Minutes of the Faculty Senate Meeting

April 17, 2002

 

http://www.scsu.ctstateu.edu/organizations/facultysenate

 

 

The thirteenth meeting of the 2001-2002 year was called to order at 12:17 PM.

 

Members Present:

Lavin (Art), Puerschner (Chemistry), Ullian (Communication), Jirsa (ComDisorder/MFT), DaPonte (Computer Science), Fullmer (Earth Science), Johnson (English), Mee (Exercise Science), Rinehardt (Exercise Science), Verplaetse (Foreign Language), Sakalowsky (Geography), Judd (History), Petto (History), Dunklee (Jounalism), Wu (Library Services), Prince (Marketing), Bennett (Math), Brin (Math), Prince (Part-time faculty), Young (Part-time faculty), Volkman (Philosophy), Broadbridge (Physics), Paulson (Political Science), Sherman (Psychology), Kahlbaugh (Psychology), Bulmer (Public Health), Grants (Recreation/Leisure), Cusato (Science Ed/Env Stud), Dripchak (Social Work), Haymes (Social Work), Brucker (Special Ed/Reading), Major (Special Ed/Reading), Watts (Theatre)

 

Members Absent:

(Accounting), Brownell (Art), Maloney (Athletics), Martinelli (Biology), Coburn-Enquist (Communication), Lawler (Counseling), Nwachuku (Couns/SchPsych), Thorson (Econ/Finance), Corbett (Education), (Education), Cairns (Ed Leadership), Petrie (English), Hood (English), Hernandez (Foreign Language), Bielefield (Library Science), Schofield-Bodt (Library Services), Nodoushani (Management), Moss (Music), Wallace (Nursing), Dobbins (Part-time faculty), Jexey Jack (Part-time faculty), Skoczen (Soc & Anthro)

 

The minutes of April 3, 2002 were approved.

 

UCF Update:

President Paulson reported that a written update from the UCF will be attached to the minutes. He called the Senate’s attention to the UCF’s commitment to have a Constitution available for consideration by the end of the semester.

 

Terri Bennett volunteered to serve as Senate Secretary for the Meeting of May 8, 2002.

 

Standing Committee Reports:

1. Rules:

·      No report.

 

2. Personnel Policy:

·      No report.

 

3. Student Policy:

·      The committee has been investigating an issue with student clubs’ funding. An update from the relevant parties, detailing certain policies that need to be changed, has already been produced and disseminated. J. Blake and R. Farricelli and the state auditors and the Board of Finance have all been made aware of the issue.

 

4. Technology:
• Color printing will soon be available on campus, for a fee. In the future, black and white printing will also come at a cost.
• Banner registration is proceeding. Let Chris Petto know right away of any problems or concerns.
• Of the recent technology resolutions, only “S-02-04 Methods to Assist in the Scheduling of High Technology Classrooms” has been approved. For budgetary reasons, S-02-05 Maintenance and Service for High Technology Classrooms was not signed by the President. Approval of S-02-03 Support for High Technology Classrooms awaits assessment by IT.

 

5. Academic Policy:

·      The committee met to discuss the drafting process of the Academic Strategic Plan, which is on the agenda for today.

 

6. Elections:

·      Ballots for elections to all-university committees should be out by the end of the week.

·      We will be moving forward on a referendum to approve the Constitutional Amendment passed by the Senate at the 4-03-02 meeting.

 

7. Finance:

·      Eight new travel requests have been approved, so the waiting list for travel funds is shorter.

·      There are no requests pending in the part-time travel account.

 

Old Business:

 

New Business

 

Academic Policy: Regarding the Proposed Split of Anthropology and Sociology

The floor was turned over to J. Fullmer, chair of the Academic Policy Committee. He began the discussion by reading a background report (attached).

 

The discussion began with some general comments from C. Musiba, M. Selvaggio, J. Manzella, and S. Jackson, members of the current Sociology/Anthropology Department:

 

• C. Musiba: Anthropology is currently dwarfed by Sociology, such that the Anthropology program cannot be expected to grow under current circumstances. For example, Moorehead State University’s Anthropology program grew from 5 to 45 students in just one year, following a split like the one under consideration here.
• M. Selvaggio: Contrary to the backgrounder presented here, there will not be an additional expense for a secretary, since Anthropology gets its own part-time secretary. Regarding the student/faculty ratio, this represents no real difference from the current state of affairs except with respect to advising. New hires have been needed and have been planned for some time now.
• S. Jackson: As a matter of procedure, the splitting of the department has not been properly carried out. As the current Chair of the department, I did not find out about this plan until January. Sociology faculty are concerned about this, but they are not opposed to the split. One concern we have is the issue of release time for the chair.

 

Dean Fredeen was also invited to speak. She said that there had been a discussion of the split in August, and that this should not have been a surprise to the Chair of the Sociology/Anthropology Department, nor to its members. The Chair was informed at that time that the split would in all likelihood occur this year, and the Dean assumed this information had been passed on to the Department. The history of the process goes back even farther, to 1994.

 

The proposed split was passed by a voice vote.

 

Academic Policy Committee: On the Process for Drafting an Academic Strategic Plan

President Paulson explained that the proposal before the Senate was the result of a negotiated compromise with the Office of Academic Affairs. While an earlier Sense of the Senate (12-12-01) had unanimously affirmed the desirability of having just one committee to devise a single Academic Strategic Plan, this approach was not acceptable to the Deans. In the compromise, the deans and a committee of faculty would each work on the ASP, but their actions would be coordinated by a steering committee. This process avoids reducing the faculty’s role to merely approving a plan that has already been drafted by the Deans, and the level of interaction encouraged by the single steering committee should result in a process similar to that approved by the earlier Sense of the Senate.

 

The following questions and concerns from the Senate floor:

• Aren’t faculty already involved in the Deans’ current draft? J. Fullmer: They were not elected.
• How does all this relate to the different levels of planning that currently go on? A. Paulson: The Academic Strategic Plan is not the same as the Strategic Plan. This process will go forward with or without us, but it is not the same as the planning in which faculty are already involved.
• Given the bicameral nature of this compromise, and the unicameral nature of our earlier expressed preference, perhaps we should just say no.
• The Strategic Plan has an academic component. If we admit to a process for drafting an ASP, we seem to have surrendered some of our authority over academic matters to the administration. The Strategic Plan must be endorsed by the Senate, and its production involves the work of Departmental Chairs, which is faculty involvement. This seems to be an end-around to avoid that process.
• It would be troubling if the administration were able to use this process to co-opt faculty.

 

On that note, M. Prince moved to amend the proposal by adding: “The Faculty Committee of 16 shall report to the Senate.” S. Judd seconded the amendment. “Report” is to be construed in the sense of “to inform,” not “to take direction from.” The amendment passed on a voice vote.

 

G. Puerschner moved to split the original proposal from the amendment, so the amendment would not serve as an excuse to undermine the compromise. J. Fullmer seconded the motion. The motion passed on a voice vote.

 

President’s Report: (Attached)

Regarding the ASP, President Paulson noted that the Senate retains the power to vote “no confidence” in any event. Moving forward with the process outlined by the compromise would not limit or undermine that power.

 

Meeting was adjourned at 1:50 p.m., and reconvened as a forum to discuss the ASP until 2:05.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Richard Volkman

Secretary of the Senate

Richard Volkman

 

Resolutions Passed: