Academic Senate Youngstown State University Youngstown, Ohio  44555

Note:  The next meeting of the Academic Senate is scheduled for October 5, 2005, at 4:00 p.m. Please submit agenda items and cover sheets for the October Senate meeting to Bob Hogue by noon on September 26, at the latest.  Provide both a hard copy and a disk or electronic copy of your report and cover sheet in Word or rich text format.  A downloadable cover sheet is available at the Academic Senate web site [hit "cancel" if asked for a password]:

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Nominations for Senate Chair and Charter & Bylaws:   Annette Burden from the Elections & Balloting Committee presided for the taking of nominations. Nominated for Chair of the Academic Senate were Daryl Mincey, Tom Shipka, and Chet Cooper. Nominated for seats on the Charter & Bylaws Committee were Josh Taylor, Elvin Shields, and Ken Learman. Nominations were then closed.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting:   Minutes of the May 4, 2005, meeting were approved as posted.  To view the minutes, go to <http://www.www.ysu.edu/acad-senate/minmay05.htm>. 

Senate Executive Committee (SEC) / Report from the Chair / Ohio Faculty Council Report:  Tom Shipka, Chair of the Senate, reported:

As is my custom, I will consolidate the various components of my report.

1. Welcome to the organizational meeting of the Senate for the 2005-2006 school year. A special welcome to new Senators.

2. We have with us today our new provost, Dr. Robert K. Herbert. Bob, please stand and be recognized.

3. We also have with us three new members of the YSU Board of Trustees. They are Louise Popio, a student trustee; Dr. Sudershan K. Garg, who is serving an unexpired term which expires in 2006; and Dr. Dianne Bitonte Miladore, who is serving a full-term which expires in 2014. Dianne and her spouse, Michael, a surgeon, are YSU alumni who met as YSU students. They are significant university benefactors following in the steps of Dianne’s parents whose name adorns our College of Health and Human Services. I have asked Dianne to say a few words on behalf of all the new trustees.

4. Although there will be a resolution advanced today by Student Government for your consideration, we have very little official business and it’s just as well. Today the Senate is short-handed. Nominations and elections of at-large and department Senators in several colleges were held late and vacancies are still being filled. We should have a full roster at the October meeting. We also need to activate all the Senate standing committees in the next week or two so that they function as the Charter and Bylaws outline.

5. I have been asked to remind Senators and guests that next Monday, September 19, is Constitution Day at YSU. At noon in the Chestnut Room on Monday there will be a talk featuring Professor Robert Bennett from Northwestern University. Classes are welcome.

6. The Ohio Faculty Council will hold its organizational meeting on Friday, October 14, and therefore I have no news about the OFC to report today.

7. The shaky start to the school year this fall reminded me of a tale by Bertrand Russell, the great British mathematician, philosopher, and Nobel laureate. Russell conceded that the principle of the uniformity of nature – the future will be like the past - is a highly probable hypothesis. If fire burned us yesterday, then in all likelihood it will burn us today and tomorrow. But Russell warned that we should not affirm this principle as a certainty and he told his tale to teach us this lesson. In the tale there is a farm where every morning the same scenario unfolds. The sun rises, the back door of the farm house opens, and the farmer strolls down the path to a fenced-in area occupied by a turkey. The farmer then fills a pail with water and throws seed into a feeder for the turkey. The turkey quickly learns this routine and waits each morning with growing anticipation for breakfast. Then one particular morning the sun rises, the back door of the farm house opens, and the farmer strolls down the path to the turkey’s den. But, alas, it is Thanksgiving.

Just as the turkey had assumed, wrongly, that each day is a carbon copy of the previous one, so I had assumed, wrongly, that the start of my 37 th year at YSU would be a carbon copy of the previous 36. Many of my friends will delight in the parallel between the turkey and me. The only rebuttal that I can offer is that I was not the only turkey on campus this fall.

On a serious note, it is obvious that labor-management relations on campus are not what they should be. About two weeks ago, after the ratification by the classified staff union, in my capacity as Senate chair, I recommended to President Sweet that he create a panel of respected members of the campus community to take a fresh look at the labor scene and to develop findings and recommendations that will hopefully improve the labor climate in the months and years ahead. The President has been receptive to this suggestion and I expect an announcement from him on this score very soon. I have urged campus labor leaders to cooperate with this initiative for the mutual benefit of all parties, including especially our students.

Also, I prepared an essay entitled “A Lesson from the YSU Strike,” which I signed as Senate chair, which will run in the September 21, 2005, issue of YSUpdate. I gave an abridged version of this essay as one of my WYSU commentaries on Thursday of last week. The main point of the essay is that YSU is a collaboration in which every segment of the work force is indispensable to promote the mission of the university and all of us are dependent upon one another to succeed in our jobs.

