Monday, February 28, 2011
3:30 PM
UNH 306
Eric Lifshin, Senate Chair
J. Philippe Abraham, James Castracane, James Fossett, Pradeep Haldar, Laurence Kranich, Present:
Vincent LaBella, Danielle Leonard, Eric Lifshin, JoAnne Malatesta, Richard Matyi, John
Monfasani, Heidi Nicholls, Susan Phillips, Daniel White
Guests: Teresa Harrison, Reed Hoyt, Lee McElroy
The meeting convened: 3:33 pm.
APPROVAL OF SEC MINUTES
The minutes from January 31, 2010 meeting were approved with some additional changes.
PROVOST’S REPORT by SUSAN PHILLIPS
Provost Phillips provided the following updates:
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The NCAA recertification process is underway and a draft for public comment is expected in a few weeks.
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The University Strategic Planning Committee is putting together implementation plans. The Committee is expected to report to UPPC and SEC to bring them up to date on the progress.
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BAG4: UPPC Chair Fossett has been sending out reports on the process and public announcements have been set up on MyUAlbany. Information has also been added to wiki, all in an effort to allow for dissemination of information.
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Dean Jeffrey Straussman, Rockefeller College of Public Affairs & Policy, will step down from his position this summer. A process is underway to identify an interim dean and conduct a national search.
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Reaccreditation work is being conducted with three very successful visits in the School of Business,
School of Social Welfare, and Information Studies in the College of Computing and Information.
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Enrollment Management is working to develop a strategy to encourage more out of state students to attend UAlbany to generate additional funds.
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Assessments are being conducted of needs for the facilities master plan. Perkins+Will from New York
City have been hired to conduct UAlbany’s Facilities Master Plan.
SENATE CHAIR’S REPORT by ERIC LIFSHIN
Chair Lifshin reported that he has been receiving e-mails from the SUNY wide Senate inquiring about what other campuses are doing in relation to budget cuts.

OTHER REPORTS
SUNY SENATORS’ REPORT (J. PHILIPPE ABRAHAM, SHADI SHAHEDIPOUR-SANDVIK,
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DANIEL WHITE)
Senator White reported that the SUNY Senate sponsored Graduate Poster Session will be held on March 8 at the Empire
State Plaza. The exposition is an attempt to put SUNY students’ research on display to show legislators the important work we do.
GSO (GRADUATE STUDENT ORGANIZATION) – HEIDI NICHOLLS, GSO REPRESENTATIVE
As mentioned previously, we had to say goodbye to one of our Senators, Paulina Barrios, as she moves onto new exciting endeavors.
We have temporarily filled her position as senator and seat on CPCA with Fotini Spero until the assembly is able to confirm her appointment March 4, 2011. Our first Assembly Meeting of the semester was held on February 4 where we voted on the amendments proposed by the Executive Board regarding date and wording concerns in our Constitution and By-Laws. One was passed pertaining to the RGSO funding timeline, requiring only 2/3 of the Assembly's vote, and two pertaining to term length and Senator requirements have been approved for the Graduate Student Population to vote on. In attempts to quicken our response rate regarding grant applications, we have proposed an amendment to be voted on at the March 4th assembly meeting, to change the wording in the financial guidelines from 9 weeks to 5 weeks. In efforts to demonstrate its feasibility, grant application response letters will be emailed
Monday, February 28 as the application deadline was January 31. We continue to try to meet the office demands of graduate students through access to computers, printing, and copying. We will be adding yet another computer, totaling at 5, and are in negotiations for a second printer.
SA (STUDENT ASSOCIATION) – JUSTIN WAX JACOBS, PRESIDENT STUDENT ASSOCIATION
N/A
COUNCIL/COMMITTEE CHAIRS’ REPORTS:
CAA (Council on Academic Assessment) – Richard Matyi, Chair
1. The Council on Academic Assessment held a regularly scheduled meeting on Monday 2/21. Major agenda items included (a) a review of the impact of potential changes in the structure and conduct of the General Education curriculum on the Gen Ed assessment activities of the CAA; and (b) a review of the status of upcoming program reviews.
2. Student representative Theresa Gasper has resigned due to graduation. She is being replaced by Mr. Ethan Morrissey.
CAFFECoR (Committee on Academic Freedom, Freedom of Expression, and Community Responsibility)
– Pradeep Haldar, Chair
The committee is reviewing changes to a previous bill to remove discrepancies in various documents relating to principles of a just community. CAFFECoR will also participate in Faculty Integrity Reports Committee.
CERS (Committee on Ethics in Research and Scholarship) – John Monfasani, Chair
Carla Meskill will replace Michael Range for the spring semester and will need to be approved by Senate.
COR (Council on Research) – James Castracane, Chair
COR met on February 16 th and most of the meeting centered on three things:
1). A presentation by Adam Gibbs (Senior Vice President and Treasurer, SUNY Research Foundation) which focused on the use of the ~3% assessment by the RF. A combination of personnel services, legal services (including IP), financial services and assistance with policy management were cited.
2). VPR Dias gave a comparative breakdown of the expenditures by the major SUNY campuses and their rates of return. Albany’s low return rate (~19%) stood out because of the large public services segment of its budget compared to other campuses.
3). The FRAP A recommendations were forwarded to VPR Dias and award letters were sent out. 24 proposals were submitted and
13 awards were granted totaling $120,000.
Chair Castracane asked SEC members to spread the word about the FRAP A awards to their departments.
CPCA (Council on Promotions and Continuing Appointments) – Vincent LaBella, Chair
CPCA continues to review cases.
Chair LaBella reported the council is reviewing about two cases per week.

