November 18, 2014
Executive Summary
1. Call to Order
Chair Zonderman called the sixth meeting of the sixty-first session of the NC State Faculty Senate to order at 3 p.m.
2. Remarks and Announcements
Chair Zonderman announced that the Chancellor is accepting the Paul Simon Award today.
3. Approval of the Minutes, Meeting No. 5, November 4, 2014
A motion passed to approve the minutes
4. Presentations:
Hillsborough Street Update
Jeff Murison, Executive Director of the Hillsborough Street Community Services Corporation, presented a PowerPoint entitled “Transforming Hillsborough Street.”
Mr. Murison stated that Hillsborough Street is an historic part of the City of Raleigh and it has an historic connection with the university. In the 1990’s and around 2000 the Hillsborough Street Partnership was created, which was a large collection of interest groups that included the city, the university, property owners, residents, and merchants. Interested parties came together and formed a partnership to try and create a new vision and a new future for Hillsborough Street.
Murison explained that the Corporation’s mission is to make the Hillsborough Street community a distinct destination in Raleigh by providing services and programs that improve the economic sustainability of the businesses and increases the market value of the properties within the territory.
The Hillsborough Street Community Service Corporation is governed by a Board of Directors that consists of 13 members and some ex-officio, non-voting members. NC State is their largest partner and has two board members. Dr. Michael Mullen, Vice Chancellor of Academic and Student Affairs, was added as one of their ex-officio, non-voting members to continue the diversification and representation within the university.
Mr. Murison updated the faculty on the different phases of the project:
Phase I: Woodburn/Cox Street to Gardner was completed in 2010.
Phase II goes from Gardner to Rosemary Street and is currently under design and is scheduled to be under construction summer 2016.
Phase III, IV, V – Have not been scheduled yet.
Comments on the Faculty Assembly, Stephen Leonard, Chair
Dr. Stephen Leonard, Chair of the Faculty Assembly, commented on the history and structure of the UNC Faculty Assembly.
Dr. Leonard stated that the Assembly was established by President Bill Friday in 1972. The majority of the chairs over the years have come from the larger campuses. The Assembly has been in existence for more than forty years and during that time it has remained intact. The purpose of the Assembly is to provide advice of faculty’s interest and concerns to the President of the UNC System, Board of Governors, and the General Assembly.
Dr. Leonard stated that the structure of the Faculty Assembly is proportional representation. There are four categories of delegations. The size of a delegation is determined by the size of the faculty on the respective campuses.
Dr. Leonard stated that the Assembly has an important role in making sure that faculty concerns, interest, and perspectives get articulated and heard in various policy making and regulatory activities of General Administration.
5. Old/New Business
Convocation
Cary Zelna, Associate Vice Provost for Academic & Student Affairs, solicited feedback from faculty about what they think should be included in a university convocation.
Zelna explained that the goals of convocation is to be the academic welcome to new students, to provide that sense of community for them, and to help develop that first common intellectual experience.
First Reading: Resolution of Commendation for Dr. Daniel Solomon
Chair Zonderman commented that there have been other deans to retire in various years, but not every dean’s retirement has prompted a formal Senate resolution. The sense from some Senators was that Dean Solomon deserved a specific resolution because of some very specific things that he has done during his deanship, particularly in terms of the educational mission of his colleges and also diversifying the colleges and the student body.
Senator Fuentes moved to waive a second reading of the resolution. The motion passed.
The Senate voted and the resolution passed without dissent.
6. Issues of Concern
Senator Auerbach presented an issue of concern on the Religious Studies degree being consolidated without university administrators reading the required Program Review.
Chair Zonderman assigned the issue of concern to the Academic Policy Committee for it to review.
