Faculty Senate

Minutes - April 27, 2015 - 3:05pm

CCSU FACULTY SENATE MEETING

Present: Anderson, C.; Baratta, C.; Barr, B.; Bigelow, L.; Bilisoly, R.; Blitz, D.; Bochain, S.; Boscarino, N.; Callery, T.; D'Addio, D.; D'Amato, K.; Dukes, C.; Emeagwali, G.; Fallon, M.; Foster, P.; Fothergill, W.; Gamache, J.; Garcia-Bowen, M.; Ghodsi, R.; Hazan, S.; Hermes, K.; Horan, M.; Jarmoszko, T.; Johnson, D.; Jones, C.; Kapper, M.; Karpuk, P.; Kean, K.; Kim, Y.; Knopf, K.; Koplowitz, B.; Kostelis, K.; Kovel, J.; Kullgren, A.; Kurkjian, C.; Larsen, K.; Lee, L.; Mamed, O.; Marquette, C.; McGuire, M.; Melnyk, J.; Moffo Simpson, T.; Mongillo, M.; Nelson, W.; Paolino, J.; Pearson, F.; Phillips, E.; Pozorski, A.; Prozzo, J.; Ragusett, J.; Reasco, A.; Rosenberg, J.; Sadanand, N.; Santoro, K.; Sarisley, E.; Schlickmann, P.; Shen, X.; Simmons, R.; Solomon, P.; Spear, E.; Spector, D.; Stookey, S.; Tellier, A.; Tomoda, S.; White, C.; Williams, C.; Wolff, R.; Wood, R.

Ex-Officio: Adair, S.; Alfano, M.; Fitzgerald, G.; Lovitt, C.; Mahony, M.; Malhas, F.; Pease, S.

Parliamentarian: Dimmick, C.

President of the Senate: Cohen, S.

Guests: Cassandra Broadus-Garcia (Art); Jim Malley (Campus of Compassion); Jim Mulrooney (Academic Assessment Committee); Paul Petterson (Political Science); Simms Sonet (SGA); Laura Tordenti (VP Student Affairs)

 

1. Minutes

a. Minutes of April 13, 2015

2. Announcements:

a. AAUP President (M. A. Mahony)

• There will be meetings of Department Liaisons on Tuesday and Wednesday in the Blue and White Room, at noon.
• There are runoff elections for Council Representative and At-Large Delegate.

b. SUOAF-AFSCME President (L. Bigelow)

• The Chapter Meeting is on May 19 (noon, Constitution Room), and the Annual Meeting will be on June 8.
• SUOAF-AFSCME will soon hold its elections, including those for Faculty Senate and Sabbatical Leave Commitee.

c. SGA (S. Sonet)

• ConnSCU day at the Capitol will be on Wednesday. It is an opportunity for students to meet with legislators. The SGA will have a bus for students, and faculty should encourage students to attend this event.
• The SGA endorses the Campus of Compassion initiative. In a recent poll of students over 70% of those who responded said that they support this initiative.

d. FAC to the Board of Regents (S. Adair)

• The Academic and Students Affairs Committee of the BOR agenda includes, in addition to the list of faculty members to be approved for tenure and/or promotion, short biographies of these faculty members. AAUP believes that the BOR has no right to make promotion and tenure decisions; their approval should be a rubber stamp. The Provost should be the last level of evaluation.

e. President of the Senate (S. Cohen)

• The last meeting of the Faculty Senate for this academic year will be held on Monday, May 4, at 2:00pm.

3. Committee Reports

a. Elections Committee (J. Melnyk)

• Elections of Standing Committees Elected by the Faculty Senate
• Ballots were distributed to voting senators. The following faculty members were elected:
  • Academic Integrity Committee: Steven Bernstein, Cheryl Crespi, Patrick Foster, Kristine Larsen, Susan Slaga-Metivier
  • CCSU Foundation Board of Directors: Carolyn Fallahi
  • CCSU Foundation Grant Advisory Committee: Damon Mitchell; runoff needed between Khaled Hammad and William Watkins for the second seat
  • Distinguished Service Award Committee: Lisa Bigelow and Onder Kaymaz
  • Excellence in Teaching Committee: Lynda George and Onder Kaymaz
  • Faculty Advisory Committee to the Board of Regents: Stephen Adair
  • Grade Appeals Committee: Barbara Nicholson, Cheryl Crespi
  • Library Committee: Elizabeth Brewer, Patrick Foster, Robbin Smith
  • Student Affairs Committee: Lynda George, William Watkins
  • TAP Framework Implementation and Review Committee: Beth Merenstein
  • University Athletics Board: Diana Cohen, Mary Collins, Linda Clark, Jason Melnyk, Robert Schumaker
  • University Planning and Budget Committee: Richard Benfield, Lisa Bigelow, Linda Clark

