February 18, 2005 Senate Minutes

RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY
UNIVERSITY SENATE MINUTES

Regular Meeting of the University Senate

DATE: February 18, 2005

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: Abaskharon, Apfel, Atmeh, Borisovets, Caprio, Chabal, A. Cooper, Cotter, Curry, Curtis, Darien, DeLisi, E. Dennis, Dess, Deutsch, Dholandas, Diner, DiVito, Dutta, Dupersoy, C. Ellis, N. Ellis, Ezgilioglu, Fahim, Feinberg, Fishbein, Furmanski, Gaunt, Gigliotti, Gillett, Goldin, Gould, Greenhut, Hall, Hoekzema, Hornichter, Huang, R. Jones, Kagan, Kauffman, Kavanagh, Kennedy, Kirby, Kokini, Krenos, Kressel, Krucher, LaSala, Leath, Liepmann, Markert, Markowitz, McCabe, McCormick, McKay, Melwani, Merandy, Norville, Obayashi, Ocone, O’Connell, O’Connor, Odutola, Panayotatos, Pangilinan, Philips, Potenza, Puniello, Samuel Rabinowitz, Sidney Rabinowitz, Raykar, Reed, Rubin, Schaich, Schorr, Scott, Sifuentes-Jauregui, P. Simmons, Spierer, Szatrowski, Tittler, Turner, Turvey, Venuto, Vodak, Volk, Woolley, Zaborszky, Zolad

EXCUSED: Ambar, Axelrod, Banerjee, Baro, Barone, Bay, Bell, Bellany, Blasi, Boylan, Brazier, Cerulo, Chen, Colaizzi, Davidson, R. Dennis, Evans, Farrell, Forero, Friedrich, Guo, Hallmark, Herbst, Hirsh, Hmelo-Silver, Jackson, Jesse, Kirschner, Laguna-Diaz, Lake, Lashley, Lee, Mangin, Marsh, McKeever, Miller, Oren, Ozbay, Phillips, Rabii, Rabiner, Schock, Sherman, R. Simmons, H. Smith, N. Smith, Tuckman, Turpin, Wang, Winterbauer

ABSENT: Bilodeau, Blimling, Bodnar, Boikess, Bravo, Breton, Butler, Cannon, Chambers, Chernin, Chism, Colin, K. Cooper, Cronk, Dellane, Desposito, Diamond, Donsky, Ezendokwere, Farney, Ferguson, Hanna, Hodgson, Holmes, Hoover, Hughes, Hyndman, Jessen, V. Johnson, W. Johnson, J. Jones, Klein, Leontiades, Leustek, Maher, Manhoff, Messer, More, Nerurkar, Ogwu, Perlman, Raja, Shahrokh, Simon, Solomon, Spellmeyer, Spero, Stark, Stauffer, Tinglin, Tsurumi, Whang, Worrall

ATTENDANCE  SUMMARY: Faculty: Of 93 total: 41 present (44%), 28 excused (30%), 24 absent (26%); Students: Of 56 total: 30 present (54%),
10 excused (18%), 16 absent (28%); Administrators: Of 37 total: 14 present (38%), 12 excused (32%), 11absent (30%); Alumni: Of 6 total: 4 present (67%),
0 excused, 2 absent (33%)
View Senate attendance record for this year.

NON-VOTING MEMBERS EXCUSED: Innerfield, Seto

PRESIDING OFFICER: Martha Cotter, Chairperson

CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT: Chairperson Cotter called the meeting to order, and said that her report would be brief in order to accommodate the day’s agenda. She thanked Newark Provost Diner and the Newark staff for their help in facilitating the Senate meeting, and for directing Senators around the Newark Campus. She also thanked President McCormick and Provost Diner for allowing a change in the Senate’s usual order of business, which placed the Administrative Report and Newark Campus Report after the Senate’s University Structure and Governance Committee Report on Senate Bylaws Review and Election Procedures for At-Large and PTL/Annual Appointee Senators.

