University Council Minutes

09/21/2016 03:30 PM - Tate Theatre, Tate Student Center
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The University Council held its first meeting of the 2016-2017 academic year on Wednesday, September 21, 2016 in the Tate Theatre. A quorum being present, the meeting was called to order at 3:30 p.m. by President Jere Morehead.

As the first order of business on the agenda, the minutes of the May 3, 2016 meeting were approved as distributed.

The President then delivered his report to the Council:

  • President Morehead began his remarks by welcoming all returning University Council members and all new members. The President thanked all new members for serving on the Council. The President stated that Council service is very important to the University as it provides a voice to faculty, staff, and students to participate in the shared governance process of the University, serves as an advisory to the President by voting on motions passed by standing committees, and voices its opinions on policies and initiatives. In terms of procedure, any action passed by the University Council is subject to either approval, recognition, or veto by the President with the possibility of an appeal of a veto to the Board of Regents. The President stated that vetoes are rare because the Council is a thoughtful, deliberate body. Motions go through a structured committee process that allows consideration from many different voices and opinions. Input that is provided through this thorough process leads to well-crafted proposals that appear before the full Council for consideration. The President then stated that he looks forward to working with the Council in the current academic year.
  • The Fall semester is off to a rigorous start. The University has been ranked as the number 18 university in U.S. News & World Report's ranking of the best public universities, moving up three spots from last year. The state of Georgia is also one of three states in the country with two institutions to make the list's top 20 best public universities. UGA also ranked number 17 on the Forbes Top 25 Public Colleges of 2016 list and continues to earn high marks as one of the best values in public higher education. The President stated that these rankings are reflective of the commitment to excellence across the board by the faculty, staff, students, and alumni of the University.
  • The President welcomed Anna Scheyett, the new dean of the School of Social Work. The President also stated he participated last Thursday in a celebration of Maurice Daniels, the former dean of the School of Social Work.
  • Noel Fallows has been named as the new associate provost for international education. He had been serving as the interim associate provost for international education since February. The President and the Council then recognized Dr. Fallows.
  • For the fourth consecutive year, the incoming freshman class set a new record for academic quality, arriving with an average GPA of 3.98, an average SAT score of 1302, and an average ACT score of 29.
  • The new experiential learning initiative is now underway. Beginning with this year's class of first year students, every undergraduate will be participating in a hands-on, learning opportunity outside of the classroom. No university of the size and complexity of UGA has attempted to implement such an initiative. The President stated that he is excited about where this initiative will go in the coming years.
  • The new Science Learning Center was recently dedicated on South Campus. The President encouraged Council members to visit the facility if they had not yet done so.
  • The President was also pleased to report that other major facilities projects were on schedule, such as phase two of the Business Learning Community, the new Center for Molecular Medicine, and the new indoor practice facility, among others. Next week, the Tift Building will be rededicated on the Tifton Campus.
  • UGA's research enterprise continues to surge as UGA faculty are attracting more external funding now than at any other time in the University's history. Two important indicators of research prowess are research expenditures and research awards. Expenditures are up 14% over last year and awards are up 12%.
  • The University has also set for the third consecutive year a record in private fundraising, bringing in $183 million in new gifts and commitments, a 28% increase over last year. The President stated that this gives great confidence to UGA as a comprehensive campaign begins this November.
  • UGA has been recognized for the third consecutive year as a recipient of the 2016 INSIGHT Into Diversity Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award. The President congratulated Dr. Michelle Garfield Cook for her work with diversity initiatives on campus.
  • The President stated that the impact of the new federally-imposed changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act on UGA staff members has caused great concern. Due to a change in the Federal Department of Labor regulations, UGA is required to classify all employees who earn less than $913 per week or an annual salary of $47,476, as well as those whose job responsibilities qualify under the federal duties test, as non-exempt workers, meaning that they are hourly employees who will be eligible for overtime and comp time. Many UGA staff members are affected by this mandate and will be transitioning to a non-exempt status. The President did note, however, that the law is being challenged by the attorney generals of 21 states, including the state of Georgia. As the legal landscape is being shaped, the University continues to explore options with the USG to help staff members mitigate the impact of this mandated change such as allowing affected employees to cash out up to 56 hours of annual leave, holding informational forums, and providing personal financial advice and counseling. The President stated that this change is disruptive and not easy, but that the University has no choice but to comply with the new federal law. He then stated that he hopes everyone is sensitive to, and supportive of, all affected staff members as the University continues to look for ways to support them.
  • As he closed his remarks, the President informed the Council that the annual Ombudsperson Report has been provided to him by Janyce Dawkins, Director of the Equal Opportunity Office and will be available to the Council in the minutes. The President thanked Cathy Jones, Steve Gibson, and Karen Saunders for their work as the three Ombudspersons who work directly with faculty, staff, and students.
  • This concluded the President's report to the Council.

