MEETING OF
DECEMBER 14, 2001
President
George Rupp, the chairman, called the Senate to order at 1:15 p.m. in Schapiro Engineering Auditorium.
Forty-four of 91 senators were present during the meeting.
Minutes and agenda: The agenda and minutes of
November 16 were adopted as proposed.
President’s report:
—The President expressed a general need for
vigilance about civil liberties in our country, at a time when we can’t even
find out the names of hundreds of people currently incarcerated, and when the
government appears to be wiretapping privileged attorney-client communications,
rounding up as many as 5000 people simply for being Arab or Muslim, and
considering military tribunals to replace regular criminal justice procedures.
More
specifically, the University has been concerned about the kinds of information
it is required to provide to the government, particularly about students. A letter
from the Provost, to be released shortly, will set forth the University’s
responsibilities, both under the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act
(FERPA) and the new Patriot Act.
Columbia
is working closely with its sister institutions in the 63-member American
Association of Universities to protect the rights of students and faculty
against undue intrusion from the federal government in its battle against
terrorism. One provision, already incorporated in pending legislation endorsed
by the AAU, ensures that the government cannot use the databases of
universities to investigate campus personnel with access to potentially
dangerous pathogens and toxins.
A
second effort, pursued through the American Council on Education, is to
circumscribe the kinds of information the federal government can collect about
international students.
A
new bill, now in committee, requires the Justice Department to notify
institutions when their international students have entered the country, and
requires institutions to notify the Immigration and Naturalization Service
within 30 days if a student doesn’t show up. The President considered this
requirement appropriate, and said the other new information institutions would
provide is circumscribed and straightforward—the date and port of entry, the
dates of enrollment and graduation or withdrawal, and the degree program or
field of study.
The
President said such legislation is better than some earlier proposals that
surfaced in Congress, including the idea of a moratorium on all international
students or an outright ban on students from certain countries.
—In the last year the University’s
research expenditures from federal grants increased by 25 percent, from $424
million to $529 million, surpassing Stanford, Penn, and Harvard. Among private
research universities, Columbia is now either second only to Johns Hopkins or
first, if the applied physics lab at Hopkins, with special links to the
Department of Defense, is left out of the calculation.
—Under the auspices of the United
Nations, the Columbia School of Public Health will be administering a global
initiative on mother-to-child AIDS transmission, with expected funding in the
$100 million range from a consortium of foundations. Dean Allan Rosenfield will
be lead investigator.
Sen.
Frank Lichtenberg (Ten., Bus.) asked for comment on doubts expressed by Yale
president Richard Levin about Early Decision in admissions in a recent New York Times article. The President
amplified comments he had made for the same article, saying that appropriate
use of Early Decision benefits both the institution and applicants who know
they want to go there, and Columbia will continue its Early Decision program,
though it is also participating in talks among Ivy schools about how to correct
possible abuses.
Early
Decision can help a college shape a class, the President said: knowing, for
example, that one accomplished tuba player is definitely enrolling means the
school does not have to admit two or three of them to be sure one is coming. More
importantly, it is a vital sign for an institution to have students who want to
be there more than anywhere else. The President said he had just seen a draft
of a thoughtful and hard-hitting op-ed piece on this issue by Prof. Hilary
Ballon, chair of the Columbia College Committee on Admissions and Financial
Aid.
Asked
by Sen. Roosevelt Montas (Stu., GSAS/Hum.) how Columbia will address impending
cuts in state aid, the President said the University will honor its commitments
in financial aid, but a loss of state aid would put more stress on other
resources.
One
senator asked if the institutional ranking of research expenditures includes
grants listed under nearby hospitals that should perhaps be included in
Harvard’s totals. The President said he didn’t know.
Sen.
Stephanie Neuman (Res. Stf.) asked if Columbia is involved in current
discussions among research institutions about the participation of non-citizens
in research projects.
Howard
Jacobson, the parliamentarian, said the newly enacted USA Patriot Act excludes
some convicted criminals and citizens of certain countries from participation
in research involving particular biological agents. The President said the
University community will be kept up to date on relevant implementation
regulations of the new legislation.
Nominations to committees: Sen. Paul Duby, chairman of
the Executive Committee, said the nontenured caucus had nominated Sen. Carol
Kunzel (SDOS) as successor on the Executive Committee to Sen. Pamela Flood
(HS). The Senate voted unanimously to approve the nomination. There was also no
objection to a list of other new committee assignments distributed at the door.