8. Finally, as we begin another school year, I want to thank our Senate Secretary, Bob Hogue, and our Parliamentarian, Bill Jenkins, for their continuing work on behalf of the Senate. I also want to thank Annette Burden and Jane Reid for their work on the Elections and Balloting Committee.

This concludes my report for today. I will be happy to answer any questions.

 

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Charter & Bylaws Committee:    No report.

Elections & Balloting Committee:  See Attachment 1 for a list of Senate seats filled since the last meeting of the Senate in May.

Unfinished Business:   None.

New business:   Bob McGovern introduced a Resolution Concerning increased communication efforts between the Faculty and the Administration (see Attachment 3 ) and moved acceptance of the resolution. Motion was seconded. Discussion followed. Cynthia Hirtzel introduced a friendly amendment to change all occurrences of "faculty" to "faculty and staff." Mr. McGovern and the seconder of the resolution agreed to the amendment.

Gabriel Palmer-Fernandez issued the following statement:

I heartily endorse this Resolution and I commend the leadership of our Student Government Association for introducing it.

I must, however, express my deep skepticism of any significant action by President Sweet or his administration on any recommendation with regards to improving labor-management relations at YSU. My skepticism is based at least on the following three historical facts:

First, on July 26, 2000 Mark Shutes and I met with David Sweet to report to him the results of a survey of faculty attitudes at YSU conducted the spring of that year. The results were very troubling – e.g., a majority of our academic colleagues had little or no trust on decisions by the administration regarding tenure, promotion, or grievances, and they reported very low morale. President Sweet took copious notes of our discussion. In spite of his agreement with Professor Shutes and me on the low morale and unhealthy institutional culture at YSU, President Sweet took no significant action to improve them.

Second, while President Sweet did agree to Professor Shutes’s suggestion to hold university-wide Labor Summit, President Sweet failed to take any significant action on any of the recommendations of that Summit.

Finally, the Third Summary Recommendation of the Performance Assessment requested by President Sweet and conducted by Jim Petro, Auditor of State, State of Ohio reads:

“Relations between management and labor at YSU are characterized by a lack of trust. Interviews with members of the University’s Board of Trustees, administration and unions confirm this breakdown of trust. Rebuilding it may be the single, most important task facing the leadership of the unions and administration….As Dr. Sweet has stated on many occasions, ‘We must improve the quality of discourse between the administration and the unions.’ We could not agree more. (pp, 7, 9).”

In spite of these important opportunities to improve morale and trust among all segments of the University, President Sweet and his administration have take no significant steps in that direction; but instead those very elements of our institution which those opportunities wished to correct have only gradually worsened.

I urge you to vote on behalf of the Resolution introduce by Mr. Bob McGovern, President, SGA, and I strongly urge you to be cautious, indeed skeptical, of any significant action to improve labor-management relations by President Sweet or his administration. I have no confidence that President Sweet will take the necessary steps to improve those relations. I ask that this statement and a copy of pp. 7-9 of the State Auditor’s Report quoted above be included in the official minutes of this meeting.

[Secretary's note: A copy of pp. 7-9 of the referenced report is contained in Attachment 4 .]

Tom Maraffa stated that when relationships are successful, it's to everyone's credit and when they're not, it's to everyone's blame. He continued that we will move ahead in a positive direction, and that it is unfortunate that some people devote their intelligence to concentrate on the negative rather than moving forward.

Suzanne Diamond introduced a friendly amendment to change the last phrase of the resolution to read, "Its intent to aid in the establishment of direct means through which to do so." Amendment was accepted by Mr. McGovern and the seconder.

Keith Lepak urged those who don't have working relationships with those in charge to develop those relationships.

Bruce Waller stated that he will vote against the resolution. He stated that there is no problem with communications between faculty and students and staff. Rather, the problem that needs to be dealt with is contempt by the Administration, not the lack of communication.

A vote was then taken on the motion. Motion passed.

[Secretary's note: The Amended Resolution is listed below:]

RESOLUTION
Concerning increased communication efforts between the Faculty and Staff and the Administration

Whereas ongoing communication between the Administration and the Faculty and Staff is essential in maintaining a positive educational environment for Youngstown State University Students; and

Whereas recent events have made apparent the strained relationship between the Faculty and Staff and the Administration; and

Whereas all parties involved in the recent contract negotiations agree that better communication will be a vital component in ensuring that all future negotiations go more smoothly; Now, Therefore, Be it

Resolved, That the Senate expresses --

1) Its desire to renew communications between the Faculty and Staff and the Administration; and

2) Its intent to aid in the establishment of direct means through which to do so.