RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY
UNIVERSITY SENATE
 
MINUTES: General Meeting of the University Senate

DATE: March 28, 2014

TIME AND PLACE: 1:10 p.m., Rutgers Student Center, Multi-Purpose Room, College Avenue Campus

MEMBERS PRESENT:  Alizadeh, Angell, August, Avadhani, Baffo, Barbarese, Barraco, Bell, Berman, Boikess, Bolden, Borisovets, Bridgeman, Buchholtz, Bugel, Burrell, Caler, Cashin, Cimiotti, Clarke, Cohen, Coleman, Cotter, Covington, Creese, D'Anna, Daniels, DeCastro, Delnevo, Devnani, DiVito, Edwards, Elkabes, Fagley, Fennell, Fernandez, Fiore, Fitzgerald-Bocarsly, Gajic, Gallo, Gaunt, Geis, Gillett, Glaser, R. Goldstein, Gomes, Gould, Gower, Hackworth, Haibach, Hecksher, Heider, Hetling, Holzemer, Jimenez, Karamichael, Kenfield, Kocak, Krymchanskaya, Jane Lewis, Lindgren, A. Liu, T. Liu, Mapes, Markowitz, Mazurek, McKeever, Meggali, Middleton, Midlarsky, Miranti, Mistry, Naus, Navrot, Niederman, Norville, O'Connell, O'Connor, Ottomanelli, N. Patel, S. Patel, Pintar, Puhak, Rabinowitz, Rivera-Medina, Rothpletz-Puglia, Saltzman, Samant, Scardino, Scherrer, M. Schwartz, R. Schwartz, Shapiro, Shapley, Sheflin, Spatocco, Spiegel, Stauffer, Stein, Stillwagon, Strom, Stuwe, Suplee, Szatrowski, Tesoro, Teters, Thompson, Tiedken, Toney-Boss, Tsakalakos, Tursi, Vaz, Vodak, Wagner, Weigert, Winkler, Winterbauer, Wise, Wurster, Zimmerman  

EXCUSED: Abu El-Haj, Ahmed, Alder, Anderson, Apuzzio, Aubry, Bagchi, Balog, Barchi, Beachem, DiBona, Eastman, Edward, Goodman, Hinch, Hudson, Hughes, Hyndman, Johnson, Kietrys, Kressel, LoMonoco, Markert, Miller, Mitchell, Moomjy, O'Malley, Oliver, Otto, Padgett, Pavlovic, Pirrello, Redlawsk, Rhoads, J. Robinson,  Rodriquez, Saito, Simmons, Sirkin, Soskind               

ABSENT: Allen, Amaya-Fernandez, Ameri, Amenta, Avakame, J. Barone, J. G. Barone, Benjamin, Cadoff, Cantor, Clear, Connors, Copeland, Dasari, Davidov, DeLisi, Dietrich, Dominguez, Eldasher, Falk, Farmbry, Farmer, Farris, Fehn, Feldman, Ganesh, D. Goldstein, Grabosky, Harris, Holtzman, Holzer, Joshi, Katz, Kukor, Kumar, Laguna, Langer, Lara, Lee, Jan Lewis, Lin, Lindenmeyer, Lynch, Maher, Maillet, Mao, Marchik, McInerney, Messer, Millonig, Moore, Nagarajan, Nieman, Ortiz, Pandey, Postadan, Potter, Pratt, Pritchett, Reade, R. Robinson, Rodgers, Rogers, Sahi, Salmond, Sambol, Schantz, Schiavo, Schurman, Scotto, Shafer, Sheth, Solomon, Spiegle, Taghon, Thuno, Triner, Uzun, VanderHoff, Van de Walle, Wang, Wasserman, Yeagle, Yu

ATTENDANCE SUMMARY: Faculty: Of 129 total: 70 present (54%), 26 excused (20%), 33 absent (26%); Students: Of 52 total: 30 present (58%), 4 excused (8%),  18 absent (35%); Administrators: Of 43 total:  7 present (16%), 5 excused (12%), 31 absent (72%); Staff: Of 13 total: 7 present (54%), 3 excused (23%), 3 absent (23%); Alumni: Of 6 total: 5 present (83%), 1 excused (17%), 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

Senate Chairperson Ann Gould called the meeting to order at 1:29 p.m. in the Multipurpose Room of the Rutgers Student Center, College Avenue Campus, New Brunswick. She welcomed all attendees. She spoke about two recent issues brought to the Senate: the proposed merger of the Rutgers College of Nursing - Newark and New Brunswick, and the Rutgers School of Nursing - Newark; and the selection of Condoleezza Rice as the 2014 Commencement speaker and honorary degree recipient. The full text of Chairperson Gould's prepared comments on those issues is online.

