Entrance to One Pace Plaza
New York Faculty Council

Nominations & Resolutions

For March 3, 2008 meeting:

Resolution Regarding the Role of The Faculty Council Curriculum Committee

Whereas, section 1.32 of the 1986 Faculty Handbook states:

“It is University policy to support in general the "Statement on Governance of Colleges and Universities" jointly formulated by the American Association of University Professors, the American Council on Education and the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges.”

Whereas, the AAUP policy on faculty governance states:

“The faculty has primary responsibility for such fundamental areas as curriculum, subject matter and methods of instruction, research, faculty status, and those aspects of student life which relate to the educational process. On these matters the power of review or final decision lodged in the governing board or delegated by it to the president should be exercised adversely only in exceptional circumstances, and for reasons communicated to the faculty.”

Whereas, the New York Faculty Council Constitution states that two of five specific functions of the Curriculum Committee are to:

  • Review and approve any changes in course offerings which cause significant change in the requirements of an existing program, and
  • Review and approve deletions of major and minor programs

Now Therefore Be It Resolved That

All academic programs being considered for removal by the University administration, either permanently or temporarily, should be brought to the New York Faculty Council for review by the Curriculum Committee. In cases where proposals for eliminating programs are precipitated by “exceptional circumstances”, a written document describing those circumstances should be presented to the Council.

Further, it has come to the attention of the Faculty Council Curriculum Committees that in the last couple of years a number of majors have been suspended, such as the adolescent education major and all other undergraduate education majors on the New York City campus in the School of Education and the Physics major on the Pleasantville campus in the Dyson School. These changes must be reviewed and written explanations for their suspension be presented to the Faculty Council Curriculum Committees and the Faculty Councils.