Rutgers University Senate Minutes

RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY
UNIVERSITY SENATE

MINUTES Regular Meeting of the University Senate

DATE December 1, 2006

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

MEMBERS PRESENT: Allen, Allender, Atmeh, Barone, Bhuyan, Blimling, Bodnar, Boikess, Borisovets, Bosotov, Boylan, Bravo, Bubb, Busia, Bynes, Caprio, Carey, Chabal, Cohick, Coit, Cole, Cooke, Coppolo, Cotter, Covey, Cowen, Curtis, DeLisi, DeLuca, Dienst, Diner, Dixon-McInerney, Dutta, Eldreth, Fowler, Furmanski, Galili, Gaunt, Gigliotti, Gillett, Gonzalez-Palmer, Goodman, Gould, Grant, Greenhut, Gunderson, Hall, Hart, Heckscher, Hyman, Hyndman, Jozefczyk, Kalelkar, Keating, Kern, Kirschner, Laguna-Diaz, Larmony, Leath, Lehne, Levitsky, Lippert, Livingston, Marchetta, Markert, Markowitz, Mauroff, McCabe, McCormick, McCoy-Carter, McKay, McKeever, J. Meyer, Miller, Mulcahy, Nayyar, Ng, Niederman, Nolfi, Norville, Obayashi, Ozbay, Palmon, Patel, Puniello, Quayson, Samuel Rabinowitz, Sidney Rabinowitz, Rankin, Reiss, Rivera, Robinson, Rold, Schaich, Schantz, Schein, Schorr, Schwab, Scott, Shah, P. Simmons, Sofer, Soyosa, Spiegel, Spotacco, Staples, Stein, Sukhdeo, Szatrowski, Taulane, Thompson, Tittler, Toney-Boss, Traxler, Van Til, Vodak, Wagner, Wang, Whitfield, Wright

EXCUSED: Alger, Amirahmadi, Carbone, Colaizzi, Copeland, Edwards, Friedrich, Gimenez, Guo, Harris, Hughes, Johnson, Kirby, Klein, Krenos, Marsh, Meyer, Oppenheim, Oren, Panayotatos, Rockland, R. Simmons, St. John, Tevis, Winterbauer, Wyhopen

ABSENT: Adelman, Ally, Alonso, Ambar, Apfel, Barbarese, Bay, Bellany, Bernstein, Bosch, Creese, E. Dennis, R. Dennis, Deutsch, Duncan, Finegold, Habib, Holzer, Jackson, Kennedy, Kokini, Koza, Urbaniak, Venzie, Vera, Wallace, Williams

ATTENDANCE SUMMARY: Faculty: Of 83 total: 61 present (77%), 11 excused (13%), 11 absent (13%)
Students: Of 51 total: 33 present (65%), 3 excused (6%), 15 absent (29%)
Administrators: Of 35 total: 12 present (34%), 11 excused (32%), 12 absent (34%)
Alumni: Of 6 total: 5 present (83%), 1 excused (17%), 0 absent
Staff: Of 10 total: 9 present (90%, 0 excused, 1 absent (10%)

View Senate Attendance Record for this year.

PRESIDING OFFICER: Martha Cotter, Chairperson

CALL TO ORDER, DETERMINATION OF A QUORUM, AND CHAIRPERSON'S REPORT - Martha Cotter, Chairperson

Chairperson Cotter called the meeting to order at 1:23 p.m. Her chairperson's report included comments on:

substantive issues expected to come before the Senate in the second half of this academic year;
revival of various proposals to merge Rutgers and UMDNJ and possibly NJIT, and the beginnings of the Senate's discussions (currently charged to the University Structure and Governance Committee) of that issue in terms of overall principles;
reference to the Senate's November 2002 and November 2003 reports on the merger proposals; and
the death of Professor Hank Levinson, Newark faculty member and former University Senate parliamentarian.

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY - Kenneth Swalagin, Executive Secretary

Agenda: The meeting's agenda, including time limits, was approved as distributed by the executive secretary.
Minutes: The October 27, 2006 University Senate meeting minutes were approved as distributed by the executive secretary.

