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Minutes for January 18, 2006
A meeting of the University Senate was held at 4:15 p.m. on Wednesday, 18 January 2006, in Maxwell Auditorium.
Present were: Chancellor Cantor; Senators: Alcoff, Alston, Anderson, Arvas, Bennett, Bhatia, Biklen, Breese, Burak, Carter, Cihon, Cleary, Crowston, de Berly, Diaz, Donovan, Doyle, Duffy, Elin, Feree, Ferguson, Fiese, Gensemer, Gilman, Glauser, Grady-Willis, Grimes, Hackman, Hamner, Harding, Heintz, Himes, Himley, Hogan, Holzwarth, Horlings, Isik, Jacobs, Jeneault, Jensen, Kasowitz-Scheer, Kelly (R.B.), Kenn, Khalifa, Kyle, LaGraff, Lantier, Letterman, Lipson, Mager, Marcoccia, Masrouri, McKay, Middlemiss, Mitchell, Moore, Mugo, Murphy, Newton, Nicholson, Notas, O'Rourke, Palfai, Pasqualoni, Patteson, Pellow, Phelps, Potter, Rebovich, Robinson, Salatino, Samson, Sauer, Scherzinger, Sherman, Smith (C.J.), Smith (D.), Smith (Do.), Smith (H.), Strodel, Tankersley, Trento, Tucker, Urtz, Van Gulick, Vitharana, Wallace, Ware (B.), Ware (E.), Webber, Wells, Wilmoth, Yanai, Zhang.
Presiding Officer: Chancellor Nancy Cantor
On motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the minutes of the University Senate meeting of 7 December 2005, as submitted.
The Chancellor called Prof. Bruce Carter to make the report of the Agenda Committee. Prof. Carter made a motion to approve the proposed reapportionment of Senate membership. In the discussion, a senator expressed her opposition to the reduction in number of faculty Senate members from her school. Subcommittee chair Prof. Cihon gave some background on how the numbers had come about. He also pointed out that the part-time faculty membership was being increased. After further discussion, a senator rose to make a motion that the report be sent back to committee for further consideration. The motion was seconded and approved.
Prof. Carter then called Ms. Judy O'Rourke to the podium, and she asked Senate members to think about nominations for honorary degrees to be awarded at the 2007 Commencement, saying that the committee now had a two-cycle nomination process, giving the Chancellor a full year to work on honorary degree recipients. Finally, Carter reported that the ad hoc committee to review sexual harassment policy at SU had been seated and charged, and that they would be making a preliminary report later in the year.
The Chancellor called Prof. Mike Olivette to present the report of the Curriculum committee, which included a motion to approve new courses and changes in the Colleges of Arts and Sciences, Human Services and Health Professions, and Visual and Performing Arts. The motion carried.
The Chancellor called Prof. Ernest Hemphill to present the report of the Committee on Instruction, which included a motion concurring in the 6 recommendations (pp.1-2 of the report). Prof. Hemphill gave a brief history of the proposals contained in the motion, and explained that the committee hoped for a vote on the spirit of the recommendations as a whole, rather than on specific wording of each one. He asked senators to limit their comments to the motion contained in the first two pages, and said that the second part of the report was basically suggestions for implementation. He called Prof. Elet Callahan to respond to questions.
In the discussion, questions raised included:
- whether the cost and logistics of creating a special office for academic integrity has been considered;
- had student involvement on panels been considered?
- that the Law faculty had expressed reservations about participating in a University-wide set of guidelines [Prof. Callahan said that other schools had similarly expressed reservations, and that the committee planned to work out something with these schools/colleges];
- senator said she was not convinced we needed a special office; that the colleges could do it themselves.
A senator made a motion to divide the question, splitting items 5 and 6 from the rest of the items, and the motion to divide the question was lost. A senator made a motion to send the report back to committee for further consideration. This motion carried.
Prof. Callahan asked Senate members to contact the committee with their concerns.
The Chancellor called Prof. Jerry Mager to present the report of the Committee on Budget and Fiscal Affairs. Prof. Mager began by announcing that a meeting of the Senate on March 29th would be devoted entirely to discussion of the new RCM budgeting model. Mager then presented the committee report, saying that it was a work in progress, that the committee's recommendations were on pp. 4 and 5. In the discussion, a senator referring to the Rule of 72, asked how long SU tuition could continue to increase before people could not afford it.
The Chancellor responded by explaining that one of the aspects of an RCM model was that the University would not be locked into a 5-year forecast, that SU would be working on one year at a time, and thus would be able to do things to reduce dependence on tuition, and also that we should not think of tuition independently of financial aid.
Another senator asked if SU still compared itself with other colleges (e.g., the Group of 30, the Group of 65), and if so he wondered where it stood vis-a-vis faculty salaries. Prof. Mager said that the committee would be doing this soon, and that a recommendation for salary increases would be made at a future meeting. In response to a question about housing costs, Prof. Mager asked Mr. Lou Marcoccia to respond. Marcoccia said that SU was looking at adding housing on campus of the kind known as "21st century housing", and that it had involved much consulting and other costs. He said that they intended to hold discussion groups with students before going ahead with any building. He finished by commending Prof. Mager and the committee for its work.
A senator rose to make a motion that the University Senate concurred in the report on the budget recommendations for fiscal 2006-7, thus indicating the sense of the Senate, and requested that report of this vote be included in the Chancellor's report to the Board of Trustees. The motion was seconded, and carried
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
Teresa Gilman
University Senate Recorder
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