Meetings are open to all University faculty members.

Members Present: Marc Becker, Keith Doubt, Stephanie Fore, Janice Grow, David
Gruber, Joan Mather, Peter Rolnick.

1. Janice Grow agreed to take minutes at meetings when she was able to
attend.

2. Treasurer's Report was read by Keith Doubt in absence of Treasurer
James Harmon. Expenses for food and the ad for the Town Meeting were
approximately $l00. Our current balance is $213.61. We have 40 members
listed at national AAUP. The new officers are not yet listed there.

3. President's Report. Keith Doubt reported minutes for September and
October are now posted on the web page. Keith is slowly working his way
through division meetings to recruit for membership. He has visited
Language and Literature, and is scheduled to attend Fine Arts.
Keith is distributing copies of Footnotes at each meeting,
along with membership flyers. Where he is not invited to
speak, he puts membership information and Footnotes in mailboxes.

Keith Doubt announced that Deadwood would play at the Potluck Supper
at the University Club on the Friday before Thanksgiving. There was a
discussion about placing ads in various places, as well as on e-mail for
the Potluck Supper. Expenditure for the ads was authorized.

A paper titled "Dilemmas in the Rhetoric of Assessment and
Accountability: Some Anti-Assessment Aphorisms" from the journal Soundings
was distributed by Keith Doubt. There was a discussion about copyright
issues were AAUP to circulate the document to members or place it on the web
site. It was decided to investigate the issues around the copyright laws
further.

Dave Gruber attended the state General Education Steering Committee
meeting in Columbia. Gruber warned that though there is talk about each
college having autonomy, in the back of the discussion was talk of a state
assessment system, which Gruber sees as not at all in tune with Truman.

Keith Doubt raised issues brought to him by letter from two faculty
members having to do with lack of appropriate support for their external research
grant applications. There was a discussion about the advisability of
waiting to see what the administration would do about the concerns before
AAUP's getting involved visibly in the issues.

4. Review of the town meeting was tied to the Conversation with the
President and Vice-President held for faculty last week. It was reported that President
Magruder acknowledged the high attrition last year, suggested it might be a
fluke, and said if it continues it would be looked into. It was reported
that the administration seemed to criticize the lack of numbers in the AAUP
report on attrition.

5. Marc Becker reported on the results of the faculty attrition survey. He
expressed disappointed at the low number of returns he had received. There
was a discussion about disseminating the results to the faculty and to the
Board. Stephanie Fore suggested that the data needed to be interpreted
before it is disseminated. Marc agreed to write up a draft of what has been
done, pass it on to others for further interpretation. It was suggested
that Judi Misale would be the appropriate member to do that. It was
suggested that the AAUP will then distribute through the Monitor or some
other venue.

Respectfully submitted, Janice Grow

Additional Items

An item that I neglected to raise at our last meeting
was the possibility of hosting a film series with the Film Club on
campus. The Film Club is interested in the idea. We would show well
known art films that dramatize compelling political practices in
difficult times. We would co-sponsor the film series. Keith Doubt

There is also another agenda item that I need to raise.

Teresa Heckert, President of Faculty Senate, has created a committee on Faculty
Compensation. Teresa attended and spoke at our Town Meeting on Faculty
Attrition. It is important for us to commend and support this
initiative. Note that the committee calls for one representative from
AAUP. The question now is to find out who would like to serve on
this committee and who is best qualified. If there is more than
candidate, we can elect a representative from AAUP to the Committee.

Here is the resolution that passed the Faculty Senate

Whereas the University Master Plan states one of our goals is to
"monitor salaries and compensation packages for faculty to ensure
fairness and adequacy internally as well as comparability with external
peer groups" (p. 40), and

Whereas Dr. Robert Stein, Assistant Commissioner of the Coordinating
Board of Higher Education, suggested the state universities and colleges
determine appropriate comparison schools for facilitating faculty
compensation discussions, and

Whereas numerous Truman faculty members have voiced concerns with the
high cost of health care for their families,

I am forming a special committee with the following four charges:
1. determine comparison schools
(note: discussions should occur at Faculty Senate before list is
finalized)
2. gather information on the pay structure at these schools, including
salary (base
and opportunities to supplement through grants, etc.) and benefits
(including health/dental/vision care, retirement, life insurance,
disability insurance, paid sick leave, and tuition reduction plans)
3. research merit pay structures at these and other institutions
4. research summer salary structures at these and other institutions

Members of the committee will be asked to serve until our May meeting
(i.e., the last meeting of the 1999-2000 Faculty Senate), at which point
this committee will be dissolved. The committee will prepare a report
of its findings. This report will be discussed at either the May or
July Faculty Senate meeting, as time allows. This information will be
shared with appropriate administrators.

Membership
-one faculty representative from each division
-one representative from AAUP
-two administrators (i.e., Dave Rector, Institutional Research and
Michael McManis,
Dean for Planning and Institutional Development)

Note: this committee will not address the issue of "fairness and
adequacy internally" due to time constraints. The 2000-2001 Faculty
Senate may address this issue.