168th UFS Plenary Fall Meeting October 23-25, 2014 SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry I. President’s Report – Pete Knuepfer Event on Campus 10/23/14-SUNY Canton Received two threats on Yik Yak and campus went into lockdown, with evacuation from campus buildings, police escorted students to dorms, but a thorough sweep of the campus did not find anything. Chancellor Zimpher sent a message to campuses regarding safety on campus and dealing with anonymous sites like Yik Yak. Resolution in support of policy on sexual assault and affirmative consent, following a resolution from the SUNY Board of Trustees. SUNY has convened a working group to formulate proposed policies. Call for faculty who do research on sexual assault on college campuses to contact Pete Knuepfer. Teach NY initiative to improve teacher education and preparation in response to Common Core. Advisory task force with experts from around the country. Tina Goode and Pete Knuepfer are the only faculty representatives on this task force. Again, if there are faculty who are on the cutting edge of research into how we can improve teacher education programs, please contact Pete. Student mobility continues to be a problem due to the level of inflexibility from SUNY admin in response to campus requests for majors and forcing campuses to align with transfer paths. Work needs to be done to aid implementation. But questions/comments regarding how it affects specific campuses and programs would be welcome. Upcoming events include Nov 7 workshop on Intellectual and Property rights in online environment at SUNY System in Albany. Nov 12-13 the Making Diversity Count conference. March 20-21 SUNY Voices shared governance conference in Syracuse at Onondaga Community College. February 10 Graduate Research symposium at Legislative Office Building. Questions: Expand on Comments regarding LICH sale? Signed agreement with Fortis group and they are working with NYU Medical Center to provide health care. Not clear what the total liability is at this point. Regarding resolution from UFS on LICH that failed to pass at the spring plenary, executive board considered the resolution again and decided not to bring it back to the senate. However, still issue of holding leaders accountable for handling of LICH, specifically the governor. Alliance of Health Science Centers? Chancellor wanted two standalone medical centers (SUNY Upstate and Downstate) to have closer alliances with research centers. Downstate and Albany to have closer ties and Upstate to ally with Binghamton. Need for faculty leadership. II. Executive Committee report & Introductions of Resolutions – Gwen Kay Resolutions to be considered on Saturday (see Section XIII). Resolution on Student Assistants Under Affordable Care Act if people work more than 30 hours a week they are required to provide health insurance. Issue is that student employees who are not paid under federal work study are considered employees. State Human Resources issued a policy that required people be under insurance and anyone else (students) could not work more than 29 hours per week. Not all campuses require that students have health insurance. Committee responding to State Human Resources document that limited the number of hours that students were allowed to work. This document did not specifically refer to Affordable Care Act (Document 8300). Currently no mechanism for SUNY to provide insurance to student workers. Student Assembly resolution passed that condemned the policy from State Human Resources. Senate is asking for correction to what is being done and there is a bill pending to correct this. III. Sector Sessions Questions for Chancellor SUNY Excels Performance Management System Performance Indicator Metrics for money from system, but questions about in other cases this has shown to increase the gap between campuses that are doing well and those that are not. Chancellor sees it as an opportunity to get money from legislature, but issues with how it is operationalized. What will the money that campuses get be used for? Is this a done deal? If we don’t get the extra money, what are the consequences? Importance of Faculty Voice How and when will these metrics change over time? If we are changing metrics on a cycle, how would that work? Shouldn’t the argument be that we need to use the metrics to identify need and not excellence? Greater improvements could be seen if needs were addressed. Issues on campuses: Seamless Transfer Paths-issue of communication because people involved in transfer path discussion, but it essential became a basis for common curriculum. Discussion of 5 year programs and whether they should be eliminated, there is pressure against them due to graduation rates. But, SUNY Chancellor would like to see 5 year programs expanded. Denial of Waivers Length of time it is taking to get program approval at SUNY. Comprehensives getting squeezed from increase in University Centers and more 2 year schools becoming 4 year. General Education: There will be survey from Fredonia on Campus Gen Ed New Paltz “liberal arts committee” for discussions of gen ed. They also have over 40 credit gen ed. Plattsburgh had a gen ed imposed on them 3 years ago and a recent resolution to change that was voted down. They have about 34 credits. Old Westbury working on their gen ed-they have 48-52 credits. IV. SUNY Student Assembly Report – Lori Mould, President Issue of childcare on campuses, resolutions for anti-bias and better policies for prevention of sexual assault. V. Budget Report – Robert Haelen, Interim Chief Financial Officer; Josh Sager, Associate Vice Chancellor for Finance and Business 2015/2016 Budget Issues 2% Spending Growth for entire state. 4.2 billion surplus one time due to settlements with various companies for different reasons. Unclear what this is going to be used for (reduce debts, capital funds) Budget Request Salary increases Issue of end of rational tuition increase at end of 2015/2016 Capital Plan Educational Facilities—multiyear funding push Residence Halls—self supporting Hospitals--?? No capital since 2009 Recharges and Assessments No changes in state support, so increased tuition and fees. Assessments on State Operated campuses have increased, so we have put a lot of money into community colleges and hospitals but not state operated campuses (comprehensives). At least they are recognizing this. VI. Networks of Excellence – Timothy Killeen, Vice Chancellor for Research & President of the Research Foundation Year 1—4 Networks and invested 4 million dollars 4E (Energy, Environment, Economics, Education), Brain, Materials and Advanced Manufacturing, Health Focus on Academic Linkages, public-private partnerships, collaboration, data analytics New Initiative in Science of Teaching and Learning Excellence VII. Provost Office Report – Alexander Cartwright, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor New Provost-previously a faculty member at University of Buffalo