RUTGERS UNIVERSITY SENATE

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

M I N U T E S

 April 16, 2021

MEMBERS PRESENT:  Boikess, Borisovets, Crews, Giraud, Gillett, Oliver (Chair), Schwartz, Shobut, Simonds, Struble, Thompson, Willett, Yamaoka

MEMBERS ABSENT:  Immidisetti

ALSO ATTENDING: J. Holloway (U. President), B. Strom (RBHS Chancellor), T. Shinbrot (BoG Faculty Representative)

The regular meeting of the University Senate Executive Committee was held on Friday, April16, 2021 at 12:00 p.m. remotely via Zoom.

1.Chair’s Report– Jon Oliver, Senate Chair

Senate and Executive Committee Chair Jon Oliver called the meeting to order at 12:00 p.m. He welcomed everyone to the second to last Executive Committee meeting. Chair Oliver spoke about the next Senate meeting being the Organizational Meeting. He continued to welcome President Holloway, and Chancellor Strom for joining.

2. Secretary’s Report – Morgan Smith, Senate Administrative Assistant

• The April 16, 2021 Executive Committee Agenda was approved
• Approval of the March 5, 2021 Senate Executive Committee Meeting Minutes

• Communications
• Smith reported the following policies have been added/updated to the University Policy Library:
  • University Policy 70.1.1: Acceptable Use Policy for Information Technology Resources
  • University Policy 70.1.2: Information Classification
  • Policy 70.1.4: Information Security Awareness, Training, and Education
  • Policy 70.1.6: Email and Calendaring Policy
  • Policy 70.1.8: Audit and Monitoring (NEW)
  • University Policy 90.2.11: Policy for Human Subjects Protections and the Institutional Review Board
  • Policy 40.2.14: Investment Policy
• Senator Gillet expressed concerns about the changes that have been made to 70.1.1 policy without being reviewed by the Senate. The Executive Committee then decided to issue a charge to address these concerns that will be sent for approval for the next meeting.

3. Administrative Report – J. Holloway, The University President

President Holloway thanked everyone for having him, and delivered an administrative report, which included comments on:

• The two student recipients of the Goldwater Scholarship; Tai Wai Hu, SAS-NB and Jacqueline Mehr, SEBS.
• Five Fulbright students who are on their way to being top producers for the 13^th straight year with awards taking students to countries abroad
• The Gugenheim Fellowhip has been awarded to Seth Koven, SAS-NB
• Elise Boddie has been appointed by President Biden to the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States
• Nancy Sinkoff, SAS-NB won the National Jewish Book Award in the biography category
• The Commencement speakers have been appointed. Natasha Trethewey, Wendell Pierce, Rush Holt, Laurie Garrett, G. Willow Wilson, Robert Parris Moses, Angela Martinez, Judith Persichilli and Nicole Hannah Jones.
• COVID-19 Vaccine Update:
• The vaccination mandate for all students who will be utilizing campus housing and in person courses, while allowing religious and medical exemptions
• Rutgers being the first school to enforce the vaccination mandate making national news, with dozens of schools now following in our footsteps
• Working with the Unions to get everyone on the same page regarding the vaccine
• Looking into faculty and staff vaccinations, along with efforts to keep classrooms safe by investigating class sizes and capacity limits that align with the NJ state guidelines
• Requirements for International students regarding quarantining
• The search for a Rutgers Camden Chancellor has been reached, the search for an SVP for research is in the late stages and launching the foundation’s presidents search is in the beginning stages

4. RBHS Department Executive Chairs Discussion– Brian Strom, RBHS Chancellor

Chancellor Strom spoke briefly about the inauguration of Charles Pato and Michele Pato who were appointed as the two Executive Chairs in the Psychiatry Department to oversee behavioral health, addictions, and genomic psychology research. He then answered questions and made comments on:

• The idea of a vaccine passport that shows proof of vaccination and where Rutgers stands on that
• The process of appointing joint chairs and what that looks like for the faculty involved
• The Medical School merger and if there was/is an update on the new University Hospital

5. Standing Committees/Panels

Proposed Charges:

Proposed Charge to the University Structure and Governance Committee (USGC) on University Senate Mailing Lists – Submitted by Jose Ward, Law-N (S)

Proposed Charge: Investigate as to whether Rutgers University Senate should request OIT to create RAMS mailing lists in order to judiciously communicate with our constituents.

Background: With the use of Mailing Lists, emails can be sent to multiple people with one click of a button. Groups of people can communicate with ease. The University offers mailing lists for faculty, staff, and students to use.

RAMS: is the Rutgers Automated Mass-mailing System. It allows an e-mail list to be generated based on demographic information from the registrar or payroll data and provides for automated updates to the list membership based on changes in the demographic information.

It is common for University units like ours to request multiple lists such as one for all students, another for all faculty, and a last for all admins. We should consider parameters to consider in approving an email to be sent to these mailing lists on behalf of the Senate.

Chair Oliver reviewed the purpose of this charge and the Executive Committee discussed the background given by Senator Ward. It was decided that Chair Oliver make inquiries with the Administration first and to hold off on charging this for now.

Proposed Charge to the University Structure and Governance Committee (USGC) on U. Senate Second Reading Provision – Submitted by Jose Ward, Law-N (S)

Charge: Investigate as to whether the Senate should adopt a second reading provision before voting on approving business.

