Present: Estry Ang, Kerry Holzworth, Amy Knapp, Evelyn Talbott, Sara Linder, David Crossman, Tony Silvestre, Elizabeth Baranger, Thomas Metzger, Ellen Baylis

Absent: Rakesh Bhatnagar, Audrey Murrell, Catherine Wilson, Catherine Bender, Deborah Aaron

1. Approval of the minutes of the last meeting. The minutes of the January meeting were approved.

Old Business:

2. An update was presented on the SEPC part-time faculty questionnaire

Amy Knapp and the subcommittee presented their compilation of the comments section of the questionnaire. Evelyn asked if they could further distill the comments into a few paragraphs indicating the major areas of concern put forth in these statements. This will be due by the end of March to allow her enough time to incorporate these into the final write up.

Evelyn presented the basic frequencies of the database created from the questionnaire data entry form. This was done in SPSS and is being summarized. It was suggested that in general, the overall agree or disagree table regarding the 28 items on the questionnaire be presented in some kind of ascending or descending order of agreement to allow for ease of review. Tony Silvestre further suggested that a methods section be added to the final results of the questionnaire for further clarification.

3. Environmental Law Clinic, Academic Freedom and the Report of the Tenure and Academic Freedom Committee.

There was a general discussion of the report from the Provost's Office regarding the recent PA Legislature ruling concerning allocation of funds to the University. The committee was sympathetic to the idea that the action of the university (i.e. removal of hard money) constituted a violation of academic freedom, but was perhaps required by law. This places both the university and the Environmental Law Center in a difficult position. The future of may be further jeopardized by the request of the University that they not seek foundation support. The committee took no action at this time.

4. Update concerning Advisory Council on Instructional Excellence Awards:

There have been 51 applications received to date and the date of submission was extended by two weeks to allow individuals additional time to prepare their proposals. The proposals will be reviewed on March 23, 2002.

5. The next meeting will be held on March 12, 2002 at noon in 650 WPU. Lunch will be served. The meeting was adjourned at 1:15 PM. Evelyn Talbott, Chair