MINUTES OF FREDONIA UNIVERSITY SENATE February 7, 2005
The Fredonia University Senate met on Monday, February 7, 2005, in Room 105, Fenton Hall. The meeting was called to order at 4:01 PM, chaired by Dick Reddy.
The agenda was approved.
Minutes of the meeting of Dec. 6, 2004, were approved.
Chair's Report
D. Reddy reported on an Executive Committee meeting with President Hefner where "Regular Faculty Meetings," as defined in the Bylaws, was discussed. A new procedure, having the faculty approve the awarding of degrees at each of the commencement ceremonies, was announced.
R. Barneva, Governance Officer, raised some issues related to changing the Bylaws based on the recent successful Bylaws change vote. The changes discussed are editorial in nature, and the Executive Committee wanted to inform the Senate before they were made.
V. Courtney, Faculty Secretary, brought the issue of Senate non-attendance before the body. Last semester, four or five senators had unexcused absences of more than the trigger for suspension stated in the Bylaws. The Executive Committee didn't feel comfortable applying suspension to members who may have been elected/appointed by their departments under the new structure. The Committee also wasn't sure if some of these absences might have been due to confusion over the nature of the changes, where Senators in the old structure will continue to serve until their original terms expire. One idea that the Committee had was to contact department chairs, inform them of the non-attendance, and have the department determine what it wants to do. If any Senator has any suggestions, please email either V. Courtney or D. Reddy.
President's Report
President Hefner reported on Chancellor King's presentations on campus with regard to the proposed tuition plan. He also reported that the two Vice President searches (Academic Affairs, and University Advancement) continue to bring candidates to campus. The VPUA search will begin the week of February 14, and four candidates will be interviewed.
The President reported that spring enrollment is looking very strong. Although actual head count is 32 below last year, students taking increased class loads have brought the highest Spring FTE enrollment ever.
He also commented on Federal policy changes that are likely to be dealt with in this Congressional session, where a desire to increase the value of Pell Grants has been expressed by the Bush administration. This my offset the administration has stated goal of eliminating the Perkins Loan program. He thought it interesting that the administration feels that "not very many" students receive Perkins Loans, since at Fredonia this year 958 students got them! Pres. Hefner noted that we have a high payment rate, and that allows Fredonia access to increased funding under the Perkins Loan program. He thought it might be a wash, but hasn't received enough detail to be able to really tell.
Pres. Hefner's final comments related to the University Commons construction. Steel is going up, and shipments of steel will be coming on an almost daily basis over the next several weeks.
A. Zevenbergen asked why adjunct funding is less. Pres. Hefner didn't feel it was less. Sen. Zevenbergen then asked if the Chairs had been asked to have fewer adjuncts. VPAA Faulk said that yes, Chairs had been asked to try to reduce the use of adjuncts. This was because the Fall 2005 semester had used more of the adjunct budget than had been expected. He reminded us that six tenure-track full-time lines are being advertised in an attempt to get the use of adjuncts to a lower level. This strategy will be employed whenever SUNY Fredonia can afford to transfer adjunct lines to full-time lines. He also said SUNY Fredonia will try to add sections when there is demand. Pres. Hefner added that adjunct money does move between departments each semester, and that may be where the perception of less money is coming from, as well.
VPAA Report
VPAA Faulk reported that the search for a new Dean of Natural and Social Sciences is continuing. Dean Schwartz indicated that five finalists will begin on campus interviews as early as the week of February 14, and will likely continue into the first week of March. VPAA Faulk told the body that at least 1000 applications had been received for the 25 searches the campus is now conducting. Some selections have already been made. The numbers do vary considerably depending on the search, from a high of around 200 for an Economics position to a low of 3, 4, 5 or 7 for some, especially some of the professional areas.
Randy Gadikian was asked to present the report of the Library Advisory Committee. He went over changes to the charge and composition of the Committee, which are being made because of the change in the University's structure. To be more in line with the Senate Bylaws, seats for Arts & Humanities and Natural & Social Sciences are being reduced from 3 to 2, and a seat for Education is being added. The seat for the Interdisciplinary Studies area is being dropped because of attendance, and some student seats are being added.
