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Faculty Assembly

THE FACULTY ASSEMBLY
THE COLLEGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY IN VIRGINIA:
MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF TUESDAY APRIL 24, 2001

The meeting was called to order at 3:32 pm.

The first order of business was to approve the minutes from the March Faculty Assembly meeting.

The next order of business was a report from Larry Beckhouse and Barbara Blosser (Associate Athletic Director).

Larry Beckhouse began by providing some basic information regarding compliance with Title Nine. He stated that while William and Mary is currently not in compliance with Title Nine, the College is making progress toward this goal. In all of the different categoriesBtotal participation, scholarships, operating expenses, and recruiting expensesBthe College has made progress over the past ten years. He also added that very few schools are currently in compliance.

The floor was then opened for questions and comments. Discussion turned to the $800 fee that was assessed per student and whether it was truly benefiting a sufficient number of students. Faculty Assembly members also asked if abolishing the football program would result in compliance with Title Nine provisions; while it was agreed that this would indeed be the case, Larry Beckhouse and Barbara Blosser cautioned that the football program provides revenue for the College. There was some disagreement over this issue.

Reports from administrative officers:

Provost Cell: Provost Cell began by informing the Assembly that she hoped to send out contracts by May 11th. She reported that the legislature will be returning to Richmond and may also stay for a budget session. Although no agreement has been reached regarding the budget, the Provost stated that it would be premature to send contracts out at this point. She then reported that it had been an extremely successful year in terms of faculty achievements with several NEH fellowships, an NSF Career Award, a Presidential Award, and large grant in computational physics from the Office of Naval Research.

It was then announced that the Board of Visitors meeting would be compressed into one day; Assembly members were welcome to attend.

Following the Provost's report, Dave Lutzer passed out a brief questionnaire to all Assembly members for the purpose of a self-evaluation following the first year of the re- structured Assembly.

The next order of business was the series of reports from the standing committees:

Academic Affairs Committee: Bill Stewart, Chair of the Academic Affairs Committee, reported that the Committee met twice with students who were in the process of designing the web page for course evaluations. The Committee also met to discuss the "self- defined" measures that would be used to assess the College for the SCHEV report.

Faculty Affairs Committee: Katherine Kulick reported on the status of the issues being handled by the Faculty Affairs Committee:

1. Consensual Amorous Relationship Policy
The document was reviewed by FAFAC and the suggestions from the Faculty Assembly were incorporated. The Personnel Policy Committee made further revisions (primarily related to consistency in wording) and then passed it unanimously. FAFAC then reviewed the amended policy and approved it. Katherine Kulick then announced that is was now before the Faculty Assembly for a vote. A motion was made (and seconded) to approve the policy. After several relatively minor amendments to the document were proposed and accepted (the current version is posted on the Faculty Assembly Web site), the original motion to approve the document was voted upon and passed unanimously.

2. Intellectual Property Policy
Katherine Kulick announced that the Intellectual Property Policy was on the agenda as a (non-voting) discussion item. She then opened the floor for questions and discussion. Discussion focused on the changes from the previous policy and the rationale for not including this in the body of the Faculty handbook.

3. Post Tenure Review
Katherine Kulick briefly reviewed the status of the Post Tenure Review Policy and reported that the proposed policy would be fully discussed at the May meeting.

Committee on Planning and Resources: There was no report from COPAR.

Executive Committee: There was a brief report describing proposed changes to the Assembly bylaws regarding some minor changes in committee composition. This was voted upon and passed unanimously.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:25 pm.

Margaret Saha
Secretary