2010-2011 University Senate Executive Committee
November 1, 2010
Eric Lifshin, Chair
MINUTES
Present:
J. Philippe Abraham, James Castracane, Susanna Fessler, Pradeep Haldar, Laurence Kranich,
Vincent LaBella, Eric Lifshin, JoAnne Malatesta, Richard Matyi, John Monfasani, Heidi
Nicholls, Susan Phillips, Michael Range, Shadi Shahedipour-Sandvik, Daniel White
Guest:
Brett Bowles, Cynthia Fox
The meeting convened at 3:32 pm.
APPROVAL OF SEC MINUTES
The minutes of October 4 were approved with minor changes.
PROVOST’S REPORT by SUSAN PHILLIPS
Provost Phillips provided a report on strategic planning and the budget. She began by providing an overview of
strategic planning which began almost a year ago. The strategic planning committee presented a final draft to
President Philip in June and it has been out for public comment. The President now has a final version which
will be previewed during his address at the fall faculty meeting on Wednesday of this week. The Provost
identified the six strategic goals dealing with undergraduate education and said each has a mission statement.
The information is on the wiki and will soon be on the University’s home page. In the strategic planning
process, all of the goals had objectives that needed to be implemented during the current semester.
Recommendations were made about what to work on first and those items that were the most pressing include
the undergraduate education, student experience (particularly mentoring and advising), defining criteria to select
and invest in graduate study, and research. There would also be a community engagement agenda, and a faculty
and instructional agenda that cut across these themes. She believed that the implementation will be framed by
those items.
Provost Phillips then discussed the budget situation. She provided a handout with budget information of all
major units reflecting reductions for 2008-09 and 2009-10. She also reviewed the section of estimated
reductions for 2010-11 and 2011-12, showing a cumulative reduction of over $32 million. She broke the figure
out and gave examples of what that amount of money could provide for the University: 640 jobs at $50,000
each; 100% support for the Schools of Business, Criminal Justice, Education, Public Health and Social Welfare,
Computing and Information, and Rockefeller College; 100% of graduate student support plus all of enrollment
management and the libraries. For there to be no impact on academics would require 100% of the budgets from
all of the non-academic units as well as half of Finance and Business.
The University’s total operating budget is about $400 million with about $140 million coming from State
support. Other income comes from grants, food service, fees and fines, and contracts. Vince Delio from the
President’s Office has inquired with SUNY administration if there are any fees that will support the academic
mission. However, students do not receive TAP aid to cover fees.
Provost Phillips provided a breakdown of positions lost in the different disciplines over the past two years.
Some of the positions were lost through retirement and from people moving to jobs at other campuses.
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NEW BUSINESS
Resolution from LLC re: Deactivation of Programs--Cynthia Fox and Brett Bowles
Professor Bowles from French Studies presented the resolution which was drafted with the assistance of
colleagues from LLC in the hopes of obtaining SEC’s reaction. At issue from the LLC point of view is whether
or not formal consultation took place with the BAGs and other advisory groups. He referred to the relevant
sections of the Bylaws and said he believed that those groups fell outside of formal consultation. Professor
Bowles referred to eleven programs in the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) with smaller enrollments than
those slated for deactivation. Although he did not believe that to be an argument for deactivating those
programs, he said that a bad precedent is being set in light of massive cuts that will be coming in the future. He
addressed the part of the resolution to provide alternative to the president and suggestions from his colleagues in
LLC. He referred to the 26% increase to athletics since 2005-06. Since athletics is a non-academic unit, he
posed the suggestion of reducing the athletics budget and making it self-supporting. The state allocations for
athletics could then be made available to support academic areas. He cited recent instances at the University of
California, Berkely and Hofstra University, both of which recently deactivated several athletic programs saving
$4 million and $4.5 million respectively. The money will be reinvested in their academic programs. Similar
measures for this campus have been discussed with UPPC. Provost Phillips said that according to our Budget
Office, the increase is actually closer to 17%. Contractual salary increases and moving graduate student support
accounted for much of athletics budget increase.