J. McVicker commented that she was sorry that the Interdisciplinary Studies were not going to be represented. She asked about the attendance reasoning. R. Gadikian said that it was not so much an attendance problem as the restructuring of the University that brought these changes. McVicker continued saying that the interdisciplinary programs continue to grow and evolve, and the departmental perspective doesn't always serve the needs of the interdisciplinary programs. She moved that the composition of the Library Advisory Committee include a representative of the interdisciplinary programs. B. Tomlinson seconded. There was no discussion. The motion passed by voice vote, with one abstention.
Academic Affairs Committee Report
Dr. Straight had notified Chair Reddy that he would not be able to be present due to illness, and Chair Reddy asked if there was any member of the Academic Affairs Committee who could present the report. Sen. Lee indicated she would be willing to.
Proposed new policy regarding grading consistency (tabled during the December, 2004, meeting)
At that point, the recommendation for the proposed new policy regarding grading consistency within a course was taken off the table, and was moved by the Committee. Liz Lee went over it briefly, since it had been presented at the December meeting, and had been tabled so the Senators could consult with their constituents.
Discussion ensued. H. Jacobson indicated a majority of his colleagues in Music would go along with this policy, but a lot want the flexibility. In Music, most of these courses that use S/U grading are zero credit. Some discussion about the nature of the policy ("course" or "section to section") caused campus Registrar Nan Bowser to indicate that flexibility had been seen on this campus between sections, but the Registrar has been seeing some inconsistency within a particular section of a course. Past practice has been that grading within a section must be consistent, either S/U or a letter grade. H. Jacobson raised the issue of recital seminars, where Music faculty might wish to use varying grading methods. He said that if forced to, the School of Music would probably go with the S/U option. Sen. Kershnar raised a question about Pass/Fail, and was reminded that P/F is not the same option as S/U. This policy deals with S/U only. He then asked if this policy is "inherent to the course" then does that mean a new teacher of the course would have no ability to change the grading method? Nan Bowser responded, saying this policy was asked for because the Registrar's Office was consulted by a department (or departments) who expected that a course would be graded a certain way, and then faculty from the department(s) submitted different grading than had been the department(s) policy, and by the time the change had been discovered, it was too late to change the grades. With web grading this can happen too easily. The Registrar maintained it was inappropriate to change the grade(s) after the fact. She feels that it is a departmental decision for grading for a course. If a department wants to allow complete flexibility, the department is going to have to have some sort of contract with the students. The Registrar will be unable to monitor such a system.
Sen. Simon asked don't faculty have to use a form to get a change in grading in a course? Otherwise, the Registrar doesn't permit it. N. Bowser responded affirmatively. B. Simon suggested that perhaps an entire new course with a different course number might be a possible way to achieve this flexibility. Is there room in the catalog for this approach? The Registrar responded if a department wants to be section specific, we will have to be explicit to the students in the syllabus. The students have to be made aware of what kind of grading will be used. The departments will have to decide each semester which sections are to be S/U and which not. If you allow flexible grading within a section, you are asking for problems. Sen. Grady then said that would make it important that it be known by students prior to registration. Sen. Milgram-Luterman suggested the possibility of having a grading by class level (seniors might get letter grades and freshmen would get S/U grading). N. Bowser indicated that such has never been the practice at Fredonia. In the past, we would make you choose at the course level, not with the sections of a course. She indicated that having grading different from section to section would be okay, but students would have to know in advance of registering. Sen. McVicker suggested perhaps using a different course number, as we do with independent studies that will be used in calculating a student's GPA. 490 would be a letter grade, 491 would be S/U only? N. Bowser said the Registrar's Office would prefer a course number level (for grading) for inclusion in the catalog. Past practice had uniformity within a section. This became an issue when the departments brought the issue to the Academic Affairs Committee. The Registrar's Office has an obligation to enforce grading policy.
Sen. Grady moved that grading policy language be amended to read "semester by semester by section." The motion was seconded. In discussion, N. Bowser said in such a scenario the Chairs will have to be very careful when they bring the courses forward. We would probably have to rely on the Notes column in the Course Offerings Bulletin, and students don't always read those notes!
