The Guaranteed Grade Point Average scholarship will soon be completely eliminated from Emporia State’s financial aid program and will be replaced with the Hornet Award. According to Elaine Henrie, director of financial aid, potentially 190 students will receive the guaranteed GPA scholarship for next year, but the official count won’t be released until final grades are in.

The new program, which was started two years ago, actually offers students more money per semester although the award will only extend over two years instead of four.

“Students are pretty excited about having a two year opportunity we found,” said Laura Eddy, director of Admissions. “I don’t think any schools in the state of Kansas guarantee (scholarship money) for four years. That’s something in the past.”

Now students will have the opportunity to be awarded scholarships based on both the ACT score and their high school GPA. On the low end of the scale, students with an ACT of 22 and a GPA of 3.0, $700 is available. On the high end, $2,000 will be awarded to students with an ACT of 29 or higher and a GPA of 3.75 or higher.

The previous award amounts were $500 for an ACT score between 21-23 or a GPA of 3.5. The highest award amount on the old program was $1,200 for an ACT score of 27 or higher.

Eddy said that the change in program has not hurt recruiting.

For third and fourth year students who no longer apply to receive a GPA scholarship, more awards will be available from individual departments.

“(When funds come) we will push more dollars out to the departments to award,” Henrie said. “It will be a process. That will be the goal to get it pushed out to the department so that you work with your department for the last two years.”

Transfer students will also still be eligible to apply for the Hornet award.

Students who started college on the GPA scholarship will continue to receive the award until they reach their four year maximum on the award.

“Anyone who started under that, we certainly didn’t pull the rug from under them and change it,” Henrie said. “We were going to make sure that were following all the way through with that. That wouldn’t have been fair or the right thing to do.”

One benefit of the new program according to Eddy, is that it gives students more opportunities to receive scholarship money.

“We’ve been able to add an early application scholarship, a valedictorian scholarship,” Eddy said. “In the past student’s would ask us, ‘what else can I apply for?’, and really there was nothing else. It’s given more opportunities.”

The Guaranteed GPA award was created over 10 years ago under ESU’s previous president, Kay Schallenkamp.

“It didn’t require any kind of application nor did it look at students in total,” Henrie said. “It worked somewhat. It really did not take into account both the ACT and the high school GPA. The student’s who actually get that money have been more successful than some of the students in the past because we were only relying on one aspect.”

With the old program, students who had a high ACT score but low grades in high school could still receive a large award. In the reciprocal situation, there was really no way for students to get any scholarship at all.

“When we are using donor money, it is pretty important to have some accountability,” Henrie said. “We had to find the most effective ways to spend those dollars. It becomes accountability, that you took your high school education seriously and that you tried your best on your ACT.”

There was also no application process with the GPA scholarship.

“ESU was kind of an outlier for not requiring a scholarship application,” Henrie said. “If you’re really interested in a scholarship, you have to do something to apply. Rather than being based on scholarship it was almost more based on entitlement. If you’re a student who works pretty hard, I think that is a significant difference to earn your scholarship.”

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The Kansas State House of Representatives passed House Bill 2221, a bill prohibiting indoor smoking for a majority of public places in the state, on Feb. 26.

The bill, more commonly called the Kansas Clean Indoor Air Act, states that “no person shall smoke in an enclosed area or at a public meeting including, but not limited to, public places, taxicabs and limousines, restrooms, lobbies, hallways and other common areas in public or private buildings, and any place of employment.”

Gov. Mark Parkinson is expected to sign the bill in Topeka tomorrow and perform ceremonial signings in Kansas City and Salina on Monday. In a statement released by the governor’s office, Parkinson said that he was happy the bill had passed. The law will go into effect on July 1.

“This is a victory for workers, families, businesses and future generations,” Parkinson said. “Today’s success took many years and many struggles, but thanks to a bipartisan coalition in the legislature, the tireless efforts of our state’s health advocates and the support of the Kansas people, this legislation will soon become law.”

While Emporia already has a comprehensive smoking ban in effect, the statewide ban has the final say if any discrepancies occur.

 According to Ryann Summerford, Kansas Grassroots Manager for the American Cancer Society, the ban is several years in the making.

“We at the American Cancer Society have been working towards a clean air bill for a long time,” Summerford said. “Through our Grassroots program, which works within the Kansas Congressional districts, we have sent petitions, and emails promoting Bill 2221.”

