Governance Council
Friday, March 2, 2015
3:00 PM
UNH 306
Cynthia Fox, Chair
Minutes
PRESENT:
Cruz, José; Dutta, Suarav; Fox, Cynthia; Gulatee, Yenisel; Janiszewski,
Caitlin; Kearney, Ann; Kuznetsov, Igor; Malavasic, Jolene; Moore, Chris;
Scheck, Helene; Zemel, Alan
GUEST: Bill Hedberg
The meeting convened at 3:02 p.m.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The minutes of February 20, 2015 were approved, with minor changes and 1 abstention.
It was agreed to change the agenda to begin with a discussion on elections under ‘New Business’. Bill
Hedberg, Senior Vice Provost and Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, was asked to clarify
the Bylaws definitions of PT and voting faculty.
Bylaws
Article I. Section 1 - The Faculty
Definitions:
1.6 Teaching Faculty. Members of the Academic Staff, as specified in The Policies of the Board of Trustees,
“comprised of those persons having academic rank or qualified academic rank”.
1.8 Academic Rank. Rank held by those members of the Academic Staff having the titles of Professor,
Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, and Instructor and those having the title of Librarian, Associate
Librarian, Senior Assistant Librarian, and Assistant Librarian.
1.9 Qualified Academic Rank. Rank held by those members of the Academic Staff having the title of
Lecturer, or titles of academic rank preceded by the designation "visiting" or other similar designation, in
accord with The Policies of the Board of Trustees.
1.11 Voting Faculty. Voting faculty consists of:
1.11.3 All full-time members of the Teaching Faculty, except: emeriti; instructors enrolled in degree
programs of the University; and individuals holding appointments for less than one academic year.
1.11.4 All full-time Professional Faculty except individuals holding appointments for less than one
academic year.
Voting faculty are defined as teaching faculty, having academic or qualified rank. Qualified rank is
defined as anyone who holds the title of lecturer. It was brought to GOV’s attention that lecturer means
PT. Dr. Hedberg clarified as follows: The new term ‘contingent faculty’ is what UUP uses to identify all
faculty (FT and PT) not appointed to tenure track positions, to include FT lecturers and FT visiting
assistant or associate professors. As the Bylaws are currently written, those categories would be eligible
to vote. PT is anyone who is less than FT. The category of Part-time faculty as a Senate constituency is
not addressed in those definitions. ‘Instructor’ is a tenure track title in the Trustees policies in limited use.
There seems to be an inconsistency in the framework of definitions and in representation. There is a
provision in the Senate membership for seats to be occupied by PT faculty who cannot vote in the election
that somehow needs to be reconciled.
In trying to determine the preliminary slate for upcoming elections, GOV thus determined that the PT
faculty Senator should be considered PT in terms of hours of obligation. A lecturer holding a FT 10
month appointment for an academic year or longer should be considered part of the teaching faculty and
eligible for the open Senator category or for Senate Secretary.
CHAIR’S REPORT
Chair Fox serves, in her Senate Vice Chair role, as the official Faculty Senate representative on the
University Council. The Council had met that past Friday in NYC, and they heard a number of reports
including the following: update on the plan to establish the Computer Engineering program; overview of
the 2015 legislative agenda; overview of the digital platform and strategy. The Council voted on the
proposed revision of the Community Rights and Responsibilities document due to changes in Title IX and
sexual harassment policies, and in response to an agenda put forth by Governor Cuomo to ensure campus
plans to address assault are in line with legal requirements. The Council also passed some resolutions that
had to do with naming rights associated with large donors for various building, classrooms, etc. The
Council and current Chair Michael Castellana, President and CEO of SEFCU, had asked for a more
clearly defined role. They enthusiastically agreed to support the legislative agenda, and expressed the
desire to play a more active role. All meetings of the UC are posted online.