D. Reddy re-read the motion. Sen. Feit discussed the wording of the motion, asking if it could be changed to "semester to semester and section to section". N. Bowser indicated that might help IF Chairs will monitor, but don't ask the Registrar's Office to! It will be the Chairs responsibility, and the syllabus must state the grading policy of the section from semester to semester. It would also have to be noted as a part of every new course proposal, and variable sections would have to be specified. Sen. Lee said the Committee was thinking "inherent to the course" would mean that 491 would be S/U, while 490 would be for a letter grade. Sen. Simon asked what if departments were directed to indicate which courses would be which way? N. Bowser said will do that anyway prior to moving to full web grading. Sen. Jacobson said that it ought to be in the departments, not the Registrar's. When a grade changes, the Dept. Head must sign it. N. Bowser indicated, yes. She then continued that Dept. Chairs don't see the rosters or the grading. D. Reddy then quoted Joe Straight in an email saying that if there was a "sensing of people's concerns" it would be acceptable to refer the matter back to the Committee. D. Reddy then asked if the Senate was ready to vote on the amendment. Sen. Grady then indicated that after all the discussion he wanted to withdraw the amendment. He then moved that he matter be referred back to the Academic Affairs Committee for further review. B. Tomlinson seconded.
There was no further discussion. The motion passed by unanimous voice vote.
Discussion Issue: Role of the Catalog within Academic Affairs
Sen. Lee then presented a report for discussion on the "Role of the Catalog within Academic Affairs". Essentially the Academic Affairs Committee is considering changing policy so that the PRINT version of the catalog would no longer be the official catalog that majors would contractually follow. Such a change in policy would allow changes to be made quicker, with more attention, and with less stress and impact on the Academic Affairs Committee and the various people, groups, and committees involved in the catalog preparation process. The Committee would like the official catalog to be on the SUNY Fredonia web site, with a new finished version put on it's own portion of the web site, and with all finished versions archived on the web site. The Committee is thinking that the catalog that becomes a contract with the student should be declared as the version of the catalog that is current when the student declares a major. Discussion was lively.
Sen. J. McVicker asked how would faculty, departments, students, advisors, etc., deal with knowing what changes were made when? Sen. Lee indicated that the intention was to have all "official" versions of the catalog available on the Fredonia web site with information as to the time period those versions were "official". Sen. Milgram-Luterman said that she liked the idea. Sen. Ehrlich asked how this would impact the CCC? Chair Reddy stated that students are responsible for making sure they complete all the requirements of the CCC. They must complete the CCC as it was stated when they first enrolled. Nan Bowser reinforced this, saying the CCC requirements must be those that are in place when the student first enrolls, not when the student declares a major. Mrs. Bowser then went on to say that the Registrar's Office is trying very hard to create an automated degree audit system within Banner, and that will be based on one semester, the student's ADMIT SEMESTER. The plan to have a catalog become the official catalog for a student upon the semester that they declare a major is not do-able in such a system. She also said this could cause complications for "liberal arts" students and those who change their major. No audit would be possible based on the time that they declare. Sen. M. Grady suggested it would make matters difficult for transfer students, as well. Sen. M. Vink suggested such a system would lead to more confusion, not less. Sen. A. Klein said that for international students (and American students who study abroad) the print version of their catalog is their "bible". Many countries cannot access an online catalog as quickly as it is possible here. VPAA Faulk said the Catalog Committee goes over everything every two years. Guidance counselors use the print catalog as a primary advising vehicle. We've talked about having an online catalog as the official in about 2008, and more discussion would be useful. Dean J. Burke said that the Graduate Council hasn't seen this recommendation at all, and feels if Fredonia moves toward this, it should be for the undergraduate catalog only. Nan Bowser then rose and asked the Committee members to very carefully define how and when programs will be allowed to change. Keep in mind that students register in spring for fall, therefore changes need to be in place by April. Who is going to do this work? Sen. M. Grady spoke to the legal aspect of this issue. The web is changeable. A printed catalog is static, and a true contract. Can the web be a contract, when it is possible to change it, without a printed version? Bob Rogers responded that there is the ability to "set in stone" web versions as much as any print version. It would be nice to be able to update programs once a year, instead of the mad dash every two years. Sen. Lee indicated the Committee would still be talking about these aspects of a web catalog. Sen. Milgram-Luterman said that she felt such an idea would be helpful. She didn't submit any changes to the catalog this year, because everything was going to be too rushed. This idea would allow people to submit changes when they needed to, and the changes would take effect at the appropriate time after appropriate review. Sen. B. Simon said he liked the idea, but it does need to be thought through carefully.
