ITHACA COLLEGE
FACULTY COUNCIL MINUTES
January 23, 2001
Present: Jim Aguiar, Luanne Andersson, Lee Bailey, Jules Benjamin, Diana Birr,
Byron Caplan, Joseph Cheng, Carole Dennis, Harold Emery, Don Lifton, Marian
MacCurdy, Winnie Mauser, Steve Peterson, Fred Pritt, Rick Rainville, John
Rosenthal, Ari Kissiloff, Stan Seltzer, Jennifer Strickland, Robert Sullivan
Excused: Mara Alper, Michael Galván
Absent: Randie Blooding, Sabatino Maglione, Kinsuk Maitra,
Guests: Jen Blanco '03, Garry Brodhead, Jim Malek, Ellen Stapleton '03
1. Welcome and Announcements
S. Seltzer, Chair opened the meeting at 7:30 p.m. with several announcements.
Three talks were held at Longview last semester. Volunteers are being sought for the
spring semester. Representatives are asked to remind their colleagues that faculty
members who want to share a lecture or arts presentation with the residents of
Longview should contact Chris Pogorzala at 4-1051.
Susan Allen-Gil has volunteered to serve as faculty liaison to Staff Council's
Transportation Alternative Committee (TRAC). With the approval of Council, Susan
Allen-Gil was appointed.
The Search Committee for Vice President for Student Affairs and Campus Life has
been appointed. Chris Cecconi and Jim Rothenberg, the two faculty members selected
by President Williams, were among those nominated by the Executive Committee.
John Rosenthal expressed concern that this process does not really give the faculty
very much of a voice in the selection of faculty members for search committees.
Julie Boles has requested that a member of Faculty Council join the Joint Benefits
Committee and serve as a liaison to Council. There are several faculty members
already on the committee, and it is considered important that there be regular
communication between the committee and Faculty Council. John Rosenthal
volunteered, if the meeting time is feasible; and Council charged the chair to seek
another faculty member if Rosenthal was unable to serve.
The Faculty Handbook Amendment Committee is lacking members from the Park
School and HS&HP. These are elected positions, so S. Seltzer will send notes to the
deans of both schools. He asked assistance in getting nominees from faculty members
in those schools.
2. Approval of Minutes
H. Emery moved to approve the November minutes. F. Pritt seconded the motion and
the minutes of November 14, 2000, were approved.
H. Emery moved to approve the December minutes. F. Pritt seconded the motion. R.
Rainville noted two corrections: (1) under item 4.C., line 7, addition of word "to":
"...cash flow surpluses and not to be restricted ... " and (2) under item 5, line 6, replace
the "D" with a colon following "Ithaca College". The minutes of December 5, 2000,
were approved as amended..
3. Provost's Report
1. The ANAC Woodrow Wilson Summer Institute will be held at Ithaca
College again this year, June 14-16, 2001.
2. The budget and the tenure and promotion processes are well underway and
nearing completion. There is less discretionary money for budgeting than
anticipated because of the increased fixed costs of utilities and medical
benefits. There will be a more complete report at the March Council meeting,
after the February Board meeting.
3. Strategic Plan. The administration will be making a presentation on the
Strategic Plan to the Board of Trustees at their February meeting.
4. ANAC Faculty Workload Project The provost's office has received word tht
the ANAC Faculty Workload Project manuscript will be published by Anchor
Press. The IC workload project will receive a full chapter in the book.
4. Report from Online Registration Overview
S. Seltzer reported that he and J. Rosenthal attended an overview given by the Online
Registration group on January 12. At that meeting, Lynnette Hatch seemed satisfied
that online registration works. She reported that nearly all students registered on their
day of access; prerequisite checks worked very well; more students have at least 12
credits than at this point last year; there was no gym registration; and drop/add
continues. Registration is at roughly the same point on January 12 as it normally was
when students left the gym under the old system.
There was discussion of performance of the system and the group seems to recognize
the issues: performance of the software, the need to measure demand, access
times/order, and the fact that students were missing classes in order to register (much
to the distress of faculty. There are issues concerning Macintosh as a platform.
Faculty reported that the composition of their classes was different.
There was some feeling that there were academic policy issues that should have
involved formal faculty consultation along the way, and the group extended an
invitation for a faculty member to serve as liaison to the committee, which meets
weekly on Friday from 9:00-10:30 a.m. Early on, when meetings were more frequent,
there had been an invitation to faculty to participate, but no one stepped forward at
that time. It now seems important to have a faculty member to serve as liaison so that
communication will be improved.
