RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY
UNIVERSITY SENATE MINUTES

Regular Meeting of the University Senate

DATE:  October 21, 2005

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

MEMBERS PRESENT:  Apfel, Bernstein, Blimling, Boikess, Borisovets, Boyd, Bravo, Cannon, Caprio, Capuano, Carr, Cohen, Cole, Cotter, Curtis, Darien, DeLisi, E. Dennis, R. Dennis, Dutta, C. Ellis, N. Ellis, Finc, Fishbein, Gaunt, Gigliotti, Goodman, Gould, Greenhut, Hall, Heckscher, Herrera, Hmelo-Silver, Johnson, Kanj, Kelpac, LaSala, Leath, Liepmann, MacArthur, Maher, Markowitz, Marsh, Martin, Mauroff, Mayer, McCormick, McKay, Melwani, Mulcahy, Muller, Ng, O’Connell, O’Connor, Oren, Panayotatos, Potenza, Puniello, Samuel Rabinowitz, Sidney Rabinowitz, Shah, Smith, Solomon, Soren, Stroud, Tittler, Turpin, Whang, Whitfield, Williams, Wyhopen, Young, Zhitkevich

EXCUSED:  Alger, Allender, Atmeh, Axelrod, Barone, Bartosek, Bodnar, Boylan, Chabal, Colaizzi, Colin, DeLuca, Diner, Downs, Elkholy, Fincher, Friedrich, Gillett, Hankins, Hart, J. Jones, R, Jones, Kagan, Kalelkar, Kirby, Klein, Kokini, Krenos, Laguna-Diaz, Lashley, Lee, Lipman, Mandelbaum, Markert, McCabe, McKeever, Miller, Niederman, Norville, Obayashi, Ocone, Ozbay, Palmon, Rabiner, Reed, Schaich, Schein, Schorr, Scott, C. Simmons, P. Simmons, R. Simmons, Simon, Snyder, Spiegel, St. John, Van Til, Vodak, Wang, Winterbauer

ABSENT:  Adarkwa, Aladdin, Ambar, Amirahmadi, Arias, Banerjee, Barbarese, Bell, Bellany, Boehmer, Brazier, Breton, Butler, Coit, Deprez, Deutsch, Dhillon, Edwards, Farrell, Fleming, Furmanski, Gimbar, Gyenfie, Hallmark, Herbst, Hughes, Hyndman, Jackson, John, Kavanagh, Kennedy, Kirschner, Labib, Leichenko, Livingston, Marchetta, Messer, Meyer, Mohammed, Nelson, Portilla, Poyznyer, Reynolds, Rubin, Ruiz, Schock, Sherman, Spat, Stark, Sukhdeo, Tuckman, Turner, Volk, Zaborszky

ATTENDANCE  SUMMARY:  Faculty:  Of  89 total:  32 present (36%), 39 excused (44%), 18 absent (20%); Students:  Of  55 total:  23 present (42%),10 excused (18%), 22 absent (40%); Administrators:  Of 37   total:  15 present (41%), 9 excused (24%), 13 absent (35%); Alumni:  Of 6 total:  3 present (50%), 2 excused (33%), 1 absent (17%)

View Senate attendance record for this year

PRESIDING OFFICER:  Martha Cotter, Chairperson

CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT:  Chairperson Cotter called the meeting to order, welcomed everyone present, and thanked Provost Dennis and his staff for the consistent hospitality of the Camden Campus, and for the accommodations and luncheon provided to the Senators.

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY:  Agenda:  The agenda was approved as distributed by the Secretary.  Minutes:  On motion and duly seconded, the Minutes of the September 30, 2005 Senate meeting were approved as distributed by the Secretary. 

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT:  President McCormick, noting that the agenda featured the Camden Campus Report, and that the Task Force on Undergraduate Education Report had been recently discussed, made a brief administrative report, which included comments on:
CAMDEN CAMPUS REPORT:  Camden Provost Dennis presented a synopsis of the Camden Campus Report. (A hardcopy summary of the report was distributed at the meeting, and is attached to the master copy of these minutes as Attachment A.)  The report included comments on the following topics:

A brief question-and-answer period followed, during which Provost Dennis responded to a question about problems with Law School financial aid and disenrollment.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Equal Opportunity Committee - Connie Ellis and Michael LaSala, Co-chairs - Status Report and Resolution in Response to Charge S-0413, FAIR v. Rumsfeld Appeal

Senators Ellis and LaSala, co-chairs of the Equal Opportunity Committee, summarized the committee’s response to Charge S-0413, FAIR v. Rumsfeld.  The committee had been charged as follows:  “Considering the November 29, 2004 decision of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals regarding the case of FAIR v. Rumsfeld, revisit the issues addressed in the University Senate’s reports/resolutions on FAIR v. Rumsfeld and on Federally Mandated Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation in ROTC Programs. Draft recommendations on how Rutgers should respond to the recent decision.”  Following discussion, during which one occurrence of the word “Senate” was changed to “Supreme Court.”  The Senate then approved the report and adopted the resolution, as follows:

Whereas, the Board of Governors amended the Policy on Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action (“non-discrimination policy”) in 1981 to include protection on the basis of sexual orientation and marital status; and

Whereas, the non-discrimination policy guarantees equal opportunities in hiring, promotion and job-related benefits for employees and equal treatment in University programs for all students; and
Whereas, the University Senate has passed three resolutions in the past 10 years urging full implementation of its non-discrimination policy; and

