Academic Year 2005-06
Faculty Senate Recommendations and Resolutions

The Faculty Senate submits the following recommendation: 
The Faculty Senate recommends that tenure files be no larger than 1.5" of paper in thickness.  The Senate further recommends that the tenure file can be pared down most helpfully in these sections:

Section 12 -- Teaching Excellence

    (i)  TEVAL quantitative data should be presented only in bar graph form generated by the computing center.
    (ii)  TEVAL data, quantitative and student comments, should be presented only for the most recent 3 years

Section 13 -- Scholarly Activity - Only a sampling  of scholarly work should be presented; work that exemplifies the candidate at his or her best.

Section 14 -- Documentation of Service - Only a sampling  of service documentation should be presented; work that exemplifies the candidate at his or her best.

Date of Faculty Senate Approval:  6 February 2006

Recommendation 05-02

The Faculty Senate submits the following recommendation: 

The Academic Affairs Committee of Faculty Senate recommends the addition of an area called “Interdisciplinary Studies” to the Humanities section of Part II: B. Distribution in the General Education program. The course listed under this new area will be the present course IDS 350 Multiculturalism in the US and IDS 333 Exploration in the Humanities.

Date of Faculty Senate Approval:  7 March 2006

The Faculty Senate submits the following recommendation: 

The Marketing and Strategic Academic Partnerships Committee makes the following recommendation for continuous quality improvement of international education activities at FHSU:

That the administration do all it can to match current and future international partnership academic calendars with the FHSU academic calendar. 

Date of Faculty Senate Approval:  2 May 2006

Recommendation 05-04

The Faculty Senate submits the following recommendation: 

The Marketing and Strategic Academic Partnerships Committee makes the following recommendation for continuous quality improvement of international education activities at FHSU:

For international faculty members who teach courses on the FHSU academic calendar in addition to international calendars, that the administration develop a supplemental prorated compensation formula to compensate for teaching FHSU on-campus courses when international partners are not in session.  Typically, this is the first two weeks of the FHSU fall semester and a period between early January and late February when international partners are in recess. 

Date of Faculty Senate Approval:  2 May 2006

Recommendation 05-05

The Faculty Senate submits the following recommendation: 

The Marketing and Strategic Academic Partnerships Committee makes the following recommendation for continuous quality improvement of international education activities at FHSU:

That the administration addresses the issue of the 5-year appointment limit for full-
time temporary faculty members in the 2006-2007 year. 

Date of Faculty Senate Approval:  2 May 2006

Recommendation 05-06

The Faculty Senate submits the following recommendation: 

The Marketing and Strategic Academic Partnerships Committee makes the following recommendation for continuous quality improvement of international education activities at FHSU:

That FHSU negotiate for more control in recruiting and hiring cooperating teachers (CTs) for our international partners. 

Date of Faculty Senate Approval:  2 May 2006

Recommendation 05-07

The Faculty Senate submits the following recommendation: 

The Marketing and Strategic Academic Partnerships Committee makes the following recommendation for continuous quality improvement of international education activities at FHSU:

That department chairs responsible for managing departments with greater than 3.0 FTE of international faculty members be given an assistant chair  to assume duties equivalent to one course reassignment to help manage these programs.

Date of Faculty Senate Approval:  2 May 2006

Recommendation 05-08S

The Faculty Senate submits the following recommendation: 

The Marketing and Strategic Academic Partnerships Committee makes the following recommendation for continuous quality improvement of international education activities at FHSU:

That the administration address the issue of providing appropriate resources to support services from international revenues to support international operations.

Date of Faculty Senate Approval:  2 May 2006

Resolution 05-01

WHEREAS the Faculty Senate of Fort Hays State University respects the important role the Kansas Constitution assigns to the State Legislature, whose Members are held accountable by a popular vote of their constituents, to determine state fiscal priorities for the benefit of the people of Kansas; and

WHEREAS the Faculty Senate of Fort Hays State University believes that the State Legislature fulfills fundamental aspects of its constitutional responsibilities through the annual budget process, which results in recurring taxation and spending decisions that recognize that the state’s fiscal and economic environment is not static, but instead is constantly changing; and

WHEREAS the Faculty Senate of Fort Hays State University believes that constitutional or statutory limits on state revenues and expenditures would severely restrict the state’s ability to invest in vital public services, such as higher education, which are critical to the state’s economic growth and wellbeing; and

