The Faculty Senate unanimously agreed to explore the possibility of the University subscribing to an anti-plagiarism service at its monthly meeting Wednesday.
The senate will form a task force to look into the issue. Gundela Hachmann, the author of the resolution to establish the group, said Matthew Gregory, associate dean of students for the Office of Student Advocacy and Accountability, has agreed to be involved in the study.
“We have been in contact with [the Office of Student Advocacy and Accountability] and they are definitely in favor of this,” she said.
The Student Government Senate voted Wednesday night at its weekly meeting to support the Faculty Senate in its mission to bring anti-plagiarism services to the University.
The resolution suggests subscribing to services that allow teachers to scan students’ work and also give students the opportunity to scan their own work before turning it in to avoid potential plagiarism issues.
The Senate approved resolution titled “In Support of a Pay Raise for Faculty,” which states that faculty salaries have been frozen since the 2009-2010 budget cycle, and that the compensation for faculty members “has lagged behind that of several peer institutions and has continued to fall.”
The resolution asks that the University’s administration submit a plan for increasing faculty members’ salaries by April 10, 2013.
“The faculty is expressing its outrage. They are concerned to the brink of outrage,” said Faculty Senate President Kevin Cope.
The Senate also heard the first reading of a resolution to allow the same-sex domestic partners of LSU employees to receive health benefits from the University.
During the discussion, many senators questioned aloud whether the resolution should extend to opposite-sex, unmarried partners too, while others said they believed it would make the plan too expensive for the University to consider.
Elaine Maccio, associate professor in the School of Social Work, introduced the resolution to the Senate. Maccio said she would consider adding opposite-sex partnerships to the resolution.
Maccio referred to Tulane University, which offers health benefits to the same-sex domestic partners of its employees, in her proposal. If the plan were approved by the administration, it would make the University the first public university in the state to offer such benefits.
“Yes, but wouldn’t it be great if LSU were the first?” she said.
Maccio said a similar plan is being implemented at the University of Georgia, and she used many of the same figures UGA uses in her proposal.
She said UGA found that of university employees in same-sex domestic partnerships, only 0.5-1 percent choose to receive the benefits offered.
Using those numbers, offering benefits to same-sex partners could cost the University between $57,000 and $135,000 each year.
The Senate also approved a resolution titled “Graduate Faculty Membership for Faculty with 100 percent LSU AgCenter Appointments,” originally proposed that the senate recommend the faculty members receive the recognition, but many senators felt it was not the senate’s place to make the recommendation.
The wording was changed to reflect that the Senate “strongly encourages the Graduate Council and Graduate School find a more permanent solution” regarding graduate faculty recognition.