Faculty Senate Minutes

January 10, 2007

Officers attending: Nick Reeder, President; Jackie Meyers, Vice President; James Brooks, Secretary

Senators attending: Mohamed Ali, Derek Allen, Jennifer Barr, Moez Ben-Azzouz, Mark Echtner, James Houdeshell, Eric Kraus, Amanda Romero, Cindy Schoonover, Thomas Singer, Charles C. Williams

Senators not attending: Luis Gonzalez

Others attending: Karen Abney-Korn, Dona Fletcher, Laurel Mayer, Shari Rethman

Nick called the meeting to order at 2:32 pm in Rm. 7342.

1. Approval of Minutes

Minutes for the Faculty Senate meeting of November 8 were approved without corrections.

2. President’s Report

(Note: Before Nick proceeded with the President’s Report, he requested that Senate enter into Executive Session to discuss a personnel issue at the request of a Sinclair faculty member. Notes pertaining to this discussion have been recorded and will be kept off-line by the Faculty Senate Secretary.)

2.1 Faculty Handbook On-Line

Nick raised the question of improving the on-line version of the Faculty Handbook to make it more user-friendly. After a brief discussion, Tom Singer and Amanda Romero agreed to work with IT to oversee this effort to make the Handbook linked and searchable.

2.2 Faculty Issues Team (FIT) Update

Nick reported that FIT had met November 3 and January 10. At the November 3 meeting, Tom McMullen, consultant with the Hay Group, who has a long history of working with Sinclair, met with the team. His PowerPoint presentation has been posted on the Sinclair Faculty Assembly site on Angel (under Content/Faculty Issues Team/FIT Workshop on Faculty Compensation Models, Nov. 3, 2006). At the January 10 meeting, it was agreed that Tom would be invited to help the team design a survey that would lead Sinclair faculty to be able to provide input on various possible features of a new compensation model. When questioned as to the time-line for the survey and eventual adoption of a new model, Nick was uncertain but indicated he would be giving Senate regular updates on any developments.

3. Faculty Resource Subcommittee: New Hiring Practices

Jennifer Barr reported that Tom Huguley, Assistant to the Provost, will work with the committee and that the committee members have been invited to sit in on the next meeting of the new faculty orientation process, which Tom chairs. Tom welcomes Senate’s involvement in the effort to improve the process, to benchmark with other schools, etc. Jennifer expressed the hope that she would have more to report at the Winter Faculty Assembly meeting on January 31.

4. Unfinished Business

4.1 Revision to Handbook Section 1.1 (Foreward)

Senate approved a recommendation to delete the opening sentence of Section 1.1 (Foreward), with one dissenting vote. The college attorney had informed Senate that there is no state law that “requires that all employment be governed by the provisions of employment printed in the Policies and Procedures Manual (Faculty Handbook)”; the majority of senators, therefore, felt that the statement was misleading and unnecessary.

4.2 Revision to Handbook Section 2.11.2 (Textbook Selection)

Senate approved a recommendation, with one dissenting vote, to insert a reference to the Ohio Revised Code in the opening sentence of Section 2.11.2 (Textbook Selection): “Sinclair Community College is a political subdivision of the State of Ohio and a public institution of postsecondary education (O.R.C. 3333.20)…”

After a brief discussion, Senate approved a recommendation to move the newly revised opening sentence of Section 2.11.2 to Section 1.1, making it the opening sentence of that section. The recommendation passed with one dissenting vote.

5. New Business

Many senators shared concerns about the closed-door requirement for fire doors across the campus. Health, comfort, religious, legal (ADA), and safety issues were cited as reasons to question the policy. Senators expressed a desire to know the law and reasoning behind the law more specifically. It was acknowledged that Sinclair cannot violate state or local law with respect to this issue, but it was also hoped that some sort of compromise could be found. A suggestion was made to bring in experts, from our own campus and outside, to assess the situation and propose alternative solutions to the closed-door policy. Senators reported that faculty and students were feeling frustrated by the closed-door policy and were afraid that the negative consequences would escalate if something wasn’t done to counteract it.

After an extended discussion, the following recommendation was passed, with Nick being directed to forward it to Dr. Grove immediately: That the College seek an alternate solution to the current “closed door” policy for fire doors across campus. Senate expects that one or more satisfactory, alternate solutions can be found by consulting on-campus and/or off-campus experts. Senate further recommends that a solution or solutions be identified by the end of Winter quarter and implemented in a timely fashion.

6. Announcements

Next meeting: January 24, 2007, Rm. 7342, 2:30 pm.

Winter Faculty Assembly Meeting: January 31, 2007, Rm. 4011, 3:00 pm.

The meeting adjourned at 4:09 pm.

Submitted by James Brooks

Approved by Senate: January 24, 2007