Faculty Senate

Minutes - March 7, 2022 - 3:05pm - Online through WebEx

CCSU FACULTY SENATE MEETING

Present: Acharya, K.; Al-Masoud, N.; Amaya, L.; Andreoletti, C.; Atkinson, S.; Benoit, D.; Bigelow, L.; Bishop, J.; Boscarino, N.; Bray, A.; Broulik, W.; Crundwell, G.; Donahue, P.; Duquette, J.; Dumpson, N.; Elfant, A.; Emeagwali, G.; Fallon, M.; Flinn, B.; Foshay, J.; Foster, P.; Gamache, J.; Garbovskiy, Y.; Garcia-Bowen, M.; Gichiru, W.; Givens, E.; Gonzalez, K.; Halkin, S.; Hazan, S.; Hedlund, J.; Hernandez, J.; Huang, Y.; Hughes, H.; Jackson, M.; Jarmoszko, T.; Kaczmarek, M.; Kapper, M.; Langevin, K.; Larsen, K.; Lewis, M.; Martin, A.; Matthews, S.; Matzke, B.; McCarthy, M.; Morano, P.; Moriarty, M.; Ofray, J.; Orange, M.; Oyewumi, Y.; Paolino, J.; Patterson, Y.; Pope, C.; Robinson, G.; Salama, T.; Savatorova, V.; Schenck, S.; Scoggins, M.; Scott, T.; Sikorski, J.; Smith, R.; Sohn, Y.M.; Spear, E.; Styrczula, S.; Sylvester, C.; Vargas, C.; Villanti, S.; Washko, L.; Whittemore, L.; Zabihimayvan, M.; Zadi, S.; Zhao, S.

Ex-Officio: Burkholder, T.; Jackson, M.; Jarrett, J.; Kostelis, K.; Mulrooney, J.; Robinson, C.; Toro, Z.; Wolff, R.

 

Parliamentarian: Dimmick, C.

President of the Senate: Latour, F.

Guests: Bantley, K.; Blitz, D.; Bucher, L.; Cintorino, S.; Elsinger, N.; Frank, L.; Martin, K.; McGrath, K.; Merenstein, B.; Miller, S.; Moreland, D.; Palmer, J.; Pincince, T.; Suski-Lenczewski, A.; Tully, J.; Votto, S.

1. Minutes

a. Minutes of February 28, 2022 were accepted.

2. Announcements

a. AAUP President (T. Burkholder)

• An email has been sent out about the tentative agreement that has been reached with the BOR. There will be a series of informational meetings coming up; attend the meeting convenient for you. Highlights of the contract:
  • New clause allows for up to a one-year pause in the tenure clock. This is intended for people dealing with major life events.
  • Emeritus status for part-time faculty with more than 60 hours of teaching at a campus was gained;
  • The retrenchment language was clarified and has more specific language than it had before;
  • No longer required to use prior service as a special appointment toward the tenure clock; it is now optional.
  • All thirty-four State bargaining units reached agreement on language as of this past Saturday.
  • The financial stuff is good; that will be addressed by Patty O’Neill at the upcoming meetings. As a rough estimate, there is a retroactive raise this year of about 4.5%. Subsequent raises will be about 3% for the next two years. There will be a wage-only reopener in the fourth year of the contract. The contract is a 4-year contract, 2021-2025.
  • CSU-AAUP Council elections are coming up. Members may self-nominate or nominate someone else (please obtain that person’s permission before nominating them.) The deadline was this past Friday at 3 p.m., but nominations received today or tomorrow are welcome.
  • If ratified, the contract will go to the legislature as part of a package of all four thirty-four state contracts.
  • AAUP members were urged to vote in favor of the contract.

b. SUOAF-AFSCME (L. Bigelow)

• SUOAF has met with the membership to review the SEBAC wage framework and contract language changes. Very few questions or concerns were raised. Our ratification vote will be held online March 17-22, 2022.

c. SGA (N. Elsinger)

• SGA is holding executive board elections this week. Please encouraged your students to vote. The vote opens tomorrow and closes Thursday at 11:59 p.m.

d. FAC to the Board of Regents (M. Jackson)

• No announcements. Last Friday’s meeting was postponed to this coming Friday.

e. President of the Senate (F. Latour)

• There are three meetings after Spring Break. The Steering Committee will have a discussion about having on-campus meetings. In addition, there will be a large number of committee reports at the remaining Spring meetings. Committees will receive a request for their annual report from the Senate President. Those reports will be put on the agenda. Many are informational only; those will be marked with an asterisk. If anyone wants a report pulled from the consent agenda for discussion on the floor, let the President or Secretary know so that the Chair of the committee can be invited to a meeting to discuss the report.
• Next week is Spring Break.

