Minutes for the Faculty Council Meeting of December 9, 1997

The meeting was called to order 3:50 by John Kolena. Guests attending included Kevin Cromwell, Audrey Phillips, Steve Warshaw and Doug Grey.

Audrey Phillips, representing the SGA, addresses the issue of student privileges, specifically weekly food runs. Currently these food runs are scheduled for Wednesdays from 12:00 noon to 1:00 PM. Normally a van would leave campus at noon and drop students off at various eating establishments along Hillsborough Road. The van would then return to pick up students and have them back on the NCSSM Campus by 1:00. Another idea that is being considered is "late night" movie runs. "Late night" could mean the 7:00 - 9:30 movies. These would happen once per quarter and are tentatively scheduled for February 27th and April 24th. Faculty are urged to sign up for the food runs and the movies could possibly be handled by the different departments. Departments were urged to discuss the movie runs in their departmental meetings.

Dianne Futrelle shared the LIT@COM multimedia preview form. The purpose of this form is to assist LIT@COM in acquiring media for faculty. If faculty have seen or previewed some multimedia product and want LIT@COM to purchase it for the school, they should attach a description and/or review of the product to the form. Details such as format, platform, type of license, and number of copies should be included on the form. If a faculty member would like to request a copy of a product for evaluation, the form can be used to make such a request. Dianne also discussed the green form which outlines some of the rules for reserving equipment from LIT@COM. These rules have been discussed in the Department Head's meeting and have been endorsed by the cabinet. The intent of these forms is to keep track of equipment and to insure that faculty get the equipment they request. Individuals requesting equipment can submit a hard copy of the form or give the same information by phone or email. The LIT@COM staff will confirm receipt of the request by email. If the requested is made 3 days in advance, LIT@COM staff will deliver and pick up the equipment. Normal reservations are for half-days. If the equipment is available, it can be reserved for as long as needed. Equipment can only be used for NCSSM sanctioned activities.

Kevin Cromwell announced that yearbooks are now on sale. The prices range from $30 to $32.50.

Board of Trustees Committee Reports:

Personnel Committee: Julie Graves reported that she attended this meeting and that after only 15 minutes the committee went into closed session to discuss the Code of Ethics. The result of the vote taken among the NCSSM staff indicated that 56 favored adoption of this code, 19 against. The 75 votes was 43% of those polled. While no discussion was planned concerning the vote, Julie did call to the committee's attention that there was concern about the wording of two statements. John Friedrick explained these items and the committee indicated that they may ask for some additional input on these items.

Educational Policies and Practices: Dot Doyle reported that the Board has approved the Mission Statement. They favored the broad statement and will leave specific implementation to the faculty, staff and administration.

Facilities: Gretchen Skidmore reported that the new ETC was well behind schedule and the rescheduled opening of April 24 may not be met. She also reported that neighbors have objected to the proposed running track, mainly on the grounds that the trees on the lower part of the campus will have to be removed. Plans are also underway for the removal of asbestos from the Royal Outreach Center (Wyche), Bryan wiring and air-conditioning, removal of the generator building, and a new computer energy plan.

John Kolena reported that the Fairness Commission will meet on Friday, January 9th. Faculty are urged to schedule appointments to meet with the Commission by February 10th. The Commission will make its report on March 6.

The minutes of the previous meeting were approved as submitted.

Quality of Life Report

Julie Graves and Helen Compton reported that on the questionnaire of 11/25/97, no one addressed issues 5 (better staff orientation) or 14 (environment promoting a sense of community). All of the other issues receives some mention. Their sense is that we need to vote on the top 3 or so and work on them. It was recognized that many of the issues are linked, and that some are out of our control. are other schools in NC doing a better job of retaining students. There was some discussion concerning our ability to attract and retain good students. Another issue discussed pertained to "use of time", both the student's and the staff's. It was also noted that some of the issues on the list were appropriate to discuss in a total community forum while others were not. We decided to have a written ballot that would be placed in our boxes in the next few days on which we could select the three issues that the Faculty Council can work on.

The meeting adjourned at 5:02 PM