Chair Lifshin asked for comments on the resolution. UPPC Chair Range said that according to his
understanding of the Bylaws, formal consultation had been met in the creation of BAG 1 and 3 and their
memberships included 50% membership approved by the Governance Council. Chair Lifshin said that GOV’s
response to President Philip concerning recommendations for BAG3 was not that of a full quorum. Chair
Range said the question is whether or not to forward this to the Senate. He maintained that the Bylaws were
followed. Although the Bylaws do not indicate that GOV has the final say of membership, specific criteria had
been met. He questioned whether or not the President should have consulted with the advisory bodies before
going public with a decision. He said it would be desirable to consult with them and obtain their reactions but
the Bylaws is not clear on this. Other members supported this and believed that if the President had proposed
the specific recommendations to his advisory committees, the outcome may have been different and could avoid
returning to the committees. Provost Phillips provided clarification and said that BAG3 viewed the budget that
was very close to what was announced. In prior BAGs, the budget was not viewed in such detail. She further
noted that the CAS dean was not involved with selecting the membership of the BAGs. Chair Range said the
understanding was that BAG3 was considering a two year reduction scenario but understood that deans were
under a mandate to redo for a one year scenario, prompting a drastic response from the CAS Dean. Provost
Phillips said the Academic Affairs reductions were over two years but CAS was permitted to provide reductions
from random departures. CAS did not have two years worth of vacancies and had presented something more
strategic. In BAG3 the second model did not go far enough and the group advised taking further cuts.
Council Responses to Deactivation Memo
Chair Lifshin asked for suggestions on consolidating the information being submitted by the councils in
response to the November 19 deadline requested by President Philip. He suggested putting forth a short term
response as well a longer term action plan in the form of a committee that will proactively pursue solutions.
Members agreed that the response needs to offer constructive suggestions and exclude finger pointing.
SUNY Senator White suggested consideration of the two SUNY-wide resolutions with language already in
place. UPPC Chair Range said the resolutions did not go sufficiently in the direction of making alternatives to
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provide to the President. He also responded to Chair Lifshin’s suggestion for entrepreneurial ideas saying it
would not deal with the crisis and does not address the deactivations.
UAC Chair Malatesta said there have been no solutions heard on how CAS will reallocate its cuts. There have
been conversations how the rest of the University will absorb some of the cuts. Other schools have taken cuts
but there is no advocacy for other areas. Chair Range agreed this was a good point but CAS is the area that has
been identified. As a constructive response to the President, it could be suggested cutting other areas that do
not involve retrenchments. Senator White said that perhaps reducing some of the commitment to general
education could provide savings and could be presented to the President as an alternative.
Professor Fox indicated she would take the information from today back to her colleagues. There have been
multiple resolutions from many groups and they will need to consider what they will do next. She was
informed that they would need to have their resolution to the SEC by November 5.
Due to time constraints, Chair Lifshin agreed to follow up with an email on how to proceed and form a clear
response to the President.
Charter Amendment re: CPCA Chair Being Full Professor (GOV)
Charter Amendment re: Senate Approval of Council Chairs (GOV)
The discussion of both amendments was tabled due to time limitations.
SENATE CHAIR’S REPORT by ERIC LIFSHIN
Chair Lifshin said the conversation concerning Community Engagement was being deferred to another time due
to the pressing issues of the resolution being presented by Languages, Literatures and Cultures and the
Committee’s response to President Philip’s memo. He said many of responses to the deactivation
announcement have become a matter of finger pointing without constructive objectives in mind. In developing
SEC’s response, he said it is extremely important to come up with a clear response to the President’s memo.
The Chair recommended providing alternate suggestions for obtaining additional revenue to support the
University. He asked SEC members to consider forming an ad hoc committee to develop its statement to the
Presidents and, as a longer term project, look at financial alternative. He referred to a proposal accepted at the
last UPPC meeting from the School of Business on internet security which is being funded by federal money.
