RUTGERS UNIVERSITY SENATE
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
MINUTES
October 7, 2022

MEMBERS PRESENT: Bachmann, Boikess, Cooper, Foster, Giraud, Oliver, Roth, Schwartz, Simonds (Chair), Szatrowski, Thompson, Van Stine

ALSO ATTENDING: P. Dane (BOT Faculty Representative), V. Hewitt (University Senate Executive Secretary), P. Moghe (Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs), K. O’Halloran (Vice President for Academic Planning & Administration, EVPAA), T. Ozel (BOT Faculty Representative), S. Rabinowitz (BOG Faculty Representative), M. Smith (University Senate Administrative Assistant)

The regular meeting of the University Senate Executive Committee was held on Friday, October 7, 2022 at 12:00 p.m. remotely via Zoom.

Chair’s Report– Adrienne Simonds, Senate Chair

Chair Simonds called the October 7, 2022 Senate Executive Committee meeting to order at 12:05 p.m. She asked the committee to consider the value of the Senate continuing to meet in hybrid format as opposed to fully remote, in addition to the question of Zoom settings at Senate meetings. She noted that protestors attended the President’s State of the University address at the September Senate meeting and the Board of Governors meeting. She reported the Senate’s voice is being listened to at the Board of Governors and other meetings she attends as Senate Chair. She asked Executive Committee members to help set the tone for healthy and collegial discourse in Senate meetings.

Secretary’s Report– Vicki Hewitt, Senate Executive Secretary

• The October 7, 2022 Executive Committee Agenda was approved.
• The September 9, 2022 Senate Executive Committee Minutes were approved.
• Communications
  • A special election for Student and Alumni Executive Committee and Board Representative positions will be held at the October Senate meeting.
  • A reminder about the November luncheons. The Executive Committee Luncheon is scheduled for 11:45 AM on Fri. Nov. 4 (222 SC&I). The full Senate Luncheon is scheduled for 11:30 AM on Fri. Nov. 18 (College Ave. Student Center, Multipurpose Room). RSVPs will be requested.
  • Policy Updates
    • University Policy 80.1.2 Rutgers University Trademark Management and Licensing Policy
    • University Policy 60.1.36 Immunization Policies for University Affiliates

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

Dr. Moghe provided the Administrative Report consisting of the following topics:

• Changing COVID protocols
• Launch of the New Brunswick Academic Master Plan
• Board of Governors meeting in Camden
• Rutgers Research Council Awards
• Consistent approach to upholding academic standards across units

Dr. Moghe then answered questions on the following topics:

• Masking policy in classrooms
• Benchmarks for academic standing, such as U.S. News & World Report rankings
• International student enrollment
• Peer benchmarking for academic improvement

Administrative Requests for Follow-Up

The Faculty and Personnel Affairs Committee plans to submit follow-up requests on S-1909-1: Searches for University Leadership and S-2113: PTL Pay and Recognition to the Executive Committee for the November Executive Committee meeting agenda.

Faculty Caucus Leader

The Vice Chair serves as the leader of the Faculty Caucus when the Vice Chair is a faculty member. The Executive Committee was asked to determine the method for selecting the leader of the Faculty Caucus when the Vice Chair is not a faculty member. The Executive Committee voted to have the Faculty Caucus elect its own leader from among the members of the caucus.

Zoom Settings at Senate Meetings

The Executive Committee voted that during Senate meetings:

• All participants will be muted and unable to unmute during a speaker’s presentation. Participants will be able to unmute themselves during the Q&A portion of the presentation and for the rest of the Senate meeting. Senate officers will mute participants individually in cases of zoombombing, background noise, or if participants are out of order.
• At the Chair’s discretion, participants’ video can be displayed or turned off during a speaker’s presentation. Participants will be able to display video during the Q&A portion of the presentation, and for the rest of the Senate meeting. Senate officers will disable participants’ video in cases of zoombombing.

The Executive Committee postponed a vote on chat settings until its November meeting. For the October Senate meeting, the chat will be open for all participants but will not be monitored by Senate officers. If the chat becomes non-collegial, it will be disabled at the Chair’s discretion. Senators are asked to raise a point of order if they have concerns about the content of the chat.

Unit Representation on the University Senate

Senate officers are working with Dr. Moghe’s office to get additional information about questions raised by Senator Van Stine. Updates should be available at the November Executive Committee meeting.

