SUNY Oswego - Faculty Assembly: Minutes 10/22/01

October 22, 2001

Members Absent: W. Silky, B. Judd

Meeting was called to order at 3:10 PM.

I. Approval of Agenda

The policy on Administrative Course Withdrawal under New Business was removed from the agenda by APC. The agenda was then approved unanimously.

II. Distribution of FA minutes for September 24, 2001 and October 8, 2001

Both sets of minutes were distributed and will be voted on at the next Faculty Assembly meeting.

III. FA Chair's Report - D. King

The Presidential Review Committee was elected last week and the PPC will announce the results of the election during the reports of council, committees, and task forces. The first meeting of the Presidential Review Committee will be called as soon as possible. The committee will need to elect a chair and review the guidelines for presidential reviews and the survey instruments used on other campuses. D. King spoke with Marianna O'Dwyer, the Associate Vice Chancellor, last week. She stated that the on-site campus visit by the review team is likely to be during the last week of November or the first week in December. Both the Chancellor's guidelines and our bylaws require that the report of the Presidential Review Committee and the team visit report be confidential and be given directly to the Chancellor.

D. King then mentioned that he would like to schedule a General Faculty meeting for Monday, December 3rd at 4:30 PM. This would allow us to bring the accumulated bylaw amendments before the general faculty for a final vote. They will discuss this at a FA Advisory meeting in early November.

Associate Provost Rhonda Mandel would like to convene a College Calendar Committee meeting to draft calendars for the next cycle of three academic years. Margaret Groman has agreed to be the representative from APC. Other volunteers are needed to serve; please contact D. King or R. Mandel if you are interested in serving.

The Undergraduate Curriculum Committee still has two vacancies from the School of Education that will hopefully be filled at today's meeting.

D. King mentioned a few things from President Stanley's report at the joint chair meeting on October 9th. Our institutional research office is conducting a salary study and collecting data from other public colleges. There have been some major problems on campus with greatly increased demands for bandwidth mainly caused by students downloading large video and music files. In the past 3-4 years our bandwidth capacity has increased 14 times but is still over taxed. There is no prospect for supplemental budget because of the impact of the September 11th attacks on state revenues. It is likely that we will receive a "barebones" budget next year or even less. New York State/SUNY may not even cover the negotiated salary increases next year. A tuition increase may occur, but not until after the election.

IV. Reports of Councils, Committees and Task Forces

A. The Task Force for Academic Quality met on October 12th. Dir. Of Institutional Research, Mehran Nojan gave a report on the 2000 student opinion survey. Dean Varhus also gave a report on how to coordinate with other groups regarding the strategic plan. They decided to divide into three sub-groups: learner centered issues, academic climate, and academic standards.

B. Academic Policies Council met on October 19th and voted to withdraw the Policy on Administrative Course Withdrawal. They are requesting that their recommended policies on imcompletes be put on the next agenda to be voted on. Also, they reviewed the General Education Board's recommendation for articulation regarding transfer students under Gen. Ed 2000, and the APC supports it. APC will meet again on November 2nd.

C. Priorities and Planning Council met on October 12th and elected M. Pan as the reporter to Faculty Assembly. They discussed the scholarship programs and budget situation, and that the EOP program will not have funds to accept any new students form Spring 2001.

D. Campus Concept Committee met on October 22nd. The campus center steering committee gave a report regarding program space recommendations. The next meeting will be on November 5th.

E. Library Council met on October 18th. They set up the agenda for the up coming year and elected K. Kurst-Swanger as the chair. They will be meeting again on November 15th.

F. Personnel Policies Council met on the October 15th and figured out the results of the election to the Presidential Review Committee. They reported to the Faculty Assembly who was elected: Roger Hinrichs, Eleanor Henry, Sharon Kane, Thomas Judd, Joan Gibson, Robin McAleese, Liz Dunne Schmitt.

V. Unfinished Business

1. Vacancies on FA Councils and Committees

a. The Undergraduate Curriculum Committee Education representative elected for the '00-'02 term was Sue Camp.

b. The Student Association Senate elected Brian Cooper to serve as an FA alternate.

2. Faculty Bylaw Amendments

a - New Article XX was discussed and voted on by paper ballot with minor changes. The main amendment passed with a vote of 30 approved, 7 opposed, and 2 abstentions.

b - Article XVII was discussed and the amendment proposed by PPC to delete it. It was passed with a vote of 29 approved, 5 opposed, and 4 abstentions to delete Old Article XVII.

c - Old Article XX was discussed as to 0whether it should be retained or deleted. It was deleted with a vote of 31 approved, 0 opposed, and 3 abstentions.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:55 PM.