ABSENT:  Chung-I Tan

GUESTS:  Bruce Donovan, Mary Fennell, Lois Monteiro

The Chair opened the meeting at 3:05 p.m. A motion was made, seconded, and passed to approve the 9/26 minutes as submitted.

Professor Valente gave a Chair's Report. A faculty forum on Distance Learning is being held on Tuesday, November 14th, the only date in November when the Provost and other key people can attend. With the Committee's approval, Professor Valente would like to reschedule the November 14th FEC meeting to November 21st to which the FEC agreed. This means they would not meet for almost a month but, if the FEC desires to do so, perhaps a one-hour meeting on 10/31 would be in order. At the October 3rd faculty meeting, Professor Valente reported that he received several complaints from faculty about procedures used by the Controllers Office. Mr. Donald Reaves, Vice President for Finance and Administration, asked for specific examples of complaints so he can add ress some of the issues. Professor Valente forwarded to him anonymously several e-mail messages about various issues on the subject and will send them to the FEC. It is very obvious that regulations enforced by the Controllers Office (other than those i mposed by Federal Law) need to be simplified. There have been so many issues raised that perhaps a central location for complaints to the Controllers Office should be established.

Professor Valente interrupted his Chair's Report, and invited Dean Bruce Donovan to participate in discussion about the annual report from the Committee on Academic Standing (CAS). Dean Donovan was asked to clarify the rule governing petitioning by stude nts who are on warning to participate in foreign study programs. The rule stipulates that students who petition for foreign study while on warning and are attested to be in good academic standing by the Director of International Studies before they leave the country are allowed to study abroad and otherwise disallowed. Dean Donovan noted that late changes in grade option are now very rarely granted and published deadlines for course registration are strictly enforced. A concern was raised about PLME in finity groups thought to be voluntary interest groups but which actually bear course credit. Shouldn't this be clarified on the Brown transcripts? A suggestion was made to simply rubber stamp the transcripts since there are so few PLME students, and Dea n Donovan agreed to bring this idea to the attention of the Registrar. There was some discussion about the English requirement after which Professor Valente thanked Dean Donovan for his report.

Professor Stephen Foley was invited to this meeting to present the report from the Committee on Commencement Speakers but was unable to attend at the last minute. He submitted a written report that was mailed with the FEC agenda and since it was very st raightforward and the FEC had no questions, the Committee agreed to accept the written report in Professor Foley's absence.

Professor Goslow was invited to speak about the "Stop the Clock" policy recently approved by the Medical Faculty Executive Committee (MFEC), the Biomedical Faculty Council, and the Dean of Medicine. Lois Monteiro, Associate Dean of Medicine, was invited to participate in the discussion. Hospital-based faculty members do not have tenure as campus-based faculty do but are up for reappointment in (3) three-year terms. There has been nothing in writing allowing clinical faculty members a "pause" in the clo ck when they are unable to work for personal reasons such as medical leave, maternity leave, parental leave, adoption or provision of care to a sick child or other family member. Last year, a subcommittee of the MFEC chaired by Professor Carol Wheeler st udied this issue. The study resulted in a proposed policy for hospital-based faculty that provides for a one-year extension when the aforementioned reasons apply. After some discussion and editing by the MFEC, the approved policy was submitted to the Pro vost, and the MFEC is now seeking endorsement by the Brown University campus-based faculty. There will be no change to the Faculty Rules and Regulations which already contains a similar provision for tenured faculty, the decision to be made at the discre tion of the Department Chair. Discussion ensued with regard to the distinction between various medical tracks and provisions of the "Stop the Clock" policy whereby the FEC's consensus was to present a motion to endorse the policy at the November 7th facul ty meeting.

Professor Valente resumed his Chair's Report. A faculty member recently requested there be continued discussion about the Library at the November 7th faculty meeting. After some discussion by the FEC, it was proposed that the Faculty Library Committee b e asked to do another study on the Library other than a monetary one and report back to the FEC in lieu of discussion at another faculty meeting. A report by the Faculty Library Committee would be scheduled for some time in February. The FEC Executive O fficers recently met with officers of the Medical Student Senate over lunch to discuss their issues of concern. It seems they have many problems and feel somewhat isolated because they do not know where to turn for help. The FEC agreed to advise them on whom they should see about their concerns. An undergraduate student requested that names of student members serving on faculty committees be included in the Directory of Committees and Councils published on the Faculty Governance web site. The FEC thou ght it to be a reasonable request as long as it was not too much of a burden on the staff in the Office of Faculty Governance.

The FEC briefly discussed how to compose a motion to best suit the needs of the Campus Planning Committee's request to include in its membership faculty who have architectural and environmental expertise. Since it was time for the meeting to close, Profe ssor Valente asked that the FEC think about a possible motion for discussion at the October 24th FEC meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Cheryl A. Moreau
Secretary