Faculty Council
Minutes of the meeting of April 12, 1993
0. Chairperson Steinberg called the meeting to order at 4:03 p.m.
1. Motion (F.Krohn/G.Baird): to adopt the published agenda. Motion passed.
2. Motion (M.Nelson/F.Krohn): to approve the minutes of the March 8, 1993 meeting as published. Motion passed.
3. President Donald A. MacPhee reported that the 1993 Commence- ment speaker would be Distinguished Teaching Professor Richard A. Gilman, 30-year veteran of the Fredonia Geosciences Department. He encouraged all faculty to be present on for Commencement on May 15. The president said SUNY's budget allocation from the legisla- ture had remained essentially unchanged from the governor's proposal, which was better than past year's. He said an $11.8 million cut remained in the budget, about 1% of the SUNY total, or about $260,000 for Fredonia if evenly distributed. He said TAP cuts were restored completely, both graduate and undergrad. He said that the ability to retain tuition for enrollments above target enrollment was retained, but that it would not make much difference on our campus this year. MacPhee said a shortfall would probably be felt in both freshman and first-time transfers. He said tuition deposits, throughout SUNY and at Fredonia were down, especially as regards transfer students. He said the college was doing all it could responsibly do. He hoped faculty would be involved in the coming Open House Weekend. He said that a budget shortfall plus an enrollment shortfall could have a serious impact. The President said he had met with the president of JCC hoping to eliminate direct competition between the two institutions. J.Straight asked whether the president would comment on the perception that students seem to be having difficulty getting graduate assistantships. MacPhee answered that he had not heard anything about graduate assistantship programs being closed. T.Steinberg commented that he had heard that applications to grad schools were way up this year. MacPhee opined that anxiety and concern about employment may be keeping students in grad school. M.R.Amiran commented that financial aid packages were slow in getting out in SUNY and elsewhere. MacPhee responded that Fredo- nia may have been relatively ahead of some of the other campuses in that regard, but noted that the whole process has been moving more slowly nationally and in New York. He added that there does not seem to be any evidence of a tide of late deposits to come.
4. Chairperson Theodore Steinberg noted that April and May are times Faculty Council receives written reports of administrative advisory committees and the standing committees, and asked those responsible for these to prepare them.
5. Faculty Senator H. Joseph Straight reported that the Univer- sity Faculty Senate would meet at Oswego next weekend.
6. Governance Committee chair Franklin Krohn reported that the committee had discussed the issue of the proposed FSA Bylaws revision. He said the committee urges all faculty, staff and students to become knowledgeable concerning the effects of the proposed changes in the FSA Bylaws, and to participate in the meetings and elections which will resolve the issue.
7. FSA Board director Jean Malinoski reported on the proposed changes to FSA's Bylaws. The other faculty FSA Board directors Tracy Bennett and John Malcolm joined her to answer questions. Malinoski said the process of revising the Bylaws had begun in February 1992 when FSA Board found that 25-member quorum require- ment was at odds with state laws requiring 100. She said at that time also SUNY was circulating new guidelines. She said the proposed Bylaws were developed to suit both of those needs. She said that changing from a membership corporation to a representa- tive board-only corporation, and the provision for unseating directors "with or without cause" were the main points of mem- bers' concern. She said the language used was attributable to the present membership corporation structure. Malinoski pointed out that the Alumni Association has moved to representative board-- only structure. A.Altobellis said that SA's procedure is to announce an FSA Board vacancy, receive letters of intent from candidates, then the SA President appoints board members from those who have offered their candidacy. G.McNeil asked whether the FSA Board's student members are selected by executives of SA, the Administration's members are appointed, and the faculty's are elected. Malinoski said, yes. M.R.Amiran noted that the proposed Bylaws language made it seem that any two faculty could remove the third "with or without cause" and without recourse to the constituent body. Malinoski said that if the change is made from a membership corporation to a representative board corporation the language would read "with cause," and that "cause" would be determined by the FSA Board. She said the intent is that the constituent group would decide on the removal of an FSA Board member. Amiran commented that the intent does not seem to be served by the proposed language. Malinoski responded that FSA Board had postponed the membership meeting at which the issue would be decided so that the constitu- ent groups can become familiar with the proposal. Amiran cau- tioned that "good faith" is not adequate to express things of such complexity and significance. Malinoski observed that the membership corporation structure may be retained. H.Jacobson asked who would decide this. Malino- ski replied that the membership of the present corporation would do so, and that FSA is still functioning under the existing By- laws. D.MacPhee commented that technically FSA is a membership corpora- tion, but it has been operating essentially as a representative corp. He asked whether the intent was to confirm past practice. Malinoski said it was. She said FSA