MINUTES: Regular Meeting of the University Senate

DATE: November 16, 2018

TIME AND PLACE: 1:30 p.m., Multipurpose Room, Camden Campus Center, Camden Campus

MEMBERS PRESENT:  Ahmed; Alexander-Floyd; Ardeshna; Atkins; Aubert; Avallone; Bhuyan; Boikess; Borisovets; Brewster-Bauzyk; Bugel; Carson; Carty; Cole; Dane; Dasari; DiLalo; Dreyer; Emmons; Everett; Field; Gillett; Giraud; Gonzalez; Haddon; Hunter; Hunter-Fratzola; Jarrin; Joergensen; Johnson; Kabia; Kane; Kashalikar; Kurtas; Kustka; Lee; Lewis; Little; LoGrippo; Maglione-Rico; Mammis; Mancini; Markert; Marsic; Matto; Nickitas; Norris; Norville; Oleske; Oliver; Pappas; Parsa; Patel; Perez; Puar; Puhak; Rabinowitz; Ravichandran; Raza; Rivera; Saltzman; Schwartz; Serrano; Sesti; Soto; Spiegel; Struble; Takhistov; Tharney; Thompson; Thompson; Thuravil; Tracey; Van Stine; White; Wilde; Zhang

EXCUSED:  Abbas; Acosta; Alizadeh; Bekdash; Bora; Bridgeman; Chunn; Craig; Cummings; Cummings; DeFabiis; Denham-Barrett; Dettloff; Ebert; Esposito; Fagan; Fellenz; Goldfarb; Goodman; Gould; Graber; Gross; Guo; Gursoy; Han; Hartman; Heckscher; Honeycutt; Junboota; Kaminskas; Kane; Kelly; LaPointe; Lema; Lindboe; Lutz; Mahajan-Cusack; Maloney; McKeever; Mena-Segovia; Menifield; Miller; Murphy; O’Neill; Pardlo; Parrish; Patel; Peyrek; Pinto-Figueroa; Piotrowski; Powell; Raval; Rosen; Rothpeltz-Puglia; Sanchez; Shah; Shah; Trees; Ziessler

ABSENT:   Alidou; Alvarez; Artun; Awan; Balaguru; Barbarese; Barchi; Barone; Brunson; Butler; Butterfield; Cahill; Cantor; Chinn; Collins; Conway; Cotter; Covington; D’Anna; DeFilippis; Dowlin; Eastman; Eaton; Eisenstein; Estriplet; Farmbry; Farris; Feldman; Filippelli; Gabriel; Ganesh; Ghesani; Gower; Greenberg; Halkitis; Hatefi; Holzemer; Iannini; Johnson; Kettle; Kettler; Kukor; Langer; Langsam; Lei; Lindenmeyer; Lombardi; Lopez; Lugg; Mahon; Mansukhani; March; Marchetta; Masiello; Mazurek; Molloy; Murphy; O’Brassill-Kulfan; O’Connor; Pagan; Pandey; Paskhover; Patel; Patton; Pichugin; Ponzio; Porumbescu; Potter; Potter; Pradhan; Rajan; Schiavo; Schneider; Sen; Shapiro; Shapses; Sheridan; Shinbrot; Silver; Song; Stauffer; Steinberg; Strom; Szatrowski; Tsakalakos; Vidal; Williams; Yang; Young

ATTENDANCE  SUMMARY : Faculty: Of 117 total: 38 present (32%), 33 excused (28%), 45 absent (38%); Students: Of 37 total: 19 present (51%), 16 excused (43%), 7 absent (19%); Administrators: Of 40 total: 3 present (8%), 5 excused (13%), 33 absent (82%); Staff: Of 17 total: 12 present (71%), 4 excused (24%), 3 absent (18%); Alumni: Of 6 total: 4 present (67%), 1 excused (17%), 1 absent (16%
View Senate Attendance Record for this academic year

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

Senate Chair Peter Gillett called the meeting to order at 1:33 p.m. in the Camden Campus Center Multipurpose Room, Camden Campus. He welcomed everyone to the Camden Campus and thanked Chancellor Phoebe Haddon and her staff for hosting and for providing lunch. He asked Senators, despite the later start time due to the extension of standing committees, to attempt not to finish later than usual. He also, made the following points:

• the status of the Dean’s Evaluation Committees and the need to revisit how to solicit Senate recommendations in the future; and
• the Big Ten Academic Alliance – Academic Governance Conference in Iowa City, specifically his discussions with other universities on their use of electronic voting devices and at which level these governing bodies influence university decision making;
• discussions in the Senate Office regarding the use of clickers to register attendance and voting;
• the problem in crafting amendments on the floor of the Senate;
• the role of the Senate in shared governance and what that means – working together to share governance with the administration vs. constituencies coming together to represent their own viewpoints in silos;
• the wish to encourage current student and faculty organizations to represent those constituencies in their own right and the Senate to be more than a vehicle for amplifying them;
• encouraging the members of the Senate to come together as one voice and work with the administration to foster positive change for the university in its entirety.

