Academic Senate Meeting Minutes 3/10/15

ACADEMIC SENATE MEETING

MINUTES

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

SEVEN HILLS CONFERENCE CENTER

NOB HILL ROOM

2:00 – 5:00 p.m.

 

ATTENDANCE:

Absences: Carabez, Rebecca (abs); Collins, Robert (abs); Drennan, Marie (abs); Hurley, Timothy (abs); Lebuhn, Gretchen (abs); Merchant, Zahira (abs); Nizzardini, Richard (abs); Pope, Robert (abs); Stowers, Genie (abs)

 

Visitors: Ann Hallum, Mitch Turitz, Shawn Whalen

 

 

 

 

 

OPEN FLOOR PERIOD:  2:00 - 2:10 p.m.

The Open Floor Period provides an informal opportunity for faculty members to raise questions or make comments directed to Senate officers or to university administrators.  Please arrive promptly at 2:00 p.m.

CALL TO ORDER: 2:10 p.m.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

AGENDA ITEM #1—Approval of the Minutes for February 24, 2015

 

Approved

 

AGENDA ITEM #2—Approval of the Agenda for March 10, 2015

 

Approved

 

AGENDA ITEM #3—Chair’s Report

 

Robert Nava will make a presentation at next Senate meeting.

Chair Getz informed us about the difference between consensus and division- although we tend to favor consensus, sometimes there is need for “division.

Thank you to President Wong and VP Cortez for coming to speak with us today.

 

AGENDA ITEM #4—Report for VP for Administration & Finance, Ronald Cortez:  Budget Update

 

Jay Orendorff, Director for Administration and Finance, is joining Ron for today’s presentation [please see Power Point on Senate iLearn site for details].

 

Issues that have impacted our budget this year include: reduced enrollment, costs associated with Science building repair/renovation (waiting for insurance reimbursement), and the structural deficit. Salary raises that were issued this year did not get fully covered by the Chancellor’s office, which increased our structural deficit to $6-7M. Both Cortez and Orendorff emphasized that we are not in a crisis situation, but we have to recognize and address the issue in future planning. Our goal is to maintain fiscal health while we preserve the academic and student experience. We await the May state budget revise for more information about next year’s budget picture for the CSU.

 

 

AGENDA ITEM #5—Report from President Leslie Wong, Strategic Planning 2015

 

President Wong addressed the issue of the structural deficit, and our need to find a way to move forward. He reiterated that this is not a big problem in terms of the whole picture of our budget, but that he would rather solve in now and not later.

Discussion on the Strategic Planning report- We are going to do teaching, research and service at a high level.

Core values articulated in the strategic plan are: Courage, Life of the Mind, Equity, Community, and Resilience.

 

AGENDA ITEM #6—Recommendation from the Executive Committee: Proposed Resolution in Support of an Academic Freedom Policy, 1^st Reading

 

Moved by Sen. Yee-Melichar.

Discussion: what is being proposed is a resolution to create a system wide Academic Freedom Policy, as we do not currently have one.

Sen. Bettinger proposed additional language, which he will email to the Executive Committee.

 

Item will be returned to the Senate at a future date. 

 

AGENDA ITEM #7—Recommendation from the Academic Policies Committee: Proposed Revisions to the Baccalaureate Degree Policy, #F13-255, 2^nd Reading

 

Moved by Sen. Gerber.

The recommendation is to remove Topical Perspectives from upper division GE without losing educational integrity. Senators were concerned that we were losing an integrated focus for GE; however, TP is not being enforced because faculty did not submit proposals, and some faculty felt that being forced into a topical perspective was a barrier. Currently there are insufficient courses/seats for students who need TP courses, and it has become a roadblock to graduation. Chair Getz explained that all GE courses have to fit into one domain of knowledge and some overlays, but they would no longer be associated with a topical perspective. Concerns were shared about the possible implications of eliminating TP, and also the acknowledgement that the present GE structure is currently unworkable.

 

Action Item: The motion to revise the Baccalaureate Degree Policy passed.

 

AGENDA ITEM #8—Recommendation from the Faculty Affairs Committee: Proposed Revisions to the University Tenure & Promotion Policy, 1^st Reading

 

Moved into first reading by Sen. Hackenberg.

FAC determined we should have a firm transition timeline to E-WPAF, and that we first need to pass an amended RTP policy that allows for electronic files. Our current RTP policy does not allow for electronic WPAF’s. Passing this revision raises difficulty of having two active RTP policies until everyone moves to E-WPAF’s, similar to “old” and “new” RTP policy issue where faculty could opt for one or the other until a certain date. Sen. Hackenberg explained that we need to change the current policy in order to give IT the go-ahead to develop the platform for the E-WPAF, and FAC is proposing a temporary policy that will supersede the current RTP policy until the change is in effect. The temporary policy allows for a firm timeline, which we want to avoid for the permanent policy. We still need the old policy regarding paper files, which has been removed from the revised policy; the temporary policy includes all options until everyone is using the E-WPAF.

 

After a lively discussion, Sen. Hackenberg agreed to bring the item back to FAC for further revision and the item will return to Senate in first reading at a future date.

 

AGENDA ITEM #9—Recommendation from the Faculty Affairs Committee: Proposed Temporary RTP Policy for Transition to Electronic WPAFs, 1^st Reading

 

Moved into first reading by Sen. Hackenberg, who decided to delay discussion until the item is returned to the Senate in first reading.

 

AGENDA ITEM #10—Adjournment—no later than 5:00p.m.

 

Meeting adjourned at 4:39PM.

 

 

Submitted by Eileen Levy, Secretary, Academic Senate