University Senate Minutes, February 21, 2014

RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY
UNIVERSITY SENATE

MINUTES: General Meeting of the University Senate

DATE: February 21, 2014

TIME AND PLACE: 1:10 p.m., Penn Classroom 401, Robeson Library, Camden Campus

MEMBERS PRESENT: Ahmed, Anderson, Aubry, Avadhani, Barchi, Barraco, Beachem, Bell, Benjamin, Berman, Boikess, Borisovets, Bridgeman, Buchholtz, Burrell, Cimiotti, Cotter, D'Anna, Dasari, DeCastro, DiVito, Fagley, Gallo, Gaunt, Gillett, R. Goldstein, Gould, Heckscher, Heider, Hudson, Karamichael, Kietrys, Krymchanskaya, Lindgren, Angel Liu, Mapes, Markert, Middleton, Miller, Moomjy, Norville, O'Connor, O'Malley, Otto, S. Patel, Pirrello, Pritchett, Puhak, Rabinowtiz, Redlawsk, J. Robinson, Saito, Saltzman, Scardino, Shapiro, Sheflin, Spatocco, Spiegel, Stein, Suplee, Szatrowski, Thompson, Toney-Boss

EXCUSED: Abu El-Haj, Alder, Alizadeh, Allen, Angell, Apuzzio, August, Bagchi, Balog, Bolden, Caler, Cohen, Coleman, Delnevo, Devnani, DiBona, Elkabes, Fennell, Fiore, Fitzgerald-Bocarsly, Gilman, Gomes, Goodman, Hackworth, Hetling, Kocak, Langer, Jan Lewis, Jane Lewis, Lin, Maillet, Markowitz, McKeever, Meggali, Midlarksy, Miranti, Mitchell, Niederman, Nieman, O'Connell, Oliver, Ottomanelli, Padgett, N. Patel, Pintar, Pratt, Rhoads, Rivera-Medina, Rodriguez, Rothpletz-Puglia, Samant, Sambol, Scherrer, M. Schwartz, R. Schwartz, Shapley, Simmons, Sirkin, Soskind, Struwe, Taghon, Teters, Tsakalakos, Uzun, Vanderhoff, Vodak, Wagner, Wasserman, Winkler, Wurster, Zimmerman

ABSENT: Amaya-Fernandez, Ameri, Amenta, Ansari, Avakame, Baffo, Barbarese, Barone, Joseph G. Barone, Bhatt, Bugel, Cadoff, Cantor, Cashin, Clarke, Clear, Connors, Copeland, Covington, Creese, Daniels, Davidov, DeLisi, Dietrich, Dominguez, Eastman, Edward, Edwards, Eldasher, Falk, Fambry, Farmer, Ferris, Fehn, Feldman, Fernandez, Gajic, Ganesh, Geis, Glaser, D. Goldstein, Grabosky, Haibach, Harris, Hinch, Holtzman, Holzemer, Holzer, Hughes, Hyndman, Jimenez, Johnson, Joshi, Katz, Kenfield, Krasovic, Kressel, Kukor, Kumar, Laguna, Lara, Lee, Lindenmeyer, Tong Liu, LoMonaco, Lynch, Maher, Mao, Marchik, Mazurek, McInerney, Messer, Millonig, Mistry, Molloy, Nagarajan, Naus, Navrot, Ortiz, Pandey, Pavlovic, Postadan, Potter, Reade, R. Robinson, Rodgers, Rogers, Sahi, Salmond, Schantz, Schiavo, Schurman, Scotto, Shafer, Sheth, Solomon, Spiegle, Stauffer, Stillwagon, Strom, Tesoro, Thuno, Tiedeken, Triner, Tursi, Van de Walle, Vaz, Wang, Weigert, Winterbauer, Wise, Yeagle, Yu

ATTENDANCE SUMMARY: Faculty: Of 131 total: 38 present (29%), 50 excused (38%), 43 absent (33%); Students: Of 53 total: 13 present (25%), 11 excused (21%), 29 absent (55%); Administrators: Of 43 total: 4 present (9%), 4 excused (9%), 39 absent (91%); Staff: Of 13 total: 5 present (38%), 3 excused (23%), 5 absent (38%); Alumni: Of 6 total: 3 present (50%), 3 excused (50%), 0 absent (0%)
View Senate Attendance Record for this year

PRESIDING OFFICER: Ann Gould, Chairperson

CALL TO ORDER, DETERMINATION OF A QUORUM, CHARGES, AND CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT - Ann Gould, Chairperson

Chairperson Gould called the meeting to order at 1:28 p.m. She welcomed everyone, and thanked the Senate committees for examining the nursing merger proposal.

