Governance Council
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
3:00 PM
UNH 306
Cynthia Fox, Chair
Minutes
PRESENT:
Chesin, Sorrell; Cruz, José; Fox, Cynthia; Janiszewski, Caitlin; Kearney, Ann;
Kuznetsov, Igor; Malavasic, Jolene; Scheck, Helene
GUEST:
Collins, James
The meeting convened at 3:14 p.m. once quorum had been reached.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The minutes of April 13, 2015 were approved, with a minor correction and 1 abstention.
The minutes of April 20, 2015 were approved, with 1 abstention.
CHAIR’S REPORT
At the latest meeting of the SEC, a member raised concerns that the SUNY guidelines for the selection of
Distinguished Professors and for the Honors and Privileges that they are supposed to be accorded are not
being followed (see http://system.suny.edu/academic-affairs/faculty-staff-awards/distinguished-facultyranks).
Senate Bill 0708-05 outlines guidelines for the UAlbany selection committee for Distinguished Teaching
Professors and Distinguished Service Professors, defined as 10 voting members including the Senate Chair
or designee and 6 members appointed by GOV. Chair Fox looked back in GOV meeting minutes, and it
looks like 2011 was the last time the committee was consulted; it is not clear why this is the case. Senators
Fox and Collins, as next year’s Senate Chair and Vice Chair respectively, would meet with Bill Hedberg to
discuss getting the procedures back on track.
The full Faculty meeting, as a supplement to the spring Faculty Address, will take place on Monday (May
11) after the Senate meeting.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Recommendations from the councils and committees regarding composition and charges were reviewed,
having been restructured by Chair Fox in the form of Charter Amendments. GOV will have to follow
through on these in the coming academic year, as Charter Amendments must be presented and voted upon
at separate Senate meetings per the prescribed timeline in section X of the Charter.
Amendment RE: Clarification of Responsibilities of CAA
This amendment was proposed in response to CAA’s concern that “ensuring compliance” was beyond their
purview and that, consequently, the language of their charge should be modified.
In the subsequent discussion, concern was raised about reducing the Senate’s advisory role if there is in
fact some language that grants faculty oversight. If the Council is ceding authority, who does that authority
go to?
After further discussion, it was agreed that GOV would table voting on this amendment in order to get
clarification on the issues and recommended that both Deborah Bernnard (Chair of CAA during the 20415 year) and Bruce Szelest be invited to attend a meeting in the fall.
Amendment RE: Updates to Section X.4 (GAC)
GOV agreed that GAC’s recommendations as reflected in the proposed amendment removes language that
confuses, clarifies the charges overall, and brings them into line with practice.
A motion was made that the amendment be sent to the Senate floor and was unanimously approved, with
one abstention.
Amendment RE: Asymmetry in LISC Standing Committees
GOV agreed with LISC’s recommendation that the asymmetry in the treatment of the ex officio members
on standing committees should be addressed.
A motion that the amendment go to the Senate floor and was unanimously approved, with one abstention.
UAC concerns
UAC had concerns regarding its workload, its structure, and populating subcommittees, including the
Appellate Sub-Committee, but members did not have specific language changes for the Charter.
In the subsequent discussion, Chair Fox noted that many issues involving the populating of councils became
apparent to her during the recent meeting of the Committee on Council Nominations. For example,
volunteers generally asked to serve on the same three committees, and nobody asks for UAC.
Volunteers are also not always qualified to serve on councils that they request, e.g., members of CERS must
be full professors. It is clear that some committees are seen as onerous while others are not. Volunteers are
also more likely to be professional faculty than teaching faculty, a point that highlights the question of the
role of contingent faculty and emeriti in the Senate and if these are constituencies we could draw on if there
is more work than we can handle.
Following some discussion, it was recommended that GOV set up an ad hoc committee next year to look
the issues raised by UAC and whether restructuring was in order. GOV could request that UAC consider
how its issues could be solved, whether additional members serving would help, if the Appellate
subcommittee should even be in GOV, or if some subcommittees are awkward legacies they recommend
the Senate let go. GOV would begin by asking UAC, then would have a case to present in general of how
the discussion had gone.
NEW BUSINESS
Presidential Initiatives Fund – CoR Chair Kajal Lahiri had noted at an SEC meeting a few weeks prior
that the council had not been consulted regarding recommendations for the selection committee and was
concerned regarding the role of governance in the process. The winners of these grants had just been
announced, and some areas were misclassified. There were only 2 Arts and Humanities winners, and the
categories were odd. The charges for CoR were reviewed in the Charter, X.5.3. It was discussed whether
funds had been provided from the Foundation or the University-wide budget. This was just recently
established as a Presidential initiatives fund for research and scholarship. Does that fall within the normal
process, and were institutional guidelines followed? The Division for Research will oversee and administer
the allocations, but it was thought there might be confusion about consultation processes. GOV Chair Fox
would offer congratulations on the first round of allocations and would clarify that going forward
governance should be consulted regarding funding tied to the University. It was however noted that donors
to the Foundation may award for specific purposes.
Contingent faculty issues
Two specific issues have been recently been raised:
1) Part-time faculty cannot vote for their own At-large Senator representation.
GOV agreed that this is a matter of concern is hopeful that pending contingent concerns committee report
will provide some guidance in finding a solution.
2) Contingent faculty are not provided information sent to Senators and the related group contact list.
Senate Secretary Gulatee will look into this issue.
Concerns regarding the status of Emeriti.
The Bylaws state that Emeriti are considered part of the faculty. Mention of Emeriti in the Charter, X.9.2
under the charges of ULC (includes…and service and programs for PT and emeriti faculty) suggest maybe
Emeriti should systematically be placed on that council. Emeriti are also included under many areas, though
not identified.
Last year during the transition of the prior and new Senate Staff Support, Emeriti received information
regarding volunteering council service. Since then it was learned that it is not the usual practice to send this
announcement to Emeriti, and so that group did not receive this year’s solicitation. It was not a mistake to
send the announcement however because there is a category of faculty representation under which Emeriti
can serve per the Charter, X.1.1.6 (no more than 2 voting members who are faculty but not voting members).
Some Emeriti choose to maintain a UA e-mail when they retire, which may be a way to communicate and
inquire as to interest in Senate councils service. HR also might have a mechanism to contact Emeriti. GOV
also considered putting forth a proposal that there should be an Emeritus At-Large Senator. It was thought
the position should possibly be as a non-voting member since Emeriti, similar to part-time and adjunct
faculty here less than 3 semesters, do not have to live with the votes in the way that others.
GSA
GSA is requesting that GOV work with the President’s Office to look at standardizing the process of
selecting GSA and SA students to serve on committees. There was concern that leaders are often not told
who the representatives are that have been chosen to serve.
It was recommended that all of the above items be placed on the GOV agenda for next year.
Chair Fox thanked the members of GOV for their collegiality, their hard work, and all they had
accomplished this year. She then wished everyone a great summer.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 4:50 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by
Elisa Lopez, Recorder