GAC (Graduate Academic Council) – Laurence Kranich, Chair
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GAC met on February 11 to continue its consideration of CAA program reviews. The Council also met on February 18 to conduct its regular business. At the meeting, the Chair informed the Council that, in accordance with Senate Charter sections VIII.5.1 and
X.1.5.3, he will recommend that council members who are absent for more than four consecutive council meetings be replaced. Next, the Council considered a proposal from the School of Education for a Certificate of Graduate Studies in Online Learning and
Teaching. Council members were generally supportive of the proposal but tabled a decision pending slight modification. The proposal is also being reviewed by UPPC. Sue Faerman, Vice Provost and Dean for Undergraduate Education, spoke to the Council of the work of the Campus Committee on University-Community Engagement Community-Engaged Learning Working Group, which she co-chairs. While GAC is already represented on the Committee due to the participation of one of its members, Vice Provost
Faerman invited further participation. Finally, the Council resumed discussion of the CAA program reviews.
Chair Kranich said issues with attendance of council members are being addressed.
GOV (Governance Council) – Susanna Fessler, Chair
GOV is currently working on two items: spring elections for the 2011-2012 Senate, and also forming an ad hoc committee for assessment of administrators and administrative offices.
LISC (Council on Libraries, Information Systems, and Computing) – Shadi Shahedipour-Sandvik, Chair
N/A
UAC (Undergraduate Academic Council) – JoAnne Malatesta, Chair
UAC convened on February 16 th . We have approved a proposal for the creation of an Entrepreneurship Concentration in the Business major. That proposal is attached for SEC review. Additionally, UAC continues to draft a bill proposing changes to the undergraduate general education curriculum. A request has been sent to Dean’s soliciting feedback on the General Education Task
Force recommendations and that feedback should be submitted by Monday, March 7 th . Once this information is received, the General
Education Committee will work to incorporate that feedback into a finalized proposal. Lastly, the FAIR Review committee has been fully constituted and the first meeting will be on Friday, March 4 th .
ULC (University Life Council) – Danielle Leonard, Chair
Chair Leonard reported that the council is down one senator from the teaching faculty.
UPPC (University Planning and Policy Council) – Jim Fossett, Chair
Chair Fossett said the second BAG report was distributed today. The attempt is to circulate the information from BAG4 as widely as possible so there will be no doubts about availability of information.
NEW BUSINESS
Report from Faculty Athletics Representative-- VP Lee McElroy, Faculty Rep., Teresa Harrison
Chair Lifshin welcomed Vice President McElroy and Faculty Athletics Representative Teresa Harrison.
Professor Harrison said every NCAA institution is required to have a faculty athletics representative who acts as a liaison between academics and athletics. She provided a handout on the academic profile of student-athletes in intercollegiate competition. The reports in the handout serve to inform faculty about the academic character and accomplishments of UAlbany student-athletes.
Professor Harrison discussed student-athletes who are traditional admits versus those who are admits with consideration. Students who have been admitted with consideration have not met traditional criteria but they may offer some other desirable trait such as abilities in art or music. Some are the first in their family to go to college. About 14% of our student-athletics are admitted with consideration.
Professor Harrison reviewed the percentages of student-athletes in each school. Distribution of student athletes in the different schools and colleges mirrors that of the general student population, with student athletes being well distributed throughout all schools and colleges. The three most popular majors are Business
Administration, Communication and Sociology. Faculty members have in the past expressed concern about

