President Sakaki reported;
- The campus is considering adding an additional week at the beginning of the Fall 2021 semester.
- The CSU Council of Ethnic Studies is continuing its discussion of how to implement the legislative requirement for a course in Ethnic Studies as a CSU graduation requirement.
- $299 million has been returned to the structure of the CSU budget by action of the legislature and the governor. This is a permanent, not a one-time, addition.
- Nineteen cases of Covid-19 have been reported on the SSU campus.
Provost Moranski reported:
- She has been made aware of the concern raised by the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice Administration (CCJA).
Most of the meeting was taken up with a discussion of the memo from CCJA objecting to the intervention of the Social Sciences dean, Troi Carlton, in curricular matters and personnel teaching assignments, without consultation with, let alone consent from, the faculty in CCJA. Resolutions of support for the position of the CCJA faculty were received from EPC and the Academic Freedom Subcommittee of FSAC. Provost Moranski defended the response of the administration against claims by CCJA department chair Napoleon Reyes that department objections had been ignored. General support for CCJA was expressed until Provost Moranski cautioned against a rush to judgment as "all the facts are not in." Chair Reyes responded that there are no facts in dispute, and there are no more facts to discover. The Senate nonetheless voted to defer consideration of this issue until its next meeting. CFA chair Erma Jean Sims and ERSFA representative Victor Garlin (sitting in for Rick Luttmann) strongly supported the CCJA during the debate. (The CCJA complaint has been sent to ERFSA members.)
Chair Paula Lane of FSAC reported:
- The Faculty Standards and Affairs Committee continues to review the campus RTP policy. Feedback has been received, including feedback from ERFSA. ERPSA representative Garlin complimented Chair Lane and her committee on the collegial way ERFSA input has been received. (Note: ERFSA is asking that language limiting the President's authority to ignore faculty recommendations in RTP matters happen only " ...in rare instances...," language removed in the 2016 RTP revision, be reincluded in the current RTP restatement.
Next Academic Senate meeting is March 4, 2021.
Submitted by Victor Garlin
February 19, 2021