Faculty Senate minutes
TO THE
MEMBERS OF THE ACADEMIC COUNCIL THIRTIETH SENATE Report
No. 4
SUMMARY OF
ACTIONS, NOVEMBER 13
At its meeting of
Thursday, November 13, 1997, the Senate of the Academic
Council took the following action:
1. Accepted the 1996/97
Annual Report of the Committee on Graduate Studies
(SenD#4733).
Summary of Actions Taken
in the Administrative Session of the Steering Committee
on behalf of the Senate November 13, 1997
At its meeting of
Thursday, November 13, 1997, the Senate Steering
Committee took the following actions:
1. Approved, by unanimous
voice vote, a revised charge to the Academic Council
Committee on Libraries (SenD#4748), as moved and seconded
by the Committee on Committees. The revisions were
largely routine.
2. Accepted the 1996/97
Annual Reports of the Committee on Undergraduate Studies
(SenD#4737), the Committee on Academic Computing and
Information Systems (SenD#4732), and the Committee on
Undergraduate Admission and Financial Aid (SenD#4736).
Susan W.
Schofield
Academic
Secretary to the University
MINUTES,
NOVEMBER 13
Call to Order
Chair Frances Conley
called the November 13 meeting of Senate XXX to order at
3:19 p.m. There were 33 voting members, 11 ex-officio members,
and several guests in attendance.
Approval of
Minutes (SenD#4750)
The minutes of the October
30, 1997 meeting of the Senate were approved as
submitted.
Report from the
Senate Steering Committee
The Chair reported that
the Steering Committee had just concluded an
Administrative Session on behalf of the Senate, at which
they had accepted the 1996/97 annual reports of the
Committee on Undergraduate Studies, the Committee on
Academic Computing and Information Systems, and the
Committee on Undergraduate Admission and Financial Aid.
She said that the discussions of the committees' past and
future work had been interesting and that Senate would
hear about some items later in the year. Chair Conley
also reported that the Steering Committee had approved a
slightly revised charge to the Committee on Libraries.
Conley reminded Senators
that at their next meeting on December 4th they would
begin a process concerning revisions of two documents
governing faculty grievance procedures and would be asked
to take action on a proposal from C-AAA regarding the
training of Teaching Assistants. She also said she looks
forward to the Fall Quarter informal executive session
with the Provost and the President on that day.
Report from the
Committee on Committees
Professor Street, CoC
Chair, advised that the committee had met
"virtually" to assign its liaison
responsibilities to the other Academic Council
committees, and to approve the modified charge to the
Committee on Libraries. "We are in business and
active," he reported.
Reports from the
President and the Provost
President Casper expressed
his thanks to Larry Horton, Director of Government and
Community Relations, and his staff for the professional
and responsible job they did leading to the passage of
Measure O on the Palo Alto ballot November 4th. Informed
by fax in Delhi, India of the probable victory, Casper
said he had faxed back the message, "Dear Larry: 950
million Indians and I are cheering for the project.
Congratulations." Thanking the many Stanford and
community volunteers, Casper said he was very pleased and
relieved.
Provost Rice reported that
the new student judicial charter was ready to be
implemented at the start of Winter Quarter, and that five
of six faculty members had been appointed to the Board of
Judicial Affairs: Jim Adams, Mark Granovetter, Janet
Halley, Elizabeth Traugott, and Jennifer Widom, Rice also
issued a call for faculty volunteers to serve on the
Judicial Panel Pool. The pool requires 11 faculty
members, she said, who will be trained in Winter Quarter
and each of whom could expect to handle approximately
three cases per year. "This is a very important
revision of the judicial process. It cannot work without
faculty support and faculty input," Rice stated.
(Faculty who wish to volunteer or to recommend others
should send e-mail to Ann Fletcher in the Provost's
Office, ann@sherlock.) The Provost also reported that
Jennifer Perkins will serve as the Judicial Advisor, with
the second position of Judicial Officer to be filled by
January 1998.