Summerford works with around 8,000 volunteers throughout the state.

“I am proud and thrilled that our legislature had the courage to pass a secure state-wide smoke-free bill. 380 people die each year due to complications brought on by second-hand smoke,” Summerford said.

According to Summerford, the bill makes Kansas the 29^th state in the union to implement a comprehensive indoor smoking ban. The bill also allows for individual cities in Kansas to pass regulations involving stricter indoor smoking bans, but the state-wide ban remains the bare minimum required of towns with no smoking ban.

         Cody Grauberger, junior English major, said he feels that the ban is restricting the rights of smokers.

         “I don’t smoke very much, a cigar here and there, but I think that any discriminatory action is immoral,” Grauberger said. “No matter how you candy coat it you are still forcing an entire group of people to abide by others regulations. My father has been a smoker for the better part of his life, and continues to this day.  Though I do not agree fully to what he does, I stand strongly for his and others right to choose their habits.”

         However, Jake Tannehill, sophomore English major, expressed that he views the smoking ban as a positive thing for the state.

         “I smoke cigars occasionally, but when I do it is always outside… I guess I don’t see the benefit of smoking indoors,” Tannehill said. “It just makes it uncomfortable for those inside who don’t smoke. So I see (the smoking ban) as a good thing, a kind of win-win situation, because I don’t see a problem with smoking outside.”

         The bill lists certain businesses that are exempt from the ban, including outdoor areas of any building, private homes or residences, which are not being used as a daycare home, up to 20 percent of the rentable rooms in a hotel or motel, the gaming floor of a gambling or racetrack facility, an area of an adult care home designated as a smoking area, tobacco shops and private clubs.

         The fine for the first violation of House Bill 2221 is up to $100. The fine for the second violation within a one year period of the first violation is up to $200. For the third violation, and all subsequent violations within a one year period of the first violation, the fine is up to $500.

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Lane

Michael Lane, president of Emporia State,  Steve Brown, dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Gwen Alexander, dean of the School of Library and Information Management, are currently being evaluated, a process which is coordinated by Faculty Senate. It has not yet been determined if or how the results will be released.

“We do not have a specific protocol for the reviews,” said Carol Russell, president of Faculty Senate. “In the past, the Committee on Campus Governance has attempted guidelines, and a bill was even drafted, but did not go to the senate for a vote. We probably need to look at this again.”

Amy Webb, associate professor of English and former president of Faculty Senate, said the release of evaluation results have varied in the past, depending on the decisions of COCG, the Faculty Senate Executive Committee and the administrator who is evaluated. In the past, results have sometimes been summarized, distributed showing exact commentary, or locked in an office where those who wish to access them must sign in.

Though there have been discrepancies in the release of these documents, Webb said they try to remain in compliance with the Kansas Open Records Act.

“There have been investigations by various faculty and administrators to know what we are legally supposed to do (in regards of releasing the evaluation results),” Webb said. “We have files in the senate office of asking the regents lawyer, where should these things go, and the one thing that legally is consistent is it’s a personnel file and it needs to be protected, you can’t just have it out there.”

The evaluations pertain to employee performance, which is outlined in KOMA as a personnel issue and is legally a closed record.

“Public agencies shall not be required to disclose: personnel records, performance ratings or individually identifiable records pertaining to employees or applicants for employment, except that this exemption shall not apply to the names, positions, salaries or actual compensation employment contracts or employment-related contracts or agreements and lengths of service of officers and employees of public agencies once they are employed as such,” a portion of KOMA pertaining to these records reads.

Though, in the past, some of those files were available.

“Some administrators have asked that their evaluations be open,” said Kevin Rabas, chair of COCG. “However, they have often asked that those wishing to see the data sign in and read the documents in a secure place, such as in the Faculty Senate office.”

Webb said that deciding how the evaluation results will be handled is constantly debated.

“We’re of two minds about this,” Webb said. “No faculty member would want his or her evaluations available to every single person in the world because people can be irresponsible with those and it can be damaging, but at the same time we want some level of accountability.”

Though, as far as the evaluation results determining change, Rabas said they are mainly used to measure progress.

“It is my understanding that the evaluations are to be used by the administrator as a gauge and are not traditionally used to determine job fitness, merit, promotion, or retention,” Rabas said.

