Monday, April 30, 2012
10:30 AM
UNH 306
Governance Council
Andi Lyons, Chair
Minutes
Present:
Liang Chu, Cynthia Fox, Donald Keenan, Danielle Leonard, Andi Lyons, John Schmidt,
Joette Stefl-Mabry, Daniel White
The meeting convened at 10:35 pm.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
The minutes of April 16 were approved without changes.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS:
Resolution 1112-05R Committee Update:
Chair Lyons provided an update to GOV’s charge for assembling a committee to make the determinations
outlined in Resolution 1112-05R. A final recommendation has been pending from UPPC. David Wills
had volunteered but needed another representative for someone with relevant experiencing without the
appearance of a bias. The strategic plan implementation committee has subgroups working on the issue
of critical languages. Chair Lyons had approached Secretary Leonard about the possibility of Vice
Provost Ray Bromley from International Education filling the position as someone with relevant
expertise. Secretary Leonard spoke with Dr. Bromley who declined the position, citing several issues that
would make it difficult for him to serve. One issue was the sense of mandate in the resolution to
determine which programs would be activated. Dr. Bromley pointed out that the strategic plan group has
many of the same goals and asked him to chair that group. Secretary Leonard returns to GOV for
additional recommendations.
GOV discussed the feasibility of making a mandate since the Senate is advisory to the president. If
governance approves a mandate and the president disagrees it will go no further. Chair Lyons said the
situation was similar to the issues raised with Resolution 1112-04R which could not be implemented. But
GOV is charged to work with the wording of the resolution.
Senator White said the campus community used to have forums to discuss such issues and believed this
would be an opportunity to develop a forum and invite the community. The relevant discussions that
influence these matters need to be related. Senator Fox said if the problem is just the language component
of Classics which is now part of LLC, that part of the charge could be met.
Chair Lyons discussed the conversation that took place with UPPC regarding their representative. She
said that GOV now has names for a committee and asked if GOV was comfortable assuming the
committee was complete and could move forward. GOV members agreed that it could. The committee
will discuss its response to Senator Wills concerning the deadline.
Special election for vacated Part-Time faculty Seat:
Secretary Leonard discussed the part-time Senate seat currently filled by Diane Dumesnil whose term
ends in 2013. Ms. Dumesnil was recently elected as a CNSE senator and would have to relinquish her
part time seat. Secretary Leonard said a special election will need to be held to fill the seat. She
discussed the difficulty in filling the part time seat due to the role of part time faculty. GOV discussed
which groups constitute part time faculty to determine who is eligible for nomination. Secretary Leonard
also discussed the timeline for holding the election which could make a difference in how much time
there is to develop a slate. Senator White said the position if filled until the end of August. Chair Lyons
said there was no mandate about where part time senators are placed on the councils so there is no rush
for completing the council memberships. Secretary Leonard’s concern was to hold the election when the
most people are available to vote so suggested it be held before the end of the spring semester or at the
beginning of the fall semester. Senator Fox pointed out that part time positions can be filled very late,
often at the last minute. GOV discussed ideas for recruiting possible nominees and the challenges for part
time senators to attend meeting. Secretary Leonard asked if the current GOV membership would
determine the slate or if it would be passed on the next body. Chair Lyons said developing a preliminary
slate now will provide a jump start to the election. It could be passed on to next year’s GOV and be voted
on quickly. Secretary Leonard said she was willing to approach potential nominees to see if they would
be willing to serve. Senator White suggested reaching out to Jill Hanifan who is the UUP contingent
faculty representative. He also suggested reaching out to Philippe Abraham who is a UUP statewide
officer, and Alice Krause who also holds a part-time at large seat. Secretary Leonard asked GOV
members to bring names for a preliminary slate to the May 7 meeting. She said specific language would
need to be developed for the call about who is qualified to assist with facilitating the process in
September.
Senate Resolution 1112-03R Investigation Report
Chair Lyons referred to the significance of Senator Fox’s comment at the last meeting that if the
administration did not do things correctly than the same probably existed with the Senate. Chair Lyons
pointed out the Senate Chair did not request additional information from or communication with the
President. Senator Fox added that because the Senate chair did not ask for additional information, that
was a failure on the part of the Senate. She said she would like GOV to have a discussion of events that
are being evaluated. Her first point was identifying what formal consultation is supposed to be. Since it
entails consultation between the administration and governance bodies, in this case it has been referred to
as the BAGs and the CAS Council of Chairs. She pointed out further that the Council of Chairs has no
connection to the Senate.
Senator Fox read from Section 2.2.2 of the Bylaws which indicates that the faculty shall be informed and
given an opportunity to discuss, review and provide formal consultation on proposals at the earliest
possible stages in their formulation. She said the specific recommendation to deactivate the five programs
occurred at some point that the Senate is not aware of. While the campus was informed on October 1 of
2010 that there would be emergency suspensions and the Senate was asked to submit comments by
November 19, the proposal to do this was made prior to that date and the Senate was asked to comment
on a plan no one knew about until October. GOV members discussed whether or not the October 1 date
met the level of being informed at the earliest possible moment. Chair Lyons said the CAS Dean would
have made recommendations but did not have the authority to make the decision to actually cut programs.
She said in order for the university to deactivate programs, approval would have to come from SUNY
Administration and the University Council. The Board of Trustees would have met sometime in midSeptember which was probably the first time they met since June. At that point the process could have
begun and the announcement at the beginning of October would have been a practical sequence of events.
GOV members believed that while the administration made a decision behind closed doors at some point
with no faculty included, the general feeling is this was part of their ultimate responsibility
Senator Stefl-Mabry discussed the importance of the language to be used in the report. She believed the
tone would be crucial for the faculty to be respected and for their voices to continue to be heard. Senator
Schmidt said if decisions are made behind closed door there will be no transparency but governance can
demand transparency by being informed of the process after the decision is made but in the case of the
deactivations there was no satisfactory explanation.
Senator Fox’s next point was the requirement of communication in formal consultation, preferably in
writing. She said this did happen when the president sent his letter on October 1 and requested a
response. Senator White said at that point it became evident that the normal process was not being
followed. The councils agreed deactivations were not a sound idea in there written responses. Senator
Fox said when the proposal to deactivate was put forth to the Senate for comment, no further information
was provided beyond what was available and two councils indicated they did not have enough
information. But the administration was not forthcoming with specific information. Senator Schmidt the
report could include a statement about a preference to have specific information provided but asked if a
violation of the Bylaws occurred by not doing so. Secretary Leonard asked if it was the role of GOV to
make sure all of the complexities of the issues are in the report or just to determine if there were
violations. Senator Stefl-Mabry said she believe more information would be better to have to indicate the
thoroughness of the task force. Senator Schmidt said depending on the reader, people could decide
differently whether or not violation occurred. Chair Lyons asked if there was a majority opinion with
GOV about whether or not that happened. Senator Schmidt said the president could be cited for no
providing a detailed response. Chair Lyons referred to the president’s response in March 2011 which was
based on comments received from the Senate. Senator Fox said it was a general announcement but there
was no written response to the Senate. GOV continued to deliberate whether or not violations occurred.
Senator Schmidt proposed providing a list of things that could be construed as violations and
recommendations of our preferences for conducting such a process in the future. Chair Lyons agreed to
compile the list and will discuss at the next meeting for a general conclusion to meet the deadline.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 12:35 pm.
Respectfully submitted by
Gail Cameron, Recorder