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Minutes for April 19, 2006
A meeting of the University Senate was held at 4:15 p.m. on Wednesday, 19 April 2006, in Maxwell Auditorium.
Present were: Chancellor Cantor; Senators Alcoff, Bender, Bennett, Bhatia, Biklen, Boroujerdi, Breese, Burak, Carter, Cihon, Cleary, Crowston, deBerly, Diaz, Donovan, Doyle, Elin, Engbretson, Faiola, Flusche, Freund, Gensemer, Gilman, Hackman, Himes, Himley, Horton, Hurd, Isik, Jones, Kasowitz-Scheer, Kelly (R.A.), Kenn, Khalifa, Kornfilt, Kutcher, Kyle, LaGraff, Lantier, Lasch-Quinn, Letterman, Lipson, MacInnes, Mager, Marcoccia, MasRouri, McKay, Mitchell, Moore, Mugo, Murphy, Newton, Notas, O'Rourke, Pasqualoni, Patrick, Patteson, Phelps, Potter, Rebovich, Robinson, Saleh, Sherman, Smith (C.J.), Smith (H.), Sternlicht, Thompson, Tucker, Urtz, Van Gulick, Vitharana, Wallace, Ware (E.), Webber, Wilcox, Wilmoth, Zhang.
Presiding Officer: Chancellor Nancy Cantor
On motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the minutes of the University Senate meetings of 22 and 29 March 2006, as written. The Chancellor then called Agenda Committee Chairman Prof. Bruce Carter to report for the Agenda Committee. Prof. Carter told senators that any committee chairs wishing to present committee reports might do so, but otherwise reports would be accepted as distributed in the packet. He presented the Agenda Committee report, which included:
- A motion as follows:
The University Senate recommends to the Board of Trustees of Syracuse University the conferring of appropriate degrees on May 14th and 21st, 2006 upon those candidates who will have qualified for such degrees by Friday, May 12th, 2006 or May 19th, 2006 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 2006-7 academic year. Motion carried;
- A motion to approve the report of the Subcommittee on Nominations, which was the makeup of committees for 2006-7. Motion carried;
- Carter called on Prof. Van Gulick who rose to express his gratitude to long-time University Senate member Prof. Stewart Thau, who was retiring after 40 years at SU. He said that Prof. Thau had been a vital force in the life of the larger community, including service on the University Senate, chairing the Afro-American Studies Program, the Soling Program and the Philosophy Department, and Associate Dean in the College of Arts and Sciences. Van Gulick said that his presence in the Philosophy Department would be especially missed. The body rose and applauded.
- Carter asked Senate members to mark their Agenda Committee ballots and pass them in to the Recorder for counting and report.
Prof. Carter concluded with a brief statement of recognition for the many years of service that Prof. and Associate Vice Chancellor Mike Flusche had given to the University and to the University Senate. The body applauded.
The Chancellor called Prof. Mike Olivette to present the report of the Committee on Curricula. Prof. Olivette began his report with thanks to Prof. Stewart Thau for his years of service on the Curriculum committee, and then made a motion to approve new courses and changes in Arts and Sciences, Engineering and Computer Science, and Human Services & Health Professions, as well as new masters programs in Arts and Sciences/Public Communications. The motion carried.
The Chancellor called Prof. Jaklin Kornfilt, who presented the report of the Committee on Appointment and Promotions in the absence of the chair. The report included a motion to concur in the promotion of the following faculty members to the ranks indicated:
| Arts and Sciences |
to Professor:
Suzanne Baldwin
Arthur Brooks
John Burdick
Simon Catterall
Chris DeCorse
Suzanne Mettler
Davishish Mitra
Scott Samson
Gerlinde Sanford
to Associate Professor:
Soonhee Kim
Donald Mills
Thomas Perrault
David Popp
Peter Vanable
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| Education |
to Professor:
Dennis Gilbride
Kathy Hinchman
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| Arts and Sciences/Education |
to Professor:
Helen Doerr
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| Engineering and Computer Science |
to Professor:
Can Isik
to Associate Professor:
Biao Chen
Jae Oh
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| School of Information Studies |
to Professor:
Kevin Crowston
to Associate Professor:
Michelle Kaarst-Brown
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| Law |
to Professor:
Thomas French
to Associate Professor:
Gregory Germain
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| Management |
to Professor:
Fred Easton
to Associate Professor:
Pamela Brandees
Padmal Vitharana
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| Public Communications |
to Professor:
Fiona Chew
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| Visual and Performing Arts |
to Associate Professor:
Anne Beffel
Deborah Dohne
Douglas DuBois
Denise Heckman
Holly Greenberg
Jude Lewis
Roderick Martinez
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The motion carried. Prof. Kornfilt then read the list of retiring faculty, and made a motion that they be granted emeritus status, to be added to the rank at which they retired, as follows:
Daan Braveman, Professor of law
John Crowley, Professor of English
Wilhelmina Reuben-Cooke, Professor of law
Bobbie Perdue, Associate Professor of nursing
Richard Hallberg, Professor of biology
Gerald Grant, Professor of cultural foundations of education
The motion carried.
