September 19, 2017

                                                

 

 

ACADEMIC SENATE MEETING

MINUTES

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

SEVEN HILLS CONFERENCE CENTER

NOB HILL ROOM

2:00 – 5:00 p.m.

 

 

OPEN FLOOR PERIOD:  2:00 - 2:10 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.

 

ATTENDANCE:

Absences: Campbell, Chloe (abs); Collins, Robert (exc); Drennan, Marie (exc); Hines, Ellen (abs); Kakar, Venoo (exc); Shapiro, Jerry (exc); Tanner, Kimberly (exc); Teh, Kwok-Siong (exc); Williams, Aimee (exc); Wall, Andrew (abs); Wilson, Jackson (exc); Wong, President (exc)

 

Visitors: Brian Beatty, Claude Bartholomew, Mi-Sook Kim

 

CALL TO ORDER: 2:10 p.m.

1.       Approval of the Agenda for September 19, 2017

·                                 Agenda was approved with the elimination of item #7 due to the illness of the invited speaker.

2.       Approval of the Minutes for September 5, 2017

·                                 Agenda was approved with the revision of Sen. Stowers’ college, cited under agenda item #7 and the revision of “non-residential” to “residential” in the comments from Sen. Yee-Melichar following President Wong’s announcement.

3.       Announcements

·                                 Sen. Lori Beth Way announced that the findings of the Student Academic Pathways Project will be presented on Sept. 28 from 12 – 1:30 in Rosa Parks C.

·                                 Gilgamesh Jeter announced that the Alcademics Wine Club will be holding a tasting today, Sept. 19, in the Burk Hall Vista Room 5:30 – 7:30. 

4.       Jason Wu, Chief of Police, University Police Department – Safety Update

·                                 Police Chief Jason Wu updated the Senate about the work of the University Police Department. He discussed the importance of outreach efforts and updated Senate about the progress of the newly-instituted Patrol Beat System and Community Liaison Unit. He also discussed UPD’s participation in the creation of the updated Time, Place, and Manner policies, the plan to update emergency phones on campus, and the existence of training programs in active threat response. He announced that UPD entered into an agreement with University Enterprises to augment security staff levels at the Downtown Campus.  

·                                 Sen. Wilson noted the increased police presence on campus and asked for more information about the procedure if faculty or staff sees ICE officers on campus. Chief Wu answered that ICE does have a right to come on campus, but that faculty or staff should call UPD immediately if they are contacted by an ICE officer. UPD has a policy not to cooperate with ICE, unless presented with a judge’s warrant, in which case they will work to ensure public safety rather than to assist ICE.

·                                 Sen. Mooney asked whether the emergency phones covered with black trash bags are not functional and noted that there are no signs on nonfunctional emergency phones to direct people to working emergency phones. Chief Wu said that he would look into this issue.

·                                 Sen. Reyes asked whether there was an MOU or otherwise publicly available statement from UPD about noncooperation with ICE. Chief Wu answered that a Chancellor’s order is in place that campus police are not to assist ICE. Sen. Reyes followed up and asked whether students know this and whether a more public explanation could be made, possibly on university websites, to let students know what the procedure will be if ICE officers do come on to campus. Sen. Reyes also asked, beyond ensuring student safety generally, what the university is prepared to do to protect undocumented students from ICE. Chief Wu suggested other campus resources that could answer some of those questions and talked about police outreach. Sen. Reyes noted that students who may need this information most may be least likely to trust the police. Chair Gerber suggested that we invite Norma Salcedo, the AB 540 Dream Coordinator, to a Senate meeting to continue the conversation.

·                                 Sen. Foley commended the new outreach efforts and the Patrol Beat System She also noted that ASI has posted information about the DACA program on their website and discussed other ASI initiatives to help DACA students. She asked about the progress of the updated Time, Place, and Manner policy.

·                                 Sen. Denetclaw asked about the status of campus safety and shared some negative experiences. Chief Wu recommended that individuals who see or experience concerns with campus safety should contact UPD.

