Regular Meeting of the University Senate

DATE:   September 27, 2002

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

MEMBERS PRESENT:  Adelaja, Ambar, Barnes, Barone, Baruh, Berz, Blasi, Borisovets, Bossard,, Brazier, Breton, Bry, Caprio, Cerulo, Chism, Cohen, Colaizzi, A. Cooper, T. Cooper, Cotter, Cowley, Cronk, Darien, Davidson, E. Dennis, DeRosa, Dess, Deutsch, Diner, Domb, Doshi, Durante, Elgallab, Erlichson, Evans, Fischetti, Flanagan, Forman, Friedrich, Gillett, Gould, Greenhut, Hall, Hanlon, Hart, Haugerud, Hirschmugl, Hirsh, Hodgson, Holcomb, Hornichter, J. Hughes, R. Hughes, Jackson, Jessen, Johnson, Karel, Kauffman, Kennedy, Kenney, Kirby, Kleiman, Klein, Kokini, Krucher, Laguna-Diaz, Lanterman, Lawrence, Leath, Lee, Lichtenfeld, Manhoff, Maradonna, Markowitz, Maudlin, Maurer, McKay, Mensah, Messer, Naus, Nordstrom, O’Connor, Oren, Panayotatos, Pancholy, Parrish, Pellegrine, Penfield, Pieczenik, Plummer, Pottick, Preston, Puniello, Rabinowitz, Ramsay, Redeker, Rijhsinghani, Saidel, Salge, Schiavo, Scott, Sears, Seneca, Shah, Shovlin, Silver, H. Smith, D. Snyder, P. Snyder, Sondahl, Stauffer, Sukhdeo, Swenson, Szatrowski, Tandon, Thompson, Tsurumi, Vodak, Wadia, Walker, Walker-Andrews, Webb, Winterbauer, Wozniak, Zaborszky

EXCUSED:  Bathory, Bell, Boikess, Boylan, Chambers, DeCarlo, Gaunt, Gillis, Grennille, Hawkesworth, Hillman, Hyndman, Jesse, Jones, Kenfield, Kirschner, Leontiades, Leustek, McKeever, Miller, Perr, Roden, Simmons, Wang, Wasserman, Wilkinson, Worrall

ABSENT:  Advani, Bay, Blakeman, Boyan, Bushnell, Cicma, R. Dennis, Driscoll, Griffiths, Hara, Hegel, Keoskey, Kressel, Lehman, Massenburg, Owusu, Piemontesi, Roth, Schlegel, N. Smith, Solomon, Tuckman, Zylstra

ATTENDANCE SUMMARY:  Faculty:  Of 86 total: 58 present (67%), 20 excused (23%) 8 absent (10%); Students:  Of 44 total: 33 present (75%), 1 excused (2%), 11 absent (23%); Administrators:  Of 39 total: 30 present (77%), 5 excused (13%), 4 absent (10%); Alumni:  Of 6 total: 4 present (66%), 1 excused (17%), 1 absent (17%)
View Senate attendance record for this year

NON-VOTING MEMBER PRESENT:   Redd

NON-VOTING MEMBER EXCUSED:  Wright

NON-VOTING MEMBER ABSENT:   Sambolin

PRESIDING OFFICER:   Paul Panayotatos, Chairperson

CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT:  Chairperson Panayotatos began with organizational comments.  He introduced this year’s Senate Parliamentarian, Senator Jason Redd.  He encouraged Senators to visit the Senate website, noting that there are links to that site through the Student and Faculty links on Rutgers’ main webpage.  He asked Senators to pay particular attention to the duties and powers of the Senate, which he summarized.  Noting that he wanted to continue the momentum of Senate revitalization, he said the Senate should continue substantive debate on important issues, but should not bring to the Senate floor debate which should properly occur in committees.  He told the Senate that letters will be sent to some faculty Senators encouraging them to improve their committee attendance, and offering alternatives to their current committee assignments, and other options to increase attendance.  Chairperson Panayotatos also suggested that committees and all Senators use e-mail whenever possible to exchange draft reports, comments, and other information, and noted that enhanced classrooms may be used in the future for teleconferencing meetings.  Regarding newly issued and pending charges, he asked Senators to review them and give comments to the committee chair, himself, or Secretary Swalagin before the report comes to the Senate floor.  He asked Senators to attend their respective caucuses regularly.  He announced that the next Senate meeting will be held in Newark, that a bus will be available from the Cook Campus to Newark, that the membership of the Enrollment Committee was complete, and that Senators Seneca and Walker-Andrews will co-chair the Enrollment Committee.

