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I Presidential by lay Rosen Editor in Chief new procedures; and the Chancellor will select a three-man team of university presidents from outside SUNY to visit the campus and prepare an evaluation - a procedure similar to the Middle States accrediting team. The official role of faculty, student and SUNY staff representatives in the evaluation of SUNY Presidents is on the verge ct being eliminated, The Spectrum learned Monday. Should University President Robert L. Ketter decide to seek re-appointment next fall, he may be evaluated under an entirely new set of procedures to be announced next week as part of a special SUNY study. evaluation pl?m may kill University The President 'will prepare his own “statement of stewardship and conditions of the campus” which for the first time will be a public document. The final change is that the time period for completing the evaluation will be shortened from one year to a semester. The College Council, as it did under the old guidelines, will submit its recommendation on denial or affirmation of re-appointment; but the new procedures will eliminate the constituency-based committee upon which the Council’s decision was previously based. The proposed changes come as the current procedures wind down their first five-year cycle, meaning that all SUNY Presidents serving at the time of their adoption in 1974 have either gone through the evaluation and won re-appointment, resigned or retired. No president has ever been denied re-appointment. Critical changes recommended by a subcommittee of the SUNY Council of Presidents will be submitted to Chancellor Clifton R. Wharton May 7, then to the SUNY Board of Trustees for final approval. The new procedures will eliminate the five-member constituency-based committee that would have evaluated /Ketier's performance over the last five years. That committee includes representatives from the Faculty Senate, Student Senate, Professional Staff Senate, the Administration and the College Council. Trustees request According to SUNY Campus Liason Murray Block, next fall would be an ideal time to implement any changes in the procedures since it —continued on pm 2— input Council assumes role The College Council will conduct the local evaluation under the Wednesday The SpiCT m Vol. 29, No. 86 / SUNY at Buffalo / 2 May 1979 Puts ‘skunk on table’ Gen Ed Committee addresses authority, course load concerns by Kathleen McDonough said the three have responsibility for appointing new members to the Committee, the exact heirarchy seemed vague. After acknowledging the difficulty of answfering to “three masters,” Pannill decided to “put the skunk on the table.” Pannill said himself, Carver and Bunn have received the Gen Ed Committee’s program simultaneously, noting that he did not see the program until it was presented to the Faculty Senate’s Executive Committee in March. Pannill left in the middle of that presentation, unwilling to comment on a program he had not read. Campus Editor The General Education Committee, meeting in the shadow of a looming October deadline, hoped to fill a month-long gap in membership at its Monday meeting. The meeting also shed light on the relationship between the Committee and its overseers, somewhat ' easing tensions and initiating strategies for the future of a General Education program at UB. Not discriminatory The underlying question is whether the Dean of Undergraduate Education (DUE) John Peradotto will command authority of all undergraduate education including Sciences or be a member of a Pannill-Bunn proposed Council of Undergraduate Education. Peradotto would report directly to University President Robert L. Ketter if he were solely responsible for undergraduate education, but if the proposed Council is approved by Ketter, he would report to the two Vice Presidents. Ketter has not yet announced his decision. Based on the administrators who originally cieated the Committee, it would be expected to report to Chairman of the Faculty Senate Newton Carver, Vice President for Academic Affairs Ronald F. Bunn and Vice President for Health Sciences F. Carter Pannill. Although Bunn Former Chairman of the Genera) Education Committee Norman Baker assured Pannill that the delay “was not discriminatory.” The Committee, he said, was pressed for time and short of secretarial help necessary for preparing drafts of the program. But Baker said he would have reported on an interim basis, “had anybody asked me to.” Pannill explained that he was not challenging the integrity of the Committee, and that he found the program to be acceptable. Pannill emphasized that he wanted news of the program’s progress to reach all three, but said “If you want it to be a Faculty Senate Committee, that’s fine.” what emerged as a sensitive subject during the Faculty Senate’s discussion of the program - easing course requirements for academic units which have strict accreditation requirements. At this University, the School of Engineering and most departments in the Health Sciences must conform to set guidelines in order to be accredited by a national board. These disciplines have expressed concern that the present setup - eleven courses spread across six knowledge areas outside a student’s major - would eat up a student’s electives or even cut into the required courses. School of Engineering. Chairman of Engineering Sciences Robert Springer, who resigned from the Committee last Fall over philosophical differences, highlighted some of these constraints. Springer said that a recent accrediting team criticized the School for not mandating enough technical courses. Currently, Springer said, the UB School offers more room for electives (24 credit hours), thin most across the country. He noted that individual department chaingen within the School agree that there is no room for General Education courses and tend to view the academic quality of the program as relatively low. At this point, Bunn suggested that the channels' of communication be kept open between the offices of the two Vice Presidents and the Faculty Senate. He mentioned that he has a “liason” on the Committee who keeps him informed of proceedings and suggested that Pannill do the same. In addition, Bunn said, thfe three should meet regularly with the new, as yet unnamed. Chairman of the General Education Committee. Minutes of the Committee’s proceedings will also be sent to each of the .three after every meeting. Committee member Norman Solkoff emphasized that the program is “broad enough to handle” these concerns. The program can accomplish two goals, he said, accommodating the needs of units with strict requirements and, at the same time, “not compromising the aims of General Education.” The School which has been most vocal in its opposition to the Gen Ed requirements is the Financial implications Bunn questioned Springer as to whether Engineering could make room for additional courses if the quality of a Gen Ed program was considered ' high. Springer responded, “If people felt we could find more room .. .then there would be another question. Accreditation confrontation The meeting then turned to —continued on page 14— Inside: Higher ed. power plays— P. 5 / Karen Silkwood case—P. 9 / Middle-east scholars— P. 12 / Superstar event— P, 16