·                                 Sen. Lopez noted that IDEAS has requested a meeting with representatives of university administration to discuss resources and a permanent location for the Dream Resource Center. She also addressed some of the messaging that came from the DACA forum and asked whether Chief Wu was willing to do some outreach and to meet with students proactively. Chief Wu expressed interest in doing so, suggested using Norma Salcedo as a liaison, and discussed his use at the DACA forum of the term “illegal aliens” and his directions to students to “fly under the radar.” Sen. Lopez pointed out the problematic nature of such advice and suggested that this conversation continue with the campus community in a town-hall style forum.

·                                 Sen. Steier supported Sen. Lopez’s comments about the negative consequences of the directive for undocumented students to try to be invisible.

5.       Jennifer Summit, Interim Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs – Report on Academic Affairs Budget Advisory Council (BAC)

·                                 Provost Summit presented material about the Budget Advisory Council. She cited budget-related concerns as the biggest barrier to student success and described the work of the Budget Advisory Council as increasing budget transparency, improving curriculum planning, and aligning the academic budget with strategic goals. She targeted the “augment” system as a major part of the problem and joined BAC in recommending a new model based on enrollment growth and student success. In implementing this model, one goal is to enable colleges to plan their curriculum one year ahead. She outlined the Induced Course Load Matrix model for allocating resources.

·                                 Sen. Wilson asked what other measures (other than DFW rates) we would use to determine educational quality. Provost Summit answered that we will develop a more fine-tuned measure of quality as we proceed. She also agreed that DFW rates are a low bar of student success and talked about retention and graduation as possible measures.

·                                 Sen. Reyes noted that costs of instruction vary with enrollment. Provost Summit said that they were working to determine the cost per FTE in each college.

·                                 Sen. Sinha asked whether we are satisfied with the way that the CSU allocates funding among the campuses. Provost Summit agreed that we are not.

·                                 Sen. Bloom noted that clinical programs are more expensive and external professional organizations are calling for more clinical work for education students. Provost Summit agreed that it is true that different types of programs have different costs. Sen. Bloom asked how we are supposed to meet demands to keep costs down and meet professional demands to increase clinical work for students. Provost Summit recommended some resources from Debbie Brothwell, a consultant to BAC, to help answer these questions.

·                                 Sen. Stowers noted that the budget model used to be based on the student-faculty ratio and asked what would change for the typical faculty member with this new system. She also asked what we will look like in 2 – 3 years as a result of this change in budget model. Provost Summit answered that hopefully we will start enrolling more students, we will be able to plan curriculum better, and we will be better able to retain our students. We hope also to shed the reputation that SF State is a place where students can’t get their courses.

·                                 Sen. Pasion asked whether this model goes across the university for all departments and how far back it will go. She noted that recent patterns for enrollment and the allocation of resources have been attempts to make do with limited resources and so might not be the best source of data. Provost Summit noted that it is not truly a historical survey and that this should be a dynamic process rather than static.

·                                 Sen. Yee-Melichar asked whether the cost per course by student enrollments will take into account the different level of classes (graduate/undergraduate, etc.) and whether courses are using high-impact practices. Provost Summit answered that courses are differentiated by type, but that it is currently not taking into account whether a course is engaging in high-impact practices.

·                                 Sen. Castillo asked about the relationship between the academic affairs budget and the university budget and about the ratio of tenure-track to adjunct instructors. Provost Summit noted that the cost of instruction is broken down by tenure line and that the model is not looking at non-instructional budgets.

·                                 Sen. Gen expressed support for the direction of the new model and noted that SIC is working this year toward implementation of last year’s budget transparency report and an important component is understanding how the different levels of budgeting (Academic Affairs, university-wide, CSU-wide) work together.

·                                 Sen. Howard noted that changes in state, city, and county funding will impact us and we need to have a good system which understands our own budgeting needs in order to adapt. She also spoke on the consequences of impaction and lifting impaction.

