University Senate

Minutes of the Organizational Meeting of the Villanova University Senate for Academic Year 2007-08
Bartley Hall, Room 2010 on Friday, May 4, 2007 at 2:00 P.M.

PRESENT:

Mr. Robert J. Capone `62; Dr. Sohail C. Chaudhry; Mr. Robert B. Dormish; Dr. Louise Fitzpatrick; Dr. Lowell S. Gustafson; Dr. Helen K. Lafferty; Dr. Susan Mackey-Kallis Chairperson; Ms. Kelly Maguire; Dr. Dorothy Malloy; Ms. Anna Menard; Mr. Brian M. Murray;  Mr. Thomas W. Nardi; Mrs. Mary C. Quilter; Dr. Sally Scholz; Mr. Deepak Sharma; Mr. Walter Smith-Randolph; Fr. John P. Stack, OSA; Dr. Robert Styer; Mr. Gavin W. Tully; Mr. John W. Von Euw; Mrs. Selma Koury Wunderlich (non-voting, representing the Alumni Association President)

Ms. Helen Heron, Recording Secretary.

ABSENT:
Mr. Richard Cullen; Mr. James M. Danko(Notified in Advance); Mr. Ashish Desai; Mr. John M. Elizandro (NIA); Fr. Kail C. Ellis, OSA (NIA); Fr. John J. Farrell; Dr. Gary Gabrielle (NIA);  Fr. Richard M. Jacobs, OSA (NIA); Dr. John Johannes (NIA), Dr. Frank I. Klassner (NIA); Mr. Sarvesh Kulkarni,  Dr. Gerald M. Long (NIA); Ms. Dorothy A. Malloy ; Dr. Emmet McLaughlin (NIA), Dr. Bijan Mobasseri (NIA);  Mrs. Sandra Toslosky Patterer ’93; Dr. Mark Sullivan; Mr. Kenneth Valosky (NIA), Dr. Barbara Wall (NIA); Dr. Joyce Willens

AGENDA:
INVOCATION – Dr. Dorothy A. Malloy

I. ELECTION OF AN EXECUTIVE SECRETARY FOR ACADEMIC YEAR 2007-2008
II. ELECTION OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE UNIVERSITY SENATE FOR THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2007-2008:
A. TWO ADMINISTRATORS
B. TWO FACULTY MEMBERS
C. TWO STUDENT MEMBERS
D. ONE STAFF MEMBER
III. CONSIDERATION OF THE MINUTES OF APRIL 20, 2007
IV.  INTRODUCTION OF NEW STUDENT SENATORS
V. LISTING OF APPROVED MEETING DATES FOR ACADEMIC YEAR 2007-2008:
VI. CONSIDERATION OF TABLED MOTION REGARDING THE ADDITION OF THE ALUMNI PRESIDENT TO THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
VII. SHALL US 7879-2-4 AGAIN BE ADOPTED AS AN OPERATING RULE FOR THE COMING YEAR?
"THAT new Agenda items may not be introduced in the Senate after 5:00 P.M.; no Senate debate will take place beyond 5:30 P.M. These rules may be overturned by a majority of those present and voting."

INVOCATION- Dr. Dorothy Malloy
 
Senator  Mackey-Kallis thanked Senator Malloy for her prayer and then introduced the new Student Senators to the assembly requesting that each Student Senator stand as his/her name was called.

I. ELECTION OF AN EXECUTIVE SECRETARY FOR ACADEMIC YEAR 2007-2008

Nominations for an Executive Secretary were opened. Senator Maguire nominated:

SENATOR BRIAN M. MURRAY
Seconded by Senator Lafferty

There being no further nominations, Chairperson Mackey-Kallis declared the nominations closed and announced that Senator Murray was elected by unanimous vote. Congratulations were offered to the 2007-2008 Executive Secretary of the Senate.


II. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE ELECTIONS

A. Administrative Members – The following names were put into nomination by Senator Malloy:

SENATOR HELEN K. LAFFERTY
Seconded by Senator Quilter

SENATOR JOHN P. STACK, OSA
Seconded by Senator Quilter

There being no further nominations, the nominations for administrative members of the Executive Committee were closed. Senators Lafferty and Stack were declared elected to the 2007-2008 Executive Committee by unanimous vote. The Chair thanked these members for their willingness to serve.


B. Faculty Members – Senator Lafferty nominated the following:

DR. SOHAIL C. CHAUDHRY
Seconded by Senator Gustafson

There being no further nominations, the nominations for faculty members of the Executive Committee were closed. Senators Chaudhry was declared elected to the 2007-2008 Executive Committee by unanimous vote. The Chair thanked these members for their willingness to serve.