7. Adjourn
A motion passed to adjourn the meeting at 4:47 p.m
Meeting Minutes
Present:
Chair Zonderman, Secretary Daley, Chair- Elect Moore, Parliamentarian Fath; Senators Allaire, Ash, Auerbach, Baumer, Bernhard, Borden, Brady, Bullock, Cubbage, Fleisher, Fuentes, Gunter, Heitmann, Laffitte, Lunardi, Nfah—Abbenyi, Orcutt, Scearce, Smith, Sotillo, Williams
Excused:
Provost Arden, Senators Aday, Banks, Bartlett, Davidian, Holden, Krause, Levy, Moore
Absent:
Senators Bird, Byrnes, Devetsikiotis, Edwards, Spontak, Steer
Guests:
Betsy Brown, Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs; Carrie Zelna, Associate Vice Provost, Academic & Student Affairs; Jeff Murison, Executive Director, Hillsborough Street Community Services Corporation; Stephen Leonard, Chair, UNC Faculty Assembly, Marc Hoit, Vice Chancellor for IT and CIO; Michael Coombes, Director of New Student Programs; Marcia Gumpertz, Assistant Vice Provost for Faculty Diversity
1. Call to Order
Chair Zonderman called the sixth meeting of the sixty-first session of the NC State Faculty Senate to order at 3 p.m.
2. Remarks and Announcements
Chair Zonderman announced that the Chancellor is accepting the Paul Simon Award today.
3. Approval of the Minutes, Meeting No. 5, November 4, 2014
The minutes of the November 4, 2014 meeting were approved.
4. Presentations
Hillsborough Street Update
Jeff Murison, Executive Director of the Hillsborough Street Community Services Corporation, showed a brief PowerPoint on the “Transforming Hillsborough Street.”
Mr. Murison stated that Hillsborough Street is an historic part of the City of Raleigh and it has an historic connection with the university. It has been the center of controversy for decades. In the 1990’s and around 2000 the Hillsborough Street Partnership was created, which was a large collection of interest groups that included the city, the university, property owners, residences, and merchants.
Interested parties came together and formed a partnership to try and create a new vision and a new future for Hillsborough Street. That process resulted in a Master Plan for the redevelopment that would be focused on the physical component of the street. It included the street itself, the sidewalks, and the infrastructure of the street. It also included the plan for the roundabouts. This plan that was adopted by the city called for about eleven roundabouts between the beltline and Morgan Street. The notion was to create a street that was much safer.
The construction of the first stage which basically went from the former Chancellor’s residence to Gardener Street was done between 2009 and 2010 and the cost was about $12 million. The first grand opening event was held on September 28, 2010 at the completion of the construction, which was the first street festival on Hillsborough Street, to celebrate the construction and the process moving forward.
The Corporation’s mission is to make the Hillsborough Street community a distinct destination in Raleigh by providing services and programs that improve the economic sustainability of the businesses and increases the market value of the properties within the territory.
The Hillsborough Street Community Service Corporation is governed by a Board of Directors. The Board expanded in 2013 to 13 members and some ex-officio, non-voting members.
•2 city
•2 university
•2 property owners
•2 merchants
•1 resident
•1 student government leader
•1 property manager
•1 arts & culture
•1 other institutions
Murison stated that NC State is their largest partner and has two board members. The university gave matching contributions of $100,000 to their budget. They invested in properties and they sponsored and produced their signature event- Packapalooza.
Dr. Michael Mullen, Vice Chancellor of Academic and Student Affairs, was added as one of their ex-officio, non-voting members to continue the diversification and representation within the university.
HSCSC Interns
Murison stated that they have 10-12 interns every semester from different academic and economic backgrounds. Since 2010 they have had more than 100 students from NC State.
Public Sector Investment Industry
Murison updated the faculty on the different phases of the project.
Phase I: Cost was $12 million. It went from Woodburn/Cox Street to Gardner – Completed 2010
Phase II – Goes from Gardener to Rosemary Street. Estimated to cost $10 million – currently under design and it is scheduled to be under construction summer 2016.
Phase III, IV, V – Haven’t been scheduled yet
•Rosemary to Gorman
•Gorman to Beltline
•East of Woodburn/Cox
Murison reported that the other big public investment project is the NC Department of Transportation is renovating the I440 Beltline. The expansion will include 6 exits of the beltline around Hillsborough Street. The estimated time table is 2018 with an estimated cost of $100 million.
Current Business Environment
Mr. Murison stated that there are some positives and some challenges with the current business environment. He reported that in the last four years foot traffic is clearly up. Property sales and values have been increasing and the vacancy rate is low. He noted that new business interest is also high.
