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Minutes for April 16, 2008 A meeting of the University Senate was held at 4:15 p.m. on DAY, 16 April 2008, in Maxwell Auditorium. Present were: Chancellor Cantor; Senators: Alcoff, Alston, Anderson, Arnold, Arvas, Bennett, Biklen, Breese, Brooks, Bulman, Burak, Caldwell, Carter, Cihon, deBerly, Donovan, Dudczak, Ferri, Gallacher, Gates, Heintz, Hensberry, Hollenback, Horacek, Hurd, Isik, Jeneault, Johnson, Kucharavy, Kwasnik, Lantier, Letterman, Lewandowski, Lipson, MacInnes, Marcoccia, Massey, McConnell, Middlemiss, Mohan, Moon, Mulliken, Murphy, O’Rourke, Pellow, Potter, Pralle, Quinn, Rosenzweig, Rupert, Saleh, Schiff, Sherman, Smith (C.J.), Smith (C.R.), Smith (D.), Spina, Srinivas, Strickland, Teres, Turner (S.), Tussing, Van Gulick, Ware (E.), Warren, Wasylenko, Watts, Wells, Willett, Witucki. Presiding Officer: Chancellor Nancy Cantor The Chancellor called the meeting to order, proposed that the minutes of the March 19th meeting be approved as written, and the body concurred. She called Prof. Can Isik to present the report of the Agenda Committee, as follows: - a motion recommending to the Board of Trustees the conferring of appropriate degrees on May 11th and 18th, 2008 upon those candidates who would have qualified for such degrees by Friday, May 9th, 2008 or May 16th, 2008 at 12:00 noon, and upon those students who would’ve completed requirements for degrees by the end of the various summer terms and the end of the fall semester of the 2008-9 academic year. The motion carried. - a motion to approve the report of the Subcommittee on Nominations, which was the list of committees for 2008-9. Motion carried. - notice of a motion to amend the bylaws, simplifying the language re: the Committee on Curricula, was laid on the table, to be taken up in the fall. Motion carried.Prof. Isik recognized Prof. Wasylenko who rose to make a tribute to Prof. Dale Tussing, who was retiring from the Senate and the University after 46 years of service, as follows: I am pleased to have the opportunity to say a word about my colleague Dale Tussing as he prepares to leave the University Senate and then formally to retire from Syracuse University at the end of calendar year 2008. Dale was appointed as a lecturer in 1962, and in 1966 as assistant professor of economics. Dale’s service on the University Senate began almost immediately upon his appointment as assistant professor, and he has served this body almost continuously for the past 42 years. During his tenure he has served on many committees: Appointment and Promotions; Athletic Policy (also chaired); Honorary Degrees; Services to the Faculty and Staff (also chaired); Agenda (also chaired); Academic Freedom, Tenure, and Professional Ethics, and has served on some of them more than once. Dale also served as the Faculty Athletics Representative to the NCAA. Another colleague who has served SU for a similarly long time recently let me know that this kind of long-term dedication to the mission of the University was rare and becoming rarer. Indeed, Prof. Tussing richly deserves our gratitude for tirelessly working to ‘transmit the Maxwell School and Syracuse University not only less, but greater and more beautiful than it was transmitted to him.’ [paraphrase from The Athenian Oath].After Prof. Wasylenko sat down Prof. Tussing rose to speak in praise of the Senate’s role in University governance as well as its role in socializing chancellors as they arrived on campus. Dean Diane Murphy rose to point out that it had been Prof. Tussing, in the 1980s, who was responsible for revising the wording of the alma mater, relieving it of its single-sex reference to students. The body applauded, and Prof. Isik continued his report by asking senators to mark the Agenda Committee ballots that had been sent in the packet, and hand them in to the Recorder for counting and report. He finished by telling senators that later in the meeting the Vice Chancellor would make a brief response to the March 2008 report of violation of procedure in a tenure appeal, which had been reported by the Committee on Appointment & Promotions. The Chancellor called Prof. Ian MacInnes who presented the report of the Committee on Appointment and Promotions, which included a motion to concur in the addition of "emeritus" to the rank at which the following faculty members retired: Richard Goldsmith, Professor of law (posthumous)In the discussion, a Senate member objected to the award of emeritus status to a person who was dead and who also had not retired, referring to the University's policy, as stated in the Faculty Manual [2.58-2.61, pp. 26-27]. Another member said that it behooved the Senate to look closely at how it viewed awards it gave. Another senator challenged the award of "dean emeritus". After further discussion, the motion carried. Prof. MacInnes continued his report with a motion to concur in the promotion of the following faculty members to the ranks indicated:
Alison Baker (Public Communications)The body applauded. A senator rose to suggest that the list be publicized more widely, and that in future the Academic Affairs committee direct the scholar selection committee. Prof. Teres continued his report with a motion to approve the proposed changes in the wording of SU’s policy on tenure, which had been sent in the packet. In the discussion, a senator rose to propose an amendment to section 2.28, to delete from the first sentence of paragraph 1, the phrase "is an extremely important exercise of", and insert "supports". The motion was seconded, and carried. Another senator rose to propose an amendment to section 2.29, second paragraph, to move the last sentence up, and insert it after "Candidates must be considered for tenure before the end of the sixth credited year, but may be considered for tenure before that date." [document with revised wording is appended]. Motion to amend was seconded and carried. After some discussion, the motion to approve the twice-amended wording carried. The Chancellor recognized Vice Chancellor Eric Spina who rose to respond to a report from the Committee on Appointment and Promotions, in March 2008, about a violation of University procedure in a tenure appeal case. The Vice Chancellor’s full statement is appended. In the discussion, a senator asserted that tenure was a faculty prerogative, that three parties were involved [dean, Vice Chancellor, faculty member], and took issue with the Vice Chancellor’s claim that all the relevant steps had been taken with respect to the matter reported. A senator challenged the Vice Chancellor’s interpretation of the phrase "cannot be considered again." Another senator observed that something rooted in faculty decision-making had seemed to turn into something administrative. Another pointed out that the Vice Chancellor always had the authority to reverse a college decision if it was warranted. The Chancellor called Prof. Terry McConnell, who presented the report of the Budget committee. Prof. McConnell referred members to the report in their packets, and proceeded to report the Budget committee's reaction to the the RCM committee's annual report. He said the committee had reviewed and discussed it at the April 7th meeting, and referred Senate members to the RCM website, where they could view the complete report [http://budplan.syr.edu/RCM/RCM.htm]. McConnell noted that the Budget committee’s relationship to the RCM committee was still evolving, but that the lines of communication between the two had worked out well. He said that the chair and vice-chair of the Budget committee, who were also members of the RCM committee, provided summaries of RCM committee activity to the Budget committee, and also voiced Budget committee concerns at meetings of the RCM committee. Prof. McConnell noted that one often overlooked consequence of the move to RCM budgeting was an increased need for budgetary expertise in schools, colleges and other responsibility centers. He said that under the old budget system a single institution-wide budget was managed from a central office, but that now each of the nearly thirty responsibility centers had its own budget needing management by a person trained in general budget management as well as in the workings of the RCM system, and that experience had shown that such managers were most effective when they worked closely with an associate dean. Due to the late hour, the chair entertained a motion to postpone discussion of the report on smoking to a future meeting. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned. Appendices Vice Chancellor and Provost Eric F. Spina Response to the 19 March 2008 Report of the Senate Committee on Appointments and Promotions (PDF) Senate Committee on Academic Affairs April 4, 2008 Proposed new language for the Syracuse University faculty manual (PDF) Teresa Gilman University Senate Recorder 
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