Governance Council
Monday, September 23, 2013
11:30AM
UNH 306
Joette Stefl-Mabry, Chair
Minutes
Present:
Liang Chu, Saurav Dutta, Cynthia Fox, Yenisel Gulatee, Caitlin Janiszewski, Ann
Kearney, Helene Scheck, John Schmidt, Joette Stefl-Mabry
The meeting convened at 11:33 am.
CHAIR’S REPORT
The names of the two recommendations made by GOV for the Committee on Campus Security were
forwarded to Diane Mancini, co-chair of the President’s Advisory Committee on Campus Security.
UUP and conflict issues regarding the membership of the Council on Promotions and Continuing
Appointments:
Chair Stefl-Mabry referred to a memo from UUP Chapter President, Brett Benjamin, to Senate Chair
Christine Wagner which identifies a conflict with the CPCA composition and UUP contract. Chair
Stefl-Mabry read the conflicting passages of the letter which refer to Article 33.1 of the Agreement;
SUNY Board of Trustees Policy, Articl II.1.m; section of the UAlbany Charter defining the
Composition of CPCA; and UAlbany Faculty Bylaws, Article II, Section 6.3. The complete letter
appears at the end of these minutes.
Professor Benjamin cites CPCA’s role in the “subsequent academic review” for faculty in the Schools of
Criminal Justice, Information Science and Policy, Social Welfare, Rockefeller College and the
University Libraries. Due to this role UUP believes that CPCA’s membership must be limited to
academic members. Professor Benjamin requests, that in the short term, the Senate rectify the conflict
as soon as possible by altering the composition of the current CPCA membership to meet the
requirement that only academics be involved in “subsequent” academic review. Additionally, a request
is made for the Senate to amend it Bylaws, Charter and other documents as needed. Lastly, a request is
made for the Senate to inquire into academic review processes for other schools and college, should it
fall in the Senate purview. A discussion of the memo and its requests ensued.
In reference to last request, GOV members pointed out that each of the schools and colleges have their
own set of bylaws and it would not be in the Senate’s purview to change those policies. They could be
reviewed by the Senate but any amendments would come from a given school or college. Chair SteflMabry said is appears that UUP is requesting non-academic members to step down. Senator Schmidt
suggested that non-academic members could recuse themselves depending on the required level of
review. GOV members debated what might be appropriate in certain levels of review.
Chair Stefl-Mabry asked GOV to consider question for Professor Benjamin in response to additional
actions that might be taken by governance.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The minutes of September 23 were approved by a vote with one abstention.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Naming and exploring charges for Ad Hoc Committee to examine the larger issues of Senate
changes regarding the resignation of CNSE senators and Council Members
Chair Stefl-Mabry asked GOV members to consider a name for the ad hoc committee. After a brief
discussion, GOV determine the committee would be called the Ad Hoc Committee on Senate
Implications of the CNSE Transition. Senator Kearny felt the discussion of the committee’s charge
should be held when all of the members from GOV had an opportunity to convene and all were present
at GOV’s next meeting. Chair Stefl-Mabry agreed. She said the vacant CNSE Senate seats would be
recalculated for next year and that current council memberships have met their membership
requirements. Secretary Gulatee referred to a spreadsheet which provides a formula that calculates the
number of senators for each school and college. She agreed to make that available to the members of
GOV on the ad hoc committee.
Senator Fox raised concerns that the resignations disenfranchise faculty and potentially students for an
entire year. The move seems premature since the separation of CNSE does not take effect for at least
another year. The question was raised about the implications of tenure for eligible faculty. Additionally,
by removing themselves from governance, CNSE faculty and staff have essentially been removed from
UAlbany oversight during the transition and issues that might arise are no longer under the University’s
purview.
Senator Janiszewski raised her concerns about the two CNSE student senators for GSA. She felt the
resignation of faculty could set a precedent for the student representatives and they would need to be
removed from governance. Chair Stefl-Mabry said she would raise those concerns at the SEC meeting
scheduled for later in the day.
NEW BUSINESS