SECRETARY'S REPORT - Ken Swalagin, Executive Secretary of the Senate

Agenda: The meeting agenda was amended to add a committee-of-the-whole discussion on the nursing merger proposal, and was then approved.
Minutes: The Minutes of the January 24, 2014 Senate Meeting were approved as distributed by the executive secretary.
Communications: The following communications were presented by the executive secretary:

Central Administration responses to Senate reports:

President Barchi's Response on Senate Report on Charge S-0808A, Implementation of 2006 Senate Recommendations on Availability of Syllabi
Board of Governors' Response on Senate Report on Charge A-0812B on Evaluation of Administrators, Part II: Evaluation of Upper Administrators
President Barchi's Response on Senate Report on Charge S-0901, Academic Freedom for Contingent Faculty and Charge S-1016, Academic Freedom and Faculty Participation in University Governance
President Barchi's Response on Senate Report on Charge S-0909A, University College
President Barchi's Response on Senate Report on Charge S-1005, Alma Mater
President Barchi's Response on Senate Report on Charge S-1007, Academic Reappointment/Promotion Form 1A
President Barchi's Response on Senate Report on Charge S-1011, Faculty Retirement Issues and on Endorsing the New Brunswick Faculty Council's Faculty Retirement Survey
President Barchi's Response on Senate Report on Charge S-1206 on Academic Regulations, Student Achievement, and Effective Use of Resources
President Barchi's Response on Senate Report on Charge S-1304 on Test-Optional Admissions

Swalagin said that one additional, recently received administrative response, President Barchi's Response to Senate Report and Recommendations on Charge S-1306 on Dual Career Services Program, was not on the agenda, but would appear on next-month's agenda.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

University Structure and Governance Committee (USGC) Response to Charge S-1302 on Full-Time, Non-Tenure-Track Faculty Senators and Response to Charge S-1307 on Senate and Executive Committee Eligibility - Peter Gillett and Jon Oliver, USGC Co-chairs

University Structure and Governance Committee Co-chair Peter Gillett presented the USGC responses and recommendations on Charges S-1302 and S-1307, on Full-Time, Non-Tenure-Track Faculty Senators, and Senate and Executive Committee eligibility, respectively. Gillett summarized the reports. The recommendations in the report included changes to Senate bylaws and the Senate's enabling University Policies. In accordance with established parliamentary procedure, the report was introduced and discussed at this meeting, but was not docketed for action until the March 2014 Senate meeting.

At this point in the meeting, Chairperson Gould asked for, and heard, a motion to amend the agenda to place President Barchi's administrative report in its usual position before Old Business. The motion was seconded and adopted.

CAMDEN CAMPUS REPORT - Camden Chancellor Wendell Pritchett

Camden Chancellor Wendell Pritchett presented a Camden Campus Report. The report included comments on the following topics:

that morning's first meeting of the Camden Board of Directors;
faculty growth;
enrollment statistics;
trends in undergraduate-student retention;
fundraising; and
planning and building a new campus environment.

Chancellor Pritchett then responded to questions, or heard comments, on a variety of subjects, including:

Camden Nursing's non-inclusion in the proposal to merge the Newark and New Brunswick nursing units; and
the role and numbers of part-time lecturers in Camden.

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT - Robert Barchi, University President

President Barchi presented a brief administrative report, commenting on topics including:

the first meeting of the Camden Board of Directors;
strategic plan initiatives, and funding therefor;
creating endowed, and endowed-term professorships;
graduate fellowships and undergraduate scholarships.

President Barchi then responded to questions, or heard comments, on the above and a variety of other subjects, including:

how to make nominations for strategic planning committees;
enhancing the student experience; and
tuition remission for part-time faculty.

COMMITTEE-OF-THE-WHOLE DISCUSSION - On the Proposed Newark/New Brunswick Nursing Schools Merger

At Chairperson Gould's request, and on motion and duly seconded, the Senate entered committee of the whole to discuss the proposed Newark/New Brunswick Nursing merger. Gould briefly explained the process for committee of the whole, then asked Vice Chair Martha Cotter to assume the chair. Cotter assumed the chair, and Gould went to the Senate floor. Following the discussion, Gould resumed the chair.

OLD BUSINESS: There was no old business.

NEW BUSINESS: There was no new business.

REPORTS OF THE REPRESENTATIVES TO BOARDS OF GOVERNORS AND TRUSTEES: Senator Samuel Rabinowitz, Faculty Representative to the Board of Governors, reported on that morning's Camden Board of Directors meeting, and on the February 4 Board of Governors meeting. There had been no Board of Trustees meeting since the previous Senate meeting.

CAMPUS FACULTY LIAISON REPORTS: Senator Martha Cotter, New Brunswick Faculty Council Chairperson, reported on her group's January 31 meeting. Senator Samuel Rabinowitz, Camden Faculty Council Chairperson, reported on his group's plans and February 6 meeting.

CAMPUS STUDENT LIAISON REPORTS: Senator Samuel Berman, New Brunswick Student Member of the Executive Committee, reported on New Brunswick student government activities. Senator Thomas Moomjy, a Newark student Senator, reported on Newark student government.

CHAIR'S CLOSING COMMENTS: Chairperson Gould thanked Camden Chancellor Pritchett for hosting, and providing lunch for, the Senate.

ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 3:38 p.m.

Minutes Written and Submitted by,
Ken Swalagin
Executive Secretary of the University Senate