General Faculty Meeting Minutes
March 26, 2019, 3:30 p.m.
238 Broun Hall

A full transcript is available for this meeting.

 Senate and General Faculty Chair Michael Baginski, welcomed attendees and called the meeting to order at 3:30 pm.  He called for a vote to approve the minutes from the October 23, 2018, Fall General Faculty Meeting. The minutes were approved, as posted on the University Senate Web site, without comment via majority voice vote.

Michael Baginski, Chair made some brief remarks, which included an introduction of the Senate officers and reminders about procedures for making comments or asking questions at the meeting.  Chair Baginski then introduced President Leath.

President’s Remarks
President Leath provided an update on the progress of the strategic plan and touched on a number of topics. He discussed the response to the recent tornadoes in Lee County by various individuals and units across campus, mentioning specifically the vet school, football team, and senior administrators that engaged state officials. He went on to talk about the new community service leave policy that allows employees to use a day of community leave rather than personal leave when engaging in efforts like these.

President Leath went on to discuss construction on campus.  Currently, construction projects average approximately $113 million per year. That will double in the short term as economic conditions and the cost of money allow us to move forward on some projects that will add significantly to our campus.
President Leath also mentioned new hires that had taken place, including about 100 tenure-track and over 60 non-tenure track positions. President Leath asked if there were any questions. 

Michael Stern, Economics, asked if there would be more blocking of College Street.
President Leath responded that the blocking of College should get better soon and mentioned that General Ron Burgess in addressing parking could also talk about any road closures or significant impacts.
There were no other questions.

Parking and Traffic Town Hall
General Ron Burgess then came forward to address parking and traffic issues in a town hall setting. He discussed current parking fees versus other SEC schools indicating that we were significantly below our next closest, which was Mississippi State. The plan is to double parking fees effective fall 2019 for faculty and staff from current levels. He discussed the costs of adding new parking, like the deck adjacent to the hotel and conference center, and renovating existing parking (paving) and reiterated that our current parking fee structure did not come close to covering the cost of providing parking. He indicated that there were plans that virtually all employees would pay something for parking, including those that currently park at Bruno’s, since ultimately there will be a cost to repave that lot.  He did mention that some employees would be excluded, for example those in extension.

He discussed the Vanderbilt model of parking fees based on pay brackets. He discussed the possibility of zoned parking and that they were looking at charging higher fees to those with reserved spots, like deans. He also mentioned that the budget for parking services would increase to allow them to cover enforcement from 7 am to 6 pm. He also indicated that effective with fall 2019, parking for faculty and staff would extend until 6 pm. The extension of parking should alleviate the significant congestion that occurs at 4:45 pm as faculty and staff attempt to leave campus at the same time students come onto campus.
He asked if there were any questions or comments.

Dr. Michael Stern, Economics, asked if General Burgess had estimated the elasticity of demand for faculty parking spaces.  He suggested that parking was relatively inelastic and therefore it is more like a tax and we cannot expect to see a drop in demand to solve the problem. He asked if parking had historically been a segregated budget.
General Burgess responded that the parking budget up to now has been handled out of the general fund.

Dr. Michael Stern, Economics, asked that since parking will now have a segregated budget if that meant that all monies collected from parking fines and everything parking related could only be spent on the supply of parking spaces.
General Burgess responded that while that is the current plan it is still expected that contributions from the general fund will also be needed to help pay for new spaces.

Dr. Michael Stern, Economics, commented that there are two ways to solve parking – either decrease demand – but that
is highly inelastic – or increase supply.  The question is how will he pay for it? He suggested that an auction model might work with those willing to pay more for a reserved lot or to park closer.
General Burgess acknowledged that he liked that idea.

Vicky van Santen, Pathobiology, mentioned that she primarily bikes to work and therefore seldom uses parking on campus. She does purchase a parking pass for those times when inclement weather preclude her biking. She would like parking fees to consider a way to incentivize those that do not use vehicles primarily and only occasionally park on campus.

Beth Schwartz, Biological Sciences, questioned whether we could not keep freshman off campus from parking. She suggested that most universities do not let freshmen park on campus. She also said that she would be willing to pay a higher price if she knew she was going to get a spot next year.
General Burgess indicated that parents did not want to send their child to school without a car but he would look into whether it would actually have to be on campus.

James Witte, Education, asked General Burgess to consider the Vanderbilt model. He reiterated that pay differences across campus made parking fee increases a significant burden for certain employees.
General Burgess indicated that although he had not used the phrase pasture parking they were looking at that and that at this point everything was on the table.

Margaret Marshall, Writing, expressed concern about assigned locations and the ability to move cars during the day to attend meetings.
General Burgess agreed that this is one of many issues still needing to be addressed. Ultimately, they are trying to figure out a way to get away from a “hunting license” to where you actually have a slot.

Mark Barnett, Civil Engineering, asked whether we were going toward implementing zone parking.
General Burgess said that although they were looking into zone parking it would not be this fall. 

Tony Moss, Biological Sciences, suggested that providing better biking lanes and making the campus more bike friendly would encourage the use of alternative transportation.

Beth Schwartz, Biological Sciences, asked about evening parking for faculty. She mentioned that she often returns at night to do research that she cannot get done during the day.
President Leath and Chair Baginski mentioned that this had been an item under consideration. It was mentioned that evening reserved parking for faculty did exist but was eliminated after it was determined that the spaces were underutilized. 

Michael Baginski, Senate Chair, asked to clarify new spaces that would be added next year.

Don Andrae, Director of Transportation Services, indicated that about 300 additional spaces would be open next year between Lowder and the hotel deck.

Election of Officers
Nedret Billor, Chair-elect, announced results of the officer election.  Don Mulvaney, College of Agriculture, was elected as the incoming Chair-elect, and Gregg Schmidt, Library, was elected as the incoming Secretary-elect.
After calling for any additional business, the meeting was adjourned at 4:27 pm.