FACULTY SENATE

Minutes of December 11, 2001
(unapproved)

 

The Faculty Senate met at 2:00 PM on December 11, 2001 in the Center for Tomorrow to consider the following agenda:

1. Approval of the minutes of November 6, 2001
2. Report of the Chair
3. Report of the President/Provost
4. Class Absence Policy, Second Reading – Faculty Senate Grading Committee, Professor Baumer, Chair
5. Amendments to the Charter, Second Reading - Faculty Senate Bylaws Committee, Professor Hopkins, Chair
6. Resolution Calling for Rational Funding for SUNY
7. SUNY Trustees – Arnold Gardner and Gordon Gross
8. Old/new business

Item 1: Report of the Chair

The Chair reported that:

• Professor Malone, our Parliamentarian and a Senator from Engineering, is now at home, having been released from the hospital last week; Professor Malone would enjoy hearing from his Senate colleagues
• at the behest of the Faculty Senate Executive Committee and per provisions of the Standing Rules of the Faculty Senate, he wrote to 29 Senators who were absent from both the October and November meetings of the Faculty Senate, asking them to provide him with a reason for their absence or be dismissed from the Senate; taking into account the responses received , at present the Senate is comprised of 82 Senators and has a quorum requirement of 42; Schools will be asked to elect replacement Senators
• he attended the December Deans’ Meeting; the focus of the meeting was on various Schools’ successes in getting grants, establishing joint degrees, setting up international programs, etc. rather than on the nature and creation of knowledge; he was reminded of a letter he received from an undergraduate professor of whom the Chair, before entering medical school, had asked advice for what to read to keep up with sociology, his undergraduate major; the professor responded that since the Chair would be attending trade school, the Chair would be unlikely to do so.
  • the Senate meeting time conflicts with classes, making it impossible for many faculty to attend (Professor Rittner)
  • any meeting time will conflict with classes; should elect Senators no later than the November preceding the July beginning of a Senate term so Senators can arrange a teaching schedule that will accommodate Senate meetings (Professor Schack)
  • why was Tuesday chosen as the meeting time? (Professor Cohen)
  • Tuesday was chosen long ago in the Senate’s history, and the time has never been reconsidered; need a stable meeting time that everyone knows; every Senator should appoint an alternate to attend meetings the Senator cannot (Professor Baumer)
  • difficult to schedule all kinds of meetings; campus should consider setting aside a regular meeting time one day a week during which no classes are held (Professor Meacham)
  • because of M/W/F or T/Th class blocks, scheduling a meeting time once a week will pre-empt the use of that time for the entire block; since there is already a shortage of classrooms that is a serious problem; Senate should look at the conversion of classrooms into administrative space, e.g. beginning Spring Semester 2002 Talbert 212, which received a $50K renovation last year, is being taken off line as a classroom for administrative use (Professor Schack)
  • Professor Schack may have just suggested the reason why the Senate meets on a Tuesday; schedule classes taught by non-Senators during the meeting hour (Professor Meacham)
  • should perhaps study when and how often we meet (Professor Cohen)
  • look at wider issues than just scheduling; failure of faculty to participate in faculty governance through the Faculty Senate and the Faculty Senate Executive Committee is not attributable just to meeting times, but rather to a wide spread lack of belief in the efficacy of campus-wide faculty governance (Professor Swartz)

Item 2: Report of the President

President Greiner recently had the pleasure of making an impromptu report about UB to Chancellor King on what has been an extraordinary semester of faculty and staff accomplishments. Highlights included prestigious and lucrative awards to Professor Robert Creeley and Professor Barry Smith, and the grant to Professor Alex Cartwright and his colleagues to train in the area of biophotonics. The President, however, gratefully acknowledged the hard work of all the faculty. And, he gleefully noted UB’s football win over Army that rated articles in the New York Times and the Washington Post.

Provost Salin’s office has benchmarked UB against our Memorandum of Understanding with SUNY. They found that in all categories, UB had had very substantial success. President Greiner praised faculty participation in UB’s increasingly fruitful recruitment and retention efforts.

Looking toward the Spring Semester, the President commented that until the Governor’s budget is available speculation on SUNY’s 2002/2003 budget is premature. He assured the Senate that Chancellor King is a forceful and effective advocate for SUNY. The time to try to influence the final budget outcome is after the Governor’s budget is on the table. He noted that the Executive Committee had discussed a resolution urging a tuition increase. He suggested that while it is appropriate to discuss SUNY funding, the prerogative of establishing SUNY tuition belongs to the Governor and the Legislature.

