Draft: Subject to Senate Approval
MINUTES OF THE TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY-FOURTH PLENARY SESSION
OF THE CITY UNIVERSITY FACULTY SENATE
OF THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK
May 13, 1997
Chair Cooper called the session to order at 6:30 p.m. in the Harold M. Proshansky Auditorium of the Graduate School and University Center. Present were Senators from the following campuses: Baruch: McCall, Pollard, and Alternate Hill. BMCC: Friedman, Jaffe, Price, Reid, and Alternate Powell. Bronx CC: Beligne, Cummins, and Galub. Brooklyn: Bell, Hager, Jacobson, London, Shapiro and Tobey. City: DeJongh, Grossman, Sohmer, and Sank. Graduate School: Baumrin, Rothman, and Alternate Kieser. Hostos CC: Vasillov, and Alternate Rosario-Sievert. Hunter: Hampton, Kurzman, Matthews, Sherrill, Steinberg, Tomasch, and Alternates Baxter and Casco. John Jay: Bohigian, Brugnola, Davenport, Kaplowitz, Rodriguez, and Alternate Davenport. Kingsborough CC: Bellu, Galvin, Goldfarb, O'Malley, Richter, and Alternate Staum. LaGuardia CC: Gallagher, Mettler, Reitano, and Alternates Boris and Beaky. Lehman College: Avani, Feinerman, Knobloch, Mineka, Nathanson, and Pohle. Medgar Evers: Harris-Hastick and Umolu. Mt. Sinai: Levitan. NYCTC: Cermele, Donoghue, Hounion. Norton, Walter and Alternate Hernandez. Queens: Cairns, Frisz, Landazuri, Savage, Speidel, and Alternates Diamond and Seley. Queensborough CC: Barbanel, Dahbany-Miraglia, Gellman, Greenbaum, Marti, Mullin, and Alternate Specht. Staten Island: Cooper, Levine, and Yousef. York: Cooper and Odenyo. Professors Connorton, Dombroski, Jaffe (Mo.), Ladden, MacLennan, Pearson, Riley, and Whealey were excused. Faculty Governance Leaders present: Bass (BCC), Cooper (York), Friedman (BMCC), Hager, Hampton (Hunter), Kaplowitz (John Jay), Kurzman (Hunter), Levine (CSI), Mandelbaum (Queens), Mbabuike (Hostos), and Specht (QCC). Chancellor Reynolds gave a report and was accompanied by Dr. Pulliam. Professor Davis, Chair of the FAC attended as did Professor Lowy (QCC). The Parlimentarian was Alternate Staum. Executive Director Phipps and Administrative Assistant Pasela were present.
I. Approval of the Agenda: The agenda was adopted as proposed.
II. Approval of the Minutes of the 243rd Plenary, April 15, 1997: The minutes were adopted as proposed.
III. Reports: [recorded in Reports & Deliberations.]
a. Chair (oral & written).
b. The Chancellor (oral).
c. Faculty Members of Board of Trustee Committees (written)
d. Annual Report of the Faculty Advisory Council to the Research Foundation -- Professor John Davis, Chair (oral and written)
IV. Election of Five At-Large Members to the Executive Committee: Professor Maria Rodriguez, Chair, Elections Committee conducted the election. The following Professors in descending order by votes received were elected to serve on the UFS Executive Committee for the 1997-98 academic year:
Professor Karen Kaplowitz (John Jay)
Professor Cecelia McCall (Baruch)
Professor Martha Bell (Brooklyn)
Professor Susan O'Malley (Kingsborough CC)
Professor Anne Friedman (BMCC)
For further details refer to the Reports & Deliberations section.
V. Resolution to Honor The City College on its' Sesquicentennial: The following resolution was proposed by the Executive Committee and subsequently adopted unanimously:
Therefore, Be it Resolved, that the University Faculty Senate salute the admirable achievements of The City College over the past 150 years, and offer its heartfelt wishes for continuing success in the centuries to come.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:15 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Bill Phipps
REPORTS & DELIBERATIONS
OF THE TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY-FOURTH PLENARY SESSION
OF THE UNIVERSITY FACULTY SENATE
OF THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK
May 13, 1997
III. Reports:
a. Chair: Good evening, everyone. Welcome to the last meeting of the University Faculty Senate for Spring, 1997. . .unless we have to call one in June.
This evening is the night when we welcome the new Senators. According to the charter and practice of this Senate, the May meeting is the organizational one wherein officials of the body are elected and new senators from the constituent colleges are asked to vote for officials of a body which they are joining. I realize that this is a peculiar institution but thus far, everyone seems devoted to its continuation. Since it ain't broke, we won't fix it.
I wish to welcome the new members of the Senate. Please hold your applause until I read the entire list:
Newly Elected Senator and Alternates
Baruch College: Re-elected Senators Virgil Bird and Bobbie Pollard. Newly-elected Alternate Senator Robert Ariel.
BMCC: Re-elected Senator Maria Reid, newly-elected Senators Anne Friedman, Susan Price and Mike Vozich. Re-elected Alternate Senator Sue Kimbrough and newly-elected Alternate Senator Susana Powell.
Bronx CC: Re-elected Senator Marsha Cummins, newly-elected Senator Atlaw Belilgne, Re-elected Alternate Senator Henry Skinner, and newly-elected Alternate Senator Howard Fuld.
Brooklyn College: Re-elected Senators Leslie Jacobson, Charles Tobey, and newly-elected Alternate Senators Aileen Fedullo, Antonio Nadal, and Richard Pizer.
City College: Re-elected Senators James DeJongh, Bernard Sohmer, and newly-elected Senator William Crain.
Hunter College: Re-elected Senator Jane Matthews, newly-elected Senators Barbara Hampton, Paul Kurzman, and Sylvia Tomasch, re-elected Alternate Senator Bernice Baxter, and newly-elected Alternate Senator Monica Casco.
