Summary of Actions Taken:

1. Approved minutes of December 3, 2002 and January 21, 2003 meetings.
2. Motion made to look into the feasibility of scheduling classes such that there are essentially equal numbers of classes each semester regardless of the night of the week on which they fall, including the possibility of not having class the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving.
3. A less ambiguous version of the Faculty Conduct Policy for consideration. Open hearings for comments from the University community will be held on Wednesday, March 12 from 12:45-1:45 pm in Library 407 and on Thursday, March 13, from 12:20-1:20 pm in BA 217.

Excused: Artibise, Day, Easterlin, Greene, Smith, Verges
Absent: Loomis, Munster

1. Call to Order
The meeting was called to order by the Chancellor at 3:13 p.m.

2. Approval of Minutes
Approved minutes of December 3, 2002 and January 21, 2003 meetings.

3. Remarks by the Chancellor
a. Chancellor Gregory M St L O’Brien spoke in memory of Thomas Schlunz , Professor of History, who died on February 11, 2003. The Chancellor said that Professor Schlunz’ death was a tragic loss to UNO and asked Professor Warren Billings, Distinguished Professor and Chair, Department of History, to say a few words in Professor Schlunz’ behalf. Professor Billings remarked on Tom Schluntz’ dedication to UNO, how he was a vital part of this community and the “grandfather” of the University Senate. He closed stating that Professor Schlunz will be deeply missed and “a life not soon to be seen again in this institution.” The Chancellor shared that the current Fall Convocation was the result of a conversation he and Professor Schlunz had had on the importance of academic tradition and announced that Fall Convocations will be dedicated to Professor Thomas Schlunz. He finished by asking the Senate to stand and observe a moment of silence in Professor Thomas Schlunz’ memory.
b. UNO hosted First lady Laura Bush on Wednesday, February 19, 2003. The First Lady was here to launch the Orleans Parish Teaching Fellows Program sponsored by The New Teacher Project. College of Education and Human Development will launch Teach Greater New Orleans, a recruitment initiative to attract professionals to the field of Teaching. Similar initiatives are being developed at the University of Louisiana at Monroe and Nicholls State.
c. The Chancellor said he was not hopeful that the State Government would be able to give the University financial help in the forthcoming year. The Governor’s proposed budget protects higher education; however, it will be up to UNO to take several initiatives. In 1971 the Building Use Fee was $15.00 per semester. Since 1971 many new buildings have been added to UNO with no increase in this fee. LSU Board of Supervisors have approved an increase in the Building Use Fee to $75.00 per semester; this permanent increase in the Building Use Fee allows the University to do major projects in building maintenance within its infrastructure. The Chancellor also said that there is a possibility of an Academic Enhancement Fee. The Academic Enhancement Fee would not be subject to TOPS and would be a very focused fee that would be subject to an annual report. He thanked Jared Munster, Student Government President, for his support on the lobbying efforts for the Building Use Fee with the LSU Board of Supervisor’s student representative.
d. The Chancellor mentioned that a New Millennium Schools survey from Peggy Kirby, Executive Director, would be sent to the UNO community in the next few weeks to find out the interest for developing a University laboratory middle school. The facility would be for Orleans Parish residents as well as the UNO Community.

4. Report from the Provost
a. Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor, Louis V. Paradise reported that The National Association of Schools of Music site visit to the Department of Music went very well.
b. The Provost announced the 12th cohort of the Faculty Initiative for Technology in Teaching (FITT). There have been 236 laptops awarded since Fall 1998; the Provost hopes to give out 25 awards this semester. For this cohort, in addition to regular FITT participants, there will be four (4) new subgroups: 1) Teacher Education; 2) Freshman Instruction and Advising; 3) Writing Intensive Courses; 4) Internationalization. The Provost said that if one has applied for the program in the past and has been unsuccessful that help in fine-tuning your proposal is available through Juan Henriquez, x37066, fitt@uno.edu, (See Appendix A).

