RUTGERS UNIVERSITY SENATE
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
MEETING AGENDA
Friday, April 5, 2024, 12:00 p.m. via Zoom

https://rutgers.zoom.us/j/99068164783?pwd=VHV1YUphLzJmWVgrUDM0VGcyUE01Zz09

Chair’s Report– Adrienne Simonds, Senate Chair

Secretary’s Report– Vicki Hewitt, Senate Executive Secretary

• Approval of Agenda
• Approval of the March 1, 2024 Senate Executive Committee Minutes
• Administrative Response
  • Response to S-2315: University Vision Benefits
• Policy Updates
  • University Policy 40.2.25 Service Center Policy / Core Facility Policy
  • University Policy 90.3.1 Research Core Services
• Communications
  • Call for Nominations for Senate Leadership Positions – due Fri. April 19

Administrative Report – Prabhas Moghe, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs

Response to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce Letter to President Holloway

Functioning of the Senate

Workshop on Academic Freedom

Leadership Structure for the Medical Schools

Process for Bylaws Adoption

Review of Policy Revisions on Research Centers & Institutes

Standing Committees/Panels

Committee Report and Recommendations:

Budget and Finance Committee – Abdelrahman Ibrahim and Carolyne White, Co-Chairs

Report on S-2308-1: Conflict of Interest Declarations

The committee was charged as follows:

Investigate and make recommendations on public declarations of conflicts of interest by politically exposed persons at Rutgers, including all members of the BoG and all those involved in significant financial decision-making.

Committee Report and Recommendations:

Information Technology Committee – Katie Anderson and Adrienne Esposito, Co-Chairs

Report on S-2319: Explore Mechanisms, Methods and Processes for Senators to Communicate Senate Work and Information to their Constituents

The committee was charged as follows:

The Senate should explore mechanisms, methods and processes for senators to communicate senate work and information to their constituents.

Committee Report and Recommendations:

Ad Hoc Committee on Senate Officer Compensation – Michael Joseph and Suja Patel, Co-Chairs

Report on S-2312: Senate Officer Compensation

The ad hoc committee was charged as follows:

To provide guidelines for appropriate compensation for Senate officers and other Senators whose duties as Senators represent a significant fraction of their university obligations. The resources for such compensation should be provided in a manner that does not create conflicts of interest. Procedures for such compensation already in place at some of our peer aspirant universities may serve as useful models.

Committee Report and Recommendations:

Ad Hoc Committee to Propose Changes to the Senate Handbook to Add the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee – Antoinette Farmer and Ronald Quincy, Co-Chairs

Report on S-2328: Propose Changes to the Senate Handbook to Add the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee

The ad hoc committee was charged as follows:

To propose changes to the Senate Handbook to add the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee. The Senate adopted a resolution on Fri. Oct. 20, 2023 to re-instate this standing committee and, to formally complete the process, a Standing Charge for the committee needs to be added to the Senate Handbook.

Proposed Charge:

Cost Cutting and Budget Deficits – Senator Robert Boikess, School of Arts and Sciences-NB, Faculty

Charge: Identify cost cutting measures that are being imposed on departments by their schools.
Investigate the budgetary rationales for these cuts and their impact on the quality of academic programs.

Rationale: Reports from a number of SAS departments indicate that various cost cutting measures are being imposed without appropriate consultation with the departments, without adequate justification, and with little concern for the impact of these cuts on academic quality. The Senate can determine the extent to which this practice is spread across the many schools at Rutgers and the extent to which it is necessary. The Senate can then propose solutions to the problem that will be less harmful to academic quality.

Proposed Charge:

Statements by the University and Its Units and Programs on Controversial Political Issues – Senator Wayne Eastman, Rutgers Business School:Newark/NB, Faculty, and Senator Cynthia Saltzman, Lecturer-Camden, Faculty

Charge: Whether statements by the University and its units and programs on controversial political issues are appropriate, given the potential of such statements to have a chilling effect those who disagree with the position taken in them.

Rationale: Many colleges and universities, inspired by the Chicago Kalven Report or its progeny, have adopted a position of “institutional neutrality,” in part because political statements that do not directly affect the interests of the university can have a chilling effect on faculty or students who dissent from whatever prevailing orthodoxy such official or semi-official statements represent. See: https://provost.uchicago.edu/s ites/default/files/documents/reports/KalvenRprt_0.pdf ; https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2024/2/23/institutional-neutrality-feature/; https://www.thefire.org/defending-your-rights/reforming-college-policies/adopting-institutional-neutrality. One case involving such statements: The Rutgers Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies in New Brunswick and the Rutgers Department of Women’s and Gender Studies in Newark endorsed a statement in solidarity with the Palestinian Feminist Collective and condemning Israel.

Proposed Charge:

Changes needed to current emails regarding 60.1.29 Adverse Weather and Emergency Curtailment of Operations Appendix A Attendance Requirements and Compensation (Applicable during Delayed Opening, Closure – Weather Emergency, and Closure – Emergency Curtailment of Operations), Weather Update — University Operating Status Emails – Michael Russell, Non-Senator

Charge: Since 2020 and the start of COVID/Remote Learning, there have been numerous inclement weather events that would have warranted a school closure, enacting the policy. Still, it has since been overridden by technical wording regarding faculty, management, and students working remotely. At the same time, so-called “Essential Employees” still have to venture through dangerous weather to make it on-site while getting no extra compensation for doing so.

Rationale: I would like to see these future emails from the desk of Antonio M. Calcado, (Executive Vice President & COO, Institutional Planning and Operations) amended to adequately compensate the Essential Employees for coming to work during such treacherous times while everyone else gets to work from the comfort of home.

Email Copy:

To Members of the University Community,

The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Watch for much of our area. A mix of accumulating snow and freezing rain is predicted for early Thursday into Friday morning. It is anticipated that the southern third of the state will see less snowfall amounts while the northern reaches could see upwards of eight inches.

Due to the pandemic, instruction and service delivery are almost entirely remote, and the university is expected to remain open throughout the weather event. Vice presidents, deans, and directors are asked to continue to assess their operations and to urge all employees who can telecommute to please do so. Additionally, clinic employees should check with their supervisors in the event that any adjustment in hours of operation are necessary.

As always, please stay safe and make the best choices for you, your family, and our community. Please remember to Wear a face-covering, Watch your distance, and Wash your hands!

Sincerely,
Antonio M. Calcado
Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer

Old Business

Open Charge Request:

S-2323: Definition of Environmentally and Socially Responsible Materials and Products (University Policy 20.1.11 Procurement and Payment Policy)

USGC requested clarification on why it had been assigned this charge.

Format of the Administrative Report

New Business

University Senate April 26, 2024 Agenda

• 2024-25 Senate Organizational Meeting
• 2023-24 Regular Senate Meeting
  • New Brunswick Chancellor Report – Francine Conway, Chancellor, Rutgers-New Brunswick
  • Proposed Changes to the Senate Handbook
  • Report on S-2302: Budgetary Considerations Underlying Potential Merger of the RBHS Subunits Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and New Jersey Medical School into One Medical School
  • Report on S-2202-1: Honors College Student Senators
  • Report on S-2324: Investigate Sunsetting of Academic Credit Across Campuses and Review Any Proposed Changes
  • Report on S-2327: Develop Nomination Procedures for a Senate Representative for the Policy Approval Committee
  • Report on S-2308: Conflict of Interest Declarations

Adjournment