John Jay College: Re-elected Senator Haig Bohigian, newly-elected Senator Jane Davenport, re-elected Alternate Senator Ned Benton and newly-elected Alternate Senator Edward Davenport.
Kingsborough Community College: Re-elected Senator Eva Richter, newly-elected Senators Renato Bellu, and Jeanne Galvin. Re-elected Alternate Senators Daniel Grimaldi, and Richard Staum.
CUNY Law School: Newly-elected Senator David Nadvorney.
Lehman College: Re-elected Senator Melvyn Nathanson and newly-elected Senator Muriel Knobloch. Re-elected Alternate Senator Cesar Ayala and newly-elected Alternate Senators Alicia Georges, and Shelia Smith-Hobson.
New York City Technical College: Newly-elected Senator Andrew Hubner and Robert Cermele. Re-elected Alternate Senators Dennis Bakewicz, Carmen Hernandez, and Kathryn Richardson.
Queens College: Re-elected Senators Anna Brady, David Speidel, and newly-elected Senators Cairns and Rodway.
Queensborough Community College: Re-elected Senators Dina Dahbany-Miraglia and Fred Greenbaum. Re-elected Alternate Senators Patricia Allaire and John Specht.
College of Staten Island: Re-elected Senators Sandi Cooper, and Mohamed Yousef. Newly-elected Alternate Senator Vasillios Petratos.
York College: Re-elected Senator Alan Cooper and newly-elected Alternate Senators Mitchell Brodsky, and Rosemarie Ruiz.
I know that last month I read a list of senators whose terms had ended and who were not returning, so I won't repeat that. But I do want to note one member who has moved on to a new post and has decided not to stand for the Executive Committee. This is Prof. James De Jongh of the English Departments at City College and The Graduate School, named now to head IRADAC -- the Institute for Research on the African Diaspora in the Americas and Caribbean. Jim served on the Executive Committee as well as on any number of University-wide committees, special task forces and the like, a determined voice defending faculty and student interests. We want to wish him well in his new University role and we expect that the Institute will very quickly become another one of the reasons why CUNY is such a special organism.
The June 12 Plenary which is scheduled may be canceled if we determine there is no reason to hold it. At the moment it is scheduled to be held here at 42nd St., following a special meeting of governance leaders. We have found it necessary to hold the extra meeting in the past 3 years and so we took the precaution of putting it down but it will only occur if needed. You will be notified.
At the moment, senior college faculty are being asked to review course listings for comparability that two year colleges have sent forward. The two year colleges have reviewed the listings in the University Course Guide (formerly, the Course Equivalency Guide) and these are now in the hands of senior colleges.
Faculty at several senior colleges have asked me how to deal with these listings, absent copies of syllabi and relevant information, such as who teaches courses. In a few departments, faculty have indicated that it is impossible to meet a May 30 deadline, having just received the two year college booklets and papers early in May and having no time to investigate, for each discipline, what is meant by the titles of courses.
I have urged faculty to voice their concern directly to provosts and to 80th St. If there is sufficient interest, I shall take it up with the Board chair. I await your instruction. I have called a special meeting of the coordinators of Discipline Councils for May 23 and will raise the questions with them, as well. We still need a procedure.
It seems to me that in the interest of fairness to students, faculty ought to have the time to review the materials and not be expected to respond by May 30. No major changes could be instituted anyway for fall 97 at this point.
Probably the Board will soon vote on a new proposed early retirement incentive which will have approximately the same terms as the past two to three years. The Senate has written letters all over the place insisting that for each retiree, a new line be opened in CUNY for a full time replacement and not a series of adjuncts. So far, a half dozen legislators have contacted me supporting this idea but it has to be made real on each campus.
The Board of Trustees has created two committees to investigate issues of concern. The first committee is called an Ad Hoc Committee on Remediation, Performance and Graduation Rates, chaired by Herman Badillo and including George Rios, Vernon Lattin, Kurt Schmeller, Carolyn Williams, an outside representative from the Board of Education, a faculty representative to be named and a student representative to be named. The second Ad Hoc Committee is charged with exploring means to establish "the 'seamless' transition between the last two years of high school and the first two years of college" and it is chaired by Nilda S. Ruiz and includes Father Michael Crimmins, presidents Leon Goldstein, Isaura Santiago Santiago, Marlene Springer, a representative from Rudy Crew's office, a faculty member, a teacher from outside the system and a student representative. Both ad hoc committees are to send its information to CAPPR. In addition a third committee mentioned by the Board Chair will review the guidelines that currently exist to govern presidential searches. Faculty and student members have yet to be named. Trustee members include Satish Babbar, Robert Price and James Murphy.
Some of you may have already heard, via the CUNYTALK posting which I listed, that the Albany Court of Appeals has declined to review the decision of the Appellate division of the Supreme Court, issued last December, 1996. Thus, the main body of the faculty case against the Trustees was eventually lost -- despite the wonderful initial victory which we had in the Supreme Court in April, 1996. Ironically, however, it appears as if the Ethnic Studies faculty at City College, represented in separate actions by Ron McGuire, may yet have an opportunity to have discovery occur since they have a separate case, though their plea was linked at one point to Polishook et al. The technicality permitting the possibility that they may be able to open up for discovery is the fact that Ethnic Studies was not supposed to close until September 1996 and in July 1996, the Chancellor issued a memo indicating there was no financial exigency. This went to the Board.
I will inform you of outcomes in any case.
The only outstanding piece from our original suit that has yet to be decided is the 120/60 decision. The Appellate Division last December did not agree with CUNY's contention that the University had to reduce credits for degrees as it did as part of its emergency responses to the presumed fiscal crisis of Spring, 1995. CUNY has appealed that decision and the Albany Court has not yet ruled on their request to overturn our small victory. I will certainly send a mailing the minute we hear anything.
