The Faculty Senate on Tuesday unanimously approved a resolution recommending that all full-time faculty members be provided with a minimal level of computer hardware, software and support-that which is available to students through the iConnect@UB initiative.

The resolution, drafted by the senate's Computer Services Committee and presented by committee Chair Lorna Peterson, associate professor of library and information studies, also suggests that a four-year replacement cycle be instituted for faculty equipment.

"Support for faculty computer use should be clearly organized among CIT, the academic nodes, the libraries and the Educational Technology Center," the resolution states. "This structure of support and the various services should be clearly communicated to faculty."

In introducing the resolution for a second reading and vote by the senate, Peterson pointed out that the impetus for developing the recommendation came from Chief Information Officer Voldemar Innus, who had requested help in determining a baseline standard for computer support for faculty members.

Dennis Malone, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, acknowledged he was playing the role of "devil's advocate" in suggesting that since computers are "something that are extremely useful to us all," faculty perhaps should pay for their own computers. "I just don't see that the case has been made that the university ought to supply or pay for the equipment," he said.

Peterson said that information technology has been integrated into life at UB. "If students are to have access and the curriculum is based in technology and the use of technology, then faculty should have access to the technology as well," she said.

"Maybe we should buy our own phones, our own chairs, our own desks, our own chalk," she suggested.

Samuel Schack, professor and chair of the Department of Mathematics, noted there are tools that faculty use in their work that are mandatory and tools that are optional-items that the university provides, such as an office, and items that faculty must provide, like individual books for research and travel funds.

"But some things are vital," Schack said. "To the extent that the university tries more and more to integrate computers into the education of each student, and tries to standardize what the students are supposed to have, then I think it will not be an effective program if they don't, at the same time, do it for faculty."

Peterson pointed out that when other universities have done this type of initiative, they have started first with faculty. "We're actually doing it backwards," she said.

In other business, senators reviewed for the first time a proposal from the senate's Grading Committee to give students who have withdrawn from the university after poor performance an "academic second chance" at UB.

The new policy would replace the current "fresh start" policy, said committee chair William Baumer, professor of philosophy, noting there have been concerns about conflicts with the current procedures.

Under the new plan, any student whose initial study for a bachelor's degree at UB was unsuccessful due to poor grades or uncompleted courses may petition for an "academic second chance" and readmission to the university. The student must provide evidence of "significantly improved ability to pursue baccalaureate study successfully."

Once readmitted to UB, no course the student attempted during his or her initial study at UB, regardless of the grade received, would count toward satisfying requirements for a degree.

Baumer said that he wanted to name the policy "academic bankruptcy," but faced some objections concerning that label within the committee.

The idea behind labeling the policy as such, he said, was that, in effect, the student was declaring bankruptcy with regard to that initial effort, "and saying, 'yes, I've got more liabilities than assets, and I really wish that the court would bail me out and let me start over.'"

"The central thesis here is that the student who has botched his or her first year or so of study—ought to have the opportunity to come back and do it over and start fresh without that horseshoe around his neck or her neck," he said.

"This is a complete write-off of the previous study-there's no picking or choosing here. If you decide you want to go this route, all of your previous study goes, effectively, in the trash can."

The previous coursework does stay on the record, however. The committee believes an academic transcript ought to be "full and complete," Baumer said.

The proposal states that students petitioning for an academic second chance must supply evidence to indicate they can successfully pursue their studies. Such evidence may include successful study at another post-secondary institution, work experience, full-time voluntary service with a charitable organization or honorable military service.

Students must provide the evidence to a university committee. That committee would have at least two-thirds of its members approved by the FSEC to ensure the faculty has control determining "who gets back in and who does not," Baumer said.

He warned that students only get one academic second chance. "There are no second second chances," he said.