Syracuse University aims to increase its research spending by 36% in eight years, according to a budget proposal presented at the University Senate’s final meeting of the semester on Wednesday.

SU hopes to spend $200 million on research by 2026, a senator on the Budget and Fiscal Affairs Committee said at the meeting. The university spent $147 million on research in 2018.

Thirty-three Signature Hires and 53 Cluster Hires are currently underway. SU plans to hire approximately 200 new faculty under the umbrella of those two hiring initiatives, which were announced over the last two years. Both initiatives aim to strengthen the university’s research.

The Budget and Fiscal Affairs Committee recommended “strongly” that SU’s expansion of faculty is matched by necessary staff, space and equipment support. The recommendation emphasized the necessity of those resources to attracting and retaining faculty who would be hired through the initiatives. SU’s doctoral conferrals and postdoctoral researcher numbers lag behind its peer institutions, according to a report presented by the committee.

The university’s endowment also increased to $1.38 billion in the last fiscal year, versus $1.2 billion in 2017.

SU spent $77.5 million on athletics in 2018, which accounted for more than 5% of SU’s expenditures. Schools and colleges funded $19 million worth of athletic scholarships through the undergraduate blended student aid, which accounted for 2.7% of all undergraduate tuition aid.

A member of the Committee on Budget and Fiscal Affairs said there will be no changes to distribution of tuition under the current budget proposal, but the matter is still under consideration, and it will be brought up in the fall. Current distribution gives 75% of tuition to the college of instruction and 25% to the college of enrollment.

Senator Mark Rupert, a professor in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, presented findings from a committee created to update the SU first-year experience, including the mandatory five-week seminar SEM 100 that focuses on issues of diversity and inclusion.

There were multiple concerns raised by the committee about the first-year experience — including whether there should be a “universal” experience and concerns about the staffing of SEM 100. Committee members disagreed about the proposal, and a survey found that just more than 40 percent of the first-year experience committee was skeptical moving forward with the proposal, Rupert said.

“There’s not a narrow path through that will make everything happen,” Chris Johnson, associate provost for academic affairs, said when asked how the committee’s concerns will be addressed.

USen also discussed the possibility of changing the name of the Committee for Diversity to the Committee on Race and Ethnicity, as well as changing its charge, which resulted in blowback from several senators.

The renamed committee would be charged with addressing issues of race and ethnicity, as well as associated intersectionalities related to traditionally underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, a member of the bylaws committee said.

Diane Lyden Murphy, dean of the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, said SU has worked for years on disability issues. She said renaming the Committee for Diversity would eliminate disability from its charge, which she said was unacceptable.

“This is against everything we’ve worked toward,” Murphy said.

The senator who presented the renaming motion said there should be a committee on “-isms,” and that the committee should not isolate different aspects of identity, as they intersect.

There is currently a committee on women’s concerns, as well as one on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered concerns, but no committee for concerns of people with disabilities. One senator asked where disability concerns will fall under the committee structure of USen.

The same senator asked why the Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Concerns referred to transgender people as “transgendered.” The presenter said it was the language that was previously written.

The committee renaming motion was tabled until the fall semester. Later in the meeting, Senator Obi Afriyie, a graduate student, said he was disappointed in the Senate’s decision to table the discussion. He said the parliamentary system — which governs how the University Senate, Student Association and other university governance systems operate — should not protect systems of oppression.

“When it comes to issues like this that are just problematic, we don’t have the time to wait a semester,” Afriyie said.

Other business

• The Senate approved a motion to amend the faculty manual to change its preface to match another section’s definition of faculty. The amended manual will also add adjunct professors to a list of positions that receive academic freedom.

• S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications Dean Lorraine Branham was posthumously awarded the status of Dean Emerita.

• Vice Chancellor and Provost Michele Wheatly asked the Senate to bring staff grievances to the appropriate committee and review the process and best practices for improvement, as well as provide a recommendation.

Published on April 17, 2019 at 11:14 pm

Contact Kennedy: krose100@syr.edu | @KennedyRose001