ECU Faculty Senate meets
The Faculty Senate gave its approval on Tuesday to a new and expanded calendar for ECU and also approved a listing of “features” for a system that reviews the performance of tenured faculty, as requested by the UNC General Administration.
The listing, came in response to a memo from C. D. Spangler, the president of the University of North Carolina who asked the chancellors at each of the 16 university campuses to compile a list of what faculty members view as “principal features of a meaningful system of post-tenure review of faculty performance.”
Jeff Jarvis (Music), speaking on behalf of the Faculty Governance Committee, proposed a list that included six features outlining the steps taken to initiate a review of the performance of a tenured faculty members. He also reported on some of the concerns expressed by the Governance Committee in listing the six features. One concern, he expressed, was whether a review should be triggered by an incident or be a part of regularly scheduled reviews. Following Jarvis’ report, Henry Ferrell (History) proposed an amendment to the committee’s list of six items. His amendment offered six “components” of the performance review system that is already in place at ECU. He said he was submitting the amendment because he thought it was important to show that ECU has developed a reliable system for reviewing the performance of tenured faculty.
Vice Chancellor Richard Ringeisen (Academic Affairs) responded saying he believed that Spangler was asking the faculty to express their thoughts on what they would want in a system of post-tenure review. He suggested that it might be inappropriate to reply by saying “we already have one.” He was followed by a succession of comments by nearly a dozen senators favoring the amendment offered by Ferrell. Included among them were Ken Wilson (Sociology) who said he thought the faculty needs to point out to Mr. Spangler that ECU already has a workable system of post-tenure review.
Bill Grossnickle (Psychology) said “we are going through the process of post-tenure review and we are meeting the criteria.” Michael Carrafiello (History) said “we are exactly right in what we are doing and this time, let’s be the leadership.”
After further discussion, the senate move to send the approved listing to the officers of the faculty for some editorial changes that included rearranging the numerical order of the listing, as suggested by Keats Sparrow (Arts and Science), and substituting the word “components” with the word “features” as requested by Ringeisen. The revised university calendar, presented by Nancy Moss (Nursing ) of the Calendar Committee, brought no debate and was unanimously approved. The new calendar shows 75 class days for each semester starting in the fall of 1997 for a total of 150 class days per academic year. The number was mandated in a directive from the UNC-General Administration last July.
WHICH IS WORSE?
Athletic Director Mike Hamrick spoke to the Faculty Senate at the meeting last Tuesday where he outlined improvements in academic performances by athletics and described the recognition coming to ECU through regional and national television coverage of football games. Hamrick began his presentation by saying that his first visit to the Faculty Senate, last year, came five days after surviving the crash of a small plane in a North Carolina cornfield.