RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY
UNIVERSITY SENATE

MINUTES: Regular Meeting of the University Senate

DATE: October 17, 2025

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

PRESENT: Abdelfattah, Afanador, Alam, Ali, K. Anderson, C. Anderson, Andrews, Apel, Ardeshna, Asch, Bachmann, Doug Baker, Barbarello Andrews, Behrmann, Berkowitz, Bhuyan, Borie-Holtz, Borisovets, Boxer, Bridgeman, Brigham, Brown, Burkheimer, Carney-Waterton, Chintala, Clarke, Collick, Cooper, Crooks, Curchitser, Dane, Davis, DeMatteo, Dixit, Dock, Easley , Emmons, Everett, Everts, Fang, Fatahzadeh, Fenker, Fine, Flynn, Fortuna, Foster, Friedman, Giraud, Godoy, Gong, Gordy, Gower, Grachan, Granadeiro, Green-Mercado, Greenbaum, J. Guo, Gursoy, Haberl, Haley, Hatefi, Haviland, Hennessy, Hoffman, Horan, Householder, S. Hussain, H. Hussain, Ivasyuk, Javanmard, Jordan-McKinney, Kaback, Keates, Kelly, Kettle, Khan, Khatal, Kilmurray, Knievel, Kustka, LaMorte, Ladell, Lam, Limata, Luciano, Lutz, Maeng Brown, Maerhofer, Maliga, Markowitz, Mbadugha, C. McCarthy, McKeever, Morales, C. Morton, P. Morton, Murphy, Ntiwunka-Ifeanyi, O’Connor, Oberle, Oluwadare, Paris, G. Patel, S. Patel, Pentecost, Pichardo, Pichugin, Pintar, Purcell, Quevado, Quincy, Ramachandran, Ramenzoni, Ramirez Polo, Reynolds, Robles, Rodriguez, Rossman-Murphy, Russ, Salas-de la Cruz, Saleh, Saltzman, Samavat, Sarath, Schafer, Schwartz, Scott, Sergel, Shah, Shinbrot, Salman Sirajee, Sloan-Power, Smith, Sorbat, Sriram, Stimson, Stubin, Suh, Szatrowski, Takhistov, Tirino, Torres, Wagner, Weiss, White, Wirtenberg, Wolfe, Zhou, Zwick, Özel

EXCUSED: Boison, Campbell, Economou, Hayes, Kiss, Maganti, V. Patel, Pierce, Rabinowitz, Shaikh

ABSENT: Adya, Agyemang, F. Ahmed, B. Ahmed, Ameri, Amjad, Anderson Eloy, Anner, Arbuthnot, Askew, Barone, Bond, Bredehoft, Chiricolo, Choron, Conway, Cortez, Cotter, Cuitiño, Dastjerdi, DiGiovanni, Dinnall, Ebert, Feldman, Georgiou, Giermanski, Gittelman, Gould, Graham, Griffin, Gurbuzbalaban, Halkitis, Hisham Hamawy, Hart, Hecht-Colsoy, Henderson, Johnson, Kaye, Kayyal, Ketankumar Patel, Khan, La Vigne, Lawson, Lee, Lehman, Lei, Leibowitz, Lemish, Lobman, Mahajan, Mao, Mattis, Mazurek, McArdle, Moulton, Murtha, Nickitas, O’Connell, Oliver, Parna, Pontes, Pradhan, Reshamdalal, Robson, Rosa, Rubin, Santos Mendoza, Sayde, Schroth, Scott, Searcy, Shapiro, Smith-Jackson, Sow, Span, Spiegel, Starkweather, Strom, Syed, Tate, Tewfik, Tillis, Truschke, Vuppala, Wade, Yang, Y. Zhang, H. Zhang

CALL TO ORDER, DETERMINATION OF A QUORUM, AND CHAIR’S REPORT – Lucille Foster, Chair

Chair Foster called the meeting to order at 1:10 p.m. She greeted Senators, members of the public, and members of the press attending the meeting. She began the meeting by reading a confidential statement from Chancellor Professor Francine Conway, which will be shared publicly. The letter was not shared prior to the meeting due to prior leaks to media outlets and social media postings. Chair Foster also read a statement prepared by Senior Associate Vice Chancellor and Dean of Students, Anne Newman. Chair Foster also announced that Senator Natalie Borisovets will be filling in as Deputy Parliamentarian for the October meeting.

