Faculty Senate

Minutes - September 25, 2017 - 3:05pm

CCSU FACULTY SENATE MEETING

Present: Austad, C.; Bailesteanu, M.; Bell, T.; Bernstein, S.; Bishop, J.; Bishop, R.; Blitz, D.; Boncoddo, R.; Boscarino, N.; Callery, T.; Christensen, S.; Cistulli, M.; Criscola, J.; Dhar, P.; Emiliani, B.; Foster, P.; Gamache, J.; Garcia-Bowen, M.; Garcia, V.; Ghodsi, R.; Givens, E.; Hughes, H.; Jackson, M.; Jarvis, K.; Kapper, M.; Karas, R.; Kim, Y.; Koulidobrova, H.; Kyem, P.; Lapuerta, P.; Latour, F.; Leonidas, E.; LoGiudice, S.; Martin-Troy, K.; McGuire, M.; Menoche, C.; Minor, L.; Mongillo, M.; Moreno-Fuentes, G.; Oliva, K.; Orange, M.; Paolino, J.; Phillips, E.; Sadanand, N.; Sakaki, H.; Sohn, Y.; Spear, E.; Spillman, D.; Stickland, A.; Thornton, E.; Vedeler, H.; Williams, C.; Williams, L.; Zering, J.

Ex-Officio: Fitzgerald, G.; Pease, S.; Sommers, B; Toro, Z.

Parliamentarian: absent

President of the Senate: Cohen, S.

Guests: Paul Resetarits (UAB Chair); Cathy Sylvester (Center for Student Athletes)

1. Minutes

a. Minutes of September 11, 2017

b. Correction to the minutes of October 17, 2016 (addition of the list of attendees)

• Approved unanimously

2. Announcements:

a. AAUP President (L. Williams)

• AAUP is protesting the budget that was passed by the legislature. It would require all future contracts to be approved by the legislature, require UConn faculty to teach one more course per year, prohibit reassigned time for union work, prohibit union staff from having offices on campus. The protest will be on Wednesday.

b. SUOAF-AFSCME President (L. Bigelow)

• No report.

c. SGA (B. Kruh)

• No report.

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

• No report.

e. President of the Senate (S. Cohen)

• The Athletics Task Force will have an Open Forum on Thursday, September 28.
• The first week of October is President Toro's inauguration week.
• The first Presidential Open Forum is on Wednesday, October 11.
• Regrading the BOR's plans (the so-called "Students First": the CSU Faculty Leadership group has stated to President Ojakian that proposals must be presented to the Senates of the CSUs before they are presented to the BOR for approval.

3. Elections

a. Vice President of the Senate

• The election for Vice President of the Faculty Senate was conducted by the Elections Committee, by secret ballot.
• On the first ballot, the Elections Committee reported that: 54 votes were cast, 28 votes were required for a majority; Senator Crundwell received 4 votes, Senator Jackson received 22 votes, Senator Bishop received 27 votes, and there was one invalid ballot marked for two candidates. No candidate had a majority; thus, a second ballot was conducted.
• On the second ballot, the Elections Committee reported that: 54 votes were cast, 28 votes were required for a majority; Senator Crundwell received 2 votes, Senator Jackson received 21 votes, and Senator Bishop received 31 votes. Senator Jan Bishop was elected Vice President of the Senate.

b. Committee on Committees (3 senators needed)

• Senators J. Bishop, Oliva, and Stickland were elected to the committee (unanimously)

c. Committee on Constitution and By-Laws (2 senators needed)

• Senators Jackson and Latour were elected to the committee (unanimously)

d. Committee on Academic Freedom (3 senators needed)

• Senators Criscola, Ghodsi, and Koulidobrova were elected to the committee (unanimously)

e. Committee on Appointments and Personnel (3 senators needed)

• Senators Dhar, Garcia-Bowen, and Leonidas were elected to the committee (unanimously)

4. Committee Reports

a. University Athletics Board (P. Resetarits)

• Report accepted by the Faculty Senate

b. Diversity Committee (J. Bishop for J. Werblow)

• Report accepted by the Faculty Senate

5. New Business:

a. Updated Code of Conduct resolution
• BOR Code of Conduct
• Proposed Resolution
• While the proposed Code of Conduct had been improved, and incoporated language from the AAUP's 1940 statement, there are still ways in which we believe it is deficient. The proposed resolution is meant to address these.
• Senator Blitz proposed that the second sentence of section D. Shared Governance, should be amended so as to read that faculty maintain "full and complete responsibilities in their disciplinary areas in matters related to programs and curriculum", rather than "certain responsibilities".
• Motion (Cohen/Austad): The Faculty Senate approves the resolution with the addition of a signing statement consisting of Senator Blitz's proposal.
  • Approved unanimously

b. Update to Promotion and Tenure Policy

• Addition to Guidelines
• Forms for Teaching Faculty, Coaches and Non-instructional Athletic Trainers, Counselors, Librarians.
• This proposal addresses the addition of a sixth criterion of evaluation in the new CSU-AAUP/BOR contract: the record of disciplinary action in the candidate's personnel file at the time of evaluation.
• Senator Blitz is concerned about how discipline is defined, and about the nature of documents that can be put in one's personnel file. Senator Latour said that discipline is defined in Article 16 of the Contract and what can go in the personnel file is defined in Article 4.14 of the Contract.
• Motion (Cohen/Foster): The Faculty Senate approves the addition to the Promotion and Tenure Guidelines.
  • Approved unanimously
• Motion (Foster/Leonidas): The Faculty Senate approves the new evaluation forms.
  • Approved unanimously

c. Resolution on BOR's ACUE project (D. Blitz)

• Senator Blitz spoke of various concerns with this project.
• Senators wondered whether approval of this resolution would prohibit faculty members who may be interested in this project from participating in it; the answer is no. The resolution simply means that we reject participation in the project as an institution.
• Motion (Blitz/Martin-Troy): The Faculty Senate approves this resolution.
  • Approved unanimously

6. Adjournment

• The meeting adjourned at 4:27pm.