RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY
UNIVERSITY SENATE

PRESIDING OFFICER: Samuel Rabinowitz, Chairperson

CALL TO ORDER, DETERMINATION OF A QUORUM, AND CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT - Samuel Rabinowitz, Chairperson

Chairperson Rabinowitz called the meeting to order at 1:20 p.m. in the Multipurpose Room of the Rutgers Student Center, College Avenue Campus, New Brunswick. After welcoming everyone to the Senate meeting, and wishing everyone a happy new year, he asked that he be allowed to reverse the order of the chair's and secretary's report. Before that was done, the Senate adopted a motion to apply the 90-second time limit previously established for comments on docketed reports to comments after the administrative and New Brunswick campus reports.

SECRETARY'S REPORT - Ken Swalagin, Executive Secretary

• Agenda: The meeting's agenda, including time limits, was approved as distributed by the executive secretary, and as amended with time limits applied to comments after administrative reports. Secretary Swalagin also pointed out that the agenda that was distributed in hardcopy at the meeting was one that had been revised since first being posted online, so Senators should refer to the hardcopy they received when they signed in to the meeting.
• Minutes: The December 4, 2009 Senate Minutes were approved as distributed by the executive secretary.

CHAIRPERSON'S REPORT - Samuel Rabinowitz, Chairperson

Chairperson Rabinowitz continued his comments, speaking on the following topics:

• the recent death of Charles Coleman, professor emeritus of management at the School of Business-Camden;
• Rutgers-Camden student and U.S. Marine Lance Corporal Jeremy Kane, recently killed when his battalion was attacked by a suicide bomber in Iraq;
• the earthquake disaster in Haiti;
• [A moment of silence was observed in memory of all the above.]
• and congratulations to Richard and Joan McCormick on the addition to their family in the person of newly arrived daughter, Katheryne "Katie" Joan McCormick.

• the brevity of his portion of the administrative report, and the second part of the report, which would be Executive Vice President Furmanski's New Brunswick Campus report;
• enrollment for the spring semester on all three campuses, which is the largest ever for a spring semester at Rutgers;
• research support brought in by faculty, which last year totaled $398 million;
• first-year seminars, inaugurated three years ago, which are now reaching more than half of first-year students;
• the New Jersey and Rutgers budgets;
• the election of Chris Christie as New Jersey's next governor, and plans and activities to engage the new governor in Rutgers' and higher-education issues; and
• conversations and meetings with Governor Chris Christie.

President McCormick then responded to questions or comments on subjects including:

• resources utilized when football recruits visit Rutgers;
• the proposal that was before the New Jersey State legislature calling for in-state tuition for undocumented aliens, which proposal was defeated; and
• commencement and graduation plans and speakers for next year, and McCormick's solicitation of student suggestions for commencement speakers.

NEW BRUNSWICK CAMPUS REPORT - Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Philip Furmanski

Academic Standards, Regulations and Admissions Committee Response to Charge S-0807, Add/Drop Period  - Martha Cotter and Dan Schantz, Co-chairs: Academic Standards, Regulations and Admissions Committee Co-chairs Dan Schantz and Martha Cotter presented and summarized their committee's report and recommendations on Charge S-0807, on the Add/Drop Period. There was no discussion from the floor. The report and recommendations were adopted on card vote.

Academic Standards, Regulations and Admissions Committee Response to Charge A-0906, Commencement Dates - Martha Cotter and Dan Schantz, Co-chairs: Academic Standards, Regulations and Admissions Committee Co-chairs Dan Schantz and Martha Cotter presented and summarized their committee's report and recommendations on Charge A-0906, on Commencement Dates. There was no discussion from the floor. The report and recommendations were adopted on card vote.

