Florida State University Faculty Senate Minutes

The Faculty Senate Minutes document the deliberations of Florida State University's teaching faculty and activities at Florida State University (FSU) from the beginning of the 20th Century, when FSU was the Florida Female College (1905-1909) and the Florida State College for Women (FSCW, 1909-1947), through the post-World War II years, when it greatly expanded and became FSU, a co-educational institution. During the Florida Female College years, the Faculty Senate met monthly on the first Saturday of each school month. At the first meeting of the faculty held College Hall on October 7, 1905, President Albert Murphree "called attention to the fact that the recent legislature had abolished all of the former state educational institutions, and had created, among other establishments of learning, a State College for Women." At that meeting, Murphree also appointed various standing committees, such as curriculum, commencement, delinquencies, elective studies, library, public entertainment, and student societies. Up to 1920, Faculty Senate discussion items included attendance of non-campus students at athletic events, creation of campus committees, course credits, rules governing chaperoned visits of students to Tallahassee, requests for faculty salary increases, student course requirements, unexcused student absences, and names of faculty supervising the East and West Hall dormitories.

In the minutes of one of the first Senate meetings recorded in the collection, those of November 1931, as the Faculty Senate convened under a new constitution, Dr. Josiah B. Game, noting the Senate's adoption of the Curriculum Committee, moved that the Senate adopt all committees carrying out the work of the Senate that were listed in the June 1931 school catalog. It is the work of the Library, Graduate Work, Curriculum, Admission, Student Affairs, and Student Publications committees, and their sub-committees, that form the topics of discussion, recommendations, and legislation enacted by the Senate and recorded in the content of the minutes. Later, new committees were formed to carry out the Senate's work, such as the Committee on Tests and Examinations.

During President Conradi's tenure (1909-1941), faculty discussed curriculum establishment, new courses and their descriptions; modifications to courses and credit given; graduate work; honors work; the definition of "graduate student," "major" and "minor;" whether Latin should be retained as a requisite for the Bachelor of Arts degree; and the relationship with the University of Florida regarding extension courses and transfer of credits between the institutions. Faculty Senate committees' deliberations included student selection at other institutions for a report on Better Selection of Freshmen; establishment of a general scholastic achievement honors degree, instead of honors work in a special field; and use of the quarter system, rather than the semester system. President Doak Campbell, during his administration (1941-1957) in the early FSU years, frequently addressed the Faculty Senate. One of his early announcements concerned a questionnaire he sent to all faculty members to determine courses contributing to the National Defense (December 1941) and an announcement in 1943 that a charter had been granted for a chapter of the music honor society Pi Kappa Lambda. His speeches to the Senate during October 1946 and March 1947 referred to the rapid growth and future of FSCW in relation to postwar conditions, such as the G. I. Bill of Rights and Public Act 16, that would affect plans for college expansion and curriculum changes, and to issues and problems facing the college in the coming years. In May 1947 he announced the legislature's approval of a bill that would change Florida State College for Women to the Florida State University.

By the 1960s, FSU was impacted by social changes nationwide, and the Faculty Senate Minutes document a wide variety of topics reflecting these changes. Many issues that sparked controversy at FSU were discussed, such as creation of an Experimental College and an ROTC program, policies for outside speakers, and whether reporters and students from the campus newspaper could attend Faculty Senate meetings.

In the last quarter of the 20th century, with reduced funding for higher education in Florida, a growing student population, and a greater concern for faculty rights, topics documented in the Faculty Senate Minutes reflected the expansion of university facilities and services. They included parking concerns, faculty unions, university union expansion plans, faculty suspension and dismissal, computer networking and telecommunications, multicultural studies, and faculty salary compression and inversion. In the early years of 21st century, Faculty Senate discussions reflected a need to more clearly define "values in higher education" by examining the concept of civic responsibility of students, enhancing "Culture of Learning" on the FSU campus, and by identifying the "defining experiences" students should have in liberal studies courses. With the change in state university system governance, topics frequently discussed included academic freedom, collective bargaining issues, and faculty representation on the University Board of Trustees. With the growth of technology, changes were proposed and adopted concerning distance learning policy and electronic submissions of theses and dissertations. Since FSU became a coeducational institution in 1947, the Faculty Senate's major function has been to "formulate measures for the maintenance of a comprehensive educational policy and for the maximum utilization of the intellectual resources of the University." Over the years, however, its composition has changed. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, the Faculty Senate included all administrative officers and all faculty members above the rank of instructor. Senators met on the second Wednesday of each academic month in the auditorium of the Rowena Longmire Building. In the 1950s, as noted in the Faculty Handbook, the Faculty Senate was considered the legislative body of the University subject to limitations placed by the Florida Board of Control. Its representatives were divided into two groups: persons whose duties are primarily administrative and other non-instructional staff, and instructional staff. No general legislation affecting teachers or students of more than one instructional unit became effective until these bills were passed or approved by this body. However, the Faculty Senate could delegate its power of legislation on an issue to any other faculty bodies, to a standing committee, or to a special committee that was appointed for that purpose. By the early 1960s, the Faculty Senate became embodied in FSU's newly-created Constitution. Its membership comprised elected faculty members, with at least one representative from each college or school, except the Graduate School. These representatives were proportionally determined. Only full-time Assistant Professors, Associate Professors, and Professors were eligible for representation in and election to the Faculty Senate. The Library staff and the Division of Student Welfare (later the Division of Student Welfare) were each entitled to one elected representative. In the late 1970s, the Developmental Research School could elect one representative, and by the turn of the 21st century, University Service Professors, University Service Associate Professors, and University Service Assistant Professors were also eligible for representation in and election to the Faculty Senate. As of 2008, the FSU Faculty Senate is one of the constituent bodies of the Advisory Council of Faculty Senates of the Florida State University System. Throughout its history,