Executive Committee Minutes

04/13/2006 03:30 PM - Peabody Board Room - Administration Building

The University Council Executive Committee met on April 13, 2006 in the Peabody Board Room of the Administration Building. Dr. Nancy Felson, Chair, declared a quorum and called the meeting to order at 3:33 p.m.  Standing committee chairs in attendance were Jim Anderson, Richard Dunham, Noel Fallows, Janet Frick, David Shipley, William Vencill, and Scott Weinberg.  Visitors included Meg Amstutz, Debbie Bell, Karen Boyd, Paul Brooks, Adrian Childs, Ann Crowther, Larry Dendy, Del Dunn, Rachel Fischer, Deshaun Harris, Su-I Hou, Fiona Liken, Carole Middlebrooks, Denise Newborn, Kelly Pires, Ed Risler, Zo Stongmon, Anne Sweaney, Matt Weeks, Fred White, William Whitman, and Phil Williams.


Dr. Felson welcomed everyone to the last meeting of the Executive Committee for the 05-06 academic year and thanked committee members for their participation and hard work. Dr. Felson stated that she hopes the committee''s hard work has made a difference and will contribute to stronger faculty governance in the future.


The minutes from the March 9 Executive Committee meeting were approved with an amendment to number two under new business changing the wording "...for stricter new member education for Greek organizations.." to "...for a more restricted time frame for new member education programs for Greek organizations.." (attachment a).


Action Items:



  1. Dr. Noel Fallows presented the first reading of several proposals from the Committee on Statutes, Bylaws and Committees. It was requested that motions one through six be voted on as a package, and no objections were heard. Motion number seven was withdrawn. Motions one and two were amended as stated below. The vote was called and motions one through six were approved with amendments (attachment b):

    1. Proposals to add staff representatives to University Council:

      1. Motion one - Amend Article XVII of the University Statutes. A friendly amendment was accepted to remove the words "from and" in the sentence reading "The Staff Council shall have nine
        representatives on the University Council. One of these, the Staff Council President,
        will be an ex officio voting member of the University Council, and the remaining eight
        shall be elected from and by the Staff Council."
      2. Motion two - Add a new paragraph to Part V., Section III. E. of the University Council Bylaws and change the lettering of subsequent paragraphs accordingly. The same friendly amendment was accepted to provide consistency by changing motion two to remove the words "from and" in the sentence reading "The Staff Council shall have nine representatives on the University Council. One of these, the Staff Council President, will be an ex officio voting member of the University Council, and the remaining eight shall be elected from and by the Staff Council."
      3. Motion three - Change the wording of the last sentence of the University Council Bylaws, Part V., Section III. B.
      4. Motion four - Change Article V, Sections 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9 of the University Statutes to include staff as members of the University Council. Another friendly amendment was accepted with the following:

        • Section 5.e. Change ?Any elected member of the UGA Staff Council?? to ?Any staff from the classified personnel or other regular non-faculty status employees?? and Add ?as outlined in the University Council ByLaws? to the end of that sentence.
        • Section 6.c. Add ? by staff serving? after ??will be elected??

    2. Proposals to change and clarify Standing Committees membership:


        1. Motion five - Change in order to clarify Standing Committee membership sections in Part I, Sections I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV of the University Council Bylaws. Concerns were voiced about the change that would not require Council membership in order to remain on Council committees. It was noted that with most of the members, or even the chairs of the committees, not being Council members could create problems bringing proposals and motions to the Council. Dr. Fallows responded that it was their committee?s intention to closely monitor term expirations as new committee members were being nominated to ensure a more evenly distributed expiration of terms.
        2. Motion six (to be considered concurrently with motion five) - Deletion of Part V., IV (with re-numbering of subsequent sections) of the University Council Bylaws.

    3. Motion seven to add the University Promotion and Tenure Appeals Committee as Part I, Section XVI of the University Council Bylaws was withdrawn.

  2. Dr. David Shipley presented a proposal from the Faculty Affairs Committee for changes to the Guidelines for Appointment, Promotion and Tenure (attachment c). The vote was called and the proposal was approved.
  3. Dr. Shipley then presented a proposal from the Committee on Facilities requesting approval to place Student Honor Code plaques in all instructional classrooms (attachment d). A student, Rachel Fischer, spoke in favor of installing the honor code plaques and presented an example of the plaque that would be used, if approved, for the committee''s review. The vote was called and the proposal was approved.
  4. Dr. Jim Anderson presented the proposed 2007-2008 Academic Calendar from the Educational Affairs Committee (attachment e). Rebecca Macon noted the Board of Regents criteria which must be adhered to when making the academic calendar and noted changes to the calendar. A request was made that reminders be sent to faculty prior to classes beginning and another at mid-term when the university must operate on a Friday schedule. Rebecca Macon agreed her office would provide these reminders to assist faculty. It was suggested that Honors Day be added to the Academic Calendar. It was noted that the date for this event is not known when the calendar is being approved this far in advance; however approval was given to the Registrar to add this date to the Academic Calendar as soon as it is known. The vote was called and the proposal was approved.
  5. Dr. Richard Dunham presented the following two proposals from the Committee on Student Affairs:

