Rutgers University Senate Minutes

RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY
UNIVERSITY SENATE

MINUTES: Regular Meeting of the University Senate

DATE: February 16, 2007

TIME AND PLACE: 1:10 p.m., Multipurpose Room East 232, Paul Robeson Campus Center, 350 Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, Newark Campus

MEMBERS PRESENT: Allen, Allender, Atmeh, Bernstein, Boikess, Borisovets, Bosotov, Boylan, Busia, Bynes, Caprio, Carbone, Carey, Chabal, Chiesa, Cohick, Cole, Cooke, Coppola, Cotter, Cowen, Creese, Curtis, DeLisi, DeLuca, Deutsch, Diner, Eldreth, Friedrich, Furmanski, Gaunt, Gillett, Gould, Grant, Greenhut, Guo, Hall, Heckscher, Jackson, Johnson, Keating, Kern, Kokini, Krenos, Laguna-Diaz, Lashley, Leath, Levitsky, Lewis, Maher, Marchetta, Markert, Mauroff, McCabe, McCormick, McCoy-Carter, McKay, McKeever, Miller, Mulcahy, Ng, Nolfi, Norville, Olsson, Oppenheim, Palmon, Panayotatos, Puniello, Quayson, Samuel Rabinowitz, Sidney Rabinowitz, Robinson, Rold, Schaich, Schantz, Schock, Schorr, Schwab, Shah, P. Simmons, Soyosa, Spiegel, Spotacco, St. John, Staples, Stein, Thompson, Tittler, Toney-Boss, Venzie, Winterbauer, Wyhopen

EXCUSED: Alger, Ambar, Barone, Bay, Bodnar, Bravo, Bubb, Coit, Colaizzi, Copeland, Covey, Dienst, Dixon-McInerney, Duncan, Dutta, Finegold, Galili, Gimenez, Gonzalez-Palmer, Goodman, Greenfeld, Gunderson, Hyman, Kalelkar, Kennedy, Klein, Koza, Livingston, Markowitz, Messer, J. Meyer, W. Meyer, Niederman, Obayashi, Oren, Ozbay, Pottick, Reiss, Rold, Schein, Scott, R. Simmons, Sofer, Szatrowski, Taulane, Tevis, Traxler, Van Til, Wagner, Wallace, Whitfield, Wright

ABSENT: Adelman, Ally, Alonso, Amirahmadi, Apfel, Barbarese, Bellany, Bernstein, Blimling, Bosch, E. Dennis, R. Dennis, Edwards, Fowler, Habib, Hart, Holzer, Hughes, Hyndman, Jozefczyk, Kirschner, Larmony, Lehne, Lipman, Lippert, Marsh, Nayyar, Patel, Pedersen, Quinn, Rankin, Rivera, Simon, Solomon, Stauffer, Sukhdeo, Urbaniak, Vera, Vodak, Wang, Williams

ATTENDANCE SUMMARY:
Faculty: Of 83 total: 39 present (47%), 30 excused (36%), 14 absent (17%)
Students: Of 51 total: 26 present (51%), 9 excused (18%), 16 absent (31%)
Administrators: Of 35 total: 13 present (37%), 10 excused (29%), 12 absent (34%)
Alumni: Of 6 total: 5 present (83%), 1 excused (17%), 0 absent
Staff: Of 10 total: 8 present (80%), 2 excused (20%), 0 absent

View Senate Attendance Record for this year.

PRESIDING OFFICER: Martha Cotter, Chairperson

CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT: Chairperson Cotter called the meeting to order at 1:20 p.m. She thanked Provost Diner and his staff for lunch and for their hospitality. Her chairperson's report included comments on the following:

Gary Gigliotti, chair of the Senate's University Structure and Governance Committee (USGC), has accepted an associate vice president position at Rutgers, and has resigned as Senator and committee chair, which led to the appointment of Senators Tricia Nolfi and Jonathan Tittler as co-chairs of the USGC, and to Cotter's expression of thanks to Gigliotti, Nolfi and Tittler;
the Board of Governors' February 9, 2007 vote to strike from University Regulations language that had constituted a rationale for the "four-year rule," which said that non-tenure-track faculty could not be reappointed for more than four consecutive years (Cotter thanked the board, the Senate, and the Senate's Faculty Affairs and Personnel Committee, which authored the report and recommendations which led to the board action); and
a summary of actions and charges currently in Senate standing committees.

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY: Executive Secretary Swalagin's report included:

Agenda: The meeting's agenda, including time limits, was approved as distributed by the secretary.
Minutes: On motion and duly seconded, the Minutes of the January 19, 2007 Senate meeting were approved as distributed by the secretary.