in Engineering and still holds faculty status there. Learning the ropes: SUNY Excels, Seamless Transfer, Open SUNY, Networks of Excellence, Teach NY, Diversity Task Force, Governor has asked for a SUNY policy on sexual assault in 60 days. New people: Dr. Paul Marthers Vice Provost for Strategic Enrollment Management and Student Success Dr. Christy Siegerdt Associate Provost for Institutional research and data analytics Dr. Phil Ortiz Assistant Provost for Undergraduate and STEM Education Open SUNY—56 certificate programs from 17 campuses, number of faculty in Center for Online Teaching Excellence grown to 750. TeachNy Advisory Council—three leadership task forces to help get teachers ready and be more prepared in the classroom. Seamless Transfer—listening to faculty concerns about issues facing campuses. Database of Transfer Path courses has been rebuilt to reflect updated pages and will be sent to campus reviews and the waiver review process continues (looking for inputs). On track for Fall 2015, programs due for re-registration by 12/1, second and final program inventories due October 15, 2015. Goals to use Learning commons by faculty, will seek recommendations from faculty on assessment, cyclical review of paths, would like to see additional paths developed. State ed just changed the number of credits you can change before re-registering. Can change up to 1/3 of a program. Let him know when issues and problems arise. VIII. SUNY Excels Performance Management System Presentation Nancy Zimpher, Tim Killeen, Alex Cartwright, Beth Bringsjord Next five years of strategic activity. Access, Completion, Success, Research, Engagement Recognize and Reward Key Performance areas, starting in Dec 2012 started consultation to figure out how to move a descriptive data system to accomplish certain targets and enhance the states enhancement in us. Multiple states have performance based systems in place already. I.e. TN and Ohio allocate all of their revenue based on performance. Define SUNY’s return on investment and use guiding principles. Over 200 metrics discussed and the plan is to solicit input. Won’t take this to Board in November, but will delay for feedback. Access Enrollment, diversity, capacity, affordability Completion It’s not just about first time, full time students; Student achievement measure—national effort (SAM), can also capture mobility. Success Student support, applied learning, multi-cultural experiences, degree progression, financial literacy, employment/earnings. Research Research productivity, external investment, philanthropic support. Engagement Start UP NY, scholarship, diversity and innovation, commercialization, workforce development, community service, cultural contributions. Responses to questions: Envisioning annual reviews of metrics and do plan to launch a comprehensive Presidential annual review process. The matrices will probably be used on a sector basis and not for SUNY as a whole. Concrete proxies for quality would be very helpful. A bargain with the state implies that they will eventually provide funds and a second goal is for improvement. It will change the distribution of funds across campuses. What can senators do to help guide what you are looking for? Take this back to campuses and solicit feedback. IX. Sector Sessions with Chancellor Nancy Zimpher Program approvals—governor has implemented dual program approval. Make the point with State Ed to do dual program approval. Once assessment system is in motion, they will continue to evaluate it—continuous improvement science. We are trying to find balance between metrics that help all of us, but also ones that are specific. Agrees that comprehensives are in a state of transition and we should use the tools that we are given, such as Open SUNY. Issue of waivers—need some data on which programs and where the problems are. Seamless transfer—encouraging Pete Knuepfer to have a student group provide feedback on issues students have with seamless transfer. X. Faculty Council of Community Colleges Report - Tina Good, President SUNY Voices conference upcoming Increase of $250 in FTE requested, $75 funded Drop in FTE and drop in enrollment is an issue Passed resolution regarding child care for community college students Resolutions on Seamless Transfer: Waivers issue-criteria for justification for waivers Argue that AAS degrees should not be implicated as part of seamless transfer, because they are terminal degrees. There are a few community colleges involved in Open SUNY (Broome, Ulster), more are involved in online learning not associated with Open SUNY. XI. CUNY University Faculty Senate Report – Terry Martell, Chair Central Administration costs will be posted in December Links between central committee chairs and relevant administrators Enrollment management issues. XII. Resolutions A. Resolution on Sexual Assault Prevention Passes without dissent B. Resolution Regarding All State University of New York Campuses Offering Athletics create programs to support Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Athletes, Coaches and Staff and to end Anti-LGBT bias and discrimination in Athletics Passed as amended, 40 voted for the resolution, none opposed and five absentions C. Resolution on SUNY Excels Performance Measurement System Passed without dissent *President Knuepfer-requests Senators and UFS: In the matrix given us by the Chancellor—what elements would be appropriate and what elements would not be appropriate? This discussion should be done by the end of November. D. Resolution on Affordability of Textbooks and Instructional Materials Passed with one nay vote as amended E. Resolution on Reduction on the maximum working hours for Student Assistants Passed without dissent as amended F. Resolution in Support of expanding SUNY undergraduate research and creative activity Passed without dissent XIII. Committee Reports Diversity and Cultural Competence Committee – Noelle Paley Conference reminder Ethics and Institutional Integrity Committee – Joe Marren Complete survey Governance Committee – Peggy De Cooke Procedural change concerning timing of resolution distribution and changes Graduate and Research Committee – Rosalyn Rufer Request to Institutional Research leaders to forward survey link to campuses regarding finding jobs after graduation, not all leaders sent out the survey. Operations Committee – Tom Sinclair Proposed change in operations committee charge approved by the executive committee. Programs and Awards Committee – Bruce Leslie Committee aware that the process for excellence awards is through a process that is not in compliance—any administration involved in process. Specific guidelines say the process should be controlled by the faculty. Student Life Committee – Kelley Donaghy Nothing to add Undergraduate Committee – Dan White Nothing to add XIV. New Business Introduction of resolution regarding Naloxone availability to SUNY campus police and campus first responders. Passed as amended.