3. Elections

a. Election of one member of the University Planning and Budget Committee

• The Elections Committee conducted the election for one member of the University Planning and Budget Committee representing the School of Education and Professional Studies. A call for nominations was made. Yvonne Patterson from Social Work was put on the ballot. Additional nominations were sought. Motion to close nominations passed. Yvonne Patterson was elected to a one-semester term representing the School of Education and Professional Studies on the University Planning and Budget Committee.

b. Call for Nominations: President, Vice President, and Secretary of the Faculty Senate (2022-24 term)

• A call for nominations for the positions of President, Vice President, and Secretary of the Faculty Senate was made. A call for nominations will also be made electronically; all nominations must be in by the Friday before the next Senate meeting.
  • Sen. Fred Latour was nominated for the position of President. He accepted the nomination.
  • Sen. Jan Bishop was nominated for the position of Vice President. She declined the nomination citing she has reached the maximum number of terms as a Senate officer.
  • Sen. Robin Smith was nominated for the position of Vice President. She accepted the nomination for the position of Vice President.
  • Sen. Lisa Bigelow accepted nomination for the position of Secretary.
• Nominations will remain open until Friday, April 1. Individuals wishing to nominate themselves or someone else are asked to send the nominations to Sen. Langevin, including the name of the nominee and the position for which they are being nominated. Nominees must be a current member of the Senate; the membership list is posted on the Senate website. As nominations come in, they will be added to the Senate website. Nominees should also send a statement of interest to Sen. Langevin.

4. Unfinished Business

a. Financial Transparency at the University

• Resolution Requesting from the University Administration a Breakdown of Revenue and Expenditures
• This matter was initially discussed in Fall 2021. Due to the number of amendments that were made, the resolution was sent back to the Senate Steering Committee to revise the resolution.
• Motion: To approve the Resolution which outlines what revenue and expense information the Senate is requesting of the administration and how they wish to have the information displayed. Motion was approved.

5. New Business

a. Questions about Emeritus Status

 

• This year there will be a number of people retiring from the University. In most cases (AAUP and SUOAF), they are eligible for emeritus status, which comes with certain privileges. Questions have been asked of the Senate, since this is a timely issue due to the large number of people retiring this year. Relevant language in the AAUP and SUOAF contract was reviewed. The process a department follows to get to the point of making a recommendation may vary. Should there be a single process?
• Motion: To create an ad hoc committee of the Senate to answer the questions related to Emeritus status that have come to the Senate.
• Sen. Crundwell noted that emeritus status has value and that any process that is used should have checks and balances.
• Anna Suski-Lenczewski noted that emeritus status is a benefit that is negotiated through collective bargaining. She further noted that current AAUP contract negotiations include a language change to the article on emeritus status.
• Sen. Best asked if there have been problems with the current process. Are these questions being raised to improve the policy? Have there been problems and/or complaints? Sen. Latour indicated there is no policy, only contractual language, and because of that, forty departments could handle this forty different ways.
• Anna Suski-Lenczewski indicated that the process is clear to the administration and that there is not a time limit on how many years someone must have worked for a particular university. Regarding a time limit, she said there is none. A recommendation could be put forward several years after someone retires.
• Sen. Bishop added that at a minimum, the current process is awkward and that some consistency, in the form of a policy, would be helpful.
• Reviewing the list of questions, A. Suski-Lenczewski said that most of the questions that are being reviewed have been addressed over the years. She observed that a process needs to be defined, not a policy. She noted that some of the questions could be addressed by including this in department bylaws.
• Sen. Best appreciated the CHRO’s comments. He asked whether it is possible for A. Suski-Lenczewski to be a consultant to the ad hoc committee if one is established. F. Latour indicated that an ad hoc committee can consult with anyone they feel has valuable information to lend to the committee’s work.
• Sen. Crundwell stated his department recently declined to recommend a recent retiree for emeritus status. He asked what would happen if there was a complaint? The CHRO stated that anytime a complaint is filed, the University would provide information to whatever body is handling the complaint. She could not recall any instance in which a complaint was brought forward to the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities.
• Sen. Duquette asked if anyone recommended by their department was denied emeritus status by the president. A. Suski-Lenczewski said that over the years, it may have happened.
• F. Latour sought volunteers for the ad hoc committee. Volunteers included senators Robbin Smith, Steve Villanti, Felton Best, Beth Spear, and Tom Jarmoskzo. F. Latour clarified that individuals who are not senators could also participate on the committee. He clarified it would be helpful to have a target date of April 18th for the report from the ad hoc committee.
• A. Suski-Lenczewski reminded the Senate that the AAUP contract may not be signed by April 18th. T. Burkholder said it is not likely that the legislature would single out the proposed changes to the relevant article. F. Latour said that April 18th was a target date, not a firm deadline.
• Motion: to create an ad hoc committee of at least five people to review the questions raised about the processes and procedures related to the award of emeritus status to retiring faculty. Motion passed.
• President Toro mentioned (1) emeritus status is an honor for whomever receives it; (2) she hopes the committee will review best practices across the nation; (3) the benefits that the individuals get with this status requires resources, therefore it is important for the deans and the provost to weigh in since they oversee the resources of the academic units and, finally, (4) sometimes there are disciplinary matters that are not publicly known. Given that this is an honor, she feels it is important for those things to be kept in mind.
• Sen. Halkin noted that the award of emeritus status should be considered as mutually beneficial.

6. Adjournment

• The meeting adjourned at 4:19pm.