University Senate Minutes - February 20, 2015

MEMBERS PRESENT: Admani, Ahmed, Allen, Anaele, Anderson, Anthony, Avadhani, Barchi, Battle, Bhuyan, Bodrog, Boikess, Borisovets, Boyle, Burrell, Cantor, Charles, Chen, Cotter, Covello, DiVito, Draves, Durham, Eastman, Edward, Fagley, Ferraris, Fitzgerald-Bocarsly, Gibson, Gillett, Glaser, Gomes, Gould, Gower, Hamai, Heckscher, Hudson, Ibrahimpatan, Janniger, Karamichael, Killingsworth, Kirna, Kressel, Lepucki, Markert, Martinez,Meggali, Mitchell, Moran, Morrell, Norville, Oberdiek, O'Connell, Oleske, Oliver, Otto, Parry, V. Patel, Pirrello, Puhak, Rabinowitz, Redlawsk, Raza, Roth, Schafer, Schulberg, Schwartz, Scott, Settles, Shapiro, Speigel, Szabo, Szatrowski, Tamburello, Thompson, Tiangco, Toney-Boss, Trehan, Tsakalakos, Velan, Wagner, Winkler, Zimmerman

EXCUSED: Alder, Angell, Aubry, Barbarese, Barone, Barraco, Bell, Bridgeman, Buchholtz, Bugel, Delnevo, Donald, Dreyer, Elkabes, Fennell, Geis, Goodman, Grant, Gupta, M. Gursoy, Hackworth, Hirsch, Krishnamurthi, Langer, Law, Lee, Jane Lewis, McKeever, Miller, Miranti, Mouradian, Murphy, Nanda, Navrot, Nissen, O'Connor, Padgett, N. Patel, Pintar, Powell, Rhoads, Robinson, Saltzman, Shapley, Simmons, Stein, Struwe, Suplee, Thomas-Hawkins, Tursi, Van Stine, Vodak

ABSENT: Abu El-Haj, Avakame, Balog, Bernstein, Blanchett, Bolden, Borden, Caler, Cooper, Covington, Dasari, Deans, Edwards, Eisenstein, Farmbry, Farris, Fehn, Feldman, Fernandez, Fiore, Gajic, Ganesh, Gracias, Grave, K. Gursoy, Haddon, Hinch, Holtzman, Holzemer, Holzer, D. Hughes, J. Hughes, Iwamiya, Jimenez, Johnson, Joo, Joshi, A. Kim, S. Kim, Kukor, Kumar, Lei, Leibman, Jan Lewis, Lindenmeyer, Lieu, LoMonoco, Lynch, Maher, Maillet, March, Marchick, Maruna, Mazurek, McGinnis, McInerney, Messer, Millonig, Mitra, Munoz, Potter, Ramsamy, Sahi, Salmond, Sambol, Schiavo, Schurman, Scotto, Shulman, Stauffer, Stillwagon, Strom, Sun, Svasti, Takacs, Triner, Van de Walle, Velez, Wang, Wasserman, Weigert, Winterbauer, Wise, Yousaf

USGC Co-chairs Robert Puhak and Jon Oliver summarized their committee's report on Senate Election Procedures, which was a response to the USGC having been charged as follows:

Charge S-1309, Senate Election Procedures: Review election procedures used by the Senate, and, if appropriate, recommend improved procedures.

The report was discussed very briefly. It included no recommendations for any change to current Senate procedures, and was therefore not subject to a vote, being for information only.

Faculty and Personnel Affairs Committee (FPAC) Response to Charge S-1313 on Travel and Business Expense Reimbursement (TABER) Appendix 1: TABER Survey Appendix 2: TABER Survey Summary - FPAC Co-chairs Ann Gould and Rudy Bell

Senate Vice Chair Martha Cotter assumed the chair while Senate Chair and FPAC Co-chair Ann Gould summarized her committee's report on Travel and Business Expense Reimbursement, which was a response to the FPAC having been charged as follows:

Charge S-1313, Travel and Business Expense Reimbursement (TABER): Review current university policies and practices concerning reimbursement to faculty and staff for professional expenditures, including but not limited to, travel, conference attendance, and purchases; survey impacted constituencies for suggestions, and propose possible modifications or improvements to the current system.

Without further discussion, the report and its recommendations were adopted by the Senate on card vote, with none opposed.

[Ann Gould then resumed the chair.]

Executive Committee (EC) Introduction of Bylaws Change Regarding Annual Elections of Senate Leadership, Executive Committee Members, and Board Representatives - EC Vice Chair Martha Cotter summarized the Executive Committee's report introducing a recommended bylaws change regarding the annual elections of Senate leadership, Executive Committee members, and board representatives. In accordance with parliamentary procedure and established Senate practice, because this is involves a change to the Senate's bylaws, this item was docketed for introduction and prior notice and discussion at this meeting, but would not be voted on until the March 27, 2015 meeting. There was considerable discussion of this matter, during which suggestions were made to clarify language to state that, although candidates in the Senate chair, vice chair, and Executive Committee categories could become eligible for additional categories on the ballot as runoff elections are conducted (e.g., a candidate who does not win in a contested election for chair could elect to be placed into the vice chair category following a runoff election for chair), no candidate could be placed into nomination initially in more than one category. The language in the report will be revised prior to the March 27 Senate meeting. [Note: The link above goes to the report as introduced. The revised report, as docketed on the Senate's March 27 agenda, can be viewed here.]