January 24, 2003 Rutgers University Senate Minutes

RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY
UNIVERSITY SENATE

MINUTES: Regular Meeting of the University Senate

DATE: January 24, 2003

TIME AND PLACE: 1:10 p.m., Multipurpose Room, Rutgers Student Center, 126 College Avenue, College Avenue Campus

MEMBERS PRESENT: Adelaja, Barnes, Barone, Baruh, Bathory, Berz, Blasi, Borisovets, Bossard, Bottega, Brazier, Caprio, Chambers, Cohen, Colaizzi, A. Cooper, T. Cooper, Cotter, Darien, DeCarlo, E. Dennis, DeRosa, Dess, Deutsch, Diner, Domb, Doshi, Erlichson, Evans, Flanagan, Forman, Gaunt, Gillett, Gossett, Gould, Hara, Haugerud, Hawkesworth, Hirschmugl, Hirsh, Hodgson, Hornichter, J. Hughes, Josh Jackson, Jesse, Jessen, Karel, Kauffman, Kennedy, Kirby, Kirschner, Klein, Kressel, Laguna-Diaz, Lanterman, Lee, Liberman, Lichtenfeld, Maradonna, Markowitz, Maudlin, McCormick, McKay, Messer, Miller, Naus, Nedick, Nordstrom, Obayashi, Panayotatos, Pancholy, Parrish, Patel, Pellegrine, Penfield, Perr, Plummer, Preston, Rabii, Rabinowitz, Ramsay, Saidel, Schiavo, Scott, Seneca, Shovlin, P. Simmons, H. Smith, N. Smith, D. Snyder, P. Snyder, Stauffer, Swenson, Szatrowski, Tandon, Tuckman, Vodak, Wadia, Walker, Wang, Wasserman, Webb, Wilkinson, Winterbauer, Worrall, Wozniak, Zaborszky

EXCUSED: Ambar, Bell, Boylan, Bry, Cerulo, Cowley, Cronk, Durante, El-Shakhs, Fischetti, Friedrich, Gillis, Greenhut, Grennille, Hillman, R. Hughes, Kenney, Kleiman, Krucher, Lashley, Leath, Leontiades, Manhoff, Marsh, McKeever, Mensah, O’Connor, Oren, Pottick, Puniello, Abhay Rijhsinghani, Amit Rijhsinghani, Sears, Solomon, Sondahl, Thompson, Walker-Andrews

ABSENT: Advani, Bay, Boikess, Breton, Bushnell, Caruso, Case, Chism, Cicma, Davidson, Dekhterman, R. Dennis, Driscoll, Elgallab, Griffiths, Hall, Hanlon, Hyndman, Joanne Jackson, Johnson, Jones, Joo, Kenfield, Keoskey, Kokini, Lehman, Leustek, Massenburg, Maurer, Ocone, Owusu, Pieczenik, Roden, Salge, Schlegel, Silver, R. Simmons, Sukhdeo, Taylor, Tsurumi, Zylstra

ATTENDANCE SUMMARY: Faculty: Of 91 total: 50 present (55%), 20 excused (22%) 21 absent (23%)
Students: Of 49 total: 27 present (55%), 8 excused (16%), 14 absent (29%)
Administrators: Of 39 total: 28 present (72%), 6 excused (15%), 5 absent (13%)
Alumni: Of 6 total: 2 present (33%), 3 excused (50%), 1 absent (17%)
View Senate attendance record for this year

NON-VOTING MEMBER PRESENT: Redd

NON-VOTING MEMBERS ABSENT: Sambolin, Wright

PRESIDING OFFICER: Paul Panayotatos, Chairperson

CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT: Chairperson Panayotatos called the meeting to order, and gave privilege of the floor to Senator Haym Hirsh, who made comments and led a moment of silence in memory of Professor Saul Amarel, Alan Turing Professor of Computer Science. Senator Hirsh said that the Computer Science department will be putting together a fund for memorial contributions, and asked that anyone interested contact him.

Chairperson Panayotatos said that he had met with representatives from UMDNJ and NJIT, and with them had drafted and sent a letter to Dr. P. Roy Vagelos regarding the Report of the New Jersey Commission on Health Science, Education and Training (NJCHSET). The letter asked that Rutgers, UMDNJ and NJIT representatives be involved in the planning and implementation processes of the proposed restructuring of New Jersey’s state universities and colleges. The letter suggests that a carefully implemented restructuring plan requires that:

the state provides adequate, sustained and predictable funding to advance to the next level of academic excellence and to independently support the University Hospital;
the major stakeholders in higher education play a leading role in all stages of the restructuring

The letter was signed by representatives of Rutgers, UMDNJ, and NJIT, as follows: Norman Loney for the NJIT Faculty Council, Carol Singley for the Rutgers - Camden Faculty Senate, John Randall for the Rutgers - Newark Faculty Council, Fred Kauffman for the Rutgers - New Brunswick Faculty Council, Paul Panayotatos for the Rutgers University Senate, Elizabeth Raveche for the UMDNJ - NJ Medical School Faculty Organization, and Talib Najjar for the UMDNJ - School of Dentistry Faculty Organization. (Click here to read the full text of the letter.)