4 some teams clustering in certain majors but the data does not support this view. Professor Harrison reviewed the GPA data for spring 2010 and fall 2010. She said the data for the two semesters is similar and has remained stable over the past five years.
Professor Harrison discussed the progress reports sent to faculty members. This is a way to identify studentathletes who may be in trouble academically speaking. The reports are sent by Academic Support and faculty members are asked to report if students are having trouble in their classes. Athletics receives about a 75% return rate from the faculty. Academic Support and Athletics are looking for the faculty to take responsibility in identifying students in trouble.
In reviewing the Graduation Success Rate, Professor Harrison said the NCAA computes in own metrics for graduation success which includes student-athletes transferring into institutions. It differs from the methodology mandated by the federal government which does not count incoming transfer student-athletes and counts student-athletes who transfer out as not having graduated whether they actually did. Our graduation success rate is 63%.
The Academic Progress Rate is a metric developed for the purpose of tracking academic progress of teams during an academic. Teams that are not academically strong, the institution can face penalties ranging from scholarship reductions to more severe sanctions. Chair Lifshin asked if there was any correlation between how well teams do academically with an athletic discipline. Vice President McElroy said that socio-economics are a greater factor in academic achievement as opposed to the sport students are engaged in. He said there is no research to confirm the connection between sport and academic success.
Chair Lifshin recommended that the report be presented to the full Senate. A motion to do so was made and seconded, and approved by a vote.
Vice President McElroy responded to a question about how graduate students are allowed to play. He said that about 10% of student-athletes graduate in less than four year and according to NCAA regulation you can have five years to compete. Students that are still here within the five year window can compete.
Chair Lifshin thanked Vice President McElroy and Professor Harrison for coming.
OLD BUSINESS
Continued Discussion re: BAG 4:
Chair Lifshin began the discussion that an attempt was made at the last Senate meeting to have people talk about what steps should be taken in BAG4 from a Senate perspective. He looked for feedback about the extent to which cuts should be in terms of academic vs. non-academic and to what extent the Senate should be involved in such a decision making process. Chair Lifshin expressed concerns about the fact the BAG4 and
UPPC overlap and feels it is not clear if it will mean that the BAG4 findings will have the endorsement of the
Senate. He said statement from the Senate is voiced by legislation from the various councils and then voted on.
He asked if BAG4 speaks for the Senate. UPPC Chair Fossett responded that when constituting BAG4, part of the discussion involved UPPC’s participation which was approved and a mechanism was developed for it to report back to the Senate. UPPC was added to the membership in order to provide a broad range of perspectives. He further stated that the process for determining consultation has been followed. SUNY Senator
White agreed with the exception that the ad hoc committee is advisory to the President. He said if BAG4 decides to deactivate more programs the Senate should be part of the process and not overlooked. Chair Fossett stated that if UPPC is participating in the recommendations then BAG4 is the body to approach. Chair Lifshin said normally these decisions go through UAC or GAC and this would be a fundamental change in procedure

