FSEC offers last chance to truants

By DONNA LONGENECKER
Reporter Assistant Editor

The Faculty Senate Executive Committee has launched a final shot across the bow at absentee senators, voting at its Nov. 14 meeting to give them one more chance to show up at the monthly senate meetings or risk being dropped from participation.

Senators will be "invited" to contact the FSEC to offer a legitimate excuse for their absences—failing that, they will be dismissed from the senate. The issue at stake, according to some senators, is the integrity of the senate and its ability to function.

"I think the senate is becoming ineffective because we can't do any business," said Judith Adams-Volpe, director of university and external relations for the University Libraries. She reminded the FSEC that absentee senators were informed this semester of the attendance requirement and warned that it would be enforced. The senate has not had a quorum at any of this semester's meetings, which has delayed the passage of a class absence policy.

While several senators were in favor of "bouncing" the errant senators, others worried that efforts to hold them accountable puts the senate in the role of "cop," thus creating a potential administrative nightmare. So far, 36 senators have not attended the first two meetings of the academic year, nor have they offered an acceptable excuse for their absence.

Senate Chair Michael Cohen, professor of neurology, suggested that the deans be contacted to encourage their faculty's attendance, rather than just dismissing them out of hand. Although the senate can function if its numbers are reduced and can achieve a quorum if 50 percent of its members are in attendance, Cohen said that reducing the size would be an admission of defeat and diminish its credibility.

In other business, Provost Elizabeth D. Capaldi updated the FSEC on active dean searches that are under way in the College of Arts and Sciences, and the schools of Management and Architecture and Planning, with interviews to be held this spring.

Noting that communication on campus is an issue, Capaldi said she is continuing her efforts to meet with each of the academic units every semester and has been meeting with graduate students, new faculty members and distinguished professors, as well as other groups. She noted that she has started a newsletter that can be accessed from the Office of the Provost's Web site http://wings.buffalo.edu/provost.

Peter Nickerson, professor of pathology and chair of the Student Life Committee, reported that the panel has been busy assessing the quality of student life on campus, the relationship of student life and retention, the accessibility of faculty, the value of the Greek system and how to increase student pride. While the assessment effort is in direct response to the Princeton Review's negative evaluation of UB student life, Nickerson said, it also will be an effective tool in understanding the ways in which students communicate with one another and the campus at large so that common channels can be used to address concerns.