Vol. 19, No. 26

April 6, 2000

Library borrowing, name changes on senate docket

Library borrowing privileges for both faculty and graduate students were the main topic of Monday’s Faculty Senate meeting. Senators passed a new policy suspending the borrowing privileges of any faculty or staff member who has at least 10 books past their due dates. To be implemented in June, the new policy will be reviewed by the senate’s Library Committee three years after its implementation. A “zero tolerance” amendment offered by Sen. Peter Feng suggesting that suspension of borrowing privileges be mandatory with any overdue book failed by a vote of 27 to 21. A second resolution passed by the senate extended the book loan period for doctoral students from 60 days to 120 days. This policy will be implemented in the fall of 2001. In other business, the senate passed, without discussion, a resolution recommending that the name of the College of Human Resources, Education and Public Policy be changed to the College of Human Services, Education and Public Policy. According to the resolution, the phrase human services better describes the activities of the college because human resources has come to denote an area of personnel administration. Senators also passed a resolution allowing the College of Business and Economics to present a Certificate of Business Fundamentals to nonbusiness majors involved in the University’s partnership with the state’s Information Technology initiative. Senate President Mark Huddleston announced that the statistics program has transferred from the Department of Mathematical Sciences in the College of Arts and Science to the Department of Food and Resource Economics in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Before the business meeting began, Carl Jacobson, Management Information Services, discussed the upcoming introduction of personal portals on the Internet, which can be individualized for students and staff. Although private companies now offer these portals free to universities, Jacobson said, the portals always include banner advertising. Jacobson said UD has chosen to share information on creating a portal framework with 30 other institutions, including Yale, Princeton, Brown, Cornell universities and the University of Chicago universities, and he expects to introduce a UD portal in June. –Cornelia Weil