RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY
UNIVERSITY SENATE

MINUTES: Regular Meeting of the University Senate

DATE: May 3, 2019

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

MEMBERS PRESENT:  Alexander-Floyd, Atkins, Aubert, Avallone, Bekdash, Bhuyan, Boikess, Bora, Borisovets, Brewster-Bauzyk, Bridgeman, Bugel, Chunn, Cole, D’Anna, Dane, Dasari, DeFilippis, DiLalo, Dowlin, Dreyer, Ebert, Emmons, Everett, Fellenz, Field, Giraud, Gould, Gower, Graber, Guo, Gursoy, Hunter, Hunter-Fratzola, Jarrin, Kabia, C. Kane, E. Kane, Kashalikar, Kaye, Kelly, Langer, LaPointe, Lee, Little, Lutz, Maglione-Rico, Mahajan-Cusack, Mammis, Marchetta, Markert, Masiello, Matto, McKeever, K. Murphy, Nickitas, Norris, O’Brassill-Kulfan, O’Connor, O’Neill, Oleske, Oliver, Pandey, Parrish, Parsa, Paskhover, B. Patel, M. Patel, S. Patel, Perez, Pinto-Figueroa, Porumbescu, Powell, Puhak, Rabinowitz, Ravichandran, Rothpletz-Puglia, Saltzman, Sanchez, Schwartz, Serrano, Sesti, C. Shah, Shapses, Silver, Spiegel, Steinberg, Stopyra, Szatrowski, Tharney, B. Thompson, K. Thompson, Thuravil, Tracey, Tsakalakos, Van Stine, Walkup

EXCUSED:  Barchi, DeFabiis, Denham-Barrett, Esposito, Goodman, Hartman, Johnson, Junboonta, Kurtas, Langsam, Lewis, Maloney, Mena-Segovia, Pappas, Puar, Rajan, Rivera, Shinbrot, Trees

ABSENT:   Abbasi, Acosta, Alidou, Alizadeh, Ardeshna, Artun, Awan, Balaguru, Barbarese, Barone, Brunson, Cahill, Cantor, Carson, Carty, Castaneda, Chinn, Collins, Conway, Cotter, Covington, Craig, J. Cummings, M. Cummings, Dettloff, Eastman, Eaton, Eisenstein, Estriplet, Fagan, Farmbry, Farris, Feldman, Filippelli, Ganesh, Gillett, Goldfarb, Gonzalez, Greenberg, Gross, Haddon, Halkitis, Han, Hatefi, Heckscher, Holzemer, Honeycutt, Iannini, Joergensen, Johnson, Kaminskas, Kettle, Kukor, Kustka, Lei, Lema, Lindboe, LoGrippo, Lopez, Lugg, Mahon, Mancini, Mansukhani, March, Marchitello, Marsic, Mazurek, Menifield, Miller, Molloy, B. Murphy, Norville, Pardlo, Patton, Peyrek, Pichugin, Ponzio, C. Potter, J. Potter, Pradhan, Raval, Raza, Rosen, Schiavo, Schneider, Sen, A. Shah, Shapiro, Sheridan, Song, Soto, Stauffer, Strom, Struble, Takhistov, Vidal, White, Wilde, Williams, Yang, Zamora-Porras, Zhang, Ziessler

ATTENDANCE  SUMMARY : Faculty:  Faculty: Of 115 total: 62 present (54%), 8 excused (7%), 45 absent (39%); Students: Of 41 total: 16 present (39%), 3 excused (7%), 22 absent (54%); Administrators: Of 38 total: 4 present (11%), 2 excused (5%), 32 absent (84%); Staff: Of 18 total: 12 present (67%), 4 excused (22%),  2 absent (11%); Alumni: Of 6 total: 3 present (50%), 0 excused (0%), 3 absent (50%)

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

Senate Chair Peter Gillett called the meeting to order at 1:10 p.m. in the College Avenue Student Center Multipurpose Room, College Avenue Campus. He said it was his pleasure to serve as chair during the past 3 years and thanked all for their support. He thanked all for sharing their time and talents this past year while expressing his delight in serving as the Vice Chair next year alongside Jon Oliver as Chair.

