FACULTY SENATE MINUTES NO. 2
September 16, 2003
1.� CALL TO ORDER: The 2nd
meeting of the Faculty Senate for 2003-2004 was called to order at 1:10 PM on
September 16, 2003 in the Jacobus Lounge, Brockway
Hall, by Chair Jeffrey Walkuski.
SENATORS AND MEMBERS
PRESENT: J. Walkuski, B. Jackson, P. Buckenmeyer, K. Coombs, B. Mattingly, P. Walsh, G. Beadle,
K. Alwes, A. Johnson, M. Friga (non-voting pending election), D. Berger
(non-voting pending election), A. Young, T. Phillips, E. Bitterbaum,
R. Franco, B. Shaut, L. Anderson, T. Fay, C. Poole,
M. Ali, D. Walker, E. Bang
SENATORS AND MEMBERS
ABSENT: J. Hartsock, S. VanEtten, E. Davis-Russell, B. Jackson, C. Plunkett
GUESTS PRESENT: C. Malone, E. Caffarella, J.
Mosser
II. SENATE ACTIONS:
There was a motion to approve
the appointment of Ted Fay to the Facilities and Master Plan Oversight
Committee for 2000-2004. (Passed)
There was a motion to approve
the appointment of Dave Ritchie, member of the Long Range Planning Committee,
to the Facilities and Master Plan Oversight Committee. (Passed)
Committee on Committees
representative, Bernard Jackson, asked for Senate approval of two appointments
to the Faculty Affairs Committee: Ellen McCabe, Library, 2003-2005; College
Research Committee, Chuck Heasley, Fine Arts and Humanities, to replace John
Hartsock who is on sabbatical for one year, 2003-2004. (Passed)
There was a motion to amend
the motion made by Vice Chair Jackson striking the last sentence from his
motion beginning with �in addition.....� (Passed)
III.� APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES: There was a
motion to approve the minutes as amended from September 2, 2003.
IV. CHAIR�S REPORT:
Chair Walkuski opened his
report by giving an update regarding the special committee appointed by him on
behalf of the Faculty Senate/Steering Committee to review the restructuring of
the Faculty Senate due addition of a new School of Education.� There was a need to fill vacancies for a
student, part-time, graduate and professional staff member.� He indicated he would follow up and send an
e-mail or call constituencies in an attempt to fill these slots.�
He then asked for a motion to
approve the appointment of Ted Fay as a representative to the Facilities and
Master Plan and Oversight Committee for 2000-2004.
The Chair expressed a need
for a Long-Range Planning Committee faculty representative to the Facilities
and Master Plan and Oversight Committee and asked the Senate for motion of
approval of Dave Ritchie.
He then announced a request
from the President�s Office regarding the need for 3 nominees from the Senate
to the University Police Advisory Committee. He explained that there would be a
total of 6 participants from the Senate, but that only 3 were being asked for
at this time.� In answer to a
question from Senator Alwes, Walkuski clarified that this committee was just
open to faculty.� He said he would be
sending out an e-mail asking for nominations.
V._VICE CHAIR�S REPORT:
Vice Chair Jackson brought
forth a resolution regarding faculty representation to include School of
Education representation until the Senate is reorganized.� Before he spoke to the motion he indicated
that he had talked with his constituents and, hopefully, the elections are in
place to fill 3 Senate vacancies in his area, and should be confirmed by Monday
the 29th
Jackson read his motion and
explained that because of the new School of Education that faculty has no
representation on the Senate and the motion would resolve this by amending the
bylaws of Chapter 150, Article VI, Section A of the 2002-2004 SUNY Cortland
College Handbook.�
Philip Walsh asked why the
terms ended in 2005. Walkuski replied that he and Secretary Buckenmeyer
had worked this out at the beginning of this academic year because if you look
at the handbook it really means the two year terms end
after the last meeting, indicating an academic year instead of a calendar year.
Dean Malone asked if this
attempt would, in fact, not reduce the number of voting faculty in
Education/Professional Studies, by replacing two of the three seats. He further
stated that he felt if the third seat turned to be Professional Studies then
they would be losing representation. He felt there was a strong need to
readdress this inequity..
Walkuski explained that this
is an attempt to offer equity in the way of representation to Education and
that eventually that although it might result in Professional Studies not
having equal representation, he reinforced that this is a temporary emergency
measure only until the Senate is formally reorganized and reviewed under the
new proposed committee.
