- This meeting has passed.
Feb 21st
1:00 pm
Agenda Distributed On
Friday, February 14th 2025
RUTGERS UNIVERSITY SENATE
MEETING AGENDA
Friday, February 21, 2025, 1:10 p.m. via Zoom
https://rutgers.zoom.us/j/94226017684?pwd=RTJYUzFDbWp4M3dqSGRnVnNCV1Rwdz09
CALL TO ORDER, DETERMINATION OF A QUORUM, AND CHAIR’S REPORT – Lucille Foster, Chair
REPORT OF THE SECRETARY – Vicki Hewitt, Senate Executive Secretary
- Approval of the Agenda* (including time limits)
- Approval of the January 24, 2025 Meeting Minutes
- Approval of the January 31, 2025 Special Meeting Minutes
- Policy Update
- Communications
- Entitlement memos sent out in January
- Budget Town Hall: Thu. March 13 from 1:00 – 2:30 p.m.
- Executive Committee Vacancy – Student Representative, Camden
- Reminder to log in to the Senate website for attendance and voting access
USGC Draft Open Letter to the EC – James Boucher and Wendy Purcell, USGC Co-Chairs (1:20 – 1:25 p.m.)
Follow-Up on Resolution on Camden Town Hall – David Salas-de la Cruz, Camden At-Large, Faculty (1:25 – 1:35 p.m.)
SPECIAL ELECTION FOR FEDERAL GRANT FUNDING FREEZE REPRESENTATIVES (1:35 – 1:45 p.m.)
Voting Access Link: https://senate.rutgers.edu/election/federal-grant-funding-freeze-representatives/
Slate of Nominees and Candidate Statements: https://senate.rutgers.edu/special-election-for-federal-grant-funding-freeze-representatives/
COMMITTEE REPORTS/RESOLUTIONS: The report will be presented/summarized by the committee chair, then will be discussed, and acted upon by the Senate. Substantive amendments to these reports should be given to the Senate secretary in writing prior to or at the time the amendment is moved.
Instruction, Curricula, and Advising Committee (1:45 – 1:55 p.m.)
Natalie Borisovets and Taryn Cooper, Co-Chairs
Report on S-2301-1: Science Communication Efforts at Rutgers University
The committee was charged as follows:
Review efforts in science communication initiatives across the University and provide recommendations for any measures and limitations to raise awareness of the current limitations in the field of science communication across the entire Rutgers research community.
Information Technology Committee (1:55 – 2:05 p.m.)
Katie Anderson and Timothy Knievel, Co-Chairs
Report on S-2325: Explore the Current Virtual Senate Meeting Format and Develop Best Practices and Meeting Format Recommendations
The committee was charged as follows:
Review the existing Senate meeting format and existing Senate Handbook meeting procedures and develop recommendations in support of virtual meetings.
OLD BUSINESS
Ad Hoc Committee on Review of the University Senate’s Governance Documents and Formulation of University Senate Bylaws and University Structure and Governance Committee (2:05 – 2:20 p.m.)
Draft Article IV (Information Only)
The committee was charged as follows:
Review the existing governance documents of the University Senate, including University policies, past Senate reports, and the Senate Handbook. Develop Bylaws for the University Senate consistent with Robert’s Rules of Order.
RESOLUTION ON CHAT SETTINGS DURING SENATE MEETINGS – Submitted by Senator Troy Shinbrot, School of Engineering, Faculty (2:20 – 2:25 p.m.)
NEW BUSINESS** (2:25 – 2:35 p.m.)
SENATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT – Adrienne Esposito, Senate Vice Chair (2:35 – 2:40 p.m.)
REPORTS OF THE REPRESENTATIVES TO BOARDS OF GOVERNORS AND TRUSTEES (2:40 – 2:50 p.m.)
REPORTS OF CAMPUS FACULTY AND STUDENT LIAISONS (2:50 – 3:00 p.m.)
ADJOURNMENT
*Note: Addition of items to the Agenda requires a two-thirds vote (Senate Handbook, Article III, Agenda). There is an overall time limit of 3 hours for Senate meetings. Specific time limits are set for questions and debate, not for presentation of reports (Senate Handbook, Article III, Procedures). After approval, extension of time limits requires a two-thirds vote.
**Note: The Senate Handbook, Article IV, 1 states, “All new matters shall be referred to committee before coming to the Senate (unless extenuating circumstances apply, as indicated in Article III, Agenda, 3 above).”]
