Minutes of Auburn University Senate Steering Committee
Feb. 27, 2014
Samford Hall 206

Present: Chair Larry Crowley, Chair-Elect Patricia Duffy, Secretary Judy Sheppard, Secretary-Elect Gisela Buschle-diller, Immediate Past Chair William Sauser; Constance Relihan, Associate Provost for Undergraduate Studies; Provost Tim Boosinger; Chris Roberts, Dean of College of Engineering; Steve Duke, Associate Dean for Engineering; Beth Guertal, Chair, Faculty Welfare and Salary Committee; Steering Committee members Larry Teeter, Don Mulvaney and Mike Baginiski. Not present: Laura Plexico.

1. The meeting was called to order by Larry Crowley at 3:30 p.m. Introductions were made and the previous meeting’s minutes were approved.

2. A proposal to be voted on at the March 5 meeting was the first item. This proposal would exempt majors in the College of Engineering from taking six hours of humanities courses that Auburn University requires of all majors, but that other state engineering colleges do not. The proposal was generated because of the extra time it can take engineering students to graduate.

The committee decided that Dr. Relihan would present slides again and make a resolution to adopt the exemption and Dr. Crowley would open the floor to discussion. Dr. Roberts offered to explain to the Senate that the proposal will not allow engineering to “sneak in” an extra six technical hours and that no engineering major will be allowed to require fewer than the 120 hours, and that this proposal originated long before the current consideration of a new budget model. He also said that more engineering faculty will speak in support of the proposal from the floor, since none did at the initial presentation. Dr. Duke also agreed to present slides on the accrediting agency and its requirements if questions were asked from the floor.

Several people discussed the difficulty of students transferring into the school. Dr. Duffy noted that AU’s core is larger here than many other colleges; Dr. Relihan mentioned that community colleges aren’t allowed to offer junior and senior courses, and that many transfers don’t do as well in the core as four-year students. Dr. Baginiski agreed, and Dr. Duffy said the problem seems to be a combination of training in high school and going to community colleges to save money.  

3. Robin Jaffe, chair of the Calendar and Schedules Committee, previewed the 2016-2017 calendar that will be voted on at the March 5 meeting, noting in particular that one of the fall breaks may have to be limited to one day instead of two days.

4. Dr. Beth Guertal then presented a detailed slide presentation on the parental leave and sick leave policies that are currently being applied inconsistently across colleges and departments. Confusion centers on the federal Family Medical and Leave Act, the university’s Salary Compensation Program, maternity leave, and the issues of how sick leave is counted and applied. The findings of their “snapshot” comparison is that few schools parental benefits beyond FMLA and use of an individual’s accrued sick and/or vacation leave. Additional paid parental leave for faculty, 9 or 12-month appointments, is usually offered for a short period (2 weeks) .Typically for all faculty, regardless of appointment (eg: 12, 10 , 9 mo.). Other University staff are often included, but often not post-docs or graduate students.

Provost Tim Boosinger said that the problem at AU appears to be not policy but consistent application.

The facts and issues being so complex and the need for further investigation being so great, Dr. Sauser recommended that the presentation be called an interim report, with any resolutions following further presentations in the future. The committee agreed.

The meeting adjourned at approximately 4:45 p.m.