Employee complaints, an increased number of applications and service learning were the major issues discussed by the Academic Senate in its second meeting of the semester, held Monday at 3 p.m. in one of the Alumni Memorial Union's ballrooms.

The Academic Senate heard a report on the findings from the Office of the Ombuds, given by Ombuds Rita Burns. The data had been collected from Dec. 1 of 2002 through Nov. 30 of 2003. The office serves as a place where workers and students can voice their concerns pertaining to university policy or management.

Burns spoke about complaints from 82 salaried employees and 61 hourly employees. According to Burns' numbers, 63 of the 82 salaried employees and 46 of the 61 hourly employees who voiced concerns were women. Of the 82 complaints from salaried employees, 54 pertained to issues with management and of the 61 hourly employees 21 issues related to management.

Burns found that from all the trends and impressions gathered from her data, most workers who came to the office had concerns about their managers. Some employees found their mangers to be non-responsive, non-professional and non-supportive. Some employees voiced concerns about managers playing favorites and treating them as children. Other data Burns collected showed some employees feel managers at Marquette are ineffective, negative, hostile and abusive according to Burns' presentation.

Burns presentation also noted a fear of speaking directly to managers about employee problems.

"There is a lot of fear around here," Burns said to the Senate. "When I first came here I didn't get it but now I do."

Burns also told the Senate these types of problems are consistent with data she has seen from other Ombuds offices, and said that all the grievances mentioned over the time period her presentation referred to, "could be false."

Provost Madeline Wake expressed her appreciation to Burns for the report, telling the Academic Senate that it is an issue that will be addressed in the future.

"What is cura personalis about if we do not address a fear some employees may have about voicing concerns to their managers," Wake asked the Academic Senate. "(Senior Vice President Greg Kliebhan) and I have a fuller report on our desks and we are trying to make sense of all the numbers. So this is really just a piece of the fuller picture, but there will be more to come on this issue."

The Academic Senate also heard a report from Associate Provost for Enrollment Management Anne Deahl on the number of acceptances to the school so far, and how far along the Office of Enrollment is in having the total number of students they will accept this year.

According to Deahl roughly 2,400 prospective freshmen labeled as "deferrals" by the university will receive letters of acceptance or rejection soon. Other students will receive a letter informing them they have been put on Marquette's wait list. Marquette has accepted 9,921 students already, a 26 percent increase from the 7,844 students accepted last year. Marquette has also accepted 660 students of color, up 27 percent from the 2003 total of 517 according to Deahl.

The Senate also heard presentations from Administrator of Service Learning Programs Bobbi Timberlake, on the program's 10-year anniversary. Timberlake then explained to the group the value of the Service Learning program.

"Depending on how faculty use the service learning component it can really energize students," Timberlake said. "It is also energizing for faculty to learn to grapple with new ways of teaching. Students get real life exposure and learning experience they would not otherwise get in the classroom."

Anne Deahl also briefed the Academic Senate concerning the current admissions process for prospective incoming freshman. The University plans to send out letters to the remaining 2,400 students whom have not yet received notification from the University according to Deahl. Prospective freshmen will either be accepted, rejected or wait listed according to Deahl.

Director of the Manresa Project, Susan Mountin unveiled "Bird by Bird: Lessons for Writing and Life" by Anne Lamott as the book for this years incoming class of freshmen. Following that Wake gave a short presentation about Tenure and Promotions to the Academic Senate.