    1. The Student Affairs Committee is seeking approval to require all first-year and new undergraduate students (transfer students) entering the University of Georgia to complete a "Mandatory On-Line Alcohol Education Module" during their first semester at UGA. If approved, students will not be allowed to register for their second semester until they have successfully completed the module. Following extensive discussion, the vote was called and the proposal was approved.
    2. Proposal to add a policy statement to "The Plan of Accountability" which contains specific guidelines for the New Member Education - University of Georgia Standards for Excellence for Fraternities and Sororities (attachment f). Following discussion the vote was called and the proposal was approved.

  6. Dr. William Vencill requested that the proposals from the Curriculum Committee be voted on as a package since the agenda is lengthy and all proposals were unanimously approved by the Curriculum Committee. No objections were heard. Dr. Felson asked if there were any questions or comments on any of the individual proposals. There were no questions or comments. The vote was called and all of the following proposals were approved (attachment g):

    1. Proposal for a Master of Science in Bioinformatics (M.S.), Non-Thesis (M.S.)
    2. Proposal for a Doctor of Philosophy in Bioinformatics (Ph.D.)
    3. Proposal for a Doctor of Public Health (Dr.P.H.)
    4. Proposal for a Dual Degree between Master of Social Work (M.S.W.) and Jurisprudence Doctor (J.D.)
    5. Proposal for a M.S. in Pharmacy through Distance Education
    6. Proposal to Deactivate the Minor in Psychology
    7. Proposal for a major name change in Social Science Education under the (B.S.Ed., M.Ed., Ed.S.,Ed.D., Ph.D.)
    8. Proposal for an External Degree in Consumer Economics(B.S.F.C.S.)
    9. Proposal for an External Degree in Mathematics Education (M.Ed., Ed.S.)
    10. Proposal for an External Degree in Agribusiness (B.S.A.)
    11. Proposal for a major name change from Agricultural Economics to Agricultural and Applied Economics (B.S.A.)
    12. Proposal for an Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Certificate in Disability Studies.

  7. The first information item regarding the election of Chair Elect for the Executive Committee was moved from an information item to an action item. William Vencill and Scott Weinberg had both agreed to stand for election and Dr. Felson asked if they had comments they wished to add to their previously published statements found in attachment h. Neither candidate had additional comments and were then asked to leave the room during the vote. Ballots were distributed to voting members of the committee and collected after members voted. The candidates were invited back into the room and Scott Weinberg was congratulated on his election to Chair Elect of the Executive Committee.

Information Items:




    1. Dr. Felson gave an update on the formation of an ad hoc committee to study the feasibility of implementing the proposal for Family Supportive Wages and Benefits on Behalf of the Lowest Wage Earners of The University of Georgia (attachment i).
    2. An update on the status of the addition of ?sexual orientation? to UGA?s Non-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy (approved by UC on April 22, 2004) and the request for Soft Benefits for Domestic Partners (approved by UC on April 21, 2005) was given. Both the Chair and the Secretary of the Executive Committee had received emails from eight members of the University community requesting the Executive Committee to issue an official interpretation as to whether these two policies are in fact in effect pursuant to the language of Article XV. (see attachment j). It was indicated that President Adams will be notifying Dr. Felson on April 21 of the status of these two items. After lengthy discussion, it was decided that Dr. Felson would respond to the emails received indicating that the President will be informing the Executive Committee via her of the status of these two items on April 21. It was also decided that Dr. Felson will be prepared with a response to the President?s notification as part of her Executive Committee report at the Council meeting on April 25.
    3. There was a brief discussion related to establishing an orientation session for new University Council members. It was agreed an orientation session is a good idea and should take place prior to the first meeting for new members.
    4. Committee members were reminded that the April meeting of the University Council will be held on Tuesday, April 25, instead of Thursday.
    5. A status report on the work that has been done on the General Education Task Force recommendations was given (attachment k).

There being no further business the meeting was adjourned at 5:20 p.m.


Respectfully submitted,



Rebecca L. Macon
University Council Secretary










Executive Committee Roster


Members Represented by Proxy


Daniels, Dick


Felson, Nancy


Frick, Janet


Harris, Ruth


Macon, Rebecca


Mattern-Parkes, Susan


Peper, Jaime


Ratajczak, Bob


Shamp, Scott


Shedd, Peter


Vencill, William


Weinberg, Scott


Zinkhan, George


Bunce, Rebecca
Love, Sarajane