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Attendance
Approval of minutes
Proposal for a new major in Performing Arts Entrepreneurship
Proposal to decrease division I athletic costs
Diversity Committee
New business

Minutes of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Faculty Assembly

Attending: Adrain, Amert, Birrell, Boggess, Borreca, Buss, Cowles, Creekmur, Ehrstine, Franklin, Gibson, Gross, Guentner, Hatasa, Honey, Jones, Joselson, Kleiber, Lara-Braud, Leddy, Lovaglia, Marra, F. Nelson, G. Nelson, J. Nelson, Parratt, Pavlik, Payne, Plapp, Redlawsk, Ringen, Schope, Slabakova, Slatton, Squire, Strohmer, Thompson, Troyer, Vélez, Waters, Windschitl, Woodard

Excused absence: Balderston, Fethke, Hendrix, Latham, Niño-Murcia, Randell

Absent: Altman, Aprile, Arthur, Brown, Christen, Darling, Dominguez, Fielding, Finnegan, Fitch, Frankel, Geng, Gölz, Hesli, Kim, Larsen, Lewis, Lutgendorf, Michaels, Pienta, Plumert, Robertson, Schwalm, Silliman, Snider, Stroyan, Tomasini, Trachsel, Trevor, Ungar, Vlastos, Whitmore, Wilcox, Zebrowski

Visitors: Fred Antczak, Associate Dean; JoAnn Castagna, CLAS Administration, Raúl Curto, Executive Associate Dean; David Nelson, Director, Division of Performing Arts; Annie Shuppy, Daily Iowan; Heather Woodward, Iowa City Press-Citizen

1. The minutes of the Faculty Assembly meeting of October 16, 2002 were approved as distributed.

2. Proposal for a new major in Performing Arts Entrepreneurship. David Nelson, director of the Division of Performing Arts, presented a proposal for a new major in Performing Arts Entrepreneurship, which had been approved by the Educational Policy Committee and submitted for the Assembly's consideration. He said that four years ago the Entrepreneurial Center approached the School of Music about developing a joint program. The formation of the Division of Performing Arts presented a good opportunity to develop an interdisciplinary program involving more than one art form for multi-talented students who were interested in leadership in the performing arts but did not want to commit to one of the professional degree programs. He stressed that the proposed major was neither a management degree nor a business degree, but rather broader in scope.

Member Rex Honey (Geography) noted that the number of credits required (54-57) exceeded that of the new International Studies major, which had been criticized in some quarters for requiring too many credits. Nelson replied that the number of credits was in keeping with the other programs offered in the performing arts, and in fact many people had expressed concern that it did not require enough credits and that it might therefore offer merely a watered down version of professional education.

Honey asked whether it would be easy or difficult for students in the program to study abroad. Nelson said that study abroad had never been discussed with respect to this degree program as it was being developed, but that students in the other performing arts programs often did study abroad, especially in South America. Member Kim Marra (Theatre Arts) said that the proposed major would not preclude study abroad, at least in the area of Theatre Arts, because there were courses included in the program that could be taken abroad. Member Art Borreca (Theatre Arts) added that students who had pursued a similar course of study had taken advantage of existing study abroad programs and internships. Nelson said that the division's Advisory Council would take up the subject of how to encourage study abroad for students in the new major.

A member commented that the introduction of the proposal seemed to equate leadership and innovation, and she questioned whether that was a valid premise. Nelson responded that innovation is something that is often missing in the professional performing arts, that creativity is often re-creative, i.e., performing artists work for existing companies replicating works or creating variations on forms that have proved to be successful. He said the proposed major was designed for students who planned to become performing arts employers as well as performers themselves. Marra added that innovation in the arts often requires the establishment of a new company, and the proposed major would equip innovative students with the tools of entrepreneurship so that they would be able to exercise practical leadership in the performing arts.

Regarding the proposed major's relationship to the certificate in entrepreneurship, Nelson commented that most students would not find it practical to earn the certificate while pursuing an existing professional degree in the performing arts.

Chair Doug Jones (Computer Science) called for a voice vote on the EPC's motion to approve the proposed major in Performing Arts Entrepreneurship, and the motion passed unopposed.

3. Proposal to decrease division I athletic costs. Associate Dean Fred Antczak presented the Educational Policy Committee's proposal for reducing the number of football scholarships from 85 to 72 over five years, and the number of football recruiting visits from 61 to 51, with the monies saved to be used to support educational endeavors or to diversify the range of athletic opportunities. He said that it was not the EPC's intent to undermine the positive aspects of Iowa's athletic affiliation, but when athletic budgets are receiving increased support from the General Fund in an era of cost containment, it is a good time to send a message of this kind to the NCAA.

