Faculty Senate

Minutes - March 19, 2018 - 3:05pm

CCSU FACULTY SENATE MEETING

Present: Adair, S.; Anton, M.; Austad, C.; Bailesteanu, M.; Bell, T.; Bernstein, S.; Best, F. ; Bishop, J.; Bishop, R.; Blitz, D.; Boscarino, N.; Criscola, J.; Dhar, P.; Duquette, J.; Emiliani, B.; Farhat, J.; French, J.; Gamache, J.; Garcia-Bowen, M.; Garcia, V.; Ghodsi, R.; Givens, E.; Gross, S.; Hou, X.; Hughes, H.; Jackson, M.; Kapper, M.; Kean, K.; Kelly, D.; Kim, Y.; Kyem, P.; Lapuerta, P.; Latour, F.; Leonidas, E.; LoGiudice, S.; Martin-Troy, K.; Mendez-Mendez, S.; Menoche, C.; Moreno-Fuentes, G.; Nelson, W.; Ngazimbi, E.; Orange, M.; Paolino, J.; Ruhs, T.; Sadanand, N.; Sakaki, H.; Sohn, Y.; Spear, E.; Spillman, D.; Stickland, A.; Tafrate, L.; Thornton, E.; Vedeler, H.; Williams, C.; Williams, L.; Zering, J.

Ex-Officio: Bigelow, L.; Dauwalder, D.; Fitzgerald, G.; Sommers, B

Parliamentarian: Dimmick, C.

President of the Senate: Cohen, S.

Guests: Brendan Kruh (SGA); Robert Wolff (UPBC Chair); Cassandra York (Physical Education & Human Performance)

1. Minutes

a. Minutes of March 5, 2018

b. Corrections to the Minutes of February 26, 2018

• Approved unanimously
  

2. Announcements:

a. AAUP President (L. Williams)

• The chapter meeting is on Wednesday, March 21, at 3:15pm, in the Southwest Study Lounge of Memorial Hall.
• The panel, "Save Our Schools, Defend Our Communities", will be on Wednesday, March 28, from 11am to 2pm, in the Constitution Room of Memorial Hall.
• There will be a rally on Wednesday, April 4, to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Lobby Day will be on Wednesday, April 11.
• On Monday, April 23, a speaker will talk about progressive politics in the US and the UK.

b. SUOAF-AFSCME President (L. Bigelow)

• We finally have received the implementation memo for the SEBAC ARP Grievance Award (the "SAG award"). This is important news for all who are in the ARP (AAUP or SUOAF-AFSCME).
• SUOAF-AFSCME has made a $5000 donation to the CCSU Foundation towards scholarships.

c. SGA (B. Kruh)

• The latest Good Neighbor campaign event was on Friday, March 9, and the next one will be at the end of March.
• Tonight, from 6 to 8pm, there will be a debate of candidates for SGA offices. This will be followed by a public forum (8-8:30pm). The election itself will run from March 26 to March 28.
• SGA would like something done regarding the "D" (diversity) designator - perhaps add a requirement to the General Education program.
• A debate of gubenatorial candidates will be held on Monday, April 23.
• SGA will invite all candidates for Faculty Senate office to the SGA meeting on Wednesday, March 28. They will be given an opportunity to speak to the SGA senators and will be asked a few questions.

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

• The BOR approved the consolidation of community colleges plan to be sent to NEASC, will little discussion of its content.
• The FAC did not meet on Friday, March 9, but a letter signed by 50 faculty members (29 from community colleges, 21 from CSUs) was sent to NEASC.
• Senator Blitz said that the plan eliminates Department Chairs and replaces them with Associate Deans, but a careful analysis shows that this will not save money. Therefore this seems to be about power and control, not savings.

e. Diversity Committee (J. Bishop)

• The Diversity Committee will be organizing a workshop on Tuesday, April 3.

f. President of the Senate (S. Cohen)

• Our new Provost, Dr. David P. Dauwalder, is attending today's Senate meeting. He stated that he is interested in seeing the Faculty Senate in action.
• Our reaccreditation process with NEASC is going well. The next step is to have on open forum on Standards 4 and 6. A draft of our self-study for Standard 4 has been posted, and Standard 6 will follow soon.
• President Cohen has appointed volunteers from CLASS and Business to the Student Success Committee. He is still waiting for volunteers from the other two schools.
• President Cohen asked for a volunteer to represent the Faculty Senate on the committee to revamp Commencement. Senator Criscola volunteered.

3. Committee Reports

a. Elections Committee

• Call for Nominations: President, Vice President, and Secretary of the Faculty Senate
  • Nominations for President, Vice President, and Secretary of the Faculty Senate (for 2018-20) should be sent to Elections Committee via Senate Secretary Frederic Latour.
  • Nominees must be current members of the Faculty Senate. The current list of Senators can be found on the Faculty Senate website, by clicking on "Members".
  • Nominations will close at 5:00pm on Friday, March 30.
  • However nominations will be accepted from the floor during the Senate meeting on Election Day, Monday, April 2.
  • Each candidate will be given the floor to have the opportunity to speak to the assembled Senate.
• Call for Nominations: Standing Committees of the Faculty
  • President Cohen will send out the Call for Nominations electronically. It will be sent before the end of the week.

b. Online Learning Committee (J. Farhat)

• Motion to amend (Martin-Troy): To add the word "are" immediately before "not" in the eighth "Whereas..." statement.
  • Amendment approved by unanimous consent
• Motion to amend (Latour/Best): To strike the word "for all courses" from the second "Whereas..." statement (because the CBA doesn't explicitly say that student opinion surveys must be completed for all courses).
  • Amendment approved unanimously
• Some questions were asked about the cost of CourseEval (below $10,000 for online courses, no RFP is required), and about the use of the term "distance learning" (this is the term used in the CBA).
• Resolution approved unanimously, as amended

4. New Business

a. Committee on Committees (A. Strickland)

• Charter of the University Planning and Budget Committee
• Motion to amend (Latour/Best): To change the statement about voting rights to read: "All members of the committee who are AAUP faculty, administrative faculty, or students, will maintain voting rights", in order to bring the Charter in line with item "R" of Functions and Responsibilities of Standing Committees of the Faculty Senate, and to add a statement clarifying that:
  • the ballot for UPBC will contain two sections, one for AAUP faculty and one for administrative faculty, with a third section in years when the part-time AAUP faculty seat is up for election (2018, 2021, 2024, etc.);
  • in the Spring 2018 election, 9 members will be elected (4 full-time AAUP, 1 part-time AAUP, 4 administrative faculty), with the 3rd place full-time AAUP candidate receiving a 2-year term and the 4th place full-time AAUP candidate receiving a 1-year term, and similarly for administrative faculty.
  • Amendment approved unanimously
• Motion to amend (Cohen): To add the words "of the month" after "Tuesday".
  • Amendment approved unanimously
• Charter approved unanimously, as amended

b. Discussion of recent actions of the Board of Regents and of "Students First"

• Senator Blitz spoke of the need to educate the public on the topic of the truth about "Students First", because its name makes is sound like a good thing, much like "No Child Left Behind".
• We should make sure we ask candidates for Governor about their views on public higher education.
• CCSU-AAUP President Williams and Senator Latour spoke of the importance of making sure we follow our letter to NEASC with a list of specific concerns.
• A committee was formed to draft a response to NEASC. The committee consists of Senators Blitz and Best, President Cohen, FAC representative Adair, CCSU-AAUP President Williams, and perhaps Senator Mendez-Mendez.

5. Adjournment

• The meeting adjourned at 4:28pm.