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 October 19, 2018 Senate Meeting were approved as distributed by the Executive Secretary.
• Communications: The following communications were presented by the Executive Secretary
  • President Barchi’s Amended Response to Charge A-1603: Evaluation of Administrators Part II: Evaluation of Chancellors and the Process for the Evaluation of Chancellors
  • Chancellor Haddon’s Response to Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, Barbara Lee’s request for follow-up on President Barchi’s responses to Senate reports.
  • Call for 2019 Student Charter Trustee Nominations – Undergraduate Position – by the Rutgers University Secretary

ELECTION OF ALUMNI MEMBER OF THE SENATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Jennie Owens, elected to serve as the 2018-19 Alumni Member of the Senate Executive Committee at the April 27, 2018 Organizational Meeting, has resigned her seat citing scheduling conflicts. In accordance with University Policy 50.2.1 Section F, the Senate Executive Committee at its November 2 meeting, nominated Houshang Parsa as Jennie’s replacement, which he has accepted.

Chair Gillett asked if there were any nominations from the floor, which there were none. The Senate was asked to vote utilizing their voting cards. Senator Parsa was elected as the Alumni Member of the Senate Executive Committee with 1 opposition.

COMMITTEE REPORTS 

Faculty and Personnel Affairs Report on the Partnership Process between RWJ Barnabas, Rutgers University, and the Rutgers University Faculty– Farid Alizadeh and Joseph Markert, Co-Chairs of FPAC

CAMDEN CHANCELLOR’S REPORT – Camden Chancellor Phoebe Haddon

Camden Chancellor Phoebe Haddon  presented the Camden Chancellor’s Report. The presentation on that report is linked above. Haddon then responded to questions, or heard comments, on the report and related issues.

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT – Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Barbara Lee

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

• the dedication of the Weeks Hall of Engineering
• Sen. Cory Booker’s visit to Rutgers announcing legislation he is proposing to extend the GI bill for student veterans;
• Rutgers University has been ranked #3 by Military Times as 2019 Best for Vets Colleges;
• Vivian Stringer’s 1000th coaching victory – nearly 1/2 being at Rutgers and the 100% graduation rate of her players for the 2nd year in a row;
• the success of the first Academic Health Symposium held on October 30, 2018
• Former Rep. Gabby Giffords speach marked the kick-off of the EJBSPPP Gun Violence Research Center; and
• President Barchi’s letter (co-signed by President Christopher Eisgruber, Princeton University and Chancellor Rebecca Blank, University of Wisconsin-Madison), to US Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, calling her to protect transgender student’s rights under Title IX, and reject the recent proposed changes to the memo.

Lee then responded to questions, or heard comments, on the above subjects, as well as the lack of an administration response to the November 15th snow storm; an expression of gratitude from LGBTQ students for the administration’s support; the issue regarding a long-closed antisemitism case against Rutgers being re-opened; Canvas chosen as the University-wide learning management system and possible issues regarding academic freedom; and search for a permanent New Brunswick Chancellor.

SENATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT – Senate Vice Chair Jon Oliver reported on the November 2, 2018 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 that there has not been a Board of Governors meeting since the last Senate meeting. Senator Mary Jo Bugel, Faculty Representative to the Board of Trustees, reported that the next Board of Trustees meeting will be on December 6.

CAMPUS FACULTY AND STUDENT LIAISON REPORTS: Senator Samuel Rabinowitz, reported on that group’s October 25 meeting. Camden Student Senator Michael Van Stine reported there had not been a meeting of the Camden SGA since the last Senate meeting. Senator Sanjib Bhuyan, New Brunswick Faculty Council Chair, reported on that group’s plans and their October 26, 2018 meeting. Senator Julie Serrano, New Brunswick Student Member of the Senate Executive Committee, reported on New Brunswick student governing association activities.

ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 3:00 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