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Northwestern University
Minutes of the University Senate Meeting
March 11 , 2003
Meeting
called to order
The University Senate held its second meeting of the 2002–2003
year on March 11 in the Baxter International Room of Wieboldt
Hall on the Chicago Campus. In the absence of President
Bienen, who was in Washington DC, Provost Lawrence Dumas
called the meeting to order at 3:30 PM.
Minutes
approved
I. The minutes of the December 3, 2002 meeting were approved
unanimously without changes.
Intercollegiate
athletics
II. Professor Bruce Wessels reported on the CIC Faculty
Leaders Resolution on Intercollegiate Athletics endorsed
by Senate vote at the December 3 meeting, stating that the
rapid growth of commercial influences, particularly in high
profile intercollegiate sports, and the introduction of
professional performance standards, undermine the constructive
role of sports on campus. Three of the concerns expressed
regarded (1) the need that academic expectations be as robust
for athletes as they are for other students; (2) inappropriate
aspects of commercialization must be reduced, as the goals
of intercollegiate athletics are not the same as those of
commercial sports; (3) the “arms race” of intercollegiate
athletics must be scaled back. Athletics must not be subsidized
by the academic side of the institution. Athletic departments
should operate under the same principles of budget and accountability
as characterize other units. Most recently, the CIC has
proposed a Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics (COIA),
created by and representative of faculty senate leaders
in the bowl championship series conference schools. In response
to this initiative, the General Faculty Committee has voted
to form an ad hoc committee to study the role of intercollegiate
and collegiate athletics at Northwestern, to make recommendations
to the Administration and to appropriate University committees.
Issues to be addressed include athletes as scholars in the
University community and their welfare; Title IX and its
continued implementation; balance between revenue and non-revenue
sports; transparency of the Athletic Department budget;
NCAA compliance; campus-wide recreation; and branding and
the Big 10. Dialogue may be especially appropriate in light
of the impending change in the AD office. The University
should develop a strategic plan for athletics consistent
with Northwestern’s stature, ideals, and goals for
the 21st century.
Discussion
Provost Dumas expressed his support in principle of these
objectives. Professor Dan Garrison commented on the apparent
unanimity across the faculty and the Administration which
can provide a constituency in support of reform measures
that may be adopted. Dumas asked whether other member schools
have faculty committees similar to that formed by GFC. Wessels
answered that locally identified issues are coincident with
many that have been raised by the CIC Resolution. Professor
Al Hunter added that the GFC subcommittee’s list of
concerns is broader, reflecting communications received
from other campuses, the emergent COIA, and the Association
of Governing Boards. Dumas expressed his hope that GFC will
interact with Northwestern’s Committee on Athletics
and Recreation and with Northwestern’s NCAA faculty
representative Robert Gundlach. In reply to a query about
Title IX compliance, Dumas said he anticipates a Department
of Education update on the interpretation of its mandates.
Child
Care
III. Professor Alice Eagly reported on the state of Child
Care, beginning with a reminder that the GFC has been participating
in planning and advocacy for over two years. At the beginning
of this involvement, virtually every comparable university
had on-site or nearby child care facilities. Northwestern’s
deficit has been manifest in difficulties hiring young women
as faculty and recruiting graduate students and post-docs
with child care needs. One response was the establishment
of a Child Care Committee which issued its report in February
2002. The Administration responded with a Child Care Initiative
in October of the same year. The Evanston campus now has
an arrangement with the YMCA child care center whereby spaces
are held for children of Northwestern parents; 64 such places
will be held for the fall of 2003. An additional network
of trained, licensed child care providers is being developed
by Katie Crouch, the new Co-ordinator of child care family
resources, for care in their own homes. A related initiative
to train individuals who would be available on a part-time
basis is soon to be announced. Evaluation of the Evanston
initiatives will be the task of the Committee of Women in
the Academic Workplace, chaired by Professor Charlotte Crane.
On the Chicago campus, sites are being evaluated for a badly-needed
child care center. Looking ahead, increasing population
density in Evanston can be expected to put additional pressures
on existing child care resources. This development needs
to be anticipated by the University, whose present dependence
on existing facilities in the city exposes Northwestern
families to new shortages in the early future. Child care
is a national problem because of the near convergence in
labor force participation rates of women and men in the
last decades. A survey conducted by the National Center
for Educational Statistics and published in 2000 showed
that for children aged 3 to 5 only 25% have parental care
as their main child care arrangement. Center care is a growing
proportion for the remaining 75%. Northwestern will need
to respond appropriately.