The May committee meetings of the Trustees became a very unpleasant public drama when the issue of the Borough of Manhattan Community College proposals to close two departments became the subject of a public wrangle between the administration and faculty. I have written elsewhere that I thought this issue was of considerable consequence for all of us. During the Committee meetings, the Board legal counsel, as well as President Matthew Goldstein of Baruch, basically iterated the absolute right of presidents to restructure colleges and therefore alter graduation and curriculum requirements, even if the faculty profoundly disagree.
I have asked the Board not to consider any proposal from any college which does not come forward without a modicum of support from all constituencies in the college. There are a number of Trustees who privately agree, preferring not to have to make academic decisions in contested areas. Some feel distinctly uncomfortable in that role and very confused when the Chancellor's staff advocates on behalf of a president who is so clearly opposed by his faculty and by University faculty.
The BMCC proposals are a direct attack on faculty judgment and student wishes ... since thousands of students signed petitions opposing the closing of Physical Education as a department. The student member of CAPPR made that very clear.
BMCC faculty -- not merely from the affected departments -- have made their dissatisfaction very clear. Twice in 12 months, the president has been censured but he and his staff ignore this, urged to believe that their authority is total and decided to go forward anyway bringing proposals to the Board that have not a shred of campus support, apart from his administration.
I can only hope that after the exhibition which astounded most Trustees that the administration of BMCC and its faculty can shape a compromise.
I urge ALL of you NOT to come to any Board committee with controversies that you have to iron out on campus.
I have repeatedly urged faculty to review their charters of governance and see what ways you can find to develop procedures to deal with closing programs, changing requirements, merging departments and the like. If the charter is silent on this issue, the administration can claim sole authority.
The Senate is presenting its budget request to you for your perusal, as required by the Charter. We have not yet received this budget, of course. Please note that salary increases for staff are modest and have hardly existed over the past two years. I believe that the officers of the Executive Committee were first shown this budget and no one has complained.
In the past two weeks, Bill Phipps, our Executive Director, has finally decided to bring the Senate into the late 20th century in regard to our technology. I want to ask him to explain what we have done and what we will soon be capable of doing. Bill supervised the installation of much new equipment which enables us to upgrade to a web page, etc. I've asked him to make a brief announcement about the sexy new technological equipment that the University Faculty Senate Office has acquired.
Bill Phipps (Executive Director) -- Early in the academic year we did a survey at the Plenary in September to try and see if there would be any interest among senators in having a web site that would contain information, documents and budget data that our budget advisory committee collects routinely. The response to the survey was pretty high, and there does seem to be an interest. I'm convinced that it wouldn't be pushing technology on the unwilling if we developed a Faculty Senate web site which we are now in the process of doing. We will send you the address, you can look us up, read and exchange information at home or at your campus. If you haven't found yet, it doesn't cost much to get on the Internet at home. You have to buy a modem if you don't already have one. Most computers come with one. You have to get an Internet carrier which might cost you a couple hundred dollars a year. You wouldn't just be getting the University Faculty Senate web site, you would find there is an enormous wealth of valuable information. At some point in a month or two you will be hearing from us and we will be giving you the address and asking you as we go along to suggest things to put on that would be useful for you to download: numerical data that you could download and manipulate, the board by-laws perhaps, governance documents from the colleges, (god forbid) retrenchment plans from colleges, and information like that for which we have enough space. Thank you and you will be hearing from us.
Chair Cooper -- Before I take questions there is announcement from the Chair of the UFS Research Committee. Professor Reitano (Social Sciences, LaGuardia CC) -- The good news is that we have some applicants to chair five of the nine open positions on the committees that disperse the PSC-CUNY Research Awards. The bad news is that we have absolutely no candidates to chair four of those committees. Those four committees are: 1) Art History and Visual Arts, 2) Computer Science, 3) Economics, Finance, Accounting, Management, Marketing, and Administration, 4) History. We ask for your help in finding faculty who are willing to perform this vital function. Obviously it is important that the faculty support the PSC-CUNY Research Award Program by being willing to chair the committees, not just get the grants. So please have your candidates contact myself or Stasia at the Senate office.
Chair Cooper: Thank you. Are there any questions?
Professor Walter (Developmental Skills, New York City Technical College) -- ADo we know what the major objection is from the Board to the 1995 revised guidelines for presidential searches?@ / We do not know officially.
Professor Hampton (Governance Leader, Hunter College) -- ABy what democratic procedure will the faculty members be chosen for these committees?@ / They will probably ask the Faculty Senate Executive Committee and Chair to make recommendations which I have done in a number of cases. They will choose from those recommendations. Is this democratic? I leave you to answer the question. I don't quite know how else it can be managed. I think that I would be considerably unhappy if they went and did their own without consulting with the Faculty Senate. You may not like what the Faculty Senate does, but you might like it less if the Faculty Senate did nothing. The choices you have in this life are not all together wonderful.
Professor Donoghue (Social Sciences, NYCTC) -- AWhat is the status now of 8.6, the faculty's prerogatives on curriculum and student prerogatives?@ / What is the status of 8.6, the Board by-law which describes faculty prerogative on curriculum, graduation rates, and student progress. Technically the Board by-laws have not been revealed. The court case addressed the issue of whether or not procedures were properly followed in the spring of 1995 regarding financial exigency. The court upheld the University's case, that they followed procedures. Whether or not we agree and whether or not that is a revision of history is not withstanding. The court did not address the issue of whether the Board by-laws should be permanently altered under ordinary circumstances. This case was an Article 78 proceeding. It was based on procedure and not on statute or constitutional law. If there are lawyers here please correct my misleading language. This was not a case that raised issues of whether or not any of the Board By-laws should be revisited. I will point out to you that on a regular basis, at least once a month, at least one member of the Board keeps saying, Awe wrote the By-laws, we can re-write the By-laws.@ And several of you have heard this, I see heads nodding. It's not quite as easy as that, but there it is. Technically as far as I know 8.6 pertains in ordinary circumstances. CUNY was very careful in its last set of papers, the ones that went to the Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court where they got the ruling in December to say they were only talking about the Summer of 1995. They were only talking about what happened in the Spring and June of 1995. They were very careful about that. You know what law is like and how it can be used.
