Hi 80 / Lo 62
|
Hi 80 / Lo 62 |
Student Publications
©1991-2007
Last modified:
Contact:
|
Volume 71, Issue 91,
Thursday, February 16, 2006
News Book proposition sent back to committee by JEB SCHNEIDER
The Faculty Senate defeated a UH Textbook and Educational Materials Policy on Wednesday at its regularly scheduled meeting in Farish Hall. After 90 minutes of debate, the proposal was defeated by a vote of 28 to six, with one abstention, and was sent back to committee for revision. Economics professor David Papell discussed the proposal that he said had come from a less than unanimous vote from the Faculty Affairs Committee. The proposal had two primary objectives. "The first principle embodied in … the policy is to allow professors who have class materials used in a 100 universities worldwide to profit 100 percent from the royalties on those materials," Papell said. "Additionally, whatever royalties would accrue from classes where you are not the instructor of record could be profited 100 percent." The Senate did not take exception to this argument, but cited Paragraph D of the proposal, which says that any money received by the faculty member "must be donated" to his or her department and distributed to a designated charity within the University or applied as reimbursement for expenses given to students. An example of such an expense would be a class party or field trip. The bulk of the meeting generated a debate about the proposed textbook proposition. The Senate consensus was the proposal had several flaws. Law Center professors Peter Linzer and Stephen Huber led the opposition, rejecting the proposal on the grounds that it did not address the real issue and that several provisions were attempts by the provost's office to dictate faculty policy. Some questioned the notion that the policy addressed the problem of students being overcharged for materials while others said they felt the policy was demeaning to the faculty and University. Other concerns arose about the idea that the Affairs Committee had been coerced to take action by the provost's office and the lack of enforcement procedures within the proposal. "I went to Yale and the University of Chicago and neither I nor my peers thought it was a conflict of interest for our professor to have written books," Huber said. "We thought, ‘I am playing in the big leagues and I am proud that my professor has written books.' "Further, I find the notion of ‘the member will donate' to be an oxymoron. And one of our tax colleagues will note that what is mandatory is not a donation and therefore not deductible," he said. After College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences professor and Senate President Steven Craig opened the meeting, Budget and Facilities Chairman and Hotel and Restaurant Management professor Karl Titz presented a report on concerns raised about the inaccurate projections in enrollment and resulting revenue shortfalls. "Specific concerns have risen concerning the budget shortfalls for spring and summer and how can (faculty) help alleviate it," Titz said. "We have asked the deans of the departments to help come up with ways to increase enrollment, also, we received from the regents flexibility in establishment of tuition and fees." Two proposals were mentioned to deal with the shortfall. The first would neither abolish nor increase fees to cover shortfalls in enrollment, utilities increase and personnel. The second proposal would strictly challenge overly optimistic projections in future budgets which have strained the existing fee structure and the 20 percent tax on fees that is set aside for financial aid. Send comments to dcnews@mail.uh.edu |
To contact the
To contact other members
of
 |