From FacSen listserv:

Hello Faculty Senate Colleagues:

What follows is a very abbreviated report on the President's Council (PC) Meeting of Wednesday, June 29. We will only feature a few topics,
but following past Faculty Senator Trellis Green's good example, we will forward the official minutes of PC meetings to you just as soon as
they are approved.

RAISES

There was a great deal of discussion on this topic. We both heard Dr. Thames say that some faculty would receive zero raises. We believe
this was in response to a question. Myron mentioned that Faculty Senate (FS) President David Beckett had already held a meeting with
current and past executive officers of the FS as well as other faculty. The sense of those in attendance at that special meeting was that the Administration should welcome input on a process for determining raises, and the officers of the FS would develop a framework for a process for raises that is consistent with the current Faculty
Handbook. Myron asked if the President would be receptive to this type of input, and if appropriate data could be provided in timely ways to Senate officers and others. Dr. Thames responded positively to both of Myron's questions. Myron also said the officers of the FS would be
timely in developing their framework but that depended on having data. Dr. Thames indicated that he preferred to pay retroactively rather employ a poor process just to meet a deadline.

Ray stated that the definition of "merit" for raises and the primary determination for raises should be left to academic departments or their
equivalents. Otherwise, faculty primarily engaged in teaching and service would be undervalued.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

Ray mentioned the perception that the USM Marketing and Public Relations office never seems to respond to articles critical of faculty. He ask that things change and recalled that Provost Hudson had agreed to do something about this matter when he spoke at the FS retreat in August
2003. Trellis Green confirmed that Provost Hudson had said this at the retreat.

DATA ON FACULTY ATTRITION

Dr. Thames briefly discussed attrition of faculty. Myron raised questions about attrition data for faculty over a five year period. Over the most recent three-year period, the rate of attrition of faculty at USM has been about 17%. Dr. Thames claimed this attrition rate is not much different from comparable three-year rates at Ole Miss and
MSU. Dr. Thames also stated that data exists to back up his claim, but did not present the data.

FACILITIES

There was a ton of discussion about the condition of many USM facilities. Both of your senators contributed to this discussion, abeit less passionately than many other PC representatives. Dr.Thames said he would look into the condition of some of the facilities.

OTHER TOPICS

We will defer to the minutes of the meeting for a summary of other topics of discussion. Let us know if you would like these short summaries to continue or would prefer just the minutes to the meeting. In any case, we will forward the minutes to senators. The next meeting of the President's Council is scheduled for July 28 at 3:30 p.m. Since Myron will be traveling at that time, he is seeking a proxy to represent him.

Thanks. Ray and Myron