Rutgers University Senate Minutes

MEMBERS PRESENT: Admani, Ahmed, Akhtar, Alder, Alizadeh, Allen, Anaele, Angell, Aubry, Avadhani, Barchi, Barraco, Battle, Bernstein, Bhuyan, Boikess, Bolden, Borden, Borisovets, Bridgeman, Bugel, Cooper, Cotter, Covington, Creese, Dasari, Deans, Delnevo, DiVito, Draves, Durham, Dy, Eisenstein, Eklabes, Fagley, Fennell, Fernandez, Fiore, Fitzgerald-Bocarsly, Gajic, Gaunt, Gillett, Glaser, Gomes, Gould, Gupta, Gursoy, Hackworth, Hamai, Hinch, Holtzman, Janniger, Jimenez, Joo, Karamichael, Killingsworth, Kressel, Krishnamurthi, Langer, Law, Lepucki, Jane Lewis, Markert, Martinez, McGinnis, McKeever, Meggali, Miranti, Mouradian, Navrot, Norville, O'Connell, Oleske, Oliver, Otto, Parry, V. Patel, Pintar, Puhak, Rabinowitz, Ramsamy, Redlawsk, Raza, Schulberg, Schwartz, Scott, Settles, Shapiro, Shapley, Shulman, Spiegel, Stein, Stillwagon, Struwe, Suplee, Svasti, Szatrowski, Tamburello, Thomas-Hawkins, Thompson, Tiangco, Toney-Boss, Tsakalakos, Van Stine, Velan, Wagner, Wang, Winterbauer, Zimmerman

EXCUSED: Abu El-Haj, Alperin, Anderson, Balog, Barone, Bell, Bodrog, Buchholtz, Burrell, Charles, Donald, Drever, Geis, Goodman, Grant, Grave, Heckscher, Hudson, Hughes, Ibrahimpatan, S. Kim, Kubik, A. Lee, K. Lee, Jan Lewis, LoMonoco, Maillet, Messer, Miller, Mitra, Mitchell, Moran, Nissen, O'Connor, Padgett, N. Patel, Pirrello, Powell, Rhoads, Robinson, Saltzman, Schafer, Simmons, Szabo, Vodak, Winkler

ABSENT: Anthony, Avakame, Blanchett, Caler, Cantor, Chen, Eastman, Edward, Edwards, Falk, Farmbry, Farris, Fehn, Feldman, Ferraris, Ganesh, Gower, Gracias, Haddon, Hirsch, Holzemer, Holzer, Hughes, Iwamiya, Johnson, Joshi, A. Kim, Kocak, Kukor, Kumar, Leibman, Lindenmeyer, Lynch, Marchick, Maruna, Mazurek, McInerney, Millonig, Moore, Munoz, Nanda, Oberdiek, Potter, Roth, Sahi, Salmond, Sambol, Schiavo, Schurman, Scotto, Shafer, Stauffer, Strom, Sumoked, Sun, Takacs, Triner, Tursi, Van de Walle, Velez, Wasserman, Weigert, Wise, Yousaf

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Student Affairs Committee (SAC) Response to Charge S-1311 on Process of Changing Rutgers Cultural and Traditional Icons - SAC Co-chairs Robert Barraco, Sara Kim, and Samuel Rabinowitz

Student Affairs Committee (SAC) Co-chairs Robert Barraco and Samuel Rabinowitz presented the SAC's Response to Charge S-1311 on the Process of Changing Rutgers Cultural and Traditional Icons. Following brief discussion, the report was adopted unanimously by the Senate.

Senate Executive Committee Resolution Endorsing AAUP Centennial Declaration - Executive Committee Vice Chair Martha Cotter
[Note: Link goes to the Resolution as amended and adopted.].

Senate, and Senate Executive Committee Vice Chair Martha Cotter presented the Executive Committee's Resolution Endorsing the AAUP Centennial Declaration. Discussion followed. The first part of the resolution, which endorses the AAUP Centennial Declaration, was adopted with few opposed or abstaining. Cotter then read the second part of the resolution, which endorsed the Executive Committee's added principles. Student Senator Vetri Velan, on behalf of the Student Caucus, moved the following additional elements:

6. Universities should promote access to prospective students, from diverse backgrounds, to prepare them for both enrollment and success in higher education.

7. Student shared governance is crucial to the growth and operation of universities, because students are the largest stakeholders of a university, both from educational and financial perspectives.

The proposed additions were seconded and discussed, and the first (#6) was adopted. During discussion, amendments were proposed to number 7, resulting in the following:

7. Since shared governance is crucial to the growth and operations of a university, the active involvement of students, staff and alumni, as well as faculty, is critical to that shared governance.

This amended version was adopted with few opposed or abstaining.

Secretary Swalagin explained that he would register the Senate's endorsement of the AAUP Declaration via an AAUP webpage dedicated to that purpose, and that any additional elements from the Senate would be appended in the "comments" section of the form.

Faculty Senator Ted Szatrowski moved the following amendment of clause number 4:

4. Universities should endeavor to provide students with an introduction to a wide area of human knowledge, and not merely a narrow, technical education.

The amendment was seconded, and adopted without further discussion.

Szatrowski then moved the following amendment of clause number 5:

5. When setting priorities, public universities shall take into consideration the burden of the costs of running a university that students and their families bear.

The amendment was seconded, discussed, and adopted by a narrow margin.

The second part of the resolution, as amended, was then adopted by the Senate with few opposed or abstaining.

Proposed Resolution on Salary and Tuition - Robert Boikess, Faculty Senator and Executive Committee Member

Faculty Senator and Executive Committee Member Robert Boikess, on behalf of the Faculty Caucus, presented a Proposed Resolution on Salary and Tuition, which had been adopted by the New Brunswick Faculty Council, and docketed for Senate consideration by the Senate Executive Committee. Following some discussion, Faculty Senator Jane Otto moved to return the resolution to committee for additional refinement. Cotter explained that the Executive Committee voted to docket this item for Senate consideration, the Executive Committee was not the origin of the resolution. Otto's motion was seconded, and discussed, but defeated by a wide margin. There was no further discussion on the resolution, which was then adopted by the Senate.