At this point, the Chair called for a motion to extend the meeting until 5:45 PM. This was moved and seconded, and passed by unanimous voice vote.
STUDENT AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
Jeremy Corrente updated the Senate on the results of the Dec. 2004 discussion regarding the Code of Conduct . Changes were made based on that discussion. Other changes could not be made, due to legal issues, SUNY System requirements, and local decisions. Sen. Kershnar spoke to several issues, but when it became apparent that he thought a motion was on the floor concerning this report, Chair Reddy ruled that there was no motion, the Code had been discussed and the concepts included in the Code had been voted on in the Dec. 2004 meeting, and this was merely a report to the Senate informing the body of resulting actions. Mr. Corrente also provided a summary of Judicial Board statistics for Senators to get a sense of the activities of that Board.
GENERAL EDUCATION COMMITTEE
Chair Reddy stepped down from the Chair to report on "Plusses and Minuses of Approaches to CCC Assessment (second draft)". Sen. T. Taylor asked if there had been any change at the State Level since our December 2004, briefing. D. Reddy and Pres. Hefner agreed that no changes had been reported. Bob Rogers, our University Senator, said that he had heard that the panels of "distinguished faculty" were being assembled, and that he had been asked to serve on the panel for the assessment of the Mathematics component. He felt that most of the panels would be in place by Feb. 23, 2005.
UNIVERSITY SENATOR
Bob Rogers reported that he had been unable to attend the most recent meeting of the SUNY University Senate, but that Khalid Siddiqui went in his absence. Dr. Siddiqui's report was appended to the agenda.
At this point, Chair Reddy asked for a motion to extend the meeting until 5:50 PM. This was moved and seconded, and passed by unanimous voice vote.
Sen. McVicker asked that given Colorado, is there any chance our University Senate (the SUNY wide Senate) will act against this "scary stuff"? There was some general discussion of the Academic Bill of Rights, of which we all ought to become cognizant. At least one member of the Board of Trustees is pushing its adoption in New York. This was followed by general commentary on the role of the Board.
It was moved and seconded that the meeting be adjourned. The motion passed on unanimous voice vote. The meeting was adjourned at 5:50 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Vincent Courtney Faculty Secretary
College Senate
MINUTES OF FREDONIA UNIVERSITY SENATE February 7, 2005
The Fredonia University Senate met on Monday, February 7, 2005, in Room 105, Fenton Hall. The meeting was called to order at 4:01 PM, chaired by Dick Reddy.
The agenda was approved.
Minutes of the meeting of Dec. 6, 2004, were approved.
Chair's Report
D. Reddy reported on an Executive Committee meeting with President Hefner where "Regular Faculty Meetings," as defined in the Bylaws, was discussed. A new procedure, having the faculty approve the awarding of degrees at each of the commencement ceremonies, was announced.
R. Barneva, Governance Officer, raised some issues related to changing the Bylaws based on the recent successful Bylaws change vote. The changes discussed are editorial in nature, and the Executive Committee wanted to inform the Senate before they were made.
V. Courtney, Faculty Secretary, brought the issue of Senate non-attendance before the body. Last semester, four or five senators had unexcused absences of more than the trigger for suspension stated in the Bylaws. The Executive Committee didn't feel comfortable applying suspension to members who may have been elected/appointed by their departments under the new structure. The Committee also wasn't sure if some of these absences might have been due to confusion over the nature of the changes, where Senators in the old structure will continue to serve until their original terms expire. One idea that the Committee had was to contact department chairs, inform them of the non-attendance, and have the department determine what it wants to do. If any Senator has any suggestions, please email either V. Courtney or D. Reddy.
President's Report
President Hefner reported on Chancellor King's presentations on campus with regard to the proposed tuition plan. He also reported that the two Vice President searches (Academic Affairs, and University Advancement) continue to bring candidates to campus. The VPUA search will begin the week of February 14, and four candidates will be interviewed.
The President reported that spring enrollment is looking very strong. Although actual head count is 32 below last year, students taking increased class loads have brought the highest Spring FTE enrollment ever.
He also commented on Federal policy changes that are likely to be dealt with in this Congressional session, where a desire to increase the value of Pell Grants has been expressed by the Bush administration. This my offset the administration has stated goal of eliminating the Perkins Loan program. He thought it interesting that the administration feels that "not very many" students receive Perkins Loans, since at Fredonia this year 958 students got them! Pres. Hefner noted that we have a high payment rate, and that allows Fredonia access to increased funding under the Perkins Loan program. He thought it might be a wash, but hasn't received enough detail to be able to really tell.