Lane said he looks forward to the completion of the evaluation, as it will allow future improvement.

“I think it’s a good process,” Lane said. “I’m more than happy to see the results and it gives me an opportunity to look at things I do and see if there are ways to make things better. I think that’s one of the benefits of having that kind of an evaluative process.” 

Though it has not yet been decided whether or not Lane’s evaluation results will be open, when asked, Lane responded: “on this campus we have determined them to be personnel issues, and they don’t become public.”

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Requested line item increases to student fees were introduced in the first readings at the Associated Student Government meeting last Thursday.

“We’re dealing with the student fees directly,” said Jonathan Rivers, chair of the Fiscal Affairs Committee and junior secondary social sciences education major. “So any increase or decrease directly affects everyone, so we’re really trying to take this as seriously and as professionally as possible and we try to find a mutually beneficial situation for all the groups involved because in actuality we don’t want to cut anybody, but if we feel that there’s waste being done or that groups are not being responsible with their money then we’ll make the appropriate decisions.”

The recommended increases by the Fiscal Affairs Committee were an increase for Quivira of 45 cents to 70 cents per full time student while the part time fee of $0.25 will remain unchanged and an increase for The Bulletin of $1.02 to $9.12 per full time student and of 14 cents to $1.29 per part time student. The only other line item increase to be considered is for The Sunflower, but more information was necessary before an amount, if any, could be recommended.

“These are all just recommendations from my committee, I would encourage all of you to talk to your constituents ask them questions, ask them how they feel about these recommendations that we made, because these directly affect their student fees,” Rivers said to the senate.

The line items will be discussed and debated at the next ASG meeting at 5 p.m. on March 25 in the Heritage Room of the Memorial Union.

ASG elections were also discussed at last week’s meeting. Any full time student with a Grade Point Average of 2.0 is eligible to run for Senate. ASG can hold up to 27 senators, including: two graduate students, two students who are undeclared majors, two students from the School of Library and Information Management, seven students from the School of Business, seven students from the Teachers College and seven from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Students who currently serve on the senate must be reelected in order to continue in their position, and all students running for senate must either get 50 signatures from students in their respective college on a petition or pay a $30 buy-out. Applications and petitions for Senate are due to the Lauren Leif, election commissioner and junior political science major, by March 29.

Leif said this year’s goal is a more competitive senate race.

“It would be wonderful if we had more competition,” Leif said. “But in the past years there hasn’t been as much competition and that would be an amazing thing to have. We’re still looking for people to run for Senate or Vice President or President if they’re interested.”

Students who wish to run for President or Vice President must have a GPA of 2.5 or better. Jonathan Krueger, current ASG President and senior political science major, said staying positive is the best way to be successful in the presidential position.

“I think the biggest advice I can give is just to stay positive,” Krueger said. “There’s a lot of differing opinions, but in the end I think everybody is trying to accomplish the same thing, and at the end of the day, the bottom line is you have to stay positive about your goals and even the goals of the opponent that you’re running against.”

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Brad Raines, senior secondary social studies education major, tries to toss a pingpong ball into the cups at the end of the table during the Safe Spring Break carnival Monday night in Webb Lecture Hall in the Memorial Union. The carnival was held to make students aware of the many possible dangers that could happen during spring break.

Giant penis cutouts with oozing sores, condom encased cucumbers, beer goggles, diapers and tattoos were all featured in games played by students at the Safe Spring Break carnival on Monday.

The event, hosted by the Health Center, SOS, GAMMA, ADAP, Division of Student Life and UAC focused on providing awareness to students about potential dangers that arise during spring break.

“We try to raise awareness so that students can decrease their risk because we all hear the stories on the news about the bad things that can happen,” said Mary McDaniel, assistant director of Student Health Services. “We want our students to have a wonderful spring break and to come back safe and rested and ready to finish up the semester.”

This was the fifth annual “Safe Spring Break,” a tradition which started after Student Health Services saw some trends following spring break.

“Years ago, we started noticing that right after spring break we had an increase in the request for pregnancy tests so we know that’s a concern,” McDaniel said. “Also, we have seen over the years a rise in the number of requests for sexually transmitted infection testing following spring break, and sometimes a rise in the number of positives.”

The event had carnival games focused on five main areas: unintended pregnancy, alcohol and drug use, STIs, sexual assault and general safe traveling. Some games included “Pop that Sore,” “Bankrupt Baby,” “Think Before You Drink” and “Crash Your Cranium.”

