Academic Senate Meeting Minutes
April 8, 2025
Steering Committee Chairperson Dr. Litroff called the seventh regularly scheduled meeting of the Academic Senate to order at 3:18 PM. The meeting was held in a hybrid format, with attendees in M136 and ZOOM. Dr. Litroff chaired the meeting from M-136.
I. Attendance
53 were recorded when attendance was taken, and 59 members of the Academic Senate were present during the meeting.
Absent: Nazmul Arefin, Charles Chiu Fu Chen, Sasan Karimi, Zivah Perel Katz, Larisa Honey, Isabella Lizzul, Andrew Nguyen, Joselyn Ojeda, Sean Persaud, Sabreen Qaisar, MD Mahbubur Rahman, Laura Rachiele, Jaskaran Singh, Celia Sporer, James Timbilla, Isabel Torres, and Haishen Yao
II. Approval of the Agenda
There is one addition to the agenda. On Sunday, the results of the Faculty at Large elections were available, and documentation will be presented at this meeting and added to the COC report. Dr. Litroff used unanimous consent to approve the agenda, and there were no objections.
III. Consideration of the minutes from March 11th, 2025 (Attachment A).
Two corrections to the minutes:
- David Lieberman was present for the March 11th
- Clarivate will not stop providing print books and eBooks, but it will be changed from perpetual access purchases to subscription-only access.
IV. Communications from:
President Mangino announced some college activities coming up. On Thursday there will be the AAPI Heritage Month from 3 to 5 PM which is co-sponsored with the Asian American Faculty and Staff Association. On May 17th there will be a QCC Day 5 K run or walk. The Gala is on May 1st if anyone would like to attend. There are activities for stress relief taking place on the campus.
Thank you to everyone who came to the Middle States Town Hall and feedback from the Middle States liaison on areas that need to be worked on and how to organize the design to tell our story better.
Emails have been going out about CybeSecurity Training, and it is required across the campus. As of now, only 8% of the campus members have taken the training. A few weeks ago, CUNY sent out a spam email as a tester which they do periodically. Two hundred and seventy-eight opened the email and 66 individuals put in credentials. The training is important as we do not want an attack on the system and please do not put your credentials in a link. The Federal Government is asking all state's Department of Education to sign that no DEI is happening. However, New York State is not signing it. At present the Federal government has given an extension to states who have not signed the petition. We need to keep lobbying for funding for CUNY and will look for private funding. The question remains on how to support faculty who are going up for tenure and promotion.
Please remind students to register for classes and enjoy the Spring Break.
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Communication from the Liaison to the University Faculty Senate - Dr. Emily Tai
UFS met on April 1st and Chancellor for Finance and Budget Sherif Soliman spoke about the budget which the states do not have at this time. There are promising aspects for the budget but continent on developments at the Federal level. There are PowerPoints on the UFS website. In past years, the assembly would champion for CUNY and the Senate would champion for SUNY. It seems that both houses are friendly to CUNY and are likely to put more money than there was in the governor’s original executive budget. The New York State Legislature fully understands our mission so that community college access can be funded for many of the students. Much of the contract is funded but there is a shortfall that could impact the CUNY structural deficit.
There is a concern about the DEI programs and pushing a structural change to make the UFS’s Academic Affairs Committee which works closely with the Board of Trustees into a standing committee rather than an advisory committee. There is a close watch on issues of Academic Freedom. There was a discussion on the development of a freedom of expression policy which was tabled because of various constituencies of CUY and the students. Creating a Freedom of Expression Policy is not being revisited by the university and would like faculty to be present for the discussions.
On May 1st there is a Mayoral Mental Health Town Hall meeting in Brooklyn. Dr. Tai has a flyer and an email for further information.
Dr. Litroff thanked the Committee on Committees for their efforts in administering the Academic Senate Elections which will be shared today and we were able to fill all the positions. The goal is to have greater communication to move forward.
Tomorrow is the first of two meetings (April 9th and April 23rd) that the Steering Committee will hold for Standing Committee Chairs. Standing Committee secretaries are invited as well.
V. New Business
- Committee on Curriculum – Dr. Vazgen Shekoyan
Six Course Revisions:
Yes: 58
No: 1 - Julian Stark
Abstain: 0
Vote on Program Revision- AS Degree in Chemistry:
Yes: 58
No: 1 - Julian Stark
Abstain: 0
- Committee on Committees - Dr. Ben Murolo
Dr. Murolo thanked everyone who volunteered to be on committees and the senate. There were 14 open positions for the senate, we had 16 members came forward and there was a vote. Dr. Litroff asked for approval through unanimous consent. There were no objections, and the motion carried. Also, there are no alternates to cover members who will be on leave. If anyone is interested, please let the COC know. There is no senate representative for CLT’s currently.
Dr. Alisa Cercone discussed concerns about student’s academic progress as students are often taking four to five classes in a semester. The question was how we can work with advisement to find better paths of classes that students can take, in what succession, and ways to improve student retention. There are degree maps for what students need to take each semester and statistics are available on how students do in individual courses.
Faculty expressed that students are struggling with more these days and more can be done on the campus. A faculty member attended a workshop given by Dr. Wilma Fletcher called, “Trauma Informed Pedagogy” and found pedagogical techniques that can be applied to the classroom setting.
Standing Committee Roster's emails were sent out to individuals.
VI. Unfinished Business
There was no unfinished business.
Meeting Adjourned at 3:50 PM
Philip Nelan, Secretary
