Faculty Senate Minutes, February 29, 2024

February 29, 2024 3:30 p.m., Zoom

Present: A. Rosenfeld (Chair), B. Gaines (Secretary), G. Barry, D. Brophy, C. Carlson, K. Engemann, G. Grimaldi, J. Haber, M. Higgins, A. Howerton-Fox, L. Ivanov, Y. Kang, A. Kelso, N. Kyaw, S. Petrovic, A. Qayyum

Excused: C. Dougherty, J. Klein, H. Park

A. Rosenfeld called the meeting to order at 3:35 pm. Quorum was met.

Announcements

Narcan access- Narcan training March 6, 1-4pm, Bronxville campus. Also updated on possibility of Narcan available for anyone who wants it. Hopefully will have material progress on this soon.
Enrollment Management Committee- while we don’t foresee any problems with having Executive Director of Undergraduate Admissions Ryan DePuy serve in that role, need to ensure all parties are in agreement. Because we did not approve officially, it has not gone to Board yet.

New University Council/Executive Committee Member

M. Higgins will serve as Executive Committee member for the remainder of the academic year.

Constitution Review Committee

Will meet 2-3 more times to finalize changes. Any amendments must be voted on by full faculty, and approved by two thirds of those voting.

Compensation Subcommittee

Reaffirmed purpose of committee to discover what information is available for further action.

Faculty Handbook

Discussed need to understand what revision is going on, what changes were made. Errors and inconsistencies remain, including changes which were not approved by faculty. While it seems the Board can change the handbook without faculty approval, Senate requests that Board and administration seek faculty approval and inform faculty when changes are made.

Governance

Discussed issue honorary degree committee. List of possible speakers was submitted but rejected by president and board. The President was subsequently able to get Dick Gephart; board agreed, and committee voted to approve by narrow margin. Senate discussed how to respond when governing structures, even when matters of usage rather than policy, are sidestepped.
Discussion of why senior faculty aren’t serving on committees- many feel like the committees don’t accomplish anything, are sidelined, and serve no purpose.
- Some committees have power (CAA, RTA), and others do not. Point was made that committees have other functions beside direct impact on policy, including creating opportunity to share information in two directions and providing opportunity for people to become involved in the life of the college.
Discussed need to clearly delineate expectations for what it means to serve on various committees, including clarifying functions like endorsement, making recommendations, points of information, and dissemination of policy decisions. If just recommendation- no power, and its for sharing information
Action item: Meet with Provost Mulligan to enlist her support in conveying this stance and request greater transparency about purpose and expectation for the things that we’re doing.

Midterm Grades

SGA wants midterm grades for everyone. Senate seemed broadly on board with this position, since progress report grades are already needed for a substantial subset of students.

Elections

Try to get election ballot out the week of 3/18, with one week to self-nominate/appoint, then one week for elections to ensure results available for the April 4 senate meeting.

Survey

Provost Mulligan asked us to consider the HERI survey, but concerns were expressed that it asks for too much identifying information.
Will work to have survey close to ready to go at the end of our next meeting, 4/4. A sub-committee will meet the week of 18th to discuss the survey questions.

New Business

Senate agreed that Center for Teaching and Learning should include faculty involvement at every stage.

There being no other business, A. Rosenfeld adjourned the Faculty Senate meeting at 5:10 p.m. The next Senate meeting will be held over Zoom on 4/4/2024 at 3:30 p.m.

Minutes prepared by B. Gaines