CCSU Faculty Senate
Minutes—December 2, 2002
VAC 105 3:00 PM
Members Present:
Altieri, Austad, Benfield, Best, Blitz, Braverman, Calvert, Crundwell, Dimmick, Duquette, Foshey, Fried, Gallagher, Gilmore, Gotchev, Hicks, Hedlund, Kaplan, Kim, Kleinert, Knox, Leake, Marlor, Martin-Troy, Mezvinsky, Mueller, O’Connell, Osterreich, Passero, Petkova, Sarisley, Sevitch, Sweeney, Terry, Terezakis, Thornton, Watson, Williams.
Ex Officio Members: Provost Bartelt, Deans Lemma, Pease, Kremens, Root, and Whitford.
Guests:
Dr David Walsh, President CSU-AAUP.
Matthew Warshauer Chair, Academic Standards Committee.
Chris Pudlinski, Chair Curriculum Committee
President Best arrived before 2.50 and opened the meeting at 3.03.
- Approval of Minutes of 11/18/02
Sen. Crundwell noted that under Item 4 (a) there had been no record of abstentions and the minutes should be amended accordingly to record only that the motion was carried (not unanimously).
Motion to approve Minutes of
Martin-Troy/Crundwell
CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY
- Announcements
a. AAUP Report.
Sen. Austad introduced Dr David Walsh, President of CSU-AAUP and faculty member at Southern Connecticut State University. Dr Walsh distributed a Budget Deficit and Worker Concession Fact Sheet (attached as separate document). Some major points of his presentation were:
· The issue was not expenses but revenue
· To meet revenue needs there will need to be a thorough over haul of the system for by fee increase alone this will dramatically affect the unique and special type of student we have viz:
o Students from families with lower incomes
o Students who are attending University as the first member from their family ever to attend university
o Students who are working
Questions of Dr Walsh:
Sen. Martin-Troy: Will any faculty be laid off?
Dr Walsh: Contract states that notice must be given by April 1 for lay-off’s to take place the following year and such notice has NOT been given. First-year faculty are not protected by this condition and hence are vulnerable. Similarly with the issues of release time on the table part timers must also be considered at risk.
Sen. Martin-Troy: How will he obtain faculty input on givebacks?
Dr Walsh: We are really at stage one of twelve or so stages. There is, as yet, little to put before the members. Once he has something concrete he will undertake a referendum on such issues. His trips to all CSU member campuses are part of this obtaining input.
Sen. Ostereich: This governor and general assembly was elected to manage and govern...how can the governor just lay off 3,000 employees?
Dr Walsh: Under State Law he can decrease state employment by 5% without going to the general assembly and that he has done.
Sen. Sevitch: How will this affect Faculty searches?
Dr Walsh: Did not know. While there are verbal freezes in effect there has been little evidence. He suggested to senate that search committees go ahead until stopped.
Dr Warshauer: Has anything come of the ‘closed website†whereby CSU faculty can talk to each other in a secure environment.
Dr Walsh: Not directly aware of this need from the past but the idea is good and he will follow up.
President Best sincerely thanked Dr Walsh and Dr Walsh received the senate’s applause for his presence, efforts and time.
- Senate Committee Reports
a. Joint Resolution of University Planning and Budget Committee and the Information Technology Committee. Sens. Blitz and Altieri
Sen. Altieri: CCSU is losing money on online courses. A resolution of the Board of Trustees requires that all online courses be offered through OnlineCSU. Although we use WebCT at CCSU to enhance our traditional courses, we cannot use the platform to deliver courses online. We must use the OnLineCSU WebCT server.
CSU system has contracted with an outside party to run this service and CCSU must thus pay a fee ($115.00 per credit). CCSU collects a $35 fee from each student who enrolls in an online course. For full time students, who do not pay additional tuition to enroll in online courses, CCSU loses $310.00 for every person who takes a three credit on-line course. Unless the online courses attracts a large number of outside students who pay additional tuition, CCSU faces a loss on the course. During the summer and winter sessions, when most students pay tuition to take a course, CCSU can run a surplus on a course with a smaller number of students.
The resolution comes out of Budget and Planning and is intended to make this a sensible fee structure.
