Western Front - 1983 November 11

              Western Front Friday, November 11,1983 Western Washington University, Bellingham, Wash. Vol. 75, No, 54
Quinlan Senate seeks say on merit pay
resigns
as V.P.
Western's Vice President for
Student Affairs Thomas Quinlan
announced .his resignation yes­terday,
effective February, 1984.
Quinlan will accept a position at
the University of North Florida in
Jacksonville March 1.
Quinlan, 48, has been at West­ern
since 1978 as vice president
for student affairs. Last year he
also took on responsibility for
university advancement activi­ties,
including development,
community relations, alumni
affairs and public information.
In his new post as University of
North Florida's vice president for
university relations, Quinlan will
be responsible for government
relations, alumni affairs, devel­opment
and public information.
The University of North Florida
currently has about 5,000 stu­dents,
in primarily upper-division
and graduate classes. It
is the newest institution in the
Florida State University system.
Wanted:
replacement
for Douglas
Mayor-elect Tim Douglas will
work three-quarters of the time as
Dean of Students until he takes
office at the end of December.
Thomas Quinlan, Vice Presi­dent
of Student Affairs, said that a
search will begin in December to
find a new dean. The search
probably will go beyond the uni­versity,
and he predicted it will be
nationwide.
Any committee that will be
formed will include faculty, staff
and students. Quinlan said the
people chosen for the committee
could come from recommenda­tions
from President G. Robert
Ross's office of from the Student
Affairs Office.
Bob Thirsk, who currently
works in Douglas's position and
at his regular job in Career Plan­ning
and Placement, will con­tinue
to work in the Student Life
Office part time until Douglas'
replacement is found.
Thirsk said he does not want
the dean s job.
Quinlan said a new dean
should be hired by summer 1984.
Exhortations
spur crew
through water
p. 8
By Nevonne Harris
and Don Jenkins
The process of deciding how
some $380,000 should be distrib­uted
among faculty is "rolling
along" without the involvement
of the Faculty Senate.
Senate President Hugh Fleet­wood
said he didn't know how
the money should be distributed,
but that clearly the senate should
be consulted.
He made his remarks at Mon­day's
senate meeting, where the
senate passed a motion that
requested all university bodies to
delay further action on the matter
and called for a special meeting
this Monday to discuss the merit
pay increases with Western Pres­ident
G. Robert Ross.
Ross was not at this week's
meeting.
The Legislature allocate*'
money last spring to reward
meritorious faculty members.-
How to measure merit and how
many professors should be
awarded merit pay are decisions
to be made.
This Thanksgiving beauty made a special appearance in Red Square
last Wednesday to help promote the 'Turkey Trot,' the intramural
fun run scheduled for Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.
Photo by Debbie Fortner
On Wednesday, following a
formal request by the senate to
delay action until it has dis­cussed
it, the Faculty Affairs
Council continued discussing
merit pay but delayed any final
decisions.
The FAC is an advisory com­mittee
to the Dean of the College
of Arts and Sciences.
It will send a letter to faculty in
the College of Arts and Sciences
asking for their opinions on seven
recommendations made by the
FAC last week on the distribution
of merit pay.
The letter includes the legisla­tive
mandate, possible deviations
from procedures used to distrib­ute
special pay increases in past
years and excerpts from the
faculty handbook concerning
merit awards.
The motion approved by the
senate states that the merit salary
increases authorized by the leg­islators
"are in all major respects
different" from previous merit
increases.
The main difference is the
amounts of money involved. It
represents 3.1 percent of all
faculty salaries, which is enough
to give every faculty member a
one-step increase.
Some senators expressed con­cern
that the president didn't
think he had to consult the
senate.
The motion stated, "the Faculty
Senate has awaited proposals
from the administration...none
have been forthcoming."
The motion also stated that
since the salary increases won't
occur until January 1985, "there
is no need for extreme haste."
Status of Tech
still questioned
By Seth Preston
and Ron Judd
"TOe^talflfs rt>f the sfelcfirfofogy"
department still is undecided
after the Faculty Senate post­poned
action Monday on the
removal of tech from the College
of Arts and Science.
The senate voted 13-11 to table
a motion that would have consi­dered
a memorandunv sent by
President G. Robert Ross to the
senate executive council Aug. 30,
as a removal proposal.
Senate members feared pas­sage
of the motion would lend
approval to a decision they had
no part in making.
Many senate members said
they were concerned not with the
question of removal itself, but
with the removal procedure.
Ross, who has said he consid-
Quizzes allowed,exarfis not
By Don Jenkins
The Faculty Senate approved
Monday a policy that forbids pro­fessors
from giving "exams" dur­ing
the last week of classes.
The policy, however, allows
"quizzes."
What is the difference between
a quiz and an exam?
"A quiz is a little exam," a smil­ing
Thomas Downing of philo­sophy
said.
"How little is it?" asked Gerald
Rutan of political science.
"Little enough to not be an
exam," joked Senate President
Hugh Fleetwood, who suggested
the senate could refer the ques­t
i o n s to the philosophy
department.
The author of the policy, Ron
Bensley, Associated Students
Vice President for internal affairs,
told the senate, "It (a quiz)
wouldn't be a large part of the
letter grade."
The policy can be waived and
an exam given if the professor,
chairman, dean and the entire
class agree. ~
"The entire class? "asked one
professor.
"Yes," he was told.
"Even those who don't come to
class?" another professor asked
facetiously.
William Summers of Huxley
suggested that if students, faculty
and administrators ever show
that much unanimity a special
mention of it should be made in
Fast, the faculty and staff weekly
publication
The policy passed by a voice
vote.
ers the move completed, was cri­ticized
by senators for by-passing
.^dtijonal-facultycpr|sjjltatiQain^
such matters.
But the Faculty Senate, an advi­sory
group to the Board of Trus­tees,
technically does not have
the power to disapprove of
department separation.
Senate President Hugh Fleet­wood
asked Provost James Tal­bot,
"If someone from outside the
university were to ask you where
tech was within the university,
what would you say?"
"I would say it's within the uni-versi
ty,'' Talbot replied.
Ross thought talks with various
deans, department chairmen and
faculty "constituted a faculty go-ahead,
"Fleetwood said.
The president also took the
executive council's response to
his memo as further consent,
Fleetwood said, dsspite Fleet­wood's
recommendation in the
response that any changes "must
be done in accordance with pro­cesses
of the university."
Ross was not at the senate's
meeting.
The Academic Coordinating
Commission and the Planning
Council, advisory bodies to the
senate, still consider tech to be
within the College of Arts and
Sciences pending a formal
proposal.
Fleetwood said the disagree­ment
between Ross and the ACC
was a "small ticking time bomb."
Any further curricular alterations
for tech would be reviewed by the
• See TECH, page 2
Fibers show
boasts local
winners
p. 10
Veterans Day
brings war
memories
P. 7