Past president Frank Vandall opened
the Feb. 25 University Senate meeting, held in Woodruff Library’s
Jones Room, by explaining a list of proposed changes to the Senate
bylaws. Slated to be brought to a vote in the March meeting, the
changes would:
• add a faculty senator from the Emeritus College.
• specify that ex officio members cannot participate in Senate
votes.
• specify that meeting agendas are set by the Senate president
in consultation with the executive committee.
Current President William Branch added that officers for 2003–04
also will be elected at the March meeting.
Next on the agenda was a continuation of the previous month’s
discussion of Emory’s pre-employment drug-testing policy.
Employee Council President Cheryl Bowie opened the debate by repeating
the council’s resolution calling upon the administration to
suspend the policy pending a thorough review of its necessity and
effectiveness.
Much like in January, discussion of drug testing took up nearly
all of the meeting, with opinions again falling on all sides. Representing
the President’s Commission on the Status of Women, Susan Gilbert
presented a letter signed by all three president’s commissions
and the executive board of the Student Government Association (SGA)
supporting the Employee Council resolution.
John Bugge, head of the Emory chapter of the American Association
of University Professors (AAUP), read from an AAUP position paper
opposing drug testing on college campuses. Bugge added that drug
testing could undermine Emory’s reputation by implying that
the University has a drug problem among its employees.
Speaking in defense of the policy, Human Resources Vice President
Alice Miller said Emory “probably has a drug problem commensurate
with the drug problem in the United States.” She said the
policy tries to be preventive, rather than reactive, and that its
annual cost would be far exceeded by the University’s liability
should an employee under the influence of drugs injure him- or herself
or others.
Bob Hascall, senior associate vice president for Facilities Management
(FM), spoke of FM’s need for this policy. Hascall said he
has fired FM employees for being under the influence of alcohol
on the job, and he said an employee was arrested on campus two weeks
earlier on charges of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute.
“We think testing yields a better pool of applicants,”
Hascall said.
President Bill Chace, as he did in January, again called the debate
one of the best and most productive in recent Senate history. He
said studies estimate illegal drug use costs American businesses
some $60 billion each year in lost productivity, and any review
of the policy would have to take these factors into consideration.
Also, he said, University leaders from FM and Campus Life specifically
asked for this policy to be instituted.
“All our options are open,” Chace said, “but there
are realities that must be contended with.”
In the end, the Senate passed by a 19–2 vote a motion made
by president-elect John Snarey, which called upon the Senate to
create an ad hoc committee, broadly representative of the Senate
as a whole, that will “study alternative drug-testing policies
with the mandate to form a revised, more focused policy for recommendation
by the Senate this academic year.” Branch said he will appoint
the members of the committee.
Next on the agenda, Judy Raggi Moore of the honorary degrees committee
briefed Senate members on the committee’s recommendations
for 2004 degree recipients. The nominees, which are confidential,
will be voted on in March.
Representing the President’s Commission on LGBT Concerns,
Kathy McKee invited members to participate in the March 3–5
“Diversity as Value Added” Symposium, sponsored by the
president’s commissions and more than 30 other campus groups.
SGA President Chris Richardson introduced his successor, junior
Euler Bropleh, recently elected SGA president for 2003–04.
Bropleh said he looked forward to working with the Senate during
his term.
To close the meeting, Chace announced that he has asked Don Harris
from the Information Technology Division and John Mason from Network
Communications to investigate software options for reducing the
amount of e-mail “spam” Emory community members receive.
A piece of such software installed recently in the University of
Georgia’s e-mail system reduced spam by as much as 90 percent,
Chace said, but it also can have the side effect of filtering out
wanted e-mail.
The next Senate meeting will be held March 25 at 3:15 p.m. in the
Jones Room.
If you have a question or concern for University Senate, e-mail
President William Branch at william_branch@emoryhealthcare.org.
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