RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY
UNIVERSITY SENATE

MINUTES: Regular Meeting of the University Senate

DATE: February 15, 2019

TIME AND PLACE: 1:10 p.m., Essex Room 231-232, Paul Robeson Campus Center, Newark Campus

MEMBERS PRESENT:   Abbasi, Acosta, Alizadeh, Aubert, Avallone, Awan, Bekdash, Bhuyan, Boikess, Borisovets, Brewster-Bauzyk, Cantor, Cotter, Dasari, DiLalo, Dowlin, Dreyer, Ebert, Esposito, Everett, Fellenz, Field, Gillett, Giraud, Gonzalez, Gould, Gower, Han, Heckscher, Hunter, Hunter-Fratzola, Jarrin, Joergensen, Johnson, Junboonta, Kabia, Kane, Kashalikar, Kettle, Kurtas, Kustka, LaPointe, Lee, Lema, Lewis, Lindboe, Little, LoGrippo, Lutz, Maglione-Rico, Mahajan-Cusack, Maloney, Mammis, Mancini, Markert, Matto, McKeever, Mena-Segovia, Menifield, Murphy, O’Connor, Oleske, Oliver, Pandey, Pappas, Parrish, Parsa, Paskhover, M. Patel, S. Patel, Perez, Peyrek, Pinto-Figueroa, Powell, Puhak, Rabinowitz, Ravichandran, Raza, Sanchez, Schwartz, Serrano, Sesti, Spiegel, Szatrowski, Tharney, Thompson, Thompson, Thuravil, Tracey, Trees, Tsakalakos, Van Stine, Zhang

EXCUSED: Ardeshna, Atkins, Bora, Bridgeman, Bugel, Cole, Cummings, Dane, D’Anna, Goldfarb, Goodman, Graber, Gross, Guo, Gursoy, Hartman, Hatefi, Honeycutt, Kane, Langsam, Mansukhani, Mazurek, Miller, Nickitas, O’Brassill-Kulfan, O’Neill, Porumbescu, Pradhan, Rivera, Rosen, Rothpletz-Puglia, Saltzman, Shah, Shapses, Song, Stopyra, Vidal, Wilde

ABSENT:   Ahmed, Alexander-Floyd, Alidou, Alvarez, Artun, Balaguru, Barbarese, Barchi, Barone, Brunson, Butler, Butterfield, Cahill, Carson, Carty, Chinn, Chunn, Collins, Conway, Covington, Craig, Cummings, DeFabiis, DeFilippis, Denham-Barrett, Dettloff, Eastman, Eaton, Eisenstein, Emmons, Estriplet, Fagan, Farmbry, Farris, Feldman, Filippelli, Ganesh, Ghesani, Greenberg, Haddon, Halkitis, Holzemer, Iannini, Johnson, Kaminskas, Kaye, Kelly, Kukor, Langer, Lei, Lindenmeyer, Lombardi, Lopez, Lugg, Mahon, March, Marchetta, Marsic, Masiello, Molloy, Murphy, Norris, Norville, Pagan, Pardlo, B. Patel, Patton, Pichugin, Piotrowski, Ponzio, Potter, Potter, Puar, Rajan, Raval, Schiavo, Schneider, Sen, Shah, Shapiro, Sheridan, Shinbrot, Silver, Soto, Stauffer, Steinberg, Strom, Struble, Takhistov, White, Williams, Yang, Ziessler

ATTENDANCE SUMMARY : Faculty: Of 116 total: 48 present (41%), 26 excused (22%), 42 absent (36%); Students: Of 42 total: 22 present (52%), 6 excused (14%), 14 absent (3%); Administrators: Of 40 total: 5 present (13%), 3 excused (8%), 32 absent (80%); Staff: Of 19 total: 14 present (73%), 2 excused (11%),  3 absent (16%); Alumni: Of 6 total: 2 present (33%), 1 excused (17%), 3 absent (50%)
View Senate Attendance Record for this academic year