Malone reiterated that
although this was an attempt at equal representation, it was, in fact not
achieving it. Walkuski replied that a separate motion could be made to correct
this problem as well.
Fay stated his understanding
that the third seat was so designated to rectify the lack of representation for
Education and other representation issues were not being addressed at this
time.� He felt that in order to
enfranchise the School of Education, Professional Studies may be losing three
seats, temporarily, depending on the results of the election, but in the future
could be restored once the committee did its work.
Walkuski offered a solution
that the Steering Committee could temporarily reassign the seat that is left
for Speech Pathology.
Dean Malone felt that this
does not represent the true spirit of the Faculty Senate which should, ideally,
include everyone.
Walkuski did not discount
Dean Malone�s concern but reinforced that this was a measure that, although not
ideal, was due to current unfortunate critical circumstances.
Malone again voiced his
concern that he felt strongly that there should be equal representation from
all schools.
Walkuski replied that there
may also turn out to be unequal representation in other schools, due to
numbers, but once the committee gets underway all of these concerns would be
addressed.
Senator Walsh spoke in favor
of the motion. He suggested that the same type of motion could be undertaken
for the School of Professional Studies, as well, and that he was under the
assumption that the Senate was going under the old rules. He felt that this
particular motion addressed the specific concern of Education alone and if
there needed to be a separate motion to address Professional Studies than it
could be done at another time.
Senator Mattingly asked for
re-clarification of which seats were a replacement for the 3 present seats and
Walkuski went over it again.
Senator Alwes was in
agreement with the motion, but suggested that since the last sentence of the
motion was ambiguous, she recommended striking it.�
Vice President Franco asked
for clarification that there were going to be 2 seats in Education plus two
from Professional Studies.
Walkuski said if the
amendments were moved this would mean 3 seats from HPER-ESSS, 3 seats from
EDU-SHH, and two from Education.
Franco wondered if there
presented the possibility that if the motion were passed, all 3 seats could be
from Speech and Hearing. Walkuski replied that, although this could be a
possibility, it was unlikely since there are presently only 2 faculty members
in this department.
There was general discussion
between Vice President Franco and Chair Walkuski requiring clarification so
that everyone understand the issue but it was resolved that these problems
would be resolved once the committee met.
Walkuski mentioned that this
was Senate business that should have been conducted last year, and thus, not
presently reflected accordingly in the handbook. He felt that eventually the
Handbook would need to be revised.
Senator Young said that he
could not support the motion, not knowing what the clear outcomes would be,
since the elections have not yet been held, and what problems may result from it . He could not support it although he remained eager to
see that the School of Education has representation.
Senator Walsh expressed his
concern about consultative committee pools, that if you are on sabbatical you
would be excluded from the pool, and he mentioned electronic voting which may
change things in the future.
VI.� TREASURER� S REPORT:
Treasurer Coombs announced
that she is working on sending out a call for dues and she encouraged all
Senators to collect dues from faculty members for the Faculty Senate
Scholarship.
VII.� SECRETARY�S REPORT:
Secretary Buckenmeyer
had nothing to report.
VIII.� PRESIDENT�S REPORT:
President Bitterbaum
reported two news items which was in addition to his Administrative Report (see
attachments.)� He shared information
about a reception held recently prior to the College Council meeting.� The three deans on campus were asked to
choose 3 or 4 undergraduates and graduate students from their school to share
in the form of a poster session. This was conducted as if it were a national
meeting. They presented the work they are doing with both undergraduate and
graduate students, as mentors, to engage them in such things as undergraduate
research, research projects and hypotheses, to challenge them in their
thinking.� He emphasized that he was
going to try and find money to fund and encourage initiatives as these.
The next was that the SUNY system
has been chosen by the Turkish government to participate in a contract
involving an exchange of 20-30 Turkish students, within 18 months, on this
campus to study to become more fluent in English and study English as a second
language in an effort to teach English to young Turks.� He gave some background, since Turkey has
decided that since English is the language of commerce and technology, the
Turkish government has decided to initiate student exchanges such as this one
to enable their students to compete more competitively.� He went on to explain that the students would
get two degrees.
He also mentioned that the
campus has received several grants that were applied for: $40,000 to offer
minority scholarships, and two additional ones, one for $75,000 and another
totaling $300,000.�
President Bitterbaum
expressed his regrets that Provost Davis-Russell could not attend because she
was called out of town on personal business.
IX.� QUESTIONS FOR THE PRESIDENT:
There were no questions for
the President.