“It’s a little bit different every year because the nursing students who are in their community health class actually design, develop and implement all of the games,” McDaniel said. “So it’s education in the guise of carnival style games. While it’s the same topic material, it’s entirely new creation from the students that are new to that class.”

Nathaniel Enabnit, senior nursing major, helped man “Walk the Line,” a game where goggles impair students’ ability. The students have to walk a straight line after riding a tricycle.

“We’re hoping that they learn something from all of the four stations that we have (in the drinking safe category),” Enabnit said. “But the ‘walk the line’ I think is more fun and I hope that it makes them realize that they shouldn’t be driving because they’re not doing very well.”

Spencer King, freshman pre-pharmacy major, said he enjoyed the information that was presented through the games.

“The wheel of misfortune was definitely my favorite,” King said. “You could get asked a question about pretty much anything, which made it really interesting.”

Another station, where students could practice their punching, focused on self-defense. Damon Leiss, physical recreation instructor, took the hits.

“The idea behind it is that when women punch, they should try to punch as fast and as many times as possible to deter somebody if they are grabbed,” Leiss said. “I think people are having a good time with this, but I hope they are also learning a little something.”

Kelsie Jones, freshman biology major, said she found the overall event to be very informative.

“I think it’s a good way to help prevent some of these things from happening over spring break by being informed,” Jones said. “And making it interactive makes it a lot more fun.”

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When education majors graduate from Emporia State, will there be jobs for them?

ESU’s Teacher’s College is among the top four in the nation and currently has 145 students in the student teaching phase. These future educators flocked to the Educators Career Fair sponsored by Career Services yesterday in Webb Lecture Hall in hopes of finding job offers.

But of the 59 districts that attended, only four posted a cumulative total of 13 positions that need to be filled on a board in Webb Lecture Lobby. Exact statistics on job listings were unavailable from June Coleman-Hull, director of career services.

Coleman-Hull said the number of districts represented is down from 73 last spring and 105 in the spring of 2008, likely a repercussion of financial hardships facing schools because of state budget cuts.

“Higher education took a big hit and the public schools were starting to see that big hit last year, but people didn’t anticipate another hit again this year, so the number (of districts looking to hire and attending the career fair) has certainly dropped almost in half,” Coleman-Hull said.

The jobs posted were in the fields of Special Education, Music, Math, English, Elementary Education and Science in the districts of Turner, Gardner, Hugoton and for Sedgwick County Area Educational Services Interlocal Cooperative.

“There are much fewer jobs and districts are very tentative about hiring for jobs right now because they’re not completely clear on what their budget is going to look like,” Coleman-Hull said. “Therefore they’re not willing to extend contracts to teachers because the jobs just either may not be there or they aren’t there, so certainly much fewer jobs for our student candidates.”

Kathryn Taylor, assistant superintendent of Chanute Public Schools in Chanute, said that her district is not currently looking to hire. Instead, she hopes that by attending the fair, her district can become more known to students in the future.

Taylor is an ESU alumna, which is one reason she likes to attend the Educators Career Fair at ESU and is why she looks at ESU graduates before considering others, even though her district is located near Pittsburgh State University.

“I’m an alum, and therefore I know the quality of the students that are produced by Emporia State University going out into education,” Taylor said. “I have hired many ESU graduates and have never been let down by the quality of those that I’ve hired.”

Jestin Blake graduated from ESU in December with a degree in elementary education and has not found a permanent teaching job.

“It’s been difficult,” Blake said. “In December, there was one opening for January, but I just went into subbing. I came here because there are different school districts that I wanted to talk to and I felt that it was important just to show my face and to get my name out there to the schools.”

Cruz Jasso of the Emporia school district encouraged future educators to keep an open mind and take a job where they can find one because things will get better in a couple years and then they can pursue the district of their interest.

Coleman-Hall said education students who are preparing for graduation should use their networks and connections to find jobs and market the advantages of hiring a brand new graduate, like current training in their field. She said there may be more job opportunities in the future.

“(The job market for educators) is going to recover in a couple of years,” Coleman-Hull said. “It will not recover fully is my prediction. Students should look into alternatives to classroom teaching and what else they might want to do that allows them to work with kids but not necessarily in the classroom.”

