After a notably busy summer in which faculty kept an eye on policy discussions such as Bernie Fine and the roles of administration versus faculty, several items from the summer and previous University Senate session are expected to continue into this year.

The first USen session of the 2012-13 academic year, to be held Wednesday at 4 p.m. in Maxwell Auditorium, is expected to be quiet and will serve to introduce senators to committee assignments.

Later in the fall, senators expect major discussion to revolve around promotions and appointments, communication within the university and the campus library system.

Promotions and appointments

Syracuse University’s Board of Trustees stepped in to approve eight College of Law candidates for promotion during its May 12 meeting after a USen committee declined to endorse the candidates.

Many faculty and USen members said it was an affront to one of the few decision-making powers faculty hold.

Bruce Carter, who will take over as agenda committee chair and USen moderator for Ian MacInnes, said the law school promotions are “a done deal.” He does expect a broader discussion in the promotions process and university procedures will arise this semester.

The Committee on Appointments and Promotions declined to endorse the candidates because the college changed its policies without going through the proper channels. The College of Law may not have filed its new procedures in time, but did have the right to change them, Carter said.

Jeff Stonecash, a professor of political science and committee member who presented the committee’s case to the board, said the committee was not questioning the College of Law’s right to change its procedures. Instead, he said, this is a question of why procedures matter and that policies for promotions will be discussed during the year.

Dick Thompson, chairman of the Board of Trustees, said the administration would like to engage in discussion with the senate and faculty on promotions procedures. He said involving the board in the College of Law promotions was “not something we wanted to do, but something we felt we had to do to resolve the impasse.”

Promotions policies at SU have already been somewhat discussed, but no specific group has formed, Thompson said. Revisiting the policies will allow SU to become competitive with peer institutions for recruiting and retaining faculty, Thompson said.

Vice Chancellor and Provost Eric Spina said, upon urging from the Board of Trustees, that the university will establish a group to examine SU’s policies on promotion and see how they are aligned with those at other research universities.

No group has been formed yet, but Spina said he plans to speak with Carter on Wednesday. Forming the group to examine the processes will ensure the promotions process is “broadly owned by the faculty,” he said.

Communications and inclusion

Senate members also anticipate USen talk will steer toward communication and discussion itself.

Faculty members have called into question the timing of two university news items relating to the Bernie Fine case. The Fine report was released July 5, a Thursday wedged between the July Fourth holiday and weekend. Then, the Friday before Labor Day weekend, SU’s Joint Working Group released updated policies on reporting child abuse.

Thompson said the Fine report was not issued at that time with the intention of sweeping it under the rug.

“The report was released when it was complete. The last thing we wanted was for it to be sitting in a file drawer,” Thompson said.

The Working Group, which will continue to report throughout the year, released their policies to coincide with the start of the academic year, he said.

Carter said he believes policies are more successful and able to become “community property” when they come about through broad discussion. Carter said he hopes the administration will continue to discuss policies with the senate in the future.

The campus library system

In anticipation of a heavier workload, the library committee is growing by a handful of members, Carter said. During the past several years, there has been ongoing discussion relating to library space, reorganizing the library system and moving “low-use” materials into storage on South Campus.

Gianfranco Vidali, professor of physics, will be out of the country in the fall and will no longer serve as chair of the committee. He said he expected the continuing renovations of Carnegie and other library facilities, and exploring the mission of the library will arise in committee concerns.

The committee will also likely discuss the library’s peer institutions in October, said Suzanne Thorin, dean of libraries and committee member. Dartmouth College, Columbia University, Rice University, Miami University and the Coalition for Networked Information will be reviewing the library.

This year, renovations at Carnegie Library — home to the mathematics department and Science and Technology Library — will end, and work will begin on the second floor of E.S. Bird Library, making the Bird collection exclusively for humanities, Thorin said. The second-floor work will also establish a digital learning center and reconstruct the bridge that once served as an entrance to Bird’s second floor from University Avenue.

Members of the mathematics department voiced concerns regarding the renovations at Carnegie in May when it was announced that “low-use” materials from the Carnegie collection would go into storage. Thorin said she received good news for the mathematics department this week and that, after finding extra shelving space, all books in the collection will remain in Carnegie with room to grow, but periodicals will still go to storage.

Senators said they expect further concerns regarding the Carnegie reconstruction will likely be handled outside of USen.

Published on September 12, 2012 at 3:09 am

Contact Dara: dkmcbrid@syr.edu | @daramcbride