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY:

Agenda:  On motion and duly seconded, the agenda was approved as distributed.
Minutes:  On motion and duly seconded, Minutes of the May 3, 2002 Organizational Meeting were approved as distributed by the Secretary. Communications:  The text of Communications had been posted online for Senate review, as follows:

• June 12, 2002 Memorandum from President Francis L. Lawrence regarding the Senate’s Resolution on Best Practices in Assessment of Teaching, referencing the advice of Drs. Monica Devanas and Gary Gigliotti of the Teaching Excellence Center on this subject. The original Senate Report and Recommendations on Best Practices in Assessment of Teaching, as revised and submitted May 2002, were also available online.
• July 10, 2002 Memorandum from University Vice President for Academic Affairs Joseph J. Seneca, regarding Deans’ Evaluations

A question-and-answer period followed, during which President Lawrence responded to questions on issues which included: refinancing of University debt; information on Hispanic and Latino faculty relating to a charge currently in the Equal Opportunity Committee; benefits for graduate students; and a possible merger of Rutgers with UMDNJ and NJIT.

Presentation on Open Public Records Act: Leslie Fehrenbach, Associate Vice President for Administration, presented a summary of the provisions of the Open Public Records Act (OPRA).  She noted that there are severe penalties for noncompliance, and that she has just seven days from the time the request reaches her to respond, and therefore requests that anyone receiving a request for information from her office make it a priority.  She said that more information on OPRA is available online.

PRESENTATIONS OF STANDING COMMITTEE CHAIRS:

The following standing committee chairs presented brief summaries of their committees recent, current, and planned activities:

• Academic Standards, Regulations and Admissions Committee - Co-Chair Craig Oren
• Budget and Finance Committee - Chair Ted Szatrowski
• Equal Opportunity Committee - Co-Chairs Thomas DeRosa and Pheroze Wadia
• Student Affairs Committee - Co-Chairs Tahirah Cooper and Matthew Ramsay
• University Structure and Governance Committee - Co-Chair Kathleen Scott
• Faculty Affairs and Personnel Committee - Co-Chair Paul Leath
• Instruction, Curriculum and Advising Committee - Chair Natalie Borisovets

OLD BUSINESS:  There was no old business.

NEW BUSINESS:  There was no new business.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT:  Vice Chair Rabinowitz reported on the June 7, 2002 Executive Committee meeting and September 13, 2002 Committee meeting.  Executive Committee minutes are available on the Senate website.

REPORT OF THE REPRESENTATIVES TO BOARDS OF GOVERNORS AND TRUSTEES:  Senator Walker-Andrews reported on the June 13 and July 12, 2002 Board of Governors meetings.  Senator Vodak reported on the July 13, 2002 Board of Trustees meeting.

REPORT OF CAMPUS FACULTY LIAISON:  Senators Schiavo and Kauffman reported on plans and recent activities of the Camden Faculty Senate, and New Brunswick Faculty Council, respectively.  Senator Kauffman said that the New Brunswick Faculty Council is currently working on a copyright policy which is expected to be ready for Senate review during the Spring 2003 semester.

ADJOURNMENT:  There being no further business before the University Senate, Chairperson Panayotatos declared the meeting adjourned at 3:02 p.m.
 
 

Kenneth Swalagin
Secretary of the University Senate