Academic Senate Meeting Minutes
December 10, 2024
Steering Committee Chairperson Dr. Litroff called the fourth regularly scheduled meeting of the Academic Senate to order at 3:15 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
45 were recorded when attendance was taken, and 63 members of the Academic Senate were present during the meeting.
Absent: Charles Chiu Fu Chen, Lois Florman, Jennifer Gliere, Sasan Karimi, Zivah Perel Katz, Andrew Nguyen, Joselyn Ojeda, Laua Rachiele, MD, Mahbubur Rahman, Sharon Reeves, Susan Riekert, Barbara Rome, Sabreen Qaisar, John Talbird, Isabel Torres, and Haishen Yao,
II. Approval of the Agenda
II. Approval of the Agenda –Dr. Litroff requested a change in the order of the agenda so that item #6, Graduates, could be moved to the end of the meeting so that students may leave the room. Dr. Litroff used unanimous consent to approve the agenda, and there were no objections.
III. Consideration of the minutes from November 12, 2024 (Attachment A).
Dr. Litroff used unanimous consent to approve the agenda.
IV. Communications from:
President Mangino recalled how the budget and the enrollment were good, and things were going well. The facilities are an issue, such as the bathrooms in the library, which are now ADA compliant. The problem that remains an issue is the heat. Big thank you to the buildings and grounds department, which is working tirelessly but has been unable to find the leak. They are placing an external pipe from the Science Building to the Administration Building. Heaters have been placed in offices where the staff need to be in their offices. Hopefully, the project will be completed by the weekend. If there are any heating issues, please let Buildings and Grounds know. One of the elevators in the Administrative Building is out and awaiting the part.CUNY Tuesday, 545 people donated, one of the highest across CUNY. QCC may not have reached the dollar amounts that senior colleges did, but we beat last year's numbers.
5800 students registered for the Spring semester, and most are continuing students. Please remind students to register before they leave for the break,
Next Tuesday, there will be a Winter Party on the 5th floor of the Administration Building, with several types of food in each suite.
There was a ribbon cutting for naming the Joseph Santoraium swimming pool. Joseph Santora was a faculty member and a Physical Education and Fitness Chair. He was instrumental in getting the swimming pool placed in the college. His family donated $100,000.00 to name the pool for scholarships.
There are only a couple more days of classes, so please take care of yourselves and help our students.
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Communication from the Liaison to the University Faculty Senate - Dr. Emily Tai
On December 3rd, the UFS Plenary welcomed the CUNY Board of Trustees Chair William C. Thompson who discussed what would happen in January regarding a change of federal leadership. He affirmed a commitment to protecting students and adhering to the principles of the City of New York.
There are two initiatives in terms of leadership changes. One was followed up by the University Faculty Senates Committee on Student Affairs, chaired by Dr. Cornick. The Know Your Rights handout was circulated by Kerin Coughing, who is on the UFS executive committee. If anyone is interested in obtaining a copy of the handout, please email Dr. Tai. Workshops will be held to make resources available to students.
QCC has an academic freedom committee, and not all campuses have such a committee, which is something that the Academic Freedom Committee is working towards. There is also an interest in working on a freedom of expression committee and statement, which former Vice Chancellor Shaffer wanted to develop. The IFS is working on a statement that would be university policy and making sure that faculty and the University Faculty Senate would be a part of drafting the statement. Please let Dr. Tai know if you have any thoughts about this statement.
There is a call for papers for the Public Good University Conference in Albany from February 7th to the 9th.
There will be enrollment workshops, and the budget will be on March 14th with Ned Benton.
The FEC informed the Senate that the last Faculty Bylaws were in 2012 and very much overdue. The FEC contacted the Bylaws Committee with a work in progress that will be discussed in new business. A template will be used internally between standing committees for making proposals for bylaws for changes to charges within committees, elections of officers in standing committees, and the submission of annual reports. Some steps need to be taken before the changes can be presented to the Senate in May.
At the beginning of the spring semester, the Steering Committee will prepare and release polls for standing committees on committee effectiveness and how the members of the standing committees feel their work is effective within the Senate and the college. The Steering Committee will also be engaging in efforts with the COF for the annual elections of senators at significant and standing committee appointments.
Dr. Litroff thanked everyone for their collaborative efforts and wished everyone a Happy New Year.
V. Monthly Reports
• Committee on Curriculum - (Attachment B) – Dr. Vazgen Shekoyan
CH 900 and CH 901
Yes: 62
No: 0
Abstain: 1 – Raul Armendariz
Proposal: To change the name of the EQLD committee from:
“Committee of Environment, Quality of Life, and Disability Issues to
“Committee of Environment, Quality of Life, and Accessibility Issues”
The motion passed unanimously.
VI. Candidates for January 25 Graduation – Attachment D
The motion passed unanimously.
VII. New Business
•Informational – Updated Template Draft for Bylaws Revisions
The purpose of the change was to streamline the process of various kinds of bylaws and or changes to charges. Any proposal would be set in a traditional format, to show the rationale as to why something should be changed. Some minor adjustments will be made to the template. There is no vote for this template.
VIII. Unfinished Business
A question was raised about voting on department leadership by individuals who may be
away or people on medical leave, etc. Is it possible to have a ZOOM vote? Dr. Litroff will investigate further and report back to the Senate.
Meeting Adjourned at 4:08 PM
Philip Nelan, Secretary
