Council discusses new Internet system

Don Hossler, vice chancellor for enrollment services, presented faculty with information about the implementation of a new computer information system at IU known as People Soft at the first Bloomington Faculty Council meeting of the semester Tuesday. \nPeople Soft would be purchased from outside the University and would run information systems used by the registrar, bursar, advising, financial aid and similar departments. These systems now run on software developed by IU. \nPeople Soft is unrelated to IU's e-mail service.\nHossler began his presentation with a slide that asked, "Why do we have to do this?"\nThat's a question many faculty members are asking themselves, because they are concerned with unnecessary costs and labor that would go toward adjusting a system that might not need adjusting.\nBut Hossler's presentation calmed some fears that the switch would be in vain. He reported his budget is $17-18 million. Other schools, he said, average $60-$100 million to make the switch. Given the labor needed to input all the data and update the system, Hossler guessed it would cost more than the allotted $18 million, but less than what other schools have had to spend.\nThe major difference between the current system and People Soft is that People Soft is a Web-based interface. Hossler said the "point and click" aspect of the new program would make many aspects of the information system easier.\nHe said it is far easier to maintain student records, such as financial aid, courses, majors, minors and bursar bills -- a feature virtually non-existent in the current system, which can't even keep track of double majors and minors.\nHossler mentioned the speed of the new program would help with enrollment because it could create financial aid acceptance letters quickly, an aspect that usually sways a student's decision to enroll at IU. \nHe said the program would make it easier to target students' specific interests. He said if a student expressed interest in several different areas of study and a specific extra-curricular activity, the office of admissions could send information about IU that corresponds with those interests.\nBut the transition would be imperfect, Hossler said.\nHe said some policies unique to IU, such as grade forgiveness and exceptions for student enrollment in certain classes, are not compatible with People Soft and might be temporarily lost.\nBut People Soft does release an updated version every 18 months, so such inconsistencies could be worked out, he said.\nSeveral professors raised concerns about outsourcing IU's information system instead of building it internally. Hossler said People Soft representatives would be available for counseling, but that generally, the actual implementation would be done by IU employees, which will be a source of expense.\nAnother important benefit of People Soft, Hossler said, will be its ability to function without the use of Social Security numbers, which are actually forbidden by federal law. Hossler said students are already raising concerns about their Social Security numbers being used, and changing student identification numbers to a number other than the Social Security number can take up to eight hours. But under People Soft, this would be a simplified process.\nThere is no date set for the completion of the project.\nIn other Faculty Council News:\n• A second analysis was performed on the results of the incivility survey conducted in April and May, 2000. Telecommunications Department Chair Walter Gantz, a member of the ad hoc committee to consider the issue of incivility in light of the recent survey, gave the presentation.\nThe second analysis looked at subgroups of the faculty that responded to the survey on issues of gender, race, age and workplace status. Several statistically relevant trends appeared, but when the committee ran through data based on how a student might perceive various professors' power differently, a striking trend appeared. The committee compared the results between males older than 40 and females younger than 40. It found that females younger than 40 experience far more uncivil behavior than do males older than 40.\nJim Sherman, BFC president, said the board would decide if, based on the results, some sort of action should be taken.\n• The final business addressed by the Council was whether to accept a member of ROTC as a non-voting member of the council. \nProfessor Bob Eno proposed the motion. He said because those who train in ROTC are actually professors, the department has no representation on the Council and ROTC can become a controversial element on this campus; it is important for ROTC to play a larger role on the Council. \nIf the motion is approved, one non-voting member would represent the departments of Military Science (Army) and Aerospace Studies (Air Force). The member will be designated jointly by those departments. \nLieutenant Colonel Wayne Pollard, professor of Military Science, said he hoped to make his department less isolated. He said he teaches the same students whom other professors on the Council teach and that it is important for him to be abreast of issues surrounding students and faculty, such as the incivility survey, which he completed.\nOther departments have had non-voting representation on the board in the past, so Sherman said, a precedent has been set.\nThe motion will be voted on at a later BFC meeting.