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Minutes for February 12, 2003
A meeting of the University Senate was held at 4:15 p.m. on Wednesday, February 12, 2003, in Maxwell Auditorium.
Present were: Chancellor Shaw; Senators: Aboutaha, Anderson, Armstrong, Arvas, Backx, Barth, Behm, Bender, Bernard, Bhatia, Boroujerdi, Breese, Brown (A.N.), Buissereth, Burdick, Byrne, Caine, Caldwell, Carter, Carty, Cavanagh, Cooper, Crowston, de Berly, Dent, DeVault, Diaz, Donovan, Dudczak, Flusche, Freund, Gates, Gensemer, Gilman, Glauser, Gorovitz, Graham, Greenberg, Hamilton, Harding, Hogan, Horwitz, Hovendick, Kelly, Kenn, Kinsey, Kosar, Lantier, Lee, Letterman (M.), Letterman (R.), Maroney, Martin, Mosher, Olson, Peck, Pellow, Robertson, Schneid, Schneider-Ludorff, Schwarz, Serpico, Sherman, Simonds, Smith, Strodel, Thau, Tinney, Toth, Trento, Tussing, Urtz, Van Gulick, Vidali, Wadley, Ware (B.), Ware (E.), Weaver, Webber, Wells, Wilbur, Zaima.
Presiding Officer: Chancellor Kenneth Shaw
On motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the minutes of the University Senate meeting of 15 January 2003 as written. The Chancellor then called Agenda Committee Chairman Nahmin Horwitz to present the report of the Agenda Committee. Prof. Horwitz began his report by asking the body to rise while he read the following statements
The University Senate and the
Chancellor and Trustees of Syracuse University join in paying tribute to the memory of
Allen J. Barduhn who served the Syracuse University Community for
many years as professor of chemical engineering and University senator, serving on the
Committee on Curricula, the Committee on Academic Freedom, Tenure and Professional Ethics,
and the University Senate-mandated Assembly on University Governance.
His death on January 9, 2003 closes a distinguished
career as teacher and scholar. He will be remembered with fondness and gratitude by his students,
colleagues, and friends at Syracuse University, as well as by the members of his family,
to whom we extend our deepest sympathy.
The University Senate and the Chancellor and Trustees of Syracuse University join in paying tribute to the life and work of Prof. Marjorie V. Dibble, who was a treasured member of the Syracuse University community for over 40 years as faculty member, interim dean, and University senator, serving on the Agenda Committee, Committee on Academic Affairs, Committee on Academic Freedom, Tenure and Professional Ethics, Committee on Budget and Fiscal Affairs, Committee on the Carrier Dome, Committee on Students, and the Committee on Appointment and Promotions.
Her death on January 31, 2003 closes a distinguished career as Professor of Human Nutrition. She will be remembered with fondness and gratitude by her many students, colleagues, and friends at Syracuse University, as well as by the members of her family, to whom we extend our deepest sympathy.
Prof. Horwitz asked for a moment of silent tribute, and then made a motion that the statements be included in the record. The motion carried. He brought the body's attention to the new budget information posted on the Senate web page, and said that any requests for further information should be directed to the Agenda Committee.
The Chancellor then called Prof. Elizabeth Toth, who presented the report of the Committee on Curricula, which included a motion to approve new courses and changes (College of Human Services and Health Professions, School of Management, School of Education, School of Information Studies, School of Public Communications, College of Visual and Performing Arts, and College of Arts and Sciences) in the report, with the following two corrections:
p.5, second course change, new title should read: Library Systems and Processes
p. 16, degree name change; new title should read: Russian and Central European Studies
The motion carried.
The Chancellor called Prof. Craig Dudczak who reported on what the Agenda Committee had done since the matter of offensive cartoons in the DO had first come up, and the Chancellor made his statement of concern at the February 2002 Senate meeting. He said that a subcommittee made up of Prof. Susan Wadley, Prof. Bobbie Perdue, and himself had met with the DO editors over the course of the past year and had made several recommendations to them, such as that they institute advising oversight and diversity sensitivity training. In the discussion, observations and comments included:
- that over the years there had been a need to communicate with SU students, but that the DO did not take on that responsibility;
senator applauded the direction taken by the students, as indicated in the report;
- that missing in the report were any opinions of members of the subcommittee or unresolved issues [Dudczak said that one thing not addressed was the creation of some regular access to persons dealing with diversity in their everyday work (e.g., guest columns.)