Challenges
Murison stated that Hillsborough Street is basically a food court. He said it is a mall without all the other shops. We have the food court, but we don’t have the retail shops or the amenities. Old businesses are simply replaced with new similar “food on the go” and tattoo shops.
Murison stated that there is a seasonal element to the street. Obviously in the summer there is less traffic. There is a lack of diverse business mix and parking. He noted that Raleigh is an extremely competitive market, and our building stock and merchant environment is outdated.
Food and Beverage Sales Tax
Murison stated that every food and beverage establishment within our territory is required by law to collect one percent on each transaction that gets paid to the county monthly. In 2010 when construction was basically finishing up, the county collected $26,444 in food and beverage tax. In September 2013 they collected $35,000 and in September 2014 it was up to $37,440. Over a period of time that collection has increased by 42% and in the last year by 7 percent. Some of that is because the economy is h3er.
Murison reported that one of the interesting things is that in 2010 there were 68 establishments paying that tax and today there are only sixty one. Today we are collecting more money from fewer establishments. He said this past year 7 of the last 9 months have included an increase from year to date. In fact, the last 5 months have increased by 5 and 10 percent. They are collecting more money from fewer places.
Events
Mr. Murison reported that Raleigh is increasingly becoming known for events. Events are the new marketing tool for destinations such as downtown Raleigh, Glenwood South, North Hills and Cameron Village all prove that, with nearly year round major events being used to attract customers.
Murison noted that Hillsborough Street has its own component; it is home to a lot of road races. We are transforming them from using the street as a race course to a start and finishing location that supports economic development. Packapalooza & Homecoming are great examples of how the University can help attract students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends to the street.
Murison reported that private sector redevelopment projects currently totals close to one billion dollars around the Hillsborough Street area. Some examples of those projects are:
- 2604 Hillsborough Street which is a mix use student and residentially facility located next to the Wells Fargo. It sleeps about 30 students and has a coffee shop on the bottom floor.
- The Aloft Hotel (currently under construction) at 2100 Hillsborough Street is going to have approximately 130 bedroom units, a restaurant, retail, and balcony looking out over the Bell tower.
- The Stanhope Project at Hillsborough Street at Friendly Drive is being developed by the owner of North Hills. There will be more than 800 beds of student housing above 20,000 square feet of commercial space that is going to be restaurants, retails, and a drug store. It will have an oasis salt water pool.
- 2811 and 1301 Hillsborough Street will be student housing. There will be one next to the IHOP on Hillsborough Street and two more next to Stanhope.
Future of Hillsborough Street
Murison stated that Raleigh is the second fastest growing city in the nation. That has been identified by a number of states. Raleigh is going to continue to grow. As downtown grows it is coming towards us. The area of growth in downtown is mostly focused on the warehouse district, which is on the edge of our community. As that keeps growing, and as Cameron Village keeps growing and as the university grows in prestige and impact, it brings more energy to this area and that by nature is going to create more growth and opportunity and investment on Hillsborough Street.
Murison reported that this year we have spent about $85,000 on a refresh vision for Hillsborough Street. In 1999 the community created a master plan vision for Hillsborough Street and that hasn’t been updated since. Together we are going to be doing that visual process and getting the stakeholders involved to share their ideas and visions for the street and work on a consensus of what Hillsborough Street should look like, how it should function and how to be successful in 2025, then we will have a road map to help build to that
Murison stated that the other exciting thing is that the Blue Ridge Corridor has been developing along the same lines as Hillsborough Street. They are just a little further behind. They now have the new organization, the Blue Ridge Corridor Line, which is very similar to our organization. They have formed a nonprofit and have hired our organization to help be their manager. They are also trying to create energy and improve their economic sustainability.
Murison stated that his corporation would like to receive some feedback , so they are currently preparing a survey to send to the faculty
Questions and Comments
Are the new vendor developments on Friendly Street approved?
Murison stated that this year there are seven projects that have either been completed or are underway and they are definitely going to happen. They will be opened by August of next year.
Do you keep track of the mix of national franchises versus local businesses?
Murison stated that the vast majority of their owners are local. There are a few national chains, but even they are locally owned by the franchisee.