Request to identify Senate Designees for Excellence Award Selection Committees:
Chair Stefl-Mabry received a request from Tine Reimers in the Provost’s Office for recommendations of
Senate designees to serve on the varied Excellent Award Selection Committees. Additionally, Dr.
Reimers asked for GOV’s approval of the lists that had already been compiled. GOV members
discussed its method for selection which included past recipients, and alternates were selected as well.
GOV approved the recommended names of Senate designees for each of the committees and approved
the lists that had been forwarded by Dr. Reimers.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 12:48 pm
Respectfully submitted by
Gail Cameron, Recorder
Date: September 25, 2013
To: Christine Wagner, Chair, University Senate
From: Bret Benjamin, President, Albany Chapter UUP
Re: contractual conflict with CPCA composition
Dear Professor Wagner,
I write to notify the University Senate that United University Professions (UUP) has identified a
conflict between the Senate By-Laws and the contractual agreement between the State of New
York and UUP (Agreement). Specifically, we believe that the composition of the Senate’s
Council on Permanent and Continuing Appointment (CPCA), which includes two student
members and a professional member, violates Article 33.1 of the Agreement.
The relevant conflicting passages are as follows:
Article 33.1.c of the Agreement:
“Subsequent academic review” shall mean a review and recommendation by a
committee of academic employees at the division, school, college or other academic
employee organizational level next higher than the initial academic review committee
which may exist for the purposes of evaluating an academic employee for continuing
appointment.”
SUNY Board of Trustees Policy - Article II.1.m:
“Academic Employee.” Academic employee shall mean an employee in the Professional
Services Negotiating Unit with academic or qualified academic rank.
UAlbany Senate Charter defines the composition of the Council on Continuing
Appointment and Promotion (CPCA) as including “One Professional Faculty Member
(X.7.1.2), one Graduate Student (X.7.1.3) and one undergraduate student (X.7.1.4).
The UAlbany Faculty Bylaws (Article II. Section 6.3): “Each council shall include…one or
more students…”
CPCA constitutes the “subsequent academic review” for faculty from the Schools of Criminal
Justice, Information Science and Policy, Social Welfare, of the Rockefeller College of Public
Affairs and Policy, and the University Libraries. Because of this, we believe that the
composition of CPCA must be limited to academic members; the presence of professional staff
and students on this Council, however salutary in principle, violates the express provisions of
the Agreement.
In cases of a conflict between the Agreement and any University policies or by-laws, the
Agreement takes precedent. As Article 5 of the Agreement succinctly states: “In the event of
any inconsistency or conflict between provisions of this Agreement and the Policies or College
by-laws, the provisions of this Agreement shall apply.”
I have attached to this memo an earlier report from Jean Guyon, dated November 29, 2011,
which spells out this conflict in greater detail. This communication began our examination of
the issue. My understanding is that Acting UUP Chapter President Jim Collins brought the
concern to the Senate leadership in Spring 2013, and that the Senate and UUP have been
intermittently discussing the question since.
We ask that the Senate move to rectify this conflict as soon as possible. In the short-term, we
request that the composition of the current CPCA membership be altered to account for the
requirement that only academics be involved in “subsequent” academic review. In the longer
term, we request that the Senate make changes to its organizational documents (By-Laws,
Charter, etc.,) as needed. Finally, we request that the Senate, if it falls within its purview,
inquire into the academic review processes for the other schools and colleges that have their
own method for subsequent academic review (i.e., the College of Arts and Sciences, School of
Business, and the School of Education, School of Public Health). UUP will pursue this final
matter as well, but it may be helpful to have all of the University’s academic tenure and
promotion structures examined simultaneously.
We appreciate your attention to this matter. Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of
further help.
Information relating to the UUP contract violation on the UA campus (with quoted text)
I. Policies of the Board of Trustees, State University of New York at Albany