Rice next announced the
release of the report of the Task Force on Residential
Programs and Student Housing for Undergraduates. She
reminded everyone that she and President Casper had
charged the Task Force a year earlier "to evaluate
the proper relationships between residential programs and
undergraduate education and the system of housing
assignments." While Stanford's residential programs
have considerable strengths and "are not by any
means in crisis," Rice said that the Task Force
found that the 25-year old system "needed to be
modified to respond to the significant curricular and
other academic initiatives that have reshaped
undergraduate education at Stanford in the past several
years." She highlighted the four goals that guided
the Task Force recommendations:
1. to create the best
possible integration between academic programs and
undergraduate housing;
2. to foster
faculty/student interaction, both intellectually and
socially;
3. to enhance
undergraduate academic and social support by
differentiation of resources according to student needs;
and
4. to foster the creation
of University, community, and class identity. Rice
commented that the third goal recognized that student
needs in the junior and senior years are significantly
different than in the freshman and sophomore years, and
that Stanford's fairly uniform approach across the system
might not be optimum.
The Provost said that the
Task Force recommendations, ranging from housing
configuration and assignments to staffing and academic
support programs, were assessed and prioritized by Vice
Provosts Montoya and Saldivar, who have proposed that
discussion and implementation now focus on four major
areas: to increase the number of all-frosh houses and
enhance the academic programs in them; to create a
"premier year" in the housing assignment draw
and simplify the room selection process; to enhance
academic support structures and think about different
support for upper class houses; and to create a
"freshman/sophomore residential cluster" pilot
program. The latter, Rice said, still requires much
discussion and has many details to be worked out, but
would be an attempt to align housing arrangements more
closely with the design of the academic program. The
Provost advised that Montoya and Saldivar will jointly
direct discussion and implementation efforts, forming an
implementation team with faculty, staff, and student
involvement. Academic oversight will come from the
Committee on Undergraduate Studies through its standing
Subcommittee on Residential Education and Advising, Rice
stated. She encouraged everyone to read the Task Force
report, which will be placed on-line and thanked the Task
Force members for their excellent work and exciting
recommendations.
Professor Abernethy
(Political Science) asked the Provost why Serra Street
had recently been closed to ordinary car traffic in front
of the Quad, and what might be done to reduce levels
of inconvenience to people who work or visit events in
outer quad buildings. Access for vendors, caterers and
delivery vehicles has become considerably more difficult,
he said, while 23 "brightly-painted 'service
vehicle' parking spaces across from History Corner are
never occupied." As the distance between parking and
scheduled University events increases, he said, it is
important to run jitneys between them. He also expressed
the opinion that closing Serra Street creates the
impression that the University is more inaccessible and
more unwelcoming. Provost Rice thanked Abernethy for
providing his question in advance, stressing (to
laughter) that "Geoff Cox is also here this
operation reports to him." She advised that closing
Serra Street to vehicles had been planned since 1985 as
part of the Near West Campus project to provide an axis
between the two quads, to improve bicycle and pedestrian
safety, and to create an efficient corridor for
Marguerite shuttle service. Rice agreed completely that
shuttles must be available to bring people from remote
parking to the center of campus, emphasizing the
inevitability of cars moving farther from the center. She
and Cox said that the use of parking spaces in the newly
configured Serra Mall area was being monitored and that
two commercial loading zones were being added at the top
of the Oval for caterers and short-term deliveries.
Access closer to buildings is also available by
arrangement through a system of gates and alleyways, Cox
noted. Professor Ridgeway (Sociology) agreed with
Abernethy that there really is a problem for faculty and
others, stressing that an actual plan is needed for
regular shuttles from outlying parking lots. Provost Rice
advised that the total amount of parking on campus has
increased by 745 spaces in recent years, but that people
have to become more willing to park farther from the
center and to use the Marguerite during the day rather
than trying to move their cars. Professor Mocarski
(Microbiology and Immunology) observed that as a
bicyclist he sees it as a great improvement to have fewer
cars in the center of campus, and Chair Conley reminded
everyone, "Walking is good for your heart."
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