President Greiner spoke about the upcoming appearance by President Clinton at UB. The visit is the result of students raising the possibility and Douglas Turner of the Buffalo News querying President Clinton whether he ever waived his speaker’s fee. When the President proved willing to do so, staff at UB worked very quickly and enthusiastically to schedule the event. The Student Association will sponsor the appearance as the first “Students Choice Speaker Series.” Admission will be free, open primarily to students, but also to the UB community and friends of UB.

He wished the Senators the best of the holiday season. Several evenings ago he attended a Ramadan breaking of the fast dinner at the Islamic Society and was very moved by the experience. He was impressed by the many cultures sharing a common faith and the hospitality with which he was welcomed.

Item 3: Class Absence Policy

Lacking a quorum at the November meeting, the Faculty Senate was unable to take a final vote on the adoption of the Grading Committee’s Class Absence Policy. It did, however, suggest changes to the policy and, in a sense of the body vote, expressed its support of the resolution. The Policy presented at this meeting contains the changes discussed at the November meeting.

Professor Baumer, Chair of the Grading Committee, moved (seconded) for reconsideration of a motion defeated at the November meeting, viz., deleting the following sentence from the fifth paragraph of the Policy: “Students shall not experience any adverse or prejudicial effects due to the exercise of the provisions of this policy.” The motion passed without discussion.

Professor Baumer then moved (seconded) to delete the sentence under consideration.

• sentence was included to parallel the Student Handbook provision on student absence because of religious observance; on further consideration have decided it is not necessary to include it, that the sentence could, in fact, lead to disputes, and that the sentence should, therefore, be deleted (Professor Adams-Volpe)
• sentence should, perhaps, also be removed from other provision (Professor Schack)

The motion to delete the sentence passed.

Professor Baumer moved (seconded) to consider adoption of the Class Absence Policy as amended.

• policy has been greatly improved since its first reading; Committee should add to its comments section a statement of Professor Meacham quoted in the November minutes: “…an instructor may waive a justifiably missed activity and base the final grade on completed activities” (Professor Schack)
• third paragraph lists various justifiable absences; is the list exhaustive or illustrative? (Professor Wetherhold)
• sets the minimum upon which an instructor may expand (Professor Baumer)
• third paragraph also states that the student is responsible for completing alternative assignments; could the student just be asked to do the regular assignment? (Professor Wetherhold)
• Policy assumes that, but if there is a problem in completing the original assignment, the Policy requires an alternative be provided (Professor Baumer)

Professor Shucard moved (seconded) that the phrase “or other appropriate health care professional “ be added after the word “physician” in the first sentence of paragraph three.

• would, for example, cover mental health professionals (Professor Cohen)
• about 50% of the excuses I sign could have been signed by a physician’s assistant, a nurse practitioner or a psychologist (Professor Hassett)

The motion to amend the Policy passed. The motion to adopt the Policy as amended passed.

Item 4: Charter amendments –2nd reading

Professor Hopkins, Chair of the Bylaws Committee, summarized key changes to the Charter in the Committee’s proposal:

• Article IV (4) provides for a Senate of approximately 100 Senators and a cap of 25 Senators on any electoral unit having more than 25% of the Voting Faculty but less than 20% of UB’s total FTE students
• Article IV (5) requires that all candidates appearing on a ballot for Senator provide written acknowledgement that they are willing to serve if elected
• Article VI (1) (C) (5) provides that an electoral unit having more than 28 Senators is entitled to five representatives on the Faculty Senate Executive Committee
• Article VI (1) (E) (3) removes the term limit on Senators serving on the Executive Committee (proposed at the proposal’s November 1st reading)
  • need justification for the removal of the term limit on Executive Committee membership; my own experience is that even with term limits a small number of members dominate Executive Committee discussions; removing the term limit will exacerbate that reality (Professor Swartz)
  • because of the term limit on Senate membership, there is effectively a cap of four years on membership on the Executive Committee (Professor Cohen)
  • small electoral units have such great difficulty in finding someone to serve on the Executive Committee that the current term limit provision is ignored to ensure that the unit has some representation on the Executive Committee rather than none (Professor Hopkins)
  • would prior written consent be needed for inclusion on a nominating ballot? (Professor Sridhar)
  • no, only on the final ballot (Professor Baumer)
  • late notification of scheduled Senate meetings is one reason for absentee Senators (Professor Mahran)
  • meeting calendar is distributed at the beginning of the academic year, the calendar is posted at the Senate website, and an agenda is sent out a week beforehand (Professor Schack)
  • longer terms on the Executive Committee will promote members’ institutional memory, making the Committee more effective in talking with the President and the Provost about their plans and ideas (Professor Meacham)
  • current term limit permits a member of the Executive Committee to serve two consecutive years, take a one year break, and then serve a final year, so removing the limit is a very modest proposal; by switching roles one can serve indefinitely on the Executive Committee; this proposal levels the ground for the membership elected by Senators (Professor Schack)

