Minutes for March 23, 2005

A meeting of the University Senate was held at 4:15 p.m. on Wednesday, 23 March 2005, in Maxwell Auditorium.

Present were: Chancellor Cantor; Senators Aiken, Alcoff, Andersen, Bennett, Boroujerdi, Carter, Carty, Cavanagh, Cihon, Crowston, de Berly, Diaz, Donovan, Druger, Easton, Fiese, Flusche, Freund, Gilman, Hogan, Horwitz, Jensen, Johnson, Kasowitz-Scheer, Kornfilt, LaGay, LaGraff, Legaspi, Letterman (M.), Letterman (R.), MacInnes, Mager, Marcoccia, Maroney, Martin, Massey, Mayes, McKay, Mitchell, Mulconry, Murphy, Onsi, O'Rourke, Pellow, Poulin, Rebovich, Robinson, Rosenzweig, Sanford, Sherman, Smith (D.), Smith (H.), Sternlicht, Strodel, Trento, Tucker, Tussing, Urtz, Van Gulick, Vidali, Wadley, Wallace, Ware (B.), Wilbur, Wolf, Wolfe.

Presiding Officer: Chancellor Nancy Cantor

       On motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the minutes of the University Senate meeting of 16 February 2005, as written. The Chancellor called Prof. Pat Cihon to present the report of the Agenda Committee, which included a motion to approve the following calendar of meetings for 2005-6:

The motion carried. Prof. Cihon then asked senators to mark their Agenda Committee ballots and pass them in to the recorder, and asked Agenda Committee members to help collect them. Cihon made a motion endorsing a statement on academic freedom, that had been distributed in the packet. The motion carried. He then called a student from the Student Peace Action Network, who had asked to address the body for a moment, and she spoke in favor of the Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Concerns recommendations re: nondiscrimination on campus, as well as in protest of the increased militarization of the campus and the presence of military recruiters in student dining halls and living spaces. She said that students felt the emphasis should be on scholarship rather than the military, and she invited members of the body to sign the petition that their group was circulating.

       The Chancellor called Prof. Mike Olivette to present the report of the Committee on Curricula, which included a motion to approve new courses, changes, and drops in Arts and Sciences, Human Services and Health Professions, Visual and Performing Arts, Information Studies, and Education, as well as a new B.S. and a new minor in Health and Wellness (HSHP), a credit change in the M.A. in International Relations (Arts and Sciences), a name change in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (Engineering and Computer Science), and a M.Mus. in Piano (VPA). The motion carried.

       The Chancellor then called Prof. Louise Phelps, who presented the report of the Committee on Academic Affairs. Prof. Phelps began her report by announcing that a committee had been appointed to do the 5-year review of the Vice Chancellor, and that its membership would be posted on the committee's website. She then made a motion to approve the structural and name changes in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, which included: merger of Studio Arts, Art Education, and Illustration into a Department of Art; merger of Museum Studies, Communications Design, and Advertising Design, and the Department of Design into a Department of Design; name change from Art Media Studies to TransMedia; and separation of the new TransMedia department from the School of Art and Design to become an independent unit. The motion carried.

       he Chancellor called Prof. Andrew London to present the report of the Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered Concerns, which included a motion to endorse the five recommendations listed in the report. Prof. London began by thanking his co-chair and the members of the sub-committee headed by Prof. Paula Johnson, as well as the committee of resource persons appointed by the Chancellor. Prof. London gave a brief history of the committee's motion and outlined the five recommendations. In the discussion, the Chancellor recognized a student who expressed admiration and pride that the University was willing to address the issue, as well as several senators who spoke in favor of the motion. She told the body that she had written a response to the committee's recommendations, which she distributed from the chair. The motion carried.

       Prof. Cihon rose to make a motion that the Chancellor's response [see universitysenate.syr.edu] be included in the minutes, and the motion was seconded, and carried.

       The Chancellor told the body that the report of the Administrative Operations committee, the revised Orange Hotline policy, was distributed for information.

       Chancellor Cantor then called Prof. Michael Wasylenko, who gave an interim report for the Ad Hoc Committee on Athletics. Prof. Wasylenko said that his report was mainly on the financial aspects, as part of the committee's charge was to "....obtain a clear and thorough accounting of the financial aspects of athletics at SU." Prof. Wasylenko began by correcting a misperception that the University was subsidizing football. He showed a chart which gave a brief overview of the 2005-6 budget, including revenues and expenses of sports other than football, preferred seating boxes, scholarship expense, administration and support, and miscellaneous income. The chart also showed revenue and expenses for football, preferred seating boxes, miscellaneous income, scholarships, administration and support, as well as the same information for men's basketball, and a comparison (%) of football, men's basketball, and other sports. In summary, the chart showed that other sports expenditure was $14.7M, with football revenue at $0.8M, men's basketball revenue at $4.1M, scholarship support from central fund at $7.2M, a balance of $2.6M funded from other athletic reserves, $0.9M funded by restricted gift funds, $0.4M unused portion of budgeted scholarship expense, with a $1.3M deficit.

       In the discussion, Prof. Tussing rose to comment that football provided 85 scholarships, and men's basketball provided 13. He said that 85 was a large number, and that he thought it could be reduced, and that SU could provide the leadership to move in the direction of fewer football scholarships.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.

Teresa Gilman
University Senate Recorder

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