FACULTY SENATE MINUTES NO. 1

September 7, 2004

1.� CALL TO ORDER: The 1st meeting of the Faculty Senate for 2004-2005 was called to order at 1:15 PM on September 7, 2004 in the Corey Union Fireplace Lounge by Chair Ram Chaturvedi.

SENATORS AND MEMBERS PRESENT: R.Chaturvedi, P. Buckenmeyer, K. Alwes, L. Anderson, J. Cottone, J. Rayle, K. Pristash, J. Peluso, E. McCabe, A. Henderson-Harr, A. Young, T. Phillips, P. Schroeder, E. Bitterbaum, E. Davis-Russell, R. Franco, B. Shaut, J. Governali,

D. Kreh

SENATORS AND MEMBERS ABSENT: J. Hokanson, B. Griffen, D. Vegas, C. Plunkett

GUESTS PRESENT: J. Mosser, G. Levine, R. Olsson, M. Prus, E. Caffarella, S. Rayle

I. SENATE ACTIONS:

There was a vote to approve Dave Kreh as Parliamentarian (Passed)

There was a vote to extend the deadline for Faculty Senate nominations for two weeks, September 21, 2004.� (Passed)

There was a vote that the Senate Steering Committee could distribute electronically a questionnaire regarding the Senate reconstruction referendum and model proposed last year {SEE New Business} (Passed)

�����������������������������������������������

II. CHAIR�S REPORT:

The Chair opened by giving a speech (SEE Appendix 1).� He asked for questions, of which there were none, and mentioned that there was one nomination for Treasurer and no nominations for Vice Chair.�

III.� SECRETARY�S REPORT:

Buckenmeyer encouraged people to get individuals interested in serving on the Senate.� He reiterated what Chaturvedi said, that the Senate has a voice, and opportunity will be missed if people don�t get involved and offer support.� He asked Senators to recruit people in their area and helping faculty in helping in elections. He also said he would be available to assist and offered encouragement so that � the voice can be heard.�

IV.� PRESIDENT�S REPORT:

President Bitterbaum opened by mentioning his recent decision to arm university police which was announced earlier that morning by campus e-mail to the campus community.� He will be sending a hard copy regarding his rationale and the task force which looked at the issue.�

He said the Secretary of the Interior, Gilda Norton, signed into law that Raquette Lake at Camp Huntington is now on the historic registry, the only SUNY to do so, one of 2400 across the nation. He felt this was very exciting for the campus, allowing us to go for tax dollars, a funding mechanism called America�s Treasures. He said the retreat was a gift from Dr. Metcalf many years ago, approximately 50, when he was in Recreation and Leisure Studies. He encouraged everyone to see this magnificent resource. He plans next spring to get US senators and representatives to visit there and have an official ceremony recognizing it.

The community bike program began last week. He shared that although 3 bikes were presumed lost we recovered them. He encouraged people to get involved seeing that the bikes get put into the gray racks and said that 50 bikes will be donated this year which we be refurbished.

He said the SUNY Cortland Child Care Center was re-accredited which means this coming year it will be able to be rehabilitated with great success. It is accredited through a national organization and a fine facility, he said.

Bitterbaum also reported that former movie and screen actor of Gunsmoke and McCloud fame, Dennis Weaver, will be coming to campus. He has been invited by President Clinton to a conference in New York State sponsored.� Weaver has now has set up a foundation which you can visit at his website. He is an activist and environmentalist, and on September 28 and 29 he will be giving a public talk. On the evening of the 29th he�ll be meeting with acting students, talking about the greening of the campus with Roots and Shoots, and is a very articulate person

He announced efforts on Mission Review Two which will be starting in another month and thanked the individuals who worked very hard on that, ending by saying, �We want your input.�

As for the budget, he expressed that it would not be announced until the following week. He said he would be attending a meeting the following Wednesday and Thursday involving the Trustees. He said, �This is eminent, the Capital Budget we have been waiting for.�

He reported that Brockway will be undergoing renovations soon and then we will be moving on to the next facility.

V.� QUESTIONS FOR THE PRESIDENT:

Karla Alwes asked, �The budget we heard about a few weeks ago that was favorable towards SUNY, is that now not the reality?�

Bitterbaum replied, �No. However, this is not the ideal situation.� He further stated that as of now close to 800 million dollars will be spent for construction and we are waiting after the political convention when it will be determined. He said he is sure the Senate and Assembly, based on what he had read, Senator Bruno was not too excited. He said that regarding the current assembly, which is predominantly Democratic, that it would be interesting to see what happened. The capital budget is over a billion dollars and we have 8 million dollars do to things over the next few years. We have survived along with the SUNY�s and CUNY�s.� All the dollars we lost we were hoping to get it in one lump sum but now we will be getting over three years. He emphasized that anything can happen in year two or three. He ended by saying, �Things look positive. I am very optimistic. To our great surprise they are supporting higher education institutions which is positive.�

Alwes responded �Do you think when you went to Albany, maybe your visit did something?�

Bitterbaum replied, �You never know. It does. I think it does. The key thing is talking to people in leadership. Senator Seward is our senator and listens very carefully to his constituents.� Anything you can do in a very diplomatic way is very helpful.�

Tim Phillips asked about the story in the Syracuse Sunday paper highlighting Oswego and its 100 million dollar plus capital budget and renovations. He said, �How do we compare to other SUNY�s?�

President Bitterbaum reported that in his office they were very disappointed that the paper missed Cortland in their article and that afterwards Peter Koryzno sent an email of inquiry. This individual was very apologetic at the oversight but offered that the paper will be running an additional story. He said,� �Actually, we did quite well.� He explained that statistics are interesting and that since Oswego is larger, that campus got 52 where we got 42. He expressed his displeasure because his office had gone to great efforts to invite the publishing and managing editor here in an effort to obtain more coverage and that he had gotten my calls from alums about it.�

Korzyno added that when he called the editor said that it got lost in the shuffle.� Another story is going to run listing the regional colleges with their capital projects but with lesser impact than if Cortland had been mentioned in the earlier article.