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY:
•   Agenda: The agenda, including time limits, was approved as distributed by the Secretary.
•   Minutes: Secretary Swalagin noted that he had revised the January Senate minutes to correctly indicate that it was Senator Hall’s suggestion, and not that of Senator Bell, that brought the bylaws document with language changes indicated. On motion and duly seconded, the Minutes of the January 21, 2005 Senate meeting were approved as distributed by the Secretary.

COMMITTEE REPORT

•   University Structure and Governance Committee (USGC) – Joseph Blasi and Kathleen Scott , Co-chairs - Response to Charges S-0324, Senate Bylaws Review, and S-0320, Election Procedures for At-Large and PTL/Annual Appointee Senators

[This report, which included recommendations for revisions to the Senate’s Bylaws (which comprise the Senate’s enabling University Regulations) had been introduced without action at the November 2004 Senate meeting, and docketed for action at the Senate’s January 2005 meeting. Quorum was lost at the January 2005 meeting before the Senate acted on this item, so it was docketed on this meeting’s agenda.]

Senator Scott relayed apologies from USGC Co-chair Joseph Blasi, who was unable to attend the meeting. She then gave a brief, summary introduction to the report, and noted that, because it recommends changes to University Regulations, its result would be transmitted directly to the Board of Governors rather than to President McCormick. She also noted that the USGC is working on revision of the Senate Handbook’s standing rules and internal procedures, and expected that report to come to the Senate for action soon.

Senator Scott then presented to the Senate the report’s recommendations for changes in the Senate’s Bylaws, which had been grouped for voting into ten categories as enumerated in a guide which had been distributed as hardcopy at the meeting. A separate document had also been distributed and posted online which detailed specific language changes to the bylaws as contained in University Regulations. The Senate then acted on each category of recommendations, as follows:

Addition of staff representation to University Senate membership: No discussion. Carried with none opposed, one abstention.

Changes to Executive Committee: [Senator Hall noted that one occurrence of “University Vice President” had not been changed to “Executive Vice President.” Senator Scott, on behalf of the USGC, accepted the correction.] On this group of changes, there was no discussion. It carried unanimously.

Addition of consideration of non-academic matters by the Senate: No discussion. Carried unanimously.

Administrative Designees to be from the unit they are designated to represent: No discussion. Carried unanimously.

Allowing campus-wide faculty bodies to select at-large Senators for their respective campuses: Senator Gillett moved withdrawal of this recommendation, and substitution of the following addition to Regulation 2.2.1.C: “Each campus-wide faculty body/group (e.g., New Brunswick Faculty Council, Newark Faculty Council) may elect its chairperson to serve as an additional voting Senator if s/he is not already elected.” The motion was seconded. Senator Scott responded, explaining her opposition to the motion, and noting that the USGC had considered and rejected the suggested substitution. There was no discussion from the floor on Senator Gillett’s motion. On vote, the motion failed. There was no further discussion from the floor on this bylaw change. It carried, with several opposed.

Removing campus restrictions for Senate chair and vice chair: No discussion. Carried with several opposed, and several abstentions.

Clarifying definitions of “equivalent academic ranks” for faculty, and “candidates for a degree” for students: No discussion. Carried unanimously.

[On Senator Gillett’s point of order, Senator Scott explained an earlier item which had been overlooked in her comments.]

Defining part-time lecturer/annual appointee provisions: No discussion. Carried unanimously.

Correcting titles: Senator Hall suggested that all instances of “Senator” in the bylaws be made uniform to begin with either lowercase “s” or uppercase “S.” Senator Scott accepted on behalf of the USGC changing all bylaws occurrences to begin with lowercase. No further discussion. Carried unanimously.

Three-year review, voting in units with shared faculty: Senator Hall suggested that gender-neutral terms be substituted for gender-specific pronouns throughout the bylaws. Senator Scott accepted the suggestion on behalf of the USGC. There was no further discussion on this bylaw change. It carried unanimously.