Background: At just about every Senate meeting we see amendments to resolutions being made on the floor. This spontaneity takes away from thoughtful action. Many shared governance organizations like the Senate require that, in order to vote on approving business, business be read once, discussed, then tabled to the next meeting before it can be voted on. This second reading provision would reduce spontaneity, encourage robust discussion, and allow for amendments to be proposed, discussed, and considered with time before the business is voted on.

Chair Oliver discussed the background of the charge and the Executive Committee decided to propose a more generic charge but keeping the background the same.

The recommendations are as follows:

            Senate Procedures for Debate, Amendment, and Voting

Charge: Investigate and make any appropriate recommendations with regard to changes in Senate procedures for debate, amendment, and voting that might improve their efficiency and effectiveness without unduly restricting their democratic nature.

The Executive Committee also decided on changing “this” in the last sentence of the background to “A.”

The charge was discussed and edited by the advice of the Executive Committee and was charged to the University Structure and Governance Committee with a due date of December 2021.

Proposed Charge to the Faculty and Personnel Affairs Committee (FPAC) on PTL Recognition – Submitted by Joseph Markert, RBS:N/NB (F) and FPAC Co-Chair

Charge: Investigate broadening the scope of recognition and compensation for Rutgers Part-time Lecturers — who help comprise the scholarly community and teach students at Rutgers

Background: Charge S-2007 resolution had a suggested action related to PTL compensation which was deleted as a result of an amendment from the floor. This charge allows the FPAC to discuss and propose suggested changes to PTL compensation as a separate topic.

Senator Thompson spoke on behalf of the Faculty and Personnel Affairs Committee about this charge. The Executive Committee had some discussion, and it was decided that they would speak to the chairs to get clarification and will revisit the charge in June 2021.

Proposed Charge to the Information Technology Committee (ITC) on Communication Mechanisms Regarding Major Changes in IT Applications – Submitted by Adrienne Esposito, NB Staff and ITC Co-Chair

Charge: Investigate the existing mechanisms for communication regarding changes in major IT applications.  Propose additional mechanisms that would engage the Senate, through its IT Committee, in such communications and decisions about major IT application changes that would affect major University constituencies.  (See Senate Resolution S-1801) 

Background: The accelerating progress in Information Technology has led to a number of recent significant changes in the university-wide applications at Rutgers and will likely lead to significantly more. Such changes often have a major impact on faculty, staff, students, and alumni, and have “broad educational and research consequences,” University Policy 50.2.2 (see:  https://policies.rutgers.edu/5022-currentpdf)  It is critical that the nature and impact of such changes be conveyed to those who will be affected early in the process and prior to implementation decisions. The University Senate, in particular its IT Committee, can play a key role in such a process.

Chair Oliver read the charge and its background, Senator Boikess spoke on behalf of the charge and the Executive Committee decided to charge the Information Technology Committee with a due date of January 2022.

6. Committee Reports/Resolutions:

         Instruction, Curricula, and Advising Committee (ICAC) Response to

          Charge S-2105 Exam Conflicts – Natalie Borisovets, ICAC Chair

The ICAC was charged as follows: 

            Review Rutgers University policies regarding final exam conflicts and possible         impacts on students with disabilities. Make recommendations as appropriate.

Senator Gillett suggested to change a few things under the committee’s recommendations includuding:

• • Change “Exam policies should be amended” to “exam policies be amended”
  • To also add a comma after “accommodations”

After ICAC Committee Chair Natalie Borisovets reported on the committee’s work, she agreed to the changes under the recommendations. After further discussion, the EC decided to docket the report for the April 30 Senate Meeting

7. Old Business

There was no old business.

8. New Business

Senator Gillett proposed the following charge:

Charge: Consider the implications of the changes recently made (including the addition of a new policy), and the desirability of further changes, to the policies in section 70.1 of the Rutgers Policy Library (Information Technology Polices). Make any appropriate recommendations.

Background: In 2016, the University revised the Acceptable Use Policy. ICAC reviewed this revised policy: https://senate.rutgers.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/ICAC-Report-S-1614-January-2017.pdf. It made 10 recommendations – including that there should be a separate email policy. President Barchi largely agreed: https://senate.rutgers.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/RLB-Response-S-1614-September-2017.pdf with these recommendations. The 2016 revision was rolled back to the 2014 version until the policies could be further revised in light of Senate feedback. The re-amended versions went live in December 2018; at that time, the Executive Committee expressed no concerns and did not refer the new policies back to ICAC. Recently, further revisions have been made, and one new policy (70.1.8 – Audit and Monitoring) has been added. Some, but not necessarily all, of the changes merely tidy up the text. This charge is intended to provide an opportunity to consider whether any of the changes already made have significant implications on which the Senate might wish to express opinions; in addition, it provides an opportunity for the newly-formed Information Technology Committee to consider whether additional policy changes would be beneficial to the Rutgers community. 

Senator Gillett spoke on behalf of this, and after further discussion it has been charged to the IT Committee with a due date of January 2022.

9. University Senate April 30, 2021 Agenda

• 2021-2022 Organizational Meeting

• The EC decided that the Organizational Meeting start at 11:00AM

• Regular Senate Meeting via Zoom – last meeting of 2020-21

• The EC decided that the last meeting of 2020-2021 start at 1:10PM with no caucus meetings and there will be a 40 minute time limit for reports

• USGC Report on S-2005: Student Governance
• USGC Report on S-2014: Standing Committees and the Chair of the Senate

10. Adjournment

The Executive Committee adjourned at 3:26pm.

Minutes prepared by Morgan Smith, Administrative Assistant of the University Senate