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Aishah Shahidah Simmons, documentary filmmaker and lecturer speaks with students about her documentary, “NO!,” Monday afternoon in Visser Hall 330. Kellen Jenkins/The Bulletin

The hardships and struggles that faced the black community in the past, and its current struggle against sexual violence was discussed by mother and daughter speakers in a series of events presented by the department of ethnic and gender studies last Monday and Tuesday.

“My making ‘No!’ was something that I tried to separate myself from, and I am not actually anywhere in the film,” said Aishah Shahidah Simmons, documentary filmmaker and lecturer. “But as I went along, I found out that I had everything to do with it. Through the production of the film, I found that I healed.”

The presentations began on Monday with a workshop by Aishah Simmons concerning documentary filmmaking, and particularly focused on examples that dealt with issues facing the black community. About 15 ESU students and faculty attended. Her film “No! The Rape Documentary” was shown on Tuesday night in Visser Hall.

“I never knew how much of an issue (sexual violence) was for African-American women,” said Frances Busby, senior secondary English education major. “Social issues play a role in the classroom, so I am hoping to use the information I learn in the classroom.”

That same evening Aishah Simmons’ mother, Gwendolyn Soharah Simmons, professor of religious studies at the University of Florida, presented her experiences as a college girl that helped with the peaceful protesting organization Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee during the Civil Rights Movement.

“My story is a small one, but there were so many of us young people who took time out of their lives for the Civil Rights Movement,” Gwendolyn Simmons said. “It really was a great fortune to serve on the frontlines during the movement.”

Gwendolyn Simmons described in great detail the influences and events that brought her into the heart of the Civil Rights clashes in the state of Mississippi in the summer of 1964.

“I had (civil rights information) coming at me from all sides,” Gwendolyn Simmons said. “It didn’t take much to move me from my ‘no involvement’ stance that I had shared with my grandmother.”

The opposition of her family to her joining the movement, particularly her grandmother, was a major theme in the presentation. The danger of the undertaking was the reason for their opposition, Gwendolyn Simmons said.

“My grandmother told me, ‘You’ll be raped, shot and thrown into a creek with a bail of cotton around your neck,’” Gwendolyn Simmons said. “I was shocked when I learned that white men had been killed.”

Gwendolyn Simmons highlighted some of the lesser known groups and demonstrated just how large of a movement the battle for civil rights was.

“It’s too easy to just say Martin Luther King ran the Civil Rights Movement,” said Karen Manners Smith, professor of history and director of the ethnic and gender studies program. “We don’t have as many stories in American history that are as successful as the Civil Rights Movement.”

Some students that attended the lecture felt motivated about what they considered current social injustices.

“I think students today are more apathetic,” said Carlos Pringle, senior history major. “I feel motivated to support the rights of homosexuals, even if people don’t agree with what others do they should support their right to work the job they want and have civil rights.”

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Emporia State’s Black Student Union (BSU) traveled to Texas for the Black Student Government Conference last weekend to learn strategies for leadership and action on ESU’s campus.

“I believe it was one of the most powerful conferences a student can go to for student government and being a student leader,” said Lasonya McElroy, junior communication major. “This conference has helped me stay focused on my goals and what we’re trying to promote.”

The three day conference was held at the University of Texas at Austin where more than 700 students attended.

“The theme for this year was ‘Powerful Beyond Measure,’” said Sheryl Lidzy, assistant professor of communication and theatre. “The purpose of the conference, which was started 33 years ago, is to empower black students to become leaders in the world.”

The conference is attended by the Big XII schools as well as smaller schools, and was started in 1977 to help black students make an impact on their campuses.

“It started in 1977 in Columbia, Missouri,” Lidzy said. “Next year we’re going back to Columbia.”

Some of the themes for the conference included personal health, leadership strategies and finance management.

“The 33^rd Big XII Conference on Black Student Government 2010 program offers you Texas hospitality with a deliberate conference schedule with focused topics that promise to expand your knowledge, invigorate your pursuit of excellence, soothe your soul and fuel your spirit,” said Soncia Reagins-Lilly, senior associate vice president for student affairs of the University of Texas at Austin in a letter to conference attendees. “As your educational career advances, please realize that many people are investing in your leadership and your success.”

ESU’s Black Student Union went to the conference to learn new effective leadership skills, Lidzy said.

