In two weeks, the vote to abolish Fruesday could be finalized, but Provost Terry King said President Jo Ann Gora probably won't approve of the plan.
Discussion of altering the Fruesday schedule was one item on the agenda during the University Senate Agenda Committee meeting Monday morning.
King said he recognized how having class on Monday of finals week would be educationally unsound. But he also wondered aloud if it was also unsound to lose a day of class. King said he found it funny that Faculty Council supports the idea of cutting a day from the university calendar, yet they were worried about cutting faculty's pay.
Compensation and load credit for teaching responsibilities was another topic for debate. These topics deal with paying faculty for teaching distance education courses. Gora proposed changing the wording of the legislation to include the Board of Trustees with the college dean and provost who are currently in charge of reviewing professors' teaching responsibilities each year.
King said the Board of Trustees will be reluctant to participate in the process.
"The board is reluctant to approve something that says a process will take place and they can't see it, especially something related to the budget," he said.
The Senate Agenda Committee decided to approve the proposed amendment and send it to Faculty Council for its approval before being slated for the University Senate meeting.
Senate Chairman Brien Smith said he believed Faculty Council should be involved in discussion of the legislation. He said their job isn't to approve the amendment, but to approve the entire legislation.
Laura Helms, chairwoman of University Council, said the council approved a series of amendments to add more professional personnel through creating 10 committees within the body.
"The University Council is very small," she said. "When there is language about choosing people for appointments, they're very limited. Making them professional personnel broadens the base of people that we can call on to be appointed."
She said there is a notion that Faculty Council is virtually a clone of the University Senate, and the people serving on Faculty Council are the same that serve on University Senate.
Smith said these issues raised in Faculty Council warrant constitutional amendments, but the Senate Agenda Committee is at its limit for amendments this year. He recommended sending it to the Governance and Elections Committee for review.
Upcoming events:
University Senate meeting - 4 p.m. Feb. 18 at Teachers College Room 102
Senate Agenda Committee meeting - 8 a.m. March 15 at Applied Technology Building Room 202F
Topics of discussion:
- Adding more professional personnel representation on various University Council committees - Legislation for this was approved by the Senate Agenda Committee
- Compensation and loan credit - Legislation was amended so professors teaching distance education must have approval from the Board of Trustees, as well as the dean and provost, for their load credit responsibilities.
- Fruesday - The topic of dropping an extra day from the fall calendar will be slated for the next Senate meeting
- Asynchronous meetings - Discussed various ways to conduct electronic voting without overloading Senate members' inboxes
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