X. QUESTIONS FOR THE
VICE PRESIDENTS:
Chair Walkuski asked Vice
President Shaut what the Committee on Resource
Enhancement�s function was and whether or not it was open to everyone.� Vice President Shaut
indicated the result of that initiative was the formation of a committee open
to everyone, hopefully to be to provide recommendations to the President in the
hopes of increasing revenues and decreasing expenditures at the college.�
President Bitterbaum
added that it was his idea, since the economy is so slow in New York State, and
worsening in the anticipation of a 5 billion shortfall, to develop a committee
Chaired by Vice President for Finance and Management, Bill Shaut,
and perhaps including those with a financial and/or economic background, with
ideas to help strengthen us for the future.
XI. STANDING COMMITTEE
REPORTS:
Long Range Planning
Committee - Ted Fay, Chair, announced
the committee would be meeting in a few weeks to begin their work.
Educational Policy
Committee - L. Anderson, Chair, opened
by passing around a meeting schedule encouraging faculty to attend 8 AM
Wednesday morning meetings, in the Miller Lounge staff room. She also provided
a committee list so that those with ideas or interest could talk to those
individuals representing their constituency. She said the Deans would be
electronically passing information on to the Chairs, who would, in turn, pass
it on to the faculty that way for the first time, and her desire that the
information got out in an effective and timely manner.
She also reminded the
Senators that the Faculty Senate approved some new guidelines for educational
policy last year and her committee is operating under those new guidelines this
year. They will be discussing those at their meeting and disseminate them to the
college campus for a two week review and comment period. She encouraged people
to bring or submit in writing to their representative following the meeting any
thoughts or concerns. It is her committee�s desire to open up how a dialogue on
how policy is executed or changed on this campus at the undergraduate level.
Dean Caffarella
asked what EPC�s function is and how their role
differs from the Curriculum Committee. Anderson answered that the EPC governs
different educational, undergraduate or traditional policies. She further went
on to state that, according to the handbook, apparently, the committee also
looks at how the curriculum process works and reflects on how to change it for
the campus.� The Curriculum Committee
looks at course curriculum, specifically.
President Bitterbaum
asked if her committee would handle a possible incentive� he has come up with in an attempt to
recognize students with straight A�s. She replied that, most likely, her committee
would be involved since they looked at pass/fail and Dean�s list policies
previously.
�
Student
Affairs Committee - No report.
Faculty
Affairs Committee - No report.
XII. SUNY SENATOR�S
REPORT:
Senator Phillips announced
that he attended the SUNY Planning meeting the previous Friday and Saturday
where the business of the Senate is formulated for the next year.
October 2-3 there is an
International Student Symposium at SUNY Binghamton.
He went on to explain that
from the Provost�s Office there has evolved a committee called the Advisory
Council on General�
Education, ACGE, a descendent of the Provost�s Advisory Council
on Gen Ed (PACGE), which involves courses that are going to be approved for the
SUNY General Education program.� This new
group� mostly
consists of faculty and the Provost�s Office is no longer involved in approving
individual course for GE.� He called this
�a great victory for University Faculty Senate.��
The New Vision for Teacher
Education has developed a template for transfer students to ease the transition
from two year schools to four year schools� teacher education programs.���
He then discussed the Provost�s
Office incentive to increase faculty representation on all of the campuses for
mission review.�
He announced the General
Education conference being held in Albany on November 13-14. He encouraged
anyone interested in General Education could funding
from the Provost�s and/or President�s office to attend.
There is going to be a report
from the SUNY Provost�s Office on the SUNY faculty development initiative and
he stated this should be an interesting initiative because more money would be
funded to enhance faculty development.
Brian Stenson,
from the Budget Office, presented a budget breakdown indicating that there is
going to be a 5 or 6 billion deficit for the next few
years.� This has forced other campuses to
find new ways to increase funding.� The
BAP (Budget Allocation Process) is going to be revised because it didn�t work
very well.� 50 million has been reallocated
from some schools. The outcome of this may be that some schools who would have
received less money may now receive more. This old process was unfair, however,
now some new more performance measures, such as graduation rates, may be built
into the funding measures to make things more equitable.
System wide assessment was
the biggest item on the agenda being pushed from the Chancellor�s office which
is now called value assessment. There is a discussion group formed between SUNY
system and administration from the UFS who is working on the 5th
draft document.� He indicated their plan
to e-mail it to him, who would , in turn, disseminate
it on campus.� They want the widest
audience available for the draft document, which will plan the time line for
initiating the pilot project on system wide assessment and moving the pilot to
university wide assessment.