5. Reports from the Senate Committees:
Committee C: “Look into the issue of academic dishonesty, specifically to examine the nature and extent of the academic dishonesty problem at UNO and to recommend procedures and practices which faculty can use to educate themselves and their students for minimizing cheating, plagiarism and other behaviors related to academic dishonesty. Further, any procedures related to the student judiciary process that needs modification should be addressed as well.”
The committee recommended five proposals (See Appendix B). Three of the five proposals were sent to the Senate floor for vote, but objections were raised so all five proposals will be debated and will be voted on in the next Senate meeting, March 24, 2003.

Committee D: “Make recommendations about syllabus content to be in with SACS requirements.”
The SACS Leadership team wants the Senate to recommend that all faculty include a set of standardized items on the syllabus. Committee D was assigned to discuss this motion and make a recommendation to the Senate. The standardized items are:
1) a list of student learning objectives for the course; 2) for those faculty teaching 4000-level courses (which may be taken for graduate credit), a clear statement of what additional work is required for graduate students to receive graduate credit (this should be included whether or not any graduate students are enrolled); 3) a clear statement of the teacher's attendance policy (if it is a developmental, 1000-level, or 2000-level course, not whether or not attendance will be taken-that is now required-but what are the rewards and punishments involved); and 4) a standard statement about the consequences of dishonesty.
After two weeks' discussion via virtual meetings through e-mails, Committee D is in favor of all four items proposed by the SACS Leadership team. The wording of the objectives of each course are subject to the discretions of each department and its faculty. The Committee recommends that the statement about the academic dishonesty must be a standard statement prepared for faculty by Dr. Jan Lynn or someone else within Judicial and Student Assistance. Committee C suggests the statement should be short and concise. This will be voted on the next Senate meeting, March 24, 2003.

6. SACS Update: Dr. Bruce King, Director of Instructional Effectiveness
N/A

7. Policy Committee Report: Dr. Diana Hulse-Killacky, Chair
Diana Hulse-Killacky, reported on the progress of the Deans' review and mentioned that the composition of the Post Review Oversight Committee was nearly complete. Dr. Hulse-Killacky circulated a copy of a request to explore in a Faculty Senate subcommittee the issue of the Thanksgiving break (See Appendix C). This topic was assigned to Committee A.

8. Comments, questions and suggestions:
1. Last spring, the Senate was asked to re-evaluate the Faculty Conduct Policy by the UNOFT. An ad hoc committee was set up by the University Senate executive Committee to examine the existing Conduct Policy. This committee was co-chaired by Gary Allen of Sciences and Daphne Main (Business), and the members were Vern Baxter, (Liberal Arts), Connie Phelps, (Library), Win O' Connor, (Liberal Arts), Raquel Cortina, (Liberal Arts and Academic Affairs), Scott Whittenburg, (Sciences), and Mark Loftin, (Education). This committee had informal discussions with interested parties and subsequently hashed out a hopefully "new and improved" and less ambiguous version of the Faculty Conduct Policy for consideration. It is also being reviewed by the university attorney during the month of March. Both documents (See Appendices D and E) will be posted on the University webpage (http://www.uno.edu/facmain.html)with an annotated version showing the changes explicitly. Open hearings for comments from the University community will be held on Wednesday, March 12 from 12:45-1:45 pm in Library 407 and on Thursday, March 13, from 12:20-1:20 pm in BA 217.
2. The Chancellor asked to have a motion passed to have Kathy Plante, Registrar, look at appropriate actions for the University to take for hurricane closures. Motion seconded by Daphne Main.

9. Questions for Administrators
1. “Is the “deferred” 1% raise going to happen? If so, when?”
Gregory M. St. L. O’Brien, Chancellor, University of New Orleans, responded:
Yes, the 1% raise will happen and is in the Budget for the next fiscal year. The first payment will be in the Fall semester.

2. “Please provide an update on the establishment of flexible spending accounts program for UNO employees?”
Henry A. Dillon, Jr., Director, Human Resource Management, responded:
The flexible spending account is scheduled to become effective July 1. Open enrollment will be in May. There will be more information on this in the middle part of April. Mr. Dillon told the Senate that Group Benefits has announced that all employees who carry health insurance will be required to complete a document designating their health plan of choice with April’s (2003) open enrollment . Employees who do not complete the form will be placed in the PPO. The exception to this are employees currently enrolled in Definity Health Plan. The Chancellor urged that employees review the available health plans and pick one that is “right for you and your family.” He asked Mr. Dillon to please notify all employees through e-mail and campus wide mail at least two times before the events.