SECRETARY’S REPORT – Taryn Cooper, Executive Secretary

• Agenda: The meeting agenda was approved, without objections.
• Minutes: The minutes of the September 19, 2025 Senate Meeting Minutes were approved as distributed by the Executive Secretary without objections.
• Administrative Responses
  • Response to S-2334-1 Senate Communications
  • Response to S-2404 Inter-campus Inclusion and Equity in the Rutgers Academic Calendar
• Communications
  • Review of the Qualtrics survey concerning Senate Socials and merchandize results will be reported at the during next Executive Committee.
  • Reminder to log in to the Senate website for attendance and voting access.

ELECTION OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE FACULTY AT-LARGE POSITION

Chair Foster introduced Senator Rob Scott as the nominee from the Executive Committee. The Senate approved the nomination by unanimous consent.

RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF ACADEMIC FREEDOM AND FREE EXPRESSION

Chair Foster presented this resolution to the Senate. The resolution was adopted.

RESOLUTION TO REJECT FEDERAL COMPACT

Senator Paul Boxer presented this resolution to the Senate. The resolution was adopted.

MADC TASKFORCE UPDATE AND NJ-MADC RESOLUTION

Senator Paul Boxer and Senator Anna Haley presented this resolution to the Senate. The resolution was adopted.

RUTGERS NJPIRG CHAPTER PRESENTATION– Ori Liwanag, Kristiana Dedykai, Gianna Rivera

A presentation was delivered about the impactful work of NJPIRG, noting the discretionary fee of $13.01 added to students’ invoices that supports its activities.

COMMITTEE REPORTS/RESOLUTIONS: The reports/resolutions were presented/summarized by the committee chair, then discussed, and acted upon by the Senate.

University Structure and Governance Committee

Report on S-2406 Senate Role in Shared Governance

Wendy Purcell and Patricia Morton, Co-Chairs

The USGC was charged as follows:

 

Request that the University Structure and Governance Committee closely review and evaluate University policy 50.2.2 with the goal of further clarifying, verifying, and delineating the Senate’s official role in shared governance.

 

Senator and Vice Chair Wendy Purcell and Senator Patricia Morton presented this report as part of its ongoing work on the charge that included a recommendation to repeat the pulse survey on shared governance in March 2026. The recommendation was adopted.

 

Instruction, Curricula, and Advising Committee

Report on S-2305-2 Auditing Courses at Rutgers

Natalie Borisovets and Alexander Pichugin, Co-Chairs

 

The ICAC was charged as follows:

 

Review course auditing at Rutgers. Make any appropriate recommendations.

 

Senator Natalie Borisovets presented this report and its recommendations to the Senate. The recommendations were adopted in full.

 

INTRODUCTION OF STANDING COMMITTEE CO-CHAIRS– Chair Lucille Foster

Co-chairs of the Senate standing committees were welcomed by the Chair and thanked for their work in progressing Senate charges.

OLD BUSINESS

None.

NEW BUSINESS

None.

SENATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT

Senator and Vice Chair Wendy Purcell reported on the October 3, 2025 Executive Committee meeting.

REPORTS OF THE REPRESENTATIVES TO BOARDS OF GOVERNORS AND TRUSTEES

Senator Schwartz reported on the Board of Trustees meeting. Chair Foster reported on the Board of Governors meeting.

REPORTS OF CAMPUS FACULTY AND STUDENT LIAISONS

Senator Haley reported on behalf of the New Brunswick Faculty Council. Senator Green-Mercado reported that the Newark Faculty Council had not yet met this semester. Senator Wilkinson reported on behalf of Camden Faculty Council that they had not met since the last Senate meeting but had hosted an event with Chancellor Professor Antonio Tillis.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting adjourned at 3:23 p.m.

Minutes prepared by:
Taryn Cooper, 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