Minutes for February 13, 2008

A meeting of the University Senate was held at 4:15 p.m. on DAY, 13 February 2008, in Maxwell Auditorium.

Present were: Chancellor Cantor; Senators Alcoff, Anderson, Arnold, Breese, Brooker, Brooks, Bulman, Burak, Carter, Chen, Cihon, Cochren, de Berly, Donovan, Easton, Engbretson, Evans, Ewing, Faiola, Ferri, Gates, Glauser, Horacek, Hurd, Isik, Johnson, Kucharavy, Kwasnik, Lantier, Letterman, Lewandowski, Lloyd, MacInnes, Mager, Marcoccia, Marrero, McConnell, Middlemiss, Murphy, O'Rourke, Pellow, Potter, Pralle, Quinn, Rosenzweig, Rubinstein, Saleh, Schell, Sherman, Smith (C.R.), Smith (D.), Smith (H.), Spina, Strodel, Teres, Tucker, Turner, Van Gulick, Ware (B.), Ware (E.), Wasylenko, Witucki.

Presiding Officer: Chancellor Nancy Cantor

The Chancellor called the meeting to order, proposed that the minutes of the January 16th meeting be approved as written, and the body concurred. She called Prof. Can Isik to make the report of the Agenda Committee. Prof. Isik’s report included a motion to amend the bylaws, Article V, Section 11, as follows:

New wording: There shall be a Committee on Budget and Fiscal Affairs. The committee shall participate in the development and subsequent modification of University-wide budgets in cooperation with appropriate officers of the central administration and with the Responsibility Center Management (RCM) Committee. The committee shall also have within its purview all long-range financial plans. It shall apprise itself of the general financial position of the University and of significant policy and priority aspects of budget decisions. It shall advise the Chancellor and the cabinet and report all significant plans to the Senate, with recommendations when appropriate. Early in each budget planning cycle the Chair or Vice-chair of the committee (who are also members of the RCM Committee) shall advise the RCM Committee about specific items that may impact the budget.

In the discussion, a senator rose to make an amendment, adding a final sentence: "Upon request from the Senate, it shall collect and analyze particular budget data requested by the Senate and report its results to the Senate.", which by vote of the body was deferred to a future meeting. The main motion to amend the bylaws was approved.

The Chancellor asked that all nonsenators exit the auditorium during discussion and vote on the candidates for honorary degrees, and called Prof. Eileen Lantier, Chairwoman of the Committee on Honorary Degrees, to present the committee’s report, which included a motion to approve two candidates. The Agenda Cme. chairman rose to make a motion to suspend the bylaws, so that a previously approved candidate, unable to attend Commencement, might be honored and his son accept the award in his absence. The motion carried. The motion to approve the candidates also carried.

The Chancellor asked members of the Agenda Committee to invite the nonsenators back inside, and then called Prof. Eric Johnson to present the report of the Committee on Curricula, which included a motion to approve the new courses and changes (from Arts and Sciences, Education, Engineering and Computer Science, Information Studies, Management, Human Ecology, and Visual and Performing Arts) listed therein. A senator rose to point out that, on p. 25, the item under the B.A. in Political Science that specified a 2.5 overall GPA should be removed, as no other department in the college set GPA requirements for majors. He made a motion to amend the report removing that section (p. 25, item 1) from the proposal. The motion to amend the report was seconded and carried. The body then voted to approve the new courses and changes in the report as amended.

A Senate member rose to request that the fact of the College of Human Ecology’s collaboration in the development of the Master of Public Health and the B.S. in Inclusive and Special Education be noted in the record. She made a motion, which was seconded, to amend the report of the Committee on Curricula to reflect the inclusion of the College of Human Ecology in the joint effort, and further requested that the Curriculum committee be directed to include all schools and colleges collaborating on programs in future reports. The motion carried.

The Chancellor called Prof. Harvey Teres who presented the report of the Committee on Academic Affairs in the absence of the chairman. His report included two motions. The first motion was to endorse a proposal to separate the existing Department of Nutrition and Hospitality Management into Nutrition Science and Dietetics and Hospitality Management. The motion carried. Prof. Teres made a second motion to endorse a change in status of the Sport Management program to Department of Sport Management. The motion carried.

Prior to adjournment a senator rose to express his concern over the lack of security in the library, saying that under the current new set-up it was relatively easy to steal library materials.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.

Teresa Gilman
University Senate Recorder

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