Faculty Senate

Minutes - September 26, 2022 - 3:05pm - Online through WebEx

CCSU FACULTY SENATE MEETING

Present: Acharya, K.; Al-Masoud, N.; Andreoletti, C.; Arena, J.; Barr, B.; Bigelow, L.; Boone, N.; Bray, A.; Broulik, W.; Cole, E.; Donohue, P.; Duquette, J.; Emeagwali, G.; Evans, M.; Fallon, M.; Farrish, K.; Foshay, J.; Foster, P.; Garbovskiy, Y.; Hazan, S.; Hernandez, R.; Horrax, S.; Jackson, M.; Kean, K.; King, A.; Kulesza, M.; Langevin, K.; Love, K.; Lui, R.; Martin, K.; Matthews, S.; McCarthy, M.; Mitchell, D.; Moriarty, M.; Ning, W.; O'Connor, J.; Ofray, J.; Orange, M.; Oyewumi, Y.; Paolina, J.; Recoder-Nunez, L.; Rivera, T.; Salama, T.; Savatorova, V.; Schenck, S.; Schmidt, S.; Smith, J.; Smith, R.; Sogunro, O.; Spinelli, A.; Styrczula, S.; Sugg, K.; Sylvester, C.; Telllier, A.; Tudisca, B.; Vickrey, R.; Villanti, S.; Zabihimayvan, M.; Zadi, S.; Zhao, S.; Zhou, B.

Ex-Officio:Blitz, D.; Burkholder, T.; Frank, L.; Kostelis, K.; Mulrooney, J.; Toro, Z.; Wolff, R.

 

Parliamentarian: Dimmick, C.

President of the Senate: Latour, F.

Guests: Bucher, L.; Byrd Danso, K.; Gonzalez, K.; Kirby, Y.; Minkler, S.; Misra, K.; Phillips, E.; Pincince, T.; Robinson, C.; Tadi, M.; Thompson, T.; Tully, J.; Veloria, C.; Votto, S.; Wright, C.

1. Minutes

• Minutes of September 12, 2022

The minutes of September 12, 2022 were approved.

2. Announcements:

a. AAUP President (T. Burkholder)

• No announcements.

b. SUOAF-AFSCME President (S. Villanti)

• The nomination meeting for the upcoming election of Chapter officers will be held at noon on Sept. 29 on Teams. If needed, the election is scheduled for October 27 at a date and time to be announced. Local Officer elections will take place in November.
• The next Chapter meeting will be held on Thursday, October 13 at noon on Teams.

c. SGA (O. Olamuyiwa)

• There was no SGA representative present at the meeting to make announcements.

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

• D. Blitz provided the following report on behalf of the FAC.
  • Possible budget cuts/adjustments based on projections for FY24 and FY25. The FY23 surplus is projected at $11M. That is largely because of the federal funds received but they cease in FY23. The projected deficit for FY24 is $106M for the CSCU System and for FY25, $115M. That is speculative at the moment. The Finance and Infrastructure Committee recommended that institution presidents and others plan for cuts of 1%, 2% and up to 5%. During the public commentary, Sen. John O’Connor criticized the proposed cuts as they would affect teaching faculty and support staff. In a change of past practice, there was a response from the Chair of the Finance and Infrastructure Committee. In the past, under the Ojakian regime, a dozen faculty could speak and there would be no reaction from the Board. This change is welcome and underscores the importance of faculty making their views known during public comments sections of meetings.
  • The FAC has proposed, and the Board has accepted that the topic for the next joint meeting, as called for in the State statutes, will be full funding for public higher education. That meeting will likely take place in November. Funding is something the FAC wishes to look into at in much greater detail. Specifically, the FAC wants to look at the proportionate of funding for the universities and colleges for shared services and administrative costs of senior management and, more generally, what we should be asking for from the State legislature.
  • Budget cuts have happened in the past. State law allows the governor to decree a cut of up to 5% from any State agency budget. This governor will support budget increases to support collective bargaining increases and is extremely unlikely to unilaterally impose such a cut. Instead, this is being passed off to the System Office and that is why the FAC is taking on this issue.
  • F. Latour asked if the joint meeting is an open meeting. D. Blitz said he would discussion this with the Board Chair JoAnn Ryan. He noted that while the joint meeting cannot make any decisions, the agenda is jointly developed and following these comments, we will ask for the possibility of a public comment section at that meeting.
  • F. Latour observed that Board member attendance was low at the last joint meeting and expressed a desire for more Board members to attend. D. Blitz noted that recent changes to the Board membership seemed to indicate that there is a leadership transition occurring at both the System Office and the Board of Regents.
  • WCSU financial crisis: faculty leadership at Western want more analysis and more detailed spreadsheets (especially on salaries) so that they can assess where the shortfalls are occurring. One faculty noted that the recruitment strategy that Western had adopted, which was to recruit students from neighboring New York State was not as successful as needed to overcome the deficit. He suggested that efforts focus on under-served populations in the Danbury area, including the Hispanic and Portuguese communities which are there. The chair of the Board visibly took note, again signaling a more interactive relationship between faculty and Board leadership. That said, there are still significant differences. For example, a fairly length critique of the framework for the strategic plan for the community colleges, which falsely claimed that the FAC had participated in that plan. It is a burdensome task to have to be a critical voice at the BOR meetings, but the FAC will continue “speaking truth to power.”
  • The President of the 4Cs and the leadership of the Board seems to have changed. Both President Cheng and Seth Freeman, president of the 4Cs complimented one another on their new-found relationship. This is another positive change of note. There is an effort being made to clear the deck of the residues and remnants of the Ojakian period, which was characterized by mistrust and disrespect.

