College Senate Bulletin
Bulletin No. 13
Pages 255-262
1 Mar. 2002
Contents
Page Topic
255 Contents
256 Announcements:
Spring 2002 College Senate and Senate Committee Meeting Schedule
Senate Bulletin Mailing List
Congratulatiuons
256 Minutes of the College Senate Executive Committee, 26 February 2002
261 Agenda for the All College Meeting, 5 March 2002
262 Agenda for the College Senate Meeting, 5 March 2002
Correspondence: Janice A. Lovett, Department of Biology,
Bailey 210; e-mail: lovett@geneseo.edu; phone: 245-5413
Announcements:
Spring 2002 College Senate and Senate Committee Meeting Schedule
March 5 All-College Meeting and College Senate Meeting
March 12 Student Affairs Committee
Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, 4 p.m., Newton 209
March 19 Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, 4 p.m., Newton 209 (tentative)
April 2 Executive Committee Meeting
April 9 College Senate Meeting
April 16 Student Affairs Committee
April 23 Executive Committee Meeting
April 30 College Senate Meeting
May 7 Student Affairs Committee
Senate Bulletin Mailing List
Any member of the College Community may receive an individual copy of the College Senate Bulletin. If you would like to receive a copy please send your name as you would like it to appear on the mailing label and your campus address to the Senate Chair, Janice Lovett, lovett@geneseo.edu or 210 Bailey.
Congratulations!
Congratulations go out to Steven Kirsch, Assistant Professor of Psychology, and Irina Vasiliev, Associate Professor of Geography. They were awarded Senate Small Grants for Spring 2002.
College Senate Executive Committee
26 February 2002
12:45 p.m.
Wadsworth 204
Present: T. Bazzett, J. Bushnell, B. Dixon, C. Dahl, G. Drake, C. Filice, C. Freeman, C. Leary, J. Lovett (Chair), J. McLean, D. McPherson, D. Metz.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA AND LAST MEETING’S MINUTES
Both were approved unanimously.
REPORTS
Chair's Report
1. Chair Lovett informed the Committee that the resolution passed at last Senate Meeting had been mailed to the SUNY Chancellor and Board of Trustees along with the Chair’s cover letter.
2. The Nominations Committee has been busy; there are two nominees for Vice-Chair. In this regard, Lovett asked Committee Chairs at today’s meeting to be looking for members of the Standing Committees that would be willing to serve as chair next year.
3. J. McLean and Lovett met with the Provost about amendments to the PRLC and governance (see New Business below).
President's Report
President Dahl noted that 5 March is SUNY Day. This year’s observance will be a stripped-down version without the customary large delegations to Albany. Along with the President, four students, College Council Chair B. Wayland-Smith, and Presidential Assistant L. Wrubel will visit at least eleven State Senators and Assemblypersons.
Dahl also made four major points about the Budget:
1.Geneseo has data indicating that not only did the Governor not fund SUNY very well in the past few years, but neither did the Legislature. Dahl is prepared to remind legislators from both parties about this.
2. SUNY units will ask for a $64 million bottom line that would at least meet salary increases.
3. In dialogue with State Legislators, we will also gently broach tuition issues to balance between increases and the responsibility of the Legislature to continue to fund SUNY adequately.
4. State revenues are uncertain this year, but Dahl recently saw a presentation suggesting that an economic turnaround will come during this quarter rather than during the next.
Dahl added that he was pleased to have Senate resolutions and College Council resolutions to back him up.
Finally, Dahl announced that the Chancellor had recently created a new Chancellor’s award with a short deadline (29 March) that has to be decided after the Excellence Committee has finished its regular work. We can only nominate one name which this first time will be dtermined using a truncated nominating process decided on in consultation with the College Senate Chair.
Vice-Chair’s Report
T. Bazzett reported additional information about the new Chancellor’s award. The Excellence Committee was very receptive to this matter and volunteered to come back for two meetings to review vitae and come up with a list of candidates. The process requires external review of the candidates work as well.
The President offered his services in writing up the candidate recommendation. Bazzett added that the Committee has two candidates already, and more are expected.
D. Metz asked how the Excellence Committee would choose external reviewers. Bazzett and Lovett will ask the candidates themselves for names of individuals in the field who can review the work objectively. Dahl will find funds in the President’s Office budget to pay for external reviews.
Lovett said that external reviewers for her department do so for free as a professional courtesy. The Provost, President and Bazzett thought a small honorarium would be appropriate in this case, and Bazzett added that we need incentives to meet the 29 March deadline that the Chancellor’s Office imposed. Also, SUNY wants the external reviews; without such a review, the candidate cannot be considered.
Provost's Report
Dixon reported that nominations are in for the new Lockhart Professorship for research/creative activity.
