UB Faculty Senate

FACULTY SENATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Minutes of April 26, 2006

(unapproved)

The Faculty Senate Executive Committee (FSEC) met at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 26, 2006, in 567 Capen Hall to consider the following agenda:

Approval of the minutes of April 12, 2006
Report of the Chair
Report of the President/Provost
Report on the Dalai Lama's upcoming visit - S. Dunnett
Report on Financial Aid - T. Mangione
Old/New business
Executive session (if required)
Adjournment

Item 1: Approval of the minutes of April 12, 2006
The minutes were approved as distributed.

Item 2: Report of the Chair
Chair Nickerson introduced and commended Christopher Aliotta for his contributions to the FS Computer Services Committee. Chris has been the student representative on the committee for the past two years, which is unprecedented in recent memory. He'll receive a plaque signed by President Simpson and Provost Tripathi recognizing his achievement.

Item 3: Report of the President/Provost
None

Item 4: Report on the Dalai Lama's upcoming visit - S. Dunnett
Vice Provost for International Education Stephen Dunnett discussed the upcoming visit of the Dalai Lama. Tickets for the September 18-20 event will go on sale next Monday; students will be able to attend for free. Classes will be cancelled on Tuesday, September 19th, which has been designated as a Special Day of Learning, so students and faculty can attend the Dalai Lama's lecture in UB Stadium. Details of that and other events related to the visit are available on the Web at http://www.buffalo.edu/dalai_lama/.

Professor Schack asked why UB is canceling classes for a religious leader when we didn't do that for President Clinton's visit. UB is a state university, and this seems to be contrary to separation of church and state policies.

Vice Provost Dunnett and Vice Provost Michael Ryan said that the Dalai Lama is a head of state, as well as a religious leader. They both said they had recommended canceling classes for several reasons. The 30,000+ crowd that is anticipated will present significant logistical problems insofar as parking and accommodating visitors to our campus.

Item 5: Report on financial aid - T. Mangione
Senior Associate Vice Provost of Student Academic Records and Financial Services Terri Mangione described the wide variety of financial aid programs that are available to undergraduate students at UB. The scholarships covering our Honors, Distinguished Honors, Daniel Acker, and UB Scholars programs are merit-based. The NYS Tuition Assistance Program (TAP), PELL grants, SEOG awards, and the federal College Work Study program are need-based. There are also many loan options available to students or their parents.

Item 6: Old/New business
Professor William H. Baumer, chair of the Grading Committee, distributed a slightly revised version of the Course Registration Period proposal recommending shortening the Drop/Add period for all UB students. The first version had been returned to the Committee for further consideration at the March 22nd FSEC meeting.

Questions & comments:

The proposed policy would be acceptable for undergraduates, but it remains problematic for graduate courses that only meet once a week. Can we have separate policies for undergraduate and graduate students? (Rittner)
The Grading Committee did what was requested, so the FSEC should act on it. It won't be able to get two FS readings in this academic year, however, because there's only one meeting left. Regardless, we should include it on the FS May agenda for a First Reading. (Schack)
Many Engineering students are international students who arrive at UB just before classes begin. It's difficult for them to register before they meet with an advisor. (Basaran)
Most of our policies are compromises, because it's impossible to have ones that cover all cases. We've discussed this multiple times, and now it's time to send it to the full FS for the requisite readings. (Schack)
There can't be a one-size-fits-all policy for Drop/Add. We shouldn't move it forward when there are so many reasons against it. (Rittner).

A voice vote rejected sending the proposed policy revision to the full Senate.

Item 7: Executive session (if required)
An executive session was held.

Item 8: Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 3:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Will Hepfer
Secretary of the Faculty Senate

ATTENDANCE (P = present; A = absent; E = excused)

Chair: Nickerson (P)
Secretary: W. Hepfer (E - minutes were prepared from a recording)
Architecture & Planning: GS Danford (P)
Arts & Sciences: J. Faran (P), R. Hoeing (E), SD Schack (P), D. Street (P), K. Takeuchi (P)
Dental Medicine: M. Donley (P)
Education: L. Malavé (A)
Engineering & Applied Sciences: C. Basaran (A), P. Alexandridis (E)
Informatics: J. Ellison (A)
Law: T. Miller (A)
Management: W. Lin (P)
Medicine & Biomedical Sciences: D. Amsterdam (E), M. Dayton (A), L. Harris (A), J. Hassett (A)
Nursing: P. Wooldridge (P)
Pharmacy: G. Brazeau (A)
Public Health & Health Professions: vacant
Social Work: Barbara Rittner (P)
SUNY Senators: W. Baumer (P), W. Coles (P), H. Durand (P), P. Nickerson (P)
University Libraries: HA Booth (P)

Guests: M. Cochrane (Reporter), L. Labinski (Professional Staff Senate), M. Ryan (VPUE)

Tel: 716-645-2003
Fax: 716-645-2717
Email: facultysenate@buffalo.edu
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