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Minutes for October 10, 2007
A meeting of the University Senate was held at 4:15 p.m. on Wednesday, 10 October, in Maxwell Auditorium.
Present were: Chancellor Cantor; Senators Abramovsky, Alcoff, Alston, Anderson, Artuso, Arvas, Bennett, Bhatia, Biklen, Breese, Brooks, Bulman, Burak, Carr, Carter, Carty, Chen, Cihon, Cochren, Cutshall, de Berly, DeCorse, Donovan, Dudczak, Duffy, Elin, Evans, Ewing, Gates, Gilman, Heintz, Himes, Himley, Hollenback, Horacek, Hurd, Isik, Javaid, Jeaneault, Keck, Kucharavy, Kutcher, Kwasnik, Lantier, Letterman, Lipson, Lloyd, London, MacInnes, Mager, Marcoccia, Maroney, Marrero, Massey, Middlemiss, Monfort, Mountz, Mugo, Murphy, O'Rourke, Pellow, Potter, Purin, Quinn, Rebovich, Resenzweig, Rubinstein, Rupert, Russell, Schell, Smith (C.J.), Smith (C.R.), Smith (D.), Smith (Do.), Spina, Strodel, Teres, Trento, Tucker, Tussing, Van Gulick, Vivian, Ware (B.), Ware (E.), Wasylenko, Webber, Willett, Witucki.
The Chancellor called the meeting to order, and proposed that the minutes of the September 12th meeting be approved as written, and the body concurred. She called Prof. Can Isik to make the report of the Agenda Committee, which included:
- Motion to change the published agenda, removing the motion from the Academic Affairs committee re: name change in College of Human Services and Health Professions; motion carried;
- A motion to approve the following list of changes to Senate committees:
| Academic Affairs |
Add:
Add Janine Bernard (Fac.)
Adina Mulliken (Librarian)
Remove:
Cindy Smith (G)
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| Academic Freedom, Tenure, and Professional Ethics |
Remove:
Doug Armstrong (Fac.)
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| Administrative Operations |
Add:
Greg Ewing (Librarian)
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| Budget |
Add:
Charles Cutshall (G)
Remove:
Nida Javaid (U)
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| Computing Services |
Add:
Ambika Krishnakumar (Fac.)
Mike Frasciello (Staff)
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| Curriculum |
Add:
Chad Dawson (Fac.)
Norm Faiola (Fac.)
Barbara Witucki(Fac.)
Remove:
Peter Koveos (Fac.)
Donald Rebovich (Fac.)
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| Honorary Degrees |
Remove:
Hannah Arterian (Admin.)
Elet Callahan (Fac.)
Gus Engbretson (Fac.)
Rod Surratt (Fac.)
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| Instruction |
Remove:
Christina Graves (G)
Margaret Harding (Fac.)
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| Library |
Remove:
Suzanne Warren (Librarian)
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| Services to Faculty and Staff |
Remove:
Rosalia Kosar (Staff)
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The motion carried.
- A motion to approve the appointment of non-senators to chair Senate committees and be recognized and permitted to speak at meetings when
reports from their committees are presented, as follows:
Kathleen Hinchman (Athletic Policy)
Rob Pusch (LGBT, co-chair)
Jeremy Gilbert (Research)
Linda Straub (Services to the Faculty and Staff)
Martha Jo Hanson (Women's Concerns, co-chair)
The motion carried.
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A motion to approve the recommendation that Prof. Martin Fried, Professor of law, be honored with the title Emeritus, to be added to the rank at which he
retired.
Motion carried.
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A motion to amend the bylaws, adding a category to Article I, Section 3: The number of unionized staff elected shall be 2 [remove "non-union" from the wording of the nonexempt staff category].
Motion carried.
Prof. Isik concluded his report by drawing the body's attention to a list of committee chairs and a list of student senators, as well as the Summary of the Work of the University Senate, 2006-7, which had been distributed in the packet.
The Chancellor asked that all nonsenators wait outside the auditorium during discussion and vote on the nominations for Honorary Degrees, and that members of the Agenda Committee invite them back inside afterwards. She then called Prof. Eileen Lantier to present the report, which included two nominations for honorary degree recipients at the 2008 or 2009 Commencements. Lantier told the body there would be further nominees in November. The nominations were approved.
The Chancellor called Prof. Jonathan Massey to present the report of the Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Concerns, which included a motion, as follows:
The Senate Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Concerns moves that the Senate endorse the domestic partnership benefits policy changes recommended in the Committee’s report.
Prof. Massey thanked members of his committee, as well as Neil Strodel and Karen Morissey from Human Resources, gave some background to the proposal, and then summarized the five recommendations in the report. He called Prof. Thomas Keck to respond to questions from the floor.
In the discussion, observations made and questions raised included:
- Because the specific provisions about how to define "relationship" were
being changed, that opposite sex couples were to be included, senator
wondered whether roommates or "any adult family member" would be included [Keck said not];
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That the financial costs might be prohibitive [Keck said that in the research
they had found that not to be the case.];
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Senate member asked about data on the SUNY system re: opposite sex partners;
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Senate member expressed concern that the wording in the declaration of union form could include persons under 18 [Keck said the committee would check into this.];
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Senate member asked whether the committee knew of any organizations that
had "grossed up," and how [Keck said that some corporations had done, but no academic institutions; he referred senators to the table on p. 7 of the report];
- Concern expressed re: the taxation aspect of opposite sex partners being included; he said that what was being proposed was more narrow than it
seemed by the discussions.
A Senate member made a motion to postpone the vote on the motion, but the motion was lost. The vote on the main motion carried.
The Chancellor called Prof. Larry Elin to present the Report of the Committee on
Academic Affairs. Prof. Elin told the body that the committee wished to present the
proposal for changes in the tenure clock to the Senate for discussion, and make a motion
to endorse the changes at a future meeting. He called Prof. Louise Phelps, former
member of the committee, and asked permission of the chair for her to speak. The chair
recognized Phelps, who gave a thorough presentation of the committee’s thinking on
the various changes in the tenure clock, which would stop the clock for life events
(carework, e.g., pregnancy and birth) as well as institutional circumstances (e.g., SU
Abroad teaching). A member rose to make a motion to endorse the changes in the
tenure clock in spirit, and the motion carried.
The Chancellor called on Prof. Kathy Hinchman to present the report of the
Committee on Athletic Policy, which was a summary of their 2006-7 work. She pointed
out that the academic success of the various athletic teams was above the national
average and that this (academic progress rate) was a new category. She told the body
that information on the various categories could be downloaded from the NCAA web
site. She reported that the 10-year mark for progress in equity in athletics had passed,
and that there was currently a 44.2% female/55.8% male to female ratio in athletic
teams, but that the student population was now 56% female/44% male. She said that
the department had added women’s ice hockey in an effort to improve the ratio.
Among questions raised and concerns expressed were:
- Concern over the preponderance of male coaches of women’s teams;
- A question about why the women’s swimming team had been dropped;
- Comment that the swimming facilities were badly outdated, but that SU
had a brand new ice rink;
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Comment that Academic Affairs was as concerned as Student Affairs over
the conflict between sports practice and academics, and that priorities should
be academics first.
A senator rose to ask about the report from the ad hoc committee that has been
reviewing sexual harassment at SU, and the Vice Chancellor told him that that report
would be coming to the Senate later in the year.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
Teresa Gilman
University Senate Recorder
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