Approved Minutes of the Faculty Senate Meeting
January 29, 2003
http://www.scsu.ctstateu.edu/organizations/facultysenate
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The eighth meeting of the 2002-2003 year was called to order at 12:15 PM.
The minutes of December 11, 2002 were approved.
Members Present:
Rogers (Anthropology), Brownell (Art), Lavin (Art), Puerschner (Chemistry), Ullian (Communication), Jirsa (CMD/MFT), DaPonte (Computer Science), Lawler (Counseling), De Barbieri (Counseling/School Psychology), Fullmer (Earth Science), Thorson (Econ/Fin), Corbett (Education), Diamantis (Education), Hood (English), Johnson (English), Mee (Exercise Science), Rinehardt (Exercise Science), Verplaetse (Foreign Language), Herdandez (Foreign Language), Amerman (History), Petto (History), Dunklee (Jounalism), Bielefield (Library Science), Klassen (Library Services), Wu (Library Services), Oppedisano (Management), Prince (Marketing), Bennett (Math), Brin (Math), O’Brien (Media Studies), Kuss (Music), Wagner (Nursing), Young (Part-time), Pettigrew (Philosophy), Broadbridge (Physics), Paulson (Political Science), Sherman (Psychology), Bulmer (Public Health), MacGregor (Rec/Leisure), Cusato (Science Ed/Env Stud), Dripchak (Social Work), Keenan (Social Work), Bloch (Sociology), Brucker (Special Ed/Reading), Major (Special Ed/Reading), Watts (Theatre)
Members Absent:
(Accounting), Maloney (Athletics), Martinelli (Biology), Diffley (Ed Leadership), Sakalowsky (Geography), Prince (Part-time Faculty), Jexey Jack (Part-time faculty), Brancazio (Psychology), Watts (Theatre)
J. Philip Smith, Vice President for Academic Affairs; Joan Finn, Chair, Commission on Faculty Research and Creativity; James Tait, Chair, UCF
Announcements:
President’s Report (distributed)
President Paulson next asked for consensus to move the agenda to hear a report from Vice President Smith. There was unanimous consent.
· Vice President Smith discussed the report from the State Ethics Commission. The Commission, in noting that state employees cannot profit from activities that they do as employees, has ruled that university professors at the state institutions cannot mandate that students in their classes use text books written or edited by them unless there are guidelines and procedures in place to insure the ethical integrity of the process. Such procedures might include provisions for the professor to donate royalties to an acceptable fund or a university committee to evaluate the need for a specific text.
· President Paulson requested that senators email him or Vice President Smith regarding suggestions for a review mechanism at Southern Connecticut State University.
President Paulson asked for consensus to move the agenda back to New Business and to by-pass committee reports. This was approved unanimously.
· Senator Brucker, Chair of the Finance Committee led a discussion on travel funds. She proposed two areas for discussion:
o Should travel funds be allocated for the full amount (currently $1500) or should a lower amount be allocated
o Should travel funds be allocated on a first come, first serve basis, or should priority be given to faculty who are presenting as opposed to those who are just attending
· Senators felt that the discussion should first focus on point number 2, the allocation of funds between those presenting and those attending. During this discussions, senators also discussed a split allocation system for travel funds in which approximately half the funds would be available during the first semester and the half available during the second semester. The rationale for this is that many conferences are held in the spring and faculty may not know if their paper is accepted until later in the year when all monies have been allocated.
· Following the discussion, the senate held a straw pole on two issues:
o Should there be a single allocation of all funds or should there be a split allocation of the funds by semester. The majority of the senators favored a split system.
o Should priority be given to those presenting as opposed to those not presenting, but attending. By a straw vote of 24 to 4, senators voted not to prioritize between those presenting and those attending.