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MUSC's Faculty Senate meeting minutes, May 2  The meeting was called to order by Dr. Adrian Reuben at 7:55 a.m. on Tuesday, May 2. The start of the meeting was delayed due to an unexpected change in meeting venue. The meeting was held in room 302 Basic Science Building instead of room 107 Library/Administration Building. The April minutes were discussed and approved. Senators present: Basic Sciences:  Ed Krug,  Katherine Meier, Michael Schmidt, Daniel Knapp, Harry Margolius Clinical Sciences: Leonie Gordon, Mark Lyles, Maria Lopes-Virella, Adrian Reuben, Linda Austin, Thomas Gettys, Charles Kellner Dental Medicine: Jon Rampton Health Professions: Andrea White Library Science and Informatics: Elizabeth Connor, Peggy Schachte Nursing: Elaine Amella, Francine Margolius, Sally Stroud Pharmacy: Jason Cooper, Ann Spencer, Kurt Lorenz Guest Speaker Chief Charles Wiley, director of Public Safety, delivered a brief presentation about universal identification cards. A new picture identification card will be issued to all departments by the end of the calendar year. The new cards will serve as identification, access and debit cards, interacting compatibly with a variety of functions  including the KRONOS time clock, Kantech card access, the Marriott cafeteria, Library and various databases (Human Resources Management’s HERMIT, MUSC Master People Index, etc.). Three departments (Risk Management, Planning, Grants & Accounting) will be issued new identification cards first, and the other departments will be set up later. Town-Gown Rapproachement  There is some indication that tensions between MUSC’s clinical faculty and local area physicians may be lessened by joining forces to solve common problems such as indigent care.  Dr. Gross, the president of the Charleston Medical Society, is a member of our faculty. It was suggested that funds spent to advertise in the local media could be better spent to care for indigent patients. Allowable Direct Cost Expenditure Dan Knapp introduced the following resolution for discussion by the Faculty Senate: It has been brought to the attention of the Faculty Senate that recent changes by Grants Accounting in the interpretation of what qualifies as an allowable direct cost expenditure on a federal research grant has created a significant problem in the conduct of research.  In particular, the disallowance of purchase of computer equipment, computer supplies, laboratory notebooks, and office supplies which are used solely as laboratory equipment or supplies; as well as the disallowance of expenditures for reference books used in research, and professional dues and journal subscriptions constitutes a major obstacle to the funded investigator. The fact that the NIH and other federal granting agencies have previously allowed these expenditures as direct cost items on grants suggests that the recent changes in policy have been generated locally by MUSC personnel.  Inasmuch as these interpretations of policy on allowable expenditures constitute a major obstacle to the conduct of research, the Faculty Senate calls upon the provost to investigate the basis for such interpretations in order that solutions to this problem can be put in place as quickly as possible. The motion was made and voted upon the Faculty Senate will ask the provost to look into this important matter. COM Senate Representative  Reuben said that the College of Medicine needs a senate representative to serve on an ad hoc committee to review an incident in the Department of Pathology. Lopes-Virella volunteered. Chair Evaluation Process  According to Reuben, the delay in the chair evaluation process has been corrected, and the questionnaires have been sent out to the colleges.  Faculty should expect to receive these questionnaires soon; if not, faculty should contact their dean as the dean of each college will administer the chair evaluation process. The Office of Institutional Research and Assessment will collate and tally the results for each dean. The deans will inform the provost that the process has been completed. The provost informs the Faculty Senate. University Budget Senate representatives have been invited to the Board of Trustees meeting on June 16. Senate Election Process Francine Margolius reported on the process designed by Ben Gilbertson which will allow the entire Senate election process from nominations through balloting to take place on the web.  This process depends on the accuracy and completeness of the faculty database currently under overhaul by the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment.  This year’s election will be held in August which will allow newly elected senators to join meetings before the new terms begin. Term of Appointment Knapp, Luis Leite, and Reuben, as representatives of the Faculty Senate, will meet with Deans Keefe, Ripich, and Cormier, as representatives of the Deans Council to attempt to resolve the issue of the revision of the Term of Appointment section of the Faculty Handbook. As discussed previously, the Deans Council informally approved a different version of the document from that passed by the Faculty Senate. The document passed by the Deans Council was missing the last line which stated, “For tenured faculty, granting of tenure entails continuous reappointment at the same term of appointment.” We have been advised that the Deans Council will not approve the last line of the document as approved by the Senate, and the deans have requested that the representatives of the senate and council meet in an attempt to resolve this impasse.  The range of  positions which could be taken by the senate include: 1) insisting that the last line be retained as previously approved, 2) reopening of the entire issue including the points previously conceded by the Senate in earlier negotiations, 3) agreement to remove the last line with retention of the remainder of the document as previously approved, or 4) concession of the issue and agreement to participate in the drafting of a section which defines the process for involuntary change in term of appointment of tenured faculty.  It appears that Provost Crouch and the deans feel that they cannot support the kind of commitment to tenure exemplified by the line in question.  Prior to the previous negotiation, Provost Greenberg had expressed the opinion that continuous reappointment as provided by tenure is a separate issue from how many months a faculty member works.  The Senate representatives pointed out that this position, taken to extreme, would permit a tenured faculty member on twelve month appointment to be involuntarily reduced to a one month appointment which would violate the tenure provision of “continuous reappointment at a salary commensurate with rank.”  Lopes-Virella suggested that the Senate ask the deans to document in writing the reasons they oppose the document as written. Senators are asked to send their input to  Knapp,  Leite, and Reuben.  Unless there is direction otherwise from the Senate, the representatives will take the position of resisting any revision of the Faculty Handbook that allows involuntary change in the term of appointment of tenured faculty. Faculty Resignations Adrian Reuben asked whether any specific factors were undermining the professional life of the university, given the noticeable number of resignations in several colleges. He asked whether the faculty turnover were simply individual occurrences. The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 a.m.  The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 6, at 7:45 a.m.