RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY
UNIVERSITY SENATE

MINUTES: Regular Meeting of the University Senate

DATE: February 18, 2022

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

PRESENT: Abdel-Wahab, Abuilak, Adya, Alizadeh, Allamand, Ameri, Amjad, Anderson, Andrews, Ardeshna, Askew, Aubry, Azer, Bachmann, Baldi, Barlow, Bernstein, Bhattacharya, Bhuyan, Bogden, Boikess, Boison, Bridgeman, Brienza-Arcilla, Broggi, Buyske, Castellano, Charles, Choo, Chowdhury, Clarke, Conway, Crawford, Crews, Dane, Davidson, Davis, Dool, Drazer, Edelstein, English, Esposito, Farmer, Fatahzadeh, Fellenz, Field, Figueira, Foster, Fougnies, Fudge, Garner, Giraud, Gomes, Goonetilleke, Gower, Granadeiro, Gursoy, Haley, Hauck, Haviland, Holloway, Hunter, Hurd, Joergensen, Kahng, Kelly, Kettle, Kiss, Kothari, Kovacs, Kozlosky, Kustka, LaMorte, Laraia, Lawson, Linardopoulos, Lino-Barbosa, Lutz, Lyles, Mahajan-Cusack, Mansukhani, Manzini, Marchetta, Markert, Markowitz, Marsic, McKeever, Miller, Molloy, Morton, Nickitas, Oliver, Ozel, Parsa, Patel, Pichugin, Pintar, Pinto-Figueroa, Poole, Prihoda, Rabinovich, Rabinowitz, Rizvi, Roth, Ryan, Sagarra, Saltzman, Schroth, Schwartz, Schwartz, Scott, Shah, Shapses, Shih, Shinbrot, Siederer, Sinacori, M. Smith, J. Smith, Sonnenberg, Spiegel, Stephens, Strom, Struble, Sutton, Swamy, Szatrowski, Taipe, Takhistov, Thompson, Todorinova, Torres, Tsakalakos, Valverde, Volino, White, Willett, Wirtenberg, Woortman, Yamamoto

EXCUSED: Bhavaraju, Boxer, Cooper, Haley, Hara, O’Connor, Simonds, Stroiman

ABSENT: Barbarese, Barone, Beegan, Blanchett, Bonne, Cabrera, Campbell, Cantor, Cardoso, Carrero, Chefitz, Cimer, Cole, Daughety, Bleyker, Eaton, Elsaid, Emedom-Nnamdi, Everett, Ewins, Farris, Feldman, Fernandez, Flynn, Fox, Guo, Halkitis, Halprin, Hatefi, Hein, Henderson, Hsueh, Hu, Huang, Husan, Irizarry, Javeri, Johnson, Kahanda, Kaye, Knode, Kukor, Lei, Leibman, Levine, Liu, Lopez, Maddox Douglas, Mahon, March, Marchitello, Matto, Mazurek, McCarthy, Menifield, Mignogna, Moore, Mutcherson, Nath, Oberle, Patel, C. Potter, J. Potter, Riedel-Prabhakar, Rivera, Robalino, Samlin, A. Shah, B. Shah, Shapiro, Sharma, Shawl, Tadros, Tan, Tewfik, Thakuriah, Valle, Vega, Vellangany, Virani, Wang, Warde, Westrich, Whitehead

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

Chair Oliver welcomed everyone to the February meeting at 1:11pm. He spoke about the works of the committees that included topics on academic freedom, teaching in the 21st century, senior leadership searches, the University patent policy and disability services etc. He then thanked everyone for their hard work and dedication to shared governance. Oliver spoke on the importance of prepping before meetings to make them run more smoothly in the future. He then mentioned the significance of the Nominating Panel and how the Senate will function in future meetings under a hybrid climate. Oliver then introduced President Holloway, SVP Prabhas Moghe and EVP CFO Mike Gower to the meeting and thanked them for their continuous commitment and partnership with the Senate. He also introduced SVP Brian Ballentine, Michele Norin and Chancellor Brian Strom to the meeting and thanked all for their presence and he then concluded his report.

SECRETARY’S REPORT – Morgan Smith, Interim Executive Secretary

• Agenda: The meeting’s agenda including time limits was approved by the Senate with no corrections
• Minutes: The minutes of the January 21, 2022 Senate meeting were approved
  as distributed by the Interim Executive Secretary
• Communications:
  • Smith then reported that the following policy has been updated/added in the University Policy Library: University Policy 60.1.35: Immunization Policy for Rutgers Employees and Prospective Employees

UNIVERSITY FINANCES – Jonathan Holloway, University President and Michael Gower, Executive VP – Chief Financial Officer

President Jonathan Holloway delivered a report on the details of The University Finances that can be found at: https://finance.rutgers.edu

President Jonathan Holloway, EVP CFO Mike Gower and Chancellor Brian Strom all teamed up answered questions on the following topics:

• The input of patient care revenue
• University policies with mandatory masking regarding state mandates
• The importance and challenges of the needs of University Libraries
• Reprioritizing the budget for PTL’s and NTT’s
• The role of athletics and revenue producing sports
• Graduate student funding extension for research work whose studies have been delayed because of COVID-19
• Concerns of losing Rutgers employees that are being replaced by Barnabas employees
• BTAA and the Big-10

ONLINE LEARNING STRATEGIES – Brian Ballentine, Senior VP – Strategy, and Michele Norin, Senior VP and Chief Info Officer

CHANCELLORS REPORT – Brian Strom, RBHS Chancellor

• RBHS Campus Report
• Questions and Answers

Chancellor Brian Strom delivered his report and answered questions on the following topics:

• Salary equity issues at RWJMS
• Managing and preparing for the evolution of new variants
• Local and global support with building larger buildings for displaced students
• Rutgers involvement with state policies
• Guidance among a second booster shot
• Hiring inequities between Rutgers and Barnabas

OLD BUSINESS: There was no old business.

NEW BUSINESS: There was no new business.

SENATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT – Senate Chair Jon Oliver reported on the February 4, 2022 Senate Executive Committee Meeting

REPORTS OF THE REPRESENTATIVE TO THE BOARDS OF GOVERNORS AND TRUSTEES: Senator Samuel Rabinowitz notified the Senate that the Board of Governors next meeting will be February 23. There was no report from the Board of Trustees.

REPORTS OF CAMPUS FACULTY AND STUDENT LIAISONS: Senator Sanjib Bhuyan reported on the New Brunswick Faculty Council current initiatives. RBHS Senator Laura Willett reported on RBHS current initiatives as well. RBHS Students are working to spread information from the Senate. Senator Samuel Rabinowitz reported on the Camden Faculty Council initiatives including PTL best practices, campus safety and R2 status.

ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 3:30 p.m.

Minutes prepared by:
Morgan Smith, Interim 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