Pres. Hefner's final comments related to the University Commons construction. Steel is going up, and shipments of steel will be coming on an almost daily basis over the next several weeks.
A. Zevenbergen asked why adjunct funding is less. Pres. Hefner didn't feel it was less. Sen. Zevenbergen then asked if the Chairs had been asked to have fewer adjuncts. VPAA Faulk said that yes, Chairs had been asked to try to reduce the use of adjuncts. This was because the Fall 2005 semester had used more of the adjunct budget than had been expected. He reminded us that six tenure-track full-time lines are being advertised in an attempt to get the use of adjuncts to a lower level. This strategy will be employed whenever SUNY Fredonia can afford to transfer adjunct lines to full-time lines. He also said SUNY Fredonia will try to add sections when there is demand. Pres. Hefner added that adjunct money does move between departments each semester, and that may be where the perception of less money is coming from, as well.
VPAA Report
VPAA Faulk reported that the search for a new Dean of Natural and Social Sciences is continuing. Dean Schwartz indicated that five finalists will begin on campus interviews as early as the week of February 14, and will likely continue into the first week of March. VPAA Faulk told the body that at least 1000 applications had been received for the 25 searches the campus is now conducting. Some selections have already been made. The numbers do vary considerably depending on the search, from a high of around 200 for an Economics position to a low of 3, 4, 5 or 7 for some, especially some of the professional areas.
Randy Gadikian was asked to present the report of the Library Advisory Committee. He went over changes to the charge and composition of the Committee, which are being made because of the change in the University's structure. To be more in line with the Senate Bylaws, seats for Arts & Humanities and Natural & Social Sciences are being reduced from 3 to 2, and a seat for Education is being added. The seat for the Interdisciplinary Studies area is being dropped because of attendance, and some student seats are being added.
J. McVicker commented that she was sorry that the Interdisciplinary Studies were not going to be represented. She asked about the attendance reasoning. R. Gadikian said that it was not so much an attendance problem as the restructuring of the University that brought these changes. McVicker continued saying that the interdisciplinary programs continue to grow and evolve, and the departmental perspective doesn't always serve the needs of the interdisciplinary programs. She moved that the composition of the Library Advisory Committee include a representative of the interdisciplinary programs. B. Tomlinson seconded. There was no discussion. The motion passed by voice vote, with one abstention.
Academic Affairs Committee Report
Dr. Straight had notified Chair Reddy that he would not be able to be present due to illness, and Chair Reddy asked if there was any member of the Academic Affairs Committee who could present the report. Sen. Lee indicated she would be willing to.
Proposed new policy regarding grading consistency (tabled during the December, 2004, meeting)
At that point, the recommendation for the proposed new policy regarding grading consistency within a course was taken off the table, and was moved by the Committee. Liz Lee went over it briefly, since it had been presented at the December meeting, and had been tabled so the Senators could consult with their constituents.
Discussion ensued. H. Jacobson indicated a majority of his colleagues in Music would go along with this policy, but a lot want the flexibility. In Music, most of these courses that use S/U grading are zero credit. Some discussion about the nature of the policy ("course" or "section to section") caused campus Registrar Nan Bowser to indicate that flexibility had been seen on this campus between sections, but the Registrar has been seeing some inconsistency within a particular section of a course. Past practice has been that grading within a section must be consistent, either S/U or a letter grade. H. Jacobson raised the issue of recital seminars, where Music faculty might wish to use varying grading methods. He said that if forced to, the School of Music would probably go with the S/U option. Sen. Kershnar raised a question about Pass/Fail, and was reminded that P/F is not the same option as S/U. This policy deals with S/U only. He then asked if this policy is "inherent to the course" then does that mean a new teacher of the course would have no ability to change the grading method? Nan Bowser responded, saying this policy was asked for because the Registrar's Office was consulted by a department (or departments) who expected that a course would be graded a certain way, and then faculty from the department(s) submitted different grading than had been the department(s) policy, and by the time the change had been discovered, it was too late to change the grades. With web grading this can happen too easily. The Registrar maintained it was inappropriate to change the grade(s) after the fact. She feels that it is a departmental decision for grading for a course. If a department wants to allow complete flexibility, the department is going to have to have some sort of contract with the students. The Registrar will be unable to monitor such a system.