“The members of the council are usually the ones that go,” Lidzy said. “I will say that this is not what happened this time, and that we are developing new leaders, which is really exciting.”

The organization of the conference allowed for six keynote speakers for each meal of the conference, and then the students attended workshops for the rest of the conference.

“Some of these workshops included things like how to be black on a primarily white campus, but also how to lead effectively, be an effective adult and even how to deal with relationship issues,” Lidzy said. “They were really cool workshops.”

Speakers carried powerful inspirational messages, and even helped students realize how negatives in their lives could be transformed into positives, McElroy said.

“One of the speakers that stands out to me was a woman named Angel,” McElroy said. “She used her personal story and things that happened to be mistakes and failures in her life and told us how she used what could have destroyed her to her gain.”

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Racheal LeClear, opens Monday nights Local Food Network discussion and movie. The movie took place at the Flint Hills Technical College on Monday March 1. Kenny Thompson/The Bulletin

Throughout the latter two weeks of February and the first two weeks of March, The Emporia Area Local Food Network is hosting a film festival featuring films which advocate and educate viewers about the benefits of growing and buying local produce.

The film showings, sponsored by The Emporia Area Local Food Network (EALFN), Flint Hills Technical College and Emporia Public Library, will be at 6:30 p.m. every Monday until March 15. The first two showings were held at the Emporia Public Library, while the final three segments of the festival will be shown in the auditorium of Flint Hills Technical School.

Admission to the event is free, though the EALFN will be accepting donations at a table set up at the event. The table will also have information regarding the EALFN and the projects the organization is involved in, and how one can get involved with this group.

Racheal LeClear, who sits on the board of EALFN, expressed that all interested in attending the event should not hesitate.

“It is a good opportunity to learn about local food practices, and the advantages of buying locally grown food. The five films we have decided on give a good overview of the topic, and also give diverse perspectives on the situation,” she said.

The five films are “Fresh,” which was shown Feb. 15, “Asparagus,” which was shown Feb. 22, “Food Inc.,” which was shown March 1, “The Future of Food,” which will be shown March 8 and “Locavore,” which will be shown March 15.

LeClear said that the EALFN chose these specific films because each one gives a slightly different view of the issues involved, and each gives good background on the issues in an entertaining fashion. “Food Inc.” is directed by Emmy Award Winning Director Robert Kenner, and was nominated for the 2010 Academy Award for best documentary.

John Crisp, board member for EALFN and owner of Shepard’s Valley, the only Community Supported Agriculture Farm in the area, said that the reason this film festival is important is because it “opens the eyes of the consumer to the importance of understanding the organization of food companies in America today.”

“When you see a film like ‘Food Inc.,’ viewers go through many different emotional responses – anger frustration, and ultimately, the thought of “what do I do now? Films like these are motivation films, which are meant to convey to the viewer that there are options available, and that they should find out about these options,” he said.

The EALFN, according to LeClear, was started about a year ago, in an effort to spread awareness about the options available to Emporia residents and others from the area in terms of buying locally grown food. The organization helped to develop the farmer’s market occurring in Emporia during the spring, and the community garden, which went through its first season of production last spring.

Bill Ihling, board member for EALFN, expressed why he believes this film festival is important to raise awareness about food production in the U.S.

“There is very little we do that is more important that what we put into our bodies three times a day,” Ihling said.

LeClear stressed the importance of this event in helping to education the issues of everyday eating habits of Emporians and others in the area.

“If you don’t know about what it is your eating and if you don’t know the background behind the food you eat, it is really easy to ignore these things,” she said. “If you eat an apple off a produce shelf, and you don’t know what is actually on that apple it’s possible and probably likely, that there are a lot of things on that apple that are hurting your body rather than helping it. These films can really help people to find out what is on that apple,” she said.

LeClear also added that anyone interested in more information about the organization, or those interested in joining the EALFN can contact her at rleclear@fhtc.edu.

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Faculty Senate discussed topics ranging from email encryption to budget cuts at yesterday’s meeting.

President Carol Russell announced that the Council of Faculty Senate Presidents faculty input survey was completed and will be looked at by the Faculty Senate Executive Board. She said collective results would be shared and taken to the different departments for input.

“Obviously, there’s some things we can’t change, but there are things that we can look to the future and have some directions for the future,” said Russell.

