Senate Resolution 1617-03R
UNIVERSITY SENATE
UNIVERSITY AT ALBANY
STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK
RESOLUTION ON STUDENT REPRESENTATION IN GOVERNANCE
Introduced by:
Governance Council
Date:
September 26, 2016
Whereas, the GSA and SA leadership only become aware of advisory groups outside of
governance through the Senate and do not have regular and direct access to administration;
and
Whereas, the selection of student representatives by the administration for service on advisory
groups outside of governance is inconsistent; and
Whereas, administration does not always inform student governments when a student is
selected to serve on advisory groups outside of governance; and
Whereas, student participation on advisory groups outside of governance is critical for gaining
feedback from a student perspective; and
Whereas, communication between student representatives on advisory groups outside of
governance and student government representatives is critical for the continued growth of
student success and engagement; and
Whereas, the students selected by administration without informing the student government
may be underprepared to serve on committees without the structure of student government to
provide resources, institutional knowledge, and support; and
Whereas, the student government has a right to be informed when a student is independently
selected to represent student interests on a committee outside of governance;
Resolved, that the University Senate encourages the administration to utilize the Governance
Council to consult with student governments for student representatives; and
Senate Resolution 1617-03R
Resolved, if there is reason to select student representatives independently, that these
selections should be in addition to at least one representative from student government, and
that the administration should report the name and contact information of those students to
the student representatives on the Governance Council.
Resolved, that the Governance Council should consult with the student government
representatives to write a section for the Senate Handbook on best practices for encouraging
strong and fair student representation at the University at Albany.
Supplemental material:
Article 1, Section 2.65 of the Faculty Bylaws indicates that the Governance Council should be
consulted when the administration constitutes advisory bodies which are outside of
governance. The undergraduate and graduate student governments do not have formal
consultation processes with administration outlined. Access to and knowledge of advisory
bodies outside of governance has primarily occurred through student representation in the
Senate. However, despite this access through the Senate, student representation on advisory
groups outside of governance has been an inconsistent and problematic process. Students are
not always offered seats on these groups, students are selected by administration without
consulting student governments, student governments are sometimes not informed that a
student has been selected, and even when an appropriate process is followed students have
faced an a culture of exclusion.
Key examples from the Graduate Student Association:
Start-Up New York Committee – Graduate student was selected without consulting the GSA and
we not informed of this student’s selection. When the request for faculty nominations came to
the Governance Council it did not request a graduate student. The GSA suggested that if this is
to be a standing committee that the GSA Vice President should be the standing member. This
was when we found out a student had already been asked. When we asked for the GSA VP to
serve instead, we were told that they did not want to ask this student to step down, which we
contended was not a valid argument, and communications on the issue ceased.
Blue Ribbon Panel –
Problem #1: Names were requested from the GSA and 12 names were provided in order of
preference. Top names were ignored. Some names were forwarded to the Governance Council
and the GSA rep on GOV was consulted. Any communication from administration stopped at
that point. The GSA independently checked in with these representatives only to find out that
Senate Resolution 1617-03R
only 1 or 2 students were on the council. The reason given was that a nominated student did
not respond to the initial request. A period of 2 months passed and no other student
representative was asked to serve, no one was GSA was contacted to provide an alternative.
Instead, a seat was left open for the first of the Panel meetings. The GSA tracked down the
originally GOV approved students and secured their commitment to serve and informed
administration. Administration informed the GSA that they had chosen a different student
which was not from the original list provided by the GSA. A graduate student protested this
action at the President’s Forum a few months later and administration claimed that it had
chosen a “GSA rep” but that students only connection to the GSA was brief service on COR a
year before. They were not on the original list, involved in GSA advocacy on graduate student
stipends, nor were they currently active in the GSA. When contacted by the GSA to discuss the
topic of the panel, the student admitted they had little understanding of the issues to be
discussed.
Problem #2:
The student who was approved by the governance process and was included from the
beginning on the Blue Ribbon Panel ultimately had to resign the position because too many of
the meetings were re-scheduled after she had taken time off from work losing wages for those
days. She was not able to accommodate the flexibility that was demanded of her and she was
forced to resign midway interrupting student representation on this panel.
Applied Learning Steering Committee:
When asked if they had student representation on the Applied Learning Steering Committee it
was indicated that an undergraduate soon to be graduate student has been selected.
The Senate Handbook should indicate that being almost a graduate student does not translate
to appropriate graduate student representation. Nor would the reverse be appropriate. Even if a
graduate student was once an undergraduate their representation on a committee should not
be considered to constitute a replacement of undergraduate representation.
Sexual Assault Steering Committee:
No request was made for graduate student representatives last summer. The Just Ask campaign
was formulated without graduate student input and the GSA was informed of the existence of
this committee through the University Council once the committee had already finished its
work.
