7. Professional Concerns Committee: Chair Caroline Gibson reported on the following issues:

• PCC continues to work on Faculty Handbook revisions. In an effort to streamline the Faculty Handbook the committee noted some problems/discrepancies between Human Resources and faculty. The committee members don’t want to remove too many things from the Handbook, leaving key policy in the lap of HR. They plan to ask a representative from HR to join them in revising the Handbook. They also discussed just how binding the handbook is, versus a faculty manual. They want a clarification on this question. All policies need to be incorporated in the Handbook, but they still need a definition of policy vs. protocol. The committee is going to halt work on the revisions until after the SACS visit.
• Moffett noted that he and two other Senators and members of General Counsel's office and Academic Affairs have been meeting to discuss the Handbook. They are looking to streamline the Handbook and give some sections over to HR to go in their policy manual. But he hasn't seen this HR document material yet, so he is hesitant to remove these sections from the Handbook. He reassured Senators that no one should be concerned that important sections are being removed from the Handbook. In terms of how authoritative these Handbook policies are, Moffett said he was not sure. Because the Handbook lacks internal consistency, Moffett is updating it where he can.
• A Senator noted that this is why the Handbook issue is frustrating: the revisions made in Faculty Senate regarding HR policies have not gone into the Faculty Handbook. Moffett replied that personally, he'd prefer it the way EKU has it: all the policies are on one website, listing the date each policy was added. Faculty can just create electronic links to relevant documents in their dossiers/correspondence.
• The committee was given a template for creating an intellectual property rights document. They are going to review that template. Moffett asked Senators to contact Gibson if they have ideas/concerns about this issue.
• 8. Academic Policies Committee: Chair Marlin McKay reported on the following issues:
• Several proposals have been brought to APC in the improper format. McKay reminded faculty that if they want an action item discussed by APC, they need to draft the item and present it to be voted on at the meeting. Faculty/Administrators have been coming to the committee and explaining the issues but leaving APC to draft the items. To streamline the process of Action Item submissions, after an issue is discussed in committee, Chair McKay will follow up with the concerned faculty member and attach the Action Item form that he/she needs to fill out with the information.
• McKay noted that another proposal that has come to the committee is about the uniformity of the syllabus. A revised syllabus template has been submitted to APC from CC. McKay will get the template to Moffett, who will send it out to Senators for feedback.
• The committee discussed the issue of students being added late to classes without the instructor's permission or knowledge. They were unable to locate any policy on a deadline for adding a student to a class. They will be drafting a policy setting a date after which students can't be added.
• A Guest noted that this, indeed, is a problem.
• A Guest asked about the last day to add or drop classes on the Academic Calendar—isn’t that date the policy deadline for late adds? McKay responded that there is no protocol for requesting permission to add, as the old forms for requiring a professor’s signature have been eliminated.
• Moffett noted that an Action Item on this issue would be welcome.