|
 |
Minutes for April 18, 2007
A meeting of the University Senate was held at 4:15 p.m. on Wednesday, 18 April, in Maxwell Auditorium.
Present were: Chancellor Cantor; Senators Alcoff, Alston, Bender, Biklen, Breese, Brooker, Burak, Carter, Carty, Cihon, Crowston, de Berly, Donovan, Easton, Engbretson, Fiese, Frieden, Gates, Gilman, Graves (C.), Graves (S.), Grimes, Hamner, Himes, Himley, Hogan, Hollenback, Horacek, Horlings, Hurd, Isik, Javaid, Jensen, Kornfilt, Lantier, Lipson, MacInnes, Mager, Marcoccia, Massey, Middlemiss, Moller, Mugo, Murphy, Newton, Nicholson, Notas, Olson, O'Rourke, Patteson, Pellow, Phelps, Rosenzweig, Rupert, Quinn, Salatino, Saleh, Schell, Sharp, Smith (C.J.), Smith (C.R.), Smith (H.), Spina, Sternlicht, Strodel, Tucker, Tussing, Ware (E.), Ware (B.), Warren (S.), Webber, Williams (N.).
Presiding Officer: Chancellor Nancy Cantor
On motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the minutes of the University Senate meeting of 21 March 2007, as written. The Chancellor then called Prof. Bruce Carter to report for the Agenda Committee. Carter asked that chairs be concise in their reports, considering the full agenda. He called on Prof. Can Isik who made the following statement of recognition of Prof. John LaGraff, now retiring:
John LaGraff's impact is seen in scholarship, teaching and service at all levels. Study abroad is his passion, and since 1980, he has led a successful program for engineering students in London, as well as helping to introduce a semester program in Madrid. Prof. LaGraff has held numerous leadership positions in professional societies, including the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the American Society of Engineering Education and ABET, the accrediting body for engineering and computer science. his service includes work on the University Committee on Long-range Budget Planning. LaGraff has been a University senator for over 20 years, serving on the Agenda Committee, the Academic Affairs committee, the Committee on Instruction, chairing the Budget committee and the Subcommittee on Part-time Teaching.
Prof. Isik made a motion that the statement be included in the record, and the motion carried.
Prof. Carter continued his report with motions as follows:
- The University Senate recommends to the Board of Trustees of Syracuse University the conferring of appropriate degrees on May 13 and 20th, 2007 upon those candidates who will have qualified for such degrees by Friday, May 11th, 2007 or May 18th, 2007 at 12:00 noon, and upon those students who complete requirements for degrees at the end of the various summer terms and at the end of the fall semester of the 2007-8 academic year. Motion carried;
- A motion to approve the report of the Subcommittee on Nominations, which was the makeup of committees for 2007-8. Motion carried;
- A motion to reapportion the faculty membership of the University Senate, as follows:
- Total number of faculty senators is 112. The number of faculty Senate members elected by various schools and colleges is revised to:
| Architecture |
4 |
| Arts & Sciences |
49 |
| Education |
6 |
| Engineering & Computer Science |
8 |
| Hum. Svces. & Health Professions |
4 |
| Information Studies |
3 |
| Law |
7 |
| Management |
8 |
| Public Communications |
7 |
| Visual & Performing Arts |
14 |
| Part-time |
2 |
- The number of ex officio Senate members appointed by the Chancellor shall be 23;
- The number of Utica College Senate members shall be 2;
- Added to Article V, Section 1: Persons serving as chairs of standing committees are limited to a term as chair of no more than three consecutive years.
The motion carried.
- Prof. Carter asked that Senate members mark their ballots for replacement of two faculty members on the Agenda Committee, and hand them in to the Recorder for counting and report. He then made a motion that the following proposed amendment of the bylaws be laid on the table to be taken up at a future meeting:
The University Senate moves approval of changes to it bylaws, as follows:
- Add category to Article I, Section 3;
- The number of unionized staff elected shall be 2
- Remove "non-union" from the nonexempt staff category.
- Article I, Section 2 shall be rewritten to insert "and unionized staff." at the end of the first sentence.
The motion to lay on the table carried.
The Chancellor called Prof. Bruce Kingma to present the report of the Curriculum committee, which included a motion to approve an M.S. Inclusive Special Education: Severe/Multiple Disabilities. The motion carried.
The Chancellor called on Prof. Ian MacInnes to present 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:
- Susan Borker, Associate Professor of sociology
- John LaGraff, Professor of engineering
- Peter Simpkins, University Professor of engineering
- M. Douglas Soyars, Associate Professor of music
The motion carried. Prof. MacInnes then made a motion that the Senate concurred in the promotion of the following faculty members to the ranks indicated:
| Architecture |
to Associate Professor:
Lori Brown
Martin Hogue
Jonathan Massey
|
| Arts and Sciences |
to Professor:
Gregg Lambert
Andrew London
Al Roberts
Tod Rutherford
George Saunders
Martin Silwinski
Mark Trodden
James Watts
to Associate Professor:
Ana de Bettencourt
Collin Brooke
Christopher Kennedy
Graham Leuschke
Jani Onninen
Hans Peter Schmitz
Cecilia Van Hollen
David Van Slyke
|
| Engineering and Computer Science |
to Professor:
Dawit Negussey
to Associate Professor:
Wenliang (Kevin) Du
|
| Information Studies |
to Associate Professor:
Scott Nicholson
|
| Management |
to Professor:
Randall Elder
to Associate Professor:
Yildiray Yildirim
|
| Public communications |
to Professor:
Patricia Longstaff
|
| Visual and Performing Arts |
to Professor:
James Clark
to Associate Professor:
Susan D'Amato
Eric Johnson
Lisa Porter
Nicholas Scherzinger
Samuel Van Aken
|
The motion carried.
