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Minutes for October 12, 2005
A meeting of the University Senate was held at 4:15 p.m. on Wednesday, 12 October 2005, in Maxwell Auditorium.
Present were: Chancellor Cantor; Senators: Alcoff, Alston, Anderson, Bender, Bennett, Bhatia, Biklen, Carter, Cihon, Cleary, Crowston, de Berly, Diaz, Donovan, Doyle, Elin, Engstrom, Feree, Flusche, Gilman, Grady-Willis, Grimes, Hackman, Hamner, Heintz, Himes, Hogan, Hollenback, Holzwarth, Horacek, Hurd, Isik, Jacobs, Jensen, Kelly (J.), Kornfilt, Kyle, LaGraff, Lasch-Quinn, Letterman, Lloyd, MacInnes, Mager, Marcoccia, Masrouri, Middlemiss, Mitchell, Moore, Murphy, Nicholson, Notas, O'Rourke, Palfai, Pasqualoni, Phelps, Phillips, Potter, Rebovich, Robertson, Robinson, Salatino, Saleh, Samson, Schiff, Sharp, Sharp, Smith (C.A.), Smith (C.R.), Smith (D.), Smith (H.), Spina, Sternlicht, Tankersley, Thompson, Trento, Urtz, Vitharana, Wallace, Walter, Webber, Wells, Willett, Wolf.
Presiding officer: Chancellor Nancy Cantor
The Chancellor called the meeting to order, and proposed that the minutes of the September 14th meeting be approved as written. They were approved. She then called Prof. Bruce Carter to present the report of the Agenda Committee. Prof. Carter began by calling Prof. Pat Cihon to the podium to read the following memorial statement for Prof. Emeritus John Diehl who died on July 9, 2005:
John Diehl was my AAUP mentor and good friend. I can't remember when I first met him, but I'm sure it was at a meeting of the SU chapter of the AAUP. John was in the English Department, and his area was Victorian literature. He also served as treasurer of the SU chapter of Phi Beta Kappa for a number of years.
John's real passion was faculty governance, and over the course of his years at SU (1965-1997) his involvement took many forms: the Senate-mandated Assembly on University Governance; the Academic Freedom, Tenure and Professional Ethics committee; the Administrative Operations committee; and the Committee on Services to the Faculty and Staff. Over the years he held all the offices of the Syracuse Chapter of the AAUP. He served on the Executive Committee of the NYS Conference, was a member of the National Council, and editor of the Syracuse University Faculty Voice, the newsletter of the local chapter, as well as of NY Academe, the NYS conference newsletter.
Diehl remained active in the AAUP after his retirement, and he was serving as NYS Academe editor at the time of his death. His contributions to faculty governance were recognized by the National AAUP when he was given the Tacey Award for outstanding service to a state conference, and NYS Academe was twice awarded the Assembly of State Conferences prize for best newsletter.
John Diehl's commitment to the cause of faculty governance, his effort and involvement, and his personality and sparkling wit are sorely missed.
The Chancellor asked for a moment of silent tribute, after which he asked for a motion to include the statement in the minutes. The motion carried.
Prof. Carter then made a motion to approve the changes in Senate committees listed in the report of the Subcommittee on Nominations, as follows:
| Academic Affairs |
Add:
Yvonne Buchanan (Faculty)
Kal Alston (ex officio)
Armen Hratchian (G)
Remove:
Sari Biklen (Faculty)
Mike Flusche (ex officio)
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| Academic Freedom, Tenure & Professional Ethics |
Add:
Sari Biklen (Faculty)
Elizabeth Lasch-Quinn
(Faculty)
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| Administrative Operations |
Add:
Eileen Lantier (Faculty)
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| Appointment and Promotions |
Add:
Elena Peteva (G)
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| Budget and Fiscal Affairs |
Add:
Diane Murphy (administrator)
Jason Lewis (G)
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| Diversity |
Add:
David Hadju (Faculty)
Blake Shipley (U)
Cindy Smith (G)
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| LGBT Concerns |
Add:
John Molesky (G)
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| Honorary Degrees |
Add:
Jane Siow (G)
|
Instruction |
Add:
Jacqueline Mogle (G)
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| Library |
Add:
Gavan Duffy (Faculty)
Ruth Yanai (Faculty)
Curtis Feree
Tom Walsh (Administrator)
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| Research |
Add:
Rachel Horlings (G)
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| Student Life |
Add
Ryan Doyle (U)
Kelly Ferguson (U)
Tina Notas (U)
Patrick Crawford (G)
Pamela Heintz (Administrator)
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| Women's Concerns |
Add:
Mercy Walter (G)
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The motion carried.
