bad years before one very good year. Third, most of the money from the request last year went into capital improvements and deferred maintenance on buildings. The amount being requested this year is for deferred maintenance on our people or intellectual resources. Lastly, we need to emphasize what the people of the Minnesota will be getting for their money. This is a quality of undergraduate education not available at any other university. Also included is the research and education that is available from the Academic Health Center (AHC). Some people may disagree, but I feel that we are in jeopardy unless the University develops a long-term solution. It will be a hard sell, since we are competing with tax cuts, K-12 education, as well as ourselves. It is the job of legislators to make the difficult judgements. It is our job to explain that these are not bloated figures, but reflect genuine needs.

Question: Access continues to be a major issues for our students. Graduate students have also brought to my attention the decreased parking availability in the Dinkytown area. Coupled with the closure of the East River Ramp, students are more cramped for parking. Is the University involved with the plans for the Hiawatha Corridor lightrail, including a possible link to the University?

Response: Eric Kruse, the Vice President for University Services, and Donna Peterson, from Institutional Relations, are involved in the lightrail planning, as well as people working on the South Mall project. I do not know how realistic it will be in relieving access problems. I do not have specifics on the Dinkytown parking situation, but I will look into it. I do know that it will get worse before it gets better. The situation is complicated by the fact that every time a street lot is replaced by a parking ramp, the cost multiplies and the rates increase.

Question: What are your plans to facilitate research opportunities at the University as a whole, and specifically at the Morris campus?

Response: It is hard to create opportunities, since it stems from professors and their research project. In the case of Morris, there is an ongoing effort to broaden the curriculum, particularly in the upper division. This will lead to additional research opportunities. We are also trying to put more money into the student stipend side, to treat it like any other form of employment or scholarship.

Question: Attraction and retention of new faculty goes beyond salary. Finding suitable spousal employment opportunities for both Morris and Crookston campuses is a problem. What are your thoughts on this problem?

Response: I have never separately addressed this issue. Some of the problem is structural depending on the economy of the area surrounding the campus. I will raise the issue with the chancellors.

Question: More funding seems to be coming from general revenues instead of tuition, yet tuition is still rising faster than the salaries of state tax-payers. In your work with the Board of Regents, will concern be expressed regarding the rising cost to the State of Minnesota for delivering the undergraduate product?

Response: It is a valid point, but of the programs outlined today, 95% would be covered by the State and only 5% by the students. In comparison to the other Big Ten schools, they increased by an average of 4% while we limited it to 3%. Financial aid is another source of income for some students. The University needs to be able to offer a high quality of undergraduate education at a relatively low price.

Question: The renovation of Walter Library and the new Access Center will make a difference in the Twin Cities as well as the rest of the state. The new Library in Duluth will also be a resource for that region. The libraries need to be able to honor the past as well as look forward to the future. Libraries currently subscribe to almost as many electronic journals as paper, yet their budgets do not reflect this change. Do you foresee an initiative to increase the level of funding, especially on the Twin Cities Campus Libraries since they are a resource for the entire state?

Response: I do. This is one area where the cost of living indexes do not even approximately the increased costs for digital databases and publishing. It is included in the undergraduate initiative. Vice President Bruininks appointed a task force to look at this issue. The University first needs to determine what the ultimate balance will be between electronic and print media.

Question: The University administration has been promoting the flattening of the administrative triangle and involving more line staff and faculty in the planning process. How do you feel about the process of total quality management?

Response: Whole systems from the outside cannot be moved into the University. There are elements of total quality management that I like, such as constant improvement and attention to the people we are providing services to. At some places, there has been too much of an infringement on staff time. Staff development and training would be beneficial all around.

Question: The University is only one of the major institutions in the state responsible for higher education. How do you see the competition between them and the opportunities for cooperation in the light of the pending legislative session?

Response: I feel good about this relationship. We would offer our programs and the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) would offer theirs. We would have articulation agreements to make it as easy as possible to come from a two-year college to the University. We would not go into competition by offering a history degree at Bemidji or Winona to directly compete with those colleges. But, if there were areas where we had the only program, then we would do our best to offer, even undergraduate programs, but with the cooperation of MnSCU campuses and using their facilities. We would also continue to offer the graduate programs not offered by MnSCU. Last year we had a united front and I hope this carries through this year.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 p.m.

Rebecca Hippert
Abstractor