University Structure and Governance Committee REVISED (as Amended by the Senate December 2009) Response to Charge S-0805, Senate Representation by Full-time, Non-tenure-track Faculty - Peter Gillett and Jon Oliver, Co-chairs: University Structure and Governance Committee (USGC) Co-chairs Peter Gillett and Jon Oliver took the podium. Senator Gillett presented and summarized the USGC response to Charge S-0805, on Senate Representation by Full-time, Non-tenure-track Faculty, noting that the report had been amended since being introduced last month, and addressing the report's three recommendations separately. Recommendations 1 and 2 were adopted as presented. On Recommendation 3, Senator Cotter moved to amend the language to read, "the term of part-time lecturers and annual representatives shall be for a period of two years and will begin on July 1." Gillett accepted the motion as friendly. Senator Karen Thompson noted that by so amending the recommendation, it reversed the amendment adopted by the Senate the previous month. Thompson and Richard Gomes, who is a member of the USGC, spoke in opposition to the current, proposed amendment. Senator Panayotatos raised a point of order, noting that if Senator Gomes, as a member of the USGC, does not accept the amendment, it cannot be considered friendly. The parliamentarian ruled that Gomes had risen to oppose the motion, not the amendment, and that the objection was not made at the time when the amendment was accepted as friendly. Secretary Swalagin then read the proposed amendment, and Chairperson Rabinowitz went to the floor to count votes, which were indicated by raised voting cards. By a narrow margin, the report's third recommendation was defeated. The report was adopted with only Recommendations 1 and 2. [Follow this link to view the Report and Recommendations as adopted by the Senate.]

University Structure and Governance Committee Response to Charge S-0908, Proposal to Increase Staff Membership on the Senate - Peter Gillett and Jon Oliver, Co-chairs: [Note: The recommendations in this report include a change to Senate Bylaws/University Regulations. In accordance with established parliamentary procedure, this report was introduced and discussed at this meeting, but will not be up for adoption until the February 26, 2010 meeting.] Senators Gillett and Oliver remained at the podium, and Gillett introduced and summarized the USGC response to Charge S-0908, on a Proposal to Increase Staff Membership on the Senate. Senator Panayotatos moved to "refer the report back to committee with a request that they balance the addition of new staff Senators with appropriate increases in the representation for what I believe to be the core constituencies of faculty and students." Gillett said that Senator Panayotatos had raised the same point several times before, and that it was considered by the USGC, so it would not come back differently from the committee if the report was sent back for reconsideration of that point. Senator Thompson seconded, and moved to amend, Panayotatos's motion. Her proposed amendment, which would send the recommendation back to the Senate Executive Committee for consideration of the substance of what had been proposed, was deemed by the parliamentarian to be a different motion. Following some discussion, Senator Panayotatos's motion to return the report to the USGC failed. Thompson then proposed an alternate motion, that the question of balancing the constituencies be returned to the Executive Committee. There was no second. [Note: The issue was discussed in the subsequent Senate Executive Committee meeting.]

University Structure and Governance Committee Response to Charge S-0903, Senate Committee Charge Response Limits - Peter Gillett and Jon Oliver, Co-chairs: Senators Gillett and Oliver remained at the podium, and Gillett introduced and summarized the USGC response to Charge S-0903, on Senate Committee Charge Response Limits. There was no discussion. The report and its recommendations were adopted unanimously by the Senate.

Faculty and Personnel Affairs Committee Response to Charge S-0801, Employee Professional and Personal Development - Ann Gould and Paul Panayotatos, Co-chairs: Faculty and Personnel Affairs Committee Co-chairs Ann Gould and Paul Panayotatos presented their committee's response to Charge S-0801, on Employee Professional and Personal Development. There was no discussion. The report and its recommendation were adopted by the Senate.

OLD BUSINESS: There was no old business.

NEW BUSINESS: There was no new business.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT: Ann Gould, a member of the Senate Executive Committee, reported on the January 8, 2010 Senate Executive Committee meeting.

REPORTS OF REPRESENTATIVES TO BOARDS OF GOVERNORS AND TRUSTEES: There were no board reports.

CAMPUS FACULTY LIAISON REPORTS: Senator Ken McKeever, a member of the New Brunswick Faculty Council, reported on that group's plans and recent activities.

ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 3:39 p.m.


Kenneth Swalagin
Executive Secretary of the University Senate