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a. Report of Educational Policy Committee on new Law School curriculum will come to the Senate.

b. Bill Johnson has been invited to speak about the presidential search and has accepted. Discussion of advertising this to the total faculty, which will be done through a letter to the faculty. It also was recommended that Johnson consider inviting other members of the Search Committee to come with him. Faculty members will be reminded that the Senate Bylaws limit individual questions and statements to three minutes in length.

Frandsen reported that a subcommittee of the Advisory Committee was collecting material and formulating a first draft on desired qualities and priorities of the new president. The full Advisory Committee will meet on November 23 to revise and approve that document, which will be delivered to the Search Committee on November 24. The next big question is bow the screening process will take place. There was some discussion as to the role of the outside consulting firm, and the role of faculty in the interviewing process.

Frandsen reported that the Faculty Affairs Committee has an enormous workload, handling faculty appeals and studying various related issues. Frandsen thought that the latter function could be handled by a new committee, possibly to be named the Administrative Affairs Committee, which would deal with larger policy concerns and not with individual faculty grievances (which would remain with the Faculty Affairs Committee). Pierce added that he felt that policy studies such as workloads and faculty salaries could well be done by this new committee rather than by ad hoc committees. Silverstein said he thought this could be done by the present committee, perhaps by being enlarged. Question will. be referred to the Faculty Affairs Committee, which will respond to the Executive Committee. Van Hook and Pierce will communicate the thoughts of the Committee to the Faculty Affairs Committee.

The question is whether there be a faculty senator to provide input to the Trustees as that group revises its Bylaws. Pierce spoke in favor of this, adding that he hoped the AAUP proposal now being formulated would also be brought to the Senate. There followed a general discussion of relations between the Senate and the AAUP. On the Bylaws, Frandsen suggested that the AAUP will be asked for copies of its report, to be discussed by the Executive Committee at its next meeting.

Frandsen reported a phone call from a faculty member who objected to lack of faculty and student parking when an event takes place at the Thompson-Boling Arena. Frandsen said this was likely to come up in the Senate. G. Wheeler said that he suspected that faculty discontent was fairly widespread, since faculty lots often are taken for football and basketball parking. Wheeler added that Lot 9 is now reserved for faculty parking when arena is being used.

Hipple asked about returning temporary parking lots near McClung Tower to green space. G. Wheeler said there may be efforts to keep lots by some. Homer Fisher had spoken briefly on this subject at the last Senate meeting.

Silverstein reported that he is the Senate's representative on the Parking Committee, and would invite people to give him input on parking matters. G. Wheeler said the central issue was serious inconvenience to faculty and students.

G. Wheeler asked that, with the change in the UT presidency, do we want the Athletics Department returned to control of the UTK Chancellor's Office. Silverstein reminded group that Lamar Alexander was noncommitted on this issue. Kovac said question was not who controls the Department but how that Department helps to fulfill the University's larger mission. Frandsen asked whether the Senate Athletics Committee should look into this. G. Wheeler agreed, but noted that this was an extremely sensitive issue.

There followed a general discussion of student athletes and faculty input in the athletic program.

Frandsen reported that Joan Cronan would be there to speak on women's athletics and the Chancellor may present the Hesler Award at that meeting. He said the Educational Policy Committee would take up the majority of the meeting.

Silverstein thought it would be appropriate to respond to Governor McWherter's appropriation request for $5 million to begin the Science-Engineering-Computer Center Building, since the Senate earlier passed a resolution on this subject. G. Wheeler agreed, and hoped resolution would include $2 million for equipment.

This led to a general discussion of faculty salary increases for 1988-89. There is some doubt whether Governor McWherter's 2% cap on all state employee's salaries over $27,000 applies to faculty. G. Wheeler said that if this is the case, part of the student fee increase would add an average of 2% to faculty salaries, although Wheeler did say he had hoped to spend those increases elsewhere (until he beard about the McWherter budget).

