Governance Council
Monday, February 24, 2014
11:30AM
UNH 306
Joette Stefl-Mabry, Chair
Minutes
Present:
Liang Chu, Saurav Dutta, Cynthia Fox, Yenisel Gulatee, Caitlin Janiszewski, Ann Kearney, John
Schmidt, Kabel Stanwicks, Joette Stefl-Mabry, Zheng Yan, Kevin Murphy (representative from
SA), Bill Hedberg (guest)
The meeting convened at 11:34 a.m.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The minutes of February 10, 2014 were approved unanimously, with minor changes.
Chair Stefl-Mabry reminded that Bruce Szelest, Associate Vice Provost for Academic and Resource Planning,
was to meet with the Committee on Assessment of Governance and Consultation following the GOV meeting.
GOV then welcomed Kevin Murphy, the representative from SA, and introductions were made.
CHAIR’S REPORT
Charter Amendment Re Composition of CPCA:
GOV Chair Joette Stefl-Mabry announced there had been a slight change in the agenda. Senate Chair
Christine Wagner had contacted her on Friday to state that the Provost, after reviewing GOV’s rationale,
wanted the language put back in about UUP’s view. Bill Hedberg was invited to address why GOV was being
asked to revisit the proposed CPCA Amendment rationale.
Bill Hedberg thanked GOV for the opportunity to present to GOV. He hastened to indicate that the concern
was not with content of the legislation. He state it was entirely appropriate to limit the membership to tenured
members of teaching faculty and that was not the concern. The rationale as written, he explained, would seem
to ground the recommendation in UUP’s contention that the current arrangement is in violation of the
agreement. That is certainly not the view of SUNY systems administration, at least as was communicated by
the Director of Employee relations, who was present for the negotiation of the contract. The concern was to
have a justification that is more balanced and that shows that UUP raised a concern and SUNY Systems has
shared a perspective that differs. The Senate is not in a position to adjudicate the differences in the state-wide
contract negotiated between UUP Central and the Governor on behalf of the State University. Where there
was common agreement was that the Senate has authority to constitute its faculty committees in an
appropriate fashion. Mr. Hedberg shared his proposed alternative language that would advance the
recommendation but that would in effect give UUP what it is proposing in terms of the substance of the issue
grounding the justification in the authority that the Senate has to constitute its committees.
Chair Stefl-Mabry recapped the issue that it was UUP’s belief that as CPCA is presently constituted it is in
violation of the agreement. Mr. Hedberg added that, in the letter from Mr. Haines, SUNY Systems clearly has
a different view. We are suggesting that it is not up to the University Senate on one campus of the system to
adjudicate the differences. On the other hand, it is possible to move forward with change in the composition
of the Council, which is what UUP is proposing, justified in different means.
Senator Cynthia Fox thought that was what the justification said. GOV had looked at this independently and
took the opportunity to change the composition of the Council. We then, she stated, got the message that GOV
had to take UUP out of this. Mr. Hedberg stated that was not the legislation he had seen. Instead the
legislation he had seen referred to the letter from the UUP Chapter President Bret Benjamin. There was a
phrase that was deleted out of draft, with references to Article 3 of the UUP Agreement and to Article 2 of the
SUNY Board of Trustees policies. Chair Stefl-Mabry noted there had been several iterations. She noted she
had worked together with Senate Chair Christine Wagner on drafting the most recent one. Mr. Hedberg
responded that he knew the Council had been wrestling with this, and he appreciated the opportunity to come
to communicate.
Mr. Hedberg proceeded to share with GOV the language he was proposing. He indicated adding sentences to
the bill to reflect SUNY’s view, to point out that it differs from UUP’s view, and to highlight that both parties
agree that deciding governance has authority to define the composition of its councils. It was agreed that this
version of the bill was more clearly laid out. It was suggested that since the SUNY letter, though dated last
October, was not received by the Senate until January, that the timeframe for GOV’s consequent actions could
be better reflected. After further discussion, Mr. Hedberg offered to revise the document according to the
agreed upon changes and return to the meeting to re-present it to GOV. He subsequently returned later in the
meeting to provide GOV the changes he had made to the Amendment and Rationale for further review.. He
noted that teaching faculty is not defined in CPCA but it appears in Senate Charter as local nomenclature to
better distinguish faculty and academic rank, including Library faculty.
OTHER REPORTS
The Ad Hoc Committee on Senate Implications of the CNSE Transfer
Chair Stefl-Mabry reported she would ask for a deadline for the Committee at the SEC meeting later that day.