that needs consideration. Senator White agreed that recommendations on curriculum should not be made by
BAG4 without going through the Senate. UPPC Chair Fossett said the President is in his right to deal with program independently.
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Provost Phillips offered to separate processes that could evolve from BAG4 that would provide the Senate with an opportunity to respond to resulting recommendations. If BAG4 were to forward a set of recommendations to the President, UPPC could provide its report to the Senate, providing the Senate its opportunity to respond and allow UPPC to be extracted from BAG4 and resume its Senate function. On the other hand, decisions from
President Philip would go back to the Senate and he would request their response as was done last fall. Chair
Fossett expressed concerns about time constraints. He believes that Governor Cuomo will be focused on an agenda for completing the State budget on time and there would be little room to compromise on SUNY tuition.
He said our process could reflect the opinion of the University as whole and can say what considerations we want before decisions are made.
Chair Lifshin encouraged others to voice their thoughts. He said the last process was grossly distorted by the press and we are now dealing with the collateral damage from that process. He said we need to learn from the past and would like to ensure that appropriate procedures are followed. The following thoughts and ideas were presented:
 Reed Hoyt, representing GOV in Chair Fessler’s absence, concurred with Provost Phillips’ suggestion.
He said the definition of formal consultation has not been addressed but believed that UPPC should report to the Senate and BAG4 should report to the President. We need to reflect the duality of the situation.

Heidi Nicholls said having BAG4 bring a recommendation to the Senate would give the appearance that
BAG is providing consultation. There needs to be clarity on whether it’s UPPC or BAG4.
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GAC Chair Kranich sees UPPC as the messenger between BAG4 and the Senate. However, the Senate is representative of a constituency and not an ad hoc committee from the larger community. BAG4 was not composed with any particular constituency in mind but was done in consultation with GOV. He said we should not concede our decision-making responsibility to BAG4 because of an April deadline.
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CERS Chair Monfasani sees BAG4 as reflecting a wider community. He does not think they will cut departments but instead present the principles by which the administration should act.
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CPCA Chair LaBella agreed with CERS Chair Monfasani and supported the idea that BAG4 should focus on principles and not specifics.
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Senator White reiterated that the Senate needs to maintain some control over the curriculum.
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UAC Chair Malatesta said after the last recommendations were made and they were referred to the councils, the councils were not clear on what to do. The process needs to be more systematic and charge councils with an implementation process which is their duty.
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CAA Chair Matyi said it is not the role of BAG to prescribe what departments should be illuminated but to provide a policy about how decisions are made. The BAG is advisory to the President but the Senate needs to be concerned about curriculum issues. He said it would be valuable to have BAG advise the
President as to how he might proceed.

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ULC Chair Leonard said that representation on BAG4 is not dually representative like the Senate and believed that issue will surface. She said the BAG reports from February 11 and 13 were not clear on the charge of the group. UPPC Chair Fossett said there is no consensus about the proper course of action but it would be addressed at some point.

CAFFECoR Chair Haldar said it was not the role of the Senate to challenge the recommendations from
BAG4. The Senate’s activities will come after BAG makes its recommendations to the President. Chair
Lifshin said it was not a matter of challenging but does not want the Senate to be placed in the line of fire when critical decisions are made. He said the language is unclear about what the consultative role of the Senate is.
 Vince Delio from the President’s Office said the composition of BAG4 is part of the consultation process. Their finding will generate a proposal from the President to continue the consultation process and it will then be in the hands of the SEC. But it would not be the end of the process. GAC Chair
Kranich disagreed. He pointed out that in the last round of recommendations the Senate was consulted after the fact which generated the uproar and it was too late at that point.

Chair Lifshin said the Senate could be called upon to identify a general set of principles. If the Senate provides this to the President and he decides on specific actions, it’s in the true spirit of consultation.
BAG4 is charged with advising the President on both short term and long term budget matters. He wants to provide the President with the best advice possible to make informed decisions.
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CERS Chair Monfasani said if the governor is able to realize the April 1 deadline for the state budget, things could move quickly after that. Provost Phillips said our fiscal year begins in July so we would have some time to have a plan in place. The timing of the executive budget being passed allows us to know what we have or don’t have to work with. The Provost also said that guidance is being sought on the level of specificity from BAG4.
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Vince Delio added that the SUNY resource allocation model is another step which is being reconfigured and we won’t know the full picture until that is in place.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 5:16 pm.
Respectfully submitted by
Gail Cameron, Recorder