would continue to have an annual meeting, even though that is not addressed in the Bylaws. J.Kraus commented that the membership concept is specious because at best FSA operates as a representative corporation. He said he was bothered by the removal clause, especially if some seats are appointments, not elected. A.Altobellis said FSA directors are obliged to report to their constituents. J.Malcolm added that the board's faculty representatives are concerned with faculty's eating at FSA facilities, and Bookstore issues. Malin- oski said there had not been any provision for the board's faculty representatives to be accountable to the Faculty Council. Malcolm voiced concern that the faculty are not well represented in FSA's project funding. Malinoski observed that FSA's are large and complex and highly regulated by the state. She advised that involving the general membership in FSA's decision making pro- cesses might serve nothing. J.Straight said it did not seem so very difficult to get 100 members to attend a meeting. He observed that if FSA plans to continue annual meetings even if no longer a membership corpora- tion, there will still be the challenge of getting the constitu- ents to attend. J.McVicker asked how the proposed change of corporation structure would include the classified staff as a constituency. Malinoski responded that the FSA Board would like to add a classified representative, and said that only one other suny campus has such representation. She said SUNY guidelines mention the other three constituencies (faculty, students, administra- tion) plus alumni, but not classified staff, which includes secretaries, nurses, public safety, and others. She noted that Foundation employees are left out. G.McNeil said the proposed section on conference call meetings could lead to misinterpretations concerning quorum for them, especially if all directors are not able to be notified of the conference call. Malinoski stated that directors are all well notified of meetings. McNeil said that this may need to be clarified, and that it is important that bylaws be drafted to outlive the current members of an organization. Malinoski said she thought the question could be addressed in the Bylaws. Kraus asked whether there were advantages to FSA's remaining a membership corporation. Malinoski said the advantage would be that at annual meetings the members can amend bylaws and the certificate of incorporation. She advised, however, that FSA could be more streamlined and efficient, and possibly more repre- sentative of the will of the constituents if defined as a repre- sentative corporation. M.Nelson noted that there was a sense that the members are being disenfranchised. He noted further that if the Board is now required to seek a 100-member quorum, it could engender more concern and involvement of the membership. Malinoski said again that she hoped FSA would still have an annual meeting, even if the new Bylaws are adopted. Altobellis commented that the Board had been dragging people in at the last minute in order to get even a 25-member quorum for annual meetings. Malinoski noted, however, that many faculty had not known that they were members. MacPhee asked whether the Board would remain the same regard- less of which corporation model was chosen. Malinoski said it would since the Board is defined by SUNY guidelines, adding that the present directors do not want to upset the existing balance. C.Niles asked what form is specified for the Board in the Certificate of Incorporation. Malinoski answered that the certif- icate specifies a board of from five to nine members. She noted that the Certificate of Incorporation would also require amending to accommodate the proposed Bylaws changes. She said such amend- ment also requires a vote of a 100-member quorum. T.Loughlin asked whether there is a difference between deter- mining cause for removal, and determining procedure for removal. Malinoski said that would be determined by constituent group. Straight said he thought some of the proposed Bylaws changes were ill-conceived even though well-intentioned. He noted that the provision requiring two teaching faculty may not be workable because the term "faculty" includes academic, professional, and administrative positions under the College Bylaws and Board of Trustees Policies. He said that if these points were brought before the membership, they would be sorted out and properly refined. Malinoski responded that the students felt very strongly that the faculty directors should include two teaching faculty. Altobellis said there had been confusion among the students as to who was "faculty" and who was not. She said that the student FSA directors felt that teaching faculty have a better idea of what students need. She added that students are very dependant on FSA for books and meals. Straight replied that the way to seat more teachers on the board is to get more of them to run for the board, not to restrict the composition of the board. T.Malinoski noted that there are some 4,500 students, as compared to several hundred others, in the membership. He asked whether there was an equivalent process to this discussion going on with the students. Altobellis answered that many students had not known they were members, only customers, and that FSA needs to do some p.r. with students. She said the apathy level was very high among students, and that it was valid to perceive a communi- cation gap here. J.Malinoski added that it has been very hard to get adequate student input. T.Kflu said the campus had just learned a few days ago that classified staff were included in the membership, and asked whether it would be appropriate to rename the corporation to reflect that. Malinoski said that would be very complicated, and that "FSA" was the name used on other campuses.
