2003-2004 UNIVERSITY SENATE
Marjorie Pryse, Chair

November 3, 2003 (Continuation of October 27, 2003 Meeting) Minutes

Maryam Amid, Donna Armstrong, Deborah Bernnard, Eloise Brière, Hara Charalambous, Richard Collier, Florencia Cornet, Bruce Dudek, Sally Friedman, Robert Gibson, Robert Geer, Frank Hauser, Reed Hoyt, Suzanne Irving, Michael Jerison, Sung Bok Kim, Justin Koehler, Anton Konev, William Lanford, Raef Lawson, Catherine Lawson, Sophie Lubensky, Andi Lyons, Carolyn MacDonald, David McCaffrey, Louis-Anne McNutt, Heinz Meyer, Gwendolyn Moore, Jeryl Mumpower, Christine Pearce, John Pipkin, Marjorie Pryse, Michael Range, R. Karl Rethemeyer, Joan Savitt, Helene Scheck, Lawrence Schell, David Shub, Glenna Spitze, Ted Turner, J. S. Uppal, Lynn Videka, David Wagner, Joan Wick-Pelletier, Edelgard Wulfert

Guests: Bret Benjamin,

Old Business:

Richard Collier opened the floor to questions. Professor Lubensky wondered if the different University Centers shared the same concerns as UAlbany. Richard Collier referred to an October 6, 2003 clipping from the Business Review in Albany regarding SUNY taking over NanTtechnology as being representative of a continuing concern on all four University Centers. He said that as new Centers arise, they are often siphoned off the arts and sciences and the article questioned the faculty Senate possibly looking into this matter. It is a real concern if that sort of research eludes the supervision and safeguards that are established; it will set a dangerous precedent. The concern on a lesser scale, is what is the impact of the continuous eating away of arts and sciences schools across the state will have. The question has been how will that be handled; it is not new discussion.

Professor Range asked if the rumors of the Department of Computer Sciences moving out of the College of Arts and Sciences and into the School of Information Science and Policy are true. Richard Collier said that would be added to the growing concerns statewide if it is true. Chair Pryse said the Executive Committee is looking into that, although Dean Wick-Pelletier of the College of Arts and Sciences said there is no plan to move now, she is fully involved in that discussion.

Professor Geer asked for specifics on what is being siphoned away from CAS, by NanoTechnology. Richard Collier said all four centers take faculty away from CAS, that there is a lot of discussion/concern about this, no hard source, it is a trend. Professor Geer asked if this is departmental or more centralized. Richard Collier said that from what he understands a separate corporation is being set up, it seems to him that the loss of peer review is an issue. Chair Pryse said this matter would be taken into the next Executive Committee meeting.

New Business:

Senate Bill Number 0304-04, Revision of Semester Withdrawal Deadline for Students Having Less than a 2.0 Cumulative Grade Point Average Who Wish to be Readmitted for the Following Semester, introduced by UAC. The bill was moved and seconded, it passed with an overwhelming majority and one opposition.

Senate Bill Number 0304-05, Revisions within the General Education Program, introduced by UAC. The bill was moved and seconded, it passed with an overwhelming majority vote.

Senate Bill Number 0304-06, Revisions in Policies Governing Excuses from Undergraduate Classes, Exams, and Timely Completion of Assignments, introduced by UAC. The bill was moved and seconded, it passed with an overwhelming majority vote.

Senate Bill Number 0304-07, Proposal to Establish a Graduate Certificate Program in Public Health - Fundamentals and Principles, introduced by GAC and EPC. The bill was moved and seconded. Discussion of the bill followed. There was a question regarding the need for additional resources for the program. Professor Wulfert and Professor McNutt explained that the certificate is new, but the courses are already being offered, they are core courses that are required for the MPH. Therefore, additional resources are not needed for the certificate program. The vote was taken and the bill passed with an overwhelming majority vote.

Resolution 0304-02R, Resolution for Recognition of SUNY Albany Peace and Justice. Presented by Professors Seidman, Cable, Benjamin, and Wittner. The resolution was moved and seconded. Professor Seidman introduced the Resolution and explained that it was developed because SUNY Albany Peace and Justice wanted to seek official recognition by the University as a group. Discussion followed.

Student Senator Amid asked if the group tried to get Student Association recognition. Professor Seidman said they need formal recognition as a faculty-based group. Someone asked for examples of other faculty groups parallel to this group and Professor Seidman said he is not aware that there are other faculty groups on this Campus. Professor Armstrong agreed that there are not any to her knowledge, and added that there is no policy toward the approval of such a group to her knowledge. CAFE has this issue on their agenda, although they have not made much progress on it yet. Richard Collier suggested that since there is no mechanism to set this issue, that the Senate should institute one.

Professor MacDonald made an amendment to provisionally accept it as a group and set precedence and develop rules, she asked CAFE to get back to the Senate on setting rules. Chair Pryse asked if those proposing the Resolution would accept Professor MacDonald's suggestion as a friendly amendment to grant provisional resolution, it would be provisional on CAFE developing rules on status. After some discussion, the amendment was withdrawn.

Professor Range asked if CAFE is the only place to consider this, what about ULC? Professor Armstrong responded that ULC had a full agenda when this first came forward, so the agreement was that CAFE would first look at it then send it to ULC for code review.

It was noted that in the first paragraph, the word "conduct" should be "contact." Also, the third and fourth bullets regarding "event planning assistance" and "leadership development services ..." should be stricken. When asked about how the group proposes to pay for things, Professor Seidman said the group generates its own funds by donations.

A motion was made to vote on the Resolution with the three amendments. The Resolution passed with 33 in favor and 5 abstentions.

Resolution 0304-03R, Resolution on Presidential Search Committee. Professor Range moved to put the Resolution on the agenda, it was seconded. There was an overwhelming majority vote to put it on the floor.

It was suggested that the Resolution should be amended to read that it is "Submitted by Michael Range" under the title. Discussion on further amending the Resolution included revising end of the last sentence of the second "Whereas" to "where faculty means academic teaching faculty, and" to clearly identify what the term "faculty" intends. Another amendment is to replace "Professor MacDonald" with "Chair-Elect of the Senate" in the three places her name appears on the document. In number 5, it was suggested to change the "Secretary" to the "Chair" as the person transmitting the resolution. Those amendments were seconded and unanimously agreed upon.

Further discussion ensued concerning the publicly revealing of the finalists. It was decided to add a clause as "To request the search committee to reveal publicly in a timely manner the names of the finalists

Chair Pryse asked as a courtesy to have a copy of this Resolution to Sorrell Chesin as he is the Secretary to the University Council.

The amendments to the resolution were read aloud by Chair Pryse. A motion was made and seconded to pass the resolution with amendments. The resolution passed unanimously. (There were 32 Senators present.)

Meeting adjourned at 5:00 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,
Jayne VanDenburgh, Recorder