Governance Council
Monday, April 14, 2014
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 a.m.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The minutes of March 24, 2014 were approved, with 1 abstention.
CHAIR’S REPORT
Committee on Liaison and Elections / Committee on Council Nominations
Chair Stefl-Mabry received a note from Senate Chair Wagner stating that CCN needs to include 1 member
elected from among the Council Members of the Committee on Liaison and Elections (GOV).
GOV voted and unanimously approved of volunteer Cynthia Fox to serve on this Committee.
No one had stepped up for Vice-Chair of the Senate, so Chair Stefl-Mabry urged GOV to consider candidates
prior to the April 18th deadline. It was suggested that for next year GOV should begin to discuss a potential slate
of viable, willing candidates at the end of the fall semester who are able to commit to the 3-years of service,
bearing in mind there is a course release available awarded by the President’s Office when one serves as Senate
Chair.
UUP had asked for shared meetings with UUP, Senate leaders had met with Chief of Staff Leanne Wirkkula,
and agreed to hold such meetings at least once a semester.
Request from Senate Chair Wagner on the issue of e-mailing in a vote and whether this can “count”
Senate Secretary Gulatee explained that during this election the Committee had received an email vote from a
person who stated they were on leave and not on MyUAlbany. The concerns were why the person did not have
access to MyUAlbany, how the person’s identity could be verified, and how it could be verified that the person
had not in fact already voted on MyUAlbany. Only after elections were over could it be determined if an
individual had voted on MyUAlbany, so an individual could potentially be counted twice in this instance.
After some debate on the matter, a motion was made and seconded, and the vote was to approve, with 1
abstention, the following:

Count the individual vote in question since it would not affect the outcome of this year’s election.

To change the standard Senate notification regarding voting on elections that states “the university-wide
voting faculty elections are conducted through the MYUALBANY system,” to specify that individuals
can vote “ONLY through the MYUALBANY system”.
A motion was then made and seconded to amend the Charter as follows:
CHARTER
X.1.4.3.1.4. …nominate a slate for the election of Senators-at-large according to Bylaws Article II,
Sections 2.2 and 5.3.and conduct the election, to be decided by plurality vote.
GOV members then voted and unanimously approved this amendment.
Chair Stefl-Mabry would forward the amendment to Christine Wagner to be voted on at the SEC meeting on
Wednesday.
The Committee on Assessment of Governance and Consultation
Committee Chair Dutta explained that 1 or 2 alterations had been made after the last meeting, and then the
survey had been sent to ITS. Committee members had since viewed the prototype online and were pleased with
how it was presented. The student survey would be sent first, and then the faculty and staff survey. Joel
Bloom’s final questions concerning the survey were discussed.
A motion to accept the final survey was made and unanimously approved.
The Committee on CAFFECoR
Senator Fox reported that the latest version of the amendment had been presented to the SEC at their last
meeting on March 24th. The SEC had a lively debate centered on the language of the Amendment, as well as a
side discussion on whether such a committee needed to exist. CAFFECoR Chair Susanna Fessler expressed
concern that there needed to be a clear definition of what is meant by ‘academic freedom’. In response, it was
suggested that that is why the committee needs to exist – to come up with a definition as the educational
landscape changes. GOV discussed changes to the amendment including the removal of the language ‘ability to
call a forum,’ as well as approving the following friendly amendment to the amendment:
VII.7.3.2.1 The Committee has the responsibility to consider issues impinging academic freedom,
freedom of expression and community responsibility.
VII.7.3.2.2 The Committee shall recommend policies and review implementation of policy and
procedures pertaining to matters of academic freedom, freedom of expression and community
responsibility for both students and faculty.
SEC had approved that the amendment in this format was ready to go forward to the Senate.
Chair Stefl-Mabry reminded GOV that she had been requesting that some council or committee consider the
edTPA issue leading to faculty control over curriculum and questions regarding intellectual property and
possible copyright infringement, and stated she had not yet received a response from Chair Wagner as to what
would be the appropriate council or committee. It was noted that, depending on its charge, CAFFECoR might
take up the issue of impingement on Academic Freedom and Intellectual Property. Senator Scheck suggested
GAC should also look at the issue, as it is also a question of curriculum.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
How often the Survey for the Evaluation of Shared Governance should be conducted?
Chair Stefl-Mabry reminded everyone that the next GOV meeting was scheduled for April 28th, and the last
meeting was currently scheduled for May 12th.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 12:52 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by
Elisa Lopez, Recorder