The Chancellor commented that it had been a difficult task, and thanked the committee members for their perseverance and hard work. He then called University Librarian Peter Graham to report on the SU Library. Dr. Graham summarized his main goals for the library as follows:
- The Carnegie Project, which involves renovation and expansion of the Carnegie building to repair its dilapidation and gain greatly needed library space for the science and technology collections; he said thinking had evolved into plans for major expansion of Bird Library (which he said may not happen for some time) and a major transformation of the first floor of E.S. Bird;
- Staff development, including the hiring of a Staff Development Officer and several new librarians, as well as providing training of various kinds to staff members;
- The collections, which are at the center of the University's intellectual activity, and whose budget is inadequate for the University's needs. Dr. Graham pointed out, as example of working with what we've got, the work of Peter McDonald with colleague libraries in the NERL consortium, to obtain extended access to electronic journals, which resulted in getting almost 1500 more science journals than we otherwise would have, at the same price, through the consortium;
- Fund-raising development, working closely with Institutional Advancement and the Chancellor's Development Advisory Council; also, plans for hiring a development officer for the library, formation of a board of visitors for the library, cultivation of individual donors, and applying for grant funds.
Paragraph of content.
Dr. Graham outlined the Library's Strategic Plan, which he told senators was on the web [http://libwww.syr.edu/information/strategicplan/], and mentioned that a new digital imaging service was due to open in fall 2003, that a new fine arts librarian had been hired, that Document Delivery Services was going to be expanded, and that library data bases and electronic information were going to be integrated into the BlackBoard courseware package soon to be licensed. Graham drew senators's attention to the description of the library's assessment program (described in the materials distributed in the packet) and mention of the growing crisis, both of pricing and of copyright, in scholarly communication, particularly with respect to journals.
In the discussion, questions raised included:
- query about the library's policy on providing information on circulation records to federal agencies [Graham said that according the USA PATRIOT Act the library must respond and would not be allowed to say if such a request for information had been made.];
- query about coffee service in E.S. Bird [Graham said that the Office of Design and Construction would be the one to ask about that.];
- query about how high in priority the E.S. Bird expansion was [Associate Vice Chancellor Mike Flusche responded that the overall cost to expand Bird to accommodate Science and Technology was too great, and that there would be incremental changes in the Carnegie building].
Graham finished by reading the following poem by William Butler Yeats:
The Long-legged Fly
That civilisation may not sink,
Its great battle lost,
Quiet the dog, tether the pony
To a distant post;
Our master Caesar is in the tent
Where the maps are spread,
His eyes fixed upon nothing,
A hand under his head.
Like a long-legged fly upon the stream
His mind moves upon silence.
That the topless towers be burnt
And men recall that face,
Move most gently if move you must
In this lonely place.
She thinks, part woman, three parts a child,
That nobody looks; her feet
Practise a tinker shuffle
Picked up on a street.
Like a long-legged fly upon the stream
Her mind moves upon silence.
That girls at puberty may find
The first Adam in their thought,
Shut the door of the Pope's chapel,
Keep those children out.
There on that scaffolding reclines
Michael Angelo.
With no more sound than the mice make
His hand moves to and fro.
Like a long-legged fly upon the stream
His mind moves upon silence.
The body applauded.
The Chancellor recognized Prof. Horwitz, who moved the adoption of the resolution in support of affirmative action, that had been distributed in the packet, and called on Prof. Paula Johnson, the author of the resolution, to respond to questions. Prof. Johnson read the rationale and the motion aloud, and spoke briefly on how it had come about. In the discussion, Prof. Carter rose to ask for clarification about whether the motion was the sense of the Senate or of the institution. She said it was the sense of the Senate. Carter proposed an amendment to the motion, inserting the phrase "because SU is" in the first line, so that the motion then read
Therefore, be it resolved, that because SU is an institution that values diversity, equality, and access to higher education, the Syracuse University Senate hereby supports continued consideration of race and ethnicity in affirmative action policies in admissions. As one important criterion among others, we urge the U.S. Supreme Court to reaffirm this legal principle.
The motion to amend carried. In the discussion, a student asked whether it wouldn't be more productive to deal with the social evils rather than taking race into consideration in situations such as at institutions of higher education. Several senators spoke in favor and against, and the motion passed.
Prof. Carter rose to request that the body take a second vote, to approve by acclamation the motion just approved. [While the form of Carter's motion was erroneous, it was made with the intention of underscoring the importance of the body's motion just passed, and not to obscure the fact of the negative votes cast.] The motion was seconded and approved.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
Teresa Gilman
University Senate Recorder
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