3. “When Chancellor O’Brien was one of two people who spoke in favor of the Wal-Mart development uptown, did he do so as the Chancellor of UNO or as Private Citizen O’Brien? Since so many in the UNO community live uptown and so many oppose this development, perhaps Chancellor O’Brien could explain to us why he, who lives nowhere near the affected area, supports the project so strongly.”
Gregory M St L O’Brien, Chancellor, University of New Orleans, responded:
The Chancellor responded that he was acting as a private citizen who resided at 2468 Lark Street. New Orleans sometimes has difficulty concerning commitment to agreements. The community makes an agreement and then adds after-the-fact elements that makes realization of the plans too expensive, arduous, or perhaps even impossible. This has a significant effect on economic progress for the city and can give business a pause when considering bringing industry and economic advancement to the area.

4. “What is the status of the Fine Arts building debacle – rats, mold, etc.?”
Donald Pekarek, Vice Chancellor, Student Affairs University Relations and Campus Services, Louis V. Paradise, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor, and Gregory M St L O’Brien, Chancellor responded:
Donald Pekarek stated the problems with rats and mold in the Fine Arts Building are true and that the University has contracted with an Engineering Firm to look at the problem from all possible angles. The rats are attracted to the condensing of leaking water pipes, fine arts supplies, (paste, etc.), and have easy access to the building because of holes in the structure at the ground level. The Fine Arts Building was originally built as a temporary building, it was built without State support, and it has long ago outlived its temporary status. Exterminators were contracted and they thought the rats would leave the building after treatment, instead they migrated to the attic. Some classes, such as the I Lab, have been moved out of the Fine Arts Building into the Engineering Building. The Provost added that depending on the results from the Engineering Firm’s recommendations that the University will fix, move, and clean-up as indicated. He stated that the results should be available by the end of the semester. The Chancellor remarked that the faculty has suffered in the Fine Arts for a least 10 years now and not only has the I Lab been moved to the Engineering Building but that Bienville Hall has also been supporting Fine Art classes. Building a new Fine Arts Building has been a priority of this administration since the 1990’s. However, the Legislature said they would not support such a project. The Chancellor said that personally he didn’t feel the current Fine Arts Building could be made reliable for teaching and that a new building would be cheaper than fixing up and maintaining a temporary structure. The problem with building temporary structures is that they tend to be made permanent. He added that renovation can be very costly and that historically UNO is only funded a new building about every 10 years. If a new building is to be built it is up to UNO to do it.

5. “Who is going to occupy the current Business building once the new one is complete?”
Robert L. Dupont, Dean Metropolitan College, responded:
No decision has been made yet on the occupants of the business building once it becomes the old business building. The Chancellor has organized a committee of the cabinet to help plan the use of the available space. Deans and Directors were asked to submit requests for space. To date the committee has focused on the needs of the College of Liberal Arts and the College of Urban and Public Affairs, but no decision has been made. The committee has met over the past two months and will continue to meet until the work is complete. Committee members have agreed to a June 1, 2003 deadline for a decision. The new business building is not likely to be available until summer, 2004. The University proposed an increase in the capital projects restricted fee that is part of tuition at the last board meeting. The increase received tentative approval, but must also pass the legislature. If passed one of the uses of that fee will be the renovation of the business building for its new occupant. Fredrick P. Barton, Dean College of Liberal Arts, urged for Dr. Dupont to remember that over half of the faculty members in the College of Liberal Arts are sharing offices and that they need to be top priority. The Chancellor added that this could well be the last reallocation of office space for perhaps up to a decade.

6. “The UNO Foundation’s tax return lists $152,000 in direct payments to the Chancellor’s office, according to a recent letter sent to the Union. Would someone from the Chancellor’s office mind reporting to the Senate the amount of those payments in 2001 and 2002? And, as a separate question is the Foundation broke?”