8. K.Mantai noted that Dead Week posed a problem in that there was no gap between the last class and the beginning of finals; hour exams are often back-to-back with finals. D.Hess said he was reluctant to tell faculty how to run their classes in regard to hour exams, but thought departmental faculties might want to deal with this. Altobellis said that as an RA she hears that policy on finals is not followed and that some professors do not care. Nelson asked whether hourlies were illegal on last day of classes. Hess said they were not. Mantai asked why start finals so soon after classes end. Steinberg replied that it is necessary if we want to have gradua- tion on time. J.Hansen remarked that this year's memo was well crafted. He asked what about the faculty member who gives an hourly in last week, then an optional final exam. He recommended referring the matter to committee for development of appropriate policy instead of attempting to deal with it in April each year. He said en- forcement and enforceability would be issues to be addressed. Steinberg asked that Mantai bring the matter up in the fall for Academic Affairs Committee to study. Mantai said he would do so.
9. Motion (M.Nelson/F.Krohn): to adjourn. Motion passed at 5:05 p.m.
Attendance:
Professional Staff, Management:
[x] K. Bonds (95)
[x] S. Clarke (93)
[E] V. Conover (93)
[x] D. Danielson (95)
[x] K. Harrington(94)
[x] T. Kflu (93)
[x] T. Malinoski (93)
[x] G. McNeil (95)
[x] C. Niles (94)
[x] M. Pabst (94)
[E] B. Servatius (93)[1]
[x] A. Wiedenbeck (95)
Arts, Education, Humanities:
[1] J. Burke (94)
[x] M. Charbonnet (93)
[x] N. Deal (94)
[x] J. Gillette (93)
[x] H. Jacobson (93)
[x] D. Kerzner (95)
[x] R. Klassen (95)
[x] T. Loughlin (93)
[x] K. Lucey (93)
[1] L. Maheady (94)
[x] J. McVicker (95)
[x] M. Nelson (93)
[x] J. Parla (95)
Natural and Social Sciences:
[x] G. Baird (94)
[x] J. Hansen (94)
[E] T. Janik (93)
[x] J. Kraus (95)
[x] F. Krohn (93)
[x] K. Mantai (93)
[x] A. Parai (95)
[E] J. Romal (93)
[x] T. Rywick (94)
[x] A. Sarker (95)
[x] P. Sinden (93)
[x] B.J. Stephens (95)
[x] M. Vassallo (95)
Student Representatives:
[x] A. Altobellis [1]
[x] N. Crino [1]
[1] S. Downey
[x] G. Schneider[2]
[ ] (vacant)
[ ] (vacant)
Ex Officio:
[x] J. Berkley [2]
[x] D. Burdette
[x] J. Crowley [1]
[1] M. Dimitri
[x] D. Hess [1]
[x] J. Hurtgen
[x] D. MacPhee
[x] T. McNeil
[x] M. Schagrin
[x] T. Steinberg
[x] J. Straight
[3] S. Warner
[x] A. Wheeler [1]
Guests:
Constance Willeford
Tracy Bennett Sullivan
Minda Rae Amiran
Jean Malinoski
Thomas McNeil, College Senate Secretary