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Minutes for November 7, 2007
A meeting of the University Senate was held at 4:15 p.m. on Wednesday,
7 November 2007, in Maxwell Auditorium.
Present were: Chancellor Cantor; Senators Abramovsky, Alcoff, Arnold, Artuso, Arvas, Bennett, Biklen, Breese, Bulman, Burak, Carr, Carter, Carty, Cihon, Cutshall, Donovan, Dudczak, Duffy, Elin, Evans, Ewing, Fiese, Frasciello, Gates, Gilman, Hartmann, Himes, Himley, Hollenback, Horacek, Hurd, Isik, Javaid, Jeneault, Keck, Kucharavy, Kwasnik, Lantier, Letterman, Lipson, Lloyd, London, Mager, Marcoccia, Maroney, McConnell, Mitchell, Mohan, Monfort, Moon, Mountz, Mugo, Murphy, Olson, O'Rourke, Orr, Pellow, Potter, Purin, Quinn, Rebovich, Rosenzweig, Rupert, Saleh, Schiff, Schwarz, Sherman, Smith (D.), Spencer, Spina, Strodel, Tankersley, Teres, Thorin, Trento, Tucker, Turner, Tussing, Van Gulick, Wasylenko, Witucki.
Presiding officer: Chancellor Nancy Cantor
The Chancellor called the meeting to order, and proposed that the minutes of
the October 10th meeting be approved as written, and the body concurred. She called Prof. Can Isik to make the report of the Agenda Committee, which included:
A motion to approve the new wording of the University's nondiscrimination
policy, which had been distributed in the packet, adding the terms "ethnicity" and "citizenship" to the list of protected groups.
In the discussion, a member raised the question of why "sex" had been left out of the list, and after some discussion and explication, it was agreed that the statement would be amended to insert "sex" wherever the list of protected groups appeared. The motion to approve the statement, as amended, was approved.
The Chancellor called on Prof. Eileen Lantier to present the report of the Committee on Honorary Degrees. She asked that all nonsenators wait outside the auditorium during discussion and vote on the nominations, and that members of the Agenda Committee invite them back inside afterwards. Prof. Lantier made a motion to approve the list of recommendations for honorary degree recipients, and the motion carried.
The Chancellor then called Prof. Eric Johnson to present the report of the Curriculum committee, which included a motion to approve the new courses and course changes (from Human Services and Health Professions, Information Studies, and Visual and Performing Arts) listed in the report. The motion carried.
The Chancellor called Prof. Larry Elin to present the report of the Committee on Academic Affairs, which included a summary of the committee's work during 2006-7, which had focused on:
- A response to the Chancellor’s Scholarship in Action vision of community engagement;
- A proposal to modify the policy on tenure timing;
- A review of the report of the findings by the Vice Chancellor’s Committee
on Academic Integrity;
- Recommendations re establishment of the Tully Center for Free Speech;
- The Provost search;
- The SU Scholars Selection committee.
The report also included a motion, as follows:
The Committee on Academic Affairs recommends to the Senate the changing
of the name of the College of Human Services and Health Professions to
College of Human Ecology, effective immediately.
This name change was requested and approved by the college, and approved by
the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. The name change is contingent upon
concurrence by the Chancellor and the Board of Trustees.
The motion carried.
The Chancellor called on Prof. Marina Artuso to present the report of the Committee on Women’s Concerns, which was a report of the committee’s work during 2006-7. Prof. Artuso highlighted tasks that the committee had focused on, including:
- Monitoring the University’s staff complaint process
- Investigating the need for establishment of a women's center at SU.
She reported that the committee focus for 2007-8 included: continued monitoring of the staff complaint process and submission of a proposal for improving the working climate for women at SU.
In the discussion, a question was raised about why the Department of Human Resources reported statistics on the grievance procedure to the Committee on Services to the Faculty and Staff, and whether that committee worked closely with the Committee on Women’s Concerns to monitor usage. There was also a query about whose responsibility at HR it was to compile the various statistics re the grievance procedure. The chair said that it hadn’t yet been established, and that they would be inviting representatives from HR to a future meeting.
The Chancellor called Prof. Bob Van Gulick who reported on the work of the Committee on Instruction for 2006-7. Van Gulick highlighted the main items the committee had focused on, including: an examination of the Excused absence policy, which had been referred by the Agenda Committee; review of a request from Student Association that a statement about the availability of accommodation for those with learning disabilities be included in the course syllabus; review of student withdrawal and readmission procedures; and an investigation of the issue of grading and grade inflation.
In the discussion, the issues and questions raised included:
- That, in Rules and Regs., there was no meaning attached to the A,B,C, D grades.
- Question whether "honors" requirements should be changed;
- Question of who governed "Cum Laude", "Magna Cum Laude" and
"Summa Cum Laude" categories;
- A senator expressed a desire for the Committee on Instruction to look into
the issue of inappropriate accommodations for students absent from class
or exams [e.g., skipping an exam rather than taking a makeup exam];
- Desire for a set of guidelines for faculty vis-a-vis accommodating students
with disabilities;
- That the Office of Disability Services worked very well with faculty when
asked; that faculty should not put themselves in the position of being
secondary evaluators, but should encourage the student to go to the ODS
themselves, and early in the semester;
- That the University community should know that SU would provide an
evaluation if a student could not afford a private evaluation, and that
it was important that disabilities not go undiagnosed.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
Teresa Gilman
University Senate Recorder
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