The Marshall University faculty senate discussed several issues during their most recent meeting, Thursday, including the much debated smoking ban as well as campus wide parking issues. The senate, which is made up of faculty members from each department, discussed and voted on issues relevant to the well being of everyone on the Huntington campus.
The first issue discussed at the monthly meeting was the tobacco free policy, which has been discussed multiple times by several groups for more than a year. Some debate did occur from faculty members who are former smokers, and the vote came down to a resounding 60 to 3 vote in favor of the ban. The ban has already been voted on by The Student Government Association, and now faces a final vote with the Board of Governors before the policy becomes officially approved.
Board of Governors representative, Marty Amerikaner addressed the senate
to update the group on the board's action items, including
the renovations of East Hall for the new INTO program and the budget cuts. According to Amerikaner, for each institution, the budget cut will be closer to 9 percent, versus the previously believed 7.5 percent. This is because financial aid needs to be kept whole, and not be affected by the cuts.
The Legislative Affairs committee took to the microphone
after one meeting this semester to discuss the need to increase funding
for higher education. Speakers said almost 80 percent of Marshall students are from West Virginia,
and an attempt must be increased to recruit students from elsewhere. It
was also announced that 11 percent of Marshall freshmen for the
2012-2013 school year came to college with ACT scores between 12-17, and
those students require remedial courses, which cost extra money the
university does not have, especially during the fast approaching budget
cuts. The subject of non-traditional students was brought up as well,
suggesting a need for more evening, online and weekend classes to accommodate those students, which also costs extra money. These
statistics were all written in a letter to the West Virginia
Legislature.
Another widely discussed topic of the meeting was the on-going parking and crosswalk issues going on around campus. Due to the construction of the new engineering building on Third Avenue, faculty and staff members have lost 150 parking spaces, causing drivers to find alternate parking. The construction has also caused a loss of sidewalks, which is dangerous to the blind students on campus. The city of Huntington refuses to assist with this problem due to it being "dangerous" to their city employees.
After 35 minutes of meeting publicly, the senate broke into executive session to discuss suggestions for spring commencement address speakers. The Faculty Senate will meet again on Thursday, March 14.
No comments:
Post a Comment