College Senate
Minutes of the meeting of September 8, 2003
The College Senate met in Fenton 105 on Monday, September 8, 2003.
College Senate Chair Joseph Chilberg called the meeting to order at 4:03 P.M.
He started out welcoming everyone, especially the new Senators, then reminding those in attendance that Senators should be seated in the first six rows of the room, with visitors sitting in the rear. He also reminded Senators to sign in using the sign-in sheet and that there were some reports available on the desk with the sign-in sheet. Chair Chilberg encouraged faculty who anticipated making a motion prior to the meeting, especially if its wording is complicated to write it out ahead of time to be placed on the agenda. If making a motion during the meeting, writing it down would also be helpful. He then announced that he was appointing Dick Reddy to serve as Parliamentarian for 2003-2004.
1. The proposed agenda was approved unanimously (Watters, Courtney) with item number 8 being postponed until the October meeting.
2. The minutes of the May 2003 meeting were approved unanimously (Jacobson, Corrente).
3. Report of the Chair of the Senate.
Chair Joseph Chilberg reported that President Hefner had approved two policies, which the Senate had passed during the Spring 2003 semester: the Academic Integrity Policy and the Teaching Evaluation Policy.
There are the Senate seat vacancies in the Arts and Humanities area. An election is forthcoming.
Chilberg indicated that the Chancellor's Office will be conducting a routine performance review of President Hefner and governance will be conducting its own administrative review of the president as called for in the bylaws. He called on all Senators and all members of the faculty and professional staff to send their observations on President Hefner to the Administrative Review Committee, Ballot Box, Mailroom no later than Friday, September 19th. Chilberg then called for the approval of the nominees to serve on the committee (Vivian Conover, Jefferson Westwood, Peter Schoenbach, Jacky Swansinger, Bill Foeller, and Melinda Karnes with Dick Reddy serving as liaison between the committee and the Executive Committee of the Senate). The list was approved unanimously.
Chilberg then reminded the Senate that the Senate Task Force on Participation in Academic Governance had presented three alternative representational models to the Senate during the May 2003 meeting and that they had been posted on the Senate webpage.
The Task Force's chair, Charlie Davis was given the floor to make his report. He noted that the Task Force had look at representational models from SUNY campuses and from other campuses as well, assessing their pros and cons. The Task Force was hoping to find ways of increasing the breadth of participation since some departments frequently lacked representation. There was also a concern about disproportionate representation, with some departments having more representation than their size would warrant. It was also hoping to find a model, which would be efficient to administer. He then reviewed our current representation model and three others: an "at large" model, a "departmental" model, and a "hybrid" model.
Davis indicated that it is expected that there will be a decision and vote this fall semester. If an alternative is approved by the faculty, there will be a transition period to the new model. All those already elected to serve would continue to serve out their terms, in many instances being slotted into the appropriate positions as specified by the model. During the next Senate meeting, that of October 20th, the Senate will receive the results of a straw ballot of the entire voting faculty, the straw balloting being done to see which, if any, alternatives have the most support. The straw balloting is expected to take place during the last week of September.
During the discussion that followed Jan McVicker observed that the models did not have provisions for representation of the interdisciplinary studies area. The focus then shifted to how representation would increase (or decrease) for some areas. There are no changes proposed for student or ex officio representation. Michael Grady expressed a concern that with the departmental model it would be possible for an incumbent to stay on as a Senator "for the rest of his/her life," which would exclude younger people from participating. He liked the idea of some "at large" Senators. It was noted that issues such as limiting representation to those who are have continuing or permanent appointment and term limits could be brought up for a vote during the Senate's deliberations in October.
4. Report of College President Dennis Hefner. President Hefner stated he was pleased to welcome everyone back and noted that the beginning of the year had started very well. He expressed appreciation to faculty members who had increased the numbers of students in their classes so that students had access to them.
Enrollment was about as expected. We have a slightly smaller headcount, due in large measure to our having had a very large graduating class in May. We had a good show up rate. We were down an anticipated 40-50 in headcount, but tuition monies are fine. Graduate enrollments are up slightly. FTEs are where they were last year.
On the SUNY presidential evaluation process, Hefner observed that while annual reviews were done, Albany fell behind with five-year reviews. He is now in his 8th year, but this year's will be the equivalent of the five-year review. Later this year, a former chancellor of the University of Georgia, Steve Portch, will be on campus. There will be at least one open campus-wide meeting.
