Advisory Council of Faculty Senates

Minutes of January 13, 2006 Meeting

Turlington Education Building, Tallahassee

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Meeting Attendees: Tom Auxter (UFF), Leonard Bliss (FIU), Arlen F. Chase (UCF), Manoj Chopra (UCF), Jim Cobbe (FSU), Mary B. Diallo (FAMU), Susan Greenbaum (USF), Bruce Hauptli (FIU), Roy Levow (FAU), Klaus J. Meyer-Arenolt (UWF; for Jay Gould), Martha Pelaez (FIU), Halcyon St. Hill (FGCU), Judith L. Solano (UNF), Kim Tanzer (UF), Katherine Walstrom (NCF), Dreamal Worthen (FAMU).

The meeting started at 8:45 AM. The agenda was approved. Two sets of minutes were also approved with minor changes: the minutes of the ACFS meeting of September 2 in Tallahassee and the minutes of the BOG meeting of November 16-17 in Jacksonville.

Chair’s Opening Remarks

Dr. Martha Pelaez began by noting that important issues were being raised at the BOG meetings, but that much of the information was being distributed to her very late (only several days prior to the meeting). She then discussed the relationship between the BOG and the Florida legislature, noting that while a mediation had been reached between the BOT, the BOE, and Floridians for Constitutional Integrity, the legislature was clearly worried about the outcome. She passed out a letter to the BOG Chair by Tom Lee (President) and Allan Bense (Speaker) of the Florida Legislature outlining their concern over the terms of the mediation. Among other things, the mediation gave the BOG the authority to set tuition and fees and the ability to approve university budgets – items that are in contradiction to HB 1001 passed in 2005. The BOG relationship with the Legislature will receive extended discussion in the future. The BOG is attempting to work closely with the Legislature and has submitted their policies to that body.

Dr. Pelaez next summarized the Task Force on Access to Post-Secondary Education recommendations. These included: increasing participation in targeted programs through realigning funding for targeted programs (including tuition flexibility) and forgiving loans in targeted programs; having individuals declare a major by the time they complete 24 credit hours; fixing Bright Futures; increasing pre-paid college costs; expanding dual enrollment. It was pointed out by Dr. St. Hill (FGCU) that some of these goals were unrealistic; for instance, students in professional programs can’t declare a major after only taking 24 credit units.

Other issues that the BOG was looking at included the coordination of state policies on access to BAs and the possible use of PECO funds to help target programs gain the necessary facilities.

Chancellor Rosenberg

The new SUS Chancellor next introduced himself to the ACFS group (he had previously met with some members of the group at the Jacksonville BOG meeting). Dr. Mark Rosenberg is the former FIU Provost; he is a political scientist with a background in Latin America. He noted that his specialty was a “development perspective” and then stated that Florida could be considered a “developing country” as the demands for services outstrip Florida’s ability to supply these serviced. He then noted that by moving to the BOG that he had “gained 10 universities.” Dr. Rosenberg wants to align private and public discourse. His goals include: seeing the SUS system being the best in its class with a focus on quality; seeing the SUS system as preparing people for global competitiveness by expanding the Legislature’s focus on workforce; and focusing on accountability, which he defined as “efficiency and transparency in the context of performance.” He noted that the roles of the Chancellor and his Office were new (and different from the Board of Regents); he had no responsibility for the hiring and firing of university presidents, but rather represented the SUS universities to the Legislature; his challenge was to build and enhance the system through “thoughtful advocacy.” He was optimistic about the university budget and noted that his staff was working to get full funding for the BOG legislative agenda. He noted that it was necessary to differentiate the SUS system from the Community College system to the Legislature through focusing on university research in the context of quality teaching. He next stated that there had been an extra $200 million in PECO funding this year and that this funding had been directed to university buildings. He then took questions and engaged in a lively discussion over various issues of concern. Topics included: the differences between research universities and Legislative concerns with the Florida workforce; being on top of the “information explosion;” and, the duplication of educational services within a given region. Dr. Rosenberg then asked the ACFS members to contact him with suggestions as to where the BOG should focus his efforts.

