CCSU Faculty Senate
Minutes—October 24, 2005
VAC 105 3:00 PM
Next SPECIAL Senate Meeting: November 7, 2005 at 3 p.m in Copernicus 231_______________________________________________________________
Present: Abadiano, Adams, Alicandro, Al-Masoud, Barrington, Benfield, Candales, Casella, Cohen, Conway, Craine, Cutler, Deloy, DiPlacido, Foshay, Garcia-Bowen, Gendron, Grasso, Gould, Hedlund, Hentschel, Jones, Kapper, Kershner, Kim, King, Kurkjian, Lane, MacDonald, Mahony, Mamed, Marlor, McKinney,Moran, Murphy, OConnell, Osterreich, Petrosino, Pirog, Poirier, Rajaravivarma, Recoder-Nunez, Sadanand, Sevitch, Spector, Talit, Tower, Warshauer, Westcott, Williams
Ex-Officio: Kremens, Lemma, Miller, Pease, Sakofs, Whitford
Guests: Baumann, He, Hicks, Pudlinski,
Meeting called to order by President Craine at 3.06 p.m
1. Motion to approve Minutes of October 10, 2005
(Murphy): passed unanimously
2. Announcements:
President Craine (Senate): a. Some standing committees of the Senate have met. All committees are requested to submit reports to the senate in a timely manner.
b. Constitution/ByLaws committee will consider the issue of time by which Curriculum committee reports should be brought to the Senate for approval that would allow members the required period to review the report and yet satisy the needs of the University catalog revision schedule.
c. A special meeting of the Senate, pursuant of Article 2.2.3 of the Faculty Senate By-Laws, has been requested by 12 senators for discussion and approval of the Mechanical Engineering program, on November 7.
President White (CCSU-AAUP):
Thanked all who attended the AAUP chapter luncheon-meeting on October 19 and participating in its deliberations.
Urged all to attend the "Telling Her Story" event on Wednesday, Nov.2, featuring Ms. Barbara Miller (sponsored by CCSU Committee on the Concerns of Women and Women’s Center) at Memorial Hall
Introduced CSU-AAUP President Dave Walsh who gave a brief report on the AAUP request for a dues increase from 0.75% to 1%. This is the first increase requested by CSU-AAUP since inception. The monies available at present are insufficient to advocate for the various causes on behalf of members. He mentioned that the next two years are crucial for CSU in getting adequate funding from the State because the National Conference of State Legislators has indicated that the degree of public trust in higher education has declined. Our share of State funding has decreased. AAUP is best suited to advocate on our behalf and for higher education. Nothing AAUP proposes will go against its recognition of shared governance and the primary role of the Faculty Senate in academic issues.
3. Unfinished Business: None
4. New Business:
Curriculum Committee Report (Pudlinski, Chair):
The report of October 2005 requested support of the Faculty Senate for the following:
i. Course addition in Marketing: (Osterreich) – passed unanimously
ii. Program revision in Computer Electronics & Graphics: (Osterreich)- passed unanimously
iii. Course revision in Biomolecular Sciences: (Nidal) – passed unanimously
iv. Course addition and program revision in English: (Benfield)- passed unanimously
v. Course revision in Physical Education: (McKinney)-passed unanimously
vi. Course revision in Management & Organization: (Cutler)-passed unanimously
vii. Course revision in Engineering Technology (parts "a" and "w" from report): (Casella) – passed unanimously
viii. Course additions to Mechanical Engineering program (parts "b", "c", "d", "e", "f", "h", "j", "k", "l", "m", "n", "p", "q", "r", "s", "t", "u" from report): (Casella) – passed unanimously
The Mechanical Engineering program proposal will be brought to the special Senate meeting of November 7, 2005. President Miller (CCSU) requested the Senate’s time to clarify the implications of the new program. He shared with the Senate a document from CCSU, "Faculty Needed to Support Workforce Development" (10/7/05) that asks for more faculty in schools of Technology, Education & Professional Studies and Arts & Sciences. This included the requirement for the new program in Mechanical Engineering that has been proposed as priority # 1 for CCSU to address Connecticut’s workforce shortage.
President Miller also made the following points:
1. For new laboratory space required by the engineering program , no exisiting academic space will be requisitioned
2. There is no attempt to change the organizational structure at CCSU, such as moving all the science departments into the School of Technology.
3. Issue of diversity, especially in the field of engineering, will be addressed through aggressive recruitment and the existing articulation agreements with community colleges.
DEC Exception (Miller): Dr. Karen Tracey of Computer Electronics & Graphics Technology to serve as a member of the management Information Systems’ DEC for 2005-06. Motion to approve: (Sevitch) – passed unanimously
Resolution on Part-Time Faculty (Murphy):
In recognition of Campus Equity Week, Oct 31 to Nov 4th
In Recognition of Contingent, (Adjunct, Part-Time) Non-Tenured Faculty in Higher Education
and
In Support of Ongoing Efforts to Raise Public Awareness and to Achieve Fair and Equitable Treatment
Whereas, in the last decade, instruction in North American colleges and universities has become dependent on a growing number of high quality contingent, (part-time, adjunct), full time non-tenure track faculty, and graduate students who together represent nearly two thirds of all faculty, resulting in an erosion of the tenure system and a reduction in academic and support services available to college and university students;
and Whereas, these contingent faculty members teach with distinction and make major contributions to the institutions they serve despite inadequate compensation and benefits, lack of professional support, and little or no opportunity to advance to full-time tenured positions,
Be it now resolved that the Faculty Senate of Central Connecticut State University will contact the University Board of Trustees, the Commissioner of Higher Education, and the Chairmen of the appropriate legislative committees in both the House and the Senate of the Connecticut General Assembly, in order to ask them to join with the Faculty Senate in:
1) recognizing the contributions of Contingent (adjunct, part-time) faculty, full-time non-tenure track faculty and graduate student employees who teach in our colleges and universities;
2) supporting efforts to raise public awareness of deteriorating working and learning conditions in our higher education systems;
3) promoting solutions which provide fair and equitable treatment for contingent faculty in higher education including but not limited to creating fair hiring practices and ensuring the right to a stable career path for all who enter public higher education desiring permanent tenured positions;
4) reaffirming our commitment to students by opposing further funding cuts and re-
Motion to approve (Murphy) :
In the discussion, Sen. Murphy explained that the resolution drew upon information from the AAUP, NEA and AFT, Department of Education and the Census Bureau. Sen. Moran mentioned that institutions across the nation are increasingly relying on part-time faculty to teach courses. It constituted an assault on tenure and academic freedom. In addition to calling for better working conditions for part-time faculty, she wanted the resolution to also call for a decrease in part-time faculty. Sen. Abadiano asked if the needs of part-time faculty were protected. Sen. Cutler indicated that the AAUP-CSU contract afforded protection. Sen. Sevitch stated that CCSU Presidents have increased tenure-track faculty positions. Sen. Westcott called the question. Motion to call the question passed.
Sen. Murphy’s motion failed.
5. Motion to adjourn: (4.10 pm) - (OConnell): Passed unanimously
Nanjundiah Sadanand
Secretary
Faculty Senate
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