Sen. Blitz: This resolution is the culmination of at least four meetings, takes into account both strategic planning and budgetary considerations. From the strategic planning point of view it is proposed to focus OnLine CSU couurse offerings on graduate level programs as recommended by the Board of Trustees. From a budgetary point of view it has been calculated that if instead of a class of 30 students in the classroom they all took the same course as on-line CSU there would be a loss to CCSU of $ 9,300.00.
Sen. Altieri: Budget and planning had wished greater faculty input and had this referred it to the Information Technology Committee who had held a “public hearing:†for faculty and all (except one faculty member) supported the resolution.
MOTION (Altieri/Crundwell) that:
Whereas:
(1) The Board of Trustees has stipulated that all courses offered online for academic credit be offered through OnlineCSU.
(2) The Board of Trustees has stated in its Resolution concerning Online Learning in the CSU System (June 14, 2002) "Based on considerations of market need, Online CSU should focus on the establishment and maintenance of online graduate programs resulting in the attainment of a masters degree" (section 1C).
(3) The System Office has determined that there is a per-credit fee of $65 for vendor cost and $50 for staff cost which is returned to the system office.
(4) A development stipend will be paid according to article 10.5 of the collective Bargaining Agreement.
(5) CSU, and as a result CCSU, is facing decreased budget support from the state, making it more and more difficult to meet in class demand for classes in the Fall and Spring terms.
Be it resolved that:
(1) Courses offered by CCSU through OnlineCSU in fall and spring semesters must be (a) part of a graduate program which is exclusively or substantially offered online, or (b) an essential online component of some other program, as specially justified by the offering department or program.
(2) Courses offered by CCSU through OnlineCSU in winter and summer sessions, except those covered by 1(a) above, must meet the costs of the instructor's salary, $1000 for course development, and the $115 per credit vendor/staff cost.
(3) That this resolution Online CSU passed unanimously by the University Planning and Budget Committee Nov. 20, 2002 and passed unanimously by the Information Technology Committee Nov. 22, 2002 be submitted to the University Senate for approval.
CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY
b. Academic Standards Committee. Matt Warshauer
Dr Warshauer, Chair of the Academic Standards Committee, presented a report to the Faculty Senate on two items that were recently passed by the committee. A revised course repeats policy and a revised grade appeals policy.
http://www.ccsu.edu/facsenate/Agendas/2002-03/Attachments/GradeChangePolicy.htm
MOTION to accept the Grade Appeals Policy
Crundwell/Martin-Troy
CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY
http://www.ccsu.edu/facsenate/Agendas/2002-03/Attachments/CourseRepeatPolicy.htm
Sen. Hicks: ...would like to give Deans more discretion in this area.
Dr Warshauer: The committee spoke about this at length and did not wish to specifically put in discretionary powers in large part because Deans were seen to already have these powers. However he was prepared to add the words "except under extenuating circumstances"
Dr Warshauer accepted this as a friendly amendment.
Sen. Blitz: ...has seen a number of transcripts and seventeen hours of repeats is not unusual in the event of a semester-long health or other personal issue.
Dr Warshauer: the student could and should with draw under these circumstances but one semester should still permit repeats.
Sen.: Martin-Troy: How many students have repeated five courses, have taken the repeats and still graduated?
Dr Warshauer: Data are available and were consulted but he did not wish to hazard a guess...but it was considerable. The issue was “waste†of university resources and an attempt to end this waste.
Sen. Hicks? Is there a pattern to the repeats?
Sen. Leake: In the sentence noting start of the policy should it not reflect Students who matriculate in 2003?
Dr Warshauer: No the policy is in effect from that date and while existing repeats will not be backdated the policy is in effect.
Dr Pudlinski: Should it not say “courses repeated at CCSU beginning in the fall 2003â€
Dr Warshauer accepted this as a friendly amendment.
Sen. Hicks: This will make existing catalogues misleading and deceptive.
Dr Warshauer: This happens all the time and is the reason we continue to re-print catalogues.
