Faculty Senate

Minutes - October 19, 2020 - 3:05pm - Online through WebEx

CCSU FACULTY SENATE MEETING

Present: Adair, S.; Al-Masoud, N.; Amaya, L.; Atkinson, S.; Austad, C.; Barr, B.; Benoit, D.; Bigelow, L.; Bishop, J.; Blitz, D.; Boscarino, N.; Bray, A.; Broulik, W.; Chakraborty, S.; Chen, S.; Donohue, P.; Duquette, J.; Elfant, A.; Flinn, B.; Foster, P.; French, J.; Gagnon, A.; Gamache, J.; Garceau, T.; Garcia-Bowen, M.; Ghiloni-Wage, B.; Gu, S.; Halkin, S.; Harris, D.; He, F.; Hernandez, J.; Holland, T.; Holt, J.; Hou, X.; Hughes, H.; Jain, A.; Jarmoszko, T.; Jenkins, A.; Jones S.; Kapper, M.; Karas, R.; Kean, K.; Knox, C.; Leonidas, E.; Lewis, M.; Mahony, M.A.; Martin, K.; Matzke, B.; Mendez-Mendez, S.; Moreno-Fuentes, G.; Nicoletti, J.; Oyewumi, O.’; Paolino, J.; Pancsofar, E.; Phillips, E.; Rein, T.; Roark, E.; Rode, D.; Ruhs, T.; Salama, T.; Salgado, E.; Schenck, S.; Scott, T.; Sikorski, J.; Skinner, L.; Smith, R.; Sohn, Y.M.; Spear, E.; Spillman, D.; Strickland, A.; Styrczula, S.; Sylvester, C.; Tellier, A.; Wang, W.; Watson, S.; Whittemore, L., Williams, L., Zadi, S.

Ex-Officio: Dauwalder, D.; Farhat, J; Kim, J.; Kostelis, K.; Robinson, C.; Wolff, R.; Toro, Z.

 

Parliamentarian: Dimmick, C.

President of the Senate: Latour, F.

Guests: Casamento, C.; Fallon, M.; Gonzalez, K.; Jackson, M.; Kirby, Y.; Kuo, B.; Larsen, K.; Magnan, C.; Melnyk, J.; Palmer, J.; Peckham, K.

The meeting was called to order at 3:08 p.m.

1. Minutes

The minutes of September 28, 2020 were approved unanimously.

2. Announcements:

a. AAUP President (L. Williams)

b. SUOAF-AFSCME Secretary (J. Gamache))

c. SGA

d. FAC to the Board of Regents (D. Blitz)

e. President of the Senate (F. Latour)

3. Elections

4. Committee Reports

a. Promotion and Tenure Committee (P. Foster/S. Bernstein)

  • P. Foster presented the report of the P&T committee.
  • He addressed anomalies:
    • Fewer women than men were among those who submitted proposals; approvals were proportionate.
    • There was a high level of agreement among Deans, DECs, the P&T committee, and the Provost, in promotion and tenure recommendations.
    • There is one hole in the report, which requires information from OEI. Once that data is obtained the report can be completed. Because of this, P. Foster takes responsibility for this Committee being out of compliance. He is able to share a list of efforts made to date if anyone is interested.
    • Recommendation: The committee recommends that it is time to convene an ad hoc committee to discuss Senate policy as well as the past recommendations of the P&T committee. Something more than a Senate Resolution is needed. The committee should look at some of the recommendations the committee has made over the past years that have not been implemented.