4. Unfinished Business

a. Academic Assessment Committee (J. Mulrooney)

• Committee Chair Mulrooney said that the Academic Assessment Committee would have a retreat in June, where artifacts will be scored based on AAC&U rubrics. Professor Broadus-Garcia said that she would attend the retreat.
• CCSU-AAUP President Mahony reminded faculty that our union cannot help us if our Faculty Senate votes for an increase in our own workload.
• Senator Blitz asked if there is a weight limit on artifacts. Committee Chair Mulrooney answered in the negative.
• Senator Spector asked about whether this is a one-time endeavor or a permanent one, since the minutes of our last meeting imply that this is "going forward". Committee Chair Mulrooney clarified that this is best thought of as a "pilot". If the results are satisfactory, he hopes that this would be done again in the future. He will be reporting back to the Senate in the Fall.
• Senator Karpuk said that we need to do something about the assessment of general education to keep our NEASC accreditation.
• Motion (Foster/Karpuk): To approve the Academic Assessment Committee report, as amended at the April 13, 2015 Faculty Senate meeting.
  • Approved (6 senators opposed).

b. Committee on Committees - Updates to Committee Bylaws (B. Barr)

i. Academic Standards Committee

ii. Excellence in Teaching Committee

iii. Information Technology Committee

iv. Sabbatical Leave Committee (AAUP)

v. Grade Appeals Committee

• Item ii postponed until the next meeting; items i, iii, iv and v approved unanimously.

c. Committee on Committees - Special Election Provision (B. Barr)

• Approved unanimously

5. New Business

a. Academic Integrity Committee (T. Jarmoszko)

• Academic Misconduct Policy amendment
• Approved unanimously

b. Academic Standards Committee (F. Latour for R. Schwell)

• Dance major Professional Program admission requirements
• Postponed until the next meeting (pending approval of corresponding curriculum changes).

c. Campus of Compassion Resolution (J. Malley)

• Senator Pearson said that the Committee on Concerns of Women supports the Campus of Compassion initiative.
• Senator Bilisoly said that the Department of Mathematical Sciences supports the initiative, as do many other departments.
• Senators Phillips and Kovel wonder about the practical impact of the initiative; what would this resolution allow our campus community to do in the future that we are not currently doing? SGA President Sonet said that this is what the Presidential Committee is for. They will hammer it out.
• Approved unanimously

d. Vote of No Confidence

• Senate President Cohen gave some background information on this resolution.
• Senator Spector moved that this vote be conducted by secret ballot: Approved, 37 to 13.
• Many members of the Senate spoke in favor of the resolution. Some said that, while they support the resolution, it does not go far enough. They said that the real problem is the BOR itself, and replacing President Gray with someone else will not necessarily result in an improvement. We should ask that the BOR be abolished.
• The vote was conducted by secret ballot. Sixty-four ballots were cast. Sixty of them were cast in favor of the resolution, one was cast against the resolution, and the remaining three did not indicate a preference for either option.
  • Resolution approved by a vote of 60 to 1.

6. Item moved from the floor

a. Resolution of No Confidence in the Board of Regents

• Senator Jones presented the resolution. Some senators expressed support for it, stating: that the real problem is the BOR, not just President Gray, that CCSU should be a leader in the effort to create positive change (other campuses will follow), that our resolutions really should be aimed at the Legislature, not the Board, and they should be informed of what is really happening, that this resolution is long overdue and is a mild expression of our actual frustration, that the BOR is woking in a vacuum, and that the BOR is wasting a lot of money on consultants.
• Some members of the Senate expressed opposition to the resolution, stating that it works against our attempts to have a greater voice at the Board, and that it invites the Board to ignore the resolution that we already passed.
• Motion (Spector/Wolff): To postpone this resolution indefinitely.
  • Motion failed (8 senators in favor)
• Motion (Karpuk/Stookey): To amend by striking the words "leadership of the current" from the last sentence.
• Some senators expressed support for the amendment, stating that even though the resulting statement is somewhat vague, that is a good thing.
  • Amendment approved (about 10 senators opposed)
• Resolution approved, as amended. 39 senators in favor, 8 opposed (with at least 8 abstentions).

7. Adjournment

• The meeting adjourned at 5:11pm.