Meanwhile, the Committee has been looking at the bigger issues of exactly what this means and what the
implications are. Per Senator Caitlin Janiszewski, things are moving along slowly.
Committee on Liaison and Elections; Committee on Council Nominations

University Senate elections timeline or schedule
Senate Secretary Yenisel Gulatee reported that on Friday she had sent an e-mail requesting nominations
for the positions that need to be filled in the upcoming elections, along with the timeline. She deliberated
that by March 3rd GOV needs to publish the preliminary slate of candidates for the At-Large Senator
positions, meaning that they needed that day to come up with 4 candidates for the Open Senator At-
Large and 6 for Professional Senator At-Large categories. It was discussed that the policy is that these
Senators can run 3 consecutive terms, 2 years each. Last year those who were currently Senators and
eligible to run again by the By-Law policies were given priority. GOV then came up with more
candidates to compensate for the remainder needed. Senator Gulatee recommended there be double the
amount of candidates; so 4 for the 2 Open seats, and 6 for the 3 Professional Senator At-Large category.
Senator John Smith pointed out that the 6 years of service is continuous and that if a Senator is off 1
year they could start again. It is not limited, and there are also exceptions. Senator Saurav Dutta raised
the question if adjunct or part-time faculty could run, but it was stated they cannot and instead have a
separate election.

Nominations for preliminary slate of At-Large Senators
GOV came up with the following candidates to be contacted regarding their interest prior to being put
on the preliminary slate:
Holly Barker Flynn, Res Life
Sridar Chittur
Christine Gervasi, Biology, non-teaching
Hemalata Iyer, Department of Information Studies
Michael Jaromin
Jane Kadish
Ilka Kresner, Spanish, teaching faculty
Chris Moore, ITS
John Murphy
Nancy Neuman, Music
Patricia Pino, Latin American Studies
S.S. Rolley, Computer Science
Kabel Stanwicks, Library
Giri Tayi, Information Technology Management Professor from the School of Business
It was suggested Bruce Szelest be nominated, though it was unsure he could run as it was thought he
was Management Confidential. Senator Gulatee agreed to look on PeopleSoft to see if Management
Confidential plays a role. It was agreed that the people GOV nominated would be contacted regarding
their interest prior to being placed on the preliminary slate. The invitations to the initial candidates
would be sent out, with a deadline to respond via e-mail to GOV this week. GOV will then vote to
accept the slate. On March 3rd GOV will send out the preliminary slate message. It was asked that
GOV members send more names to Yenisel that day to keep as a backup list in the event there were
not enough candidates.
The Committee on Assessment of Governance and Consultation
Chair Stefl-Mabry reported that she had shared the CAGC survey with the President’s Office. The President’s
new Chief of Staff Leanne Wirkkula provided good guidance about the survey and asked the Committee to
look over and use some of the questions from the survey she e-mailed that was done for Middle States in
2009. The recommendation in 2009 was that a survey be taken every year, and so it was good that GOV took
this on this year. Dr. Wirkkula initially had issues with the tone of some questions in the survey; however
Chair Stefl-Mabry had explained to her that it was not the express intent of GOV but rather the questions were
taken right from the AUUP. When Chair Stefl-Mabry inquired as to who would get to see report when
finished, Dr. Wirkkula responded that she firmly believed it is in the purview of GOV to share that report with
constituents. Chair Stefl-Mabry noted Dr. Wirkkula’s suggestions to be shared with GOV and the Committee,
and was encouraged with how the administration wants to work together with them. Dr. Wirkkula had
indicated they do want to see the penultimate survey.
Senator Dutta agreed that some questions were right off survey, but now picking and choosing from among
those questions would fall to us. A few questions had been added in terms of committees. The title, purpose
and tone of the survey and usefulness of the questions were re-assessed based on the notes. The word
“consultation” was added to the title to reflect the survey’s purpose. The descriptions of the Councils were reexamined. Some questions regarding the Board did not seem relevant and were discussed. Some questions
were reframed to properly reflect the information being requested; others were adjusted based on the
documents shared by Dr. Wirkkula.
Senator Smith inquired as to the timeframe for the survey. Chair Stefl-Mabry recommended the latest draft be
sent for all GOV members to go through for spelling and tense. The new draft could then be shared with Dr.
Wirkkula the following week.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Membership of the Committee on Assessment of Governance and Consultation
NEW BUSINESS
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 1:11 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by
Elisa Lopez, Recorder