C. Student Members – Senator Nardi nominated:
 
SENATOR ROBERT B. DORMISH
Seconded by Senator Smith Randolph

There being no further nominations, the nominations for student members of the Executive Committee were closed. Senator Dormish was declared elected to the 2007-2008 Executive Committee by unanimous vote. The Chair congratulated the elected student members.

D. Staff Member – Senator Lafferty nominated:
 
SENATOR MARY C. QUILTER
Seconded by Senator Gustafson

There being no further nominations, the nominations for staff member of the Executive Committee were closed. Senator Quilter was declared elected to the Executive Committee by unanimous vote. The Chair congratulated the elected staff member.

III. CONSIDERATION OF THE MINUTES

The MINUTES of the April 20, 2007 meeting were moved for approval as written by Senator Lafferty; seconded by Senator Quilter and unanimously approved as written.


IV. INTRODUCTION OF THE NEW STUDENT SENATORS

ARTS/VSB

Mr. Walter T. Smith- Randolph Mr. Robert B. Dormish
Mr. Thomas W. Nardi Ms. Kelly Maguire
Mr. Brian M. Murray Mr. Nicholas Irion

ENGINEERING/NURSING

Ms. Maggie McLaughlin Ms. Anna Menard

SCIENCES/LAW SCHOOL

Mr. Deepak Sharma Mr. Matt DeSanctis

GRADUATE/PART TIME STUDIES
 
Ms. Stephanie Ficiak Mr. Richard M. Cullen

Senator Mackey-Kallis reminded the Senators in regard to setting up the Executive Committee, that the By- Laws states that we elected only one faculty and one student because the Student Body President and the Faculty Congress Chair, both sit on the Executive Committee.

Each student senator addressed their goals for the upcoming year.


V. APPROVAL OF MEETING DATES FOR ACADEMIC YEAR 2007-2008

2007	2008
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2007	FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2008
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2007 (BUDGET MEETING)	FRIDAY MARCH 14, 2008
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2007	FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 2008
(PRESIDENT)

The planned dates were moved for approval; seconded and approved. The meetings are scheduled for 3:30 P.M. in BARTLEY HALL, Room 2001 for the next Academic Year.


VI. TABLED MOTION REGARDING ADDING THE ALUMNI PRESIDENT TO THE SENATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Senator Styer asked that we bring this amendment back to the table for discussion. Senator Gustafson seconded the motion.

Senator Styer read from the Constitution- ARTICLE VIII- Committees, Section 1 paragraph 4, p. 11:

The Executive Committee shall consist of the President Officer and the Executive Secretary of the Senate, the Chairperson of the Faculty Congress plus one other faculty member, two administrators, the President of the Student Government Association plus one student member, one staff person and the President of the Villanova Alumni Association or the delegate named by the VUAA President, elected for one year terms by and from the membership of the Senate. The Chairperson of the Executive Committee shall be the Presiding officer of the Senate who holds a two-year term on the committee.
 
The following is the reasoning of the Rules and Review Committee on the proposed constitutional amendment to add the President of the Villanova University Alumni Association to the Senate Executive Committee. Rev. April 5, 2007.

“A few years ago, the discussion on the amendment to add a staff person to the Senate Executive Committee clearly indicated that representation of the alumni on the Executive Committee should be discussed in the near future.

In determining how to implement adding an alumni/ae representative to the Executive Committee, Rules and Review sought advice from the board of the Villanova University Alumni Association. They recommended that we add the President or the delegated representative (per Article VI Section 5) to the Senate Executive Committee. At the Dec 1, 2006 Senate meeting, Senator Robert Capone asked the Senate to consider carefully who should represent the alumni, so the Senate remanded the amendment to Rules and Review to reconsider his important comments.

The chair of the Rules and Review Committee spoke with Senator Capone and Mr. Gary Olsen and other members of the Alumni Office. It seems that the Alumni University Senators are not members of the regular Alumni Association Board. They do not participate in the regular meetings of that board. There seems to be no desire to add the present Alumni University Senators to their Board. One person argued that the voter turnout for the Alumni Senate positions is quite low, only a tiny fraction of the alumni, hence, the Alumni Board President is as representative as the two elected Senators.

After a lively discussion, the Rules and Review Committee decided that we do not have the authority to recommend changes in the Alumni Association structure.  Since it seems that the President or delegated representative of the Alumni Association Board can best communicate with that Board and hence with the alumni constituency, and since that Board reaffirmed its desire to put the President or delegated representative on the Executive Committee, the Rules and Review Committee passed a motion at our March 15, 2007 meeting to resubmit the same amendment for consideration by the full Senate.