Chair Zonderman commented that his perception is that the block across from campus on Hillsborough Street seems to have fewer restaurant options than in recent years. He went on to say that the decision to build the apartments where the Two Guys restaurant was is somewhat controversial. He asked the following two questions: Are we going to see more of those? Is the campus going to face this wall of eight-story apartments?
Murison stated that there is no question that we have an unbalanced mix of merchants and there are lots of reasons for that. There is a low vacancy rate and the rents are high and there are lots of buildings with 1500 square foot spaces in them.
As far as the density issue we did a study that basically looked at about seven areas of the street and it measured the current zoning and the future zoning under the new system to see whether projects would be financially viable. There will be a total of 14 sites, seven at each level and only about five of those sites are actually penciled out to be economically, the others either lost money or their rate of return was so low that no developer would ever do it. It probably does lead into more density when you factor in the parking. It doesn’t mean that there has to be seven or eight stories everywhere, but it does mean that it is probably something that we have to adapt to.
A senator commented that he hears complaints about all of the road races, the problems that they cause in terms of getting around, and the merchants feeling that they challenge the economics of their business. You said that was part of the identity of Raleigh. Who decided that?
Murison stated that those road events and other activities have become popular in Raleigh. He said because of the economics of the city -- people having lots of disposable income and great weather and great active life styles -- events have really blossomed here and it has become such an issue that the city created a special office to manage it. As much as it has been a real issue over the past four or five years, hopefully it will get a little better as we do a better job of managing.
Murison stated that as far as the street, there is something about Hillsborough Street that makes it a very popular place for these road races.
Comments on the Faculty Assembly, Stephen Leonard, Chair
Dr. Stephen Leonard, Chair of the Faculty Assembly, explained the history and structure of the UNC System Faculty Assembly
.
Dr. Leonard stated that the Assembly was established by President Bill Friday in 1972. The majority of the chairs over the years have come from the larger campuses. The Faculty Assembly has been in existence for more than forty years and during that time it has remained intact. The purpose of the Assembly is to provide advice of faculty’s interest and concerns to the President of the UNC System, Board of Governors, and the General Assembly.
The structure of the Faculty Assembly is proportional representation. There are four categories of delegations. The sizes of delegations are determined by the sizes of the faculty on the respective campuses. There are representatives on the Executive Committee from each of those groupings of delegations. There is a Vice Chair who is elected every two years. There is a secretary and Parliamentarian on the Executive Committee and there is also the Chair of the HMI Caucus.
The Executive Committee is the agenda setting body. The Chair sets up a set of themes, panels or ideas that may be on people’s minds, that may need to be discussed, and then the Chair works with the Executive Committee to determine the details of the agenda and contacts people from various campuses if needed.
Dr. Leonard stated that the handbook, charter, and bylaws of the Assembly are available on the GA website. The typical activities of the Assembly are meetings, 3 in the fall and 3 in the spring. During those meetings we focus on issues that the Executive Committee determined would be of interest to our colleagues. When we talk about those issues we sometimes pass resolutions of advice to President Ross.
The activities beyond the meetings are carried out through the duties of the Chair. The Assembly acts as an advising body to the chair.
Dr. Leonard stated that when issues come up at General Administration around the Board of Governors, if we have a chance we will bring them to the body as a whole.
The Assembly has an important role in making sure that faculty concerns and interest and perspectives get articulated and heard in the various policy making and regulatory activities of General Administration.
Questions and comments
What would you say is the major issue facing the Faculty Assembly now?
Leonard responded that they have defined five issues as being especially important for this academic year.
1) Defining the value of a college degree. Many of you know that Governor McCrory and others have been pushing this legislation on the value of a college degree--whether it enables a student to get gainful employment after graduation.
2) Minimum Admission Requirements: The fact that MAR changes, especially on our smaller campuses and particularly on our minority campuses.
3) Post Tenure Review—The Assembly passed a resolution on this. We pushed out an analytical piece to all the campuses and all sixteen campuses passed resolutions on the proposed changes for the post tenure review policy.
4) Need based Aid- The Board of Governors passed a policy that restricts the amount of tuition dollars that can be used for providing need based aid for deserving and talented students.