Carter continued his report, drawing the body's attention to the Summary of the Work of the Senate, 2004-5, which had been distributed in the packet, and suggested that senators read it carefully to get an idea of what the various Senate committees were working on. He then made a motion to approve the appointment of the following non-senators to chair Senate committees and also be recognized and permitted to speak at Senate meetings when reports from their committees were presented:
- Susan Borker (Women's Concerns, co-chairwoman)
- Elise DeKaney (Student Life, co-chairwoman)
- Jeremy Gilbert (Research)
- Martha Hanson (Women's Concerns, co-chairwoman)
- Michael Olivette (Curricula)
- Andrew London (LGBT co-chairman)
- Ernest Hemphill (Instruction)
- Linda Straub (Services to the Faculty and Staff, co-chairwoman)
The motion carried. Prof. Carter concluded his report by drawing the body's attention to the list of committee chairs, distributed in the packet, as well as announcement of an open forum scheduled for November 2nd, at 4:15 in Maxwell Auditorium.
Prof. Carter concluded his report with a brief statement about George Abbott, long-time media services librarian and former University Senate member, who had retired on September 29th. He said that during his 40-plus years of service, George had served on many library- and media-related committees, as well as on the University Senate Committee on Computing Services (1997-2001), which he chaired for two years, and the Academic Affairs committee (1992-1996). Prof. Carter said that the entire Senate thanked Abbott for his service and wished him well in his new life. Carter made a motion to include these sentiments in the record, and the body concurred.
The Chancellor called Dean Eric Spina, co-chairman of the Committee on Honorary Degrees, to present the committee's report. She asked all non-senators to wait outside the auditorium until the body had considered the nominations in the report, and asked that members of the Agenda Committee invite them back in afterwards. Dean Spina made a motion to approve the candidates listed in the report, and the motion carried. He told the body that the committee would be bringing more candidates in November, as well as another list in the spring for the 2006-7 academic year.
The Chancellor called Prof. Mike Olivette, who presented the report of the Committee on Curricula, which included a motion to approve changes and new courses in the College of Engineering and Computer Science, School of Public Communications, School of Education, School of Information Science, and College of Visual and Performing Arts, as well as a new program from Utica College, the B.S. in Cybersecurity and Information Assurance. The motion carried.
The Chancellor called Prof. Louise Phelps to present the report of the Committee on Academic Affairs, which included a motion to approve the Retailing Department's move from the College of Visual and Performing Arts to the School of Management, and the dissolution of the Consumer Studies program. The motion carried.
The Chancellor called Prof. Ernest Hemphill, who presented the report of the Committee on Instruction,which included a motion to approve a new policy on dropping courses, as follows:
8.1.2.1. Administrative drops. Instructors have the option to drop students
who do not attend the first week of a class (up to and including the add
deadline). If an emergency prevents a student from attending during the
first week, he/she must contact the instructor before the add deadline to
affirm his/her intention to continue in the course. Administrative drops
must be completed by the Financial Drop deadline three weeks from the
first day of class.
In the discussion, the comments made and questions raised included:
- Is there an appeal process? [Hemphill said there wasn't, but that the process of administrative drop was fairly complicated.]
- that the University should inform students of the possibility of being
dropped from a course for non-attendance during the first week;
- concern expressed that special procedures would be followed for student athletes and international students in cases where the drop would bring them below 12 credits, but not for other students in similar situations;
- concern that if an instructor were not listed by name in the Time Schedule,
a student would not be able to phone to let her/him know of his/her intention
to continue in a class [e.g., often the instructor is listed only as "staff"];
- strong recommendation that an e.mail message be sent to students in danger
of being dropped administratively.
The motion carried. Prof. Hemphill said that the new policy would go into effect in spring 2006, and that it would be published widely, and included in the next issue of Academic Rules & Regulations.
The Chancellor called Prof. Susan Borker, who reported on the work of the Committee on Women's Concerns during 2004-5. There was no discussion.
The Chancellor called on Professors Linda Alcoff and Tej Bhatia, co-chairs of the Committee for Diversity, who presented an interim report on the study they were doing on the climate for faculty of color. Prof. Alcoff told the body that they would have a final report in the spring. Prof. Bhatia read out the list of members of the committee who had worked on the project. He said they had developed a survey, sent it out, and that they were compiling the results. He said that next the committee would be working with focus groups, and that a complete report, with recommendations, was forthcoming, probably in spring semester
In the discussion, the comments made and questions raised included:
- that diversity was not the only issue; there was excellence as well;
- that there were difficulties with retention of faculty of color;
- that the survey raised such difficult issues that some could not even
fill it out;
- that the burden of responsibilities (committee work, e.g.) for faculty of color was intense, that reward for such service was needed;
- Senate member would like more detail [from the survey responses], and to
- know what was common, e.g., what percentage of faculty had difficulty;
- that the committee should expand the survey to include staff members.
Prof. Alcoff said that the fear of responding had been a surprise to the committee, and that the full report in the spring would also include the positive aspects of the survey responses.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
Teresa Gilman
University Senate Recorder
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