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT: President McCormick's administrative report included comments on the following:

the New Jersey State and Rutgers budgets, including the upcoming governor's budget message and Rutgers' continuing dialog with legislators on the issue;
discussion and status of proposals to merge and restructure research universities in New Jersey;
priority-setting associated with the capital campaign; and
recent transition of six intercollegiate sports in New Brunswick from intercollegiate status to club status.

President McCormick then responded to questions on subjects which included:

the process by which weather-emergency class cancellations are declared and implemented;
opposition to the transition of the status of the six New Brunswick sports noted above; and
compliance with the recent New Jersey Smoke-Free Act.

NEWARK CAMPUS REPORT: Newark Provost Steven Diner presented a synopsis of the Newark Campus Report. The report is available online and is attached to the master copy of these minutes as Attachment A. Main areas addressed in the report included:

Rutgers-Newark continuing status as the nation's most diverse university, as determined by US News and World Report;
recognitions to the Newark Campus as an institution, and to its programs;
faculty publishing;
academic initiatives;
diversity-focused academic activities;
enrollment and enrollment growth;
engagement with the City of Newark; and
involvement with K-12 education.

Provost Diner then responded to questions on subjects which included the status of the Newark component of merger proposals, and efforts to recruit low-income or local-area students.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

University Structure and Governance Committee (USGC) - Tricia Nolfi and Jonathan Tittler, Co-chairs

Partial Response to Charge S-0603, Senate Membership, New Brunswick

Original Charge: Senate Membership-New Brunswick: Make recommendations for revision of the Senate membership and bylaws in light of the restructuring of the New Brunswick schools and colleges.

USGC Co-chairs Nolfi and Tittler presented and summarized their committee's report and recommendations on the student-membership component of the above charge. Some revisions were made to existing recommendations, and a third recommendation was added to postpone revision of Senate bylaws on entitlements of New Brunswick faculty and student Senators. On card vote, the report and recommendations, as revised and amended, were adopted unanimously by the Senate.

Budget and Finance Committee (BFC) - Menahem Spiegel, Chair

Response to Charge S-0208, Safety Issues

Original Charge S-0208: Safety Issues, Classroom/Building Security and Vandalism: Investigate the level of security normally maintained in classroom and office/research buildings, and the current levels of vandalism and other criminal behavior in those buildings. Investigate the use of buildings/classrooms for after-hours study space*, and whether there is an increased cost of maintenance and repair due to unsupervised use. Formulate a policy for locking buildings and classrooms to ensure security. Make recommendations on how to provide students with space on each campus for after-hours study, and the amount of space that seems appropriate.* Explore risk-reduction strategies and mechanisms, and ways to heighten awareness of safety issues. Investigate the potential for a safety week on campus each semester or year. In addition, explore the potential for a website that would include a safety forum for discussion and hazard evaluation. [*The Student Affairs Committee was asked to provide input on the kinds and amounts of after-hours study space that would meet student needs, and on ways to address problems of vandalism. That input was forwarded to the Budget and Finance Committee on January 17, 2003.]
Preliminary report [http://senate.rutgers.edu/bfctereportmulti092904.html] submitted to Executive Committee September 2004, Reviewed October 1, 2004.
Addendum to Charge 10/04: Using the committee’s September 28, 2004 preliminary report on this issue as a basis for discussions, apply the same review and considerations to safety and security issues on the Newark and Camden campuses.

BFC Chair Spiegel presented and summarized his committee's report and recommendations on the Newark and Camden Campus aspects of the above charge (the New Brunswick component having been addressed in a prior report). Newark Provost Diner thanked the committee for the recommendations, and offered to submit a report to the University Senate on efforts to implement them. On card vote, the report and recommendations were adopted unanimously by the Senate.

OLD BUSINESS

There was no old business.

NEW BUSINESS

There was no new business.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT: Vice Chairperson Rabinowitz reported on the February 2, 2007 Senate Executive Committee meeting. Executive Committee minutes are available on the Senate website.

REPORTS OF REPRESENTATIVES TO BOARDS OF GOVERNORS AND TRUSTEES

Senator Jillian Curtis, Student Representative to the Board of Governors, reported on the February 9, 2007 Board of Governors meeting, which was held in Newark. Senator Sharo Atmeh, Undergraduate Student Representative to the Board of Trustees, reported briefly on Board of Trustees committee meetings, noting that the Trustees had not met since the last Senate meeting.

REPORTS OF CAMPUS FACULTY LIAISONS

Camden Faculty Senate Chair Charles Jarrett reported on activities of the Camden Faculty Senate, focusing primarily on a recently adopted statement on restructuring/merger proposals. Senator Stan Hall briefly summarized a report on activities of the Newark Faculty Council, which had been distributed with the meeting packet. Senator Jozef Kokini, chair of the New Brunswick Faculty Council, reported on planned and recent activities and discussions of the New Brunswick Faculty Council.

ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 3:13 p.m.

Kenneth Swalagin
Executive Secretary of the University Senate