 A couple years ago, the Senate Executive Committee asked Rules and Review to consider an amendment to add the Faculty Congress chairperson to the Executive Committee to enhance communication of the Senate to the Faculty Congress. We agreed with their assessment of the benefits, though we recommended that the Faculty Congress Chair replace one of the existing faculty, rather than adding a new member, because of our concern that the Executive Committee not get too large. Historically, the president of the SGA has always been elected to the Senate Executive Committee, and this seems to be very beneficial for communication of the Senate with the SGA, so Rules and Review also proposed an amendment to codify this into the constitution. We believe adding the Alumni Board President is consistent with these same principles.”

Senator Capone feels that the two Alumni Senators are not really part of the Senate. His concern is that there is no process between the Alumni Association and the Senate.

Senator Mackey-Kallis made the recommendation that this discussion be remanded to the Rules and Review Committee once again to examine the possibility of having two staff members sitting on the Executive Committee instead of the current one staff person. This might then be in addition to having both the Alumni President and one other elected alumni Senator on the Executive Committee, thereby potentially solving the problem of who should best represent the Alumni on the Executive Committee.

Senator Wunderlich explained the process by which the Alumni Association President and Board are chosen. The local alumni clubs choose officers, who elect the Alumni Association Board members, who elect the President for a one year term. Thus, the President is representative of the alumni.

Senator Murray was concerned about the precedent the Senate might be setting if it were to allow the President of the Alumni Association a seat on the Executive Committee despite the fact that he or she is not a member of the Senate.

Senator Lafferty remarked that the Alumni Association itself needs to change their voting procedures or they need to make some modifications on who represents them and various other bodies.

Senator Malloy stated that it was important that if we are to have one person on the Executive Committee it should parallel being president of the Alumni Association rather than someone who is not the leader of that organization.

Senator Mackey-Kallis added that the Rules and Review Committee has also been charged to look at the question of whether or not a Committee on Staff should be formed. If this committee does form, and taking into consideration the parallity of structure that we are talking about where the leader of those groups sits on the Executive Committee, we might be contemplating a second staff member on the Executive Committee. This may provide an entrée for an additional alumni senator. She added that this could be an evolving discussion.

Senator Quilter called the motion.



ARTICLE VIII – Committees, Section 1, Paragraph 4, p. 11:

“The Executive Committee shall consist of the Presiding Officer and the Executive Secretary of the Senate, the Chairperson of the Faculty Congress plus one other faculty member, two administrators, the President of the Student Government Association plus one student member, one staff person and the President of the Villanova Alumni Association or the delegate named by the VUAA President, elected for one year terms by and from the membership of the Senate. The Chairperson of the Executive Committee shall be the Presiding officer of the Senate.”

 

The motion failed. Senator Styer proposed that the Rules and Review Committee re-examine this question.

The Chair thanked Senator Styer for the time and effort he has put into this motion. She also thanked Senator Capone and Senator Wunderlich for their vested interest in this issue and their willingness to be part of this conversation. She felt certain that we will resolve the issue.

VII. Shall the Operating Rule, US 7879-2-4 be considered by the Villanova University Senate for the coming Academic Year 2007-2008:

“THAT new Agenda items may not be introduced in the Senate after 5:00 P.M.; no Senate debate will take place beyond 5:30 P.M. These rules may be overturned by a majority of those present and voting.”

Senator Scholz referred to the line which states “that these rules may be overturned by a majority of those present and voting”. She, and many of her colleagues, felt a concern about meetings being held after 5:00 P.M. because of the impact on family. She felt that there is a sense that meetings held after 5:00 P.M. can be viewed as discriminating in regard to those who need child care. She stated that by using the words “majority of those present” means that those who have already left will not have a say in the matter. She would like to see that sentence removed.

The Chair suggested that adding the phrase “at 5:00” to the end of the motion so that it reads “These rules may be overturned by a majority of those present and voting at 5:00.” This clarifies the issue and insures that those who have to leave at 5:00 will be able to vote on this issue.

Senator Scholz moved to amend that motion. Seconded by Senator Von Euw.


There being no objections, the operating rule was adopted for the next academic year by unanimous vote.

NEW BUSINESS

There being no other business, a motion To Adjourn was made by Senator Lafferty seconded by Senator Von Euw. Adjournment took place at 3:50 P.M. The next Senate Meeting will be held on Friday, September 14, 2007 in Bartley Hall, Room 2001 at 3:30 P.M.



Respectfully submitted by,



Brian M. Murray

Executive Secretary
VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY SENATE

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