RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY
UNIVERSITY SENATE

MINUTES: Regular Meeting of the University Senate

DATE: March 29, 2019

TIME AND PLACE: 1:10 p.m., Multipurpose Room, College Avenue Student Center, College Avenue Campus

MEMBERS PRESENT: Acosta, Alexander-Floyd, Alizadeh, Ardeshna, Atkins, Aubert, Avallone, Awan, Barbarese, Bekdash, Bhuyan, Boikess, Bora, Borisovets, Chunn, D’Anna, Dane, Dasari, DeFilippis, DiLalo, Dreyer, Ebert, Esposito, Everett, Farris, Field, Gillett, Giraud, Gonzalez, Gould, Gower, Gursoy, Han, Hartman, Heckscher, Hunter-Fratzola, Jarrin, Joergensen, Johnson, Junboonta, Kabia, E. Kane, Kaye, Kelly, Kettle, Kurtas, Kustka, Langer, LaPointe, Lee, Lema, Lindboe, LoGrippo, Lutz, Mahajan-Cusack, Maloney, Mammis, Mancini, Mansukhani, Marchetta, Markert, Masiello, Matto, Mazurek, Mena-Segovia, Molloy, Norris, Norville, Oleske, Oliver, Pandey, Parrish, Parsa, Paskhover, S. Patel, Perez, Peyrek, Pichugin, Powell, Puhak, Rabinowitz, Raza, Rivera, Rosen, Rothpletz-Puglia, Saltzman, Sanchez, Schwartz, Sen, Serrano, Sesti, C. Shah, Shapses, Shinbrot, Soto, Spiegel, Steinberg, Stopyra, Struble, Szatrowski, Takhistov, Tharney, B. Thompson, K. Thompson, Thuravil, Tracey, Trees, Tsakalakos, Van Stine, Vidal, Walkup, Wilde, Zamora-Porras

EXCUSED: Abbasi, Barchi, Brewster-Bauzyk, Bridgeman, Bugel, Cole, J. Cummings, Fellenz, Goldfarb, Goodman, Graber, Gross, Guo, Honeycutt, Hunter, C. Kane, Kashalikar, Lewis, Maglione-Rico, McKeever, O’Brassill-Kulfan, O’Neill, Pappas, Pardlo, B. Patel, Pinto-Figueroa, Porumbescu, Pradhan, Puar, Ravichandran, Silver, Song, Zhang

ABSENT: Alidou, Artun, Balaguru, Barone, Brunson, Cahill, Cantor, Carson, Carty, Castaneda, Chinn, Collins, Conway, Cotter, Covington, Craig, M. Cummings, DeFabiis, Denham-Barrett, Dettloff, Dowlin, Eastman, Eaton, Eisenstein, Emmons, Estriplet, Fagan, Farmbry, Feldman, Filippelli, Ganesh, Greenberg, Haddon, Halkitis, Hatefi, Holzemer, Iannini, Johnson, Kaminskas, Kukor, Langsam, Lei, Little, Lopez, Lugg, Mahon, March, Marchitello, Marsic, Menifield, Miller, B. Murphy, K. Murphy, Nickitas, O’Connor, Patel, Patton, Ponzio, C. Potter, J. Potter, Rajan, Raval, Schiavo, Schneider, A. Shah, Shapiro, Sheridan, Stauffer, Strom, White, Williams, Yang, Ziessler

ATTENDANCE SUMMARY:   Faculty: Of 115 total: 71 present (62%), 16 excused (14%), 28 absent (24%); Students: Of 42 total: 21 present (50%), 8 excused (19%), 12 absent (29%); Administrators: Of 38 total: 5 present (13%), 3 excused (8%), 30 absent (79%); Staff: Of 18 total: 11 present (61%), 5 excused (28%),  2 absent (11%); Alumni: Of 6 total: 5 present (83%), 1 excused (17%), 0 absent (0%)
View Senate Attendance Record for this year

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

Senate Chair Peter Gillett called the meeting to order at 1:10 p.m. in the Multipurpose Room of the College Avenue Student Center, College Avenue Campus, New Brunswick. He announced the Nominating Panel for next year’s Senate has been chosen and will be chaired by Senator Ann Gould. He also reported the EC has submitted recommendations for members of Chancellor Cantor’s Chancellor’s Review Committee and will soon be recommending members for Chancellor Strom and University Librarian Maloney’s respective reviews. He concluded his report highlighting reports by Chancellor Christopher Molloy and Senior Vice President Barbara Lee.