According to my research, the Policies of the Board of Trustees, Article X, defines the Voting
Faculty (see below), but there’s nothing in the Policies of the SUNY Board of Trustees that
specifically addresses the issue of whether or not Professional faculty should or should not be
entitled to vote on matters of criteria related to promotion and continuing appointment for
academics.

Article X.3 of the Policies defines the Voting Faculty as follows:
o Article X
COLLEGE FACULTY
 3. Voting Faculty. The voting faculty of each college shall be composed of:
 (a) The Chancellor and the chief administrative officer of the college; and
 (b) Members of the academic staff of the college having academic rank
and term or continuing appointments; and
 (c) Such other officers of administration and staff members of the
college as may be specified by the faculty bylaws of the college.
This appears to covey the power to further define Voting Faculty to the faculty bylaws of each
individual college.
II. Faculty Bylaws of the University at Albany.
B. Voting Faculty
Article I defines the Voting Faculty on campus as well as the role of the Voting Faculty
in relation to academic promotion and continuing appointment

Article I, Section 1.11 of the UA Faculty Bylaws defines the Voting Faculty as
follows:


1.11 Voting Faculty. Voting faculty consists of:
o 1.11.1 The Chancellor
o 1.11.2 The President
o 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
o 1.11.4 All full-time Professional Faculty except individuals
holding appointments for less than one academic year.
Article I, Section 2.2.1 of the UA Faculty Bylaws defines (among other things)
the responsibilities of the Faculty with respect to promotion and continuing
appointment for academic faculty, as follows:
o The Faculty may initiate and shall disapprove or approve and
recommend for implementation:
(f) Policies and standards for appointment, promotion, and
tenure (continuing appointment) of teaching faculty.
D. Role of Voting Faculty with respect to the UA Senate and Councils
Article II goes on to define the powers and responsibilities of the Senate and its
Councils, as well as the role of Voting Faculty on those Councils.

Article II. Section 6 — Senate Councils and Committees establishes the existence of
Councils that include the participation of the abovementioned Voting Faculty:
o 6.3 Each council shall include at least two members of the Senate, one or
more students, and two or more Voting Faculty who are not Senators.
Council chairs unless designated ex officio, shall be elected by the councils,
and must be faculty Senators. Membership of the councils shall be proposed
by the Council on Governance and approved by the Senate and may include
as voting members of the council individuals who are members of the nonvoting Faculty or support staff.
Article III adds a qualification that extends flexibility to the faculty of each school or
college within the University to determine its own internal policies:

Article III: The Schools and Colleges
o Article III, Section 1. Subject to the regulations of the Senate, the faculty of
each school or college shall determine its internal policies.
III. University at Albany Senate Charter
The Senate Charter specifically states that Professional faculty serve as fully functional members of
ALL Senate Councils, including CAA, COR and CPCA.

