The Faculty Senate passed a temporary grading option that allows students to decide to opt into a credit or no credit grade for the Spring 2020 quarter during the Faculty Senate Meeting on April 21. Discussions related to an alternative grading system were provoked due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The motion was mentioned but not confirmed from the previous meeting on April 7. The primary author in drafting the changes to the grading policy, Senator Beth Steffel, said, “my goal in bringing this to you is to come up with the best possible options for students in the unprecedented times we're at.” The meeting took place through Zoom where the credit/ no credit grading alternative was … [Read more...] about Faculty Senate passes alternate grading options
Faculty Senate
Faculty senators consider temporary change in grading policy
Faculty senators discussed the possible adoption of credit/no credit grading system for all this quarter. COVID-19 has created new responsibilities for students that senators briefly parsed during the April 7 Faculty Senate Meeting. CSUSB would join other Cal State Universities such as Fullerton, Northridge, Los Angeles, and Cal Poly Pomona who have made the temporary changes. “Because of the unusual circumstances, we’re looking at technological solutions. The student on the back end would be doing some sort of indication to us in the Office of Registrar whether or not they would rather earn the course as a credit/no credit or earn the letter grade in the course,” clarified Vice … [Read more...] about Faculty senators consider temporary change in grading policy
Faculty senate held its first remote meeting
Senators and prominent guests discussed policies from a pre-approved agenda, questions on campus access, spring parking fees’ reimbursement, and the possibility of grading all students as pass or fail. The meeting took place on April 7, 2020. President Morales did not participate. Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Shari McMahan, and Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs and Development, Seval Yilderim, along with the deans of various colleges, were in attendance. Senators and other meeting participants struggled to unmute and mute the microphone for when they were to speak. Quite often, the screen glitched making it difficult at times to hear when a Senator was … [Read more...] about Faculty senate held its first remote meeting
Issues emerge on shared governance
The topic of shared governance on CSUSB’s campus has been heating up, especially with the Q2S conversion occurring soon, but who exactly has the final say in the University’s final decision-making is the question asking to be answered. Shared governance is a set of practices where administration, faculty, staff, and students participate in decision-making for the university’s welfare and operation. “There’s been a lot of discussion of shared governance on campus in recent years because a lot of faculty feel like we’re not really living up to what we should be doing. I think a lot of discussions are being made without faculty input or in cases where faculty members are consulted, we … [Read more...] about Issues emerge on shared governance
ASI addresses 2020 Census at Faculty Senate meeting
Participation in the upcoming 2020 Census is being sought out by the members of ASI. Endorsements concerning ASI's resolution for the "Support of an accurate 2020 Census" was brought to the attention of the Faculty Senate meeting on January 14. The United State's constitution addresses that the federal government will allocate aid to the state's "respective numbers." California's state department has addressed that every Californian missed by Census 2020 will cost the state $19,500 in lessened program funding, such as housing programs, health programs, and education funding for grant programs. Senator Vassilakos-Long stated, "We're probably going to lose a representative after … [Read more...] about ASI addresses 2020 Census at Faculty Senate meeting
Faculty Senate meeting addresses power outage
On October 29, the Faculty Senate held a meeting that discussed the concerns and issues about the power shutoffs. The President was not present in this meeting, but one concern was whether or not the campus would receive generators to generate power during power shutoffs. Solar power was brought up as a potential solution to future power shutoffs, but that notion was dismissed due to solar power being tied to the grid that SoCal Edison controls. Furthermore, solar power would not be enough to support a building. The Senate promoted visiting the Internet to receive updates in regards to emergencies. When decisions are made regarding the campus, Blackboard is used to send out texts … [Read more...] about Faculty Senate meeting addresses power outage
Admin & faculty relationship strained
By Aldon Stiles |Staff Writer| Relations between President Tomás Morales and the faculty senate are still rocky since the sudden dismissal of former provost Dr. Andrew Bodman in June. Faculty senate chair Dr. Jodie Ullman stated in an email, “...we currently have highly strained relationships with central administration.” “Over the last three years,” Ullman continued, “there have been actions and behaviors that have lead to a breach of trust between many in the faculty and central administration.” “The dismissal of so many administrators and staff in the past three years also led to a concern that the President wants to eliminate ‘institutional memory’ from the campus, so he could … [Read more...] about Admin & faculty relationship strained
CSUSB’s Faculty Senate Chair on President Morales
Letter by Dr. Treadwell Ruml Dear Fellow Faculty; I am sorry not to have been able to report more promptly on the current situation. I attach a (modestly edited) copy of the resolution that the Executive Committee wrote at the urging of faculty at a meeting on June 16, 2015, urging that Provost Bodman be reinstated. We presented the resolution to President Morales when we met with him on June 17th. (The resolution as actually delivered to Dr Morales is available on the Senate web site.) He glanced at it briefly and then, at our request, read it through. He tucked it into his folder and had no more to say about it. He stated that he was unable to offer any explanation for his … [Read more...] about CSUSB’s Faculty Senate Chair on President Morales