SECRETARY'S REPORT - Ken Swalagin, Executive Secretary

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Executive Committee (EC) Response to the Proposed Merger of the Rutgers College of Nursing - Newark and New Brunswick, and the Rutgers School of Nursing - Newark [Note: Link goes to the report as amended and adopted.] - Ann Gould, Senate and Executive Committee Chair

Senate and Executive Committee Chair Ann Gould called upon Senate and Executive Committee Vice Chair Martha Cotter to assume the chair and preside while Gould presented the Executive Committee's Response to the Proposed Merger of the Rutgers College of Nursing - Newark and New Brunswick, and the Rutgers School of Nursing - Newark. She noted that the report had been revised to indicate that a majority of the Executive Committee, not the entire Executive Committee, supported the report, and was also revised to indicate the name of the Rutgers School of Nursing - Camden.

Senator Natalie Borisovets successfully moved an amendment, further amended by Senator Karen Thompson, to the report's resolution, as follows: "Therefore, be it resolved that the University Senate, at a fundamental level, supports the merger of the Rutgers College of Nursing - Newark and New Brunswick, and the Rutgers School of Nursing - Newark, but requests that the Board of Governors, in their consideration of this merger, closely scrutinize the areas of concern expressed by the Senate. The Senate also requests quarterly updates on the resolution of these issues as the merger proceeds, and recommends that faculty and staff job security be extended through July 1, 2015."

Following further discussion, the amended report and resolution were adopted by the Senate, with few opposed.

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

USGC Co-chair Peter Gillett summarized his committee's reports on Charge S-1302 on Full-Time, Non-Tenure-Track Faculty Senators, and on Charge S-1307 on Senate and Executive Committee Eligibility. The reports, which reference each other, include recommended changes to Senate Bylaws and Senate-related University Policy, and were therefore introduced at the previous Senate meeting, and were presented for action at this meeting. Gillett read the recommendations and resolutions. Without further discussion, the reports were adopted unanimously by the Senate.

Budget and Finance Committee (USGC) Response to Charge S-1312 on Responsibility Center Management Models [Note: Link goes to the report as amended and adopted.] - Menahem Spiegel, BFC Chair, and Charles Heckscher, BFC Member

BFC Chair Menahem Spiegel and BFC Member Charles Heckscher summarized their committee's report on Charge S-1312 on Responsibility Center Management Models, including amendments the BFC had accepted as friendly at its meeting that morning, which changed Recommendations 10 and 11 (amended language indicated in the report linked above). Senator Marianne Gaunt stated her amendment to Recommendation 5 (amended language indicated in the report linked above), which had also been accepted as friendly by the BFC that morning. The report, so amended, was then adopted by the Senate with one abstention.

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT - Richard Edwards, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs

Executive Vice President Edwards presented an administrative report, which included comments on topics including:
Executive Vice President Edwards then responded to questions, or heard comments, on the above subjects.

REPORTS OF THE REPRESENTATIVES TO BOARDS OF GOVERNORS AND TRUSTEES: Senator Samuel Rabinowitz, Faculty Representative to the Board of Governors, reported that the Board of Governors had not met since the previous Senate meeting, but would meet again on the following Tuesday. Senator Asha Samant, Faculty Representative to the Board of Trustees, reported on the March 13 Board of Trustees meeting.

CAMPUS FACULTY LIAISON REPORTS: Senator Samuel Rabinowitz, Camden Faculty Council Chairperson, reported on his group's recent activities. Senator Martha Cotter, New Brunswick Faculty Council Chairperson, reported on her group's recent activities.

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 that Newark student leaders are looking at ways to improve the efficacy of student government in Newark.

OLD BUSINESS: There was no old business.

NEW BUSINESS: There was no new business.

ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 3:23 p.m.

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