Chair Fox pointed to the limited role any individual faculty member might play on the Council given that
no one serves in this capacity for more than one academic year. A similar concern could be raised about
why Senate has adopted a model where individuals cycle through different roles each year (Vice
Chair/Chair of GOV, Chair, Immediate Past Chair/Chair of UPPC). At one of the meetings last June for
new governance leaders put on by university wide Senate, a model to be considered allowed leaders to be
eligible to return to positions for more than 1 year if re-elected annually.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bylaw amendment
The Bylaw amendment is ready to go. It will be presented to the Senate at its next meeting and will go out
immediately after to voting faculty in order to meet the requirement of distribution 2 to 6 weeks before
the election. All Senators will be asked to encourage constituents to vote.
Charter amendment
Chair Fox had posed a question to Senate Parliamentarian Andrew Howard regarding the Bylaw and
corresponding Charter Amendment. From his response it was understood that there is not actually a need
for a separate Charter amendment if the Bylaws amendment removing voting privileges from the group of
Administrators is approved, unless we want to preclude councils and committees granting ex-officio
members voting rights themselves. Chair Fox was awaiting confirmation of this conclusion.
There remained another category of ex officio members not addressed in the Bylaws or by the proposed
amendment, including for instance the Chief Information Officer, Dean and Director of University
Library, and Director of Institute for Teaching, Learning & Academic Excellence. It seems from the reply
that the ‘default position’ is that ex officio members can only vote at meetings when enfranchised by the
committee, subcommittee or council on which they serve. GOV members expressed concern regarding
this authority. It was unclear if these members had in fact been voting on the committees on which they
serve. The questions were also raised if the work done on these bodies is binding on the entire Senate
body and if permitting voting rights in this manner requires the ultimate vote of the Senate anyway. In the
latter case, those members voting in committees versus in the Senate body is not enacting but rather
proposing something for Senate vote. In response it was noted that except only rarely does the Senate
question work of its committees. It was discussed that voting privileges of this category of ex officio
members could be addressed in a Charter amendment restricting ex officio member voting on all levels
A motion was made and unanimously approved to amend the Charter in 2 places as follows:
VIII.3.1.1. Persons or their designees who are ex officio members of a Senate council by virtue of their title
or position in the University administration are considered non-voting members and are not eligible to be
elected either as chair of that council or as chair of a standing committee or subcommittee of that council.
This does not preclude such an individual’s serving as chair of an ad hoc committee. (Added by
amendment, 12/15/08)
VIII.5.3.1. Persons or their designees who are ex officio members of a Senate council's standing committee
or subcommittee by virtue of their title or position in the University administration are considered nonvoting members and are not eligible to be elected chair of that standing committee or subcommittee.
(Added by amendment, 12/15/08)
It was also noted that it is confusing that the designated staff support members are included in the Charter
as members on some councils but not on others which would suggest they would be eligible to vote, as in
UNIVERSITY LIFE COUNCIL, X.9.1.6, but an amendment was not called for.
Senate Elections
Committee on Liaison and Elections Chair Yenisel Gulatee reported that work was moving along on the
preliminary election slate. A minimum of 2 candidates were still needed for PT faculty. Currently there is
only 1 candidate. So as not to delay the election process which must finish by April 10th, the
corresponding e-mail and call for nominations would be sent. After the submission deadline, additional
self-nominations could be added if accompanied by a petition with 25 people endorsing those candidates.
NEW BUSINESS
Leanne Wirkkula had requested GOV nominations to serve on the Chief Information Officer search
committee be submitted by March 4th. GOV considered a potential slate of candidates for Chair Fox to
forward as requested.
Replacement of Senators
The policies for Senate meeting attendance and corresponding replacement of Senators were considered,
resulting from concerns brought to GOV’s attention regarding a lack of attendance by a particular
Senator. It was decided that Chair Fox would first reach out to the Senator in question regarding the
reason for this lack of attendance prior to any action being taken for replacement.
Charter amendment proposals from Senate Councils and Committees would be considered at the next
GOV meeting on March 30th.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 4:38 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by
Elisa Lopez, Recorder