Remaining 2024-25 University Senate Meetings
All meetings are on Zoom
March 28, 2025
April 25, 2025- Organizational Meeting of the 2025-2026 Senate
April 25, 2025 – Last Meeting of the 2024-2025 Senate
RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY
UNIVERSITY SENATE
MINUTES: Regular Meeting of the University Senate
DATE: February 21, 2025
TIME AND PLACE: 1:10 p.m., Remote via Zoom
MEMBERS PRESENT: Abdelfattah, Allen, Anderson, Apel, Ardeshna, Askew, Axelsson, Baker, Bhuyan, Boikess, Borie-Holtz, Borisovets, Boucher, Boxer, Bridgeman, Brown, Cafiero, Carney-Waterton, Chiricolo, Clarke, Collick, Curchitser, Dane, Davis, DeMatteo, DiGiovanni, Diaz-Tena, Dock, Easley, Eastman, Ebert, Esposito, Everts, Fatahzadeh, Fenker, Figueira, Foster, Friedman, Fulton, Giraud, Godoy, Grachan, Graham, Granadeiro, Green-Mercado, Gurbuzbalaban, Gursoy, Haberl, Haley, Haviland, Henderson, Hoffman, Horan, Izhar, Jaber, Javanmard, Johnson, Kamen, Kaplan, Kayyal, Keates, Kettle, R. Khan, S. Khan, Kiss, Knievel, Kustka, J. Lam, G. Lam, Lee, Lobman, Lutz, Maerhofer, Maganti, Maliga, Markowitz, Mazurek, Mbadugha, McCarthy, Morales, C. Morton, P. Morton, K. Murphy, B. Murphy, Murtha, Nadeem, O’Connor, Oberle, Oliver, Olivera, Osorio-Fernandez, Özel, Parsa, K. Patel, S. Patel, Pichugin, Pierce, Pintar, Pontes, Purcell, Quincy, Rabinowitz, Ramachandran, Risman, Robinson, Robles, Robson, Rokerya, Rossman-Murphy, Roth, Saltzman, Sarath, Schafer, Schwartz, Searcy, Sergel, Shah, Shinbrot, Simonds, Sloan-Power, Smart, Sonnenberg, Sow, Spiegel, Suh, Szatrowski, Taha, Torres, Volino, Wagner, Weiss, White, Wilkinson, Wirtenberg, Wolfe, Zarouni, Zhou, Zwick
MEMBERS EXCUSED: Cooper, Fedorko, Firat, Jeyaprakash, John, Jordan-McKinney, Ladell, Maeng Brown, McKeever, Nucci, V. Patel, Truschke, Williams
MEMBERS ABSENT: Adamo, Adya, Ahmed, Ahmed, Alkhalili, Ameri, Amjad, Anderson Eloy, Andrews, Anner, Bachmann, Barbarello Andrews, Barone, Begum, Bernard, Bond, Boppey, Caponegro, Chao, Choron, Conway, Cotter, Cuitiño, Dai, Dylewska, Elkholy, Everett, Feldman, Feng, Geary, Giermanski, Gilmartin, Gnanaprakasam, Gong, Gould, Gower, Graham, Griffin, Guo, Halkitis, Hamawy, Hart, Henry, Holloway, Kaye, Lawson, Lehman, Lei, Leibowitz, Lemish, Lescht, Mahajan-Cusack, Mao, Matise, Mattis, McCarthy, Moghe, Nickitas, A. Patel, P. Patel, Perez, Ramchandani, Ramirez Polo, Rentzel, Reshamdalal, Rodriguez, Rohowsky-Kochan, Ruocco, Salas-de la Cruz, Santos Mendoza, Savage, Sayde, Schroth, Scott, Senger, Sese, M. Shapiro, S. Shapiro, Shaw, Shobut, Silva, Soler, Span, Starkweather, Strom, Syed, Takhistov, Tewfik, Tillis, Tirino, Usman, Wade, Yang, Yusuf, Zhang
CALL TO ORDER, DETERMINATION OF A QUORUM, AND CHAIR’S REPORT – Lucille Foster, Chair
Chair Foster called the meeting to order at 1:10 p.m.
SECRETARY’S REPORT – Vicki Hewitt, Executive Secretary
- Agenda: The meeting agenda was approved.
- Minutes: The minutes of the January 24 Senate meeting were approved as distributed by the Executive Secretary. The minutes of the January 31 Special Senate meeting were approved as distributed by the Executive Secretary.
- Policy Update
- Communications
- Entitlement memos for 2025-26 Senate elections were sent out to voting units in January.
- Budget Town Hall scheduled for: Thu. March 13 from 1:00 – 2:30 p.m.
- There is a vacancy on the Executive Committee for a Student Representative from Camden.
- Senators are reminded to log in to the Senate website for attendance and voting access.