Frandsen distributed draft of letter to accompany resolution of the Senate on the presidential search process.

G. Wheeler said Senate eventually would receive material on a proposal for a Ph.D. in Nursing. Wheeler was concerned about where funds would come from. He said he would like to see a Senate discussion on the wisdom of starting new Ph.D. programs at this time.

Sharp said that refusing to go forward with this program would be exceedingly unfortunate, and in the long run would hurt the larger community. G. Wheeler agreed, saying he is aware of a need for Ph.D.'s in Nursing. Sharp said the Dean of Nursing has planned meticulously on this.

1. Several questions arose, most of which had to do with timing problems and with removing students from individual colleges. Anderson said turnaround time was a problem and was being worked on.

2. Moore was concerned about the bureaucracy of the several (3) layers of appeal.

3. Mead spoke to how elaborate and time consuming this process will be, what with other pressures on faculty. She asked whether there was data from other universities to show such a process actually worked in "rescuing" students. G. Wheeler said this will be more humane, in that it will prevent students from floundering around, doing poorly, and not graduating because these students would find other options elsewhere.

4. Pierce strongly recommended beginning with phased implementation on a class-by-class basis. He also recommended that a strong statement on rewards for faculty doing advising be added to the implementation report. G. Wheeler agreed with both recommendations, as did Kovac.

5. Frandsen expressed concern for students who may be dropped from one college and unable to gain admission to another due to enrollment pressure or other circumstances. Present plans seem to indicate they would be dropped from the University.

6. Van Hook asked about the problem (as identified in the report) of minority students. G. Wheeler said there would be no separate policy, but as administered at the committee level there could be extra efforts to assist minorities.

7. Kovac spoke to the need for better summer advising, to which Woodside and Anderson agreed.

Frandsen asked if this should go to the Senate floor and, if so, when. Frandsen said this would be for information, not for vote. B. Wheeler asked whether the Senate could vote on the policy implementation, and the general consensus was no.

1. Ann Mayhew presented the report of the Senate Committee on Presidential Transition Issues.

There was a serious discussion of the content of the report and its implications. Some minor changes in the report were suggested and accepted by Mayhew for the Committee.

Frandsen asked the committee to vote on whether the document was acceptable with the changes that had been made. The vote was in the affirmative.

There was a consensus that the report could be released to the press after it had been delivered to Mr. Alexander and he gave his consent to wider distribution.

The committee agreed that Frandsen would write a cover letter and send the document as soon as possible.

2. Frandsen announced that the regular meeting of the Executive Committee which is scheduled for May 9th be postponed until May 16th so that Dr. John Prados would be able to attend.

Vice President John Prados was invited to speak on the issue of a unified faculty handbook. He said the motivation for doing this is that every time a revision of one of the campus handbooks is proposed, this must go to the Board of Trustees. Moreover, since legal offices and others must be involved in the process, this takes a good deal of time and energy. Prados' hope is for a common section of information and policies for all campuses which would not change for some time. Then each campus can supplement the core section with material apropos to its own campus. Prados said he would like to get the process back on track by 1) getting a member of the Faculty Senate to sit on a University-wide committee to work on the next draft stage of the core section, 2) getting a Senate committee to review the present staff, 3) getting revisions made, 4) getting Senate approval on all campuses, and 5) getting Board of Trustees approval.

The Executive Committee members expressed several reservations about this project, having to do with the distinctive nature of each of the campuses in the system. There was also concern over which portions of the present draft are descriptive and which are prescriptive, but there was more discussion about the concept of having a common core section of the handbook then there was about its content. There was some concern about how to amend a core section if there were one. After Dr. Prados left the discussion continued, most of it critical of a core section of a systems faculty handbook. Frandsen recommended that a subcommittee of the Executive Committee be appointed to examine the draft document and react to it. General agreement. There followed a discussion of the subcommittee's timetable, with the general agreement that the subcommittee would not be asked to respond before next fall.

