Faculty Senate Minutes

Vance 105

4/11/11    3:05 pm

 

The next meeting of the Faculty Senate is on Monday 4/25/10 in Vance 105 at 3:05.

Note: Senate Constitution, Bylaws, Meeting Dates, Agenda and Minutes are posted on the CCSU Pipeline under Faculty Resources/Faculty Senate, or at http://web.ccsu.edu/facsenate.


Present: Alewitz. M., Alicandro, J., Anderson, C., Barr, B., Barrington, C., Bernstein, S., Bigley, M.P., Cappella, D., Christensen, S., Crespi, C., Czyrnik, K., Diamond, C. , Dukes, C. , Farhat, J., Foster,  P., Garcia-Bowen, M., Greenfield, B.  , Halkin, S., Hensley, P., Hicks, L. , Horan, M., Iglesias, E., Jarmoszko, A., Jones, C., Kapper, M., Karpuk, P., Kean, K., Kershner, B., Latour, F. , Lisi, P., Mahony, M., Mamed, O., Menoche, C., Mulcahy, C., Mulrooney, J., O'Connor, J., Odesina, O., Osoba, B., Pancsofar, E., Percy, V., Pirog, K., Poppe, K., Ratansi, S., Reagan, T., Sadanand, N., Sikorski, J., Strickland, A., Vogeler, R., Wang, W., White, C., Wood, R.

Ex-Officio: Kremens, Z., Lemma, P., Lovitt, C., Miller, J., Sakofs, M.

Parliamentarian: Dimmick, C.



Guests: Bachoo, R., Jones, J., Olusegun, S., Powell, J., Spector, D., Tordenti, L.

 


1. Approval of Minutes, March 14, 2011



Passed with 1 abstention.

2. Announcements

a. AAUP President (J. Jones)

1. Jones expressed concern over Connecticut HB 6388. Language would have the effect of removing exemptions that allow higher education unions to exist. Faculty would be re-classified as managerial. Call or write your legislator.

2. Chapter meeting on Thurs 3-4:30 in Vance 105. At the meeting, members will look at results of the recent survey on contract negotiations.

b. SUOAF-AFSCME President (F. Bonvicini) L. Hicks reporting

Dan Livingstone will be on campus this Friday April 15 from 2-5 in Vance 105 to discuss the ARP.

We are also concerned about HB6388. There is a toll free number that will assist you to contact your leglislators. Call 888-231-5571; when prompted enter your zip code, and you will then be connected with your legislator.

There will be a sabbatical leave workshop on the April 21^st. Those eligible and interested in applying for sabbatical are encouraged to attend.

c. President of the Senate (C. Barrington)

1. The Senate will host a forum with President Miller next Monday, 18 April, 10:50-12:05, in the Connecticut Dining Room. 

2. In response to the Sabbatical Leave Committee’s request, the steering committee has asked four faculty members representing each of the four schools to serve on an ad hoc committee charged with developing a set of guidelines and/or a rubric for assessing and ranking proposals submitted to the committee.  The committee of four will be asked to submit the proposed guidelines/rubric in enough time for next year’s committee to use, most likely at the first Senate meeting next fall, 12 September. The following individuals have agreed to serve on the committee:

• Phil Halloran from the School of Arts & Sciences
• Tony Rigazio-Digilio from the School of Educ and Prof Studies
• Cheryl Watson from the School of Engineering and Technology
• Donna Simms from the School of Business
  

3. At our last meeting, the Senate passed a Resolution on Internships and Independent Studies.  The resolution was signed and returned by President Miller with a cover letter stating that he has “some substantive reservations about the implications of this resolution.” While he does not “necessarily disagree with any of the statements in it,” he is “concerned with some of the conclusions that might be implicit.”  He goes on to say that he “would not want to set up false expectations by failing to note [his] concern.”

4. As one of the many faculty representatives on the University Master Planning Committee, I urge you to complete the questionnaire that will be circulating before the end of the term.  There is also an email address— UMPC@mail.ccsu.edu —which reaches all 20 members of the committee; you can use this method to submit ideas and concerns.

3. Committee Reports

a. Academic Standards

        Grade appeals policy and form (F. Latour) FS 10.11.019B



Senator Latour went over a variety of changes (see summary of changes) proposed for the Grade Appeals Policy. Questions were asked about item 5c in the policy, concerning how the student will be informed of the final decision of an appeal. The policy was further amended with the following language to be added to the end of 5c: “The dean shall inform the student of the final decision.”

This change was passed unanimously.

Questions were also raised about the fact that the Grade Appeals Committee is also referred to as the Grade Appeals Review Board. The parliamentarian suggested that we clarify these terms in the bylaws (see below, item 3b).

It was asked if a grade could be changed without the consent of the professor. Latour stated that according to this policy, if the Grade Appeals Committee makes a recommendation to change a grade and if that grade change is approved by the provost, then the grade will be changed.

