Rutgers University Senate Minutes, October 19, 2007

RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY
UNIVERSITY SENATE

MINUTES                                  Regular Meeting of the University Senate

DATE                                         October 19, 2007

TIME AND PLACE                 1:10 p.m., Multipurpose Room, Camden Campus Center, Camden Campus

MEMBERS PRESENT: Adam, Adames, Atzbi, Barbarese, Barrett, Becker, Bhuyan, Boikess, Borisovets, Bubb, Bumby, Butter, Bynes, Ciklamini, Cooke, Coppolo, Cotter, DeLisi, Ellis, Fishbein, Furmanski, Gaunt, Gillett, Gould, Greaux, Greenhut, Guo, Halim, Hall, Heckscher, Hyman, Jackson, Johnson-Scott, Kapoor, Kanj, Keating, Kemeny, Khan, Kind, Kociol, Koza, Lemieux, Leonard, Li, Maddison, Markert, Markowitz, Marsh, McCall, McCormick, McCoy-Carter, Mistry, Mulcahy, Nangle, Ng, Nolfi, Norville, Oren, Palis, Palmon, Panayotatos, Patel, F. Puniello, O. Puniello, Rabinowitz, J. Robinson, Sangiamo, Sass, Schantz, Shivers, Slavin, Spiegel, Stein, K. Thompson, Toney-Boss, Tony, Van Til, R. Wagner, Wang, Wild, Winterbauer, Yares

EXCUSED: Alger, Allender, Barone, Boylan, Busia, Cohick, Coit, Colaizzi, Cooper, Covey, Cowen, Creese, Cruzan, Deutsch, Edwards, Finegold, Fowler, Friedrich, Galili, Gimenez, Gonzalez-Palmer, Goodman, Graycar, Grant, Greenfeld, Gugig, Kalelkar, Kerkhof, Kern, Kowler, Laguna-Diaz, Lashley, Leath, Lehne, Livingston, Lomiguen, Lopez, Marchetta, McKeever, Messer, J. Meyer, W. Meyer, Nakhaie, Niederman, Pottick, Rockland, Rodgers, Schumacher, Shmulenson, P. Simmons, Smith, Sofer, Stone, Swisher, Szatrowski, Tittler, Tomassone, Traxler, Vodak, M. Wagner, Williams, Yeagle

ABSENT: Amirahmadi, Blimling, Bodnar, Caprio, Chiesa, Colin, Diamond, Dienst, Diner, Dutta, Foley, Gliserman, Goldman, Greene, Gunderson, Habib, Holzer, Hughes, Janes, Jozefczyk, Kenfield, Klein, Mulvey, Pedersen, Rankin, M. Robinson, Schein, Schock, Sharp, R. Simmons, Solomon, Sosa, Stauffer, R. Thompson, Wallace, Wyhopen, Youkneveich

ATTENDANCE                        Faculty: Of 83 total: 31 present (37%), 35 excused (42%), 17 absent (21%)
SUMMARY                              Students: Of 53 total: 34 present (64%), 10 excused (19%), 9 absent (17%)
                                                   Administrators: Of 29 total: 8 present (27.5%), 13 excused (45%), 8 absent (27.5%)
                                                   Alumni: Of 6 total: 2 present (33%), 2 excused (33%), 2 absent (33%)
                                                   Staff: Of 10 total: 7 present (70%, 2 excused (20%), 1 absent (10%)

View Senate Attendance Record for this year

PRESIDING OFFICER           Samuel Rabinowitz, Chairperson

CALL TO ORDER, DETERMINATION OF A QUORUM, AND CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT - Samuel Rabinowitz, Chairperson

Chairperson Rabinowitz called the meeting to order at 1:22 p.m. After welcoming all to the annual meeting in Camden, he thanked Interim Provost Margaret Marsh for providing lunch for the Senate. He then made a brief report which included comments on:

his congratulations to the Scarlet Knights for the previous night's win, and to the student body and spectators for their civility and sportsmanship;
next month's Senate discussion of the Middle States Accreditation Draft Self-Study Report, and his hope that Senators will review the draft report and provide feedback and comments at the November 9 Senate meeting; and
a recent, informal polling of Camden faculty which suggested that only 20 percent of those faculty are interested in forming a Camden faculty council.

SECRETARY'S REPORT - Kenneth Swalagin, Executive Secretary

Agenda: The meeting's agenda, including time limits, was approved as distributed by the executive secretary.
Minutes: The Minutes of April 27, 2007 Senate Organizational Meeting and Minutes of September 28, 2007 Senate Meeting were approved as distributed by the executive secretary.
Communications: The following communications were presented by the executive secretary:

President McCormick's Response to Senate Report on Charge S-0702, Tolerance and Sensitivity
Preliminary Draft of the Middle-States institutional self-study is available for review

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT - President Richard L. McCormick

President McCormick, noting that he had recently delivered his Annual Address to the Senate, and that the Camden Campus Report was on the day's agenda, made no administrative report. He responded to a question regarding transportation and parking difficulties related to Thursday-night football games in New Brunswick.

CAMDEN CAMPUS REPORT - Interim Camden Provost Margaret Marsh

Interim Camden Provost Marsh presented a Camden Campus Report. The report included comments on the following topics:

activities and plans for this year, and for the longer term;
inauguration of Camden’s first Ph.D. program;
Board of Governors approval of a doctorate of physical therapy program which will be offered jointly with UMDNJ;
plans for other doctoral programs and new programs in arts and sciences and business;
changes in the physical presence of the Camden Campus;
the search for a new provost;
her intention to focus her year as interim provost on improving or enhancing enrollment, recruitment, retention, the campus physical environment, Rutgers-Camden’s reputation, and the ability of academic units to achieve their goals; and
continuation of her work with the City of Camden, other campuses, Rutgers University leadership, accreditation, the capital campaign, and other activities.

Provost Marsh then responded to questions on topics which included:

Camden's ranking among the top masters-degree granting instutitions in the nation; and
Camden's relationship with Rutgers University, including interdisciplinary and faculty involvements.

ELECTION OF FACULTY EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBER

Nabil Adam, Rutgers Business School-Newark, was elected by acclamation to replace Jozef Kokini as faculty member of the Senate Executive Committee. Kokini had been elected to the position in April 2007, but has since left Rutgers.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Budget and Finance Committee - Menahem Spiegel, Chair
Response to Charge S-0504, All-Funds Budgeting

Original Charge: Review and evalute the processes and policies related to All-Funds Budgeting

Senator Spiegel summarized the Budget and Finance Committee's charge and report on All-Funds Budgeting. The draft report on this charge was presented to the Senate for discussion and comment. It was not docketed for action at this meeting. On Senator Borisovets's motion, the Senate entered into a committee-of-the-whole discussion on this report and related issues. Senator Spiegel and Executive Vice President Furmanski responded to questions on the report, its findings and recommendations, and on all-funds budgeting generally. Following considerable discussion, also on Senator Borisovets's motion, the Senate rose from committee of the whole. A revised Budget and Finance Committee report on all-funds budgeting will be presented for action at an upcoming Senate meeting.

OLD BUSINESS: There was no old business.

NEW BUSINESS: There was no new business.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT: Vice Chairperson Paul Leath was unable to attend the meeting. Senator Cotter reported on the Senate Executive Committee meetings of September 7 and October 11, 2007.

CAMPUS FACULTY LIAISON REPORTS: Senator Robert Boikess reported on the plans and activities of the New Brunswick Faculty Council, including the previous Friday's Annual Teaching Conference.

ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 3:06 p.m.

Kenneth Swalagin
Executive Secretary of the University Senate