University Senate flew through its agenda in 18 minutes Wednesday afternoon. None of the meetings this semester have lasted longer than 45 minutes, a marked difference from the lengthy discussions and debates in the spring.

The monthly meeting began at 4 p.m. in Maxwell Auditorium and touched on off-site storage for the library and approving new student members of USen.

Gianfranco Vidali, chair of the Library Committee, gave an oral report on the committee’s past work and new initiatives. He lauded an increase of 8 percent in the acquisition budget for books and other materials and an increase in grants and awards for the library.

Vidali also talked about the five-year $600,000 renovation plan for Carnegie Library, beginning with improvement of a reading room now used by the math department. Vidali also said the library had made headway on finding an off-site storage facility for books and collections.

‘I hate to rain on the happy parade,’ Eric Spina, the university’s vice chancellor and provost, joked after Vidali’s report. He went on to clarify that there are no final plans yet for off-site storage.

A year ago, almost to the day, more than 200 people packed Maxwell Auditorium to debate a plan to move hundreds of thousands of books to Patterson, N.Y., four hours away. Student and faculty outcry halted the plan.

After Wednesday’s meeting, Chancellor Nancy Cantor said the storage options have been narrowed down to three locations, all on campus. Materials to be moved include duplicates and books that have not been checked out in a long time, Cantor said. Spina said faculty will be involved in selecting what will be stored, and materials will be retrievable in a day.

‘We expect that by the end of the calendar year, we’ll know an exact plan,’ Spina said.

In other business, USen collected votes for a graduate student member of the Agenda Committee. Senators turned in ballots that asked them to choose between Emma Brodeur, a graduate student in religion, and Kelly Szott, a fourth-year doctoral student in sociology. Votes were not counted at the end of the meeting.

The bylaws call for the undergraduate member of the Agenda Committee to also be selected by a vote, but due to lack of interested candidates, the committee appointed junior Bonnie Kong without a vote. Kong was elected last spring to serve on the committee.

Barbara Kwasnik, chair of the Committee on Curricula, presented her committee’s report, which was approved unanimously, without discussion. The report introduces a new minor in dance, as well as changes to the physical education department’s minor in coaching. Both programs are in the School of Education.

In his ‘eagerness to barrel through the agenda,’ Agenda Committee Chair Jonathan Massey said he forgot to report on an ad hoc committee established to study concerns about student enrollment levels.

The ad hoc committee is charged with assessing enrollment growth and will hold its first meeting Dec. 3. Mary Lovely, a professor of economics and member of the Committee on Academic Affairs, will chair the group, which includes senators from the Student Life, Academic Affairs and Instruction committees. Enrollment management representatives on the committee will be Don Saleh, vice president of enrollment management, and Elizabeth Liddy, dean of the School of Information Studies.

Robert Van Gulick, a professor of philosophy, asked the ad hoc committee to reach out to faculty members to see what enrollment issues they’ve encountered.

Sari Biklen, meredith professor for teaching excellence, suggested the formation of another ad hoc committee to study the use of classroom space. She touched on the School of Education’s issue with finding classroom space and said she would like to see a public discussion started up.

Other business included:

• The Nominations Committee unanimously approved 14 new undergraduate and graduate student members to USen committees.

• The group approved the minutes from last month’s session.

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Published on November 10, 2010 at 12:00 pm