Report of the Executive
Committee chairman: Sen. Duby summarized the business of the December 10 Executive
Committee meeting, including further discussion of hearings on unionization of
student teachers that are planned for January 30 and February 6 and a lively
discussion of a resolution on budget transparency that Budget Review would be
presenting later in the meeting.
—Trustee relations: At the December 1 meeting of
the Trustees, Sens. Duby and Montas had learned that Columbia’s next president,
Lee Bollinger, will resign his position at Michigan effective January 1, and
will spend a good deal of time at Columbia during the spring, when he will make
contact with administrators, faculty, and students.
At
Sen. Duby’s request, Senate Education Committee chairman Letty Moss-Salentijn
(Ten., SDOS) briefly reported on the November 30 meeting of the Trustees’
education committee, which she had attended with Sen. Tamar Simon (Stu., CC).
The main agenda item was a report from Executive Vice Provost Michael Crow, who
provided a hands-on demonstration of new media initiatives at Columbia,
including the work of the Center for New Media Teaching and Learning, Columbia
Interactive, and Fathom.com. Sen. Salentijn’s own regular remarks to the
Trustee committee had summarized the recent report of the Senate Commission of
the Status of Women. Several Trustees had asked questions about the Commission
report, which will be a discussion topic at a later Trustee committee meeting.
Sen.
Duby also mentioned the breakfast with students that some Trustees hold during
their quarterly meetings. On November 30, the Trustee group met with some
international students, who reported that they feel safe and supported in the
Columbia community in the difficult aftermath of September 11.
Sen.
Duby said the chairman of the Trustees’ new committee on digital media also
reported to the full board.
The
main presentation at the board meeting was from Vice President Gerald Fischbach
on the need at Health Sciences for more physical space and on the possibilities
for seeking new space together with Morningside science programs.
On
another matter of Trustee relations, Sen. Duby said that, contrary to his
understanding back in September, there will be nominations this year for a new
Senate-consulted Trustee. A nominating subcommittee will meet with its Trustee
counterpart in January. Sen. Duby asked senators to submit suggestions.
Finally,
Sen. Duby noted the departure of Senate staff member Debra Elfenbein to work as
an archivist for the American Dance Festival at Duke University in Durham, NC.
He praised her contribution to the work of the Senate since her arrival in the
fall of 1998.
New business:
—Progress report from the Advisory Committee on
Socially Responsible Investing: The chairman, Prof. Harvey Goldschmid of the
Law School, said the advisory committee was formed in March 2000 to advise the Trustees
on moral issues Columbia faces as an investor. The 12-member panel, staffed by
Ivan Gonzalez of the Secretary’s Office, had a demanding and fruitful year in
2000-01, which is reviewed in an annual report last September that was
distributed at the door for the present meeting. The committee established a
good relationship with the Trustees, who agreed with 17 of 19 recommendations
from the advisory committee on shareholder resolutions.
Sen.
Carlos Munoz (Alum.) noticed that one divergence of opinion with the Trustees
involved a resolution by shareholders at Citigroup linking executive pay with
social criteria, but the Trustees agreed with similar resolutions in two other
cases. What was the difference?
In
the case of the Citigroup resolution, Prof. Goldschmid said, the Trustees did
not take a position contrary to the one recommended by his committee, but chose
to abstain. Prof. Goldschmid said he could not divulge confidential
deliberations of his committee, but he could report his own vote, which was in
favor of the Citigroup shareholder resolution, because he thought the company
had been hard-headed and disdainful.
Sen.
Lichtenberg asked what measure the committee would use to evaluate shareholder
resolutions on pharmaceutical pricing. Prof. Goldschmid said the main test for
such resolutions, which mainly involve pricing in the third world, would be
their consistency with the company’s long-term profitability. He added that
these are tough issues, on which good minds can differ. Interestingly, the
committee seldom differed with the Trustees.
The
President thanked Prof. Goldschmid again for his work.
The Provost’s annual letter
to the Senate: The Provost summarized his annual letter, which was shorter than in
years past. He listed 10 main initiatives on his agenda this year.
—The Senate Education Committee is
now reviewing a proposal to turn the Division of Special Programs and
Continuing Education into a School and academic department. Columbia is now
competing with richer rivals, and urgently needs revenues for its core academic
enterprise. NYU’s continuing education division program brings in more than
$100 million a year, about half of which can be redirected to other programs.
—The Provost’s Office will be
looking for opportunities to link physical planning now underway at
Morningside, particularly for the sciences, with excellent planning that Vice
President Fischbach is now conducting at Health Sciences.
—This year 45–50 tenure reviews will
take place, somewhat fewer than in recent years. One of the most important
functions of the Provost’s office is to demand the highest quality of its
tenure applicants, befitting one of the world’s foremost institutions.
