Remarks of Chair, Professor Rishi S. Raj

Plenary Session, CCNY Faculty Senate Meeting

Faculty Senate Meeting, February 17, 2011

Today we are opening into a very important session of the Senate and I open it with the words of a noted author, orator, abolitionist and father of the Modern Civil Rights Movement Frederick Douglass, going back to 1847.

  • Right is of no gender
  • Truth is of no color
  • And we are all one, the children of the same God
  • We stand tall today on the backs of those who came before us
  • Those who do not know their past will not, their future. Feeling the vibrations of utterance of these words, saying them with voice from my mouth, I feel strengthened and I believe so are you to listen to these words. I also feel privileged to serve the Senate and this Institution.

With these words, I am pleased along with the entire community of CityCollegeto dedicate this session of the Faculty Senate to the celebration of Black History Month. Measured on any scale, a historic milestone has been achieved in the struggle for justice and equality.

The Faculty Senate salutes all our African-American colleagues at all levels for their significant contributions to the advancement of The City College for which we are grateful.

I have asked the previous administration several times and today I ask again the present administration to implement the recommendations of the Minority Task Force of GSOE. The Senate will keep on asking and will be persistent until it is done.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Ignorance about each other, unnecessary suspiciousness, misjudgment, using foul words in communication, hatred and false ego are trademarks of decline and reflect poor knowledge and lack of education on the part of the society. It can only be eradicated through Education and knowledge. About the same time when Frederick Douglass wrote those words, the foundation of the CityCollege was being laid to educate the Children of all the people. It was similar to the idea of common school of Thomas Jefferson and other founding leaders who once said, “that an educational system that offered equality of opportunity would avail the common-wealth of those talents and virtue which nature has sown as liberally among the poor, as the rich.” President Lincoln subscribed to these same ideas. What a great vision the founders of this great institution had at that time.

This has clearly been demonstrated through the paintings of murals of great prophets and philosophers at the entrance to the office of our past presidents where Confucius, Rama, Zoraster, Buddha, Krishna, Abraham, are on the left and Moses, Hermes, Paul, Socrates, Orpheus, Plato are on the right.

No where in the world one can observe such a degree of humility, humbleness and the spirit of reverence given to such great souls in the educational institution as at The City College.

We at the Senate are so fortunate to be operating from this space under the shadow of such great souls and carrying out a responsibility of higher level of sensitivity and humility to our colleagues than at any other place. If no one else, Senate will always be there to help and attend to concerns of all our colleagues, students and even administrators.

As far as the College and CUNY business concerns, which can affect us here at City, the following may be of interest to you:

  • BOT Committee on Academic Policy, program and research on January 31, 2011 approved resolution on establishing theNewCommunity College effective March 1, 2011 subject to financial ability. The College will have 3000 students and 12 majors.
  • Letter of Intent to award Doctorate of Nursing Practice at HunterCollege was approved
  • CUNY’s Office of Academic Affairs has proposed a draft resolution on student transfer, general education credits policy etc. which is a subject of intense discussion at the UFS. This draft resolution presents serious challenges to our College
  • CUNY’s Task Force to replace CUNY Proficiency Exam which has been eliminated is still working to find a replacement test.
  • CUNY’s total enrollment has touched around 260K and it is at City ~15,455. These results may not sustain in the coming years.
  • Finally there will be (as per UFS) a short fall of approximately 45 million to senior colleges in the academic 2012 year.

On the College front:

  • There was a recent presentation in the Review committee on Digital Measures Electronic CV’s. Questions arose on the accuracy of the data recorded. It was felt to make necessary changes in the operation methods for proper functioning of the system.
  • There will be two conferences on Immigration organized by the School of Education and the Office of Student Affairs.

The Senate Executive Committee also met on February 10, 2011 and discussed many issues relating to College matters:

  • It was found necessary to make some changes in the membership of the Provost Search Committee.
  • Workload-Release Time, Ad-Hoc Committee plans for this semester and changes to its membership due to recent administrative appointments were discussed.
  • School of Architecture Policy on Entrance to the building is not helpful to faculty and students.
  • There is a continued decline in African-American students at City. President will hire a consulting firm to understand the reasons of this decline and how to reverse this trend. If this situation is not handled sooner, the College may loose its minority status to participate in federal grants and contracts as a minority institution.
  • The Executive Committee also approved the selection of candidates recommended for honorary degrees by the Honorary Degree Committee.
  • The Executive committee took note of suggestions by the College counsel regarding keeping minutes of public bodies.
  • The Executive Committee also discussed CUNY’s OAA’s transfer and general education proposed resolution
  • Ombudsperson Professor Gallagher identified matters of Governance which will be presented in the Senate’s April meeting.
  • Memorial service to Professor Bernard Sohmer was very well attended and everyone spoke very well. I represented the Executive Committee and the Senate. All participants paid high tribute to Bernie’s legacy.

Finally, I want to report that due to Professor’s Josh Wilner’s appointment as Senior Advisor to Provost and President on matters relating to undergraduate education he has requested to be relieved from his position as Executive Committee member in the Senate. The Senate shall be issuing a request for nominations and the election will be conducted in the March Plenary session. I as Chair of Senate and on behalf of the Executive committee of the Senate take this special moment to thank Josh for his very valuable contribution to the Senate and we shall keep seeking his advice on matters of mutual interest.

Some of the other issues which concern the Executive Committee and have been taken up in the past are as follows:

  • Although we have become a Ph.D institution, no guidelines exist as to who can mentor Ph.D. candidates. There are many other unanswered questions relating to maintaining the standards and record keeping.
  • The Executive Committee is concerned about continued tuition increase for students
  • There are space issues relating to research expansion at the College
  • Maintenance and proper functioning of escalators and elevators in NAC and ScienceBuilding
  • Implementation of earlier Senate resolutions such as strengthening of evening sessions, faculty parking and fees, and also GSOE Minority Task Force recommendations
  • Improving services and accountability for student servicesand welfare.
  • We still need to call the PAC meetings to meet our College Governance obligations

If we get to strengthen the functioning and performance of our College we must put our thought, conclusions to action. I am sure we shall be achieving that in the future days to come.

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