PRESIDING OFFICER: Peter Gillett, Chair

CALL TO ORDER, DETERMINATION OF A QUORUM, AND CHAIR’S REPORT – Peter Gillett, Chair

Senate Chairperson Peter Gillett called the meeting to order on Friday, February 15, 2019 at 1:10 p.m. in the Essex Room of the Paul Robeson Campus Center, Newark Campus. He welcomed all attendees to the meeting, and thanked Chancellor Cantor and her staff for lunch, and for hosting the meeting. He mentioned his disappointment with the January 25 Senate meeting, first referring to the hard work USGC put into S-1605 and its subsequent failure to pass on the floor despite the fact the charge came from a report previously passed by the Senate. He then noted, although it was ultimately his approval of the President’s request to speak earlier in the agenda than is the Senate’s practice that may have led to the request for a time extension of 1 hour that was ultimately unsuccessful and then left four committee reports to be handled as Old Business today, it was a discouraging result considering during the Committee of the Whole discussion may Senators advocated for the Senate to take on more responsibility in shared governance. He expressed an opinion that not approving an extension to handle the remaining Senate business was not the way to send that message. He reminded Senators that were taking the bus back to New Brunswick, it will leave 15 minutes post-adjournment.

SECRETARY’S REPORT – Mary Mickelsen, Executive Secretary of the University Senate

• Agenda: The meeting’s agenda, including time limits, was approved by the Senate.
• Minutes: The Minutes of the January 25, 2019 Regular Senate Meeting were approved as distributed by the Executive Secretary.
• Communications
  • 2019-2020 University Senate Schedule of Meetings;
  • Rutgers AAUP-AFT faculty holding a Solidarity Food Drive through February 15 on the Newark Campus;
  • Senate Entitlements for 2019-2020 have been distributed by the Senate office.

OLD BUSINESS
Budget and Finance Committee Report on S-1801: How OIT and Other Offices Solicit and Integrate Feedback – Menahem Speigel, BFC Chair

The BFC has been charged as follows: Investigate and make recommendations on how OIT and other offices solicit and integrate feedback from all constituencies at Rutgers to ensure the optimal purchase and use of information systems. Respond to the Senate Executive Committee by December 2018.

BFC Chair Menahem Spiegel and BFC Member Charles Heckscher presented and summarized the BFC’s Response to Charge S-1801 on How OIT and Other Offices Solicit and Integrate Feedback. Speigel then read the related resolutions, then answered questions which included the following:

• what authority the User Council would have, if any; and
• concerns regarding the responsibility being placed solely on OIT and a fundamental misunderstanding how IT decisions are made.

Senator Natalie Borisovets proposed an amendment to remove Michele Norin’s name from Resolution #6 and the amendment passed. After the discussion, for and against, the resolution was then voted on and passed with 1 vote against. [Note: The above link goes to the report and resolution as adopted.]

Instruction, Curricula, and Advising Committee Report on S-1803: A Policy Relating to Student Posting of Faculty-Owned Documents – Natalie Borisovets, ICAC Chair

The ICAC has been charged as follows: Investigate and make recommendation on University Policies relating to students’ posting of syllabi, slides, tests, examinations, and other professor-created documents to sites such as Course Hero. Consider similar issues related to student-created documents. Respond to the Senate Executive Committee by February 2019.

ICAC Chair Natalie Borisovets presented and summarized the ICAC’s Response to Charge S-1803 on A Policy Relating to Student Posting of Faculty-Owned Documents. Borisovets then read the related resolutions, then answered questions which included the following:

• the inclusion of lecture notes; and
• other platforms included, such as Quizlet.

