Minutes

Rule Hearing

November 18, 2002 at 10:00 a.m.

The rule hearing was requested by Jean A. Larson, Chair, Faculty Senate and Jon Reiskind, President, United Faculty of Florida. Present to address questions concerning the rules were Dr. Joseph Glover, Associate Provost, Academic Affairs, Stuart Hoskins, Associate Controller, Dr. Mary Duryea, Assistant Dean for Research, William Fleming, Director, IFAS Personnel, Lohse Beeland, Assistant Director, Student Activities, and Dr. Barbara C. Wingo, Deputy General Counsel. The hearing was conducted by Dr. Sheila Dickison, Associate Provost.

Barbara Wingo mentioned that requests for hearing concerning three of the rules were untimely, 6C1-3.0376, 6C1-4.006 and 6C1-6.015. Nonetheless, in this case, the comments would be heard and considered although there was no legal requirement that this be done. She noted one reason for the deadline. It is required by law to have a representative at the hearing who was involved with the proposed rule, and that is extremely difficult when we have very short notice.

6C1-1.012 There was a discussion about the funding of the tuition free courses that the Florida Legislature decided not to authorize two years ago.

Dr. Wingo noted that the legislature has retained its authority over tuition and waiver of tuition under the School Code Rewrite.

Professor Reiskind requested that the constraints be removed that appear in section (1)(a): “It shall be the sole discretion of the employee’s department or equivalent unit administrator as to the number of credit hours, up to six, that may be registered for under this program each semester.”

6C1-1.018 Written comments submitted to Professor Tony Brennan from a faculty member were entered into the record to be reviewed. It was noted that some of the requested changes may not be made due to existing law prohibiting such changes.

There was a discussion about how the Intellectual Property Policy was formulated.

6C1-3.0376 No specific comments made.

There were comments raised regarding 6C1-3.0374 and the ability to implement laboratory fees. It was stated that the President’s Office would approve the implementation of any laboratory fees.

6C1-4.006 The comments raised were to clarify the understanding of the policy.

6C1-6.015 In response to a question from Professor Brennan regarding the interaction between the general University outside activities rule and the IFAS outside activities rule, it was noted that departments have specific guidelines to help their personnel understand their missions. The IFAS representatives stated that the IFAS rule is more restrictive than the general rule because it further delineates how the IFAS faculty are expected to conduct themselves. It is based on 90 front doors to UF throughout the state as IFAS serves the citizens of Florida through its research and education centers and 67 extension offices. The federal government appropriates (not grants) millions of dollars to fund IFAS, and there is a need to scrutinize certain outside activities when the public may be already paying for them.

Professor Brennan raised a concern regarding the language in the rule of “seven-day week” which makes it appear that every person in IFAS has job responsibilities seven days a week. The seven-day week was put in for calculation purposes. Mr. Fleming and Dean Duryea explained that this clarified that IFAS faculty have a full-time job with the university and, for example, one could not consult five straight days without approval. The purpose was to indicate how much time a full-time individual should be able to devote to outside financial interests. This language was a result of a survey of many AAU institutions and land grant universities on restrictions on outside activities.

It was requested by Professor Brennan that the language be changed to indicate that the 52 day guideline was “calculated” on a seven-day week or one day per week basis.

6C1-7.032 No specific comments made.