My notes from Friday’s Faculty Senate meeting:

The forum speaker was Homer Coffman, the Chief Information Officer; he gave a powerpoint presentation on the structure, governance and priorities of Itech (he agreed to provide the PPT presentation to the Faculty Senate for posting - it should be available in the near future. Coffman discussed the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) that mandates that the university provide information access to the federal government for surveillance purposes. Although the feds are currently able to access computer and telephone information, CALEA requires that universities provide the technology necessary for remote access. The cost is to be borne by the institution and may be as much as $700/student. Although Coffman acknowledged the concern of the FS regarding covert surveillance, he stated that he thought the Mississippi Public Records Act and HIPAA were of more immediate concern. Coffman reviewed improvements in the campus wireless access system, and reported that an external consulting firm was hired (BCI) to measure wireless signal strength throughout campus. The “my.usm.edu” portal is scheduled to become available at the end of April. Coffman discussed problems with the campus email system that occured January 16-20 and January 30-Feb 7. The delivery of email was delayed during those periods due to inefficiency in spam-checking procedures; Itech is currently working to solve those problems.

FS President Powell reported that there is still a shortage of space, telephone service, etc at the Gulf Coast. Two new trailers have been provided, one for student use and one for faculty use. The shared governance document approved by the Faculty Senate was delivered to Provost Grimes and President Thames. Grimes has indicated that he wants to negotiate some of the wording in the document, but specific parts to be negotiated have not yet been identified.

The FS position on presidential searches passed in the last meeting was sent to IHL Chair Newton, IHL Board Member Blakesly and IHL Commissioner Meredith, but there has not yet been an acknowledgement from IHL. FS President has proposed a meeting of the FS Executive Board and Commissioner Meredith. The Commissioner has indicated that he believes such a meeting would be valuable and he is willing to meet.

FS President Powell has met with Provost Grimes; some sabbaticals have been granted but Grimes will not provide funding for summer research or improvement of instruction grants.

Powell reported that the current estimate is that university revenues are down $2.5 million this year.

The FS discussed a “Research and Clinical Faculty” document that has been being developed by a number of university bodies over the past several years. The status of this document is uncertain.

The Faculty Senate has sent a letter to President Thames asking for information about any mid-year pay raises that may have been given during the current academic year. The letter was dated February 10; there has not yet been a response from Thames.

President Elect Henry reported that the Committee on Physical Plant Outsourcing met for the first time on Friday. Russ Willis told the committee that if outsourcing was done it had to be in the best interests of the PP staff. Henry has requesting data that would support a decision to outsource, but such data has not yet been compiled. The data is expected to be provided at the next meeting. Joe Morgan (Director of Procurement) will be communicating with outsourcing companies; possible vendors have already been on campus. Henry stated that no decision to outsource has yet been made.

The FS discussed CALEA; a statement opposing warrentless access to university communications was presented and passed.

The Provost’s Office has presented a draft proposal for reallocating graduate assistantships. The proposal would provide GA funding to colleges with doctoral/terminal degree programs. Departments w/o doctoral/terminal degree programs would lose GA funding. The reallocation would allow an increase in GA awards to make USM competitive with other universities. A number of senators expressed the opinion that the adoption of this proposal could have a negative impact on many departments and adversely affect the university’s ability to provide instruction that is currently provided by master’s level GA’s. FS President Powell was asked to convey to the administration the FS position that such a proposal should originate from Graduate Council, Academic Council and Council of Chairs rather than from the Provost’s Office.

The university motor pool has apparently been outsourced, except for “specialty vehicles” like 14-passenger vans. Those specialty vehicles will become the property and responsibility of individual departments. Assuming the burden of maintaining those vehicles may be difficult or impossible.

The above information is my unofficial, personal recollections of Friday’s meeting. I appologize in advance for any error or ommisions I might have made; they are unintentional.

Have a nice weekend.