College of Arts and Sciences Policy Committee Minutes

April 20, 2006

Note: At the end of these minutes there are some revised versions of past CPC Policy documents that we are sending to the faculty for comment.

Present: Judith Anderson (chair), Bob Becker (last half of meeting), Erik Bucy, Sandra Dolby, Roger Levesque, Rosemary Lloyd, Al Ruesink (recorder), and Rick Van Kooten.

The meeting convened at 4:15.

Minutes of the April 13 meeting were approved as submitted.

Some final plans were made regarding the upcoming election of new CPC members.

Several CPC members are concerned about the lack of faculty commitment to the on-campus service component of our obligations as faculty members. Once a new College dean is in place, the CPC may wish to explore with her/him the formal and informal reward structures related to such work.

Because there seem to be discrepancies between the information available at the department level on course reductions for various reasons and the information available at the College level, the CPC may wish to pursue issues related to maintaining reliable institutional data.

We returned to our work of updating the 30 College Policy Statements of recent years and putting them on the College website in topical rather than chronological order. The CPC agreed that the following policies, all of which have been circulated to the faculty with our minutes since December 1, 2005, are ready to be posted in their revised form as current policy:

College of Arts and Sciences Policy on Faculty Retention 1996

(Previously called College of Arts and Sciences Salary Policy)
Policy for Determining Annual Salary Merit 2004
Budget Policy Guidelines 1992
Leave Without Pay 1997
Policy on Distance Education 2002
Policy on Journal Support 1994

We decided that the Policy on the Joint Appointment of College Faculty in Multiple Instructional Units 2002 needs no revision and can be posted as it stands.

The CPC voted unanimously to delete the policy document titled "Guidelines for use by the College of the Retention Incentive Plan for 18-20 Retirement Plan-eligible College Faculty (April 23, 1999)."

The CPC considered the content of three other policy documents that are not yet ready to go out with our minutes to the faculty.

The CPC decided that we should meet weekly through the month of May to complete our work for the year.

The meeting adjourned at 5:55.

Albert Ruesink, recorder

Questions or comments regarding the minutes and actions of the College Policy Committee may be addressed to co-chairs Judith Anderson (anders@indiana.edu --855-3845) and Bob Becker (becker@indiana.edu --855-3014). Past minutes and College Policy Statements can be found at the CPC web page: www.indiana.edu/~college/faculty/policy/policies.shtml.

Policy concerning Partner Hires (April 2001, revised April 2006)

Draft for review by faculty 4/20/06

When hiring senior faculty the College will make every effort to accommodate partners at a level commensurate with their credentials and will budget lines realistically and regularly for this purpose. At the same time, however, departmental autonomy with respect to hiring and tenure decisions must be preserved. Whenever possible, the accommodation of partners of junior faculty is also desirable.

College of Arts and Sciences Salary Policy (April, 1990)

Draft for review by faculty 4/20/06

l. The Budget of the College will comply with the University Faculty Council Principles Guiding Faculty and Librarian Salary Policy 4/25/89 (http://www.indiana.edu/~ufc/docs/policies/salary.html) and the Bloomington Campus of Indiana University Faculty/Librarian Salary Policy 10/17/89 (http://www.indiana.edu/~ufc/docs/policies/salary.html). This policy reaffirms the primacy of merit in setting salaries but also specifies that the BFC Budgetary Affairs Committee will make recommendations concerning cost of living and fixed dollar increments.

2. The College's elected Policy Committee will serve as the Dean's consultative committee as required by UFC policy. The Policy Committee and the Dean's staff will make sure that each department or program in the College has, and makes use of, a consultative committee to advise the unit's responsible administrator regarding the allocation of resources. Such a committee should be fully elected for a limited term by the unit's faculty unless another method is approved, on petition, by the College Policy Committee.

3. Except for funds that the Dean must allocate to prevent the loss of outstanding faculty, to make equity adjustments, and to provide increments to promoted faculty members, the College will follow the BFC Budgetary Affairs Committee's recommendations for cost-of-living and/or fixed dollar increments. The same holds for the ratios used in the allocation of salary funds among units at the campus and school level set out in section IV of the University Faculty/Librarian Salary Policy.

4. To perform its duties effectively, the College Policy Committee needs to be apprised of the basis and process by which the College office makes budget allocations to departments and programs. The Committee should receive from the Dean summary data on such allocations, and should such allocations exceed the acceptable differential set out in sections IV.A and IV.B of the University Faculty/Librarian Salary Policy, the Dean will discuss the rationale for such exceptions with the Policy Committee.

5. Application of the merit principle to departments, programs and faculty members of the College is bound to vary somewhat from unit to unit; but each unit should stipulate clearly in writing how merit is defined for and applied to its faculty and these should be periodically reviewed. Given the emphasis on research and creative activity as a prime component of merit, decisions must also affirm concretely the College's declared commitment to teaching excellence by making the evaluation of teaching a significant factor in determining individual faculty salaries. The Policy Committee's report on teaching of spring 1989 [link will be added when electronic version of it is posted], can be used as a guideline.

6. In disbursing funds, departments should have a great deal of flexibility in deciding how such funds should be spent, subject to the restriction that funds for salary increments to faculty and associate instructors should not be diverted to other uses.

7. Periodically the College Policy Committee will review the substance and implementation of items 1-6.