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University Faculty Senate –170th Spring Plenary Meeting
April 23-25, 2015—SUNY Plattsburgh
Submitted by Georges E. Fouron
Stony Brook Senators in attendance: Ed Feldman and Georges Fouron.
Theme of the Meeting: None
Highlights
- President Election
- The President’s Report—Peter Knuepfer
- Seamless Transfer and Degree Works Updates—Dan Knox, Director of Student mobility
- Report on Intellectual Property—Heather Hage, Senior Director
- Innovation and partnerships-SUNY RF Elize Pusio, Assistant General Counsel SUNY
- Research at the Comprehensive and technological Campuses: What Can we Do?—Dr. Richard Burke, President Fellow RF
- Budget Report—Eillen McLoughlin
- Provost’s office Report—Alex Cartwright, Provost
- Sector Reports—Alex Cartwright (representing the Chancellor)
- SUNY Student Assembly Report—Kevin Rea, President
- Faculty Council of Community Colleges Report—Tina Good, President
- CUNY University Faculty Senate—Terry Martell, Chair
- United University Professions—Fred Kowal
- Open SUNY Report—Ken O’Brien
- Committee Reports
- Resolutions
- President Knuepfer, who ran unopposed for a second term, was elected by acclamation.
- The President’s Report
In his report, the president addressed various points. Namely
- His lobbying activities on behalf of SUNY;
- The 2015-2016 budget
- Funding for the hospitals has remained at last year’s level;
- Increased funding for EOP/AIM ($4.4 M extra);
- Allocation of some funds for salary increase to alleviate the campuses’ burdens, albeit short for what was expected;
- The establishment of investment and performance fund $18M);
- Student Loan Forgiveness Program;
- His efforts and initiatives to have the Board of Regents and SUNY to adopt a clear and comprehensive plan regarding the proposed “Experiential Learning” initiative as a requirement for graduation;
- The Chancellor’s’ initiative to begin a Presidential Review process of 10 campus presidents to assess and adjust their salaries—Stony Brook is one of the targeted campuses;
- Seamless Transfer and Degree Works Updates
- Students have demonstrated a growing interest in the program and SUNY has established a flawless system to assist the students when they apply for course transfers;
- Report on Intellectual Property
- Concern sector: patents. Books and other journal publications are not part of this issue;
- The old system was very ambiguous and failed to address many new concerns that have emerged with the advancement of technology;
- By October 2015, SUNY will issue new and more comprehensive guidelines;
- Research at the Comprehensive and technological Campuses: What Can We Do?
- To encourage research in those areas the SUNY system in encouraging partnership among campuses;
- The Provost’s Office Report
The main points of his presentation were:
- After 7 months only on the job, he is still acclimating himself to it;
- Students should be able to transfer seamlessly at least 60 credits of course work toward the bachelor’s degree;
- Up to 30 credits of Gen Ed courses in ten subject areas;
- No need to repeat courses with the same content;
- Ability to transfer to at least one SUNY 4-year campus;
- Sector Reports
Salient points:
- The Comprehensive Colleges stated that
- “Systemness” is not working for them;
- The October deadline for securing a share of the $18 Million allocated to “Performance-based Funding” too competitive;
- The Presidential Review initiative’s timing is too tight;
- The University Centers
- Expressed their support for the renewal of NYSUNY 20/20;
- Asked SUNY to address issues related to open Access Publications and its cost;
- Asked the state to assess the coast effectiveness of the STARTUPNY initiative since only 76 jobs have been created so far;
- Expressed their concern regarding the attrition of tenure track lines across the system;
- SUNY Student Assembly Report: The students expressed their concern regarding
- SUNY 20/20, which is slotted to expire soon;
- The quality and effectiveness of academic advisement;
- The high interest rates student are now paying for their student loans when loan interests, in general, have remained very low for other purposes;
- The increment of sexual and domestic violence incidents on campus;
- Specific rules of conducts for students, faculty, and professionals on campus regarding sexual improprieties;
- How students factor in the Shared governance initiative;
- TAP for graduate and part-time students;
- Faculty Council of Community Colleges Report
Dr. Tina Good spoke about
- Student mobility;
- Seamless and smooth transition from the community colleges and the four year campuses;
- Student aid issues and TAP
- The need to incorporate the students’ voices in the debates that address university-wide issues and concerns;
- CUNY University Faculty Senate
- The issue discussed had to do with Pathway, which is the parallel of “Seamless Transfer”;
- Specifically, the speaker explained how CUNY was able to succeed in its opposition to the initiative;
- United University Professions
- The president of UUP emphasized the need to organize a united front among the various parties that have a vested interest in SUNY;
- Open SUNY Report
- The need to bring the campuses’ perspective to SUNY Central;
- Concerns with On-line courses’ quality and academic honesty;
- Committee Reports
- Governance: Academic Freedom concerns;
- Operations:
- White paper on budget transparency;
- Mergers and Acquisitions and New Business model for the university;
- Diversity:
- Intent to organize a diversity survey across the system;
- The need to disaggregate the diversity numbers provided by the campuses as many of them are counting their foreign students as fulfilling their diversity mandates;
- Initiatives regarding the “Ban the Box” movement—the goal is to have the campuses refrain from asking prospective students to reveal information regarding their felony convictions, if they have them;
- Concerns regarding racial profiling on campus and campus policing;
- Resolutions:
- Support for graduate research for SUNY undergraduate students who wish to attend graduate school—Passed
- Resolution on Open Access Publication—Passed
- Statement on shared governance of curriculum and pedagogy—Passed
- Renewal of SUNY 20/20—Passed
- Petition to the US Congress, asking for full funding for the Social, Behavioral, and Economic sciences—Passed
- Presidential Evaluation—Passed
- Family and Medical Leave Evaluation—Referred to the Executive Committee for further fine-tuning and clarification;