e. President of the Senate (F. Latour)

• Reminder: Some changes have been made to various technological tools.
  • Faculty profiles: At the last meeting, there was a question about online faculty profiles. There was an email sent to all academic departments from IT Updates about new directory and profile systems. The email was sent on August 24 at 2:49 p.m. Please locate and read that message.
  • R. Smith thanked the IT department for making it possible for faculty to update their own profiles and make year of degree attainment optional.
  • Archiving email: An email about this was sent in the News from IT at CCSU on June 30 at 11:44 a.m. It contains information on how Office 365 archiving will be enabled for faculty and staff.
  • T. Rivera noted IT keeps an archive of their communications and explained where it can be found on the IT website. She also expressed she would pass the thanks conveyed by R. Smith to the webmaster in Marketing.
  • D. Blitz asked about the policy on the use of Interfolio. T. Burkholder noted Interfolio is the replacement for the manilla folder used previously. It is just a framework to put the manilla folder information in and it is easier to work with. These processes were worked on with IT and the Provost this past summer. D. Blitz asked if it was a requirement and T. Burkholder said Interfolio should be used, even if all you do is upload your CV and letters from the DEC. It keeps track of your portfolio, whatever state it is in.
  • D. Blitz asked about the status of Moodle. T. Burkholder said he can retrieve things from the Moodle archives but cannot give direct access to it.
  • Chat question: is Interfolio being used for sabbatical proposals? T. Burkholder indicate it is not currently being used for that, but it may be in the future. The sabbatical application is a web form; letters of support are folded into that process.
  • Reminder: The Opening Meeting of the academic year is tomorrow at 2 p.m. in Alumni Hall.

  3. Elections (S. Schenck)

  a. Committee on Committees

  • The Senate held the nominations and election of the three-member Committee on Committees. The following Senators volunteered: A. Bray, M. Orange, W. Broulik.
  • MOTION: To elect the slate of Senators who have volunteered to serve on the Committee on Committees. Motion passed.

  b. Committee on Appointments and Personnel

  • The Senate held the nominations and election of the three-member Senate Committee on Appointments and Personnel. The following Senators volunteered: L. Bigelow, P. Foster, J. Ofray.
  • Sen. Barr inquired whether this committee has a function related to the instances where appointments are made without a search. F. Latur said that those are interim appointments and while there has not been a function related to interim appointments, there is no reason the committee could not have a function with regard to interim appointments.
  • MOTION: To close nominations and accept the slate of Senators who have volunteered to serve on the Senate Committee on Appointments and Personnel. Motion passed.
  • MOTION: To elect the Senators who have volunteered to serve on the Committee on Appointments and Personnel. Motion passed.

  c. Committee on Academic Freedom

  • The Senate held the nominations and election of the three-member Senate Committee on Academic Freedom. The following Senators volunteered: D. Mitchell, J. O’Connor, Y. Oyewumi.
  • MOTION: To close nominations and accept the slate of Senators who have volunteered to serve on the Senate Committee on Academic Freedom. Motion passed.
  • MOTION: To elect the Senators who have volunteered to serve on the Committee on Academic Freedom. Motion passed.

  d. Reminder - Call for Nominations: Standing Committees of the Faculty

  • Vacancies exist on the following standing committees of the faculty, due to retirements and resignations: Board of Regents Research Award Committee; Board of Regents Teaching Award Committee; Distinguished Service Committee; and the Information Technology Committee. In addition, the Promotion and Tenure Committee election normally happens in the Fall and due to recent bylaw changes, the Committee on Academic Advising needs to elect 5 professional advisors. A call for nominations for these seats will be sent out later today.