Bitterbaum mentioned some history of it all evolving ten years ago when the Syracuse paper decided that Cortland was not a part of the tri county area. But he did say they will be using stringers, unpaid journalism students, who will be writing stories about the county with maybe including a page devoted to Cortland County, which he feels is a first step.

�����������������������

VI. VICE PRESIDENT�S REPORT: Vice President Davis-Russell re-emphasized the move forward with a searches this fall and asked for the Senate�s assistance in providing faculty members to serve on the following consultative search committees: two Associate Deans, one for Arts and Sciences and one for Professional Studies, and another for Associate Provost for Enrollment Management.

Chaturvedi reported that Joanne Barry is presently working on obtaining volunteers to serve on those committees.

�����������

Vice President Franco reported on an upcoming event by saying that sometimes the most powerful way in making a connection can be by visiting the camp at Raquette Lake. He said that SGA would be sponsoring a leadership retreat there the coming weekend and urged any potential students within area majors to have them contact Judy Kopf to get an application. The dates are 9/17, 18 and 19. He said it will be a free weekend with a lot of great activities and a great way to develop leadership skills and get to know other students.

VII. STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Long Range Planning Committee - Acting Chair Cottone announced that the LRPC would be convening the first meeting. He said there are vacancies that need to be filled and a faculty list will be going out.

Educational Policy Committee - Chair Governali reported his committee has not met yet.

Student Affairs Committee - Chair Buckenmeyer mentioned, on the issue of leadership positions, that the Faculty Senate Scholarship applications are due either in February or early March and he would get back to the Senate with the exact date. He urged Senators to encourage students they work with to take opportunity of the $500 scholarship.�

Faculty Affairs Committee - Co-Chair McCabe announced that her committee has not met yet. She mentioned that they are lacking representation in Fine Arts and Humanities, and Social and Behavioral Sciences, which have been vacant for the past year. She said, �Get someone involved, we would love to have them.�

College Research Committee - A. Henderson Harr reported on behalf of the committee of which she is an ex-officio member that they will be meeting in 2-3 weeks and starting the process for announcing internal programs.

General Education Committee - A member of the GE Committee reported that the chair, Carol Vanderkarr, is in the process of convening the committee for the first time.

VIII. SUNY SENATOR�S REPORT: Phillips announced that he would be attending the University Faculty Senate meeting on September 21, 22 and 23 and asked anyone with concerns to contact him so that he could bring them forth at the meeting.

IX. �COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Committee on Committees - There are no nominees for Senate vice Chair, and one for Treasurer, Colleen DeGouff.

X. NEW BUSINESS:

Lynn Anderson asked for the Senate�s time to bring the campus up to date on the new bicycle program and to encourage everyone to participate and offer support to ensure its success.� She spoke to the need for community involvement and disseminated handouts for faculty to take back to their students.� She stated the bikes are yellow, have to stay only on campus, and need to go back in the gray racks by 7 PM every day. She further stated that she hoped everyone would get involved to see that it ran smoothly.� Anderson also reported that the program will fail if students ride the bicycles back to West Campus every evening and they are not returned. She told a story about a history department faculty member who saw a yellow bike downtown and yelled to the individual riding it that it was campus property. The professor even searched downtown for it and eventually located a yellow bike and returned it back to campus. The only problem, she stated, was that it was not one of our bikes.� She used the story as a heartening way to encourage others to become involved, and asked faculty to take a moment to educate the students, get involved in building and rehabilitating the bikes, as well as following the rules. She asked if any departments wanted to contribute money to the program or enlist aid in others way, that would be wonderful, too. She ended by thanking the Senate and faculty for helping her out.

The chair addressed the Senate reconstruction issue that was passed by the Senate last year but failed in the campus-wide referendum.� He reported that the Steering Committee has decided to send out a questionnaire to faculty and staff as to what the perception was on campus, obtain feedback to gather information as to what people wanted and why it had failed, so that a committee may study it and formulate a new model.� J. Governali spoke as to the background and reasons for the initiative.� J. Rayle asked for information on the final ballot last year and vote, he said, because his impression was the referendum died of apathy. It was decided that more information needs to be obtained.� The chair explained that the Senate needed to vote on whether the questionnaire could be distributed electronically across campus. The vote passed and Chair Chaturvedi explained that two weeks after the vote the Senate would report on the results.

XI.� AREA SENATORS REPORTS:

Senator Alwes asked if it would be appropriate that a motion be put forth commending

Dr. William Griffen as being the most senior member of all of the SUNY faculty. It was decided after discussion with the chair that she write out a formal� motion and bring it to the next meeting.

Kevin Pristash announced that Mary Chandler has resigned her position as Senate professional representative so an election is being held to fill the rest of her one year term.

The meeting was adjourned at 2:18 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Barbara Kissel

Recording Secretary

The following reports are appended to the Minutes in the order reported and submitted by Senators and other members.

(1) Chair� opening speech submitted by Ram Chaturvedi.

(2) Treasurer�s Report submitted by Ram Chaturvedi.

(3) SUNY cortland Community Bike Program submitted by L. Anderson.

(4) Rough Draft SUNY Cortland Faculty Senate reconstruction questionnaire submitted by J. Governali.

http://www.cortland.edu/senate/minutes/m1.html

�

