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Tentative Agenda
University Senate Meeting
December 1, 2014

I. Approval of Agenda
II. Approval of November 3, 2014 Minutes
III. Report of the President of the Senate (E. Feldman)
IV. Emergency Notification (B. Chernow)
V. Discussion with President Samuel Stanley
VI. Discussion with Provost Dennis Assanis
VII. Discussion with Kenneth Kaushansky, Sr. Vice President for HSC and Dean, School of Medicine
VIII. Report from the Administrative Review Committee (R. Kelly, Chair)
X. Report from UUP (A. Shertzer)
XI. New Business
XII. Old Business


University Senate

Meeting
November 3, 2014

I. Approval of tentative agenda: approved.

II. Approval of minutes from October 6th, 2014: approved with correction to the President’s Report.

III. Report of the Senate President (E. Feldman)

  • The ARC presentation is postponed until December.
  • Club Red is meeting this week.
  • The EC continues to meet every week.
  • Have gotten a lot of positive feedback from senators and administrators regarding having a dialogue with administrators during Senate meetings rather than have them focusing only on their written reports which are available to senators in advance of meetings.

IV. Discussion with the President Samuel Stanley (M. Whelan, substituting)

  • Start-UP NY: Six companies have been approved. Expected to yield 90 new jobs and will also expand opportunities for students. Rob Kelly was the senate representative on the Working Group. The working group meets once a business is approved it is submitted to the Executive Committee of StartUp-NY for further review. It is then sent to the Economic Development Commission. The NY State Department of Labor reviews it for non-competitiveness.
  • Recently announced that Stony Brook has partnered with Island Federal Credit Union for a 10-year, $7 Mil corporate sponsorship agreement which will include naming rights to the refurbished indoor arena, the Stony Brook summer Film Festival, campus banking and other projects. The services will be the same if not better than TFCU.
  • Professor Sanders asked if Mr. Woodward and Mr. Bernstein were paid for the Lecture they gave at Stony Brook. Mr. Bernstein’s reported salary at Stony Brook is $300,000. Dr. Whelan said he would pass this question on to President Stanley.

V. Discussion with Provost Dennis Assanis

  • Kenneth Dill has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
  • Stella Tsirka has been appointed Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs. She will be the focal point for matters pertaining to faculty hiring, retention, developing faculty careers, etc. This was an internal search by the Provost.
  • Laura Valente spoke on behalf of the Administrative Review Committee. She pointed out that any search involving a Dean or higher should include ARC representatives.
  • Fred Walter asked whether departments are paying for people appointed in the Provost’s Office. No they are compensated in teaching reduction. Are you planning to take promotion and tenure cases away from the Deans level? No. There was discussion of transparency in provostial hires.

VI. Discussion with Kenneth Kaushansky, Sr. Vice President for HSC and Dean, School of Medicine

  • Stony Brook University Hospital is one of nine or ten hospitals in NY State that have been designated as an Ebola treatment center.
  • We are as well-prepared as anyone else. Stony Brook Hospital has always been at the forefront of protective devices.
  • The hospital has adopted the buddy system as recommended by the CDC.
  • An isolation suite has been set up in the Emergency Department should a suspected patient come in.
  • Have held town hall meetings with faculty and staff.
  • Have rigorously trained approximately 300 people on how to look for signs of Ebola.

VII. Presentation on Title IX (M. Leonard, M. Trachtenberg)

  • Title IX has been around for over forty years.
  • Statistically one in four college women are victims of rape or attempted rape.
  • Nine in ten victims of rape and sexual assault know their offender.
  • Title IX protects from sex discrimination in education programs or activities that receive Federal financial assistance.
  • The United States Department of Education office for Civil Rights is responsible for enforcing various Federal Civil Rights laws and regulations and they may initiative an investigation either proactively or in response to a formal complaint.
  • 2014 the White House Not Alone Report has four components. One of them is to identify the scope of the problem on college campuses.
  • Role of Faculty: responsible employees are any employees who have the authority to take action to redress sexual violence; who have been given the duty of reporting incidents of sexual violence or any other misconduct or whom a student could believe has this authority or duty.
  • Stony Brook has issued a campus-wide climate survey that is linked to prevention work.
  • There are new and transfer student orientation sessions on sexual violence.
  • There is comprehensive on-line training for all students, faculty, and staff on discrimination and sexual violence.

VIII. Report of the SUNY Faculty Plenary Session (D. Bilges)

  • The Governor requested that the Board of Trustees develop an overall SUNY policy on sexual assault. A working group has been convened.
  • Teach NY: With the implementation of the Common Core standards in K-12 education, future NY students will be educated according to that approach. An advisory group has been formed in order to evaluate how teachers prepare teachers.
  • LICH: the Fortis Group has is in agreement to provide healthcare at the LICH site. It has a $240 Mil purchase price. The Fortis group has put down 10%. The dollar amount SUNY is liable for is estimated at $580 Mil. SUNY Downstate has been covering the costs of LICH operations. A resolution by the Senate EC, which calls upon SUNY to conduct an investigation of how the whole LICH purchase and subsequent closure occurred, resulted in a tie and failed to pass.
  • Dr. Bilges’ full report was circulated in advance to Senators and is available on line including resolutions passed by the University Faculty Senate.

IX. New Business: no new business.

X. Old Business: no old business.

Meeting adjourned at 5:00 p.m.
Submitted by:

Laurie Cullen
Secretary