The floor was then opened for the following standing committee reports and minutes. Standing committee minutes submitted prior to the meeting are also included below:

The following Action Items were then presented to the Council for consideration:

Following the presentation of the University Curriculum Committee's items, President Morehead informed the Council that the next two items on the agenda concerned two conflicting action items on the same subject- the Academic Calendar- with one coming from the Educational Affairs Committee and the other from a faculty-endorsed petition. The President stated that he had been advised by Parliamentarian Usha Rodrigues that Robert's Rules will not permit an assembly to entertain a motion that conflicts with a motion passed earlier in the same session, meaning that if the Educational Affairs Committee's proposal passed, it would render the fall proposal of the faculty petition moot. To avoid foreclosing debate, the President, in his capacity as the Council's presiding officer, and upon advice of the Parliamentarian, made a motion to suspend Robert's Rules in order to permit the petition to be considered out of order and to discuss the merits of the two motions together. The motion was seconded, a vote was called, and the motion was approved. Following the motion's passage, the President informed the Council that the Educational Affairs Committee would present its proposal first and entertain questions, followed by the petitioners. After presenting both items, the floor would then be opened to debate on the two motions together. Prior to EAC's presentation, the President called on Professor Rodrigues to provide some brief procedural remarks. Professor Rodrigues informed Council members that Robert's Rules provide that everyone has the chance to speak twice on any motion before Council. When someone has spoken, he or she must wait until everyone else has spoken on a question before speaking again.

Jean Williams-Woodward, chair of the Educational Affairs Committee, presented EAC's proposal. Following the proposal's presentation, questions were fielded from Council members regarding the proposal. Several questions involved teaching a day of Friday classes on Tuesday, December 5. A question was raised as to why this occurred and if other schools in the USG, such as Georgia Tech and Georgia State, employ such methods for their academic calendars. Discussion on the question revealed this was drafted into the calendar in order to meet the appropriate number of Fridays. Some members stated that schools like Georgia Tech and Georgia State do not use this method to make up days on their calendars. Another question regarded the 15 weeks time period on the calendar and if those 15 weeks included exams. Dr. Williams-Woodward stated that the calendar provides for 15 weeks of instructional time plus a week of exams. EAC has also charged a subcommittee with looking at all options for drafting a spring 2018 calendar, including examining a 14 weeks plus exam method as well as how various academic calendars would impact different populations on campus. A question was raised as to when EAC planned to present to the Council a drafted spring 2018 calendar. Dr. Williams-Woodward stated that their goal was to have a proposal before the Council at the November meeting.

