In the Senate Meeting of November 10, senators discussed problems associated with faculty rental of university vans. Senators objected to the required hours of training (and review training) for faculty drivers, the cost of the vans (which apparently can be more cheaply obtained from outside auto renters), and, most recently, the imposition of an annual drug test to be levied on faculty drivers at their own expense.

A show of hands revealed that most faculty members who rent vehicles now choose to use off-campus commercial rentals for their field trips, thus avoiding some of these onerous university and state mandates. Therefore the Academic Programs Committee was asked to look at the university van rentals in order to determine if this program remains worthwhile, and, if so, if it can be made more faculty friendly. The committee was also asked to examine whether the university run program had any compensating advantages in terms of insurance protection, van quality, time savings, etc.