Professor Sank (Anthropology, City College) -- A [in audible off microphone]@ / The question is, could the Senate or the AAUP write an amicus curiae brief to help the case along that the ethnic studies faculty have brought. The Senate can't do anything along those lines. Nobody as a Senate ever went into court. I went in as an individual faculty member. The lawyers for the faculty will recommend the course of action to us and I will do what they tell me. I don't want to walk in areas I don't know anything about. As far as the AAUP goes, that's up to the litigants to request the AAUP to do.... / Professor Sank - [comments inaudible, made off microphone] / Chair Cooper - The question is whether or not we can get the reasons that the Appellate Division rejected the case or overruled the first finding. I don't believe that judges give reasons. This is not the same as having an article reviewed for publication or putting in for a fellowship application. But I could check and find out. My guess is it's not done. If there is any news about the 60-120 ruling, you will hear it as soon as I can get it out to you.
Professor Frisz (Student Personnel, Queens College) -- AThis is just a comment and a question to something that you talked about before, Sandi. When you were talking about how uncomfortable it is to have people come to one of these Board committees and have the kind of confrontations about internal politics. Something that I was thinking about, and I am not relating this particularly to the confrontation you had, but as a general theme. You said, kind of keep your dirty laundry out of public. That might work really well for some campuses where there is some collegiality with the administration and the president and you can sit down and talk about these kinds of issues and work these things out on your campus. What I find difficult to work out is, how do you deal with an issue like this when you are bucking against a brick wall where you feel that your rights as faculty have been taken over without any consultation. Where you don't see any place to go, and you see your only option is to come out in public, which doesn't seem to be working very well politically for those people at this particular time. I'm not sure that people can just sit by and let it happen. And at the same time, there are as we know, campuses and presidents that are less willing to cooperate and work with the faculty. I don't know if you have an answer for it, but it seems like a catch twenty-two for certain places.@/Chair Cooper - You are quite right. The only answer I have at the moment is that the number of campuses where the administrations are essentially brickheaded are very few in number. I think the savvy administrators in this University have caught the lesson that I was suggesting. The new Board of Trustees wants very much to work with presidents. They also insist, at least some of them anyway, that they want to work with faculty. I'm fairly sure that if they discover one side or the other is recalcitrant that message will get across. Exactly when that will happen, I don't know, but I can only suggest that it looks a possibility. As far as those few presidents or those few administrators where you do have that kind of an issue, public humiliation usually has some impact. There are other things one can do. One can throw up picket lines for example. There are other things that one can do to bring attention. Eventually a president who is not working with his or her campus, as you notice in the last ten years of CUNY, usually leaves in less than felicitous circumstances. It is a nasty business, it's much preferable to avoid it.
Professor Speidel (Geology, Queens College) -- AAll of your report about your greetings to all of the different colleges, is this by your choice or did the other trustees wimp out?@ / Chair Cooper - Why am I being asked questions that I'd rather not answer in public? The question was about the number of colleges where I am bringing the trustees' greetings. Normally each graduation has a Board of Trustee member delivering greetings and in the past different trustees have gone to different campuses. This year there are a number of campuses where there was no trustee willing to go and I apparently am the swing hitter. I think I'd rather discuss this off the record.
b. Chancellor: [Dr. Reynolds is reporting on budget issues.] I think it's very important and we're hiring a fair number of scientists for this next year across all of our campuses. So I feel good that the equipment pool is sitting there. It's not a huge amount of money. We don't intend to phase down or pull down those central funds. There is a steady $600,000 in that pool going to graduate student fellowships. That will continue. There is no intention to cut that back. Larry Mucciolo has worked quite brilliantly with President Horowitz on a brilliant new plan to fund graduate students in the sciences which has a lot of support from the presidents. It involves a campus commitment and some time targets to move students along more briskly in their graduate careers. We are doing a lot to try and figure out some ways to support graduate students as well. I will stop there, Madame Chair.
Chair Cooper C Thank you, Chancellor Reynolds. Are there any questions for the Chancellor?
Professor Greenbaum (History, Queensborough CC) -- AIn a time of budget surplus in the City, we have been informed that the Mayor wants to reduce the community college budget by over $4 million. In light of the maintenance-of-effort that the Legislature is likely to pass again, where is this.....@ / He's within his rights there. I've forgotten the details, I'll get something to you on it. The amount of reduction is in accord with maintenance-of-effort provisions because of the drop in enrollment in the community colleges. It's legal, we checked it right away.
Professor Bohigian (Mathematics, John Jay College) -- AA quick note. Your introductory comment about the sports activities. Does that mean we might have a change in heart about your views towards physical education in the curriculum at City University?@ / I'm very supportive of physical education. I come out of a long history there going back to Ohio State where physical education was not a requirement. When Ohio State and most of the Big 10 jock schools changed from having physical education as a graduation requirement to making physical education optional, they had just as many students taking physical education. It was just as popular. It changed the landscape on what students took. They took more swimming, tennis, golf, aerobics, and individual fitness kind of things, and took less team sports. Actually at Ohio State, there was an increase in the students availing themselves. If some of you have been to Ohio State or Michigan State, they built large fitness centers for students to go to after class, big dome shape buildings with all kinds of things. I am an advocate for physical education, but I think it's like everything, it has changed over our lifetime and we have to change with it. / Professor Bohigian - AActually my question was concerning the new Board and how you see things developing and what you feel your relationship is with the Board and how that is progressing?@ / Chancellor Reynolds - I'm optimistic. I was on the phone today with two or three Board members on various agenda items. I have a very good and close relationship with the great majority of them. They are increasingly active in coming to campus functions. Any of you at the AHESC [Association of Higher Education Services Corporation ] the other night where Trustee Rios and Trustee Babbar were present? I don't think anyone here was. We're working to involve them as thoroughly as we can, so they get more familiar with our campuses. That is always the most effective way in the world to have Board of Trustee members start to become committed, identified, and bonded with the University. To have them on the campuses for real student activities and programs and so forth. I think that is really happening.
Professor Kurzman (Social Work, Hunter College) -- AAs we all know recently in The New York Times there is a feature story of the interpretation of the application of the ADA log 1990 that would include mental health in a way that some had felt is unexpected and would be in many ways parallel to the regulations for physical health. The response by both corporations and by many public policy bodies, including educational institutions, has been to look at that and in order to respond to the applications, to develop and expand their employee assistance programs. To my knowledge at the City University of New York, there are only two colleges that have an employee assistance program. Given the realities of this new law and its applications, maybe you as the Chancellor have an interest in putting employee assistance program services and their availability to the faculty and staff at the other colleges.@ / Two answers to that, and it is a very insightful and important question. I read all of the media material closely. Brenda Malone, who has been just absorbed in many hours and many sessions on the collective bargaining contract, is not quite available. She and I are going to sit down and talk all of this through and review our programs, probably over the summer. I have no evidence for this, but in my own personal experience in working with faculty and working with presidents, and working with employees in the Chancellor's Office and so forth, we have been, I believe, extraordinarily dedicated to helping people with disabilities, with behavioral difficulties, depression, all kinds of things, seek the proper professional help while protecting them in their jobs. But you never do as good a job as you think you are doing. So the basic answer is that we are going to take a fresh look at it. I think it is something we should look at and I'm glad you asked that.
Professor Rodriguez (Speech and Theater, John Jay College) -- ALast year I went to speak at Van Arsdale High School. Entering the school, I realized I could have less difficulty high-jacking a plane at JFK than getting in to this high school. So when I hear these complaints about education, I think, what can we expect when we pay people $20,000 a year to work in conditions that are really horrific. Has anybody looked at the underlying problem that faces drawing people to the field.@ / You are talking now about teachers in public schools. I think you make the point clearly, there is a lot of media coverage of that. There is such a gap. You are all out and about New York City in ways, I would think, your neighbors are not. Did you ever ask if you are at a cocktail party with people that sort of work in downtown Manhattan. Ask them sometime if they have ever been to Van Arsdale. What is the one out in Brooklyn that Danny Kaye went to? Thomas Jefferson High School. It is really a difficult high school. I have nothing but admiration for Lehman College and President Fernandez on the program they have developed with Walton High School across the street. There are a lot of difficulties there, it is a tough high school. I think that there are two things. I don't think people realize both how tough it is, and yet how worthwhile and wonderful those students are. / Professor Rodriguez - AI thought the staff was terrific, but it's very difficult to try and draw people into education when you have these kinds of institutions with the salaries.@ / Chancellor Reynolds - And the salaries in New York City are less than they are in Long Island and in Upstate New York. It is a daunting challenge. On the other hand, if you move around to our colleges of teacher education and some of the faculty here, we have absolutely wonderful students in those programs. They are like missionaries and want to go forth and convert minds. It's wonderful.
Professor Richter (English, Kingsborough CC) -- AWe've been hearing persistent rumors, and very alarming ones, about plans to put all of remediation in the two year colleges and in the four year colleges into special institutes, following the example of the Language Immersion Institute. I was wondering whether you could possibly comment on that. Whether you think this is likely, if so, to what extent this would be implemented, [and] what you think a likely time table for this sort of thing would be?@ / I think it's premature to know. We're currently working very closely at the request of various trustees on various data. Data pieces for them on this issue. Various trustees have been quoted in the media and at Board meetings. Dr. Cooper has heard many of these comments on different ideas on remediation. The one thing that again cheers me up a lot, our math remediation has been dropping steadily as the public schools have kicked in. I think CPI has driven a lot of this on the ninth grade algebra and math sequence. The numbers are starting to be quite remarkable. It's hard for me to make a guess as to what the ultimate recommendations should and would be. Do I personally think we should banish remediation? Of course the answer is no. You have often heard me in this body say that I couldn't do trigonometry, I had to have tutors, we have to do it.
Professor Hampton (Governance Leader, Hunter College) -- AWe've just completed the self-study, it is a comprehensive one, in preparation for our accreditation review next year. The chair of the committee will be on campus tomorrow. The report requires us to make a statement about our weaknesses as well as our strengths. Our equipment issue is something woefully inadequate when it comes to that. I did hear you earlier mention that people weren't asking for equipment funds. I'm wondering if you could tell us how to do that. What are the criteria?@ / The Research Foundation funds are restricted to people wanting to do research with the equipment. People need to ask. There really are a fair number of dollars out there to buy equipment. Both in the President's own budget coming in from indirect cost recovery to the campus, and Presidents are suppose to be very sympathetic on that. I would invite, if there is a young investigator that desperately needs a piece of equipment and can't get it, and gets rebuffed by the president and so forth, contact me or contact Dr. Clark. We are very eager to get people equipped. Sometimes things like that are easier than you think, but you have to ask and give the reasons for it. / Professor Hampton - AThe requests are to be directed to you?@ / Chancellor Reynolds - I would send it first to President Caputo. He does have significant indirect cost recovery. Hunter College is one of the most improved colleges in regards to federal grant getting. So significant indirect cost recoveries are routing right back to the campus. Now armed with that knowledge make your case to President Caputo. If it doesn't go anywhere send it to me or Dr. Clark.
Chair Cooper - Thank you very much, Chancellor Reynolds.
c. Faculty Members of Board of Trustee Committees: written.
d. Annual Report of the Faculty Advisory Council to the Research Foundation:
Chair Cooper: Finally, the Faculty Advisory Council to the Research Foundation which works quietly behind the scenes during the year on behalf of faculty interests, normally delivers a year end report to this body. I have asked the chair, John Davis from BCC, to write the report up this year but he wants 5 minutes for an oral summation since it could not be distributed in advance.
IV. Election of Five At-Large Members to the Executive Committee: Chair Cooper - Could I call upon Maria Rodriguez to bring up item four. Let me just point out that if you are a successful candidate for the Executive Committee whose elections will now occur, you must have Tuesday mornings free. We usually meet on Tuesday mornings. You probably ought to have Monday and Tuesday afternoons free also for Board Committee meetings and Board of Trustee Public Hearings and meetings. But Tuesday mornings definitely have to be free. Now when I say Mondays and Tuesdays I'm talking about ordinary months. Where there are holidays, those board committee meetings can occur Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday depending on whether the committee meeting is bumped up on account of a holiday. Let me point out those of you who are new. I hope Maria is not going to repeat this, I mean I hope I'm not taking her thunder away. That this year's elections are for five at-large people and not for the whole executive committee. The officers were elected for two year terms last year. The current officers will stay in office until May of 1998. They are David Speidel (Treasurer, Queens), Fred Greenbaum (Secretary, Queensborough), Fred Sohmer (Vice Chair, City College), and myself as Chair.
Professor Rodriguez (Chair, Elections Committee) - Before anything else, Stasia gave me a list of alternates who should go to see her about ballots. Alternates from Baruch, BMCC, the Graduate Center, Hostos, Hunter, LaGuardia, New City Tech, and Queens College. If you could go see Stasia and get your ballots please. As I was coming here, someone said I looked like a major and I thought I'd rather be an empress, but at this point in time I feel that we are back to the trenches. As I mentioned last week, if it weren't for Hunter I wouldn't be here. We have a terrific group of students behind us. I am in my heart sure that we will be victorious at the end. So for five of our people who will be representing us hopefully with a Board that will become friendlier to CUNY's needs. There were five people who nominated, or sent in statements prior to the April 29th deadline. Before I read those names, if there is someone who would like to run, who did not submit a statement at that time, or has gotten this inspiration. Is there anyone who would want to run who did not?
Professor Greenbaum (History, Queensborough Community College) - I would like to nominate Jack Donoghue of New York City Technical College.
[Unidentified Speaker] - I would like to nominate Kenneth Sherrill from Hunter College.
Professor Rodriguez (Chair, Elections Committee) - I want to thank Professor Grossman and Professor Staum and Bill Phipps for their help with the elections committee. Just to briefly outline what the process is, each candidate will speak for a period of two minutes. Some candidates, you should have received this packet with other Senate data this month, submitted written statements. Now the candidates will have an opportunity to speak to you for two minutes. Vote for up to five. Then Ruth and I will tally up the scores and come in with the results. I'm going to go through the list and we will add senators Donoghue and Sherrill at the end. The first candidate is Professor Stefan Baumrin of Lehman and the Graduate Center.
Professor Baumrin (Philosophy, Graduate Center) - I have made impassioned speeches in the past and they have done no good. I have made cool and rational speeches in the past and they have done no good. So by way of a sort of non-speech: My association with the university goes back to 1935. I have two children in the University although it seems like a life long sentence. I've been a teacher here for thirty years. Those of you who know me already know enough. I've been teaching for the past thirty years not since 1935. It is a long story, if you have time I'll tell you. My two minutes are up? And for those of you who don't know me, what singles me out amongst all people is my lack of a sense of humor.
Professor Bell (SEEK, Brooklyn College) - This is my twentieth year in CUNY and it seems to me that I have spent all years fighting about something or another and I'm doomed to keep doing that. When I first joined Brooklyn College's faculty, a colleague who lived in my neighborhood was a member of the Senate and I said, Awhy would you want to do that? To leave the campus and then go into Manhattan and then go to this other set of meetings?@ He said to me that it was a very important thing and he really liked it. I looked at him as though he was crazy. Now after six years on the Senate I've learned the same thing, it is very important, and I really like it. I like it for lots of reasons. It is one of the major venues where we can learn what is happening in the university and really hear it first hand. It is one of the only venues where we can learn to share with colleagues from other campuses. It is a venue where we can try to influence things for the better. All of those things appeal to me. For the past year I have had the privilege of serving on the Executive Committee. In addition to that I am a professor in the department of educational services, I am director of the SEEK program there, and we still exist. I am chair of the council of the SEEK directors. I am co-chair of opportunity programs united, which is the program for SEEK, EOP, HEOP, programs throughout the state. I'm the past chair of the Student Affairs Committee and liaison this year to this committee. Aside from that, what I really think I've done well, and I've done very faithfully the past three years, I've learned how to lobby and I've lobbied very long and hard, I think on behalf of our students in the University. I think I've made more than 30 trips to Albany in the past three years. I would lobby on behalf of the students and faculty and I would like to continue to bring that expertise, along with my expertise in remediation and with the counseling programs to the Senate Executive Committee again.
Professor Friedman (Development Skills, Borough of Manhattan Community College) - For some of you I am probably a new face and a new voice. So what can I say in these two minutes to win your confidence, what are my qualifications beyond having Tuesday mornings, I am not scheduled to teach on Tuesday mornings, I normally do other college related business. Why would I even want to spend Tuesday mornings on UFS business. CUNY has been part of my soul from way back. I received both my bachelor's and my master's degrees from City College. I was an undergraduate during the struggle for open admissions and I was a student activist in that movement. I guess that at least gives you an idea what my age is. That is something the students like to do when you tell these little stories, is figure out how old the teacher is. My master's work at City College really peaked my interest in working with developmental students and set me on the road to pursuing a doctoral degree that would enable me to do that. Jumping ahead a few decades, at BMCC I've been fortunate to work closely with truly outstanding and devoted colleagues, both in pedagogical endeavors and as well as in governance issues. As you heard early from Sandi, the issues around some of these governance issues have become quite contentious over the last few years as faculty and administration have disagreed over a number of centralization initiatives. Most recently our administration has been determined to circumvent traditional governance procedures and abolish two of our departments despite, as you've heard, repeated and overwhelming opposition from the faculty. The outcome of this situation will really be critical for all of us should the BMCC administration emerge victorious over our really strong and unified faculty. The implications throughout CUNY will be devastating. I'm convinced now more than ever that the future of CUNY must lie with the faculty. Faculty have context, we bring history, we bring longevity and continuity to our life's work. But we also have vision. We have broad perspectives and understand that rash short sighted decisions that are politically and economically rather than pedagogically driven have immediate and long range consequences. We must live with those consequences while administrators may move on to other worlds. Most importantly, because as practitioners we work with students on a daily basis, we are also realists. We know what the purpose of CUNY really is, and that is to educate, and we embrace educational goals as paramount. We must be strong advocates for our students outside of the classroom. A genuine faculty say in academic decisions is essential. We do understand that change is inevitable and that it is necessary, but we want that change to be constructive rather than destructive. The UFS will continue to participate in this process as it always has in an informed and positive way. In BMCC's most recent crisis, the Senate through Sandi in particular in whom my colleagues have the greatest respect, admiration and appreciation, has played a key role in postponing a victory which our president expected to achieve nearly a year ago. As a member of the executive board, if elected, or continuing as a delegate at large, I am with all of you, devoted to the future of all faculty and all students at New York's City University.
Professor Kaplowitz (English, John Jay College) - I am a member of the English Department of John Jay College of Criminal Justice. It is a college which offers associate, baccalaureate, master's, and doctoral programs. John Jay's charter was designed to prevent real faculty governance. But twelve years ago, my colleagues and I, through very creative techniques, created a faculty senate that I have chaired for the past nine years. It has become a very respected and very effective faculty organization. Because of this accomplishment, six years ago, the University Faculty Senate Executive Committee asked me to chair the University Faculty Senate's first conference on faculty governance which was extremely successful. I then decided to stand for election to the UFS for the first time. I was elected and served on the UFS for the past four years. Both through my work at John Jay and at the University Faculty Senate, I have become knowledgeable about the University and college budgets and about the budget processes. Last year I was the UFS alternate faculty representative on the Board of Trustees fiscal committee and last year I was also the UFS Executive Committee liaison to the Senate Budget Advisory Committee which is chaired so ably by David Speidel. I've been on John Jay's faculty budget committee for the past nine years as well and have made it my business to know the budget process as well as possible because it necessarily is an important aspect of faculty governance. I have always lead an activist life, I do my homework thoroughly, I am committed to finding solutions, to initiating and engaging in ongoing and informed dialogue, to working on every possible front simultaneously in order to do the very best possible for our faculty, for our students and for our University.
Professor McCall (English, Baruch) - I may be the only person in the room who didn't attend CUNY but that is only because I grew up in Boston, Massachusetts. So I apologize for that. I have been a member of this body through the tenure of three chairpersons, Shirley Wedeen, Bob Picken, and Sandi Cooper. When I first was elected to senator, the then chancellor was Joseph Murphy who was censured by this body for not addressing it on a regular basis. Chancellor Reynolds joined us at the beginning of this decade, startling us with many dramatic policy initiatives which have resulted in changes at all of the senior colleges. This last year brought us a new Board of Trustees who may determine that the Chancellor not continue into the millennium and who have cast their eyes upon policies of assessment and remediation by establishing two ad hoc committees. I have been a member of the faculty since the inception of SEEK and open admissions, and member of the Executive Committee of this body for three years. The accelerated thrust to return to the halcyon days of yesteryear has been alarming. I find myself alternating between the despair of Joan Didion as she described it in her novel, APlay It As It Lays,@ and the faith in the goodness of mankind, and she did say mankind, expressed by Anne Frank in her autobiography. To gain some perspective in this sesquicentennial year of City College, since I had not been invited to any of the posh events at the Sheraton or Gracie Mansion, I turn to Sherry Gorelick's 1980 publication entitled, ACity College and the Jewish Poor.@ Gorelick writes about the re-population of the Free Academy by eastern Europeans at the turn of the century and the struggles over the classical curriculum of Latin, Greek, and rhetoric, and the new curriculum of Spanish, French, and English. Along with scientific research and scientific training which were being advocated by the industrialists at that time. She describes the role of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, the creation of the College Entrance Examination Board, and the other social forces at work and the struggle for inclusion and reform. Then as today, the immigrants were met with considerable hostility, very bad press, and even a thrust to send some back to Europe. That should sound very familiar. Some of the tentative conclusions that I have drawn from this reading, is that everything old is new again, the good old days were really not as good as we have imagined, change will come for good or ill. One of the bodies that will insure that the change that comes is for good, is this body. I love being a senator and I believe I make a contribution to the work of the Executive Committee. Thank you.
Professor O'Malley (English, Kingsborough Community College) - I am Susan O'Malley, English Department, Kingsborough Community College. I have also taught this year at the Center for Worker Education of City College and also the Graduate School in Liberal Studies. For the last seven years minus one I've been on the Executive Committee as a member at-large. My major task, although not my only one, has been to edit this newsletter that you all should get. The last issue I was particularly pleased with. We managed to expand it. Also what I have been trying to do is to make it useful for you on your campuses for furthering governance as well as a record of all of things that come out of the Office of Academic Affairs and the Faculty Senate, the things that we do. Last week I interviewed the new Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, she will start in July, Louise Mirrer. We talked about articulation, we talked about distance learning, developmental education, tenure, and post-tenure review. She is from Minnesota, you know. That interview I will have ready shortly for you in another newsletter. I would very much like to continue doing this newsletter, I think I'm finally getting it where I want to be. But that is not my only task on the Executive Committee. I have spoken at many hearings, gone lobbying several times with Martha and Sandi. I've been an alternate representative on several Board of Trustees committees. I've been the liaison to the Library Committee this term, a wonderful committee. I've been active in the community college caucus and I do a lot at Kingsborough too. I've been on the college council there and on various committees and I am also chapter chair of the union there. One thing that we have done at Kingsborough that might prove useful for other people, we've got Leon Goldstein to meet once a term with the faculty senators. We bring up issues of concern of the faculty Senate, and that has worked quite well. My third point I want to make is that I have been the only community college person for the members at-large on the Executive Committee. Fred is there as an officer, but I have been the only community college person. I cannot tell you how important it is to have community college people on the Executive Committee. Next year the issue I think is going to be the end of open admissions for the community colleges. Now why I say this is because Leon Goldstein is on this committee that Sandi listed and he has had meetings with us saying, >yes it probably will happen unless we can figure out how to stop it.' That all remediation, all developmental education will be put into institutes staffed by continuing education. I want to be part of that struggle. I think that it would be a real shame if open admissions was ended at the community colleges. Finally, I've always been a fighter for faculty rights, I'm an activist, I have an enormous amount of energy with which I have been blessed. I get along with Sandi Cooper which is useful. I'd appreciate your vote, thank you.
Professor Donoghue (Social Science, New York City Technical College) - I hope you all got my mailing sent off last week. I didn't know I was going to have to make a speech tonight, I thought that it was going to be made for me. I am a history professor at New York City Technical College, I've been there for thirty-three years, I've been here in the Senate for eighteen years, I've participated in my own college's governance as secretary, chairman of the buildings and grounds committee, legislative committee - we are trying to do over our governance plan right now at my own college. I'm very interested, I've been five years on the Executive Committee of the Senate. I think that I have grown, not in height, but I think I have grown having had that experience of being on the Executive Committee. It has been a wonderful experience for me and it has given me a lot that I could bring back to my own college. My college is primarily a hybrid school. It's a community college, it's a senior college, it's a little bit of each and I can understand the problems of both. I am very interested in articulation and I chaired the articulation conference in 1990-1991. I am chairman of the Student Affairs Committee this year, and I am on the CUNY B.A. committee. It provides an opportunity for the students at our school to go to the four year colleges. I think this is a very useful type of thing, and it has given me a lot of inspiration. I can guide the students a little bit more beyond the two years. I hope you will consider me for a vote, thank you.
Professor Sherrill (Political Science, Hunter) (Professor Hampton from Hunter College is speaking for Professor Sherrill.) - I thank you for this opportunity to nominate Kenneth Sherrill who is not an incumbent of anything, but who is committed to the service of governance and who would come from the senior college with the largest student population. He is a graduate of CUNY both on the baccalaureate and doctoral levels. He serves on the faculty of political science, was one of the founding members of the Hunter College Senate which is now in its twenty-fifth year and helped to secure for it, one of the strongest governance charters in the university. He also as a chair in 1995, helped to strengthen that charter with initiatives and particularly a resolution on abolition, merger, and consolidation of programs which has held on our campus. One of the members of the Senate administrative committee, as secretary for two terms, for six years, as chair for three years, has been a constructive presence in the UFS as a member and has a distinguished record of advocacy, achievement, and dedication to CUNY and to shared governance. He has been a very effective person at lobbying, has served CLAC and will make a substantial contribution to UFS because he is capable and qualified because he loves CUNY and you.
Professor Rodriguez (Chair, Elections Committee) - Thank you. We really are a terrific lot if I do say so myself. Every time I see a picture of one Trustee in particular, I would really love to have them come and visit. Just to go through the names again, and if you could stand for those we have some new senators tonight. If they could come forward. Senator Stefan Baumrin, Senator Martha Bell, Senator Anne Friedman, Senator Karen Kaplowitz, Senator Cecelia McCall, Senator Susan O'Malley, Senator John Donoghue, Senator Kenneth Sherrill. Would everyone please mark up to five people or write in up to five people on your ballot. Thank you.
Chair Cooper - Ladies and gentleman, can I have your attention please. We have five popes. Maria Rodriguez will read the results and Ruth Grossman will write the numbers on the blackboard as is required by the charter.
Professor Rodriguez (Chair, Elections Committee) - The five people who were elected to the Executive Committee, the five largest votes. These are the five highest in no particular order. Professor Grossman is putting the numbers on the board if you are interested. Senators: Kaplowitz, McCall, Bell, O'Malley, and Friedman. Congratulations. The numbers, Professor Baumrin (26), Professor Bell (54), Professor Friedman (34), Professor Kaplowitz (53), Professor Donoghue (27), Professor Sherrill (25), Professor McCall (47), Professor O'Malley (36). Have a wonderful summer, thank you.
V. Resolution to Honor The City College on Its Sesquicentennial: Chair Cooper -- I'd like to move on to the final business item on the agenda. I hope this does not generate too much controversy. The Executive Committee is asking you to endorse a resolution recognizing the sesquicentennial, the founding of the City College, which is of course the founding institution of all of our colleges. It is the first institution of free public higher education in the country, if not the world. The Executive Committee would appreciate it if you would endorse this resolution I would like very much to take it with me to the City College graduation where I deliver the greetings for the Board. It is essentially proposed of three Awhereas@ and a Aresolved@ where the University Faculty Senate salutes the admirable achievements of the City College over the past 150 years and offers its heart felt wishes for continuing success in the centuries to come. Since the Executive Committee is moving this I do not believe it needs a second. Is there any discussion?
Professor Jacobson (Health & Nutrition Sciences, Brooklyn) -- I endorse this recommendation and I suggest we call the question.
Chair Cooper - There is a recommendation to call the question. There is a proposal that it be voted by acclamation. It has to be adopted first. I am advised that we should have a regular vote. Is there any further discussion? All in favor? Opposed? Abstentions? The resolution appears to be adopted unanimously. Thank you very much.