Also regarding the Report of the NJCHSET, Chairperson Panayotatos said that the Governance Committee and Executive Committee had met and approved via e-mail a resolution to President McCormick on behalf of the University Senate [http://senate.rutgers.edu/govctemergresp.html], the fundamental recommendations of which were:

The University working groups on each campus include faculty, students and alumni in addition to administrators from each campus.
The Issue working groups, both local and system-wide similarly include faculty, students and alumni as well as administrators.
The Issue working groups include specific committees or subcommittee in areas where we feel there will be a particular impact (as described in detail later in the resolution).
President McCormick immediately establish a Rutgers University-wide Advisory Committee with representation of these stakeholders to assist in establishing and staffing the working groups. This advisory committee should have equal representation from each of the three current campuses.

He noted that President McCormick has already asked for nominations for the working groups.

Chairperson Panayotatos said that Senate committee chairs will be asked to review a list of restructuring issues to consider which would best be addressed in their respective committees, and to suggest a timetable for responding to the issues.

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY: Agenda: Secretary Swalagin noted that the February 21, 2003 Senate meeting had inadvertently been left off of the day’s hardcopy agenda packet list of “Remaining Senate Meetings” for the year. He assured the Senate that there will be a Senate meeting on February 21. The day’s agenda was approved.

Minutes: On motion and duly seconded, the Minutes of the November 22, 2002 Senate meeting were approved as distributed by the Secretary.

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT:

President McCormick delivered the administrative report. He began by noting that he was himself a University Senator years ago, and was proud to be again.

Reporting on his first “nearly two months” as President of the University, President McCormick commented on:

the high priority he places on communication with the Rutgers community, with Trenton, and those who benefit from the work of Rutgers;
ongoing processes regarding the Report of the New Jersey Commission on Health Science, Education and Training (NJCHSET) and the proposed restructuring of NJ state higher-education institutions, including opportunities, risks and concerns, and issues of structural change, governance, and funding;
themes and changes for Rutgers’ administration, including emphasis on transparency and establishing a “culture of trust and belief,” as well as service and responsiveness to constituents, and changes in the administrative structure which will be announced shortly;
his acceptance of, and solicitation of nominations for, the Senate’s suggested working groups which will address the NJCHSET report.

A question-and-answer period followed, during which President McCormick responded to questions on: the NJCHSET report and proposed restructuring plan, Affirmative Action policies, higher-education funding, health benefits for graduate students, master planning for New Brunswick, the tenure process; the budget, master planning in Camden, and full-time and part-time teaching responsibilities.

NEW BRUNSWICK “STATE OF THE CAMPUS” REPORT:

Chairperson Panayotatos introduced University Vice President for Academic Affairs Joseph J. Seneca, who took the lectern. Senator Seneca presented a synopsis of the New Brunswick “State of the Campus” Report. (Click here to view the full report.)

A question-and-answer period followed, during which University Vice President Seneca responded to questions and comments on subjects including: the Diversity Website (which Senator Emmet Dennis noted is now online); student enrollment, funding cuts, faculty recruitment, and access to art classes for bachelor of arts students.

OLD BUSINESS:

There was no Old Business.

NEW BUSINESS:

There was no New Business.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT: Vice Chair Rabinowitz reported on the January 17, 2003 Senate Executive Committee meeting.

REPORT OF THE REPRESENTATIVES TO BOARDS OF GOVERNORS AND TRUSTEES:
Senator Wozniak reported on the December 13, 2002 Board of Governors meetings. Senator Pancholy reported that both the December 4 and December 18, 2002 Board of Trustees meetings were “closed-door” meetings.

REPORT OF CAMPUS FACULTY LIAISON: Senator Schiavo reported on recent activities of the Camden Faculty Senate, including charging of an ad hoc committee to develop a proposal for general curriculum reform. Senator Kauffman reported on plans and recent activities of the New Brunswick Faculty Council, noting that a list of nominees for the restructuring proposal working groups would be coming to the Senate Executive Committee.

ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 3:20 p.m.

Kenneth Swalagin
Secretary of the University Senate