University Assembly Meeting
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
4:30 — 6:00 p.m.
701 Clark Hall

I. Call To Order

M. Hatch called the meeting to order at 4:37 p.m.

II. Roll Call

Roll was taken by sign-in sheet.

Present: C. Basil, M. Fontana, D. Kurczewski, J. Marwell, S. Matthews, J. Glenn, T. Parado, R. Rodriguez, P. Mahoney, R. Orme, D. Brown, M. Hatch, D. Rosen, E. Sanders, R. Wayne.

Not Present: T. Lee, H. Hall, B. Liddick, E. Loew, A. Stroock.

III. Call for Late Additions to the Agenda

M. Hatch called for late additions to the agenda. There were no late additions.

IV. Introduction of New Members

Introductions were made around the table. Attendance was taken by sign-in sheet.

V. Approval of Minutes from May 2, 2007

M. Hatch said there were a few grammatical errors in the UA meeting minutes for May 2, 2007 but nothing to keep the membership from approving them. D. Brown made a motion to approve the May 2, 2007 minutes. J. Glenn seconded the motion. The minutes were unanimously approved by a raise of hands.

VI. Old Business

a. Need for UA liaisons to committees not yet staffed

M. Hatch said the UA needed to appoint new UA liaisons to committees that didn’t currently have any. Liaisons have already been assigned to the Family Services, Transportation, Campus Planning and Codes and Judicial Committees. He listed some of the committees that did not have liaisons. He said before doing away with any of the committees, they should examine whether the UA really has a role they should be assuming in these committees.

b. Approve Faculty Members to University Hearing Board

M. Hatch said there were five faculty members they needed to approve to the University Hearing Board. R. Wayne made a motion to approve the five faculty members. S. Matthews seconded the motion. The five faculty members were unanimously approved to the University Hearing Board by a raise of hands.

VII. Report from Standing Committees

a. Campus Planning Committee (UA faculty member-Randy Wayne) - Master Plan meetings

M. Hatch said this was a preliminary report and that the full report would be at the next meeting.

R. Wayne said he has met with the University Planner and with the Campus Planning Committee earlier this month. He was very impressed with the diversity of expert and user opinions that combined to make a visionary future master plan for the campus.

B. Knuth, co-chair of the Campus Planning Committee, gave a presentation providing an overview of the CPC and the UA’s role on the committee. She suggested that the UA change the committee membership to include 2 graduate student members. She said that the UA needed to ensure that the committee members appointed from the various assemblies are relaying information between the committee and their respective assemblies. She said there was an open house and a Campus Planning presentation at the Hilton Garden Inn that day at 5:00 p.m. and another at 7:00 p.m. She suggested the UA members attend if possible.

M. Hatch asked R. Wayne to submit a memo with B. Knuth’s requests regarding the CPC.

Dean Walcott said he wanted to reinforce the suggestion that there should be 2 graduate students on the CPC. M. Hatch said they should address the issue of the graduate students in the next meeting. He said increasing communication between the CPC and the assembly was R. Wayne’s task. He asked that R. Wayne have the CPC submit a formal report with points of interest on which the UA should focus.

E. Sanders said she would like the Campus Planning Committee to make a presentation to the UA regarding the Campus Master Plan. She said she wanted to know if they were addressing preserving and enhancing the natural environment of the campus.

D. Brown said he thought there was a lack of input from many campus departments. He suggested the CPC make department visits to get input on the planning.

R. Wayne suggested that A. Epstein set up a blog online, such as the one used by the Codes and Judicial Committee, to obtain feedback.

A. Epstein said that the campus planning process had been going on for years, that the Campus Planning Committee had already gathered a great deal of information and feedback, and that there were already mechanisms in place to obtain it. He said the real-time display of feedback on the website, such as was done with the CJC feedback blog may not be appropriate in this case.

B. Knuth said that if they were going to discuss these issues they should have Mina, the University Planner, attend the next meeting to answer questions and address their concerns. She said the Master Plan was on schedule to be presented to the Board of Trustees at the January 2008 meeting.