    • b. Community Engagement Committee (C. Crespi & C. Thomas)*

    • F. Latour noted that the report was shared for informational purposes only since there were no requests to discuss it. . He noted that of anyone has questions or concerns, we can invite the members of the committee to a future meeting of the Senate to discuss the report. The report was accepted

    c. CCSU Foundation Grant Advisory Committee (K. Moore)

    • Report postponed to the next meeting

    d. Student Affairs Committee (C. York)

    • Report postponed to the next meeting

5. Unfinished Business

a. Update on Workgroups for Spring 2021

  • F. Latour invited members of the work groups to share anything they felt worth sharing.
  • Academics Workgroup - C. Robinson shared that the Academic workgroup has completed its work, having discussed course scheduling, modes of pedagogy, faculty development, communication and, importantly, that students entered courses with expectations different from faculty expectations. The Workgroup is recommending a couple of new Blackboard modules: one with the definition of a credit hour, to help inform students of the amount of time they should expect to spend in a course regardless of format, and another defining course modality to remind students what they have signed up for. Also, working with the IDTRC, faculty can include in their course information how they will be delivering the course content, so that students have a more complete understanding of what they are signing up for. The hope is that preparing students prior to the start of the semester will reduce the difference in expectations that was apparent in the Fall.
    • Sen. Harris asked if the modules are available now. C. Robinson noted the content repository is available now; other modules will be available by the end of the week. Sen. Ghiloni-Wage asked about text messaging. J. Nicoletti indicated there is no text messaging service in Blackboard because the setting is currently off, but turning on these notifications going forward is possible. S. Larsen indicated you can add the course syllabus now. M. Mahoney asked about advising. C. Robinson said the workgroups talked about different ways we can engage with our students, including engaging early and often. K. Kostelis said advising is operating business as usual. The school-based advising centers are working on communication with department chairs. M. Mahony asked about adding links about advising to departmental webpages. Sen. Bray asked whether credit hours would be broken down by level. C. Robinson said we would be using the NECHE standards. S. Halkin noted that another, different definition may be in the Student Handbook. C. Robinson said she would review it and the catalog. D. Blitz asked if there will be wholly on-ground classes in Spring. C. Robinson said yes, and decisions would be made in conjunction with the deans. The challenges to fully on-ground courses is dependent upon classroom availability, class size, and the cleaning schedule, for examples.
  • Student Services Workgroup – K. Peckham shared that this workgroup looked at student activities and services, commencement, residence life and athletics. Coordination of office hours was discussed, how mail will be delivered was also addressed. For student activities, students need more in-person, on-campus programming. Some students are suffering from virtual fatigue. In Residence Life there is lots of stuff still to work out for the November move-out and January move-in and what will happen for athletes, students who are housing insecure and international students during the break. Student services topics included technology for everyone working from home, including University Assistants. For Athletics, there are lots of details to be worked out; move in and out, meals for athletes, phasing in practice and how to staff playing more sports in Spring, which puts additional demands on staffing. How will students travel and will we host? Will we have fans? How will referees be tested? The right questions came up and right people were at the table.
  • Logistics & Operations – C. Casamento shared that this workgroup looked at a variety of items. The team looked at short- and mid-term items and new things that needs to be thought about for the Spring. Many of the things discussed came with a price tag. She noted her staff is in the process of trying to aggregate what the costs of these and other ideas from the other workgoups will be. In the short-term, many pieces of equipment related to services needed when we pivot to remote or over break (e.g., card office and check-writing) have costs. Adding additional locations for students to be able to make color prints also came up. Student-created, student-delivered training on Webex, Blackboard and Teams and the same for faculty and staff was discussed. In the mid-term, the Art department may need different types of projectors, tech is needed in the Dance Center, lots of questions about mail delivery and scanning services arose. She noted some HyFlex classrooms need technology updates to better meet faculty needs. We are evaluating cash machines to minimize contact and exchange of cash; there will be a technology tune-up to check all computers to make sure they are ready for the Spring semester. There is potential for a redesign of the IT website to make sure it is easier for people to locate what information is most important to them. Some of the other items being discussed and considered related to the quarantine and isolation halls; for example, should they be expanded to house essential employees. Dining Services in those buildings were also discussed. She noted there are efforts underway to rightsize those services to meet the demands of the campus community. Issues also arouse regarding the downtown campus at 185 Main Street. Questions like how to engage with 3rd parties that engage with that building. Should there be events, whether virtual or on-ground? One of the bigger challenges the University has relates to the production of tax documents. We must issue 1098Ts and 1099s; we are planning for that in conjunction with the IT department and the Copy Center. We have to plan for the event that we are not able to access those services.
    • Sen. Mendez-Mendez asked about reimbursement for toner and other printing expenses at home. In the case the Copy Center is not able to provide services, is there a contingency plan? C. Casamento noted there is information on the Fiscal Affairs website that would be shared.
    • Sen. Chakrborty asked whether there are any improvements to the SDS infrastructure. He has students who are having difficulty taking exams. K. Pecham said she would take this to the Student Services Committee.
    • Sen. Mahoney shared she has heard students have concerns about taking exams online in real time. C. Robinson offered there is the option of using Proctorio, the only proctoring tool we presently have on campus. F. Latour stated replacing, improving or augmenting Proctorio would be good. It was also noted this issue impacts both retention and student morale. Anecdotal evidence about the deficiencies of Proctorio were described.
    • Sen. Al-Masoud asked if there is a possibility of holding exams on campus on the Spring semester. C. Robinson said that it is expected we will have access to campus in the Spring, that could be explored, and she would share this with the Logistics workgroup.

