MINUTES

Meeting of May 15, 2001

Held in the Poole Board Room of the Wardlaw Building

Members Present: Abdel-Khalik (ME); Boyd (Stu Servcs); Callen (ECE); Estes (EDI); Jayaraman (Mgt); McGuire (LCC); Schwan (CoC); Welch (GTRI); Williamson (Liby); Clough (Pres.); Liotta (Vice Provost). Alexander (Staff Rep); Childress (G. Stu): Kavanaugh (U. Stu.) E.Thomas (SoF):

Members Absent: Allen (Arch); El-Sayed (Chem); Hall (Bio); Richards (GTRI); Swank (GTRI); Wardi (ECE); M.Thomas (Provost);

Visitors: Mark Smith (Pres. Ofc); Nancey Leigh (Arch); Bob McMath (Provost Office); Ron Bohlander (GTRI); Ken Cunefare (ME); Gary May (EE).

1. The Chair brought the meeting to order at 3:03 p.m. and invited the President to comment on current activities.

a). Long term fund raising continues in a “stewardship” mode.

b). There has been no change to the budgetary situation since the last report to the Senate. There is some strain to honor commitments made for new faculty hiring.

c). The Chancellor has resigned but will remain for about 6 months while a replacement is appointed. There seems to be no specific matter that has precipitated this change. Nevertheless the system is suffering some difficulty, in particular a loss of M$70 to the budget caused by a decrease of course credit enrollments after semester conversion and the raising of certain entry standards.

d). The Board of Regents will shortly review proposed Capital Projects and Ga. Tech will present the Undergraduate Learning Center.

e). The GTF Board will meet this summer to finalize the Technology Square Project. In particular they will deal with Construction Bond funding.

f). The President was asked about the status of the new parking decks. He replied that this is still on hold, Tech does not yet own the property. We are waiting for an external company to report on the potential problems related to cracks in the structure.

g). The President was asked how the students might show support for the Undergraduate Learning Center. He replied that perhaps Student Government could provide him with a well-reasoned letter of support which he could convey to the Board of Regents.

h). The President commented that Bonds for construction of the Student Athletic Complex have been sold without difficulty.

2. The Chair welcomed to the Board Chris Kavanaugh, new Student Body President and Trey Childress, new President of the Graduate Student body.

3. The minutes of the March 20 Board meeting were approved without dissent.

4. The chair introduced the minutes of the Student Regulations Committee dated April 23, 2001. The Board was asked to approve these minutes on behalf of the Senate so that a proposed new “rule” could be included in the catalog for next year. The important item concerns a requirement that International Students make arrangements for Health Insurance. This is currently a policy but has not yet been placed in the student rules. Liotta stated that we should make sure that incoming Graduate Students were aware of this rule. Most negotiations with such students take place through Schools and they might not always communicate this requirement. Cindy Smith, speaking on behalf of the committee, agreed this needs to be done. It was moved that these minutes be approved; this was carried without dissent.

5. Ken Cunefare was asked to provide a brief review of the activities of the Student Grievance and Appeal Committee. He explained that the committee reviews appeals from decisions made by the Student Honor Committee and also Academic appeals. The committee operates in a manner consistent with its charges. It does not often seek to identify matters of concern but believes language giving it that responsibility should remain in its charge. The workload is reasonable and the committee functions well. Cunefare was asked whether the composition and size of the committee was satisfactory. He replied that these were quite suitable. The small size allowed them to make rapid responses. Karen Boyd commented that there had been a recent increase in the number of student appeals and that Student Services was monitoring this situation.

6. Gary May was asked to provide a brief review of the activities of the Student Honor Committee. It hears cases of academic misconduct referred by Dean Karen Boyd. In the last year they have heard four cases involving seven students. Six students have been found responsible and one not responsible. The number of cases is low compared with previous years. The only problem experienced by the committee has been related to maintaining a quorum. A couple of members left the committee during the year and there were some delays in making replacements. There is always a difficulty in obtaining a quorum during the Summer term. It was mentioned that a person temporarily unable to serve on a committee can designate a replacement to represent them; subject always to the approval of the Chair.