·                                 Sen. Thomas pointed out that if this is going to improve the quality of instruction, we can’t rely on historical data to guide our decisions. He also noted that the campus has been actively recruiting in international markets and many international students go to the College of Business, but resources have not been allocated accordingly. Provost Summit noted that there is an increased marginal cost of instruction for international students and discussed increased class size.

·                                 Sen. Bloom asked whether we could go to a year-round university system to optimize non-instructional costs.

·                                 Sen. Sinha discussed problems with student uncertainty about course availability.

6.       Reports

6.1    Chair

·                                 Chair Gerber discussed procedure, reminding senators to sign-in when they arrive and to inform the Senate secretary or Senate office if they are going to be absent. She also expressed sympathy over the death of Sen. Carrillo’s husband Terry Hanley.

·                                 Chair Gerber announced opportunities for service on the President’s Campus Climate Task Force and as at-large Senators.

·                                 Chair Gerber announced that Jason Porth would be presenting at a future Senate plenary about the university’s Master Plan.

·                                 Chair Gerber discussed further issues about procedure, including that materials for Senate plenaries would not only be available on ilearn, but also available to the entire campus community in the Academic Senate Box account.

6.2   Standing Committees

6.2.1           Curriculum Review and Approval Committee

·                     Sen. Stowers reported that CRAC as a part of EPC approved the discontinuance of the Certificate in Public Accountancy. As CRAC, they reviewed the proposal for an MS of Business Analytics, and generated a list of points for the College of Business to address. In upcoming meetings, they will be looking at a proposed MS in Marine and Estuarine Science and a proposed minor in Comic Studies.

6.2.2          Faculty Affairs Committee

·                                 Sen. Roehrman reported that FAC has been prioritizing their tasks for the semester. They will focus on aligning the hiring handbook with senate policies, reviewing the composition of the UTPC, exploring college-level RTP review, discussing of GTA tuition remission, updating the leave-with-pay policies and procedures, and looking at RTP policy with respect to faculty service.  

6.2.3          Student Affairs Committee

·                                 No report was given due to the committee chair’s absence, though SAC did meet.

6.2.4          Strategic Issues Committee

·                                 Sen. Gen added to his earlier comments that SIC is also looking at S09-180: Policy on Search Committees for University Administrators.

6.2.5          Academic Policies Committee

·                                 Sen. Wilson noted that APC worked on the two consent items on today’s agenda, and will be working on the committee charge for the First-Year Experience committee, the calendar policy, the large on-line course policy, and, as EPC, the discontinuance of the School of Art’s concentration in Art Education. 

7.       Discontinuance of the Certificate in the Study of Public Accountancy – Educational Policies Council (consent item)

·                                 Sen. Wilson discussed the discontinuance of the Certificate in the Study of Public Accountancy, and noted that this was unanimously passed by EPC. No debate, motion was adopted by consent.

8.       Approval of the 2018 Summer Academic Calendar – Academic Policies Committee (consent item)

·                                 Sen. Wilson presented the 2018 Summer Academic Calendar, which was approved by APC. No debate, motion adopted by consent.

9.       James Martel, President, SF State Chapter of the CFA

·                                 Prof. Martel discussed the role and activities of the SFSU chapter of the CFA. He pointed out that faculty has a right to be accompanied by a union representative when summoned to a disciplinary meeting and mentioned the grievance process. He also discussed the role of union advocacy with Sacramento, highlighting work to advocate for making the ratio between tenured/tenure-track and adjunct faculty to be closer to 75/25, instead of the current 50/50. He advocated for each department to have a union rep, possibly both a tenured/tenure-track and a lecturer representative, and solicited volunteers for setting that up.

·                                 Sen. Sinha discussed the anger at the ASCSU about Executive Orders 1100 and 1110 and wondered whether CFA would support faculty advocacy for the necessity of both the Chancellor’s and ASCSU Chair’s signatures on orders that deal with curriculum. Prof. Martel offered his support in opposing orders like EO 1100 and EO 1110.

10.    Adjournment—no later than 5:00pm

·                                 Meeting was adjourned at 3:58.