ALEX BUCKNAM
Asst. News Editor
SUNY Fredonia numbers have been shrinking in students and staff over the last 12 years. Several actions have been taken to try to combat this. One of them concerns University Senate representatives.
On Feb. 3, it was announced to University Senate body that the executive committee has finished looking for a way to shrink the number of seats in the Senate.
A total of 13 seats are potentially being eliminated, three of which are held by students.
University Senate is currently made up of 60 representatives. Student Association (SA) representatives currently hold seven seats in the Senate to give the student body a voice in the faculty-dominated body: the president, vice president, all four class presidents and an at-large graduate student.
This proposed change will cut down the seats and only give Senate seats to the president, vice president, one at-large undergraduate student and one at-large graduate student.
The SA vice president, Dan Quagliana, did not like the fact that this change was proposed at first.
“I didn’t like the fact that Senate was looking to reduce the number of students who serve on that body when I first saw it,” Quagliana said.
But after some thought, Quagliana noted that the change makes sense.
“Some students who are a part of University Senate do not show up to those meetings. Those students count towards quorum just as the same as the faculty representation,” Quagliana said.
Quorum can have a huge impact on Senate because if they do not have enough present members in attendance, they cannot start meetings.
It’s not just students who don’t show up to the meetings. According to the University Senate chair, Rob Deemer, “We have always had trouble with people not being able to make it.”
However, absences aren’t the direct cause for these changes. Now and then, Senate’s bylaws need to be updated and changed to fit the needs of the university. The last change came in 2012.
The bylaws cover how the Senate operates; this includes how many representatives each on-campus department gets.
Deemer mentioned that these cuts were also to adjust for the number of students and faculty the university has.
In 2012, the student population was 5,214. In 2024, the student population dropped to 2,876.
Deemer explained the potential seat changes by using the U.S.’s House of Representatives as an example. “Every 10 years, they figure out how many representatives you get based on your population,” Deemer said.
Students aren’t the only ones having seats changed.
The School of Music’s seat will be counted as an at-large arts representative.
Seven at-large academic seats will be eliminated as, according to Deemer, “…they’re not from any particular disciplinary area. They’re just academic faculty.”
Two contingent faculty representatives will also lose their seats.
The philosophy department will lose their seats considering there is no longer a philosophy program at Fredonia.
Finally, the communication disorders and social sciences chair will also be cut.
They are adding seats as well as cutting them. According to Deemer, they are looking to add three classified staff as a way for secretaries to be a part of the Senate. “So it’s not just cutting it down, but it’s kind of reconfiguring it.”
According to Deemer, it is important to note that these changes are not finalized and are far from being over.
After everything is finalized, it will get sent out to all senators and they will share it with their constituents.
Once it gets to the ratification stage, every voting faculty member has the chance to vote on it.
According to Deemer, voting faculty refers to people who work for the university, but excludes secretaries.
Updates or concerns about this situation can be discussed with your representative.
Dan Quagliana, who was interviewed for this article, is the Managing Editor of The Leader.