Discussion
Charlotte Crane commented on specific issues being addressed
by the Committee of Women in the Academic Workplace and
the Child Care Committee. She reported that the YMCA facility
is becoming more closely tied to the Northwestern community.
On the whole, she remarked, center care is more expensive
than home care arrangements currently being developed that
would be more affordable to graduate students. Al Hunter
asked whether the arrangements currently under development
are likely to dissipate the energies necessary to develop
a facility on or near campus. Eagly replied that the distance
from campus of the YMCA facility and the growth of demand
at other campuses make it extremely unlikely that campus
demand will be satisfied in the foreseeable future, and
that on-site development remains a high priority. Robert
Decker commented that the YMCA arrangement has exceeded
original expectations, but that the commitment to an on-site
child care facility remains unimpaired. Charlotte Crane
emphasized that the Chicago campus remains the most urgent
need. It would need to be open more hours, and will put
the University more in touch with the real-world child care
business. Provost Dumas predicted that long-run expectations
are for a constant increase in demand. Even after on-campus
programs are in place, it is likely that the YMCA will continue
to play a part in meeting the needs of Northwestern parents.
Reporting on Chicago campus developments, he said considerable
work is under way for site evaluation. Abbott Hall appears
to be the best option: space on the second floor, currently
used for food services, would become available after a site
is identified for food services. The second-best option
is the parking garage under construction, where first floor
space has been designed for retail stores. If that is re-purposed
for child care, some way to make up the anticipated retail
revenues for the Medical School would need to be found.
The Abbott Hall site would need to be approved by the City
of Chicago for child care licensing. If the second floor
site is used for infant care, special building features
are needed that will provide appropriate entrances and exits.
In Evanston, the Roycemore School site may become available
earlier than the contract date on which this property reverts
to Northwestern control. In response to a question from
Al Hunter, Provost Dumas reported that no new campus buildings
are in development that would provide appropriate child
care space. Future buildings as yet uncommitted could offer
new opportunities, however. Being in a historic district,
the Roycemore School buildings cannot be leveled to make
room for a purpose-built child care facility.
Affirmative
action in undergraduate admissions
IV. Professor Dan Garrison reported on the GFC’s March
5 meeting with Rebecca Dixon, Associate Provost for University
Enrollment, and Carol Lunkenheimer, Dean of Undergraduate
Admissions, regarding affirmative action and student diversity
goals for the undergraduate student body. At this meeting
Dixon and Lunkenheimer brought copies of the admission form
and the admission folder created for every applicant. The
folder provides space for admissions officers to put their
ratings for each applicant in a clearly defined set of criteria.
The purpose of these ratings is to bring what must be subjective
judgements within the ambit of objective ratings, priorities,
and institutional values. The objective of the admissions
process is to make Northwestern attractive to qualified
minority applicants and to take diversity goals into the
process without recourse to arbitrary statistical numbers.
Northwestern does not have the kind of rating system that
brought the University of Michigan under legal scrutiny.
The result of Dixon and Lunkenheimer’s presentation
was to satisfy the GFC that the process is a fair and reasonable
way to attract undergraduates from a relatively small pool
of highly qualified minority students being sought by a
large number of public and private colleges. It was also
clear that the Office of Undergraduate Admissions welcomes
faculty participation.
Discussion
Responding to a question from Bob Decker, Garrison remarked
that one of Northwestern’s advantages in competing
for minority students is our proximity to Chicago and the
access this provides to Chicago-area students to family
support systems. Northwestern is developing a pre-matriculation
summer workshop that will make the transition to campus
life easier for incoming students whose family members may
never have had an undergraduate resident experience. Dumas
added that Northwestern does serious bench marking in freshman
admissions; questionnaires are given to matriculating freshmen
and to students who accept admission elsewhere. A top priority
of such students is the perceived quality of academic programs
they aspire to enter. We keep track of “win-loss”
ratios in choices that involve schools like Michigan, Harvard,
and Chicago. Over the past decade, rank in class (95–96
percentile) is nearly a constant for all students; SAT scores
and grade point averages have steadily climbed. Geographic
diversity is another objective, with more matriculants entering
Northwestern from the far West, the Southeast, and the Southwest.
