The Faculty Senate met for the second time this semester to continue discussion on tenure and non-tenure-track professors and the ISU Foundation.

Tom Mitchell, president of the ISU Foundation, spoke to the Faculty Senate Tuesday night about the Foundation’s structure, operating budget and donor-level confidentiality.

Mitchell said the government structure is fundamentally governed by a group of 175 members who are typically representatives of many of the colleges and units across campus.

The Foundation has two main points they wish to address, he said.

“The vision about where we think that we’re going and why is fundamentally focused on ISU and helping Iowa State become the best land grant university in the country,” Mitchell said. “On a day-to-day basis, we talk with alumni and friends and corporations across the country and ask them if they support the priorities of the institution through private gifts and grants.”

The Foundation works with a $10 million operating budget, 93 percent of which is self-generated, he said.

“Only 7 percent of our budget that we operate on is a university fee of some type, and that fee fundamentally then is a fee for service that we provide to the institution as it supports fund-raising services,” Mitchell said.

The Foundation is concerned with donor-level confidentiality and fund-raising strategies, he said.

“The reason for donor-level confidentiality is because there are numerous people who share very confidential information,” Mitchell said. “A lot of times, their own family members don’t even know their estate plans and things of that nature.”

David Hopper, professor of veterinary diagnostics and production of animal medicine, spoke at the meeting about the tenure and non-tenure-track professors at the university.

Hopper discussed motions, such as non-tenure-track appointments often being dollar-driven – which means instructors are paid less to teach more.

Continuing nontenure-track appointments creates second-class citizenship within the university, he said.

Hopper said large numbers of these appointments send a message to society that teaching is not a top priority within the institution.

The continuing discussions of tenure and non-tenure-track professors will be rolled over to the next senate meeting, which will be held Nov. 13.