6. New Business

a. Netiquette guidelines for Senate Listserv

  • F. Latour noted that there is a proposal on the floor in the form of a Motion that the following rules and netiquette be accepted as the standards for postings on the University Senate Listserv.
  • F. Latour noted that there is a also proposal on the floor in the form of a Motion that the Faculty Senate Steering Committee be given the authority to determine and take appropriate action when a member of the University Senate Listserv violates one or more of the established rules and netiquette of participation.
  • These motions add a few more details to the existing rules, and give the Steering Committee the authority to take action if the rules are violated and to ensure that the list serv remain faithful to its intended purpose.
  • The motions were discussed together. Someone asked how many people were asked to be removed from the list serv; the answer was not exactly known. Anecdotal information is that 43 people have asked to opt out recently; the list serv is quite quiet now. One senator suggested these documents should have been developed when the list serv was created. A suggestion was made to make this document a little more formal where sanctions are addressed. Sen. Bray expressed she feels this proposal is unnecessary because we are all professionals; you can ignore the noise and focus on substance. Sen. Harris asked about posting about off-campus cultural events and whether this is permissible. J. Bishop expressed that as long as it is relevant to your colleagues, it is permissible.
  • After hearing no further discussion, a poll was executed on the Motion, which treated the document as a whole. It was approved 43:9.

b. Update on the Search for the Vice President for Equity and Inclusion

  • Sen. Jones provided an update on the search. She shared that there is not a lot to report yet, but the search is moving along. She shared the timeline, which included the organizational meeting and the first meeting with AGB Search. She shared that advertisements are out, virtual listening sessions were held, and the search was officially launched September 21. Applications are due November 2. The committee is hoping to have an appointment by the end of January 2021, but that is dependent upon how all of the virtual interviews go.
  • F. Latour indicated that the Senate’s Committee on Personnel and Appointments should be included in some way. In the past, they were able to attend in-person meetings.
  • J. Bishop asked about virtual open forums. S. Jones said that there will be, like the listening sessions that were already offered.

c. “Everything is on the Table” – Report on the CSCU Finance Report to the BOR (D. Blitz)