SECRETARY’S REPORT – Mary Mickelsen, Executive Secretary

• Agenda: The meeting’s agenda was approved by the Senate with the amendment to move New Business to after the Administrative Report.
• Minutes: The Minutes of the March 29, 2019 Senate Meeting were approved as distributed by the Executive Secretary.
• Communications:
  • Response from Chancellor Brian Strom on the Senate Resolution on Faculty and Staff Participation in the Rutgers University, Rutgers Health Group, and RWJ Barnabas Health Affiliation Process
  • The following University Policy was recently reviewed/updated:
    • • 60.3.5 – Sick Time and Sick Leave
  • June 1 launch of the new Senate website
  • Invitation to seasoned senators to volunteer at the New Senator Orientation – September 13, 2019, Cook Student Center
• Mickelsen turned the Secretary’s Report over to Vice Chair Jon Oliver to present a resolution celebrating Peter Gillett’s 3-year tenure as the University Senate chair and to present him with a watch as a token of gratitude.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Instruction, Curricula, and Advising Committee (ICAC) Response to Charge S-1805 on Complementary Credentialing and Digital Badges for Rutgers University – Ann Gould, ICAC Member

The ICAC was charged as follows: Consider the feasibility of, and approach to, developing complementary digital badging credentialing system at Rutgers University. Examine the complementary credentialing programs already in place at Rutgers. Make appropriate recommendations, including guidelines for departments and programs.

ICAC Member Ann Gould presented and summarized the ICAC’s Response to Charge S-1805 on Complementary Credentialing and Digital Badges for Rutgers University. After Gould responded to a few questions regarding governance of the system and a possible advising structure the passed the report with 2 opposed.

Resolution on Issues Related to the Progress of Rutgers as a Leading Research Institution – Karen Thompson, PTL Member of the Senate Executive Committee

Senate Executive Committee Member Karen Thompson gave background on and presented the Resolution on Issues Related to the Progress of Rutgers as a Leading Research Institution. She then heard comments on and answered questions related to the concerning conditions PTLs are teaching under, increasing number of undergraduate students and the decreasing number of tenure-track-faculty, and the differences between PTLs and clinical adjunct faculty at RBHS. The report was then voted on and passed with 2 opposed.

NEW BUSINESS  There was no new business.

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

Senior Vice President Lee presented an Administrative Report that included comments on:

• Congratulating all newly elected senators;
• the success of the Dance Marathon;
• Aasha Shaik, recipient of the Truman Scholarship;
• Sridhar Sriram, recipient of the Gates Cambridge Scholarship;
• National Academy of Science Recipients – Gabriel Kotliar and Masayori Inouye;
• Andrew Carnegie Fellows – Melissa Cooper and Pamela McElwee;
• Rutgers 253rd Commencement
  • Special Tribute to Paul Robeson
  • Speakers:
    • New Brunswick and RBHS: Devin & Jason McCourty
    • Newark: Dorothy Roberts
    • Camden: Patrick Harker and Neal Katyal
• Big Ideas Campaign Update
  • 200 Big Ideas submitted across Rutgers, which were parsed down to 39
  • Symposium to be held Fall 2019

Lee then heard comments on or answered questions regarding the following:

• the increase of sexual harassment/assault complaints and what the Victim Assistance office is doing to handle the influx;
• how proposals are getting screened for the Big Ideas Campaign; and
• the Federal Department of Education’s reversal of Affirmative Action and what Rutgers is doing in response

SENATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT – Jon Oliver, Senate Vice Chair

Senate Vice Chair Jon Oliver thanked all Senators for all their hard work and dedication this past year, as well as highlighting Chair Peter Gillett and Executive Secretary Mary Mickelsen for all the work they have done and continue to do to keep the Senate operating at the optimal level we have come to expect.  He also summarized the April 12 Executive Committee meeting including the charges issued to various committees.

REPORTS OF THE REPRESENTATIVES TO BOARDS OF GOVERNORS AND TRUSTEES

Sam Rabinowtiz reported on the April 9 Board of Governors meeting and Mary Jo Bugel, Ilce Perez, and Robert Schwartz reported on the last Board of Trustees meeting.

REPORTS OF CAMPUS FACULTY AND STUDENT LIAISONS

Senator Michael Van Stine spoke about the Parking Symposium on the Camden Campus and Senator Samuel Rabinowitz reported the Camden Faculty Council will meet the week of May 6. There was no report from the Newark Faculty or Student Liaisons. Senator Sanjib Bhuyan, New Brunswick Faculty Council Chair, reported on that group’s plans and their April 26, 2019 meeting. Senator Julie Serrano, New Brunswick Student Member of the Senate Executive Committee, reported on RUSAs successful campus-wide election, and thanked all for her experience on the Senate the last 4 years.  Senator Carol Lutz reported on the April 22 meeting and on their efforts to get all faculty councils in the University Library.

ADJOURNMENT

Adjourned at 2:36 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