MOTION TO ACCEPT COURSE REPEAT POLICY AS AMENDED
20 For
7 Against
CARRIED
- New Business
a. Candidates for Graduation
The following Motions were introduced:
…That the faculty Senate approves the candidates from the
Dean Kremens
…That the faculty Senate approves the candidates from the
Dean Lemma
…That the
faculty Senate approves the candidates from the
Dean Pease
…That the faculty Senate approves the candidates from the
Dean Whitford
…That the faculty Senate
approves the candidates from the
Dean Root
All seconded by Sen. Martin-Troy
All carried unanimously
- Adjournment
Motion to adjourn
Martin-Troy/Ostereich
CARRIED
The Senate adjourned at
Respectfully submitted
Richard Benfield
Secretary
Faculty Senate
THE NEXT MEETING WILL BE
at
CSU‑AAUP
Budget Deficit and Worker Concession Fact Sheet
November 2002
Budget deficit and economic environment:
Governor Rowland’s budget plan: Governor Rowland has proposed closing the budget deficits for this SFY and next SFY through worker concessions equaling 1/3 of the deficits, programconcessions worth 1/3, and revenue enhancements amounting to 1/3. This scheme was confirmed by Mark Ryan (Secretary of OPM) in his testimony before the Connecticut General Assembly on November 21.
Governor Rowland and
worker concessions: Representatives of SEBAC were called to the Governor's
office on November 13 and were informed of his plans for worker
concessions. Although he invited union
suggestions, the following points were presented by the Governor: 1.
Concessions must total $450 million annualized for the next two years, 2. In
addition, between $89 - $94 million worth of give - backs must be accomplished
this year, 3. Renegotiation of pension funding and benefits must be included,
4. Renegotiation of state employee prescription, benefits must be included, 5.
Objective Job Evaluation reviews must be delayed, and 6, In return for
concessions, workers would be granted a "two - chip" early retirement
plan with an optional "third chip" to be purchased with employee
vacation accruals (AAUP members do not have vacation time). Dan Livingston, SEBAC attorney, has
maintained that the surrender of some
vacation time was a prerequisite for entry into the early retirement program.
The Governor explicitly noted
that no replacement workers for retirees could be promised or anticipated, and
his program specifically required a pledge from state employee unions to work
with him to permanently reduce the size of the state employee work force. SEBAC
rejected the proposal on the same day (a response on November 13 was demanded by the Governor), and Governor Rowland
subsequently announcedthat 3,000 state employee lay ‑
off's would be necessary, beginning
The CSU budget: Earlier in 2002, the budget for CSU was reduced by 5%. On November 21, Chancellor Cibes was informed by Mark Ryan that the budget would be cut by a further $9.7 million (annualized). This sum is apparently the "worker concession" part of the Governor's plan. It is therefore likely that the university will be approached for an additional cut as part of the program reduction portion of Rowland's plan. CSU has maintained that it was already seriously underfunded by more than $30 million before the $9.7 million cut. Specifically, CSU receives per‑student compensation from the state of only 56% of the real cost of that education, compared to 64°% per UConn student and 70% per community college student. When the differential in the cost of tuition is factored in, UConn receives more than $ 14,000 in compensation for each of its students while CSU receives only $7,700 per student. CSU has proposed the achievement of equity in percentage funding within six years. Further, the CSU administration, announced at its November 7 meeting a tuition increase for next year of 11.2% and increased fees totaling another 2% (13.2% total) for the academic year 2003/2004. Thus was before the $9.7 mullion cut of November 21.
Political and other factors: SEBAC has an agreement with the State of 20 years duration (1997 - 2017) covering pension and health care benefits. This agreement guarantees current levels of benefits in both these areas to the members of every constituent unit (CSU - AAUP is a member). This agreement was negotiated in exchange for re‑amortization of the pension fund inSFY 1996 and 1997. No individual union can negotiate in these two areas without the approval of SEBAC, and any re - opener of the current agreement must be approved by a 4/5 vote of SEBAC unions, with not more than one bargaining agent voting in opposition. Individual members of the Democratic leadership in the General Assembly have privately indicated support for SEBAC's rejection of the Governor's November 13 plan.
CSU AAUP actions to date: 1. We have joined the One
Connecticut coalition and supported their proposal for a Fair Share Budget with
new and increased revenue sources. 2. We have participated in every meeting of
SEBAC and have agreed to support their legal/political/public relations
campaign to resist excessive concessions, 3. We have joined with UConn AAUP and the Four C's to produce radio ads stressing
the need for budget support for higher education, 4. President Walsh gave
testimony before the joint meeting of the Finance and Appropriations Committees
on. November 21, 5. We participated in the November 21
demonstration/protest outside the