TEXT OF PRESIDENT
McCORMICK'S APRIL 27, 2009
RESPONSE TO THE REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS ON CHARGE S-0107, RECOMMENDED REVISED REFERENDUM GUIDELINES:
Dear Mr. Swalagin:
I am writing to follow up on
my March 23, 2009 letter responding to the Report and Recommendations on Charge S-0107, Recommended Revised Referendum
Guidelines, as adopted by the University Senate on November 21, 2008. As
you know, many students and alumni
associated with The Daily Targum
voiced opposition to the recommended revisions, and Vice President for
Student Affairs Gregory Blimling has been working with student groups to try to
reach agreement on the proposed referendum guidelines. I am pleased to report
that the controversy surrounding the funding of The Daily Targum led to a positive dialogue between the Rutgers
University Student Assembly (RUSA) and the editorial staff of The Daily Targum. Over the course of several months, the student
leadership in RUSA and The Daily Targum
reached agreement on a RUSA resolution that
recommends certain modifications to the revised procedures proposed by
the University Senate.
I asked Vice President
Blimling and Senior Vice President and General Counsel Jonathan
Alger to review the University Senate and RUSA resolutions
and to consider these recommendations within the scope of the 1986 Board of
Governors (BOG) resolution and policy statement. Their findings are as follows:
1. The BOG policy
statement authorizes two funding procedures for “special student
organizations,” and without action by the BOG the number of funding procedures
cannot be reduced to one as recommended by the University Senate.
2.
The BOG policy
statement specifies that referendum approval requires an affirmative vote of
25% plus one of the eligible student body of a division to adopt funding for an
organization. Without approval of the BOG, the University Senate recommendation
that referendum approval require a majority vote of at least 35% cannot be
adopted.
At this time, I do not wish
to accept recommendations that would require changes to BOG policy. These
include the single funding procedure recommended by the University Senate and the recommendation that the minimum
percentage of eligible students participating in a referendum vote be
increased from 25% to 35%.
The BOG
policy requires that students be provided with a refund mechanism at the time any special student fee is paid, but it does not
prescribe a particular refund mechanism. The proposal agreed to by The Daily Targum and RUSA provides that
a refund “be made available on-line through The
Daily Targum website for the first two weeks of every semester” and that refund checks be issued “within two weeks of the
end of the refund period.” I believe this recommendation is reasonable
and should be included in the revised procedures.
In addition, I would like to consider some other minor
modifications to the Procedures for Special Student Organizations in order to
address some internal inconsistencies in the document, reflect our current
administrative structures, and clarify issues related to the submission
of plans and reports. I have asked Vice Presidents Blimling and Alger to extend
their careful review of these procedures and
to prepare an amended document that is consistent with the Board of
Governors’ 1986 policy and that incorporates the changes referenced above. Upon completion, the amended document will be
shared with the Executive Committee of the University Senate for its
consideration.
Sincerely yours,
Richard L. McCormick
copy: Gregory Blimling, Vice President for
Student Affairs
Philip
Furmanski, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
Jonathan
Alger, Senior Vice President and General Counsel