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FACULTY SENATE MINUTES #11

March 20, 2012

The eleventh meeting of the Faculty Senate 2011-2012 was called to order by chair Timothy Phillips on Tuesday, March 20, 2012 at 1:15 PM in Park Center, Hall of Fame Room.

SENATORS AND MEMBERS PRESENT:  T. Phillips, J. Hendrick, C. Schubert, W. Miller, R. Kendrick, J. Hartsock, A. Dearie, K. Polasek, R. Borden, T. Vigars, E. McCabe, T. Slack, D. Berger, E. Owens, J. Piperato, L. Weber, E. Bitterbaum, M. Prus, G. Sharer, G. Clarke, S. Anderson

SENATORS AND MEMBERS ABSENT:  R. Grantham,  D. West, D. Miller, J. Alemzadeh, J. Walkuski, B. Wodi, J. Rayle, O. White, L. Lin, M. Chandler, H. Lindh, K. Pristash, P. Schroeder, E. Durgin, R. Franco, W. Shaut, P. Ducey, A. Kuiken, R. Spitzer

GUESTS PRESENT:  F. Pierce

I. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES:   The Minutes from March 6, 2012 were approved.

II. SENATE ACTIONS:   

There was a vote to approve the amendments to the “Confidentiality of Faculty Memos” Proposal from the Academic Faculty Affairs Committee, as follows:  “The faculty and staff should be aware that confidential documents may be handled by work study student workers that have been trained and have signed a form ensuring confidentiality” and “Be it resolved that The SUNY Cortland Faculty Senate recommends to the Administration that they insert the following text into section 650.07 270.1 of the Cortland College Handbook for informational purposes.” (Approved)

There was a vote to approve the “Confidentiality of Student Memos” Proposal from the Academic Faculty Affairs Committee, as amended (Approved; 9 for; 4 against)

III.  CHAIR’S REPORT:  The Chair reported on three items of business: The Old Business item on the agenda regarding “Confidentiality of Faculty memos;” New Business item on the agenda regarding changing the membership in the Director of the Library search committee; Open meeting scheduled for April 3 where the Senate rules will be suspended and an open discussion will take place.

IV. VICE CHAIR:  J. Hendrick – The Vice Chair gave a brief report (SEE Appendix 1)

V. TREASURER’S REPORT:  R. Grantham – No report (absent)

VI. SECRETARY’S REPORT:  No report (absent)

VII.  PRESIDENT’S REPORT:   The President gave a brief report.

VIII.  STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Student Affairs Committee – No report (absent)

Academic Faculty Affairs Committee – E. McCabe – The issue regarding student workers handling confidential documents was discussed and voted on under Old Business (SEE Appendix 2)

Long-Range Planning Committee – No report (absent)

Educational Policy Committee – R. Spitzer – No report (absent)

Professional Affairs Committee – G. Clarke – No report (absent)

IX. OTHER COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Committee on Teaching Effectiveness – No report (absent)

Committee on Committees – J. Barry – The Committee on Committee’s report was read and nominations were taken from the floor for vacancies (SEE Appendix 3)

College Research Committee – P. Ducey – No report (absent)

General Education Committee – A. Kuiken – No report (absent)

Graduate Faculty Executive Committee – J. Alemzadeh – No report (absent)

X. AREA SENATOR’S REPORTS:  T. Slack gave a brief report (SEE Appendix 4)

XI. SUNY SENATOR’S REPORT: – D. Berger – The SUNY Senator reported that he will be attending the Spring Plenary at SUNY Geneseo on April 19-21, 2012.

XII. STUDENT SENATOR’S REPORTS:  L. Weber and J. Piperato gave reports.

XIII. OLD BUSINESS: - The issue regarding work study students handling confidential documents was discussed and voted on under Old Business and approved, as amended.

XIV. NEW BUSINESS:  The membership of the Director of Library Search Committee was introduced and will be discussed and voted on at the next meeting on April 3 (SEE Appendix 5)

Announcements – There were no announcements.

Respectfully Submitted,

 Barbara Kissel

Recording Secretary

The following reports are appended to the minutes in the order they were submitted:

(1)    Vice Chair’s report, submitted by J. Hendrick

(2)    Confidentiality of Faculty Memos, submitted by E. McCabe, Chair, Acad. Faculty Aff. Comm.

(3)    Committee on Committee’s Report, submitted by J. Barry, Chair

(4)    Report submitted by T. Slack

(5)   Membership of the Director of Library Search Committee, submitted by E. McCabe

Appendix 1

Vice Chair’s Report

Submitted by J. Hendrick

 Faculty Senate – March 20, 2012

Vice Chair Report

On February 29^th, several SUNY Cortland students participated in the SUNY-wide Discovery: An Undergraduate Showcase with their research projects.  They included Ayden Wilber, a senior Exercise Science major who attended with Jim Hokanson from the Kinesiology department and Virginia Martelli and Tyler Potter from Chemistry.  There were over 90 presentations and Chancellor Zimpher attended for over an hour making the rounds to talk with all the students.  Many state legislators also attended and interacted with the students.

