Senate Executive Committee Chair Peter Racheotes was unable to attend the meeting, and Vice Chair Jane Hastings presided.

The following agenda items were discussed:

1. University Governance Survey . The American Association of University Professors is attempting to determine the extent to which institutions adhere to the “Indicators of Sound Governance” for institutions of higher education. Dr. Gandy distributed a survey form to be completed by faculty, with the results to be returned to the AAUP.

2. University Assessment Process. Discussion focused on the confusion of faculty regarding the annual assessment of programs. Issues involved (1) Responsibilities (Who is charged with gathering information about students who have graduated? Why are there so many people involved in submitting the various reports? What, exactly, is the role of the Director of Institutional Effectiveness in the evaluation process other than to criticize faculty efforts?, and (2) General Confusion (Why do the assessment plans need to be revised each year? If we have a good assessment plan, why must it be changed annually?)

3. University Committees. Dr. Racheotes was unable to attend, so this item was tabled.

4. System Policy 12.01, Academic Freedom, Responsibility, and Tenure. Dr. Gandy represented the Senate at the Texas Council of Faculty Governments in Austin in October. One major issue at the conference, at least to TAMU-System faculty, was the extreme revision to this policy being put forth by System legal staff. Dr. Gandy met with representatives of other TAMU-System schools to discuss these revisions. The chair of the TAMU-College Station Senate had met with the System lawyers and others, and he reported that the proposed changes were in the process of being revised in order to bring them into better alignment with tenure policies at other institutions.

5. Texas A&M System Senate. At the Texas Council of Faculty Governance meeting the representatives of the TAMU-System institutions met to discuss the possibility of having a TAMU-System Senate, with representation from all TAMU-System institutions. The president of the TAMU-CS Senate said there was some opposition to this among College Station faculty, and the matter was shelved.

No formal actions were taken at the meeting.