PRESIDING
OFFICER: Samuel Rabinowitz,
Chairperson
CALL TO ORDER, DETERMINATION OF A QUORUM, AND
CHAIRPERSON'S REPORT -
Samuel Rabinowitz, Senate Chairperson: Chairperson Rabinowitz called
the meeting to order at 2:23 p.m., following a brief recess called
after adjournment of the 2010-2011 Senate's Organizational
Meeting. He reflected briefly on his past three years as Senate
chairperson, his prior years as vice chair, as well as his prior
20-some years as a Senator. He thanked Ken Swalagin, Linda Mickelsen,
Victor Greenhut for serving as parliamentarian, Martha Cotter for
serving as acting vice chair, all of the Executive Committee members
and committee chairs, and Kevin Wild in particular for co-chairing the
Student Affairs Committee with him.
Victor Greenhut went to the podium to acknowledge and Honor
Rabinowitz's performance of the duties of Senate chairperson, noting
that Rabinowitz acted with "grace and panache" in his three years as
chair. Rabinowitz received a standing ovation from the Senate.
REPORT OF THE SECRETARY - Ken Swalagin,
Executive Secretary of the Senate:
- Agenda: Secretary
Swalagin said that, as requested by Executive Vice President Furmanski,
and as agreed to by Chairperson Rabinowitz, the agenda
had been modified to put the administrative report earlier on the
docket. With that modification, the agenda was approved by the Senate.
- Minutes: The Minutes of the March 26, 2010 Senate Meeting were approved as distributed by the secretary.
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT - Philip Furmanski, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
Vice President Furmanski presented an administrative report, which included comments
on topics including:
- Middle States research conferences being held around the nation, including one being hosted by Rutgers that day;
- recent, notable student awards and honors;
- recent faculty accolades and awards;
- last weekend's Rutgers Day and Spring Scrimmage activities;
- Governor Christie's proposed budget, and Rutgers' response thereto;
- Christie's unsolicited proposal to assign to Rutgers
responsibility for Thomas Edison State College, the state library
system, and the New Jersey State Museum;
- preliminary discussions about dissolution of UMDNJ, and
incorporation of its components into Rutgers or NJIT, about which
Furmanski said that no plan has been put into place or decided upon,
and that an enormous amount of discussion and input would be required
before such plans could be made; and
- this year's upcoming test of a new format and schedule for commencement.
Furmanski then
responded to questions or comments on subjects including:
- negotiations related to benefits for part-time faculty teaching summer courses;
- relative comparisons between the current university budget and budgets of past years;
- a May 22 rally in Trenton to protest the proposed state budget; and
- the current and relative levels of research support and grants.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Academic Standards, Regulations and Admissions Committee
Response to Charge S-1003, Fall 2010 Academic Calendar - Martha Cotter and Dan Schantz, ASRAC Co-chairs:
Academic
Standards, Regulations and Admissions Committee (ASRAC) Co-chair Martha
Cotter presented and summarized her committee's report and
recommendations on Charge S-1003, on the Fall 2010 Academic Calendar.
Cotter accepted as friendly Senator Panayotatos's motion to amend one
of the recommendations to require the administration to "persuade the
Executive Committee" that the proposed calendar changes could not be
made, if that were the finding of the administration. The report and
recommendations were then discussed, and adopted unanimously by the
Senate. Chairperson Rabinowitz pointed out that the Senate Executive
Committee would meet on June 4, and could act on behalf of the Senate
if necessary. On card vote, the report and its recommendations were
adopted by the Senate with none opposed. [Note: The above link goes to
the report as amended and adopted by the Senate.]
Academic Standards, Regulations and Admissions Committee
Response to Charge S-0905, Academic Integrity Policy
- Martha Cotter and Dan Schantz, ASRAC Co-chairs: ASRAC Co-chair
Martha Cotter presented and summarized her committee's report and
recommendations on Charge S-0905, on the Academic Integrity Policy. She
explained that there will not be an approved, permanent policy
available to go into effect by September, and that the interim policy's
sunset date of August 31, 2010 requires that the interim policy be
extended, and that the ASRAC was therefore proposing that the interim
policy be made effective for one more year. On card vote, the Senate
adopted the report and its recommendation.
Student Affairs Committee Response to Charge S-0910, Accessibility of Student Services - Sam
Rabinowitz and Kevin Wild, SAC Co-chairs: Acting Vice Chair Cotter
assumed the chair while Chairperson Rabinowitz and Kevin Wild, Student
Affairs Committee co-chairs, were at the podium presenting their
committee's report and recommendations on Charge S-0910, on
Accessibility of Services for Disabled Students. Rabinowitz summarized
the report, and read the recommendations. Without further discussion,
the report and its recommendations were adopted unanimously by the
Senate.
University Structure and Governance Committee Response
to Charge S-0904, Assessment of Research, and Graduate and Professional
Education Committee Standing Charge - Peter
Gillett and Jon Oliver, USGC Co-chairs:
The recommendations in this report
include a change to Senate Bylaws/University Regulations. In accordance with
established parliamentary procedure, this report was introduced at the March
2010 Senate meeting, and was docketed for Senate action at this meeting.
Peter Gillett, University Structure and Governance Committee co-chair,
moved for adoption of his committee's response to Charge S-0902, on
Assessment of the Research, and Graduate and Professional Education
Committee's Standing Charge. Gillett pointed out that the Senate had
previously modified the resolution at the end of the report to replace
"the individuals" with "those" but that the change was not accurately
reflected in the report as docketed today. The report and and its
recommendations were adopted by the Senate.
Senator Panayotatos moved to table to October 2010 the
University Structure and Governance Committee Response
to Charge S-0902, Senate Speakers, Discussions, Forums. Senator Nycz seconded the motion, which was then adopted by the Senate.
OLD BUSINESS: There was no old
business.
NEW BUSINESS: There was
no new business.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT: Acting Vice Chairperson Cotter reported on the
April 9, 2010 Executive
Committee Meeting.
REPORTS OF THE
REPRESENTATIVES TO THE BOARDS OF GOVERNORS AND TRUSTEES: Senator Menahem Spiegel, faculty representative to the Board of
Trustees, reported on the
previous day's Board of Trustees meeting. Senator Cotter,
faculty representative to the Board of Governors, reported on the
April 15 Board
of Governors meeting.
CAMPUS FACULTY LIAISON REPORTS:
Senator Robert Wilson, chair of the New Brunswick Faculty Council,
reported on that groups plans and activities. Sam Rabinowitz reported
that Jaishankar Ganesh had been appointed as the new dean of the School
of Business-Camden.
ANNOUNCEMENT OF ELECTION RESULTS: Secretary Swalagin then announced the
2010-11 Senate Leadership and Board Representatives election results.
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting adjourned at 3:53 p.m.
Kenneth Swalagin
Executive
Secretary of the University Senate