MINUTES:   Regular Meeting of the University Senate

DATE:   September 19, 2003

TIME AND PLACE:  1:10 p.m., Multipurpose Room, Rutgers Student Center, 126 College Avenue, College Avenue Campus

MEMBERS PRESENT:  Advani, Agha, Ambar, Atwood, Axelrod, Banerjee, Baruh, Bathory, R. Bell, Bellinger, Bellino, Blakeman, Bodnar, Boikess, Borisovets, Boylan, Brazier, Breton, Brodie, Bry, Bucko, Butler, Byrnes, Calla, Cannon, Chambers, Cohen, Colaizzi, A. Cooper, Cotter, Crown, Curry, Darien, Davidson, DeLisi, E. Dennis, R. Dennis, Dess, Deutsch, Diner, Domb, M. Doshi, Erlichson, Evans, Fenster, Fishbein, Flanagan, Foley, Forman, Furmanski, Gallinar, Gaunt, Gillett, Gillis, Glass, Gould, Greenhut, Guo, Hall, Hallmark, Hamilton, Hawkesworth, Herrera, Hirsh, Hodgson, Hornichter, Hughes, Innerfield, Joshua Jackson, Jessen, J. Jones, R. Jones, Karel, Kauffman, Kennedy, Keoskey, Kirby, Kirschner, Klein, Kokini, Kressel, Krucher, Laguna-Diaz, Lake, LaSala, Lashley, Leath, Lee, Lin, Manhoff, Maradonna, Markowitz, Marsh, Mathew, McCormick, McKay, McKeever, Meltzer, Messer, Naqvi, Nedick, Norville, Novell, Ocone, O’Connor, Oren, Panayotatos, Patel, Plummer, Potenza, Puniello, Rabii, Rabinowitz, Redd, Reed, Rijhsinghani, Roden, Roselle, Schock, Scott, Sifuentes-Jauregui, P. Simmons, R. Simmons, H. Smith, N. Smith, D. Snyder, Stark, Stauffer, Szatrowski, Szerlip, Tandon, Thompson, Tuckman, Turpin, Wadud, Wang, Webb, Weiman, Winterbauer, Worrall, Zaborszky

EXCUSED:  Barone, C. Bell, Blasi, Caprio, Cerulo, K. Cooper, Cronk, Friedrich, Johnson, Lanza, Leontiades, Markey, Maudlin, Nerurkar, Rubin, Sears, Stamato, Taghon, Vodak

ABSENT:  Abbasi, Case, Dadlani, Driscoll, Hara, Hull, Hyndman, Joanne Jackson, Kirkpatrick, Leustek, Mensah, Merritt, Pandya, Pieczenik, Segers, P. Snyder, Solomon, Sukhdeo, Tsurumi, Venturini, Weis, Zylstra

ATTENDANCE SUMMARY:   Faculty: Of 90 total: 66 present (74%), 12 excused (13%) 12 absent (13%); Students: Of 48 total: 39 present (81%), 3 excused (6%), 6 absent (13%); Administrators: Of 38 total: 30 present (78%), 4 excused (11%), 4 absent (11%); Alumni: Of 6 total: 6 present (100%)  View Senate attendance record for this year.

NON-VOTING MEMBERS PRESENT: Boyer, Seto

NON-VOTING MEMBERS ABSENT:  Holmes, Sambolin, Wright
PRESIDING OFFICER:  Paul Panayotatos, Chairperson

CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT:  Chairperson Panayotatos welcomed Senators, legislators, and all present, and urged Senators to attend meetings of their designated standing committees. He explained that, in order to focus on President McCormick’s address, the Secretary’s Report would be deferred until the October meeting. He then explained the procedure for the special election for Faculty Representative to the Board of Governors, noting that Senator Walker-Andrews, who had been elected to the position in May 2003, had since left Rutgers.

Chairperson Panayotatos informed the Senate that round-trip bus transportation to New Brunswick Senate meetings will be provided for Senators from Camden and Newark, beginning with the November 2003 Senate meeting. He said that he hoped that today would begin a new tradition whereby the Senate will devote its first meeting of each year largely to President McCormick’s Annual Address to the University Community.

Chairperson Panayotatos’s comments then turned to the Senate’s 50th anniversary, celebrated at this meeting. He introduced former Senate Chairpersons Scott, Tripolitis, Borisovets, Foote, Carlson, and Lachance, and acknowledged the contributions of Senate Secretary Swalagin and Senate Administrative Assistant Linda Mickelsen. He expressed his hopes for continued improvement of Senate effectiveness as a result of President McCormick’s administrative philosophy, and he promised to try to keep up the momentum of Senate progress.

The text of Chairperson Panayotatos’s report has been posted on the Senate website at http://senate.rutgers.edu/0903chairrept.html.

PRESIDENT’S ANNUAL ADDRESS TO THE UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY:  Chairperson Panayotatos introduced President McCormick, who took the lectern.  President McCormick then presented his First Annual Address to the University Community, the text of which has been posted online at http://president.rutgers.edu/remarks_091903.shtml.

A question-and-answer period followed, during which President McCormick responded to questions on issues which included:  Hispanic/Latino faculty representation; support for economically challenged students; athletics; Livingston College and its place in the University’s master plan; public safety; same-sex domestic partner health benefits; Rutgers’ partnership with New Jersey’s citizens; voter registration and polling places; budget priorities, particularly as related to libraries; graduate-student housing costs; terrorism and public safety; and the role and involvement of part-time faculty.

ADJOURNMENT:  There being no further business before the University Senate, Chairperson Panayotatos asked all Senators to complete their election ballots and return them to the sign-in desk before proceeding to the reception which followed the meeting in the Fireside Lounge of the Multipurpose Room. He then adjourned the meeting at 2:35 p.m.

Kenneth Swalagin
Secretary of the University Senate