The changes to the policy and the form passed unanimously.

b. Committee on Committees (F. Latour)

        University Athletics Board bylaws FS 10.11.020B

Senator Bernstein said that the section of the bylaws describing membership caused some confusion with the elections committee because they had some interpreting the meaning of the phrase “faculty and staff.” President Barrington proposed that the phrase be changed to “AAUP or SUOAF- AFSCME faculty members.”

Senator Latour also suggested that with the increased membership on the UAB, item II should be amended to state that of the seven elected AAUP and SUOAF-AFSCME faculty members, “at least 4 must be instructional faculty.”

These two changes were approved unanimously.

The revised bylaws passed unanimously

N.B. The attached file includes all changes. RED indicates revisions suggested by the Committee on Committees, and BLUE indicates revisions from the Faculty Senate.

        Grade Appeals Committee bylaws FS 10.11.021B

As indicated above, senators sought clarification on the two terms, “Grade Appeals Committee” and “Grade Appeals Review Board.” The following change to the first sentence of the bylaws was moved: "The Grade Appeals Committee, which functions as the Grade Appeals Review Board,".

The Change passed unanimously

Passed unanimously

        Sabbatical Leave Committee bylaws FS 10.11.022B

Senator Reagan asked if it is wise to have less than a majority of A & S faculty on the committee when in fact the A & S faculty do constitute a majority of the university’s faculty.

It was also suggested that the A & S faculty have staggered terms.  

There was a motion made to change A & S composition so that it is staggered. This year we will elect all 4: two for one year and two for two years. The other schools would also be staggered 3 and 2. Although because of the status of the currently elected members, some action will have to be taken next year to align those terms.

A vote on these changes passed with 28 in favor and 13 against.

Passed unanimously.

 

A motion to move item 4—Unfinished Business— to the next spot on the agenda passed with 12 votes for, 8 against, and 13 abstentions.

 

4. Unfinished Business

 Resolutions (B. Greenfield)

Class Action to Save Higher Education FS.10.11.003R

The resolution passed with 18 votes in favor, 3 opposed, and 14 abstentions

 Anti-war Resolution FS 10.11.004R

The resolution passed with 14 in favor, 1 opposed, and 21 abstentions.

 

A motion to move item 3f—to the next spot on the agenda passed.

 

3f. Academic Standards

       Residency Proposal (J. Mulrooney) FS 10.11.024B

This proposal may affect as many as 152 students, and there are 8 who could graduate this May if this residency policy passes. The policy applies the 30 credit residency effective immediately (retroactively) for all students enrolled at CCSU.

One senator stated that with the new residency policy, if students do most of their credits elsewhere and then transfer to CCSU, then we still get “credit” (often negative credit) for the Praxis 2 score. This statement applied to the residency policy in general and not to the retroactive application of the policy.

President Miller had reservations about students having the options to pick requirements from different catalogues.

The proposal passed with 31 votes in favor, 1 opposed, and 3 abstentions.

 

3c. Curriculum Committee FS 10.11.023 (D. Adams)

The catalogue deadline has passed. But Don Adams will try to include any changes that are sent to him.

P. Lemma indicated that Items #12 and 13 mention a “Strand.” In both cases the word “Strand” needs to be changed to “Specialization.”

Please look at the bylaw revisions at the bottom of the report.

#20 will be postponed to a later meeting.

Passed unanimously.

e. Elections Committee (S. Bernstein)



Call for nominations will go out tomorrow morning. You will be able to see who has been nominated in live time. Please encourage your colleagues to run, and self-nominate.

g. WAC (R. Wood)


See attached report.

Grant writing is important here because the objectives outlined in the report require resources and remaining resource neutral may require some difficult choices. Hiring a director of WAC for example may require a redistribution of funds or new funds. Smaller class sizes will be required for more intensive writing courses.

5. New Business

Resolution (M. Alewitz) FS 10.11.005R

    End Harassment of Community Artists

This resolution is made in response to an event (the mural slam) from Fall 2010, in which a participant was questioned by Hartford police. CCSU is on the cutting edge on the issue of street art. It’s a great form of community engagement. We want to create a safe atmosphere. Want to make a statement to artists that they are welcome to come to CCSU.

President Miller indicated that no one had spoken to him about this issue. He stated that had he known about this incident sooner, there may have been an administrative response.

M. Alewitz apologized if there was any problem with communication, and recognized that there is nothing to suggest that the administration supports these police actions.

Dr. Basu stated that the Hartford PD did not had no knowledge of this incident.

When asked if students should be given some kind of immunity to police investigation on campus, Senator Alewitz replied that this resolution was in no way speaking against law enforcement activities or creating a harbor. It is to create a safe atmosphere for our community engagement projects.

Senator Cappella moved to drop the first and second parts of the resolution. Further, there was a suggestion to replace the word “demand” with “ask.” The motion was accepted as a friendly amendment.

The resolution passed with 2 abstentions.