Fredonia was in the top 12 in the Northeast in U.S. News and World Report's annual rankings of colleges. Unfortunately, they officially list only the top 10. We were hurt by three of the measures, which are financially driven. Because of large cuts, we did poorly in all three. We did well on student retention rates and on graduation rates. So, we can say that we're in the top dozen in the Northeast and we can say we were very strong on key indicators.
On the budget, Hefner stated that both he and Vice President Tracy Bennett were doing their best to determine the extent of a possible mid-year budget cut, but so far, there has been no news. The longer it takes for that information to get out, the better it probably is for us. It is likely that the amount will be smaller than originally was being talked about. The best bet is probably about 3% or less, but there are no guarantees. New York is likely to have a $1 billion surplus this year, but it is facing a $4 billion deficit next year. Things will be tight next year, but not nearly as drastic as this past year when the State was facing a $12 billion deficit. We will not be releasing the monies set aside to cover the cut (equipment money and money for library acquisitions) until we do get the final word on the cut.
In order to save money, the President's Office will be trying to be paperless unless contractually required. Messages and announcements will be done via e-mail to everyone, except for those few parts of the campus, which have no e-mail access. So, we'll be saving a few trees and a few dollars.
5. Report of Vice President for Academic Affairs, A.I. Musah. Vice President Musah reported that as a part of our preparation for the NCATE accreditation visit, the School of Education and the Professional Education Unit will be having a mock run-through with visitors who have NCATE experience.
He went on to mention the development of the J-term, an instructional period between the end of the fall semester and the beginning of the spring semester. Student interests and concerns have been explored and the faculty are being surveyed in terms of their willingness to teach during this period of time. It is hoped that the J-term will be a source of additional revenue to the college.
Academic Affairs is exploring the possibility of organizational realignment. It is looking at the adequacy of its existing structure and what sort of structure would best facilitate its vision for the future. An ad hoc committee of about 15 individuals will look at various models, including models used at other institutions. There will be open discussion forums on this during the week of September 15th and their report will be finished by the end of that week. All are encouraged to participate.
A Strategic Planning Committee including faculty, staff and students will be working on plans for the next five years. If interested in serving, you may volunteer. The intent is to be very inclusive.
Associate Vice President Len Faulk then introduced the updating of the five year Academic Master Plan, noting that this was the second reading, the first reading having taken place during the Senate meeting in May. The plan includes new majors and the schedule for program review. The plan was approved unanimously (Courtney, Nelson).
6. Vice President for Student Affairs David Herman presented a report on diversity. He started out by noting that this year we have had an increase of between 20 and 25 first-time, full-time freshmen. Turning to diversity issues per se, he stated that the Diversity Committee had been examining the changing demographics of 18 year olds in New York State. Our state is becoming more diverse and our student body must become more diverse. We currently have between 250 and 260 students of color and the goal for 2010 is to increase those numbers to 520 or so, roughly doubling their presence on campus. In 2003, we our goal was to have 100 new students of color. We actually have 107. This was the first time in over two decades that our numbers were over 100. A number of SUNY campuses are increasing their efforts to attract students of color. Cortland is an example. It developed an Urban Teaching Program based on their strengths in education and based on their recognition that about half of the teachers in New York City lack certification. We will need to explore the possibility of program changes in order to enhance diversity.
7. SUNY Senator Bob Rogers reported on the question of SUNY-wide student learning outcome assessment. On June 17th, the SUNY Board of Trustees adopted a resolution establishing such an assessment process. The only dissenting vote was from the student representative on the board. A faculty panel is being created to develop this program. The Senate of Empire State College has passed a resolution opposing such assessment.
Rogers indicated that he would be in Albany on Thursday and on Friday at a meeting for new Senators. While there, he would be trying to get a better sense of who the players are in this. Many faculty tend to believe that system-wide assessment is inappropriate and won't work because SUNY has so many different types of campuses. But work is being done on a memorandum of understanding between the Senate and SUNY regarding how student learning outcome assessment would be done. The memorandum is intended to allay faculty fears and concerns. The negotiations on this are on going.
Harry Watters, who serves on the statewide Senate Student Life Committee, noted that Trustee Candace de Russy was the driving force behind this idea.
8. There was no new business
9. The Senate adjourned at 5:05 P.M. (Jacobson, Lee).
Meeting adjourned at 6:00.
Minutes prepared by Senate Vice Chair Dick Reddy