5) Centers and Institutes
Dr. Leonard stated that the post tenure review policy was sold as an initiative to try to generate more support in the Legislature for salary increases. An argument was that if the Legislature knew that you were really working hard that they might in fact, shake some money loose and maybe we could get a small raise, that was the justification.
We have heard that there is some confusion or astonishment that the failure rate or the substandard performance rate for faculty at our universities is about 2.6 percent. Only about 2.5 or 2.6 percent of us get negative reviews in post tenure review. This is apparently a source of befuddlement to the Board of Governors because they think that post tenure review for academics should look like performance reviews for people in other professions. In other professions the substandard rates are about 5 percent. Some people suspect that this is really about squeezing tighter. We have been working hard trying to make sure that the unarticulated intent doesn’t get realized, that the articulated intent could make this a more rigorous process, could make it better for faculty, provide them with an opportunity for feedback to improve their work; help them get it back on track, get them advice about how to be successful, that the articulated reason is the one that really drives the policy. It remains to be seen whether that is the case.
When you look at this 2.6% rate would you take also the rate of why you failed to get tenure in the first place added to that?
Dr. Leonard stated that he tried to make that argument but it’s a hard argument to make mainly because it doesn’t comport with the way in which many of these people experience employee/employer relations or management relations. For many of them it is very rigid and that doesn’t fit very well with the way we do things.
5. Old/New Business
Convocation
Cary Zelna, Associate Vice Provost for Academic & Student Affairs, solicited feedback from faculty about what they think should be included in a university convocation.
Zelna stated that part of the Wolf Pack Welcome Week is convocation. She noted that convocation has not taken place on our campus for a long time.
Zelna explained that the overarching goals of convocation are to be the academic welcome to new students, to provide that sense of community for them and to help them develop that first common intellectual experience.
The official convocation is one hour and it is pretty tight and it is very academically focused. The program consists of the Student Body President, welcome from all of the Deans, and it has the common reading author, the Chancellor, and Mike Mullen. Those are the main one hour event activities.
Convocation is held at the PNC arena and a number of activities take place prior to the event. When it ends, a photo session is done. There is also a reception for faculty prior to the event.
Zelna announced that in 2016 they will move the convocation to Reynolds Coliseum. They are thinking about what to do differently for next year and then what to do long term for this event as a campus. She noted that this is a chance to talk to the new students.
Zelna stated that they are soliciting the faculty’s input on how to get more faculty to attend and what they (faculty) think should take place.
Questions and Comments
Senator Bullock stated the she thinks it would be good to have something focused intentionally on diversity. This would be an ideal time to help students to think about diversity in the raw sense as they are entering this college experience.
Chair Zonderman stated that he thinks moving the reception to after the convocation would be a good idea. Also, the Chair of the Faculty should have an opportunity to speak to the students.
Chair Zonderman suggested that the convocation should be more academic, that it would be great for the faculty to do an academic procession.
Senator Williams suggested that a faculty member that gives very good lectures would be good to speak at the convocation.
Zelna ended her comments by asking the faculty to send feedback on what they think should happen at convocations.
First Reading: Resolution of Commendation for Dr. Daniel Solomon
Chair Zonderman stated that we have had other deans retire in various years, but not every dean’s retirement has prompted a formal Senate resolution. The sense from some Senators was that Dean Solomon deserved a specific resolution because of some very specific things that he has done during his deanship, particularly in terms of the educational mission of his colleges and also diversifying the colleges and the student body.
Senator Cubbage commented that there are some things that he has done that don’t show up in the resolution. He stated that he is very supportive of the resolution. Dean Solomon was quite effective on the proposal of the highway from Wade Avenue running through the Shenck Forest and Umstead Park. He was one of the members of the Chancellor’s panel that actually recommended against this.
Chair Zonderman recommended moving Whereas #6 to follow Whereas 4 because they both talk about education and teaching.
The change was accepted.
Senator Fuentes moved to waive a second reading. The motion passed.
The resolution was voted on and passed without dissent.
6. Issues of Concern
Senator Auerbach presented an issue of concern on; the Religious Studies degree being consolidated without university administrators reading required Program Review.
Chair Zonderman assigned the issue to the Academic Policy Committee.
7. Adjourn
A motion passed to adjourn the meeting at 4:47 p.m.