Respectfully submitted,

 Joy L. Hendrick

Appendix 2

Confidentiality of Faculty Memos

Submitted by E. McCabe, Academic Faculty Affairs Committee

In the fall of 2011 the Academic Faculty Affairs Committee was made aware of the following situation. A faculty member, inquiring about the status of his DSI application heard mention of the DSI memo being handled by a student. He was upset to think that the “confidential” memo had been seen and handled by a student. He was informed that this is the standard operating procedure for such memos. The members of the Academic Faculty Affairs Committee were unaware of this practice.

In view of this the Academic Faculty Affairs Committee presents the following resolution:

Confidentiality of Faculty Memos

Whereas the administration of SUNY Cortland has a policy of using student workers to handle much of the correspondence and other materials in their various offices, and

Whereas confidential memos and materials including DSI award memos and the Chancellor's Awards for Teaching Excellence are handled by said students, and

Whereas a certain amount of concern has been expressed by members of the faculty concerning such handling and the knowledge of such confidential information,                        

Be it resolved that The SUNY Cortland Faculty Senate recommends to the Administration that they insert the following text into section 650.07 of the Cortland College Handbook for informational purposes:  “The faculty and staff should be aware that confidential documents may be handled by work study students that have been trained and have signed a form ensuring confidentiality.”

                                                                      Appendix 3

Committee on Committees Report

Submitted by J. Barry, Chair

Committee on Committees – Report to the Faculty Senate

March 20, 2012

Item #1

The call for nominations for officers and committee vacancies beginning Fall 2012 resulted in the nominations noted below (in red):

 At Large (any member of voting academic faculty or professional staff unless otherwise noted):

** ASC holds a NYS Liquor License.  If elected to the Board of Directors, the State Liquor Authority requires the completion of a Personnel Questionnaire and fingerprinting.  For more details, click on the following link:  http://www.abc.state.ny.us/system/files/SLA_(personal-question-011310.pdf)

 School of Arts & Sciences (seats are appointed unless otherwise noted):

1.  School of Education – At Large (seats are appointed unless otherwise noted):

1.  School of Professional Studies – At Large (seats are appointed unless otherwise noted):

1.  Library – At Large (seats are appointed unless otherwise noted):

1.  Professional  Staff – (seats are appointed unless otherwise noted):

The following nominations should be accepted from the floor:

 College Research Committee, Math/Science, 2012-15, Conklin

1. Committee on Committees, Math/Science, 2012-14, Jin

 Additional nominations should be accepted from the floor.

Item #2

The call for nominations for Senators beginning Fall 2012 resulted in the nominations noted below (in red):

The following nomination should be accepted from the floor:

1. Library, Harms

Additional nominations should be accepted from the floor.

Item #3

The Committee on Committees will run appropriate elections and make appointment recommendations to the Faculty Senate for vacancies outlined in Items #1 and #2 above.

Respectfully submitted,

Joanne Barry

Chair

                                                                  APPENDIX 4

                                     Area Senator’s Report, submitted by T. Slack

Area senator’s report:

Tim Slack – M/C

On Saturday, April 7^th, the Main Campus Electrical Substation will be shut down for approximately eight hours as part of a Facilities project to upgrade the campus electrical infrastructure.

• · Emergency lighting, fire pumps, fire alarm systems, Data centers, card access, will all run on our emergency generators.
• · ASC’s food service will be available.
• · Building heating, general lighting, and all other electric service to the campus will be inoperable during the shutdown.
• · Bathrooms campus wide will be closed and non operational during the shutdown.

This will be the first of three similar electric shutdowns related to the Electrical Substation replacement. The second shutdown is scheduled for late August, the third in late November (Thanksgiving weekend) 2012.

                                                                  Appendix 5           

Membership of the Search Committee of the Director of Library

submitted by E. McCabe, Library

Changes to the Director of Libraries Search Committee

The academic and professional faculty of the Library, in a vote on proposed committee makeup, recommends the following changes to the search committee for the Director of Libraries: that one professional member and one additional member from the academic faculty (schools) be added. (Section 240.02 G)

Existing handbook Language

G. For the Director of Libraries

The six-member committee shall be composed as follows:

a. Two members elected by and from the librarians

b. Two members elected by and from the academic faculty (schools)

c. One member elected by and from the classified staff reporting within the library

d. One student member.

The Committee on Committees shall conduct all faculty elections.

Proposed handbook Language

G. For the Director of Libraries

The eight-member committee shall be composed as follows:

a.     Two members elected by and from the librarians

b.     One professional member elected from the library professionals

c.     Three members elected by and from the academic faculty (schools)

d.     One member elected by and from the classified staff reporting within the library

e.     One student member.

The Committee on Committees shall conduct all faculty elections.