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT - Richard L. McCormick, President

President McCormick's administrative report included comments on:

progress, and committee and subcommittee action on, changes to undergraduate education in New Brunswick/Piscataway, and his thanks to all who helped, and who continue to work, to make the restructuring possible;
"ambitious plans" for undergraduate education which are underway in Newark and Camden;
proposals to merge Rutgers, UMDNJ and NJIT, including discussions with and within the legislature, his testimony before the Legislative Task Force on Higher Education, and a general description of several of the possible merger scenarios;
the budget situation, including anticipation of another budget cycle, and his thanks to student Senator Margaret Coppolo and all the students she led in responding to budget cuts in Trenton recently; and
the success of the Rutgers football program.

President McCormick then responded to questions on topics which included:

the status of proposals to expand the Livingston Student Center;
the recent death of Rutgers economist Milton Friedman, and possible ways to further recognize Dr. Friedman and his accomplishments;
what would be required to implement any Rutgers/UMDNJ/NJIT merger, once a proposal to do so has been adopted; and
term-bill payment deadlines and deregistration.

At Chairperson Cotter's suggestion, the Senate applauded Margaret Coppolo and all other students who have been working in Trenton and elsewhere on Rutgers behalf.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Faculty Affairs and Personnel Committee - Ann Gould and Paul Panayotatos, Co-chairs

Report and Recommendations on Charge S-0502, Status of Full-time, Non-tenure-track, Non-clinical Faculty

Original Charge: Review the status of full-time non-tenure-track faculty who are not clinical faculty, including teaching as well as research faculty. Consider whether changes in University Regulations or policies should be proposed that would provide improved conditions for full-time non-tenure-track faculty with respect to length and continuity of appointment, reappointment, performance evaluation, governance rights, and access to internal research funding, in order to enhance the delivery of high-quality undergraduate education by this group of faculty. Recommend specific policy changes as appropriate. Recommend guidelines and general principles for proposals that might be formulated by the administration on these matters.

Senator Gould summarized the Faculty Affairs and Personnel Committee's report and recommendations on the status of full-time, non-tenure-track, non-clinical faculty. She said that the charge and report do not pertain to part-time lecturers or clinical faculty. She explained the "four-year rule." Gould then read and moved for adoption the report's recommendations (noting that the second and third recommendations had been changed by the Faculty Affairs and Personnel Committee that morning), as follows:

Recommendation 1: The University Senate recommends to the BOG the amendment of University Policy Section 60.5.10.A by the elimination of all language beginning with "Instructorships are essentially temporary appointments" and ending with "limits instructors to three successive reappointments" so that the restriction to three successive reappointments for NTT faculty is abolished.
Recommendation 2: For non-tenure-track faculty, other than clinical, the Senate recommends initial appointments of one to three years, with reappointments of up to three years thereafter. A dean's-level review is required prior to multi-year appointments.
Recommendation 3: The Senate recommends that the EVPAA remind all academic units that annuals, as well as tenure-track faculty, are eligible for FASIP. In addition, faculty should be strongly advised to include monies for such awards in grants that support research annuals.
Recommendation 4: The Senate recommends that instructional and research annuals be made eligible to apply for both internal and external grants.
Recommendation 5: The Senate recommends that Rutgers' administration devise and utilize a process for reminding chairs to submit notices of reappointments by the June 30 deadline, and for making employees aware of information about benefits eligibility, availability, and terms of coverage.

Gould then moved, on behalf of her committee, the report's accompanying resolution, as follows:

RESOLUTION in Support of the University Senate's Faculty Affairs and Personnel Committee's Report and Recommendations:
Whereas, the University Senate Faculty Affairs and Personnel Committee has examined and reported on the Status of Full-time, Non-tenure-track, Non-clinical Faculty; and
Whereas, the University Senate has reviewed the Committee's report and recommendations, finding those recommendations to be sound and in the best interests of Rutgers University;
Therefore, Be It Resolved, that the Rutgers University Senate endorses the "Report and Recommendations on the Status of Full-time, Non-tenure-track, Non-clinical Faculty" and urges the Administration to implement its recommendations.

Following very brief discussion, on card vote, the Senate adopted the motion with two opposed, and one abstention.

OLD BUSINESS

There was no old business.

NEW BUSINESS

Senator Daniel Schantz raised the issue of movement toward a New Jersey State-mandated system of articulation and transfer agreements, and suggested that it be taken up by a Senate committee. Chairperson Cotter, noting that the University administration is aware of that, asked Schantz to write up his suggestion and send it to her to bring to the Senate Executive Committee.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT- Samuel Rabinowitz, Vice Chairperson

Senate Vice Chair Rabinowitz reported on the Executive Committee's November 10, 2006 meeting.