BOG Staff Reports

Dottie Minear, Vice-Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs, next talked to the group (R.E. LeMon was unable to make this meeting). She noted that the BOG Student Affairs Committee had been largely responsible for Governor Bush’s creation of a University Access and Diversity Initiative to look at scholarship issues, need-based aid, and engaging a proportion of Florida’s underserved population in a university education. This led to a discussion of problems created by the lapsed Caribbean and Latin American scholarship initiative in the Sate of Florida; in-state tuition waivers cannot be created through funding from a foreign country or through the use of federal or state scholarship dollars; rather, private dollars that establish a certain level of scholarships for foreign students through University Foundations (set at different rates at the different institutions) are the only means currently available for in-state tuition waivers. A J1 visa does not permit a student to qualify for in-state tuition. The Florida House wants to do away with scholarships and assistantships for foreign students. In her final comments, Ms. Minear covered two topics topics: the “dashboard” being developed by the BOG to ensure fiscal responsibility in the SUS and that the Florida BOG will next look at ALCs by discipline across the state.

Tim Jones was next to speak. He handed out the BOG legislative budget request and discussed specific initiatives; the total LBR being requested by the BOG is $3,406,546,627.00. Mr. Jones noted that Florida Peco funds were at their highest level ever. Since the legislature was not in session, it is too early to know what will and will not be accepted by this body. However, he did note that some legislators are saying that tuition and fee increases are not needed; this would not bode well for the recommended 5% in-state tuition and fee increase that is requested in the BOG LBR.

Rick Maxley next presented parts of the BOG legislative agenda, again accompanied by handouts. The first handout detailed areas in which the BOG sought to amend the current law (HB1001 Conformance; Tuition Flexibility; DSO Bonding; Technology Funding; Local Fee Caps; and the Transfer of Appropriation for Names Fixed Capital Outlay Projects). The second handout correlated bills having an impact on education that were being raised in the House and Senate. He noted that the BOG mediation agreement may impact some of these amendments and bills, especially since Governor Winn did not sign the mediation agreement on behalf of the BOE.

ACFS Constitutional Changes

Dr. Arlen Chase (UCF) had presented changes to the ACFS constitution at the September 2 ACFS meeting that included defined duties for the ACFS Chair-Elect and the ACFS Past Chair. These changes were approved by the assembled members of ACFS. The new ACFS constitution is attached to this document.

UFF Update

Dr. Tom Auxtor (UF), the State President of the UFF, provided an update on union activity in the SUS. He noted that contracts had been approved at FIU and at UNF. Negotiations were still ongoing at UF, but had been spurred on by a July 2005 ruling by the Florida Supreme Court upholding collective bargaining for university faculty. He warned the universities to remain vigilant with regard to academic freedom, noting that Representative Baxley had not re-introduced a student bill of rights this legislative session. He also commented that David Horowitz intends to attack the university tenure process on a national level.

New Business

A concern was expressed about the SUS academic calendar and bringing it into line with the Elementary and Secondary Education calendars should the legislature decide that Florida schools should start much later at the end of August. The BOG policy on university start dates is that the starting date for classes should be within 3 workdays after August 22.

The next ACFS meeting will be held on June 22 and 23 and will be scheduled to coincide with the BOG meeting that is scheduled at that time. The location of this BOG meeting is currently not announced.

Finally, there was a spirited discussion on the role of universities in Florida, specifically raising issues on what constituted a “quality education.” Whereas the legislature sees universities in terms of workforce preparation and as producing individuals in “good vocational jobs” that add to the state’s tax base, educators are more concerned with providing a “good education” and in making universities “centers of excellence.” Many legislators do not understand the differences between Community Colleges and Research Universities; it is up to the BOG and the ACFS to try to explain the differences between the two systems. The State labor shortages in nursing, engineering, and teaching cannot be solved by simply passing the credentialing onto the Community Colleges. Rather than let the Florida legislature define the issues, we need to educate them with regards to the role that quality research plays in cutting-edge teaching and in national accreditation (and standards).

Campus Reports

The final order of business was the presentation of campus reports. These are attached to the minutes of the meeting in their order of presentation. Digital handouts provided by the various Faculty Senate Chairs are also provided in their entirety.

The meeting was adjourned at 3:15 PM.