RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY
UNIVERSITY SENATE

MINUTES: Regular Meeting of the University Senate

DATE: March 24, 2023

TIME AND PLACE: 1:10 p.m., Remote via Zoom

MEMBERS PRESENT: Abdelwahab, Adamo, Alkhwekhi, Allen, Ameri, Anderson, Andrews, Ardeshna, Askew, Aubry, Barlow, Bhuyan, Boikess, Boison, Borisovets, Boucher, Boxer, Bridgeman, Cantor, Caponegro, Choo, Clarke, Conway, Copeland, Crutcher, Cuitiño, Dane, Davidson, Davis, Dinnall, Drazer, Eaton, Edelstein, English, Esposito, Everett, Farmer, Fatahzadeh, Fellenz, Figueira, Foster, Fudge, Gahlawat, Galsim, Giraud, Gomes, Graham, Gursoy, Haley, Haviland, Hewitt, Hien, Holloway, Hunter, Javanmard, Kahng, Kaplan, Kelly, Kettle, Kiss, Kolben, Kothari, Kustka, LaMorte, Ladell, Lehman, Levine, Li, Manzini, Marchetta, Matto, McKeever, Meshoyrer, Moghe, Morton, Mukherjee, O’Connor, O’Halloran, Oliver, Olivera, Ortiz, Osorio-Fernandez, Ozel, Parsa, S. Patel, K. Patel, Pierce, Pintar, Pinto-Figueroa, Poole, Quincy, Rabinowitz, Ramirez, Roth, Saltzman, Savage, Schnetzer, Schroth, Schwartz, Scott, Shapiro, Sharma, Shinbrot, Siederer, Simonds, Smart, Smith, Sonnenberg, Spiegel, Stephens, Struble, Swamy, Szatrowski, Tewfik, Thompson, Tirino, Todorinova, J. Torres, E. Torres, Valverde, Van Stine, Vellangany, White, Wirtenberg, Zhang

MEMBERS EXCUSED: Cooper, Dyckman, Fedorko, Gong, Holmes, Lawson, Lutz, Mahajan-Cusack, Pichugin, Pistell, Volino

MEMBERS ABSENT: Abuattieh, Abuliak, Adya, Allamand, Amjad, Anderson Eloy, Bachmann, Baldi, Barone, Bhattacharya, Bhavaraju, Blanchett, Bogden, Brienza-Arcilla, Campbell, Carpenter, Cary, Chefitz, Cole, Dai, Eastman, Escalante, Feldman, Flynn, Garcia, Geary, Gower, Granadeiro, Griffin, Guo, Halkitis, Hatefi, Henderson, Irizarry, Joergensen, Johnson, Kahanda, Kaye, Kazi, Kretov, Lei, Lopez, Losada, Lyles, Malin, Mansukhani, March, Mazurek, McCarthy, Menifield, Merians, Miller, Mittal, Murtha, Mutcherson, Muthukumar, Nayar, Niaz, Nolan, Nucci, O’Toole, Oberle, Oladimeji, Papakonstantinou, P. Patel, Pedersen, C. Potter, J. Potter, Prihoda, Raheel, Sagarra, Shah, Shapiro, Shih, Shome, Strom, Takhistov, Tare, Tillis, Vadapalli, Wang, Whitehead, Zolezi

CALL TO ORDER, DETERMINATION OF A QUORUM, AND CHAIR’S REPORT – Adrienne Simonds, Chair

Chair Simonds called the meeting to order at 1:11 p.m. She announced an Office of Teaching Evaluation & Assessment Research workshop on Mon. March 27 on Faith Zones and Religious Observations in the Classroom. She encouraged senators to run for re-election if their term expires this year. She also asked senators to submit nominations or self-nominations for the Senate leadership elections held at the April 28 Senate Organizational meeting. She congratulated Vicki Hewitt on her one-year anniversary as Senate Executive Secretary, and Jon Oliver on his appointment as Chief of Staff for Chancellor-Provost Conway.

SECRETARY’S REPORT – Vicki Hewitt, Executive Secretary

• Agenda: The meeting agenda was approved, with the addition of one item of New Business.
• Minutes: The minutesof the Feb. 17, 2023 Senate meeting were approved as distributed by the Executive Secretary.
• Policy Update
  • University Policy 20.1.22 Tobacco Free Policy
• Communications
  • 2023-2024 Senate Calendar
  • Call for Nominations for Senate Leadership Positions – deadline Fri. April 21
  • PTL and Staff elections
    • Nomination Deadlines: Staff March 24, PTLs March 26
    • Voting Open: Staff March 30 – April 5, PTLs April 8 – 14
    • Results Announced: Staff April 11, PTLs April 18
  • Reminder to log in to the Senate website for attendance and voting access.

NEWARK CHANCELLOR REPORT – Nancy Cantor, Chancellor, Rutgers University-Newark

COMMITTEE REPORTS/RESOLUTIONS: The report will be presented/summarized by the committee chair, then will be discussed, and acted upon by the Senate. Substantive amendments to these reports should be given to the Senate secretary in writing prior to or at the time the amendment is moved.

Information Technology Committee (ITC)

Report on S-2201: Approved Electronic Notebooks (Information Only)

Adrienne Esposito and Katie Anderson, Co-Chairs

The ITC was charged as follows:

Investigate the use of electronic lab notebooks. Review the current policies and practice of notebook creation and cloud storage. Recommend the best practices for maintaining the security, integrity, and accessibility of these notebooks.

OLD BUSINESS

There was no old business.

NEW BUSINESS

By unanimous consent, one item of new business was added to the agenda: Resolution on Honoring Picket Lines.

A motion to amend the resolution was lost. The unamended resolution was adopted by the Senate.

SENATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT

Vice Chair Foster reported on the March 3, 2023 Senate Executive Committee Meeting.

REPORTS OF THE REPRESENTATIVE TO THE BOARDS OF GOVERNORS AND TRUSTEES

Chair Simonds reported on the Board of Governors meeting.

REPORTS OF CAMPUS FACULTY AND STUDENT LIAISONS

Senator Van Stine reported on behalf of Camden Students. Senator Kettle reported on behalf of Newark Faculty. Senator Olivera reported on behalf of Newark Students. Senator Bhuyan reported on behalf of New Brunswick Faculty. Senator Gahlawat reported on behalf of New Brunswick Students. Senator Roth reported on behalf of RBHS Faculty. Senator Ortiz reported on behalf of RBHS Students.

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT – Jonathan Holloway, President and University Professor

President Holloway did not give a report and instead opened the floor for questions. He answered questions on the following topics:

• Problems with New Brunswick campus buses and parking
• PTL faculty appointments
• Respecting picket lines if a strike occurs
• Senate resolution on honoring picket lines and not retaliating if a strike occurs
• Graduate student and post-doc contract negotiations
• Current state of collective bargaining at Rutgers
• Request to express solidarity with academic workers
• Request for financial transparency
• Recent email communications regarding collective bargaining
• Access to University email distribution lists

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting adjourned at 3:33 p.m.

Minutes prepared by:
Vicki Hewitt, 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

Information Technology 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