Faculty Senate

Minutes - October 12, 2015 - 3:05pm

CCSU FACULTY SENATE MEETING

Present: Amaya-Bower, L.; Antonucci, C.; Arena, J.; Bantley, K.; Baratta, C.; Bilisoly, R.; Bishop, J.; Callery, T.; Clapp, S.; Dharavath, N.; Emeagwali, G.; Emiliani, B.; Flinn, B.; Foster, P.; Gamache, J.; Garcia-Bowen, M.; Ghodsi, R.; Grasso, L.; Gross, S.; Harris, D.; Horan, M.; Jackson, M.; Johnson, D.; Kapper, M.; Karpuk, P.; Kean, K.; Kim, Y.; King, A.; Kotowicz, T.; Larsen, K.; Latour, F.; Lim, K.; Martin-Troy, K.; Martin, M.; Mejia, G.; Mendez-Mendez, S.; Moffo Simpson, T.; Mongillo, M.; Nelson, W.; Ngazimbi, E.; Pearson, F.; Phillips, E.; Pozorski, A.; Ragusett, J.; Sadanand, N.; Santoro, K.; Simmons, R.; Styrczula, S.; Sweeney, D.; Tellier, A.; Watson, S.; Williams, C.; Wolff, R.; Wood, R.

Ex-Officio: Adair, S.; Lovitt, C.; Malhas, F.; Miller, J.

Parliamentarian: Dimmick, C.

President of the Senate: Cohen, S.

Guests: Caroline Fox (SGA); Keith Kramer (Music); Paul Petterson (VP, CCSU-AAUP); Thomas Rein (Anthropology)

1. Minutes

Minutes of September 28, 2015

• Approved unanimously

2. Announcements:

a. AAUP President (P. Petterson for M. A. Mahony)

• Today, there was a meeting of the Organizing Committee.
• You should read all messages coming from AAUP, as they contain important information.

b. SUOAF-AFSCME President (L. Bigelow)

• No report.

c. SGA (C. Fox)

• Competition for a Cause is happening for the third year in a row, from October 19 to November 20. Contact Caroline Fox if your department or building would like to receive a bin for food donations.
• An AAUP member spoke to the Student Senate at its last meeting. Some senators expressed outrage, and the SGA wants to stand behind the faculty. A bus has been planned for students who wish to attend the BOR meeting.
• Many students have agreed to serve on various Faculty Senate committees.

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

• The next BOR meeting is on October 15. People will be able to speak after the meeting, but should not expect a BOR response.
• The FAC met on Friday.
• There will be a system conference on student success on April 8.
• The FAC met with President Ojakian for over an hour.

e. President of the Senate (S. Cohen)

• There will be a Presidential Forum (with President Miller) on October 29, at 3:30pm.

3. Committee Reports

a. Elections Committee

• Senator Baratta reminded Senators that there are many open seats for various committees, and nominations are sought.

b. Community Engagement Committee (R. Simmons)

• Report accepted by the Faculty Senate

c. Promotion and Tenure Committee (P. Halloran)

• Report not ready at this point

4. New Business

a. Approval of one new member of Steering Committee

• Postponed to the next meeting

b. Campus Equity Week (K. Kean)

• Approved unanimously

c. TAP Umbrella Degree

• Senators Ghodsi and Amaya-Bower asked about how this would apply to the Engineering program, which requires 130 credits. Senator Latour pointed out that, last year, the BOR agreed that the College of Technology Pathway was an appropriate substitute for the TAP requirements, and therefore, the Engineering program is exempt from the TAP. Dean Malhas confirmed that this resolution does not apply to Engineering.
• Senator Grasso asked what would happen if we were to reject this. CCSU FIRC representative Beth Merenstein said that the TAP would not be in effect at CCSU.
• FAC representative Adair said that there is more opposition to the TAP at the Community Colleges than at the Universities.
• Senator Mejia expressed concerns about the effects of this TAP; we might see fewer students completing their first two years at CCSU. This could have a significant effect, an impact on recruitment. Senate President Cohen said that, on the other hand, this could be a way to attract community college graduates to CCSU rather than, say, UConn.
• The question was called, and the Senate voted on approving this resolution, with one correction (from each of the 17, not form).
• Resolution approved, with one senator opposed

 

d. Discussion - BOR contract proposals

• Senator Kean left the meeting for this discussion.
• AAUP Vice President Petterson reminded Senators of how some facts about the negotiation process: health care and pensions/retirement are not being negotiated (the current SEBAC agreement runs until 2022), and the deadline for coming to an agreement is March 1, after which we have binding arbitration if an agreement is not reached (or sooner if both sides agree that an impasse is reached).
• Senator Mejia asked whether we would find out what has been agreed upon up to this point: Answer: We don't know, but read Table Talk for the lastest updates on the status of the negotiations.
• Senator Foster asked about whether it would be possible to simply extend the current contract. Answer: Perhaps there is a way, but we don't know how that could happen.
• Other Senators stated: that the BOR requests are unreasonable, that we need to find as many allies as possible (students, parents, legislators, perhaps administrators?), that the BOR proposals present a threat to our ability to attract new faculty and to our accreditation, that the BOR proposals are similar to some aspects of Transform CSCU 2020, that this BOR proposal is part of a larger nationwide attack on higher education, that this proposal proves that we were right in voting No Confidence in the BOR.
• FAC representative Adair stated that Transform CSCU 2020 is dead, according to President Ojakian. He also said that there is currently no political consensus on replacing the BOR with another system.

5. Adjournment

• The meeting adjourned at 4:28pm.