—The shortage of available physical
space, perhaps even more seriously than Columbia’s limited endowment compared
to its main rivals, may be the crucial limit on the potential greatness of the
institution. Columbia cannot expect to continue the gains the President
announced in research expenditures without more space. The problem is serious
not only in the sciences, but in every major academic program. New thinking
about how to extend Columbia’s space in the future is critical.
—An enormous amount of work is under way in digital media. The Provost
urged senators to click on the Columbia Interactive button on the University
homepage. With some 600 courses for free and on line, Columbia is way ahead of
MIT, whose innovations have gotten some attention, but which is just getting
its first courses up. More important than this competition is the quality of
the new digital media initiatives.
—The Provost repeated his earlier praise for the recent report of the
Commission on the Status of Women. He also amplified his observation that the
report should be set in the context of a great deal of work that has been done
over the last 30 years on women’s progress in academe. A National Research
Council report on similar issues has just come out. He hoped to work with the
Commission in the months ahead to begin implementing its recommendations.
—A limited supply of housing continues to inhibit Columbia’s ability to
recruit and retain top faculty and students. An aggressive effort is under way
to expand the supply. There will be faculty housing at 110th Street,
above the planned Columbia School for Children, an apartment building on 103
Street, and additional housing resulting from current negotiations with a
number of local developers.
—Ground has been broken for the School for Children, and planning is
continuing on a number of features of the School, including financial aid.
—James Neal, an extraordinary new force, has joined Columbia as
University Librarian and Vice President for Information Services. Recap, the
joint offsite storage venture that Columbia has undertaken with Princeton and
the New York Public Library, will open by early February.
—Monitoring the rights of human subjects in research is an essential
effort. Recently a number of research projects at Penn and Johns Hopkins have
been cited for failing to provide adequate safeguards for human subjects. At
Columbia attention to human subjects has long been systematically provided at
Health Sciences, but not as much at Morningside. This imbalance will be
rectified.
Sen. Robert Pollack (Ten., A&S/Nat. Sci.) asked
if the Columbia School’s special partnership with Bronx Science High School
might give Science students an unfair advantage over students from other
schools in applying to Columbia.
The Provost said the relationship with Science is
one way to expand opportunities (and applications to Columbia) for talented
young scientists. Columbia also has a relationship with Morris High School, and
is not averse to developing science partnerships with other high schools as
well.
Sen. Pollack asked whether Columbia’s health
services could provide emergency services to the surrounding community on a
large scale in the event of a health emergency like a major anthrax attack.
The Provost said the School of Public Health had
provided a significant public service during the last scare. The President
underscored this point, and added that Columbia health services were strained
to the limit taking care of Columbia students, faculty, and staff, and would be
unable to take on the burden of providing major services to the surrounding
community. Instead, Columbia would have to rely on St. Luke’s Hospital in a
major emergency.
Sens. Debra Wolgemuth (Ten., HS) asked about the
distribution and organization of Institutional Review Boards, which monitor the
treatment of human subjects in research projects, between the Morningside and
Health Sciences campuses.
The Provost said there are several IRBs uptown and
one downtown, but they are now administratively based uptown. He said there
might be a need to expand reviews of research at the Morningside campus.
Sen. Mary Clare Lennon (NT, PH) said IRBs uptown are
generally not suited to oversee the research of social scientists based at the
uptown campus. Such research might be better reviewed by another kind of IRB
downtown. The Provost said this idea was worth considering.
Sen. Moss-Salentijn asked if educational research
now requires IRB approval. The Provost said policies on what kinds of research
need to be reviewed in this way need to be clarified, and the review process needs
to be expedited.
Sen. Montas asked about the feasibility of restoring
the seven-ton granite ball that once rested on the spot at the center of campus
where the Sundial is now.
The Provost expressed little enthusiasm for this
idea, which has been reviewed unfavorably by the Art Properties Committee.
Bringing the ball back would be costly, and would disrupt another tradition at
that location—of the Sundial as a center for speakers of all kinds. In response
to a question from Sen. Aggarwala, the Provost also doubted that it would be
worth restoring the granite ball at another location on campus.
—Resolution Seeking Greater
Budget Transparency (Budget Review): Sen. William Blaner (Ten., HS), chairman of
Budget Review, presented a revised version of the resolution, which his
committee had approved earlier that day.
President Rupp commended the committee on its
further work, which had produced a more implementable resolution than the
previous version.
The Senate then approved the resolution without
dissent.
The President adjourned the meeting at around 2:30
p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Tom Mathewson, Senate staff