Also, Russell talked about the COFSP February meeting, where the Kansas Board of Regents requested a response to budget cuts. Russell said that ways to respond included a web site with information, a list of legislatures and their resolutions, a statement from student government and other information. She said that the board requested copies of what Emporia State will be doing.

“We have our cumulative report with numbers from each institution in addition to collective, so that we have talking points of the state in addition to our own in regular communities,” Russell said.

Russell also discussed a Shared Governance Meeting, Tuition Assistance Proposal work and reminded senators that new elections are approaching.

Academic Affairs committee head George Durler reported progress on revisions to policies on Faculty-Initiated Student Withdrawal. Committee on Campus Governance chair Kevin Rabas spoke about University committee reviews and updates on the Days on Campus survey. Faculty Affairs chair Mike Morales introduced new businesses of Modifications to Regular and Interim Policies and Procedures and the Furlough policy. He also updated the senate on Grievance Policy progress.

Old Business that was brought up included a second reading for the Information Technology Usage Policy in which Durler proposed an amendment to lines 51 and 57 of the policy. The existing line 51, which read “which should not be sent in an email transmission to a non-university account” was replaced with “should not be sent using email transmission unless encrypted using a university supplied encryption product.” Line 57, which read “no expression of privacy or confidentiality,” was amended to “no expression or expectation of personal privacy or confidentiality.”

Durler said that Technology and Computing Services is looking for an encryption program that would be available to all of those on the university server. The program will allow confidential information to be sent via email while being protected. Emails sent from university accounts to outside email would not be readable due to the encryption software.

“It may cause some inconvenience, but it would also create a situation where if there’s automatic forwarding, it will not compromise the data and confidentiality,” Durler said.
Announcements of upcoming events in the music and art departments were made before the meeting was adjourned.

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The Emporia State Faculty Senate Committee on Campus Governance met on Tuesday to discuss  the status of two surveys currently being developed by the committee.

Dusti Howell, senator representing Instructional Design and Technology, discussed the Faculty Information Survey,  a morale survey given to ESU faculty members to gauge satisfaction within the faculty body.

Several Regents schools are using the same survey, and results are being compiled to gauge satisfaction of professors in the State overall. The survey results were compiled, and the results will be given to the Faculty Senate Executive Committee to be discussed further at a later date. None of the results were taken on an individual basis, but rather, compiled to measure satisfaction of the entire faculty.

Provost Tes Mehring joined the committee in a discussion of the possible institution of an overall standard for the amount of time each faculty member should spend on campus, in office hours, teaching class, or simply working in their offices each week. The committee discussed the concern that a few professors at ESU were not spending enough time on campus, leaving some jobs, such as student advising, to be done by faculty members who are on campus consistently. Mehring expressed that it was a small number of professors causing the issue.

“I would say that it is 3-4 percent of professors who are the issue, the other 96 percent or so are doing what needs to be done, and are having an extra burden placed on them by professors who aren’t here all of the time they need to be,” Mehring said.

Though the committee did not reach a conclusion on this issue, there was a substantial discussion of possible ways to solve the problem. Phil Kelly, senator representing the Social Sciences Department, lamented that it was necessary for the Senate to solve issues such as this one.

“There are more important issues at ESU, and it is unfortunate that we have to deal with this one. But, I believe is must be dealt with,” Kelley said.

The second survey discussed in the meeting was aimed at dealing with this problem. The survey, titled the “Days on Campus Survey,” is in the preliminary stages of its production, but the committee worked during the meeting to develop it. According to Kevin Rabas, senator representing the Department of English, Modern Languages, and Journalism, and chair of the committee, the COCG is working towards developing the survey, and hopes to release it to the faculty shortly after their March 9 meeting.

“As a committee, our first job is to gather information through the survey,” Rabas said. “Then, once we have that data, we can begin incorporating the larger voice of the faculty into any initiative, such as a bill, that we may write. Also, we need to continue to discuss this issue with administration and work towards building a balanced, informed, and measured overall view of this issue. That approach will help us as we proceed.”

Apart from Howell, Kelly and Rabas, the committee consists of Jim Costello, Psychology Department; Stanford Felix, Music Department; Eileen Hogan,  Department of Early Childhood and Elementary Teacher Education; Gregory Larson, Athletic Department; Paul Luebbers, Health, Physical Education and Recreation and Don Miller, Business Department.

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