The Iowa State Faculty Senate met Tuesday evening for its third time this year to discuss agenda items, but it was surprised by an additional motion by a member of the senate.

Veronica Dark, representing the psychology department, motioned to discuss the post-tenure review policy.

A letter sent to the Faculty Senate from Provost Rollin Richmond and Faculty Senate President Dean Ulrichson on Oct. 29 had stated: “To provide for some consistency within a college and to establish a faculty review and consultative body, we suggest that a college committee be formed by the college faculty governance body in concert with the dean. … The college committee would be expected to review and suggest concerns with, perhaps iteratively, each department document before it is submitted for administrative approval.”

Dark said the post-tenure review originally was a home-grown document, and she dislikes that the university now is trying to head committees in charge of department faculty.

“It is a motion that the Faculty Senate reaffirms that the university post-tenure review policy doesn’t require the establishment of a collegiate-level committee or reviewed unless required,” Dark said.

The Faculty Senate decided it should be up to individual departments to conduct post-tenure reviews and therefore had to change the new proposal suggesting a review committee for each college.

Some senate members argued that a college committee would make the review a “top-down” process.

Dark said it’s time that the Faculty Senate put its foot down on this proposal.

“It was set up so it would be bottom up, and now they are reverting back to the top-down process,” she said.

Her motion not to require review committees passed with a 40-14 vote.

Other items for discussion included approval of and amendments to the faculty constitution.

The senate tabled until December’s meeting basic constitutional revisions, which are to include word and phrase changes without altering the context of the constitution.

“The final version will be submitted to the senate for approval before its submission for approval by the general faculty,” Ulrichson said.

The senate also discussed the conduct policy proposal, which will be voted on in February or March.

New business the senate discussed included the master of accounting program, class attendance policy and the university strategic plan.

The master of accounting program was brought before the senate as an extension of the undergraduate program.

The 150-hour program already is intact at University of Northern Iowa and University of Iowa. The proposal will be voted on at the next meeting.

A section has been proposed to add to the class attendance policy on how to handle extracurricular absences other than field trips.

The senate stressed that the new section is not a policy but suggested guidelines. This also will be voted on at the next meeting.

Discussion on the University Strategic Plan for 2000-05 was tabled until the next meeting as well.

The next Faculty Senate meeting will be held Dec. 14 at 7:30 p.m. in Room 260 of the Scheman Building.