She asked the Committee whether the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in research now available overlaps with our own campus Excellence Award for research? In Dahl’s opinion, the Executive Committee should revisit this issue. Lovett wondered if this should be referred back to the Research Council. Dahl suggested consulting both the Executive Committee (because the President’s Fund pays for this) and the Research Council.
McPherson did not think that the Research Council had particular ideas about the awards, so the Executive Committee could be a sufficient forum.
Past Chair’s Report
C. Leary announced that Phi Beta Kappa would visit Geneseo on 14 March, when they will talk with past and present Chairs of Senate.
Central Council
No report.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Undergraduate Curriculum Committee
J. Bushnell will email Lovett with the time, date, and new location for the next meeting.
Faculty Affairs Committee Report
J. McLean shared a handout on a new proposal for choosing members of the Committee on Professional Leave Review. The executive summary for the proposal (adapted for these minutes) is as follows:
1. The proposal will change the term length of Committee members from two years to three years (to improve continuity).
2. The proposal will require tenure for Committee membership (since tenure is necessary for taking a sabbatical). This will also remove any possibility of a conflict of interest between a sabbatical proposal and a tenure application.
3. At least one half of the Committee will have to have had sabbaticals (to improve the Committee’s ability to appropriately review proposals). This involves defining details of the election procedure.
4. There is a catch-all exception for conflicts of interest. The Executive Committee handles replacements.
5. First-term members who have not had a sabbatical cannot serve as Committee Chair.
McLean explained that the proposal had been through Faculty Affairs Committee, and the Provost and the Senate Chair have also had a chance for input. Faculty Affairs would tweak the proposal as needed at their next meeting.
Lovett said that the proposal would appear on the ballot for the next Senate meeting; she wondered if there needed to be an overhead for the All-College Meeting? Would it need an explanation as well then? Dixon thought it would be helpful to know that the proposal came from the Sabbatical Leave Review Committee.
Dahl suggested presenting the Executive Summary.
McLean added that, with the two-year term, there has been a limit of two consecutive terms; now with three years, perhaps there should be only one consecutive term allowed. Bazzett thought it might be too confusing to raise this issue at the All-College Meeting.
Leary suggested that, since these are separate issues, they should be presented as separate motions. Bushnell advised that, if the motions are presented separately, we should show which existing sections of the Constitution that the motions replace.
Dixon liked having the three-year term to provide more continuity and remove from untenured new faculty the burden of decision-making about tenured colleagues.
Policy Committee Report
C. Filice reported that a few colleagues who are not on his Committee have suggested a proposal for the Committee’s agenda, and he asked the Executive Committee for advice.
At present, the minimum grade requirement for Core courses is a D, whereas in most majors the minimum grade is C-. The proposal would raise the grade for Core and electives to C-, allowing for consistency in grading and taking Core courses as seriously as major courses. Also, given grade inflation tendencies, this would make credit-earning more meaningful.
Dahl thought the College had discussed this matter during the past eight years. He thought such a proposal would inflate grades, and a D in Humanities would mean a failing grade for Core, in effect.
Lovett considered the effects on record-keeping. Could a D in a Core course then count as an elective? Dahl also thought that, in effect, this proposal would mean that a D would be the effective failing grade for everything (except perhaps, Filice mused, courses with a pass/fail option).
All in all, the Committee did not recommend that Filice’s Committee put this item on the agenda.
Graduate Affairs Committee
D. Metz said that the Committee met last week and unanimously approved the curricular changes for the Master’s in Education; Senate would move on them next Tuesday.
Student Affairs Committee
D. McPherson said that his Committee is exploring a new area of interest: sexual assaults and their incidence on campus. The Committee had a lively discussion, including how to define sexual assault.
The Committee would be pursuing this issue and come up with steps to increase awareness and reduce incidence of sexual assault. McPherson himself senses a link between the rate of sexual assault and alcohol consumption; one affects the other.
The Provost recalled that a Student Affairs representative once inquired about training we could give to Faculty when a student approaches and reveals being sexually assaulted. She said she had been reviewing the applicable law and regarded this as a very timely topic.
OLD BUSINESS
There was no old business.
NEW BUSINESS
A faculty member asked Chair Lovett if the Executive Committee could deal with a false accusation on factalk-l about the faculty member’s use of the Senate. D. McPherson felt that Senate had followed appropriate procedures considering the faculty member’s business in Senate; otherwise, this is an interpersonal matter. Lovett felt the Senate vote defeating a motion to table the motion indefinitely indicated the Senate's recognition of the motion's appropriateness.
Dixon did not think this issue rose to the level of slander or libel. Dixon thought that factalk-l was purposely outside of any governance structure or formalized process so that there could be either free-wheeling or thoughtful discussions. Bazzett added that it was not Executive Committee’s responsibility to police discussions. Lovett said there was not much the Senate could do with a matter on an unmoderated list.
