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Undergraduate Curriculum Forum (UCF)


Minutes 12/13/01

Present: C. Wieder, G. Puerschner,  H. Podnar, J. Fopiano, J. Tait, C. Coron, J. Mills,  M. Shea, M. Macomber, M. Shea, J. Yang, D. Soneson,  T. Paddock,  M. Thompson, F. Harris, W. Shyam,  J. Fields, M. Hartog, R. Page, T. Gemme, D. Pettigrew, B. Gelbach,  C. Durwin, V. Breslin, J. Bloch, E. Johnston, G. Puerschner, R. Gerber,  M. Heidmann, K. Mauro, C. Serchuk                   

Guest: S. Larocco

I.   Call to Order:  The meeting was called to order by J. Tait at 9:40 am.

II.  Announcements:

  • Ad Hoc Committee to review the Writing Program Proposal is not fully formed
  • A plant and a card has been sent to Dr. Smith to express sympathy for the loss of his mother
  • Next semester will begin with subcommittee meetings the first week of classes.  UCF will reconvene January 31, 2002
  • Copies of the former UCF constitution are available on the web-site.  The committee is asked to review in preparation for the next general meeting.

III.  Approval of Meeting Minutes: The minutes of the previous UCF meetings (11/29/01, 12/6/01) were approved.  J. Tait asked that any additional commentary suggested for the minutes to please be forwarded via e-mail and they will be added.  Paperwork today included:

  • UCF Agenda 12/13/01
  • PRAC Minutes 11/29/01
  • STATE OF CONNECTICUT LABOR DEPARTMENT, Board of Trustees' Petition For Declaratory Ruling
  • Position statement regarding Board strategy to remove issues from the collective bargaining process
  • UCF Flow of Proposals

IV.   Committee Reports:

Program Review & Assessment: (see Minutes, 11/29/01). PRAC minutes were accepted with the amendment of a name change from "Beatty" to "O'Sullivan"

V.        Draft Constitution Review: The draft Constitution was reviewed through page 4.  Discussion was held around issues of new membership, term length served, and voting rights and responsibilities of the UCF Chair.  The discussion of the Constitution Draft will continue to move forward at the next scheduled general meeting of the UCF 1-31-02.

VI.       New Business:   Discussion was held in response to the position statement regarding Board strategy concerning the collective bargaining process.  Suggestions for changes in the language were presented and discussed.  A revision of that language appears as follows:

Whereas the Board of Trustees, in its recent petition to the State Labor Board, wishes to remove by fiat several issues from the collective bargaining process, including but not limited to the cap on adjunct faculty,

Whereas the explanation for this move is that negotiating on such issues "constitutes an interference with the Trustees' managerial prerogatives, including their right to determine academic policy;"

Whereas this reasoning constitutes a serious breach of an existing ethos of collective governance over curricular matters and prioritizes "managerial prerogatives" over educational prerogatives as the driving force behind educational policy;

Whereas faculty bodies such as UCF work under the belief that "the right to determine academic policy" is an item of shared governance;

Be it resolved that the Undergraduate Curriculum Forum at Southern Connecticut State University strongly opposes the Board's strategy to remove issues from the collective bargaining process that significantly impact academic quality, such as the cap on adjuncts.  Be it further resolved that the UCF condemns the Board's assertion that it has the sole "right to determine academic policy."

It was suggested that this statement may be forwarded to the Vice President's Office for him to represent to the Board of Trustees.  This document may also be made available to the Union.

Motion:  A motion was made, seconded, and passed unanimously with 0 abstentions,  for the UCF to support the resolution regarding the collective bargaining process as amended and stated above.

 VIII.   Adjournment:

A motion to adjourn the meeting was made, seconded and passed unanimously.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:50 am.
Minutes recorded by:

Joy E. Fopiano
Department of Counseling and School Psychology