WHEREAS  the Faculty Senate of Fort Hays State University believes that a constitutional amendment or statutory  provision that permanently and arbitrarily restricts state spending and taxation severely diminishes legislative authority, reduces legislators’ responsiveness to their constituents, and limits the state’s ability to respond to rapidly changing economic and community needs; and

WHEREAS the Faculty Senate of Fort Hays State University is aware of the damage inflicted upon vital public services in the State of Colorado, in particular, the harm to that state’s higher education system, which has occurred since Colorado adopted a constitutional revenue and expenditure limitation known as the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) in 1992; and

WHEREAS the Faculty Senate of Fort Hays State University believes that the State of Kansas has a long and proud tradition of making public higher education obtainable by all its citizens regardless of income, and that the Colorado experience demonstrates how constitutional  or statutory revenue and expenditure limitations jeopardize this tradition, severely reducing student financial aid while dramatically raising tuition costs, pricing low- and middle-income students out of a college degree, ultimately making higher education affordable only for the rich; and

WHEREAS the Faculty Senate of Fort Hays State University believes that access to affordable high-quality educational opportunities, which would be restricted by constitutional or statutory revenue and expenditure limitations, is increasingly necessary for Kansans to succeed in today’s ever-changing and competitive global economic environment; and

WHEREAS the Kansas Board of Regents has taken a position strongly and formally opposing any and all efforts, including the so-called Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, to establish such fiscal limitations in the State of Kansas.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE FACULTY SENATE OF FORT HAYS STATE UNIVERSITY:

That on November 1, 2005, the Faculty Senate of Fort Hays State University hereby expresses its grave concern about constitutional  or statutory revenue and expenditure limitations that restrict the state’s ability to invest in higher education and other vital public services, thus diminishing the state’s and individual Kansans’ abilities to compete in today’s knowledge-based global economy, and therefore, formally opposes any and all efforts, including the so-called Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, to establish such fiscal limitations in the State of Kansas.

Furthermore, the Faculty Senate of Fort Hays State University hereby encourages the faculty, staff, and students of Fort Hays State University and their families to oppose the establishment of constitutional or statutory revenue and expenditure limitations in Kansas.

Date of Faculty Senate Approval: 1 November 2005

Resolution 05-02

The Faculty Senate has passed the following resolution: 

Regular meetings of the Faculty Senate shall be held from September through May.

Date of Faculty Senate Approval: 1 November 2005

Resolution 05-03

The Faculty Senate has passed the following resolution: 

In response to the recent decision to include Intelligent Design in the Kansas state science standards, the Faculty Senate of Fort Hays State University resolves:

It is the role and responsibility of the scientific community to assess the merit of the subject matter taught in the science classrooms of our public schools.

As such, the Faculty Senate of Fort Hays State University does not support the inclusion of material, such as Intelligent Design, which has so far failed to withstand scientific scrutiny based on rigorous and verifiable peer-reviewed research.

Date of Faculty Senate Approval: 6 February 2006

Resolution 05-04

The Faculty Senate has passed the following resolution:

The Faculty Senate moves that we eliminate midterm grades.

Date of Faculty Senate Approval: 6 February 2006

Resolution 05-05

The Faculty Senate has passed the following resolution: 

The Fort Hays State University faculty senate notes that the 'Academic Bill of Rights' states explicitly that it is designed to support the 1940 American Association of University Professors statement on academic freedom.  To the extent that the 'Academic Bill of Rights' buttresses the principle of academic freedom contained in the AAUP statement and its follow-ups, it is laudable.  To the extent it could be used to inhibit the exercise of academic freedom in a university setting, it should be rejected.  The statement by the AAUP that is of long duration already addresses every legitimate proposal supposedly addressed by the 'Academic Bill of Rights' without introducing language that could conceivably have a chilling effect on academic freedom.  For instance, the language of the "Academic Bill of Rights" seems actually to require that hiring committees take into account the ideological views of potential faculty when weighing their potential hire.  This not only would be unethical and unprofessional, as well as contradict the longstanding AAUP position, it is almost certainly illegal under current law or violative of standards and practices that do and should govern academic hiring.  The FHSU faculty senate recommends retaining exclusively the AAUP's statements as the standard of measure on the issue of academic freedom."

Date of Faculty Senate Approval: 3 April 2006