Back FACULTY SENATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Minutes of September 29, 2004 (unapproved) The Faculty Senate Executive Committee (FSEC) met at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September 29, 2004, in 567 Capen Hall to consider the following agenda: Approval of the minutes of September 15, 2004 Report of the Chair Report of the President/Provost Report of the UB Diversity Subcommittee on Sexual Orientation – F. Carnevale, F. Ciccia, E. Christiansen Report of the Faculty Senate (FS) Student Life Committee Old/New business Executive session (if needed) Adjournment Item 1: Approval of the minutes of September 15, 2004 The minutes were approved following Professor Schack’s clarification of his remarks about electronic communication. His corrected comment in Item 3 should say: Electronic communication at UB is still flawed, because Web pages load poorly or not at all with many common operating systems and browsers. An example is that Macintosh computers running Netscape browsers sometimes crash trying to access important UB Web pages. Item 2: Report of the Chair Chair Nickerson reported: The planning committee heard from the Government, University, Industry and Development Organization (GUIDO) group. The task force has been working on assessing and suggesting future directions for these activities at UB. The results will help in the search for a vice president of external affairs, a new position at UB. The UB Council met and covered several topics in public session: Naming classrooms in the School of Law Increasing library hours for students on the South Campus Indirect costs from sponsored research will rise from 57% to 58.5% over three years, resulting in an addition $2 million to the campus, assuming no increase in outside funding There are 3,223 freshmen this year; 4.7% are from out of state, and 4.7% are international students. We are now ranked in the second tier by U. S. News & World Report. UB will receive a 2.6% increase in the operating budget. SUNY is currently considering a new budget allocation process (BAP). UB’s budget will be $290 million – a $7 million increase made up from tax and tuition. There is a three-year increase in the salary obligation. Item 3: Report of the President/Provost President Simpson asked how he should proceed to charge the Faculty Senate with developing a written code of professional conduct. Chair Nickerson explained that a charge from the president has traditionally been in the form of a written request. On this topic, we have already had preliminary discussions about forming an ad hoc committee to work on a code of conduct. We’ll decide which faculty to appoint to the committee soon, and the process will be put in motion. Professor Kramer asked whether the code of conduct should be directed at faculty concerns, or should it cover the entire university community? If it’s to be pertinent to staff and students as well, then representatives from those groups should also be included in the process. President Simpson said that the ad hoc committee should determine who the code will apply to. Chair Nickerson added that we’ll start by addressing the issue from a faculty perspective, but it might eventually get expanded to encompass the larger community. Professor Schack asked how the code will be implemented. Perhaps we should focus on one aspect, e.g. faculty interactions with each other, which is quite a different issue than faculty interactions with students in the classroom. Item 4: Report of the UB Diversity Subcommittee on Sexual Orientation – F. Carnevale, F. Ciccia, E. Christensen Frank Ciccia and Ellen Christensen are co-chairs of the UB Diversity Committee’s subcommittee on sexual orientation. Professor Carnevale is a member of the subcommittee, and they are all interested in promoting awareness of and increasing participation in the group’s programs. There are three “safe zone” workshops currently being offered. The one-hour Ally Program is a general introduction to gay, lesbian, bisexual, & transgender (GLBT) issues. It offers access to faculty, staff, and students who support GLBT lifestyles. There is also a three-hour program that addresses GLBT concerns in more depth. It seeks to foster support and advocacy for GLBT individuals. A three-hour train-the-trainer program is offered to prepare students, faculty, and staff to conduct other safe zone workshops on campus. The group solicited FSEC support and suggestions for increasing awareness and education on diversity issues. They already do presentations to UB101 classes and promote the use of Ally pins and safe-zone sticker cards that faculty and staff can display to identify workspaces where individuals can speak openly without fear of discrimination. Most persons who attend the workshops are from the LGBT community, but the subcommittee would like to educate a wider group of faculty and staff. Comments: Perhaps a presentation could be included at new faculty orientation. (Hassett) Target a few faculty members in every department and solicit their cooperation in publicizing workshops and opportunities to address diversity issues in classroom discussions. (Schack) Many faculty members are too busy to attend workshops, but they might notice a brochure or a Web site with pertinent information. (Pegels) Item 5: Report of the Faculty Senate Student Life Committee Chair Nickerson is also chair of the FS Student Life Committee. That group seeks to promote student experiences and opportunities outside the classroom. There are also sub-groups concerned with student life issues in UB’s division of Student Affairs and the Professional Staff Senate. Around 11,000 undergraduates (62%) commute from off-campus; approximately 72% of the total student population are commuters. Many commuters only come to campus to attend classes, so the committee solicited suggestions for how to help improve those students’ university experience. Comments: We could contact the other student life groups and ask if there’s anything they would like to see the FS do. (Schack) Many students have jobs or are very busy at home. They’re missing out on having a full university experience, because UB offers many opportunities for involvement in activities outside the classroom. Besides speakers and entertainment, there are 120 or so clubs serving a wide range of interests. It might help if faculty encouraged students to get involved. (Balzano) UB has student life professionals, and there’s a program here for students who want to become student life professionals. (Nickerson) We shouldn’t take the attitude that students who get involved are superior to students who don’t. Participating in activities is an individual decision, and there are many unknown factors that can influence such decisions. (Schack) Many successful medical students have had very non-traditional undergraduate experiences – not the four-year path that used to be the norm. (Hassett) We should do the best we can and let students make their choices. We can’t orchestrate their lives. (Baumer) Item 6: Old/New business Chair Nickerson said that UB and the other SUNY campuses have received letters from Chancellor King asking each school to formulate a policy for how it will deal with hazing incidents and whether convictions for violating the policy should become part of a student’s permanent record. Each campus must include appropriate wording in its campus code of conduct to permit campus judicial action. The Faculty Senate will work with UB administration to address this issue. Item 7: Executive session (if needed) There was an executive session Item 8: Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Will Hepfer Secretary of the Faculty Senate Attendance (P = present; E = excused; A = absent) Chair: P. Nickerson (P) Secretary: W. Hepfer (P) Architecture & Planning: GS. Danford (P) Arts & Sciences: S. Bruckenstein (A), S. Schack (P), K. Takeuchi (E) Dental Medicine: M. Donley (P) Education: X. Liu (P) Engineering & Applied Sciences: J. Jensen (A), R. Mayne (A) Informatics: J. Ellison (P) Institutional/General: O. Mixon (A) Law: L. Swartz (E) Management: C. Pegels (P) Medicine & Biomedical Sciences: J. Hassett (P), J. Sellick (A) Nursing: P. Wooldridge (A) Pharmacy: G. Brazeau (A) Public Health & Health Professions: C. Crespo (E) Social Work: Barbara Rittner (E) SUNY Senators: W. Baumer (P), W. Coles (E), M. Kramer (P), P. Nickerson (P) University Libraries: C. Tysick (P) Guests: P. Balzano (SA), B. Burke (EDAAA), F. Carnevale (UB Diversity Cmte.), E. Christensen (UB Diversity Cmte.), F. Ciccia (UB Diversity Cmte.),L. Labinski (Prof. Staff Senate), L. Muster (SA), L. Stewart (EDAAA)
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