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Faculty Senate: handbook, nominations The Faculty Senate met Aug. 4 and was called to order by Adrian Reuben, M.D. The next meeting will be held at 7:45 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 11, in the Administration/Library Building, room 107. Business Adrian Reuben, M.D., reported on his meeting with the provost, Rosalie Crouch, Ph.D., and Thomas Higerd, Ph.D., regarding faculty contracts.  His meeting with Crouch was to discuss the introduction of a universal faculty contract. Higerd had presented an historical perspective and review of the contract at the Faculty Senate meeting in July where he also described changes to the contract precipitated by the faculty’s concern.  Many faculty had expressed that the original university faculty contract contained language that was in conflict with the Faculty Handbook. Also in the initial draft of the proposed model university contract, department chairs could change a faculty’s salary and term of appointment at will.  Some colleges/departments had adopted the earlier flawed contract and in several instances, faculty were coerced to sign the contract as presented. Subsequently, several variations of the contract have been distributed throughout the university causing confusion and inequity in its application.  The provost expressed a desire to link a faculty contract with a defined base salary and had requested input from the Faculty Senate. An ad hoc committee from the senate, chaired by Richard Hernandez, Dr.P.H., will work on the base salary issue and make recommendations to the senate. Several senators have agreed to serve on this ad hoc committee including Luis Leite, DDS, Jenny Ariail, Tara Hulsey, and John Bosso, Pharm.D. The ad hoc committee will be complete once representatives from basic science and clinical medicine are identified. Upon completion of the ad hoc committee membership, the member list will be submitted to the provost, who will then charge the committee. Higerd and university counsel Joe Good will be ad hoc members, but the committee will be able to meet without them, if need be.  The question was asked concerning provost’s reaction to Reuben unhappiness about the unacceptable wording (which has now been removed from the latest version of the model contract) and the coercion. He reported that the provost did not express disagreement and concurred that coercive behavior is not appropriate labor relations in a university.  Faculty Handbook  Francine Margolius, Ed.D, reported on the status of the Faculty Handbook revision that, on completion, will be presented as an initial draft to the appropriate senate subcommittee.  The initiative to revise the Faculty Handbook includes completing editorial changes, inserting changes that have been Board of Trustee approved, and identifying changes that need to be made.  Margolius recommended that Reuben be asked to participate in the ongoing revision of the Faculty Handbook after his tenure as a senator expires. Reuben expressed willingness to work on the faculty handbook, as there is precedence for non-senate faculty working on committees.  It is important that the revised Faculty Handbook be as error free as possible and made so good that it can work effectively as the contract. As an example, Reuben identified several conflicts in the preamble of the current Faculty Handbook concerning its relevance to faculty contracts, which should be corrected in the revised document.  Update on Legal Counsel Anne Spencer, Pharm.D., reported that Hernandez and Margolius will work with her to interview the candidates for legal counsel and submit a recommendation to the Faculty Senate. Reuben reported that there are only 167 faculty (13 percent) who have contributed approximately $8,000. Only 50 percent of Senators have contributed so far.  Gender Equity Reuben expressed regret that the gender equity initiative that he started more than two years ago has moved so slowly and that the study initiated by MUSC President Ray Greenberg, M.D., Ph.D., had not been completed, partly due to the changes in senate membership. Reuben will be meeting with the provost and recommend that the process be returned to within the Faculty Senate and that a senator chair this effort in the immediate future.  Senators should consider participating more actively in the process. Once gender is addressed, then the Faculty Senate can use this as a model to deal with other minority issues. Faculty Senate Nominations and Elections Reuben announced that Faculty Senate nominations will take place via the Web between Aug. 15 and 22 followed by elections from Aug. 23 through 30.  Newly elected senators will be asked to attend the September meeting as observers and will be officially installed in October. Virus Protection Software Reuben reported that Frank Starmer, Ph.D., has suggested installing software on the MUSC servers that would scan for viruses and change extensions of e-mails or attachments to one that would be readily recognizable. There was no concern expressed by senators.  Internal Audits Reuben reported that concern has been expressed to him regarding the MUSC Internal Auditing process.  Whereas it is extremely important to comply with recognized audits, there have been several complaints centered around the fairness and conduct of the internal auditing process. In instances, internal auditors have visited units without prior notification or informing the director and without explaining exactly what they were investigating.  Since Internal Auditing does not fall under the president’s jurisdiction (but the Internal Auditor reports directly to the Board of Trustees who fund him), Reuben asked senators to discuss the current state of internal auditing with faculty to determine whether there is a consistent pattern or simply isolated aberrations, so that questions could be forwarded to the Board of Trustees, if necessary, for clarification and possibly the modification of the internal auditing process towards greater openness and fairness. Other Business Gail Pashek, Ph.D., has asked that the IRB be invited to update the Faculty Senate regarding the IRB process.