Following the presentation from EAC, Dr. Patricia Richards and Dr. Rachel Gabara of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences presented the faculty-endorsed petition. Included in their presentation were several visuals such as student experiential opportunities that could be affected by an early start date, Board of Regents academic calendar guidelines, two tables (table 1 and table 2) that displayed peer and aspirant academic calendar information in comparison to UGA, and draft calendars of the petition's fall 2017 and spring 2018 calendars. During their presentation, Dr. Gabara and Dr. Richards stated to the Council that since their presentation to the Executive Committee, they reworked the spring 2018 dates found in their proposal, including changing the start date from Thursday, January 11 to Monday, January 8. Because this new draft was not included in the petition signed by the fifty plus faculty members who endorsed the petition, Dr. Richards and Dr. Gabara requested a friendly amendment be made to submit these changes to the petition. A motion was made for the friendly amendment and was then seconded. A question was raised as to whether or not the faculty who endorsed the petition were aware that the petition could be amended by Council. Professor Rodrigues explained that once the petition was before Council, the petition could be amended from the floor. A vote was then called. The friendly amendment to include the new version of the spring 2018 calendar in the petition's proposal was approved. Questions were then fielded from the Council regarding the amended proposal on such topics as instruction time requirements from the Board of Regents, the methods used to make up days in the proposed calendar, and possible salary implications from going to a 14 weeks plus exams model. Dr. Richards and Dr. Gabara stated that dividing their proposal into separate fall and spring calendars would be ideal because it would allow the fall EAC calendar and the petition's fall calendar to be considered correspondingly. Then, a single up or down vote on the petition's spring 2018 calendar could occur. A motion was then made to divide the proposal. The motion being non-debatable, a vote was called and the Council approved separating the petition to be considered as a separate fall 2017 calendar and a separate spring 2018 calendar.

The floor was then opened for debate on both the EAC proposal and the petition's proposal. Several members stated that they agreed with EAC's proposal to modify the fall 2017 calendar and expressed misgivings regarding the petition, including that shortening semesters may affect the content of courses and consequently negatively affect students through eliminating a week of instruction time. There was also a concern expressed regarding the perception that shortening the semester would negatively affect the prospect of salary raises coming from the state. Other members expressed support for bringing UGA's semesters in line with its peer and aspirant institutions and eliminating the 16 weeks model. Given the direction of the debate, a motion was raised to table the petition in order to provide it more time for thought and consideration. The non-debatable motion was then seconded. A vote was called and the motion failed to pass. With debate resuming, several Council members voiced their support for the EAC's proposed fall 2017 calendar and for the EAC's calendar subcommittee that is examining all factors and options for the spring 2018 calendar as well as future academic calendars going forward. A motion was then made to close debate on the question of the fall 2017 calendar and vote on EAC's fall 2017 calendar. A point of clarification on the motion was made to the Council that if the fall 2017 calendar from EAC passed, the petition's fall 2017 calendar would no longer be considered for a vote. Given this clarification, the motion to close debate was seconded. The motion not being debatable, a vote was called on the motion to close the debate, which passed.  EAC's proposal for a new fall 2017 calendar was presented to the Council. The proposal was approved. A member of the Council objected as a matter of parliamentary procedure to having attempted to speak before the motion to close debate was made and asked that the objection be noted.

Discussion then moved to the petition's spring 2018 calendar. The amending of the spring 2018 calendar during the Council meeting was mentioned. It was then discussed that since EAC was already actively addressing issues related to the spring 2018 calendar and the structure of academic calendars going forward, it may be best to refer the petition's spring 2018 calendar to EAC for consideration. A motion for this referral was then made. Following a brief discussion on the motion, a vote was called and the Council voted to refer the petition's proposed spring 2018 academic calendar to the Educational Affairs Committee for consideration as it conducts its comprehensive review of the academic calendar.

The following Information Item was then presented to the Council:

The following reports were then presented to the Council:

There was no old business to come before the Council. During new business, a motion was made from the floor to charge the Human Resources Committee with appointing a subcommittee to investigate the implementation of the new FLSA requirements. Because quorum had been lost for the meeting, the motion was unable to receive a vote.

There being no further new business, the meeting concluded at 5:40 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Dr. Jan Hathcote, Registrar
Secretary to University Council