Senator Maya Ravichandran proposed an amendment to Recommendation #1, adding the following sentence: “Furthermore, instructors who would consider posting lecture notes for other notes created by students as a copyright infringement or facilitation of dishonesty should be encouraged to inform their students of this, as criminal activity and facilitation of dishonesty violate the University Academic Integrity Policy.” Senator Zhang proposed an amendment to the amendment requesting to strike out ” as criminal activity and facilitation of dishonesty violate the University Academic Integrity Policy.” The amendment to the amendment passed and the original amendment passed, as amended. After the discussion, of the report as amended the resolution was then voted on and passed with 1 vote against. [Note: The above link goes to the report and resolution as adopted.]

Instruction, Curricula, and Advising Committee Report on S-1802: Online and Hybrid Course Support – Natalie Borisovets, ICAC Chair

The ICAC has been charged as follows: Investigate and consider how online and hybrid courses are supported at Rutgers. How are courses created and delivered and how are faculty supported? Respond to the Senate Executive Committee by November 2018.

ICAC Chair Natalie Borisovets presented and summarized the ICAC’s Response to Charge S-1802 on Online and Hybrid Course Support. The report and resolutions passed unanimously without debate.

Academic Standards, Regulations, and Admissions Committee Report on S-1808: Code of Student Conduct Policy Review – Robert Schwartz, ASRAC Co-Chair

The ASRAC has been charged as follows: Review the new University Policy 10.2.11 on Code of Student Conduct, identify any concerns, and if appropriate, recommend further changes or other courses of action. Respond to the Senate Executive Committee by December 2018.

ASRAC Chair Robert Schwartz presented and summarized the ASRAC’s Response to Charge S-1808 on Code of Student Conduct Policy Review. This report was presented for information only.

NEWARK CHANCELLOR’S REPORT–  Newark Chancellor Nancy Cantor

Rutgers Newark Chancellor Nancy Cantor presented her chancellor’s report. Cantor then responded to questions, or heard comments, on the above topics, as well as:

• the common good of the University professoriate;
• creating affordable pathways to education and supporting that with scholarship dollars;
• commuter student needs/issues;
• creating jobs held by Newark residents;
• food pantry initiatives partnership with Bon Jovi; and
• RU-Newark graduation rates.

[Chancellor Cantor left the meeting after delivering her report and responding to questions.]

SENATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT – Senate Vice Chair Jon Oliver reported on the February 1, 2019 meeting and activities of the Senate Executive Committee. 

REPORTS OF THE REPRESENTATIVES TO BOARDS OF GOVERNORS AND TRUSTEES: Senator Samuel Rabinowitz, Faculty Representative to the Board of Governors, reported there was not a Board of Governors meeting since the last Senate meeting. Senator Robert Schwartz, Faculty Representative to the Board of Trustees, reported on the February 12, 2019 meeting of the Board of Trustees.

REPORTS OF CAMPUS FACULTY AND STUDENT LIAISONS: Senator Michael Van Stine, Camden Student Member of the Senate Executive Committee, reported on the Camden Student Governing Association initatives. Senator Sanjib Bhuyan, New Brunswick Faculty Council Chair, reported on that group’s recent activities and plans to include a drive to get all Faculty Councils into the University Policy Library. Senator Julie Serrano, New Brunswick Student Member of the Senate Executive Committee, reported on New Brunswick student governing association activities. Senator Carol Lutz, RBHS Faculty Council Representative reported on that group’s plans and their concerns regarding the potential merger between NJMS and RWJMS.

ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 3:28 p.m.

Minutes Written and Submitted by,
Mary Mickelsen, Executive Secretary of the University

Committee Meetings

Academic Standards, Regulations & Admissions Committee Meeting

No location or time for this committee meeting

Budget & Finance Committee Meeting

No location or time for this committee meeting

Faculty Affairs & Personnel Committee Meeting

No location or time for this committee meeting

Instruction, Curricula & Advising Committee Meeting

No location or time for this committee meeting

Research, Graduate & Professional Education Committee Meeting

No location or time for this committee meeting

Student Affairs Committee Meeting

No location or time for this committee meeting

University Structure & Governance Committee

No location or time for this committee meeting