The percentage of self-reported African-American students
has been in the 5%–6% range in recent years, and the
Hispanic component has risen into the same range or a little
higher. Additional personal attention to minority prospects
has contributed to the process of attracting such applicants,
he said. Responding to a question from Bob Decker about
the commitment of minority alumni to Northwestern, Dumas
remarked that a minority alumni group contributed its efforts
on behalf of Campaign Northwestern. He added that Northwestern
conducts two special summer programs for minority matriculants:
one specifically for engineering students and one for non-engineering
students. The federal Office for Equal Opportunity has targeted
such programs as discriminatory, and Northwestern will have
to open such programs to non-minority students though their
purpose will remain the same. Replying to Professor Mario
Ruggiero’s suggestion that pre-matriculation programs
could be organized by students and remain unofficial, Dumas
said it would need University support to be effective as
pre-matriculants do not yet have the familiarity with campus
to plan and execute a series of workshops. But every possible
means will be explored. Bruce Wessels asked about the financial
aid formula. Dumas explained that Northwestern admits students
on a need-blind basis and provides outright grants (formerly
called scholarships), work study jobs, federally sponsored
loans, and University sponsored loans, calculated to make
it possible and attractive for each student to attend Northwestern.
A federally specified formula is used to determine individual
need. Though race has nothing to do with need, there is
an asymmetric need in minority applicants, who on average
tend to come from poorer communities and families. Minority
students tend to get more financial aid, as do engineering
students, who are more likely to come from a family that
have never gone to college and are less likely to have the
means to pay. Al Hunter asked about civility issues in the
composition of the student body. Given that we are admitting
students with high academic merit, what other criteria of
merit are considered, and how are they evaluated? Granted
that we are highly satisfied with the work of the admissions
office, is there a sense or a gauge of what a Northwestern
student is? Dumas replied that the diversity which Northwestern
tries to cultivate means there will be many criteria, with
a spectrum of overlapping qualities. High ability and high
energy are close to a common denominator for entering students,
and an ability to digest and dissect ideas is a hoped-for
quality among students as they graduate. Marilyn McCoy observed
that interviews are not often a part of the admissions process,
being a poor indicator of character or suitability for admission.
Campus visitors who evaluate our academic programs and regularly
talk with students report being highly impressed by the
Northwestern students they meet and interview. Further discussion
brought out a range of judgements about the quality of today’s
students versus those of 10–15 years ago. Because
prospective students are most interested in the quality
of our academic programs, Dumas remarked, the schools are
hiring liaison officers with the admissions office to make
it easier for the visitor to find the right person in the
school or the department who can answer specific questions.
For the record, Hunter noted that GFC questions about the
admission of athletes were answered to everyone’s
satisfaction.
Research
metrics
V. Speaking on behalf of Albert Farbman who was unable to
attend, Al Hunter asked about research metrics. The sole
question asked by Farbman’s committee regards the
implementation of a research metrics policy. Provost Dumas
responded that research metrics tools currently being developed
are a means for department chairs, deans, and central administrative
officers to enrich the dialogue and improve the decisions
involving space allocation and re-allocation.
Other
research issues
VI. The Provost then went on to comment on other research
issues. Compliance officers of the federal government have
made observations critical of faculty effort reporting on
federal grants and the use of animals in research. The Department
of Justice became involved with faculty effort reporting,
and the University had to pay a fine. The result was a decision
by Northwestern to improve administrative processes that
involve such reporting. We have engaged a consultant that
has advised other universities in this matter. Better effort
reporting entails better training and, in some cases, better
mastery of multiple-grant situations where a single grantee
may be serving more than a single federal patron. Administrative
processes must likewise be improved in overseeing the use
of animals in research. Investigators must secure permission
to use an animal in research; this entails sending a protocol
to a faculty committee which may grant permission or require
a revised protocol. A tight administrative process must
come between the committee’s deliberation and its
approval, and must monitor compliance and the allocation
of costs. The Administration is consulting to devise the
administrative process and the information technology system
to keep track of all projects and proposals. Thirdly and
more globally, the research administrative structure of
the University is auditing roles and responsibilities within
the Research Vice President’s office and in the schools
to bring a more robust, compliant, and serviceable research
administration within the University. Money has been invested
in additional staff, based on the consultant’s report
and the presence of a new Vice-President for Research. Roles
and responsibilities will be restructured and additional
funds will be allocated to improve the quality of service
and attain a higher degree of compliance in other areas
of research administration. The new Vice-President for Research
will be named in the very near future.
Discussion
Bruce Wessels commented that the recently circulated memo
on the responsibilities of Principal Investigators cannot
be implemented as stated. Clarification of the level of
detail expected and some provision of clerical support are
needed, he said, to comply with expectations. Provost Dumas
responded that the present audit of roles and responsibilities
is meant to clarify exactly these issues. The P.I. must
sign off on the deployment of the grant budget and must
understand effort reporting at a better level of detail.
The Provost briefly summarized some specifics of recent
government concern.
Adjournment
VII. The meeting was adjourned at 5:10 PM
Respectfully submitted,
Daniel
H. Garrison
Secretary to the University Senate
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