The University Senate received the report of the Committee on the Library, and the Chancellor called Prof. Mike Wasylenko to respond to comments and questions about the final report of the Ad Hoc Committee on Athletics. A senator pointed out that there was still a subsidy of the Athletics Department in the form of assistantships to do with the department. Wasylenko said that the committee had discussed this, and he thought the best way to format information was the way it is done in RCM, i.e., cross subsidies. Prof. Van Gulick referred the senator to Table 7 of the report, which showed the Athletic Department's RCM revenue structure for 2005-6. Another senator expressed appreciation for the committee's work, and commented that he was troubled over the uniform excused absence policy, as well as the short-term fiscal pressure mentioned on page v, and also that he was appalled at the mention on p. 7 of development of programs that matched the interests of more student athletes in order to lead to better academic achievement. Wasylenko responded that what the committee meant was that across the board competitiveness gave them pause, not that programs should be developed to match student athletes' interests. Prof. Van Gulick thanked his co-chairman for his leadership and hard work. The Chancellor also thanked him, and commented that the good thing about such reports was that they raised the really important issues.
The Senate received reports from the Ad Hoc Committee to Review SU Practices in Dealing with Sexual Harassment Cases, the Committee on Academic Affairs, and the Committee on Student Life. The Chancellor then called Prof. Fran Tucker to present the report of the Committee on Athletic Policy. In the discussion, the comments and questions included:
that there was no comparable measure of at-risk students in the student body in general;
that the excused absences policy should apply to any SU student representing SU off campus, that a new policy was needed, and that the Committee on Instruction was the likely committee to draft it;
that the issue of the sexualized culture around athletics should be put on the agenda in view of what had happened at Duke University.
Prof. Tucker concluded by saying that the committee was drafting a bylaw change to encompass what the committee had been asked to do vis-a-vis student athletes.
The Chancellor called Prof. Linda Alcott to present the report of the Committee for Diversity. Prof. Alcott called her co-chairman, Prof. Tej Bhatia, to announce the winner of the Diversity Award for 2006. Prof. Bhatia said that he would like to recognize the list of those who had been nominated, as follows:
Patricia Burak, Director, Slutzker Center for International Services
Prof. Richard Dubin, Newhouse School
Osupa T-Davis, Recruitment & Diversity Administrator, Office of Human Resources
Prof. Margaret Himley, Director of Undergraduate Studies, Writing Program
Prof. Tula Goenka, Newhouse School
Transgender Treatment Team, Goldberg Couple and Family Therapy Ctr., Dept. of Marriage and Family Therapy
Prof. Steve Taylor, co-director, Ctr. on Human Policy, Law & Disabilty Studies
Prof. Bhatia announced that the prize had been awarded to Prof. Margaret Himley. The body applauded. Prof. Alcott then reported the findings of the committee's 3-year study of the conditions for faculty of color at SU, highlighting the following points:
that the institution fostered a hostile climate for people of color;
that the causes were not all natural [i.e. that SU had no control over];
that any efforts toward diversity were for naught if the conditions continued.
She said that in the fall the committee would bring a list of recommendations for Senate action or information, and she thanked the Chancellor and the Vice Chancellor for their support of the committee's work. She finished by saying that the situation at SU was consistent with that of other institutions, and that there was a bibliography posted on their web site. In the discussion, comments made and questions raised included:
would the administrative staff be studied in future? [Alcott said that it would.];
that more quantitative data were desired.
Prior to adjournment David Potter rose to speak in gratitude for Chancellor Nancy Cantor's presence at SU. He said that in the tradition of his religious faith, the Society of Friends, he wished to speak as the spirit moved him. Potter said that recently he had read a number of letters in the DO about the Chancellor, as well as its long article, and that in those sources he had found depictions of her personality, her character and her administrative abilities. He said that he did not find it helpful or productive to speculate about the motives of others, but he wanted to say that he did not recognize as accurate the picture portrayed.
Potter said that like many others in the room, he had spent more than forty years in academic work, and that in those years he had seen many presidents and chancellors. He said some had been superb fund raisers, others fine scholars or teachers, and still others excellent at communicating with other constituencies, but that he could think of hardly any other who so combined the very best qualities of heart and mind which led Chancellor Cantor to focus on the issues which lie at the heart of making our university a more caring and humane place, even when her commitment required her to speak and to act knowing that her speech and actions would cause her pain. Potter finished by expressing his hope that the Chancellor would choose to stay at SU for many many years.
Prof. Micere Mugo immediately rose to second Potter's remarks, and said that his affirmation was important, for whenever the leader of an institution was attacked, the institution was attacked. The body rose and applauded. The Chancellor thanked everyone, and said that she loved Syracuse.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
Teresa Gilman
University Senate Recorder
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