This is one example of using our resources and looking at other options. The Chair said the faculty needs to
show it is engaged on several fronts for maintaining academic excellence and open to change as long it does not
compromise our ideals.
There was a discussion concerning the resolution from CPCA. Chair LaBella reported that council members
voted and approved passing the resolution on to the SEC. He said he believed there were rumors circulating
that junior faculty should not apply for promotion and tenure. CPCA members agree they should assemble their
folders and continue the process. The council is considering issuing a statement to department chairs and deans
to inform them that they should proceed as normal.
OTHER REPORTS
SUNY SENATORS’ REPORT (J. PHILIPPE ABRAHAM, SHADI SHAHEDIPOUR-SANDVIK,
DANIEL WHITE)
Senator White discussed the resolution passed by the SUNY wide senate, specifically the statement from the University
Centers concerning UAlbany’s suspension of programs. He informed SEC members that it is not normal procedure for
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them to make specific statements about how other campuses conduct their affairs, so this is viewed as a powerful step for
them to take. They were enthusiastic in bringing forth the resolution to make sure that the core mission of the University
is protected. There were only two dissenting votes on the resolution. He also discussed a conversation he had with
senators from SUNY Binghamton as well as Senate President Kenneth O’Brien concerning the shared governance
resolution. They generally agreed that campus Senate bodies should be viewing decisions that administrative leadership
is making.
GSO (GRADUATE STUDENT ORGANIZATION) – HEIDI NICHOLLS, GSO REPRESENTATIVE
The GSO has been contacted by graduate students from the French department looking for someone to both talk to them about the
current status of the department and potential courses of legal advice/action they could take. They were directed to contact Dean
Williams.
SA (STUDENT ASSOCIATION) – JUSTIN WAX JACOBS, PRESIDENT STUDENT ASSOCIATION
N/A
COUNCIL/COMMITTEE CHAIRS’ REPORTS:
CAA (Council on Academic Assessment) – Richard Matyi, Chair
1) Henryk Baran (LLC) has resigned from the CAA and from his position as Chair of the Academic Program Review
Committee (PRC). Kristen Hessler (Philosophy) has agreed to serve as Chair of the PRC, with Brian Gabriel (CCI) serving as
co-Chair.
2) Toni Nicoletti (SSW) has requested to join the CAA and has been invited to serve, pending approval by the University
Senate.
3) A regular meeting of the CAA was held on Wednesday, October 27. Significant points of discussion involved the upcoming
schedule of program reviews, the response of the CAA to the deactivation of programs at the University at Albany, and the
status of the examination of PRC reviews by the Graduate Academic Council (GAC) the Governance Council (GOV).
4) The CAA decided that it will take no formal position regarding the deactivation of programs. A statement to that effect is
currently being circulated to CAA members for their approval.
5) Richard Matyi (CNSE) represented the CAA at meetings of both GAC and GOV on Friday, October 29.
Chair Matyi added that council members have completed e-mail voting regarding item 4 and read the following
statement: “The Council on Academic Assessment takes no formal position regarding program deactivation at the
University at Albany. It is the desire of the Council, however, that all actions taken by the University remain consistent
with the goal of maintaining continuous quality improvement in our academic programs.”
CAFFECoR (Committee on Academic Freedom, Freedom of Expression, and Community Responsibility)
– Pradeep Haldar, Chair
Nothing to Report
Chair Haldar reported that the Committee has been involved in activities related to Community Rights and
Responsibilities and they have been pursuing workshops in the residence halls. CAFFECoR members did not feel it was
within their purview to address President Philip’s request on the deactivation.
CERS (Committee on Ethics in Research and Scholarship) – John Monfasani, Chair
CERS met with the University Council, John Reilly, in September and October, and successfully resolved almost all outstanding
issues. An exchange of drafts via email may be all that is now needed in order to agree upon a final text. If not, one more meeting
should do the trick. So I am confident that CERS will be able to bring the revised CERS text to the SEC and then to the Senate before
the end of the semester.
