The Citadel Faculty Council Meeting Minutes

I. Call To Order and Agenda

Chair Mailloux called the meeting of the Faculty Council to order. The agenda was sent out ahead of time but was sporadically received due to continued listserv problems. Chair Mailloux promised to send out the agenda on the Monday before the Thursday meeting.

II. Attendees (substitutes shown in parentheses)

III. Approval of Minutes from Last Meeting

The draft minutes of the August meeting were sent out prior to this meeting. Comments or corrections were requested. The minutes were approved with the correction of one typographical error and clarification of a statement made related to the uniform alternative.

IV. Reports

Chair Mailloux said that the e-mail vote for changing the charter of the Faculty Tenure/Promotion Committee was nearly unanimous (15 for; 1 against), and changes have already been posted.

Chair Mailloux attended Graduate Council a week ago and some curricular changes were discussed.

V. Old Business

The Committees Web pages that George Rudolph demonstrated went alive ahead of time because some committees with tight deadlines needed to meet. The advantages of the new platform include ability to search and archives content within Joomla, the content management system. George Rudolph will add a login button for committee officers to upload files. As there are no plans to import old content, the new pages link to the old Web site pages. After the motion to approve the new site was made and seconded, there was discussion about the importance of making sure all old content remains. It was suggested that George Rudolph send an official letter to Richard Nelson explaining the importance of the old content. The vote to approve the new site was unanimous (12 for; 0 against).

Related to the need for Faculty Council to elect two new members to the 2010-2011 Committee on Committees, Chair Mailloux investigated and found two different charters with different definitions of eligibility. The earlier charter (from 2005) stated that members cannot serve more than 3 years (unless filling out someone else’s term). The current charter (dated May 2008) allowed two consecutive 3-year terms. George Rudolph recalls updating charters during the changeover from Steve Comer uploading committee files. Chair Mailloux emphasized that all charter changes need to be approved by Faculty Council. When Margaret Francel was chair of Committee on Committees, Faculty Council charged her committee with changing all charters to reflect schools rather than clusters but nothing was changed related to length of terms. A motion was made and seconded to revert to the charter that had been in effect and passed by Faculty Council. Jane Bishop asked whether Faculty Council had voted on the template, and discussion ensued about how the template was meant to serve as a format, not as content change. The vote to revert to the 2005 charter was passed (10 for; 2 abstentions). With the reversion to the earlier charter, nominations for a committee member from Humanities are needed. It was suggested that an e-mail message should be sent, asking for volunteers. A motion was made/seconded to nominate Humanities candidates now; the vote was 12 against. Chair Mailloux will contact the dean of Humanities to get volunteer nominees. As the Engineering representative to Committee on Committees, Bob Barsanti, was filling out Michael Woo’s term, he is eligible and willing to be elected. The vote to elect Bob Barsanti was unanimous (12 votes).

In terms of charter changes, Chair Mailloux explained that Faculty Council needs to start by providing an explanation of a positive vote (except for 2/3 for charter votes). Chair Mailloux said that it is clear that Faculty Council needs to approve all charter changes but can Faculty Council itself make changes in charters? Were unintended changes made to charters when templates were applied?

VI.  New Business

Faculty issues and concerns will be prioritized for the next Faculty Council meeting. Chair Mailloux will meet with Provost Hines on Friday.

VII. Adjournment

Chair Mailloux adjourned the meeting at 12:05 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Elizabeth Connor, Secretary