April 6, 2021

 

ACADEMIC SENATE MEETING

MINUTES

Tuesday, April 6, 2021

ZOOM MEETING 

2:00 – 4:30 p.m.

 

Attendance:

Absences: 

Guests: 

 

 

 

 

OPEN FLOOR PERIOD:  2:00 - 2:05 p.m.

The Open Floor Period provides an informal opportunity for campus community 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: 2:05 p.m.

 

1.     Approval of the Agenda for April 6, 2021

·       Approved as submitted @ 2:05pm

2.     Approval of the Minutes for March 16, 2021

·       Approved as submitted @ 2:06pm

3.     Announcements from the Floor

·       Sen. Way – Registrar’s Office is implementing the CR/NC deadline requested in the resolution from Fall. Students have until May 21^st to choose that option. Previously the deadline was listed as 5pm, but it will be open until midnight, which means that grade rosters won’t be available until 12:00am on May 22^nd.

4.     Reports

4.1.   Chair Report

·       Chair Albiniak asked senators to reserve the full time allotted in the final two plenary sessions due to the enormous amount of business on the upcoming agendas. 

·       Thanks to Mirna Vasquez for assisting with the senate elections which was monumental task. 

·       Please encourage your colleagues to vote in the campus wide elections.

4.2.   President Report

·       President Mahoney – federal advocacy has been launched with other CSU campuses. Focusing on two things: doubling the Pell award amounts, which now only covers about ¼ of the costs of education. The other item is support for our DACA students including a pathway to citizenship. Thanks also to our strong students who have represented themselves and our campus very well!

·       Fall 2021 – effective April 15 all people in CA will be eligible for vaccines, so our students will all be eligible. The governor announced today that by the middle of June the tier-system will be done-away with and all businesses will be back to normal. One mandate that seems to be sticking will be mask-wearing.

·       Thanks to everyone who is involved in planning a return to campus, especially the chairs and directors.

4.3.   Provost Report

·       Provost Summit – echo thanks to the chairs and directors. Last week the chairs were notified that some faculty searches will be able to go forward next year. The number will be small, but better than a freeze. Tenure track hiring will be based on need. We still do not know how many we can sustain at this point. 

4.4.   Standing Committees

4.4.1.Curriculum Review and Approval Committee

·       Sen. Hines – Five items on today’s agenda, one in old business and four in first reading (see agenda below)

4.4.2.Faculty Affairs Committee

·       Sen. Rubin – One item on today’s agenda. Last semester a resolution was passed to support faculty members during the pandemic. The committee is discussing the possible confusion surrounding exactly whom the resolution is supporting. Does it or does it not include associate professors?

4.4.3.Student Affairs Committee

·       Sen. Olsher – Today’s agenda has one item regarding dropping students for non-payment (see below). One on-going discussion is in support of academic reading. We are at the outreach and consultation point and encourage you to contact us about that topic. 

4.4.4.Strategic Issues Committee

·       Sen. Goldman – Two items on the agenda today (see below). Also looking at grad programs, faculty work assignment, guidelines for RSOs, recognition of extraordinary service demands on some groups, and other topics. 

4.4.5.Academic Policies Committee

·       Sen. Stowers – One item from EPC on the agenda today in second reading APC has four items on the agenda today. (see below) Several items are upcoming. 

Old Business

5.     Recommendation from the Academic Policies Committee (APC): Proposed New Policy S21-XXX, Graduate Admissions Policy—second reading. 

·       Sen. Stowers moved the item to the floor and spoke to the item.

·       Discussion

o   Sen. Bloom-Leiva – support these changes and the policy.

o   Sen. Stowers – just a note that this is a new policy and is necessary for success with the upcoming WASC review.

·       VOTE – the motion passed unanimously

o   Yay – 52

o   Nay – 0

o   Abstentions - 0

6.     Recommendation from the Educational Policies Committee (EPC): Proposed Discontinuance of the Certificate in Commercial Real Estate—second reading.

·       Sen. Stowers moved the item to the floor and spoke to the item.

·       Discussion

o   none

·       VOTE - the motion passed unanimously

o   Yay – 52

o   Nay – 0

o   Abstentions - 0

7.     Recommendation from the Curriculum Review and Approval Committee (CRAC): New Certificate in Ethnography—second reading. 

·       Sen. Hines moved the item to the floor and Sen. Wilczak spoke to the item.

·       Discussion

o   Sen. Hulik – School of Design fully supports this proposal, and we are excited to recommend this to our students. 

o   Sen. Woo – also support this and thank you for the great work.

·       VOTE - the motion passed unanimously

o   Yay – 53

o   Nay – 0

o   Abstentions - 0

8.     Recommendation from the Faculty Affairs Committee (FAC): Proposed Resolution to adopt “lecturer faculty” as term for lecturer employees—second reading.

