RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY

UNIVERSITY SENATE

 

 

MINUTES                                  Regular Meeting of the University Senate

 

DATE                                         November 19, 2004

 

TIME AND PLACE                 1:10 p.m. 

                                                    Multipurpose Room

                                                    Camden Campus Center

                                                    Camden Campus

 

MEMBERS PRESENT:  Abaskharon, Apfel, Atmeh, Bell, Blasi, Boikess, Borisovets, Bravo, Brazier, Chen, A. Cooper, Cotter, Crockford, Curry, Curtis, Darien, DeLisi, E. Dennis, R. Dennis, Dholandas, DiVito, Dupersoy, Dutta, C. Ellis, N. Ellis, Ezgilioglu, Farrell, Fishbein, Friedrich, Furmanski, Gaunt, Gigliotti, Gillett, Goldin, Gould, Greenhut, Hall, Hanna, Herbst, Hmelo-Silver, Hoekzema, Hornichter, Jackson, Jesse, Kagan, Kauffman, Kavanagh, Krenos, Krucher, LaSala, Liepmann, Maher, Maradonna, Markert, Markowitz, Marsh, McCormick, Merandy, Miller, Nerurkar, Niederman, Norville, O’Connell, O’Connor, Oren, Perlman, Phillips, Philps, Puniello, Rabiner, Samuel Rabinowitz, Sidney Rabinowitz, Raykar, Schorr, Scott, Shahrokh, N. Smith, Solomon, Spero, Szatrowski, Tittler, Turpin, Turvey, Venuto, Volk, Wang, Whang, Winterbauer, Woolley

 

EXCUSED:  Ambar, Axelrod, Banerjee, Barone, Bodnar, Boylan, Caprio, Cerulo, Chabal, Chism, Colaizzi, Deutsch, Donsky, Evans, Hallmark, Hirsh, Holmes, V. Johnson, Kirby, Laguna-Diaz, Lashley, Leath, Lee, Leustek, McCabe, McKeever, Messer, More, Nichols, Obayashi, Ocone, Ogwu, Pangilinan, Potenza, Reed, Sherman, P. Simmons, Stark, Tinglin, Vodak, Zaborszky

 

ABSENT:  Baro, Bay, Bellany, Bilodeau, Blimling, Breton, Buckley, Butler, Cannon, Chambers, Chernin, K. Cooper, Cronk, Davidson, Dellane, Desposito, Dess, Diamond, Diner, Ezendokwere, Fahim, Farney, Feinberg, Ferguson, Forero, Freeman, Guo, Hodgson, Hoover, Huang, Hughes, Hyndman, Jessen, W. Johnson, J. Jones, R. Jones, Kennedy, Kirschner, Klein, Kokini, Kressel, Lake, Leontiades, Mangin, Manhoff, McKay, Odutola, Ozbay, Rabii, Rubin, Schaich, Schock, Sifuentes-Jauregui, R. Simmons, Simon, H. Smith, Spellmeyer, Spierer, Stauffer, Tsurumi, Tuckman, Turner, Webb, Worrall, Zolad

 

ATTENDANCE                        Faculty:  Of  95 total:  37 present (39%), 27 excused (28%), 31absent (33%)

SUMMARY                               Students:  Of  55 total:  33 present (60%), 5 excused (9%), 17 absent (31%)

                                                    Administrators:  Of 39 total:  15 present (38%), 8 excused (21%), 16 absent (41%)

                                                    Alumni:  Of 6 total:  4 present (66%), 1 excused (17%), 1 absent (17%)
View Senate Attendance Record for this year.


NON-VOTING                         Seto

MEMBER PRESENT

 

NON-VOTING                         Innerfield

MEMBER EXCUSED

 

PRESIDING OFFICER           Martha Cotter, Chairperson

 

CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT:  Chairperson Cotter called the meeting to order, and presented a brief report which included thanks to Provost Dennis for the hospitality of the Camden Campus, and for the luncheon provided to the Senators.  She then called the Senate’s attention to two recent communications to the Senate and/or its Executive Committee which she thought particularly important:  Vice President for Student Affairs Gregory Blimling’s memorandum regarding formation of a committee to review Rutgers’ Policy on Academic Integrity, which committee includes student Senator Nicole Smith and faculty Senator Leslie Fishbein, and which is chaired by administrator Senator Donald McCabe; and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Phillip Furmanski’s memorandum requesting Senate consideration of proposed clinical and professional practice tracks for Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, Rutgers Business School and School of Business-Camden, and Mason Gross School of the Arts.  She noted that the clinical and professional practice tracks item has been charged to the Senate’s Faculty Affairs and Personnel Committee.

 

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY:  Agenda:  The agenda, with time limits, was approved as distributed by the Secretary. 

 

Minutes:  On motion and duly seconded, the Minutes of the October 22, 2004 Senate meeting were approved as distributed by the Secretary. 