Whereas, it is incumbent upon the University to provide moral leadership in the cause of human rights by exercising every option within its power to enforce its non-discrimination policy; and
Whereas, the equal rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students are jeopardized because the Solomon Amendment requires the University to suspend its non-discrimination policy with respect to recruitment efforts of the Department of Defense; and

Whereas, the Solomon Amendment compels the University to lend its resources, personnel, and facilities to an employer (the U.S. military) that continues to discriminate based on sexual orientation in its hiring practices; and

Whereas, the law suit FAIR v. Rumsfeld provides an opportunity for the University to make important strides in fulfilling its commitment to non-discrimination; and
Whereas, FAIR v. Rumsfeld will be heard by the U. S. Supreme Court on December 6, 2005;

Therefore, be it resolved that the Senate urges the President and the Board of Governors to make a public statement on behalf of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in support of FAIR’s effort to get the Solomon Amendment overturned.

Academic Standards, Regulations and Admissions Committee - Craig Oren and Martha Cotter, Co-chairs - Response to Charge A-0312, Endorsement of Draft University Copyright Policy

Senator Oren, co-chair of the Academic Standards, Regulations and Admissions Committee (ASRAC), summarized his committee’s response to Charge A-0312, Endorsement of Draft University Copyright Policy.  The committee had been charged as follows:  “Review and comment on the September 2003 revised version of the proposed University Copyright Policy.”  Senator Oren explained that Senator Cotter was not co-chair of the ASRAC last year, when much of the work on this charge was done.  He thanked University Librarian Marianne Gaunt and her task force for their cooperation and work on this project.  Senator Cotter then read the resolution, which the Senate adopted unanimously, as follows:

The Senate endorses the proposed University Draft Copyright Policy on which this report is based, and which is posted online at http://senate.rutgers.edu/copyrightpolicy.pdf.

University Structure and Governance Committee - Gary Gigliotti, Chair - Response to Charge S-0401, Faculty and Student Board of Governors Membership

Senator Gigliotti, chair of the University Structure and Governance Committee (USGC), summarized his committee’s response to Charge S-0401, Faculty and Student Board of Governors Membership.  The committee had been charged as follows:  “Investigate why there is no student voting representative on the Board of Governors in the spirit of N.J.S.A.18A:64-3.1, which states that the Board of Trustees of every state college must provide for the election of two student representatives who serve two-year terms and are voting members in their second year, considering that at Rutgers the Board of Governors is currently equivalent to the board of trustees at most New Jersey colleges.  Report back as to why this is not the case, and make appropriate recommendations as to if and how this issue should be pursued.  Investigate the same issues relative to faculty membership on the Board of Governors.”  After brief discussion, the Senate adopted unanimously the USGC’s recommendations, as follows:

The Senate makes the following recommendations to the President and through the President to the Board of Governors under its advisory authority according to University Regulation 2.2.2 B:
1.  In principle, the Senate endorses a voting student representative on the Board of Governors.
2.  The Senate recommends that the President and the Board of Governors explore mechanisms for accomplishing the addition of a voting student representative to the Board of Governors and work with the Senate towards accomplishing that end.

Student Affairs Committee - Valerie Johnson and David Portilla, Co-chairs - Response to Charge S-0406, Tolerance and Sensitivity

Senator Johnson, co-chair of the Student Affairs Committee, withdrew her committee’s report on Charge S-0406, on Tolerance and Sensitivity, noting that more details about programs, statistics, and hate crimes, as well as data from the Campus Climate Survey, would be valuable in creating a more comprehensive report.  She also noted that the recommendations of the Task Force on Undergraduate Education would also have implications on tolerance and sensitivity on Rutgers’ campuses.

Faculty Affairs and Personnel Committee - Ann Gould and Paul Panayotatos, Co-chairs - Response to Charge S-0407, Faculty Reporting Processes

This report was presented to the Senate for information only.  Senator Panayotatos, co-chair of the Faculty Affairs and Personnel Committee (FAPC), read Charge S-0407, on Faculty Reporting Processes, which had been issued as follows:  “Investigate, consider, and make recommendations for streamlining and making easier the processes involved in faculty reporting of teaching, scholarship and service. Consider compatibilities between the Annual Faculty Survey and Form 1A, cross-document copy-and-paste capability, and availability of data for reformatting for insertion into other electronic documents.”  Senator Gould, co-chair of the Faculty Affairs and Personnel Committee, explained that Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Furmanski had previously arranged for the Office of Institutional Research and Planning (IRAP) to review faculty reporting processes.  The FAPC report concluded with the following statement:

“It is the recommendation of this committee that the Faculty Survey in development by IRAP is suitable for faculty needs and addresses requirements for one-time entering of data that has sufficient flexibility to be downloaded for various purposes.”

OLD BUSINESS:  There was no old business.

NEW BUSINESS:  There was no new business.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT:  Vice Chairperson Rabinowitz reported on the September 9, 2005 and October 7, 2005 Senate Executive Committee meetings.  Executive Committee minutes are available on the Senate website.

REPORT OF THE REPRESENTATIVES TO BOARDS OF GOVERNORS AND TRUSTEES:  Senator Leath, Faculty Representative to the Board of Governors, reported on the July 14, September 13, and October 6, 2005 Board of Governors meetings.

REPORT OF CAMPUS FACULTY LIAISONS:  Senator Leath, who is also chair of the New Brunswick Faculty Council (NBFC), reported on recent and planned activities of the NBFC.

ADJOURNMENT:  The meeting adjourned at 2:45 p.m.

Kenneth Swalagin
Secretary of the University Senate