Rex Honey spoke against endorsing the proposal because it would reduce the amount of money going to students, which could in turn adversely affect minority and disadvantaged students. He said there were other ways to curb athletic expenses, such as prohibiting home teams from staying in a hotel the night before a game, and reducing coaches' salaries. Dean Antczak noted that the proposal allowed for the monies saved to be used for other scholarships.

Member Bonnie Slatton (Health & Sport Studies), who has been a faculty representative to the NCAA for 20 years, spoke in favor of the proposal, noting that many faculty representatives have advocated for football scholarship reductions over the years. She said that the proposal would be helpful in reaching gender equity in intercollegiate athletics, in terms of both the number of participants and the number of scholarships given. She also reminded the Assembly that the Faculty Senate approved a CIC resolution on intercollegiate athletics that included recommendations for cost-containment measures like those suggested by Honey. She said it would be helpful to NCAA representatives to have the support of a faculty resolution on this issue, and that the budgetary climate might be right to get a message through to university presidents.

Regarding coaches' salaries, Slatton said that there were anti-trust issues to consider. Several years ago, coaches contested restricted earnings (a salary cap) and their case was upheld on anti-trust grounds. She noted that there was a direct relationship between high coaching costs and dropping sports at universities and colleges around the country. She also said that President Boyd was looking into options for lowering coaching costs without raising anti-trust issues.

Member Lisa Troyer (Sociology) agreed with Honey that it would be undesirable to take away scholarships from students. She said that she was uncomfortable assuming that reducing scholarships was the best course of action in terms of saving money or running the football program efficiently, and that the specificity of the proposal was presumptuous.

Member Carolyn Lara-Braud (Health & Sport Studies) asked whether the University was limited in the number of athletic scholarships it could offer. Slatton replied that every sport had a limit and that the UI offered the highest number of scholarships allowed in every sport it offered. Member Susan Birrell (Health & Sport Studies) observed that, if football scholarships were reduced, the number of athletic scholarships could remain the same overall if the University added new sports to its offerings.

Lara-Braud moved to amend the proposal to say that the monies saved by reducing football scholarships would be used for scholarships for the general student population. The motion was seconded.

Troyer reiterated her objection to the specificity of the proposal. Member Sasha Waters (Cinema & Comparative Literature) suggested that the proposal be viewed as a way to open discussion on the issue rather than as a final policy recommendation. Dean Antczak added that if anything were to happen on this issue, it would only happen after a long period of conversation. He also maintained that one reason to suggest a reduction in scholarships was that all division I universities operated under the same scholarship arrangements. Member Bryce Plapp (Biochemistry) agreed with Troyer, saying that it could make the Faculty Assembly look silly to suggest that it knew how best to run a football program.

Honey suggested that the motion to amend the proposal be withdrawn and that the proposal be tabled until someone could present more information to the Faculty Assembly on these issues and answer questions. He maintained that, at present, any vote on the proposal would be an uninformed vote. Lara-Braud agreed to withdraw the motion to amend, and the Assembly voted to table discussion of the proposal.

4. Diversity Committee. Chair Jones reported that he met with members Rex Honey and Virginia Dominguez (Anthropology) about the future direction of the Assembly's Diversity Committee, and that he had received email from several other members on the subject. He presented some questions and observations (see attached report) about the definition of diversity and measures of success in promoting diversity. He asked for volunteers to serve on the committee, particularly as committee chair.

A member asked whether the committee should be given a specific charge before asking for volunteers to commit to serving on it. Jones said that his report was not intended as a mandate, but as a starting point for the committee to shape a specific charge for itself. Member John Nelson (Political Science) reminded the Assembly that the committee already had a standing charge.

Another member asked whether committee members must be members of the Faculty Assembly. Chair Jones consulted the committee's charge and established that committee members must be Assembly members at the time of their appointment to the committee, but could continue to serve after their term as an Assembly representative expired.

Honey suggested that three members of the old Diversity Committee be asked to serve along with three others, and that a discussion of the committee's charge be included on the December agenda. Chair Jones agreed to proceed accordingly.

5. New business. A member requested that the Faculty Assembly take up discussion of the College's new minimum enrollment requirement for courses.

6. Adjournment. The time for adjournment having arrived, the meeting adjourned without addressing further business.

Respectfully submitted,
Fredrick Woodard
Secretary, 2002-03