D. Lifton suggested that the Chair of Council think about who are the faculty experts
on faculty prerogatives and, on behalf of Faculty Council, recruit an expert to sit on
this committee and try to help us guard faculty prerogatives which are good ones for
the benefit of the whole institution. G. Brodhead suggested looking at faculty
members who have been involved in faculty handbook revision over the years and
who fully understand what the issues are.
5. Old Business
A. Changes to Faculty Council Bylaws
S. Seltzer handed out a list of four recommended changes to the Bylaws for approval.
Recommendation 1: Amend Article I, Section 4 of the Bylaws of the Ithaca
College Faculty Council to the following:
Council members who go on leave of absence or sabbatical leave will be
replaced for the duration of their leave by a member from their constituency.
Council members who vacate their seats will be replaced by a representative
from their constituency for the duration of their term. In either case, if a
vacancy occurs within one month of an election of that constituency, the
candidate who received the most votes among the losing candidates in the most
recent election will be appointed; otherwise a new election will be held to fill
the vacancy.
D. Lifton moved to adopt Recommendation 1. F. Pritt seconded.
MOTION: To approve Recommendation 1 as submitted.
The motion was approved.
Recommendation 2: Amend Article II, Section 2 of the Bylaws of the Ithaca
College Faculty Council to the following:
At the regular May Faculty Council meeting, officers will be elected by a
majority of the members of the subsequent year's Faculty Council (i.e.,
continuing members and newly-elected members). Each office has a term of
one year; terms begin on June 1.
D. Lifton moved to adopt Recommendation 2. H. Emery seconded.
MOTION: To approve Recommendation 2 as submitted.
There was a brief discussion about what would happen in case of a vacancy.
The motion was approved.
Recommendation 3: Amend Article III, Section 1 of the Bylaws of the Ithaca
College Faculty Council to the following:
Regular meetings of the Council will be held on the first Tuesday of each
month of the academic year except for the November meeting (not to conflict
with Election Day) and the January meeting (held once classes have begun),
unless otherwise ordered by the Faculty Council or the Executive committee.
D. Lifton moved to adopt Recommendation 3. H. Emery seconded.
MOTION: To approve Recommendation 3 as submitted.
The motion was approved.
Recommendation 4: Amend Article III, Section 3 of the Bylaws of the Ithaca
College Faculty Council to the following:
A majority of the members of Council are needed for a quorum. Decisions
require affirmative votes by a majority of the members of Council.
D. Lifton moved to adopt Recommendation 4. J. Benjamin seconded.
MOTION: To approve Recommendation 4 as submitted.
D. Lifton spoke in favor of the recommendation, pointing out that if there were only
14 or 15 members present, for example, then a mere8 members could pass a motion.
A number of members of Council raised concerns that this provision might make it
difficult for Council to act if there was a bare quorum.
The motion was defeated.
S. Seltzer noted that, contrary to the recommendation of consultant Tom Emmet, there
is no recommendation to revise Article I, Section 1 and Article II, Section 1. (The
existing text remains in force.)
B Faculty Handbook
The Executive Committee proposes to bring small sections of the proposed handbook
revisions to Council each month for discussion and approval or referral back to the
FHAC. As to process, they suggest that if an item receives a two-thirds majority vote,
that would constitute approval. If a section failed to receive two-thirds, but had at least
one-third of the vote, it would be considered undecided and would be sent to the
faculty for a referendum.
J. Rosenthal moved that Council follow this recommendation; H. Emery seconded.
MOTION: Faculty Council will require a two-thirds vote for approval of a
proposed revision to the Faculty Handbook. A proposal that receives at least a
one-third vote, but less than a two-thirds vote, will be sent to the faculty for a
referendum.
The motion was approved.
C. Grade Policies Study Committee Report
L. Bailey noted that there were two additional items to be added to the list at the
bottom page 2 (Average letter Grades in IC Majors):
Music Performance Major (592 grades)
Music Performance Non-Major (54 grades)
There was a general discussion on the report presented to Council at the December
meeting. W. Mauser explained graduate level "criterion referenced courses" and their
influence on grade distribution. D. Lifton and J. Rosenthal expressed differing
opinions on the wisdom of indexing grades. S. Seltzer noted that he had met with Dan
Tillapaugh, President of Student Government Association, and shared the report with
him. Jen Blanco said students are quite interested and invited the committee to present
the report at one of SGA's meetings. S. Seltzer asked L. Bailey to report back to
Council so that recommendations, if any, may be drafted for institutional
consideration.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:25 p.m.