There was a motion (seconded) to adopt the proposal as presented. The motion carried unanimously.

Item 5: Resolution Calling For Rational Funding for SUNY

Resolutions calling for a tuition increase and rational funding for SUNY were discussed at the October meeting of the SUNY Senate but not adopted. UB’s SUNY Senators opposed the resolutions believing it politically unwise for SUNY faculty to be the first to call for a tuition increase, and that the Governor and the Chancellor should take the lead in this matter.

Since then faculty governance bodies of various SUNY institutions have discussed similar resolutions, and the Faculty Senate at SUNY Fredonia endorsed two such resolutions. UB’s SUNY Senators asked for the Executive Committee’s advice in the event similar resolutions are brought forward at January’s SUNY Senate meeting. The Executive Committee suggested that the SUNY Senators draft an alternate resolution that supports rational funding policies for SUNY but does not explicitly tie that policy to increased tuition, which resolution would be discussed by this body.

Professor Adams-Volpe, SUNY Senator, drafted a resolution ending with the following: “Therefore, be it resolved that the Faculty Senate of the University at Buffalo endorses the establishment of a rational funding plan for the State University of New York that incorporates all available funding sources in a cohesive, coordinated process, and…that the Faculty Senate of the University at Buffalo calls on the Chancellor and the SUNY Board of Trustees to support a funding increase for the 2002-03 academic year based on a coordinated process integrating all available funding sources.” She asked for the sense of the Senate on the proposed resolution and whether UB’s SUNY Senators should introduce it.

• Faculty Senate should be silent on the matter (Professor Schack)
• presenting the resolution before the Executive Budget has been released is bad timing; wait till matters are clearer (President Greiner)
• if the SUNY Senators are to get the sense of their colleagues on this matter to fortify them for the January SUNY Senate meeting, the Faculty Senate must speak at this meeting (Professor Baumer)
• remove the second Whereas clause dealing with SUNY’s 2002-2003 budget so that the resolution only makes a statement on long term policy (President Greiner)
• New York seriously underfunds higher education, and many New Yorkers already find SUNY tuition beyond their means; resolution should simply say that New York should do what is right for its young people and for its own long term economic health (Professor Meacham)
• resolution is well crafted and supported by the comments of the this body, but I believe that the UB SUNY Senators should not introduce this resolution (Professor Schack)
• resolution should be built around the fact that New York ranks last among all states in per capita funding of higher education (Professor Hassett)
• this Senate should pass the resolution so the SUNY Senators have a constructive alternative to present; resolution should call for increased funding to raise New York’s rank in per capita funding (Professor Dickson)

The Chair, noted that it was not his intent to ask the Faculty Senate to adopt the resolution, but only to seek the advice of the Senate on it. He summarized the discussion as supportive of a resolution calling for greater and more rational support to public higher education by the State.

Item 6: SUNY Trustees

The Chair introduced Arnold Gardner, who served three terms as a SUNY Trustee, and Gordon Gross, a recently appointed SUNY Trustee. He noted their distinguished records of service to the Western New York community and to the State.

Mr. Gardner offered comments on a variety of matters:

