MINUTES
November 10, 2005 

Attending: Cliff Hampton (chair), Steve Nichols (Vice-Chair), Kirk Swortzel, Wayne Wilkerson, Al Rankins, Laura Grace, Marty Brock, Hamid Borazjani, Mike Kidd, Cody Coyne, Robert Meyer, Joe Fratesi, Michael Caprio, Wes Schilling, Sharon Grace, and Linda Andrews.

Excused Absent: Harvey Gordon, Wes Burger, Ken Willeford, Erdogan Memili, Dan Poston, Shane Burgess, Mark Shankle.

Absent: Greg Ibendahl, Deborah Gaddis, and Bill Evans.

Cliff Hampton called meeting to order and reminded members of absentee policy of the Senate.  Hampton requested that the members review the minutes from the October 2005 meeting and asked for a motion for action on the minutes.  Mike Kidd motioned to accept the minutes, Al Rankins seconded and the minutes were approved unanimously.

Report from the Chair: 

Hampton commended committee members for their work on their committee assignments that will be discussed later. 

Report from the Vice Chair: 

No report.

Report from Robert Holland Faculty Senate Representative:

The Robert Holland Faculty Senate Representative, Laura Grace, reported that the promotion and tenure document would be voted on tomorrow.  She also stated that having read the promotion and tenure documents more carefully, both exclude any mention of Extension and Clinical instructors.  The question was raised if other peer institutions methods had been consulted for guidance.  The answer was no, because most of the other institutions tenure Extension and Clinical faculty.  Grace stated that she felt that the documents would be passed although she would voice her disapproval at the next meeting.  

Committee Reports:

Bylaws Committee:

Robert Meyer, chair of the Bylaws Committee, presented proposals and recommendations addressing the two issues sent to the Bylaws Committee during the previous meeting of the DAFVM Faculty Senate.

The first charge was to study DAFVM bylaws regarding the DAFVM Holland Faculty Senate representative and to make recommendation to the DAFVM Senate. 

Currently, the DAFVM Senate does not have a senator who is concurrently serving on the Holland Faculty Senate to provide timely first-hand updates to the division Senate.  Based on Bylaws section 2.2.1.1 Executive Committee: “If no member of the Executive Committee is a member of the Robert Holland Faculty Senate, the Chair will appoint a member who serves on both the Robert Holland Faculty Senate and the DAFVM Faculty Senate to this committee.  Bylaws, section 2.5.3 Internal Affairs states: “Motions and resolutions pertaining to internal matters of the Senate, which are not otherwise provided for in these Bylaws or by the Senate’s Charter, can be initiated and passed upon in a single meeting. A simple majority vote of Senate members present and voting “aye” or “nay” is required for adoption of such motions and resolutions”.  Further, Bylaws, section 2.7 Amending the Bylaws states: “Each proposal for an amendment to these Bylaws shall follow the procedure established for a proposed recommendation, except for any amendment to be adopted it must receive a two-thirds simple majority vote”.  Therefore, the Bylaws committee recommended adding the following wording to the Bylaws, section 2.2.1.1: “If no member of the DAFVM Senate is a member of the Robert Holland Faculty Senate, the Chair will appoint an ex officio representative.”

As this is an internal matter of the Senate, this issue can be initiated and passed in a single meeting by two-thirds simple majority vote of those present.

Hampton asked for a motion to accept the report from the Bylaws Committee.  Cody Coyne motioned to accept the committee report.  Hamid Borazjani seconded.  The report was accepted.  Next, Hampton asked for a motion to accept the Bylaws Committee recommendation to change the wording of section 2.2.1.1.  Laura Grace made the motion to accept the changes.  The motion was seconded by Wes Schilling and passed unanimously.

The second charge that was addressed by the Bylaws Committee was to clarify the position of DAFVM Senate secretary and make a recommendation to the DAFVM Senate.  The DAFVM Charter, Section 1.8 Support states that “The administration of DAFVM shall consider in its budget: (1) an appropriation of funds or the designation of facilities, supplies, and secretarial support sufficient to allow the Senate to perform its functions…” The Bylaws Committee recommended that The DAFVM senate continue with the current secretarial arrangement, which is to utilize DAFVM administration secretarial support to compile and distribute minutes to the senate as provided for in the DAFVM Charter.  Under the current Charter and Bylaws, the DAFVM administration is to supply secretarial support to the senate. The Vice Chair is charged to assist the secretary assigned to the senate in the compilation and distribution of minutes. The chair is charged to appoint a Senate member to keep minutes in the absence of DAFVM secretarial support.  A motion was made to accept the Bylaws Committee report, which passed unanimously.  Two questions of concern were discussed involving the Secretary issue.  Cody Coyne asked if the Secretary would be responsible for minutes for subcommittee meetings.  The answer was no.  Also, Laura Grace asked if the secretary has to be a secretary from the Vice President’s office.  Again, the answer was no.  Hampton asked for a motion to accept the Bylaws Committee’s recommendation.  Al Rankins motioned to accept the recommendation and Laura Grace seconded.  The motion passed unanimously. 

Resource Committee:

The resource committee was charged with determining how we will continue to do business in lieu of the fact that travel has been increased to 48.5 cents per mile and the division may face more budget cuts due to the hurricane.  This issue was deferred until the next meeting of the DAFVM Faculty Senate.

Unfinished Business:

There was no unfinished business.

New Business:

Cody Coyne introduced to the floor a discussion on the status of the Land Grant System.  In the past, there was a solid link between the USDA and the Land Grant institutions.  However, that relationship is changing.  Today, there are not many opportunities outside of the USDA for funding.  Coyne expressed concern for the future of the Land Grant System.  The question was asked, “How are we going to maintain the vitality of the Land Grant?”  Hampton stated that there have been efforts in the past to make some federal agricultural budget dollars more competitive therefore, reducing base funding.  After further discussion, Hampton requested that the senate think about this issue and the possibility of developing a position paper or other ideas on this topic.  The future of the Land Grant will be placed on the agenda for the next meeting of the DAFVM Faculty Senate. 

Meeting adjourned.

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