[Chairperson Cotter then thanked Senator Jillian Curtis for acting as Senate Parliamentarian, substituting for Senator Nicole Smith, who was unable to attend the meeting.]

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT: President McCormick’s Administrative report included comments on the following:

Research and Support:
- a recent New Jersey Commission on Higher Education report indicating that New Jersey now ranks 21st in federal research funding, as well as identifying strong areas of New Jersey research, including:
  - biomedically related nanoscience
  - homeland security
  - stem cell research
  - genomics and bioinformatics
  - advanced imaging technology
- his solicitation of input on how New Jersey might reaching a goal of rising to 15th in federal research funding;
- agendas and “wish lists” for the coming fiscal year for all three campuses;
- federal support for student aid; and
- the need to better communicate the far-reaching benefits of Rutgers research.

State of New Jersey Budget for Fiscal Year 2006, including a projection that the best expectation for Rutgers funding would be level funding with some support for salary increases, and some discussion of the necessity for tuition increases to cover state-funding shortfalls.

Rutgers’ response to the Constituency Research Report, including determination to launch a comprehensive communication strategy, a task force headed by Senator Leath which is charged with responding to the Constituency Research Report, continuing efforts to address deficiencies in perceptions and operations, and expectation of another report on these issues.

Praise for Rutgers Newark and Provost Diner’s leadership and vision.

A question-and-answer period followed, which included comments/questions on:

regional efforts to secure more funding for Rutgers;
appreciation for communication with student governing associations;
tuition increases and Rutgers’ affordability;
the need for a sustained commitment to issues of parking, transportation, and safety;
New Jersey’s low ranking in terms of state support for higher education;
a request to include biobehavioral and public-health research in Rutgers’ research foci; and
gratitude for support of programs, particularly those for disadvantaged students.

NEWARK CAMPUS REPORT: Newark Provost Steven Diner presented 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:

next year’s 60th anniversary of the merger of the University of Newark with Rutgers University;
Rutgers Newark’s longstanding commitment to students born without privilege;
commitment to the urban mission, and engagement with the community;
racial, ethnic, and religious diversity;
academic highlights;
student services retreats
plans for student housing, and support for revitalization of Newark’s downtown; and
parking.

A question-and-answer period followed, during which comments/questions were heard on the following topics:

jazz at Rutgers Newark;
students directly affected by the recent tsunami disaster;
parking and transportation, particularly transportation links between Newark and New Brunswick, and exploration of making available free public transportation to students.

OLD BUSINESS: There was no old business.

NEW BUSINESS:

Senator Hall asked that rail-transportation alternatives be explored to supplement or replace the roundtrip bus currently made available from New Brunswick to Senate meetings held on the Newark and Camden campuses.

Senator Dupersoy proposed utilizing students as ambassadors to promote awareness of research at Rutgers.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT: Vice Chairperson Rabinowitz reported on the January 7, 2005 and February 4, 2005 Senate Executive Committee meetings. Executive Committee minutes are available on the Senate website.

REPORT OF THE REPRESENTATIVES TO BOARDS OF GOVERNORS AND TRUSTEES: Senator Leath, Faculty Representative to the Board of Governors, reported on the December 2, 2004 and February 10, 2005 Board of Governors meetings. Senator Vodak, Faculty Representative to the Board of Trustees, reported on the December 16, 2004 Board of Trustees meeting.

REPORT OF CAMPUS FACULTY LIAISONS: Senator Leath, a member of the New Brunswick Faculty Council (NBFC), reported on recent and planned activities of the NBFC. The next meeting of the NBFC is scheduled for March 4, 2005 at 1:30 p.m. in Winants Hall on the College Avenue Campus.

Chairperson Cotter thanked Senator Leath and Executive Vice President for Administrative Affairs Kavanagh for their work implementing recent improvements in Rutgers’ Travel and Business Expense Report policies.

ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 3:40 p.m.

Kenneth Swalagin
Executive Secretary of the University Senate