Standing Committees/Panels

Proposed Charge:

Proposed Charge on Socially Responsible Investment – Submitted by Cecilia Salazar, Graduate Student, Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy; John Smith, Student Senator, Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy; Veronique Yeo, Graduate Student, Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy

Charge: Amending Investment Policy Appendix B to include geographically targeted environmental, social, and governance metrics to screen out investments unethical investments as defined within the Endowment Justice Collective 2022 Divestment Proposal.

Rationale: Rutgers’ University Investment Policy Appendix B states:

“The primary purpose of any divestment is to express unequivocally and publicly the University’s view on an issue rather than to bring about an economic impact through our endowment’s investment action.”

While a solid first step, the work towards a just transition and securing a sustainable future for current and future students at Rutgers’ requires that we use our resources to make an economic impact that is aligned with the view the university seeks to express. Such a direction for investment policy can be complementary to the Goal 2 stated in the Climate Action Plan – “engaging with our host communities to establish.” To that end, we would like to create a reinvestment committee to amend the investment policy to consider, include, and publish geographically targeted environmental, social, and governance metrics in all aspects of investment decisions and policy. Additionally, we would like for this reinvestment committee to also research avenues for reinvestment, including identifying local investment opportunities into grassroots community organizations, local banking, and identifying gaps in financing for affordable housing and support for local labor and business.

Outcome: The Executive Committee amended the charge to “Consider the University Investment policy 40.2.14. Investigate whether the current investment policies should be modified by environmental, social and governance metrics to modify, add or remove investments based on the Endowment Justice Collective 2022 Divestment Proposal and the Resolution adopted by the Board of Trustees in March 2021. Report back to the Senate with any recommendations.” The Budget and Finance Committee was issued this charge.

Proposed Charge:

Proposed Charge on Masking Policy During Instruction – Submitted by Viraj Patel, Student, School of Arts and Sciences

Charge: Recalibrate masking policy to conditions existing in the majority of public places.

Rationale: Currently, university policy requires facial coverings in all indoor teaching spaces, libraries, and clinical settings. Such a policy does not reflect the reality of covid-19 having endemic status as well as being treatable in the majority of cases. Additionally, the demographic of the university is predominantly made up of young adults(who are vaccinated as well as boosted) who are known to possess, especially relative to older populations, greater ability to combat infections in general and covid-19 specifically; furthermore, the current policy does not take into account the relative effectiveness of various facial coverings(as certain studies suggest that there is great variation in the benefit of different kinds of facial coverings with some being highly effective, others not as effective, and other still being outright counterproductive) ; Add to this the incoherence of the policy when examining masking in the university’s transit(busses) which anecdotally is scarce to none; Considering these factors the seemingly only sensible policy, to me, seems to be to allow masking policy to be determined at professorial discretion, since aged instructors would be the most obvious protected group of the current policy, additionally the university could provide more effective countermeasures to immunocompromised individuals specifically.

Outcome: The proposed charge was postponed to the November Executive Committee meeting.

Proposed Charge:

Proposed Charge on RU Progressive Climate Strike Demands 2022 – John Smith, Student Senator, Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy

Charge: Increases in funding for the Office of Climate Action, on-site clean energy production and hubs for emergency response, and guarantees that all new bus and other vehicle purchases must be electric.

Rationale: Student and faculty calls for the Office of Climate Action to have more substantive impact, as well as targeted investments to key areas identified by student, organizational and faculty stakeholders supporting the RU Progressive Climate March demands.

Outcome: The Executive Committee amended the charge to: “Consider the current funding for the Office of Climate Action and investigate the funding model. Based on the action plan, determine if an adequate level of funding is provided to the office and report back to the Senate with any recommendations.” The Budget and Finance Committee was issued this charge.

Committee Reports/Resolutions

None.

Old Business

None.

New Business

A new item of business was raised concerning student access to reproductive health care. With transitions to clinical partners, affiliates, and campus health system differences, there may be discrepancies on student access to reproductive health, including termination of pregnancy. The question was raised if the University could make any guarantees about student access across the university. Chair Simonds will contact the student health centers for more information.

A motion was made for the rest of the Senate meetings in the fall semester to be held remotely. The EC will revisit the meeting modality at its December meeting. The motion passed. As a result, the Senate luncheon will be rescheduled for the spring semester.

Based on a poll of attendance, the Executive Committee luncheon will also be rescheduled for the spring semester.

Adjournment

The Executive Committee adjourned at 4:01 p.m.

Minutes prepared by: Vicki Hewitt, Executive Secretary of the University Senate