  • D. Blitz provided a recap of the recent Finance Committee and Board of Regents meeting.
  • D. Blitz focused on the three red boxes on page 1 of the report: comparative information between the June and October 2020 BOR meetings. He noted that at a time where everything else is being reduced, the System Office-controlled budget it being increased by 27.29% and that the System Office budget is now larger than 10 of the 12 community colleges. He also noted that what was approved in October included anew budget category: Shared Services. This makes the System Office budget larger than any of the community colleges.
  • On page 2 of the report, Blitz highlighted the System Office reserves for the community colleges noting that while many community colleges are in the red with small reserves, the System Office has a $4.65M surplus and $16.04M in reserves, while two community colleges have negative reserves.
  • For the Universities, the System Office has another $22.42M in reserves, while CCSU faces a $12.32M deficit and Eastern, half the size of CCSU, has almost the same losses. Southern, which is about the same size as CCSU, has a deficit larger than ours. He concluded that this data suggests we are managing our money better than the other campuses. The biggest problem, he noted, is WCSU, which has negative reserves apparently due to their split campus.
  • Together, System Office reserves amount to one third of what they have requested from the State.
  • Blitz noted that D. Jimenez , appointed to a Collective Bargaining Committee at Thursday’s Board meetingd, has coined the phrase, “Everything is on the table.” Mark Ojakian said everything is on the table except Students First.
  • Blitz covered the potential CBA-related savings the BOR has identified – all of which is subject to collective bargaining.
  • The “Balducci Amendment” was then presented. D. Blitz noted that one week passed between the Finance Committee and the Board meeting, during which no additional material was received. The night before the Board meeting, this never-discussed amendment was received. It was not submitted to the presidents or provosts of the universities for consideration. It calls for a $2M reduction in part-time lecturers, and $0.5M cuts from both UA and GA allocations and an additional $5M from OE. These funds amount to $612K, $114K, $138K and $1.76M at CCSU. Blitz noted that he wrote to the Chair of the Finance Committee first-thing on the morning of the Board meeting requesting that the amendment be remanded to the committee, since it had not been discussed. He also noted the impact of the proposed additional cuts, specifically how students and some of our most vulnerable employees would be impacted. Blitz also called for explanation of the $22M System Office reserves. After 2 hours of discussions, BOR Chair Fleury told Blitz that as a non-voting member of the Board, he could not make a motion.
  • Blitz noted that the email that came from the System today noted nothing about the discussions that took place and lasted almost 1.5 hours.
  • D. Blitz read his proposed Resolution.
  • F. Latour asked for a second to the motion (J. Bishop) and then opened the floor to discussion.
  • Sen. Adair thanked Sen. Blitz and commented on the shared service line in the budget. He recalled when President Gray sought a single block grant from the legislature so he could make decisions about how it would be shared. The Shared Service line effectively accomplishes the same thing. In the past, the community colleges and universities contributed fairly equal amounts to the System Office. Now, the universities are at c. $12M and the community colleges at about $2M. The Shared Services line is entirely about the community colleges and it is unclear how that is going to be funded. He concluded with stating that the System Office is increasing their latitude by putting a lot of expenses into this category.
  • Sen. Mendez-Mendez suggested the Resolution also be sent to the chairs of the Higher Education Committee.
  • D. Blitz suggested taking this further than the Resolution should wait until after the election, at which time it will be clear whether any action was taken by the System Office or BOR.
  • Sen. Mahoney made two comments: (1) the notion that we can do this Resolution alone, without the community colleges and other CSUs is very important for David to consider and he send this to the FAC and AAUP and President Latour should send it to the other Faculty Senates. She said standing alone is not in anyone’s best interest. It is too easy to dismiss this as Central rabble-rousing. (2) There is an election coming and we all live in districts where legislators have to run for office. As Louise and others pointed out at Friday’s AAUP meeting, it is important for our legislators to know who we are and what we care about. For example, there is a very important race in Newington this year. If we want the Legislature to pay attention to us in January, it is good that we help them now, in the next three weeks. T. Burkholder has the list of AAUP-endorsed candidates.
  • Sen. Rode asked what is the equivalent loss of revenue due to course cancellations because of reduction of the part-time budget. D. Blitz and M. Mahony suggested the BOR sees the solution as full-time faculty teaching more sections.
  • Sen. Mendez-Mendez called the question. It was seconded. The motion to call the question passed 45/1. Discussion ended. One correction, a typo, was made, exercising the authority of the Senate Steering Committee.
  • The Resolution was put to a vote. The Resolution passed 46:1.

7. Adjournment

  • The meeting adjourned at 5:19 p.m.