Gregory M. St. L. O’Brien, Chancellor, University of New Orleans, responded:
The UNO Foundation’s payments to the Chancellor’s Office is directed towards travel for the Chancellor, international travel, development and cultivation events, official functions and meetings, staff development, and office supplies. When a college does not have money for particular purposes, the requests goes to the Chancellor’s Office. The Chancellor in turn goes to the Foundation for funding. The Foundation is dedicated to UNO. The Foundation is not broke, it currently has about $37 million is assets, a large difference from the $98,000 it had when the Chancellor first came to UNO. Most of the $37 million is dedicated for particular purposes. The Chancellor reminded the Senate that the stock market has been hard on non-profit organizations so the Foundation is being very careful with money allocations. Things will be tight until the stock market turns around. Timothy P. Ryan, Dean College of Business Administration, interjected that he felt there should not be any difficulty between the faculty and the Foundation, because “the Foundation is the best thing that ever happened to the faculty,” it gives faculty support, and supports summer research; “it is money well spent.”

7. “Is it true that the ‘university success’ classes are going to become mandatory, despite the fact that the Courses & Curricula committee voted not to make them mandatory last year? If so, who made this decision? If the answer is some committee, who’s on it? What exactly are ‘university success’ classes? How much do they cost? Who will teach them? Won’t they eat into already limited classroom space? Not to mention the reduction in credit hours necessary for graduation that has already been approved. (Many of us are concerned that we cannot afford this luxury at this time and that the “stats” proving this is a good thing are skewed by the fact that current students in this course are those show choose to be, the most motivated and conscientious, the ‘cream of the crop.’)”
Edward Johnson, Director of Freshman Affairs, responded:
(see Appendix F)

10. Committee Assignments

Committee A: Assigned the motion to look into the feasibility of scheduling classes such that there are essentially equal number of classes each semester regardless of the night of the week on which they fall, including the possibility of not having class the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving.

Committee B: No Assignment

Committee C: Look into the issue of academic dishonestly, specifically to examine the nature and extent of the academic dishonesty problem at UNO and to recommend procedures and practices which faculty can use to educate themselves and their students for minimizing cheating, plagiarism and other behaviors related to academic dishonesty. Further, any procedures related to the student judiciary process that need modification should be addressed as well.

Committee D: Make recommendations about syllabus content to be in with SACS requirements.

11. Other Reports
a. Faculty Representative to LSU Board of Supervisors: Dr. Diana Hulse-Killacky
Report from the LSU Board of Supervisors Meeting, February 21, 2003
Board Actions: University of New Orleans
The Board approved the establishment of the Al Belletto Professorship in Jazz Studies in the College of Liberal Arts.
The Board approved the establishment of the Alvin “Red” Tyler Professorship in Jazz Studies in the College of Liberal Arts.
The Board approved the establishment of the Danny Barker Professorship in Jazz Studies in the College of Liberal Arts.
The Board approved the establishment of the Ernst & Young Continuing Scholar Professorship in the College of Business Administration. The Board approved the establishment of the Energy Accounting Conference Professorship in the College of Business Administration. The Board approved a proposal for a new program in Women’s Studies. The Board approved the allocation of $366, 530 in enrollment management
operating funds as follows:

The Board adopted the resolution to increase the restricted facilities use and maintenance fee at UNO from $15.00 to $75.00 per semester for full-time undergraduate and graduate students effective with the Fall, 2003 semester,subject to legislative approval. This increase will be applied proportionally to part-time students and to the summer term.