• SUNY tuition
  • SUNY was created to provide access to people who would otherwise not be served, so he always supported low tuition which people could afford
  • at the same time must acknowledge that the September 11 tragedy has made these extraordinary times and that there has not been a tuition increase in six years
  • a tuition increase is a political issue, but not a partisan one; both Democratic and Republican governors find it difficult to raise tuition in a quadrennial election year
  • a tuition increase should be coupled with increased State support
• General Education
  • General Education plan adopted by the Board of Trustees replaced with very short notice a plan on which the SUNY Senate had worked hard causing tension within the system
  • Board of Trustees formed an Advisory Council on General Education; President Howard of Buffalo State College, a member of the Council, has been very influential in defusing that tension and making the program tolerably workable
  • no one group owns an institution’s curriculum, but each institution should have its own campus-based curriculum
  • concept of a core curriculum has been generally accepted
• SUNY Senate and the Board of Trustees
  • tension between the two bodies is lessening
  • certain fundamentals, like the right of the Chair of the SUNY Senate to speak at Trustees meetings, seem to have been accepted
  • if Trustees adopted a strong advocacy role, would be comfortable with the current situation
• Assessment and evaluation
  • should be a campus matter, though the System does have responsibility for the performance of its parts
• Adjuncts
  • UB has smaller percentage of adjuncts than it used to have, but more in total numbers as the size of the faculty has grown
  • adjuncts themselves get a bad deal; they work hard, are not paid adequately and aren’t held in esteem
  • also a bad deal because adjuncts are not fully accessible to students due to their limited contact with the University

Mr. Gross, as the newest Trustee, has attended two meetings of the Board and is anticipating an orientation. He gave several brief impressions:

• impressed with the Chancellor and the SUNY administrative officers
• Trustees have been assured that SUNY’s budget will not be cut, which is effectively a 13% raise because of New York’s anticipated $9B shortfall; have no reason to believe that SUNY or any other state agency will get an increase
  • flat budget does not reflect contractual increases, inflation and capital budget items that the colleges will have to meet (Mr. Gardner)
• Chancellor and the Board strongly support predictable increases in SUNY funding
• delighted with fund raising activities at SUNY campuses
  • how do the Trustees view the fact that New York nationally gives the least per capita support to public higher education? (Professor Cohen)
  • Trustees work up a budget request which is sent to the Governor; in the past the Board aggressively advocated for its budget

Item 7: Old/New business

The Chair announced that none of the faculty nominated for the position of Faculty Senate Secretary agreed to stand for election. He asked that members volunteer or nominate colleagues.

There being no other old/new business, the meeting adjourned at 4:00 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Marilyn McMann Kramer
Secretary of Faculty Senate

Present

Chair: M. Cohen
Secretary: M. Kramer
Arts & Sciences: W. Baumer, H. Bennett, B. Bono, J. Bono, J. Campbell, W. Chang, M. Churchill, D. Eddins, J. Faran. Schack, C. Fourtner. G. Baker, E. Kazmierczak, H. Luo, J. Meacham, A. Petrou, S. Schack, E. Scarlett
Dental Medicine: B. Boyd, E. DeNardin, G. Ferry, L. Ortman, J. Zambon
Education: J. Almasi, R. Gentile, L. Malave, R. Stevenson
Educational Opportunity Center: O. Mixon
Engineering & Applied Sciences: J. Mook, TJ. Mountziaris, R. Sridhar, R. Wetherhold
Health Related Professions: G. Farkas, P. Horvath, S. Nochajski
Informatics: J. Ellison
Law: E. Meidinger, L. Swartz
Management: S. Gunn, W. Lin, J. Ogden
Medicine & Biomedical Sciences: P. Bradford, W. Flynn, A. El Sohl, J. Hassett, M. Kulaylat, K. Mahran, B. Noble, R. Noble, S. Rudin, F. Schimpfhauser, D. Shucard
Nursing: T. Obst
Social Work: B. Rittner
SUNY Senators: J. Adams-Volpe, H. Durand
University Libraries: A. Booth, J. Dickson, W. Hepfer, J. Hopkins
University Officers: W. Greiner, President

Guests

S. Bennett, Physical Therapy, Exercise and Nutrition Sciences
V. Doyno, English
A. Gardner, SUNY Trustee, emeritus
G. Gross, SUNY Trustee
D. Longenecker, Reporter

Excused

Arts & Sciences: A. Cadenhead
Engineering: D. Malone
Medicine & Biomedical Sciences: L. Wild
SUNY Senators: P. Nickerson

Absent

Architecture: R. Shibley, H. Steiner
Arts & Sciences: J. Pappas, E. Segal
Education: J. Ernest
Management: M. Trivedi
Medicine & Biomedical Sciences: E. Egan, P. Glick, C. Granger, B. Grant, S. Greenberg, J. Izzo, T. Langan, R. Lee, R. Lifeso, B. Miller, S. Spurgeon, A. Vlauditu
Nursing: E. Perese
Pharmacy: E. Luzier
SUNY Senators: J. Boot

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