Governance
Lovett asked the Executive Committee to consider having an Ad Hoc Governance Committee next year to assess our current campus governance structure. The suggestions for the Structure and Charge (adapted for these minutes) appears below:
STRUCTURE:
Would this be a Subcommittee of Faculty Affairs? Could it be a temporary sixth Committee parallel to FAC, UCC, GAAC, Policy and SAC, made up of Senate members? Would it be a temporary sixth Committee made up of volunteers both Senate and non-Senate? Some other composition? Would it be designed to answer the charge in one year? Could the one-year charge be extended to a second year if necessary? Should the Committee last two years from the start?
CHARGE:
1. Compare Geneseo with other SUNY, COPLAC or other college’s governance systems.
2. Consider changes in the relationship of the College Senate with the University Faculty Senate.
3. Consider the effectiveness of structure (for example, the Committee’s structure and charges).
4. Consider the governance structure’s internal consistency and its consistency with other campus documents (for example, Affirmative Action procedures).
5. Amend the Constitution to include the current Committees—Faculty Teaching and Professional Development Committee and the Assessment Committee.
6. Include other aspects to the charge?
Lovett pointed out part four of the Charge and noted that currently the language in the Constitution is actually in conflict with the Affirmative Action document.
Lovett asked for brief ideas now, with more to come. Leary did not think that such a Committee should be a Subcommittee of Faculty Affairs; it dealt with much more than their charge. Lovett had thought this could be a committee assignment for some Senators. But could it be more like a Task Force. Dixon reminded the Committee that the Charge centered on reviewing the College Senate Constitution.
Bushnell thought the proposed Committee should include administrators because some of the things in the constitution now that conflict with other policies may do so because the people who wrote them did not know the other colleagues—and unfortunately the administrators who were here then and knew them.
Lovett asked if the Executive Committee should come up with a charge, or whether the Faculty Affairs Committee should develop a charge. Dixon observed that the Faculty Affairs Committee only dealt with faculty affairs.
Lovett asked if this would have to go through Senate. Leary suggested asking the Executive Committee to draft a charge and bring it to Senate. Bushnell noted that the Senate Constitution allowed the Executive Committee to appoint an ad hoc committee without Senate Approval. Leary still thought it would be painless to put it up for a vote; Dixon thought we could ask Senate for advice.
Lovett asked the Executive Committee to think about other aspects of the Committee’s structure.
ADJOURNMENT
Chair Lovett adjourned the meeting at 1.49PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Graham N Drake
College Senate Secretary
Agenda:
All College Meeting
March 5, 2002
4:00 p.m., Newton 204
Call to Order
Nomination Committee Report Ted Everett, Chair
Presentation of the Nominees for the Professional Leave Review Committee
Presentation of the Nominees for the General Education Committee
Presentation of the Nominees for Senator-at-Large over six years of service
Call for additional nominations for the Committe on Nominations
Presentation of the Nominees for Senator-at-Large under six years of service
Call for additional nominations for the Committe on Nominations
Presentation of the Nominees for Senate Officers
Call for additional nominations for the Committe on Nominations
Presentation of Amendments to the Constitution
Adjournment
Agenda:
College Senate Meeting
March 5,
Immediately Following the All-College Meeting, Newton 204
Call to Order
Adoption of the Agenda
Approval of the Minutes of the Previous Meetings
p. 204-210, Senate Bulletin 12.
Senate Reports
President's Report Christopher Dahl
Provost's Report Barbara Dixon
Chair's Report Janice Lovett
Vice Chair's Report Terrence Bazzett
Treasurer's Report Charles Freeman
University Senator's Report William Gohlman
Central Council Report Joshua Lieberman
Report's of the Standing Committees of the Senate
Undergraduate Curricula Judith Bushnell
Undergraduate Academic Policies, Core and Review Carlo Filice
Graduate Academic Affairs Dale Metz
First Reading, revised courses:
ECEd 541, Child Development and Assessment in Early Education, p. 213-216
ECEd 542, Advanced Curriculum Development, p. 217-220
ECEd 543, Policy Issues and Programs in Early Education, p. 221-225
ECEd 544, Family Relations in Early Education, p. 226-230
EDUC 5--, The Writing Process: Pre K-8, p. 246-249
First Reading, new courses:
ECEd 545, Action Research Seminar in Early Education, p. 231-235
ECEd 546, Language and Literacy Across the Early Childhood Curriculum, p. 236-241
ECEd 547, Leadership/Inquiry Internship in Early Childhood, p. 242-245
First Reading, revised program:.
M.S. in Education: Early Childhood Education, p. 250-254
Student Affairs Duane McPherson
Faculty Affairs James Mclean
Old Business
New Business
Adjournment