FACULTY COUNCIL
1. Misc.
There was some discussion about OSU policy regarding departments paying for staff access to the Internet from home, e.g., paying for Warner Roadrunner Service. The university policy seems to be that it is up to each department - if a department wants to spend money that way, it is OK.

2. There was a report on faculty review of administrators.
OSU has started with faculty review of administrators, with completions of two reviews. These reviews are run be a committee appointed by the Faculty Council, but with the cooperation of the administration. The reviews are of both administrators and the offices. One of the reviews was of the VP for Research, but with the untimely death of the VP, the value of the review will be in the recommendations about the structure, etc.

OSU seems to be unique in conducting this type of evaluation of central administrators. It is a time-intensive process, so it will be important to see how the recommendations are considered. However, the process will continue with other central administrators. There was some discussion in the past of extending the process to college deans, but this is up in the air.

3. Bobby Moser spoke on the university's efforts at Outreach and Engagement. There will be a call for proposals for mini-grants to support innovative efforts.

There is a university web site: http://www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~engage/

SENATE
1. Budget issues. In December, Budget Restructuring, Part 8 will be issued. This should give a good idea of where OSU is going. (See some of my previous notes on this issue, and web links.) some documents are available at this web page

2. University budget support from legislature. Because the economy is doing well and the legislature did not change anything after the defeat of Issue 2, OSU is doing OK. However, if there is a recession or the court gives a worst-case directive to the legislature, the budget could suffer.

3. COAM. The annual report of the Committee on Academic Misconduct was given. The university committee heard 234 cases for the Su 97-Sp 98 period, and almost 80% of the students were found to be in violation of the Academic Code. The committee imposes sanctions ranging from warnings to dismissal, although the most frequent sanction is disciplinary probation. The committee also recommends to the instructor bringing a complaint a grade sanction, and the instructor has the option of imposing that grade sanction or a lesser sanction. The most common grade recommendation was a zero on the assignment in question.