COR (Council on Research) – James Castracane, Chair
The Council on Research met on October 20th. Two agenda items are worth noting. The first was a discussion of the proposed
university cuts and their impact on research activities. The second was a review of the indirect cost return (ICR) policy.
As recommended in the last SEC meeting, each council should be given the opportunity to comment on the proposed cuts and their
effects on the particular council’s purview. A general discussion occurred and the matter will be taken up again at the next COR
meeting after which a report will be assembled summarizing the council’s thoughts/recommendations.
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Concerning the ICR policy, questions arose about the status of the most recent proposal made to President Hall in 2005. Bob
Webster gave an historical review of that document and the council discussed the evolution of the proposal. It was decided to gather
additional information about the current distribution of indirect revenue collected.
CPCA (Council on Promotions and Continuing Appointments) – Vincent LaBella, Chair
CPCA met and discussed the enrolment suspension at length today. We passed the attached resolution that we would like to forward
to the SEC. The resolution was voted on with the following result
Yes: 9
No: 1
Abstain: 0
It should be noted that one of the yes votes was delivered prior to the meeting via email from a member who could not attend but did
read the resolution.
Also the committee is very willing to work with the SEC and senate at helping to support any resolutions or actions to help resolve
this issue.
Lastly CPCA wants to work with the administration and Provost’s office to send out a letter to all Deans and department chairs
informing them that as far as CPCA is concerned all T&P cases in the affected departments should proceed as normal. CPCA will
judge them on their merits as they normally would.
GAC (Graduate Academic Council) – Laurence Kranich, Chair
GAC met on October 26, 2010, to discuss the President’s proposed deactivation of graduate programs. The discussion focused on the
consultative process and the academic merits of the proposal. The Provost was invited to attend the meeting but was not able to do so.
CAS Associate Dean John Pipkin attended in place of Dean Wulfert who was also unavailable. While Associate Dean Pipkin was very
helpful, he was not able to answer all of the members’ questions. Therefore, the Council will attempt to convene an additional meeting
with the Provost and Dean Wulfert. The Council also met on October 29, 2010, to continue its review of CAA program assessments.
On October 29, Chair Kranich, along with Council on Academic Assessment Chair Richard Matyi, attended a meeting of the
Governance Council concerning GAC’s request to GOV for clarification of the role of CAA’s Academic Program Review
Committee. The Chairs were asked to formulate specific language for the Charter.
GOV (Governance Council) – Susanna Fessler, Chair
The Governance Council met on Friday, October 29, 2010. A regular meeting time for the rest of the semester was confirmed. GOV
listened to guests Larry Kranich and Richard Matyi (chairs of GAC and CAA respectively) about an issue of CAA’s role in program
reviews. No action was taken, but the GAC and CAA chairs were charged with producing a written clarification (if necessary) for the
Charter, which GOV will review. GOV listened to guest Brett Bowles (of LLC), who came to speak about the program deactivations
recently announced by the President. The official GOV response to the President’s memo will be drafted over the next few days, in
time for the SEC meeting on Monday, November 1. Also, GOV has completed drafting two proposals to amend the Charter (one on
CPCA chairship, and one on Council Chairs), which will be forwarded to the SEC.
Chair Fessler reported that the official GOV response to the President’s memo is pending. GOV members voted to
endorse the SUNY resolution concerning shared governance. Although the vote was not unanimous, the vote approved
the resolution.
