Approval of Agenda: The agenda was approved as written.

Approval of Minutes: The minutes were approved with minor typographical corrections.

Election of Officers: The following Senate officers were elected:

• Reporter - Shannon Bailey
• Parliamentarian - Steve Bradley
• Secretary - Janet Bickham

President's Report: Laura Ore reported on the following items:

• The new Senate President had difficulty getting put onto the faculty listserve. She apologized for the short notice of this meeting and promised that future agendas of Senate meetings will be publicized at least 72 hours in advance via e-mail and the Senate web site. She also asked that items needing to be addressed by the Senate be sent to her along with the number of minutes required to address each issue.
• The Senate Committee appointments are not quite complete. At least one Senator must be on each committee, and Senators are not allowed to chair these committees. In particular, a Chair is still needed for the Policies and Procedures committee.
• Two Administrative Rules, both generated by Ed Osborn, were distributed and still need review. Senators were asked to read them and get back to Laura Ore with their comments.
• As Senate President, Laura Ore attended the ACC Board Retreat August 16th and 17th. Three noteworthy items from this Retreat were discussed:
  1. SACS Visit: ACC is having an Alternate Study on Technology.
  2. Annexation Projections: ACC plans to try again to annex Round Rock and Del Valle in about 15 to 18 months. The Senate recommended that we push for the Del Valle annexation.
  3. 1999 Tax Increase Failure: A consultant named three main reasons the tax increase failed in 1999:
     a) lack of funds,
     b) untimely AISD tax increase, and
     c) failure of ACC to secure the faculty's support.
• On August 6th, the Board indicated that Dr. Fonte had been evaluated as successful and awarded him a 6% raise.
  The Senate will inquire again into the State Comptroller Review that has been requested.
  The Senate has a vacant seat because Cathy Angell transferred to a different campus. Since the seat she vacated is at Northridge, the Northridge Senators will select a replacement.
• The Salary Committee recommended that ACC publish the 9-month full-time faculty scale on its web site along with the 10.5-month scale that is already published. The Senate approved this, and passed the following resolution.
  Resolution: We ask that at the very least, the published scale should be identified as a 10.5-month scale with a footnote to indicate the percentage decrease that would result from shifting it to a 9-month scale.

Report on Scheduling of Full-time Faculty: The Senate discussed the issue of how much input faculty members have in determining their class schedules. The Senate agreed that full-time faculty members have a right to select their schedules and that Deans and Task Force Chairs do not have the right to impose arbitrary rules on full-time faculty members when scheduling classes. The Senate also agreed that full-time faculty, including Task Force Chairs and Deans, must follow the Administrative Rule on Full-time Faculty Workloads when determining schedules. The Senate decided that Senate Officers would address this issue with appropriate administrators in the chain of command.

Discussion of Salary Classifications: It was reported that in Art, the terminal degree is the Master of Fine Arts, which is comparable to a Ph.D. in other fields. The problem is that because different universities have slightly different hour requirements for earning this degree, faculty members are not always placed on the appropriate level in the pay scale. Human Resources and Payroll are quoting different unwritten rules for Masters degrees requirements. The Senate decided to refer this issue to the Salary and Benefits Committee for further investigation.

Announcements: The following announcements were made:

• Mrs. Nick Sarantakes passed away this week. The Senate will send a letter of condolence.
• ACC's Association for Professional/Technical Employees and the Classified Employee Organization are sponsoring a Blood Drive for ACC employees and students. Faculty are encouraged to participate. An e-mail will be sent to all employees with details.
• ACC is holding two events to help establish connections between minority students and faculty. Faculty are encouraged to attend. These events will take place on Sept 16, 2-5 PM, at RVS Student Lounge, and Sept 19, 6-9 PM, at EVC Student Lounge.
• The HIV/AIDS Education Committee needs faculty volunteers. The group meets once a month. For more information, contact Daisy Diaz-Alemany at diazale@austin.cc.tx.us.
• Scheduling problems are occurring when changes are made to schedules. These changes are occurring mostly at the Campus Provost and Dean levels. The Senate recommends that people creating the schedules be consulted when changes affecting them are made to schedules.
• The next Senate meeting will be September 28th.

The meeting was adjourned.

Judy Scholl substituted for Linda Caplin. Constance Elko substituted for Susan Hord. The following Senators were absent: Sean Murray, Patti Dungan, Patrick Goines, Nick Sarantakes, Steve Kirschner, John Maynard, Robyn Richter, and Larry Willoughby.