Ms. Camille Hazuer, Director of the Office of Affirmative Action, was invited to meet with us concerning certain problems raised by the Task Force's report. In particular, she was asked how the Faculty Senate might try to provide information to the faculty about the improvement of interpersonal relations between teachers and students of different races.

Ms. Hazuer's main point was that many faculty members have not had the opportunity to gain insights into many minority students' attitudes, learning patterns, etc. She advocated faculty discussions to gain information about these insights which could empower them as teachers to deal more directly and productively with associated classroom problems.

She said that her office will be preparing some videotapes designed to illustrate the nature of the problem in classroom settings. These might be useful for raising faculty concerns and initiating dialogues about these problems. In response to a question, she said that the time commitment needed could be two or three hours a week for several weeks to accomplish a reasonable level of results with a faculty group. Van Hook said that few faculty members will be able to commit that much time to this process. She said she recommended getting 100 faculty members involved per year.

Kovac suggested that faculty needed to be made aware of different learning styles so as to teach all students better; these activities may tie in with that need.

Frandsen said the least that could be done in the fall was to schedule some lectures on the problem. Hazuer said she knew some good people who could be brought in for that purpose. She also said she would be willing to consult with the Senate at anytime on these matters.

There was agreement that the Senate should sponsor some lectures on the problem (funds to be requested from the Chancellor).

In response to a question, Hazuer said she suspected the problem applies to all minorities (Asian students, handicapped, etc.) or more generally to any people who appear "different" for some reason or other. There was a consensus that the faculty at UTK could use more information about the problems of interpersonal communications between people of different racial, social, or cultural backgrounds.

The Professional Development Committee will be asked to seek, with Ms. Hazuer's assistance, appropriate methods to provide such information to the faculty.

Frandsen distributed a letter he had written to President Boling to thank Boling for his service to the University and to wish him the best in his new position. There was some discussion of the creation of University Professorships for administrators stepping back to the faculty. It was unanimously agreed that the letter be included as part of these minutes.

Frandsen said he told Board it was critical to codify the search procedure for high-level administrators. He also mentioned the health insurance problems to the Board and asked for a vote by the Trustees in support of the faculty's position. The Board of Trustees, after debate, unanimously passed a resolution sympathizing with the faculty on this issue.

Silverstein brought a resolution to the committee that the spouse and dependent children of a UTK employee who dies continue to receive benefits similar to those listed in the Retirement Benefits Directory. This resolution has passed the Benefits committee. Executive Committee unanimously endorsed the resolution, which will come to the next Senate meeting.

Silverstein brought resolution from Benefits Committee commending Governor McWherter, the General Assembly and the State Insurance Committee for legislation which will help provide retirees with protection against catastrophic illness. Executive Committee endorsed resolution unanimously. It will come to the Senate at its next meeting.

Silverstein brought the first draft of an emeritus status policy from an ad hoc committee appointed by the President of the Senate. After a lengthy discussion, Frandsen suggested that another draft be done, in consultation with the Faculty Affairs Committee.

Frandsen reviewed the issues presently before the Senate, including Blue Cross, student rights in Hilltopics, policy on outside consulting, teaching evaluation, teaching improvement, grade appeals, search procedures for administrators, and Board of Trustees' visits to campus. There also was a brief discussion of making faculty members voting members of committees of Board of Trustees.

There will be a meeting of the Committee with President Alexander on Friday, July 1, from 2:45 to 3:15 in the Andy Holt Tower 8th floor Board Room. Frandsen said a major topic will be the search procedure for the new Chancellor, and that we should focus on that. Pierce also wanted conversation to include the search for a new Vice President for Academic Affairs. There followed a general discussion of search procedure. It was generally agreed that the procedures for the two searches should be similar to those used in the search for the Provost. G. Wheeler said he thought Alexander would want to engage a consulting firm to help with the Chancellor's search.