LISC (Council on Libraries, Information Systems, and Computing) – Shadi Shahedipour-Sandvik, Chair
LISC met on Oct. 18th. The two committees of LISC were formed and their members elected chairs. The Library Committee members
from LISC are: Laura Schultz, chair; Ruth Scipione; Bruce Dudek; Gwen Moore and Nancy Newman. The IT Committee members
are: Michael Jaromin, Chair; Bruce Dudek; Ed Waltz, Karen Brown and Brian Butcher. The two chairs will set up their own meetings
and report back to LISC. Each committee will identify a couple topics that would make an impact and push it forward. The Dean of
Libraries, Mary Casserly informed the Council that October 18-24, 2010 is Open Access Week, a discussion on the need for barrierfree access to scholarship. CIO Chris Haile reported that ITS is in the planning stages of a Blackboard upgrade for summer and fall
2011. Also, in conjunction with other departments, a business intelligence system is being reviewed as an analytical tool for a more
sophisticated way to do business at the campus. ITS, in conjunction with CAS and the Library, have formed a team to review IT
services and find a way to work more collaboratively in delivering support and customer services to the campus. In addition, Red Dot,
the campus’s web content management software, in the process of being upgraded.
It was noted that the classrooms have reached a milestone in that there are 31 seats in every classroom and wired for technology. This
shows great progress with technology in the classrooms and shouldn’t be left unnoticed or unrecognized. LISC is scheduled to meet
on Nov. 15th, 2010.
UAC (Undergraduate Academic Council) – JoAnne Malatesta, Chair
The UAC met on October 20th and October 27th.
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We have fully constituted all committees. The last two meetings have primarily focused on the proposed deactivation of 5
programs. Specifically, the Council has considered impacts to the undergraduate program as well as implementation processes. A
number of Bills are being reviewed by the Curriculum Committee and it is anticipated that they should be ready for presentation to the
SEC and the Senate this semester. Additionally, the UAC will soon be examining the policy and process for reviewing restricted
majors and minors.
ULC (University Life Council) – Danielle Leonard, Chair
On Wednesday, October 13th 2010 Dr. Peter Vellis, Director of Student Health Services, spoke to the group and answered questions
on the rationale for a mandatory insurance policy for UA students with a provision for waivers. ULC plans to take this issue under
consideration and will work to weigh the pros and cons of such a proposal in upcoming meetings.
On Wednesday, October 27th 2010 ULC discussed President Philip’s memo asking for the Senate’s comments on the deactivation of
academic programs. We considered how the President’s decision adversely impacts “university community conditions that affect the
overall health, safety, and well being of students, faculty, and staff.” While somewhat difficult to quantify, the fear, anxiety, and
overall stress felt by our community is great and has resulted in an atmosphere of uncertainty and low morale that must be addressed
by the administration as UA continues to feel the impact of these losses.
UPPC (University Planning and Policy Council) – R. Michael Range, Chair
UPPC met on Friday, October 29, 2010. 1. Certificate in Information Security proposed by the School of Business. This was
initially discussed at the 9/17 meeting, when it was tabled, pending further information. Since then, Professor Goel had submitted
additional material to the Council. He and Professor Bromley were present for the discussion. It was emphasized that, as in the past,
offerings of relevant courses will be subject to availability of sufficient external funding to cover costs, and that offerings in summer
would be fully covered by tuition. A federal grant will cover the costs of developing the on-line components of the program. The
Council voted unanimously to approve the proposal. 2. Strategic Plan. Provost Phillips shared brief summary versions as well as the
final full version of the Stategic Plan. There was some discussion about whether the Strategic Plan should be formally reviewed by
the Senate. UPPC agreed that given governance’s substantial representation on the SP Committee and the extensive opportunities for
feed back, such review would not be necessary. Instead, it was emphasized that governance should be involved in reviewing and
approving any proposed specific implementation steps. The Provost agreed to this. 3. The Council resumed discussion of the
proposed deactivation of programs in the Humanities. There was agreement about the difficulties in commenting about one specific
item that is part of a much larger reduction plan, when no specific details about the whole package were available. The Provost shared
some data about reductions in AA, but was not yet ready to share the breakdown by schools/colleges, except for the figures separating
CAS and all other S/C. On a percentage basis, it is planned that in 10-12 CAS will take a 7.5% reduction, all other S/C 6.8%, and
Academic Support Units 11.8%. The Council will finalize its comments via e-mail.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 5:50 PM
Respectfully submitted by
Gail Cameron, Recorder