MEMBERS PRESENT:  Barone, Borisovets, Cotter, DeRosa, Hirsh, