ACADEMIC SENATE

MINUTES

April 8, 2004

11:30 A.M. - 1:00 P.M. ACADEMIC SENATE CHAMBERS

Members Present: Allen, Arkenberg, Bedell, Boyum, Byrnes, Cox, Emry, Erickson, Fromson, Gannon, Gass, Gilbert, Gordon, Guerin, Hewitt, Junn, Kelly, Kreiner, Meyer, Michalopoulos, Pasternack, Rahmatian, Randall, Reisman, Rhoten, Russell, Rutemiller, Schroeder, Shapiro, Smith, Sutphen, Tavakolian, and Wong

Members Absent: Buck, Fitch, Hagan, Hall, Jewett, Klassen, Nanjundappa, Parker, Rimmer, Taulli, Vargas, and Vasquez

I. CALL TO ORDER

Chair Gilbert called the meeting to order at 11:34 a.m.

II. URGENT BUSINESS

None.

III. ANNOUNCEMENTS

Senator Guerin announced the Senate Forum should be in the Senator’s mailboxes. If interested in replying to articles in the Senate Forum, please contact the Editorial Board. She also announced on behalf of Senator Nanjundappa, that the Golden Handshake is still under consideration.

Senator Byrnes informed the Senate about a joint ASI-CFA campaign to educate the campus community about the effects of the budget crunch. ASI has planned a “walkout and rally” for Thursday, April 29, 2004 at 12:00 noon in the quad and urges the faculty to dismiss their classes to give students an opportunity to find out more about these issues. Senator Byrnes noted that our collective voices would be more powerful than having each constituency argue these issues separately.

Senator Shapiro welcomed back Senator Junn, who has been ill.

Chair Gilbert announced Don Austin, emeritus professor of English, passed away on April 2 after a long illness. Senator Gass shared that Don Austin specifically requested neither funeral nor memorial and family honored his wishes.

Chair Gilbert, on behalf of the Senate, extended congratulations to the College of Business & Economics on its re-accreditation. He also announced the election for CSU Statewide Academic Senate would take place next week. Electronic voting will start Monday, April 12 starting at 7:00 a.m. through Thursday, April 15 until 10:00 p.m. Petitions forms are available in the Senate office for the All University election and electronic voting will take place May 10, through May 13, 2004 from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.

IV. CHAIRS REPORT

Chair Gilbert thanked Senator Pasternack for attending last week’s system-wide senate chairs meeting in San Francisco. Major discussion items were the proposals to establish a common transfer pattern for students coming to the CSU through the community colleges. There is a bill that has just been introduced by Senators Scott and Alpert which would require the CSU to establish a common 45 unit transferable course curriculum acceptable to all CSU’s for each major. This is being supported by the Chancellor’s office and opposed by the statewide Academic Senate. There also was some discussion of charging students higher fees for “excess” units; the statewide Academic Senate is considering a resolution that would define excess units as units taken in excess of 20% over the student’s current degree program. There was discussion of a draft report on graduate post baccalaureate education in the CSU; statewide Academic Senate is looking for input on a number of recommendations contained in that document, including establishing graduate faculty, funding graduate instruction separately because of the higher costs of doing graduate education, and establishing master’s degrees in specialized areas with industry for that particular industry. A final issue has to do with academic freedom; statewide Academic Senate is concerned because on some campuses policies have been in place that would restrict academic freedom in the name of security or requiring a balanced approach to controversial issues.

There also was some discussion on what various campuses are doing in terms of sharing information on the budget as it develops. On our campus, President Gordon and Sherri Newcomb were interviewed and the interview was distributed via campus computers about two weeks ago.

V. CONSENT CALENDAR

It was m/s/p to approve the following Consent Calendar:

A. ASD 04-21 Academic Senate Minutes March 4, 2004

B. ASD 04-34 Academic Senate Minutes March 18, 2004

VI. UNFINISHED BUSINESS

A. ASD 04-26 Proposed Revision UPS 100.000 Academic Senate Constitution

It was m/s [Pasternack/Kreiner] to adopt ASD 04-26.

It was m/s/p [Shapiro/Boyum] to amend Section 6 to read “Voting members of the Executive Committee shall serve no more than two years consecutively in the same office or as an at large member.”

Motion passed to approve document ASD 04-26 as amended. As the vote was not unanimous, this constitutional amendment will be placed on the ballot for the All University Election.

B. ASD 04-27 Proposed Revision UPS 101.101 Academic Senate Bylaws

It was m/s [Pasternack/Boyum] to approve document ASD 04-27.

Chair Gilbert explained that this document creates a new bylaw BL 04-1, which gives guidelines on how to repeal existing documents. There is no process in the bylaws at this time. The amendment to BL 79-4 states that all Senate documents shall have at the bottom an indication of the committee out of which they originally came. That makes it easier to find which group originated amendments. BL 79-4 simply states that the UPS shall “Identify the committee of origin.” BL 03-3 simply changes Senate Officers to “Senate Executive Committee” in the title.

It was m/s/p [Pasternack/Boyum] on line 11 to change the word “ways” to “way” and delete section a., lines 13-17.

Motion passed to approve document ASD 04-27 as amended.

C. ASD 04-38 Second Reading Statements of Opinion

It was m/s [Pasternack/Kreiner] to amend question 3 to read “Student fees should be based on the number of units the student is taking.”

It was moved [Shapiro] and accepted as a friendly amendment to change the Pasternack amendment to read “Student fees should be proportional to the number of units the student is taking.”

It was m/s/p [Fromson/Bedell] to close debate and to call all questions before the house.

Motion passed to include the Statements of Opinion as amended in the upcoming elections.

VII. NEW BUSINESS

A. ASD 04-37 Proposed Revision UPS 450.400 Open University Enrollment Policy

It was m/s [Bedell/Sutphen] to approve document ASD 04-37. Senator Bedell explained that last spring the Senate passed a policy that limited Open University students to enrolling in classes in the third week of the semester which created a great number of hardships for the students, especially international students. The Executive Committee looked at this issue and asked Extended Education Committee to revisit this issue. The Senate passed a resolution for the spring semester that would suspend that part of the policy and restored Open University student’s ability to add classes on the first day.

Motion passed unanimously to approve document ASD 04-37.

There being no further business, Chair Gilbert declared the meeting adjourned. The meeting adjourned at 12:33 p.m.