The Chancellor called Prof. Jonathan Massey to present the report of the Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Concerns. Prof. Massey told the body that the Committee had focused on two initiatives during 2006-7: a proposal to replace gender-specific signs on single-occupant restrooms with gender nonspecific ones, and proposed changes to the University's policy on benefits for domestic partners, moving away from a model that has marriage as the norm. He said that the committee intended to bring motions to endorse specific policy amendments in the fall, and in the meantime the committee welcomed input from the University community.
The Chancellor called Prof. Corinne Smith to report for the ad hoc Sexual Harassment Policy Review Committee. She told Senate members that no vote was called, for but that Senate members might wish to bring motions endorsing specific policies at a future meeting. She gave a brief history of how the committee had come about and their charge, and then highlighted the main points and recommendations in the report. (Full report is on file in the Senate Recorder's office). In the discussion, observations made and questions raised included:
- senator said that he had doubts about the paucity of complaints of sexual harassment referred to in the report, that in his experience (through extra credit projects in his classes, whereby students give their views of the situation on campus), 2-4% of 200 students surveyed said that there were incidents that were never reported, which concerned him greatly. [Smith said that the committee had found the number to be 3-6.5%]; the senator said that he objected to the statement about partiality (p. 5-7), that it was regrettable that a statement had been included that repeated charges made by persons surveyed;
- comment that the Agenda Committee needed to appoint a subcommittee for the purpose of bringing motions on specific policy issues in the fall semester;
- comment that as AAUP President, senator had heard many reports of unsatisfactory experiences with complain processes;
- comment that senator welcomed the report, but said that intersecting the problems of dealing with sexual harassment cases with the AFT committee was extremely complicated; she said that the task was too big for the AFT committee, that she welcomed the idea of a central office recommended in the report;
- comment that it was good that the issue was being put off till fall, because it got complicated by politics, and needed to be thought through carefully;
Prof. Gates rose to make a motion that the Senate endorse the recommendations in the report and urge their speedy implementation. The motion was seconded. In the discussion, a senator suggested that the work of the committee be recognized and that the process go forward with further discussion. A senator commented that the report indicated a direction rather than a set of specific recommendations to be implemented. Prof. Carter made a motion to amend the motion by substituting the following language:
That the Senate recognizes the work of the ad hoc committee and thanks them for their efforts, and encourages the Agenda Committee to move forward, assigning such tasks to Senate committees as appropriate. The motion carried.
The Chancellor called Prof. Louise Phelps to present the report of the Academic Affairs committee. Prof. Phelps reported that the following students had been selected as Syracuse University Scholars for 2007:
- Brook Carey (Arts and Sciences/Public Communications)
- Jeremy Chapman (Arts and Sciences/Engineering and Computer Science)
- Sharon Clott (Visual and Performing Arts/Public Communications)
- Krystle Davis (Arts and Sciences/Public Communications)
- Maria DeFazio (Arts and Sciences/Public Communications)
- Eric Hansen (Public Communications/Information Studies)
- Douglas Jack (Architecture)
- Michael Gregory Lack (Engineering and Computer Science)
- Monica Leap (Visual and Performing Arts)
- Sarah Ryman (Arts and Sciences)
- Carissa Smith (Information Studies)
- Chelsea Tracy-Bronson (Education)
Phelps thanked the Scholar Selection Committee, offered congratulations to the
Scholars, and the body applauded. She continued by drawing attention to the committee report, said that they would report in the fall semester with a motion,
and urged Senate members to communicate their concerns and suggestions either to
her or to Prof. Larry Wolf.
The Chancellor said that the reports from Computing Services and Budget committees required no action, and that unless anyone had anyone had anything to say about either one of them, the Senate would receive them as written. Prof. Chris Himes, Chairwoman of the Budget committee, rose to read the following statement of gratitude to retiring Budget Director John Hogan:
The members of the Senate express their gratitude to John Hogan, Director of the Office of Budget and Planning, for his many years of dedicated service to the Senate, and particularly to the Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Affairs. Since 1978, John has been a member of the Budget committee offering advice, information, and support to the committee's chairs and members. John is patient in his explanations, thorough in his preparation, and unfailingly calm and professional in his dealings with the committee. Beyond his work in the weekly committee meetings, John ably fields questions from individual senators on the floor and in personal communications. He is committed to being open, responsive, and helpful in providing the information crucial to our collective decision making. Upon his retirement we join in offering our sincere thanks for his service to the University, the University Senate, and the Budget committee.
On motion duly made and seconded, the body voted to include Prof. Himes's statement in the minutes. The body rose and applauded.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
Teresa Gilman
University Senate Recorder
|