USGC Draft Open Letter to the EC – James Boucher and Wendy Purcell, USGC Co-Chairs
Senators Boucher and Purcell presented this letter to the Senate for information only.
Follow-Up on Resolution on Camden Town Hall – David Salas-de la Cruz, Camden At-Large, Faculty
Senator Salas-de la Cruz reported on the Camden Town Hall.
SPECIAL ELECTION FOR FEDERAL GRANT FUNDING FREEZE REPRESENTATIVES
The University Senate voted to elect five Federal Grant Funding Freeze representatives. The five candidates elected were:
- Paul Boxer
- Perry Dane
- Adam Kustka
- Tuğrul Özel
- David Salas-de la Cruz
COMMITTEE REPORTS/RESOLUTIONS: The report will be presented/summarized by the committee chair, then will be discussed, and acted upon by the Senate. Substantive amendments to these reports should be given to the Senate secretary in writing prior to or at the time the amendment is moved.
Instruction, Curricula, and Advising Committee
Natalie Borisovets and Taryn Cooper, Co-Chairs
Report on S-2301-1: Science Communication Efforts at Rutgers University
The committee was charged as follows:
Review efforts in science communication initiatives across the University and provide recommendations for any measures and limitations to raise awareness of the current limitations in the field of science communication across the entire Rutgers research community.
Senator Nucci presented this report and recommendations to the Senate. In Recommendation 1, fifth bullet, “each campus (Camden, New Brunswick, Newark)” was amended to “each chancellor-led unit (Camden, New Brunswick, Newark, RBHS)” with unanimous consent. The recommendations were adopted.
Information Technology Committee
Katie Anderson and Timothy Knievel, Co-Chairs
Report on S-2325: Explore the Current Virtual Senate Meeting Format and Develop Best Practices and Meeting Format Recommendations
The committee was charged as follows:
Review the existing Senate meeting format and existing Senate Handbook meeting procedures and develop recommendations in support of virtual meetings.
Senator Anderson presented this report and recommendations to the Senate.
A motion was made to strike the first bullet of the Recommendations. A motion to amend the amendment was made to replace the first bullet with “The Rutgers Senate develop a code of conduct for University Senate virtual meetings.” The motion to amend the amendment was adopted. The motion to amend was adopted.
A motion was made to amend the third bullet, first sub-bullet by inserting “excluding committee reports” after “presentations.” The motion was lost.
The amended recommendations were adopted.
OLD BUSINESS
Ad Hoc Committee on Review of the University Senate’s Governance Documents and Formulation of University Senate Bylaws and University Structure and Governance Committee
Draft Article IV (Information Only)
The committee was charged as follows:
Review the existing governance documents of the University Senate, including University policies, past Senate reports, and the Senate Handbook. Develop Bylaws for the University Senate consistent with Robert’s Rules of Order.
Chair Foster presented the draft of Article IV to the Senate. This will be brought back to the Senate for a vote at the March Senate meeting.
RESOLUTION ON CHAT SETTINGS DURING SENATE MEETINGS – Submitted by Senator Troy Shinbrot, School of Engineering, Faculty
The motion was postponed to the March Senate meeting with unanimous consent.
NEW BUSINESS**
Senator Figueira reported on the progress of the Budget and Finance Committee’s Trends in Rutgers Budget Priorities and Allocations report.
SENATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT
Vice Chair Esposito reported on the February 7, 2025 Senate Executive Committee meeting.
REPORTS OF THE REPRESENTATIVES TO BOARDS OF GOVERNORS AND TRUSTEES
Senator Pierce will report on the Board of Governors meeting. Senator Purcell reported the Board of Trustees had not met.
REPORTS OF CAMPUS FACULTY AND STUDENT LIAISONS
Senator Green-Mercado reported Newark Faculty had not met. Senator Haley reported on behalf of New Brunswick Faculty. Senator Wilkinson reported on behalf of Camden Faculty. Senator Roth reported on behalf of RBHS Faculty.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 3:32 p.m.
Minutes prepared by:
Vicki Hewitt, Executive Secretary of the University Senate
Present Senators
Excused Senators
Absent Senators
Committee Meetings
Academic Standards, Regulations & Admissions Committee Meeting
No location or time for this committee meeting
Budget & Finance Committee Meeting
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Faculty Affairs & Personnel Committee Meeting
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Information Technology Committee Meeting
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Instruction, Curricula & Advising Committee Meeting
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Research, Graduate & Professional Education Committee Meeting
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Student Affairs Committee Meeting
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University Structure & Governance Committee
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Caucus Meetings
Faculty Caucus Meeting
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Student Caucus Meeting
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Alumni Caucus Meeting
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Staff Caucus Meeting
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