University Council Roster

Aderibigbe, Ibigbolade

Hansen, Nathan

Pardue, Samuel

Barbour, Suzanne

Harman, Ruth

Pegan, Scott

Barnard, Malcolm

Hathcote, Jan

Phillips, Dennis

Biesecker, Barbara

Herber, Eric

Poland, Mary

Black, Joel

Herist, Keith

Prasad, Gurazada

Bliss, Thomas

Hernandez, Sonia

Reidenbaugh, Patrick

Bousquette, Joshua

Hollander, Barry

Richman, Erin

Bray, John

Ivy, Stuart

Rizer, Jasmine

Briggs, Harold

Jackson, Chandra

Roberts, Susan

Bynum, Josh

Jackson, David

Robinson, Eric

Cai, Haini

Jackson, Stan

Robinson, Kayin

Camus, Al

James, Kevin

Rose, John

Camus, Melinda

Jarrett, Carla

Rosemond, Amy

Carson, Jamie

Jordan, Brian

Roth, Gabrielle

Chatterjee, Santanu

Jordan, Jeff

Roulston, Kathy

Chepyator-Thomson, Rose

Kaplan, Holly

Rutledge, Bo

Coleman, Davis

Kavoori, Andy

Samp, Jennifer

Collier, Marlin

Kelley, Laura

Santesso, Esra

Cona, Kelly

Kennedy, Craig

Sawhill, Ronald

Cooper, Diane

Kerner, Kelly

Scheyett, Anna

Cox, Wade

Lastinger, Matt

Shaffer, Anne

Crawley, Laura

Lastrapes, William

Sharma, Suraj

Cullen, Christian

Lear, Kristen

Shepherd, Shelley

Dahlen, Joseph

Lee, David

Shetterley, Karen

Dellaria, Nancy

Lee, Leslie Petch

Shipley, David

DeMaria, Don

Leigh, David

Shrivastav, Rahul

Dennis, Carla

Leo, Donald

Sikes, Kris

Diaz-Peterson, Joy

Lewis, Denise

Snell, Michael

Doran-Peterson, Joy

Lewis, Michael

Snyder, Margaret

Dorsey, Alan

Lewis, Steven

Speakman, Jeff

Dove, Robert

Li, Changying

Spivey, Julie

Dunham, Richard

Li, Ke

Stanger-Hall, Kathrin

Dvoracek, Douglas

Malone, Barrett

Taha, Thiab

Easley, Morgan

Mandal, Abhyuday

Taylor, Ashley

El, Shantee

Martin-Williams, Jean

Thomas, Paul

Eranezhath, Vinayak

Mattern, Susan

Tobin, Beth

Escalera, Cris

Mathews, Paul

Toews, Mike

Evans, Jonathan

Medlin, Sayge

Tolley, Beth

Fallaize, Ashley

Miller, Deborah

Tompkins, Mark

Farmer, Mark

Miller, Shari

Vencill, William

Freeman, Melissa

Moore, Allen

Vijayakumar, Kannan

Frick, Janet

Moore, Mary

Watson, Eddie

Frum, Jennifer

Moore, Myra

Whitten, Pamela

Fucetola, Jacob

Morehead, Jere

Wilde, Susan

Gaines, Houston

Munneke, Henry

Williams, Brian

Gibney, Angela

Muszynski, Artur

Williams, Phillip

Giraudo, Silvia

Naghepour, Roya

Williams, Susan

Gittleman, John

Nesbit, Ryan

Williams-Woodward, Jean

Gomez-Lainer, Lilia

Nesbit, Scott

Wilson, Stacy

Gragson, Ted

Nibbelink, Nate

Wilson, Victor

Graham, Toby

Nuss, Michelle

Wolf, Montgomery

Grantham, Tarek

O'Neill, Peter

Yabsley, Michael

Greene, Dale

Okech, David

Yager, Patricia

Greene, Erik

Oliver, Kerry

Zheng, George

Gupton, Timothy

Owsiak, Andy

Øie, Svein

Han, Jeong-Yeob

Pagnattaro, Marisa

 


Represented by Proxy

Allen, Sheila

Babiarz, Patryk

Barrie, Coleman

Dougherty, Anjali

Durham, Stephan

Fox, Linda

Grey, Timothy

Hoyt, Rob

Hudson, Thomas

Lai, Ming-Jun

Little, Elizabeth

Mao, Leidong

Maurer, John

McClung, James

Milot, Lisa

Nadenicek, Daniel

Naeher, Luke

Parks, Andrew

Peake, Jason

Reinberger, Mark

Reyes De Corcuera, Jose

Rhicard, Laura

Shelton, Robin

Weeks Leonard, Elizabeth

Yi, Hyangsoon