Sen. Simon asked don't faculty have to use a form to get a change in grading in a course? Otherwise, the Registrar doesn't permit it. N. Bowser responded affirmatively. B. Simon suggested that perhaps an entire new course with a different course number might be a possible way to achieve this flexibility. Is there room in the catalog for this approach? The Registrar responded if a department wants to be section specific, we will have to be explicit to the students in the syllabus. The students have to be made aware of what kind of grading will be used. The departments will have to decide each semester which sections are to be S/U and which not. If you allow flexible grading within a section, you are asking for problems. Sen. Grady then said that would make it important that it be known by students prior to registration. Sen. Milgram-Luterman suggested the possibility of having a grading by class level (seniors might get letter grades and freshmen would get S/U grading). N. Bowser indicated that such has never been the practice at Fredonia. In the past, we would make you choose at the course level, not with the sections of a course. She indicated that having grading different from section to section would be okay, but students would have to know in advance of registering. Sen. McVicker suggested perhaps using a different course number, as we do with independent studies that will be used in calculating a student's GPA. 490 would be a letter grade, 491 would be S/U only? N. Bowser said the Registrar's Office would prefer a course number level (for grading) for inclusion in the catalog. Past practice had uniformity within a section. This became an issue when the departments brought the issue to the Academic Affairs Committee. The Registrar's Office has an obligation to enforce grading policy.
Sen. Grady moved that grading policy language be amended to read "semester by semester by section." The motion was seconded. In discussion, N. Bowser said in such a scenario the Chairs will have to be very careful when they bring the courses forward. We would probably have to rely on the Notes column in the Course Offerings Bulletin, and students don't always read those notes!
D. Reddy re-read the motion. Sen. Feit discussed the wording of the motion, asking if it could be changed to "semester to semester and section to section". N. Bowser indicated that might help IF Chairs will monitor, but don't ask the Registrar's Office to! It will be the Chairs responsibility, and the syllabus must state the grading policy of the section from semester to semester. It would also have to be noted as a part of every new course proposal, and variable sections would have to be specified. Sen. Lee said the Committee was thinking "inherent to the course" would mean that 491 would be S/U, while 490 would be for a letter grade. Sen. Simon asked what if departments were directed to indicate which courses would be which way? N. Bowser said will do that anyway prior to moving to full web grading. Sen. Jacobson said that it ought to be in the departments, not the Registrar's. When a grade changes, the Dept. Head must sign it. N. Bowser indicated, yes. She then continued that Dept. Chairs don't see the rosters or the grading. D. Reddy then quoted Joe Straight in an email saying that if there was a "sensing of people's concerns" it would be acceptable to refer the matter back to the Committee. D. Reddy then asked if the Senate was ready to vote on the amendment. Sen. Grady then indicated that after all the discussion he wanted to withdraw the amendment. He then moved that he matter be referred back to the Academic Affairs Committee for further review. B. Tomlinson seconded.
There was no further discussion. The motion passed by unanimous voice vote.
Discussion Issue: Role of the Catalog within Academic Affairs
Sen. Lee then presented a report for discussion on the "Role of the Catalog within Academic Affairs". Essentially the Academic Affairs Committee is considering changing policy so that the PRINT version of the catalog would no longer be the official catalog that majors would contractually follow. Such a change in policy would allow changes to be made quicker, with more attention, and with less stress and impact on the Academic Affairs Committee and the various people, groups, and committees involved in the catalog preparation process. The Committee would like the official catalog to be on the SUNY Fredonia web site, with a new finished version put on it's own portion of the web site, and with all finished versions archived on the web site. The Committee is thinking that the catalog that becomes a contract with the student should be declared as the version of the catalog that is current when the student declares a major. Discussion was lively.