·       Sen. Rubin moved the item to the floor and spoke to the item.

·       Discussion

o   Sen. Drennan – speaking in favor of this. Lecturer faculty are in need of this recognition, they do so much for our students. 

o   Sen. Wong – clarifying the term “adjunct”: The committee did look up the term and it is an official designation, but it is not for someone who teaches. 

·       VOTE

o   Yay – 54

o   Nay – 0

o   Abstentions – 0 

 

New Business

9.     Recommendation from the Executive Committee (EXCOM): Proposed Resolution to Condemn Anti-Asian Racism and Violence, written and co-sponsored by Senators Daus-Magbual, Le, and Woo with Professors Yoo, Tintinagco-Cubales, Francisco, and Dariotis—first reading.  

·       Vice Chair Wilson moved the item to the floor and Sen. Daus-Magbual spoke to the item.

·       Discussion

o   Sen. Woo – Ceded time to Emmy Power a senior at SF State, who spoke in support of the resolution and the experiences of Asian American students on our campus. 

o   Sen. Le – Ceded time to Eunice Kim an alumna of SF State and a program administrator with Stop AAPI Hate. Ms. Kim spoke in support of the resolution. 

o   Sen. Hines – speaking in support of the resolution. We need to do everything we can to ensure that students feel safe. Our students need the Ombud that we put forward last year. 

o   Sen. Drennan – Ceded time to Alauna Jaden Torres who spoke in support of the resolution and the lived experiences of AAPI students. Urged the senate to support the item.

·       Returned to committee @ 2:56pm

10.  Recommendation from the Curriculum Review and Approval Committee (CRAC): Degree Title Change for the MA in Communicative Disorder—first reading. 

·       Sen. Hines moved the item to the floor and spoke to the item.

·       Discussion

o   Sen. Bloom – support the change in the wording. There is power in words and this is a timely change. 

·       Returned to committee @ 2:58pm 

11.  Recommendation from the Curriculum Review and Approval Committee (CRAC): Revision to the BA in Theatre Arts—first reading.

·       Sen. Hines moved the item to the floor and Sen. Schwartz spoke to the item.

·       Discussion

o   Sen. Drennan – thank you for making the curriculum more welcoming to other majors. The change to three units is important!

·       Returned to committee @ 3:02pm

12.  Recommendation from the Curriculum Review and Approval Committee (CRAC): New University Pathway Program—first reading.

·       Sen. Hines moved the item to the floor and Saroj Quinn, Director of Global Engagement (CEL), spoke to the item.

·       Discussion

o   Sen. Ramirez – curious about the cost per unit and the financial aid options for students. 

§  Ms. Quinn – students would likely pay about $25K for the entire program, which would save students a bit of money compared to the options

§  Dean. Hwu – these are international students, so they do not qualify for student aid. 

o   Sen. Abeywickrama – support classes are available on our campus, so having an outside vendor provide those support classes is a concern.

§  Ms. Quinn – the support classes cannot be credit bearing, which is the reason we cannot use the ENG classes. 

·       Returned to committee @ 3:11pm

13.  Recommendation from the Curriculum Review and Approval Committee (CRAC): Elevation of the MS in Structural/Earthquake to an MS in Civil Engineering—first reading.

·       Sen. Hines moved the item to the floor and Professor Kwok Siong Teh spoke to the item.

·       Discussion

o   Sen. Wilczak – changing from a specialized program, but the core courses are very specific. Is there encouragement to students to broaden their interests?

§  Professor Teh – yes, the core is specific but there are other electives.

o   Sen. Stillman – share concerns that Sen. Wilczak brought up. Would suggest that the core has a broader base.

o   Sen. Pesci – speaking in favor as a student in engineering. CSU is increasingly competitive, and this puts us forward as being a player in ensuring that students have access to this type of education. The elevation is a chicken/egg issue, but important in establishing the future of the program.  

o   Vice Chair Wilson – In these cases of growth, perhaps we put the resources together first, instead of us moving toward that goal in these small steps.

§  Professor Teh – we do have a set of courses that are not structural.  

o    Sen. Way – we usually defer to the experts in the field and the committee did that. Also, Associate Dean DeWitt did research Will these feed into the demand for the degree? And will that lead us to needing more resources.

§  Professor Teh – yes, is will increase demand, but we do not believe it will need more resources immediately. 

·       Returned to committee @ 3:25pm

14.  Recommendation from the Academic Policies Committee (APC): Proposed New Policy S21-XXX: Graduate Requirement Policy—first reading. 

·       Sen. Stowers moved the item to the floor and spoke to the item. Dean Clavier also spoke to the item in terms of the various policies and procedures that currently exist for the Graduate Division.

·       Discussion

o   Sen. Hines – line 237, is it typical for a non-faculty to serve, or am I misunderstanding that?