Other Items:
The Board approved the recommendation to amend Article V of the Bylaws of the LSU Board of Supervisors relative to the following standing committees: the Faculty and Student Affairs Committee will be changed to the Academic Affairs Committee; and the Health Care Services Committee will be changed to the Health Education and Services Committee.
The Definity Healthcare Insurance Program continues to develop. The results of the satisfaction survey will be available next month. April is the month for open enrollment.
Sabbatical decisions will be announced at the March meeting.
Promotion and Tenure decisions will be announced at the April meeting (to be
held on May 2, 2003).
The International Studies Program at UNO will be on the Board of
Regents meeting agenda in March.
Vice President Carolyn Hardgrave reported teacher test scores for the three
campuses in the LSU System. In Louisiana the statewide average for 31,246 teachers was 498. The highest score of 546 came from out of state colleges or universities. LSU had a teacher score of 541; LSU-Shreveport had a score of 538, and UNO had a score of 536.
Faculty Advisory Council:
Most of the discussion among the faculty representatives centered on the issue of whether faculty members can take courses free of charge on their respective campuses. The UNO Policy Committee has already started to explore this issue for our campus. The Shreveport campus is working on this issue and will share their progress with the other campuses.
b. Association of Louisiana Faculty Senates: Dr. Ray Sweeny
N/A (to be sent out by Daphne Main)
c. UNO Staff Council: Mr. David Richardson, President
N/A
d. Student Government: Mr. Jared Munster, President
Chris Baker stated that the Student Government was looking to put a resolution on the War in Iraq and that Student Government is funding $5,000 for a sidewalk that will run From the Performing Arts Center to the Library.
e. Alumni Association: Dr. Sandra Harris Eason, Senate Representative
Dr. Sandra Harris Eason announced that all of the pieces for the Homer L. Hitt Alumni and Visitors Center are coming together. Construction is going well, and they should be moving in by middle of April. The grand opening will be held on May 16th, the morning of spring commencement. The Alumni Association is busy collecting bids on fixtures and furnishings.

A renewed fundraising effort has begun for the Alumni Center. Letters were sent to 1400 “UNO ALUM-MATES”, couples where both spouses have UNO degrees, asking them for a one-time-gift. Their membership in this romantic subset will be memorialized for all time on a plaque in the lobby of the Alumni Center and will celebrated at a Valentine’s Day Party on February 14, 2004.

The Alumni Association is also about to launch a brick and landscaping campaign entitled “Building our Presence… Brick by Brick”. Inscribed bricks will be laid in the front patio area and later in the back court yard. Bricks will be sold for $100 and $150.00.

The Alumni Association is pleased to announce that Clancy DuBos has been chosen as this year’s Homer L. Hitt Distinguished Alumnus of the Year. He has been a supportive friend of the University over the years. He will be recognized at the Reunion Brunch on May 18th now scheduled to take place in the new Hitt Center.

The Alumni Association is looking forward to their spring fundraiser, the 33rd Annual Methodist SportsCare University of New Orleans Alumni Golf Classic which will be held on May 9th at the Golf Club of New Orleans at Eastover. SportsCare has just recommitted to the title sponsorship for another four years. Additional sponsorships are still needed.

f. UNO Athletics Council: Ms. Sybil Boudreaux, Chair
Athletic Council Report to the University Senate:

The Athletic Council met on Monday, February 10, 2003. UNO is participating in a pilot study for the NCAA as they develop a new data set called the NCAA Annual Academic Progress Rate. This new rate is being developed to provide information in addition to the regular graduation rate report. It will provide evidence of academic progress and will include information on all student-athletes not just those that are part of the freshman scholarship cohort which is the group used to devise the graduate rates. As part of our improvement in the area of compliance, the Director of Compliance, Dr. Kathy Keene, will conduct regular monthly meetings with all coaches. The Athletics Department has also established a Compliance Committee made up of members from all campus areas that deal with compliance issues, including the Registrar, the Associate Registrar, the Associate Director of Admissions for Freshman Admissions, the Associate Director of Admissions for Transfer and International Admissions, the Chief Coordinator of Scholarships in the Financial Aid Office, and the Academic Counselor in the College of Liberal Arts. This group meets once a month.

The Council heard from guest, Ms. Helen Grant, Assistant Commissioner for Compliance of the Sun Belt Conference on gender equity related issues. Other items currently under discussion are revisions to the Athletic Council's Policy and Procedures Manual, revisions to the Athletic Department's mission statement, and updating of our Equal Opportunity Plan.

12. Old Business
N/A

13. New Business
N/A

Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 5:18 p.m.