Minutes for
Present: T. Brown, B. Butler, D. Pierce,
IDC met in
the Beaucatcher Mountain Room at the Highsmith Union from
This was an organizational meeting for IDC. The most pressing matter was to decide how to
proceed on the issues of enrollment growth and university size. At this year’s fall faculty meeting, the
Chancellor indicated that he would ask IDC/UPC and faculty governance to
examine these issues this year. The
committee discussed whether UPC was the best group to work on such an important
matter. Membership at UPC meetings has
been poor, there are several vacant faculty seats on UPC, and the draft Senate
Constitution revision (which will be voted on this year) omits UPC as a Senate
committee. Dr. Rossell
brought copies of a draft document that would have the Senate create a task
force to work on enrollment growth and university size. The committee discussed the idea of such a
task force and its membership.
·
The
rationale for the task force is that the UNCA Guiding Concepts specify that
UNCA will provide a superior liberal arts education, and is “small by choice,
seeking no more than 3500 students.”
This cap was established in 1991.
The estimated Fall 2004 headcount will be
3461. Because the university budget is
determined by enrollment, it is important that a decision be made this year
whether to remain within this enrollment cap.
In addition, there is a need to clarify the language in the Guiding
Concepts, which does not specify whether “students” should be enumerated using
headcount or FTE.
·
The
goals for the task force would be: by
the April 2005 Senate meeting: 1) make a recommendation to the Senate and to
the Chancellor whether university enrollment should continue to grow; 2) if
further growth is recommended, make additional recommendations on the extent,
rate, and nature of that growth; 3) clarify how UNCA “students” will be defined
(i.e., fall headcount, annual headcount, FTE, etc.).
·
The
task force would last for the 2004-2005 academic year, and would have 16
members: 4 IDC members, 4 additional
faculty (at least one untenured), the Provost, the Director of Institutional
Research, the Director of Admissions, a Chancellor’s appointee, and
representatives from diversity/multicultural affairs, Student Affairs, SGA, and
CSAC. IDC would present a roster of
suggested members to the Senate for approval.
Dr. Pierce made a motion (seconded by Dr. Brown) to bring
this document (IDC 1: Proposal to create
a Senate Task Force on Enrollment Growth and University Size) to the Senate on
Thursday. The committee will ask for a
waiver of the Comer Rule, so that the task force could be formed quickly and
begin its work. The motion passed
unanimously.
The next item of discussion was whether to fill the open
seats on UPC. Seats that are currently
open include two faculty seats, a student seat, and a CSAC seat. Dr. Rossell said
that she preferred not to fill the seats, as the committee may be discontinued
next year, and its work can be done by IDC and task forces as needed. In addition, the administrative seats need to
be reworked (for example, Dr. Padilla currently holds three seats, given the
consolidation of Academic and Student Affairs, and his acting as the University
Planning Officer). Dr. Brown suggested
that incorporating additional language into the draft of the Senate
Constitution revision, indicating that IDC will have the authority to create
task forces as needed to work on large issues of campus-wide significance.
The committee agreed that it would meet with the Provost and
Vice-Chancellors again, as was done last year, to discuss budget allocations
for next year’s enrollment increase budget.
Following theses meetings, IDC will report to the Senate on the plans
and priorities of each office. Dr. Rossell will organize these meetings in the spring
semester.
Other priorities for the upcoming 2004-2005 academic year
will be to work with John Stevens on a document that formalizes the
establishment and dissolution of Centers at UNCA, and to continue reviewing
proposals for new University programs, such as the Global Issues major that was
proposed last spring.