 

Communications:  The following communications were presented by the Secretary:

 

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT:  President McCormick delivered the administrative report, which included  comments on: 

 

CAMDEN CAMPUS REPORT:  Camden Provost Diner presented a synopsis of the Camden Campus Report.  (The report had been posted online in advance, and is attached to the master copy of these minutes as Attachment A.)

 

A question-and-answer period followed, during which Acting Provost Diner responded to questions and comments on subjects including:  parking, safety and security; needed physical improvements to the Camden Campus; the size of the campus, and managed growth; and efforts to bring businesses and students into Camden’s downtown area.

 

SPECIAL ELECTION FOR STUDENT MEMBER OF SENATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:  Chairperson Cotter explained that the recent resignation of student Senator Andrew Bucko from the Senate and its Executive Committee had created a vacancy on the Senate’s Executive Committee.  She then presented the slate of nominees, consisting of student Senators Adam Cooper (Rutgers College) and Timothy DiVito (Livingston College).  Chairperson Cotter then asked for nominations from the floor.  There were none.  Senators Cooper and DiVito made statements in support of their respective candidacies.  Voting was done on paper ballots which were distributed at sign in.  The ballots were collected for tabulation by Linda Mickelsen, the Senate’s administrative assistant, and Chairperson Cotter said that results would be announced at the end of the meeting.

 

COMMITTEE REPORTS

 

Senator Gould, co-chair of the Faculty Affairs and Personnel Committee, summarized her committee’s response to Charge S-0310, E-mail Privacy.  The committee had been charged as follows:  Examine university policies and procedures with respect to the privacy of the e-mail communications and other computer files of members of the university community and make recommendations for change where appropriate.  Address:  What are the current university policy and practices with regard to e-mail privacy?  Are current policy and practices appropriate for a university community?  How was the current policy formulated and how has it been communicated and explained to members of the University community?  Are there appropriate procedures in place to regulate the examination of e-mail and notify those whose e-mail has been examined?”  Following discussion, the Senate approved unanimously the report as presented by Faculty Affairs and Personnel Committee.

 

Senator Gould, co-chair of the Faculty Affairs and Personnel Committee, summarized her committee’s response to Charge S-0404, Faculty Departmental Voting Rights.  The committee had been charged as follows:  Consider the request by the incoming chair of the School of Engineering Rules and Procedures Committee that the Senate recommend to the Board of Governors that language be added to University Regulations governing faculty voting rights in departments regarding joint, 50/50 departmental appointments.  In particular investigate if the following or similar language would be appropriate:  "Voting members of the faculty shall be those faculty members who occupy more than 50 percent of a position in the current budget, and of those holding 50/50 appointments, a declaration shall be made by the faculty member at the time of initial appointment as to the department in which the voting right shall reside."  The following had subsequently been added to the charge:  “Consider and make recommendations regarding creation of guidelines and/or special deanships for dealing with jointly appointed faculty.” 

 

Senator Gould explained that the addendum to the charge had been considered by the Faculty Affairs and Personnel Committee to be a separate issue, and would be addressed by the committee at a later date.  A suggestion to delete some language in the report regarding those departmental appointments of less than 50 percent was not adopted.  Following discussion, the Senate approved the report and its recommendations with none opposed, one abstention.

 

Chairperson Cotter read aloud the following statement on this item from the day’s agenda:  The following report is presented as preliminary, and for information purposes only.  Feedback will be solicited by the presenting committee, and will be considered prior to re-docketing of this item for action at the January 21, 2005 Senate meeting.  It is likely that the discussion will be as Committee of the Whole; therefore, motions will not be in order.  There will be no Senate action on this report at this meeting.”  She added that no motions would be heard on this item at this meeting.

 

Senators Scott and Blasi, co-chairs of the University Structure and Governance Committee, summarized their committee’s reports, noting that only the bylaws were being addressed today, and that the Senate Handbook would be addressed later.

 

The committee had been charged as follows:

 

A discussion period followed, during which comments were made on:

 

OLD BUSINESS:  There was no old business.

 

NEW BUSINESS:  There was no new business.

 

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT:  Vice Chairperson Rabinowitz reported on the October 1, 2004  and November 5, 2004  Senate Executive Committee meetings.  Executive Committee minutes are available on the Senate website.

 

REPORT OF THE REPRESENTATIVES TO BOARDS OF GOVERNORS AND TRUSTEES:  The boards had held no meetings since the last Senate meeting.

 

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

 

SPECIAL ELECTION RESULTS:  Chairperson Cotter announced that the Senate had elected Senator Timothy DiVito to the position of Student Member of the Executive Committee.

 

ADJOURNMENT:  The meeting adjourned at 3:15 p.m.

 

Kenneth Swalagin

Secretary of the University Senate