  4. Committee Reports (reports marked with an asterisk are informational reports intended for consent agenda only; if you would like a report to be discussed, please inform the President and Secretary by Monday, noon)  

  None.

  5. Unfinished Business

  a. In person vs. virtual meetings (F. Latour)

  • F. Latour announced that the Steering Committee discussed this and agreed that five online and two in-person meetings is a good plan for the moment. One of the in-person meetings will be the last meeting of each semester and the other will be determined by the Steering Committee, giving at least two weeks’ notice to Senators. The Committee on Constitution and Bylaws has been informed by way of a proposal to amend the Senate Bylaws to contain this information.

  6. New Business

  a. DEC exceptions for 2022-23, part 2

  • MOTION: to approve DEC exceptions for the departments of Management Information Systems and Special Education & Interventions, as presented with the agenda. Motion passed.

  b. Approval of Faculty Senate Steering Committee, part 2

  • F. Latour presented the following as additional members on the Faculty Senate Steering Committee: P. Donohue and R. Liu. They will join F. Latour, K. Langevin, L. Bigelow, L. Amaya, K. Kean, R. Smith, T. Burkholder, and D. Blitz, whose membership was approved at the last meeting. MOTION: to approve the members of Faculty Senate Steering Committee for the 2022-2023 academic year, as presented with the agenda. Motion passed.

  c. Charge to committees (F. Latour)

  • F. Latour charged the Committee on Committees with continuing the work begun last year. He referred the committee to last year’s report, noting that some of the committees reviewed last year need to take action this semester and the Committee on Committees will need to follow up on those actions. D. Blitz asked about the interim report of the UPBC, as the Senate agreed would be done annually in the Fall. A. Bray, recently elected Chair of the UPBC, noted she was unaware of the requirement and promised that the committee would comply. She further noted it was not in the UPBC bylaws.
  • The Committee on Academic Freedom does not currently have a change.
  • The Committee on Appointments and Personnel is charged with paying close attention to announcements pertaining to searches about management positions and attending the open forums for each search.
  • F. Latour also noted that it has become apparent to the Senate that there are some University policies designed to address a situation, but when the situations occur, the policy does not fully address all of the questions that may arise. F. Latour sought volunteers for a potential ad hoc committee that would be appointed at a later time. Interested individuals should email F. Latour to express interest.

  d. Department Name Change Proposal: Geological Sciences -> Earth and Space Sciences

  • Y. Oyewumi introduced M. Evans to summarize the proposal that was included with the agenda, going into detail about the five reasons on which the proposal is based:
    1. The proposed name better aligns with the department’s degree programs;
    2. The new name will be more familiar to incoming students who may not have hard “geological” in their high school curriculum;
    3. The proposed name better reflects faculty expertise;
    4. The proposed name reflects recent changes in the profession and at other universities; and
    5. The proposal follows a recommendation from the Department’s recent 5-year external review.
  • F. Latour noted there is no formal policy on department name changes. The roles of the dean and provost are unclear. On the floor is a proposal from Geological Sciences to change its name to Earth and Space Sciences.
  • M. Jackson spoke in support of the proposed name change on behalf of the Biology Department.
  • S. Zhao asked about the procedure for requesting a name change. F. Latour said that this was one of the issues that pertains to the earlier discussion about appointment of an ad hoc committee to review university policies. He noted that typically, a name change starts at the department level, where a vote is taken. The Dean is often consulted, but there is no formal policy that requires this. Once it comes to Senate, it is voted on and if approved, sent on to the University president, who has final say.
  • J. Mulrooney asked whether any programmatic changes are being made, or if this is just a name change. M. Evans confirmed that it was just a name change.
  • MOTION to approve the proposal. Motion passed.

  7. Other Business

  • Sen. Ofray called attention to the email about the Mental Health First Aid training sent to the Senate List Serv today by Michael Russo and the Alcohol Awareness Fair, also coming up in October. She asked faculty to consider attending the MHFA training and encouraging students to attend the Alcohol Awareness Fair.

  8. Adjournment

  • Motion to adjourn (J. Arena/A. Spinelli). Motion passed. Meeting adjourned at 4:18 p.m.