7. The President commented that there has been a slight upturn in the crime statistics and that he was creating a task group to review Campus Safety Issues. He will be asking the Welfare and Security Committee to supply a member of that group. Nancey Leigh asked whether firearms were permitted on Campus. There have apparently been instances of firearms being discharged from Fraternity Houses for the purpose of shooting squirrels; there has been damage to windows in the Architecture Building. There were various statements that firearm discharge was contrary to city ordinances. Karen Boyd asked to be given the full details and so that she could bring a halt to this situation.

8. The Chair asked Leigh and Welch to review their discussions concerning the formation of committees to review Intellectual Property rights. They have determined that the question of Commercialization and the question of IP rights in Distance Learning are rather separate issues and that it does not seem wise to have both reviewed by a single body. Thus, it is proposed to set up two separate bodies to deal with the two issues.

The Chair asked Leigh to review her proposal for a committee to study Intellectual Property Rights as related to Distance Learning. Nancey Leigh and Don Bohlander discussed a specific suggestion from the Academic Services Committee to set up a subcommittee to consider faculty interests in this matter. Bohlander commented that there are moves at the Federal level to make relevant changes in copyright law. From attendance at a recent conference he has found that many Universities have gathered substantial background resources on this question. The proposed Charge and Committee structure are detailed in an attachment to the minutes.

The President commented that he will also be creating a separate task group to look specifically at the U21/Thomson learning proposal and to make a recommendation during the Fall. This task group could have some overlapping membership with the Faculty Committee proposed by Leigh. Bohlander commented that the committee should perhaps also include a voice representing creative staff. Clough stated that the U21 task group should include a business person.

It was moved that the proposal from the Academic Services Committee be accepted and that the committee should be formed and start immediately on its task. This was agreed without dissent.

The Chair then invited Gisele Welch to discuss the question of a committee to review IP rights and the question of Commercialization. A committee (Chaired by Chameau) was set up in 2000 to review this matter from an administrative standpoint; they have presented their report. The most appropriate next step is for a small faculty group to review this document and through the Executive Board bring this report to the attention of the General Faculty Assembly for its review and approval. It was proposed that Welch create a small group for this purpose, present a review to the Board at its August meeting, and plan to present the matter to the GFA meeting in September. Welch agreed to undertake this.

9. The Chair raised the question of the “Student Bill of Rights”. The document in the catalog carried the notation that it has been “approved by the Board of Regents”. There has been some focus on whether that statement is correct. The Chair suggested that the Bill of Rights is a valuable and important document, whether or not it has received specific sanction by the BoR. He suggested that the Board seek to have the Senate affirm its support for having such a document in the general catalog. Chris Kavanaugh stated that the student body had recently created a revised version and that he would be happy to share it with the Board. After some discussion it was decided to make a full review of the new document during the June Board meeting and try to bring the matter to the Senate during the Fall.

10. The Chair asked for any other business. Secretary requested permission to appoint Christopher Jarrett of Architecture to fill the unexpired term of McLaughlin on the Student Activities Committee; McLaughlin has resigned from Tech. The appointment was approved without dissent. There being no other business the Chair closed the meeting at 4:05 p.m.

------------------------------------------------

Respectfully submitted

Edward W. Thomas

Secretary of the Faculty

May 16, 2001

Notes for the record.

(1) In an e-mail ballot ending April 18, 2001 the Board voted to appoint Larry Jacobs (CE) to fill the unexpired (2001 - 2002) term of Deborah Johnson on the Student Regulations Committee. Johnson leaves Tech on June 30.

(2) By e-mail ballot ending April 3, 2001 the Board approved appointing Ronnie Roberts (ChE) to serve a three-year term on the Academic Services Committee and Michael Lacy to serve a three-year term on the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee. Both are replacements for Jack Marr who was elected to both these committees in the spring election but who is unable to serve due to having also been elected to a full term on the Executive Board.

(3) By e-mail ballot ending April 3, 2001 the Board approved the result of the Spring 2001 election (copy attached to this agenda).

Attachments to the Archival copy of these minutes:

(1) Copy of Agenda.

(2) Sub-Committee of the Academic Services Committee Recommendation (to set up a Distance Learning and Intellectual Property Subcommittee).