Sen. J. McVicker asked how would faculty, departments, students, advisors, etc., deal with knowing what changes were made when? Sen. Lee indicated that the intention was to have all "official" versions of the catalog available on the Fredonia web site with information as to the time period those versions were "official". Sen. Milgram-Luterman said that she liked the idea. Sen. Ehrlich asked how this would impact the CCC? Chair Reddy stated that students are responsible for making sure they complete all the requirements of the CCC. They must complete the CCC as it was stated when they first enrolled. Nan Bowser reinforced this, saying the CCC requirements must be those that are in place when the student first enrolls, not when the student declares a major. Mrs. Bowser then went on to say that the Registrar's Office is trying very hard to create an automated degree audit system within Banner, and that will be based on one semester, the student's ADMIT SEMESTER. The plan to have a catalog become the official catalog for a student upon the semester that they declare a major is not do-able in such a system. She also said this could cause complications for "liberal arts" students and those who change their major. No audit would be possible based on the time that they declare. Sen. M. Grady suggested it would make matters difficult for transfer students, as well. Sen. M. Vink suggested such a system would lead to more confusion, not less. Sen. A. Klein said that for international students (and American students who study abroad) the print version of their catalog is their "bible". Many countries cannot access an online catalog as quickly as it is possible here. VPAA Faulk said the Catalog Committee goes over everything every two years. Guidance counselors use the print catalog as a primary advising vehicle. We've talked about having an online catalog as the official in about 2008, and more discussion would be useful. Dean J. Burke said that the Graduate Council hasn't seen this recommendation at all, and feels if Fredonia moves toward this, it should be for the undergraduate catalog only. Nan Bowser then rose and asked the Committee members to very carefully define how and when programs will be allowed to change. Keep in mind that students register in spring for fall, therefore changes need to be in place by April. Who is going to do this work? Sen. M. Grady spoke to the legal aspect of this issue. The web is changeable. A printed catalog is static, and a true contract. Can the web be a contract, when it is possible to change it, without a printed version? Bob Rogers responded that there is the ability to "set in stone" web versions as much as any print version. It would be nice to be able to update programs once a year, instead of the mad dash every two years. Sen. Lee indicated the Committee would still be talking about these aspects of a web catalog. Sen. Milgram-Luterman said that she felt such an idea would be helpful. She didn't submit any changes to the catalog this year, because everything was going to be too rushed. This idea would allow people to submit changes when they needed to, and the changes would take effect at the appropriate time after appropriate review. Sen. B. Simon said he liked the idea, but it does need to be thought through carefully.
At this point, the Chair called for a motion to extend the meeting until 5:45 PM. This was moved and seconded, and passed by unanimous voice vote.
STUDENT AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
Jeremy Corrente updated the Senate on the results of the Dec. 2004 discussion regarding the Code of Conduct . Changes were made based on that discussion. Other changes could not be made, due to legal issues, SUNY System requirements, and local decisions. Sen. Kershnar spoke to several issues, but when it became apparent that he thought a motion was on the floor concerning this report, Chair Reddy ruled that there was no motion, the Code had been discussed and the concepts included in the Code had been voted on in the Dec. 2004 meeting, and this was merely a report to the Senate informing the body of resulting actions. Mr. Corrente also provided a summary of Judicial Board statistics for Senators to get a sense of the activities of that Board.
GENERAL EDUCATION COMMITTEE
Chair Reddy stepped down from the Chair to report on "Plusses and Minuses of Approaches to CCC Assessment (second draft)". Sen. T. Taylor asked if there had been any change at the State Level since our December 2004, briefing. D. Reddy and Pres. Hefner agreed that no changes had been reported. Bob Rogers, our University Senator, said that he had heard that the panels of "distinguished faculty" were being assembled, and that he had been asked to serve on the panel for the assessment of the Mathematics component. He felt that most of the panels would be in place by Feb. 23, 2005.
UNIVERSITY SENATOR
Bob Rogers reported that he had been unable to attend the most recent meeting of the SUNY University Senate, but that Khalid Siddiqui went in his absence. Dr. Siddiqui's report was appended to the agenda.
At this point, Chair Reddy asked for a motion to extend the meeting until 5:50 PM. This was moved and seconded, and passed by unanimous voice vote.
Sen. McVicker asked that given Colorado, is there any chance our University Senate (the SUNY wide Senate) will act against this "scary stuff"? There was some general discussion of the Academic Bill of Rights, of which we all ought to become cognizant. At least one member of the Board of Trustees is pushing its adoption in New York. This was followed by general commentary on the role of the Board.
It was moved and seconded that the meeting be adjourned. The motion passed on unanimous voice vote. The meeting was adjourned at 5:50 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Vincent Courtney Faculty Secretary
© 2006 SUNY Fredonia