Governance Council
Monday, April 22, 2013
2:00PM
UNH 306
Christine Wagner, Chair
Minutes
Present:
Liang Chu, Anthony DeBlasi, Cynthia Fox, Yenisel Gulatee, Ann Kearney, John Schmidt,
Christine Wagner, Dan White
Guests:
Susanna Fessler
The meeting convened at 2:01 pm.
CHAIR’S REPORT
Chair Wagner provided GOV with updates on the following activities:
Call for Nominations for Senate Vice Chair
The call for nominations was sent on April 3 with a reminder of April 17. Today is the deadline. One
nomination has been received and nominations may be made from the floor at the Senate meeting on April 29.
Senate Election Results
The results of the on-line elections were sent in an email on April 12. An update will be sent soon with names
of alternate senators for the University Faculty Senate.
Report to SEC on IRCUAP
The SEC was presented with the motion approved by GOV at its April 1 meeting to have IRCUAP removed
from the Charter. The SEC was also presented with the motion to have GOV consider a subcommittee of
UAC deal with the issues addressed in IRCUAP. The SEC supported GOV and moved to have IRCUAP
removed from the Charter without an additional amendment for doing so.
Update on Committee on Council Nominations
A pre-meeting was held today to form a draft roster of council memberships for next year to present to the
Committee on Council Nominations’ meeting on April 24. The roster will then go to the Senate for approval
at its meeting on April 29.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The minutes of April 1 were approved by a vote with two abstentions.
NEW BUSINESS
CAFFECoR
Chair Wagner invited CAFFECoR member Susanna Fessler to discuss the issues with the Committee.
CAFFECoR has met this year but has come to the conclusion that they may no longer have a function and its
existence may no longer be necessary. The committee has suggested its own dissolution and has provided an
executive summary and conclusion.
Senator Fessler said the committee had spent considerable time discussing its role based on the Charter
descriptions. Working with the current charge, the Charter assigns CAFFECoR a role which the committee
cannot fulfill. If an individual feels their freedom of expression has been suppressed, they could take their
complaint to CAFFECoR which is viewed as an appeals body. She cited an incident from last year when a
graduate student made a complaint against a faculty member. After the case went through legal counsel and
the school from which the complaint originated, a decision was made in favor of the faculty member. It was
not within legal counsel’s authority to provide CAFFECoR with any of the documentation related to the case
and the committee was unable to assist the student. Senator Fessler said procedures exist across the campus
for making complaints whether they involve student against student, faculty against faculty, or students
against faculty. Different schools have their own set of procedures as well. In its report, CAFFECoR
concluded that, currently, procedures are in place to address most issues dealing with freedom of expression
and ethical conduct and sees no remaining role for the committee.
At the conclusion of Senator Fessler’s discussion, Chair Wagner said she would like GOV to discuss and
make a motion on how to proceed on the matter. If GOV agreed to dissolve the committee, a Charter
amendment would have to be submitted to the Senate, or GOV could decide to let the committee stand.
Professor Schmidt moved that a subcommittee be formed to write an amendment to dissolve CAFFFECoR.
There was not further discussion on the motion and GOV voted to approve it. Chair Wagner requested the
subcommittee submit an amendment for the GOV meeting on May 6. It will then go to the SEC and will be
presented to the Senate.
Bylaws interpretation on Council service term limits
Chair Wagner said the question has been raised on how long council members can continue to sit on a
council. According to Bylaws Article II, Section 6.3, “No council member shall serve more than 3
consecutive terms except as ex-officio.” The section does not make clear if service is on a single council or
any council although it is clear about term limits for Senators. Since it is open to interpretation, the SEC has
asked for a ruling. Chair Wagner asked GOV for a statement of interpretation. After a period of deliberations,
Professor Schmidt made the following motion: We interpret Bylaws Article II, Section 6.3 that no person
may serve more than three consecutive terms on a single council but can move to another council as
determined by the Committee on Council Nomination and approved by the Senate. The motion was seconded
and approved unanimously by a vote.
OTHER BUSINESS
CPCA Membership and UUP Contract:
Chair Wagner referred to an exchange between Senate Chair Lyons and UUP Chapter President Jim Collins
concerning the composition of CPCA and its potential violation of the UUP contract. The issue concerns
whether professional and student council members have voting rights for promotion and tenure cases. Chair
Wagner said that while nothing more specific has been provided by UUP, she believes the problem stems
from a lack of a secondary level of review in the schools and colleges with case files going directly to CPCA
from the deans. If CPCA serves as a secondary level of review requiring academic review, professionals and
students do not qualify as academic employees. Suggested changes have been requested from UUP and the
issue may come to GOV’s agenda on May 6 should they provide the requested changes. If it does come to
GOV, Chair Wagner would like to consider if it would be possible to rectify the issue without having to do a
Charter amendment. It could be a simple matter of having professionals and students recuse themselves from
participating in the voting process. However, such actions would require a mandate in the Charter for
recusing those council members. GOV members expressed concern about avoiding any legal debate on the
matter. Chair Wagner agreed there should be consultation with legal counsel.
Upcoming Vote on Bylaws Amendment:
Senator Fox raised concerns that the proposed amendment which is coming for a vote was not discussed in the
Senate as a separate agenda item. She had further concerns that senators returning to their constituents to
discuss the amendment would not have enough information about what they would be voting on or without
knowing how the amendment came about. Chair Wagner responded that the amendment was brought to the
Senate as part of GOV’s report with a question and answer period being offered at that time. She said the
rationale and suggested amendment provide sufficient clarification and believed that any discussion on how it
came about would be extraneous. Senator Fox expressed concern about the perception of issues not being
discussed in the Senate as they should be. Chair Wagner responded that part of the struggle in the Senate is
understanding procedures and formats. GOV members engaged in a discussion of how people could become
more informed and involved in issues brought to the Senate. GOV felt more thorough discussion of council
reports could be helpful, suggested discussing Senate activities at faculty meetings and ensure senators report
back to their constituents. Senator Fox said she did not feel the new seating arrangement was an improvement
and suggested returning to an arrangement where people faced each other instead of having their backs to
each other. Chair Wagner welcomed the conversation and suggestions for improving communication.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 3:02 pm.
Respectfully submitted by
Gail Cameron, Recorder