The UFS is also going to be
reviewing the history of the faculty, between the UFS and the system office, in
the position that the UFS has had against systemwide
assessment.� The UFS has endorsed
assessment at the campus level and wants to maintain it. Documents will be
circulating this history and the resolution that was passed, distributed by
Chancellor King last June, that the BOT passed. Now
the Provost�s Office has been directed by the Board of Trustees to support this
program.� He indicated that a lot of
veteran UFS senators are against the whole process.� This issue is going to be discussed at the
October 23 plenary.�� Phillips explained
that his job is to get as much feedback from this campus regarding sentiments
concerning this unfunded mandate. He encouraged everyone to contribute their
voice.
Senator Jackson asked
Phillips about something he remembered from a UUP meeting involving UUP sending
representatives from Albany to visit campuses to discuss this issue and whether
or not this was true.
Phillips remarked that he
thought that UUP should be involved in such a way but he did not know if this
was true. He said this measure would mean program assessment would be at the
same level on every campus. He gave an example that History 101 would be the
same on every campus with the exact same content and some standardized
tests.� He encouraged campus governance
leaders to get involved.
Dean Malone asked if there
was any discussion about how SUNY had approved systemwide
assessment a couple of years ago and inquired why it was coming up again.
Phillips replied that he
thinks there was a line in the task force that was approved but a lot of old
school people on the UFS do not endorse it.�
He said there is a report showing the total benefit from UFS that has
endorsed it, but he personally is against that approach, and that is why he is
encouraging campus involvement.
President Bitterbaum
added that in the past two or three years the subject has not come up. He felt
that their plan was not going to review faculty, when Peter Salins
was here, and that Cortland has gotten hurt by this measure in the past.� He felt that they were certainly using old
data. He explained the background that there was a decision on how to base
funding depending on discipline, but it was decided that teacher education gets
woefully undercut compared to programs like engineering, and because Cortland
has so many teacher education students, it gets hurt.� He felt that it was not equitable and that as
soon as the BAP gets revised the better.�
He announced that Patty Francis has been loaned to SUNY Albany starting
in November for 8-9 months, three days a week, for Mission Review because of
her areas of expertise and although this was a sacrifice for the campus, and
himself as a new President, he felt her participation would be a benefit. He
encouraged those interested to share their information with Jeff and himself,
especially in Patty�s absence.
XIII. STUDENT SENATORS
REPORTS:
Eunice Bang, Elementary
Education major, and Dan Walker, Secondary Education major, were introduced as
new student senators from SGA.� Both
stated their desire to bring useful information back and forth to their
constituents in SGA involving the Faculty Senate where both groups could
benefit mutually.
XIV. COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Committee on Committees - Committee on Committees representative Bernard
Jackson, asked Senate approval for two appointments to the Faculty Affairs
Committee, Ellen McCabe, Library, 2003-2005; College Research Committee, Chuck
Heasley, Fine Arts and Humanities, to replace John Hartsock who is on
sabbatical for one year, 2003-2004. (Passed)
XV. NEW BUSINESS:
The motion from Gordon Beadle
was withdrawn involving the administration attending Senate meetings.
There was a motion by Amanda
Johnson, Library Senator, which was presented, to add a library member to the
Dean of Arts and Sciences search, and a Library member to the Vice President of
Finance and Management Search.� This will
be discussed and voted on at the next meeting on October 30.
Dean Caffarella
asked if Johnson�s motion meant 6 seats altogether, since 3 were defined
additionally, or did this mean 6 total. Walkuski said that the language of this
motion was taken directly out of the handbook and he would have to see the
original motion to answer the question. It was decided that 6 total were
required, although maybe the handbook should be revised because it might be
ambiguous.
XVI.� AREA SENATORS REPORTS:
Masoom Ali reported that October 2 was Make
a Difference Day and invited the campus community to participate and help the
students beautify the campus.� He also
announced the coming of Hurricane Isabel and resultant storms and asked people
to shut their windows and recommended they not leave papers nearby just as a
safety precaution.
The meeting was adjourned at
2:20 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) Administration�s report
to Senate submitted by President Bitterbaum.
(2) EPC meeting schedule
submitted by L. Anderson.
(3) Motion concerning the
Consultative Committee pool submitted by P. Walsh.
(4) Library Faculty Amendment
to proposed search committee make-ups submitted by A. Johnson.
http://www.cortland.edu/senate/minutes/m2.html
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