There was a brief discussion about providing a link to the master planning process on the Assemblies website.

b. Transportation Advisory Committee (UA faculty member-Dan Brown) - T-GEIS presentation

D. Brown said the TAC’s first meeting was held on September 19. While they were able to get many things organized, there was sparse attendance. He asked that the various constituencies send more representatives so that they could be fully staffed by the October meeting, elect a chair and start moving on initiatives such as improving transportation in the surrounding towns.

David Lieb, with Transportation Services, said that in late October they would submit a draft of the Transportation Focus Generic Environmental Impact Statement (TGEIS) for review. Afterwards, they would obtain public commentary, which would be incorporated into the final version of the TGEIS. They are going to all of the assemblies to present on their progress and get approval and suggestions on the direction in which they’re heading. He gave a presentation on the purpose of the TGEIS and the 10-Year Transportation Impact Mitigation Strategies.

J. Marwell asked what Transportation Services was doing to encourage and increase van and carpooling. D. Lieb said they’ve recognized the need for carpooling but haven’t focused on addressing it yet. He said that a vanpooling system doesn’t exist despite the need for it. He added they were working with a national company, VPSI, to develop a community-wide vanpooling program.

R. Rodriguez asked what plans were in place for graduate students, since it seemed they weren’t eligible for many of the current programs. D. Lieb said they were going to the administration to request more funding for programs that would help graduate students. They were also working with TCAT to expand its services to address graduate student’s unconventional schedules.

There was a brief discussion on the impact of offering free bus passes to first year students. D. Lieb said that it was easier to observe the impact on freshmen than it was graduate students, since they could track how many freshmen brought cars to campus. He said he was unsure whether the fluctuation in freshmen car numbers was due to the bus passes of to normal fluctuation but that undergraduate commuting was relatively insignificant to traffic. He said faculty and staff commuting was much more significant.

There was a discussion about giving community members options when weather changes made their usual transportation modes more difficult. D. Lieb said that they would need to make the system more flexible to allow individuals to switch modes of transportation more easily, and about putting standards in place to ensure that transportation for community members was adequately considered in Campus Planning.

M. Hatch suggested that D. Brown present a proposal of Transportation Services’ goals so that the UA could more adequately discuss and endorse them.

D. Lieb said they could provide a report of the general goals of Transportation Services. He said they did not yet have specific plans.

There was a discussion about a campus-wide initiative to educate community members about transportation options and sustainability.

M. Hatch thanked Transportation Services and Campus Planning for coming to the UA meeting and reiterated that the various assemblies needed to send representatives to the TAC meetings.

c. Codes and Judicial Committee (UA faculty member-Martin Hatch) - University Open Forum on Campus Code scheduled for October 2, 2007

M. Hatch said there would be an open forum on the Campus Code at Willard Straight Hall in the Memorial room, on October 22, 2007, from 4:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. He asked that the UA review the draft revision of the Campus Code. He said they would vote on the draft revision at an upcoming UA meeting.

M. Hatch said those with objections to the revised draft needed to make these known through the feedback mechanisms that the OA put in place for this purpose, because they need to be part of the public record. He said the revised Campus Code editor, Kevin Clermont, and some other CJC members would attend an upcoming UA meeting to discuss the revised Campus Code draft.

There was a brief discussion on the extent of the differences between the current Campus Code and the proposed revised Campus Code, the best way to compare them, and the importance of using the mechanisms in place to give feedback.

There was a brief discussion on when the next meeting was going to be held. It was agreed that the next meeting would be on October 24, 2007.

R. Wayne asked what would be the most efficient way to ensure that the other assemblies’ liaisons to the various committees reported back to the UA.

M. Hatch said that the UA liaisons to the other assemblies should be reporting committee issues and opinions discussed in their own assembly meetings back to the UA. He said liaisons could add these issues to the agenda at the beginning of each meeting during the call for late additions to the agenda. J. Marwell said if anyone needed to get on the agenda they should email her.

M. Hatch said that it had been decided in an executive meeting, that J. Marwell would be responsible for programming and meeting agendas, R. Orme would be responsible for assisting individuals with resolutions, and that he would be responsible for chairing meetings.

VIII. Adjournment

J. Marwell made a motion to adjourn. R. Wayne seconded the motion. The meeting was adjourned at 6:02 p.m.