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY – Mary Mickelsen, Executive Secretary

• Agenda: The meeting’s agenda, including time limits, was approved by the Senate.
• Minutes: The Minutes of the February 15, 2019 Regular Senate Meeting were approved as distributed by the Executive Secretary.
• Communications
  • Call for Nominations for 2019-2020 Senate Officers and Executive Committee Members, and Representatives to the Boards of Governors and Trustees – Senate Secretary Mary Mickelsen asked all nominations be sent to her by Monday, April 29. While unit elections for next year are pending, continuing Senators or those who are likely to be elected to the Senate may be nominated.
  • Schedule of 2019-2020 Senate and Executive Committee meetings has been approved by the Senate Executive Committee. Secretary Mickelsen asked continuing Senators to add the Senate dates to their schedules.
  • Secretary of the University’s Call for Commencement Ambassadors and Marshals
  • The following University Policies were recently added/updated:
    • 60.9.38: Sick Pay
    • 100.2.12: Notice of Non-Discrimination and Grievance Procedure (Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act)

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Faculty and Personnel Affairs Response to Charge S-1701 on Reconciling RBHS Procedures for Review of Deans and Programs with Other Existing Procedures – Ann Gould, FPAC Member and Liaison to the Executive Committee

The FPAC has been charged as follows: Consider and make recommendations as to how procedures for review of deans and programs at RBHS might best be reconciled with existing procedures in other parts of Rutgers.

FPAC Member and EC Liaison Ann Gould summarized the work of the committee and the FPAC’s Response to Charge S-1701 on Reconciling RBHS Procedures for Review of Deans and Programs with Other Existing Procedures. Gould then read the related resolutions. There was no debate and the vote carried with 1 against.

Budget and Finance Committee Annual Report on the Rutgers University Budget – Menahem Spiegel, BFC Chair

BFC Chair Menahem Spiegel presented the BFC’s Annual Report on the University Budget.

Response to Charge S-1804 on How Student Senators are Elected– Elizabeth Matto and Julie Serrano, SAC Co-Chairs

The SAC has been charged as follows: Evaluate and make recommendations on how Student Senators are elected. Consider if there should be a requirement for direct election of senators.

SAC Chairs Matto and Serrano summarized the work of the committee and the SAC’s Response to Charge S-1804 on How Student Senators are Elected. Serrano read the resolutions and answered questions. There was minimal debate and the vote carried with 1 against.

NEW BRUNSWICK CHANCELLOR’S REPORT – Christopher Molloy, New Brunswick Chancellor

Rutgers New Brunswick Chancellor Christopher Molloy presented his chancellor’s report. Molloy then responded to questions, or heard comments, on the above topics, as well as:

• issue regarding controversial faculty member’s presence on campus and the ripple effect it has created;
• reduction in Teaching Assistants and the direct correlation of that with getting top rate graduate students admitted;
• tuition remission for faculty of other colleges taking online classes;
• PTL compensation and feelings of being undervalued;
• support for an Office of Sustainability;
• data center space storage approaching capacity;
• plans to improve building infrastructure;
• continuing issues with Cornerstone;
• prevention of sexual harassment;
• support of transfer students, particularly between RU campuses.

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

A Motion was made to extend the meeting by 30 minutes to 4:10pm was passed.

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT – Barbara Lee, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs

SVP Lee presented an Administrative Report that included comments on:

• Rutgers Giving Day success;
• 10 year anniversary of the Oasis Program on March 27;
• NJ Conference on Sexual Violence on Campus;
• NJ Governor’s Budget Proposal and anticipated timeline;
• Construction Projects:
  • New Brunswick Performing Arts Center
  • RU-N Honors Living-Learning Community
  • Waxman Institute addition
  • ASB I is being renovated for One Stop in New Brunswick
  • ASB III repurposed for Continuing Studies
• Faculty Awards;
  • Daniel Gorenstein Memorial Award – Michael Greenberg, EJBSPPP Distinguished Professor
  • Faculty Year End Awards – May 2, 2019

Gillett summarized the format and time limits for SVP Lee’s question and answer period. The Senior Vice President then responded to one comment on gender inequities among faculty.

SENATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT – Senate Vice Chair Jon Oliver reported on the March 8, 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 the next meeting is being held on April 9. Senator Robert Schwartz, Faculty Representative to the Board of Trustees and Ilce Perez, Undergraduate Student Representative to the Board of Trustees, reported on the March 13 meeting.

REPORTS OF CAMPUS FACULTY AND STUDENT LIAISONS: Senator Samuel Rabinowitz, Camden Faculty Liaison reported on the March 6th Camden Faculty Council Meeting. Senator Michael Van Stine, Camden Student Member of the Senate Executive Committee, reported that the School of Business-Camden received its reaccreditation from AACSB International. Senator Sanjib Bhuyan, New Brunswick Faculty Council Chair, reported on the March 15th New Brunswick Faculty Council meeting. Senator Julie Serrano, New Brunswick Student Member of the Senate Executive Committee, reported on RUSA’s March 28th meeting and that student government elections are currently underway. Senator Carol Lutz, RBHS Faculty Council Representative reported the RBHS Faculty Council’s meeting was occurring at the same time as this meeting, but they are looking at the proposal from NBFC to introduce all faculty councils into the University Policy Library. 

ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 3:51 p.m.

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

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