§  Sen. Stowers – you are correct. 

·       Returned to committee @ 3:32pm

15.  Recommendation from the Academic Policies Committee (APC): Revision to F16-248: Course Repeat Policy—first reading.

·       Sen. Stowers moved the item to the floor and spoke to the item. Dean Altura also explained some of the changes.

·       Discussion

o   none

·       Returned to committee @ 3:55pm

16.  Recommendation from the Academic Policies Committee (APC): Proposed revision to S87-148: Academic Renewal Policy—first reading. 

·       Sen. Stowers moved the item to the floor and spoke to the item. Dean Altura also explained some of the changes.

·       Discussion

o   Sen. Hulik – thanks to the folks who worked on this. The policy reads much better and the sentiment behind the policy is so much better and in support of true education!

·       Returned to committee @ 3:57pm

17.  Recommendation from the Student Affairs Committee (SAC): Proposed Non-Payment of Fees and Tuition Drop Policy, in first reading. 

·       Sen. Olsher moved the item to the floor and spoke to the item.

·       Discussion

o   Sen. Way – this doesn’t seem like weighing in on policy, it seems more like building policy around procedure. I recommend that this be a resolution not a policy. 

o   Sen. Wilczak – amazing work from SAC this year but have to agree with Sen. Way. This needs to be a resolution, not a policy. There isn’t much policy written into this “policy.” It’s not usually good to lock into policy a process. 

o   Chair Albiniak – Ceded time to Katie Lynch, AVP for Enrollment Management. We do not want students and families to feel trapped in the systems on our campus. 

o   Sen. Ramirez – we mainly laid out the current procedures. Ceded time to Alondra Esquivel, student, who spoke to the item and the importance of having a policy.

o   Sen. Pesci – echo what Ms. Esquivel and Sen. Ramirez said and speak in favor.

·       Returned to committee @ 4:10pm 

18.  Recommendation from the Strategic Issues Committee (SIC): Proposed Resolution Renaming the University Research Council to “University Research, Scholarship and Creative Activities Council”—first reading.

 

·       Sen. Goldman moved the item to the floor and spoke to the item.

·       Discussion

o   Sen. Stowers – is there a reason to continue to have a body on this campus that focuses research in the traditional sense? Could we consider reviewing the missions of the committee before changing the name? 

§  Sen. Goldman – the request for the revision came directly from the university research council. 

·       Sen. Scott – the council wanted to ensure that all types of professional work are supported and that was the purpose of the request. 

·       Returned to committee @ 4:18pmb

19.  Recommendation from the Strategic Issues Committee (SIC): Proposed Resolution Recognizing Employee Service in Pandemic-Year Performance Evaluations—first reading.

·       Sen. Goldman moved the item to the floor and spoke to the item and Sen. Ramirez also spoke to the item.

·       Discussion

o   none

·       Returned to committee @ 4:22pm

20.  Recommendation from the Executive Committee (EXCOM): Proposed Resolution to Acknowledge Receipt of the Faculty Work Assignment Equity Task Force Report—first reading

·       Vice Chair Wilson assumed the gavel and chairperson-ship of the session.

·       Sen. Albiniak moved the item to the floor and spoke to the item.

·       Discussion

o   Sen. Bloom – thanks to the task force and their work on this. Issue of transparency around WTUs is acknowledged in the document. Would like to see how WTUs are determined and dispersed campus-wide. Shouldn’t there be a campus-wide baseline? Also why are by-laws necessary?

o   Sen. Kavuri-Bauer – regarding by-laws, we thought that the academic units would be the experts in that area and be best suited to determine where the WTUs are used. 

·       Returned to committee @ 4:32

Presentations

21.  Presentation by Fred Smith, Assistant Vice President, Division of Equity & Community Inclusion, “Update on Campus Climate work from Equity & Community Inclusion” (time certain 3:30-3:45pm)

·       AVP Dr. Fred Smith gave a quick update and report about the various support that his division is engaged in on campus. 

·       Vice Chair Wilson – previously we had a resolution addressing anti-AAPI hate, wondering how you work with those constituents

o   Dr. Smith – we are here to support the very real stress that people have, especially when we return to campus. Also, the cabinet is really working on ways in which all cabinet areas can work together.

·       Sen. Richards – Years ago SFSU campus police offered self-defense classes. Could we do something like that!

o   Dr. Smith – we will continue to look into those types of courses to support our community

·       AVP Smith left the meeting at 3:52pm and the senate returned to other business.

22.  Adjourned @ 4:32 pm 

 

POST-PLENARY FLOOR PERIOD: 4:30 - 5:00pm

The Post-Plenary Floor Period provides an informal opportunity for senators and guests to meet, exchange information, or follow up on items or questions emerging from the meeting.