Section X: Senate Councils, Section X.7. COUNCIL ON PROMOTIONS AND CONTINUING
APPOINTMENTS
X.7.1. Composition
X.7.1.1. At least eight and no more than twelve Teaching Faculty (of whom at least
four must be Senators), from a balance of academic disciplines including the library.
X.7.1.2. One Professional Faculty member
X.7.1.3. One graduate student, who must be a Senator
X.7.1.4. One undergraduate student, who must be a Senator.
X.7.1.5. No more than 2 voting members selected from Faculty or Staff who
are not students or Voting Faculty.
X.7.1.6 Staff support for the Council shall be designated by the Provost.
[added by amendment 5/2/05]
X.7.2. The Council shall recommend to the President individuals for promotion in
rank and/or continuing appointment, in accordance with the Guidelines Concerning
Promotion and Continuing Appointment and the Policies of the Board of Trustees.
X.7.3. The Council shall examine all files containing documents pertaining to
individual applications for promotion and/or continuing appointment prior to their
being transmitted to the President, to determine that they conform to the Guidelines
Concerning Promotion and Continuing Appointment. If a file is found to deviate from
the Guidelines, the Council shall direct that remedies be made if feasible, and shall
otherwise note the deficiencies and their possible effect on the recommendation,
and so advise the President, the appropriate Vice President, the dean (where
applicable), the chair (where applicable), and the candidate. [Section X.7.3 revised by
amendment 3/14/05]
X.7.4. The Council shall consider and make recommendations to the Senate
concerning all matters of policy and procedure pertaining to the applications of
faculty members for promotion and/or continuing appointment, except when a
matter of policy or procedure is mandated in a negotiated contract between the
State and the University's professional staff.
X.7.5. The Council’s deliberations on individual cases shall normally be closed to
visitors. Council meetings to discuss policy issues shall normally be open to members
of the University community. The chair shall post the agenda for such meetings in
advance.
IV. Office of Academic Assessment
The Administrative Procedures for the Preparation of Recommendations for Promotions and
Continuing Appointment, prepared by the Office of Academic Affairs (OAA), serves as a set of
Guidelines approved by the University Senate for the Council on Promotions and
Continuing Appointment (CPCA). Both statements, though separate, are consistent
with and complement each other. The Procedures issued by Academic Affairs
facilitate the appropriate preparation of the dossier and are therefore more detailed
than the CPCA Guidelines. This document disagrees with the Senate Charter, as follows:.

The OAA guidelines define two levels of review:
o
the first by an Initial Academic Review Committee. The
guidelines further state that The vote of only the academic fulltime employees of the department/school constitutes the
recommendation of the "Initial Academic Review Committee."
o
The second level of review is conducted by a Subsequent Academic
Review Committee. The "Subsequent Academic Review" under
the UUP Agreement shall be the formal action of the a "committee
of academic employees" as follows:
1.
2.
For faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences, the committee will
be the College's Personnel Committee.
For faculty of the School of Business, the committee will be the
School's Personnel Committee.
3.
4.
5.
For faculty of the School of Education, the committee will be that
School's Appointment, Promotion, and Tenure Committee.
For faculty of the School of Public Health, the committee will be
the School of Public Health Council.
For faculty of the Schools of Criminal Justice, Information Science
and Policy, Social Welfare, of the Rockefeller College of Public
Affairs and Policy, and of the University Libraries, the committee
will be the University Council on Promotions and Continuing
Appointment.
V. Agreement between the STATE OF NEW YORK and UNITED UNIVERSITY PROFESSIONS, July 2,
2007-July 1, 2011

ARTICLE 33 OF THE UUP CONTRACT CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING LANGUAGE:
Job Security Review Procedures
§33.1 Definitions
a. “Professional staff” shall mean all persons occupying positions designated by the
Chancellor as being in the unclassified service.
b.“Initial academic review” shall mean a review and recommendation by a committee of
academic employees at the departmental level or, in the event academic employees are
not organized along departmental lines, at the division, school, college or other
academic employee organizational level next higher than the departmental level, which
may exist for the purpose of evaluating an academic employee for continuing
appointment.
c. “Subsequent academic review” shall mean a review and recommendation by a
committee of academic employees at the division, school, college or other academic
employee organizational level next higher than the initial academic review committee
which may exist for the purpose of evaluating an academic employee for continuing
appointment.

Article 5, Policies of the UUP contract regarding the precedence of the contract over local
policy:
In the event of any inconsistency or conflict between provisions of this Agreement and
thePolicies or College by-laws, the provisions of this Agreement shall apply.
Compiled on 11/29/12 by:
Jean Guyon
Electronic Resources Coordinator
University Libraries / Acquisitions Services, ULB34
State University of New York at Albany
1400 Washington Ave.
Albany, NY 12222
Phone: (518) 442-3247
Fax:
(518) 442-3630
Email: jguyon@albany.edu
Submitted to Maureen Seidel, UUP Labor Relations Specialist, via email 11/29/12.