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Minutes for January 14, 2009
A meeting of the University Senate was held at 4:15 p.m. on Wednesday,
14 January 2009, in Maxwell Auditorium.
Present were: Chancellor Cantor; Senators Abramovsky, Anderson, Arnold, Bakke, Banerjee, Bennett, Carter, Chandler-Olcott, Cihon, Cooper, Criddle, Donovan, Dudczak, Frasciello, Gallacher, Golia, Hartmann, Heintz, Hensberry, Hurd, Isik, Judge, Kucharavy, Kwasnik, Lee (K.), Letterman, Lipson, Lloyd, London, MacInnes, Mager, Massey, McClure (R.), Meighan, Mohan, Murphy, O’Rourke, Powers, Pralle, Reed-Huff, Robertson, Rubinstein, Rupert, Saleh, Schell, Schiff, Sherman, Smith (C.R.), Smith (C.J.), Spina, Stonecash, Turnipseed, Van Gulick, Ware (B.), Ware (E.), Wolfe, Wright, Zubieta.
Presiding officer: Chancellor Nancy Cantor
The Chancellor called the meeting to order, proposed that the minutes of the December 3rd meeting be approved with the deletion of the dollar amount stated, replacing it with "a sum of money,” and the name of the Agenda Committee chair corrected to read: Prof. Schell. The body concurred.
The Chancellor then called on Prof. Eileen Schell to make the report of the Agenda Committee. Prof. Schell told the body that an extra meeting would be held on March 4th, with a report from the Budget committee on the agenda. She called Prof. Bruce Carter to the podium to give a brief update on the work of the Chancellor Evaluation committee. Prof. Carter told Senate members that the committee planned to circulate a survey to everyone on campus, and that it would be going out early in February. Carter said that those members of the University community who did not have access to computers would be sent a paper survey slightly before the online one was available. He said that the survey would take about 20 minutes, and that all responses would be anonymous.
The Chancellor called Prof. Barbara Kwasnik to present the report of the Committee on Curricula. Prof. Kwasnik reported with a motion to approve the new courses and changes listed in the report (from Arts and Sciences, Education, Human Ecology, Management, Information Studies). Prof. Kwasnik drew attention to a correction on p. 19 of the report, removal of a change to CIE 642. The motion carried.
The Chancellor called Prof. Pat Cihon who presented the report of the Committee on Academic Affairs in the absence of its chairman. The report was a motion to approve a name change, in the College of Arts and Sciences, of the Department of Fine Arts to Department of Art and Music Histories. The motion carried.
The Chancellor called Prof. Chilikuri Mohan to present the report of the Budget committee. Prof. Mohan told senators that the investment value of the University’s endowment was down a little, and that enrollments were being watched as were financial aid applications. He said that the salary and tuition rates had not yet been determined but that they would be presented in a report at a meeting later in the semester.
In the discussion, observations made and questions raised included:
- that about 3200 students had applied for money through Syracuse Responds, and that all but 7 were able to get help;
- that next year’s applications were slightly down, but that the previous year had
been a banner year;
- that the formula for "merit aid" would be changed, and that each college
would have slightly different criteria, depending on how much enrollment
would be affected if the financial aid was not there;
- that the Financial Aid Office was working to expand the range of recipients
to include middle class and upper middle class students, and that the goal
was a financial aid that allowed students to stay to graduation;
- a question why the Budget committee had not yet decided to recommend a payment to offset taxation of health benefits of same sex domestic partners;
- that the University should get away from a benefits model that privileged married couples;
- that the whole benefits package needed to be studied and rethought;
- question about the impact the financial situation had had on the overall profile of SU’s entering class; that one of the attractions of SU was its selectiveness, and that if the institution became somewhat less selective down the road, it might
have a negative effect on enrollment;
- comment that currently SU was far more selective than it used to be.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
Teresa Gilman
University Senate Recorder
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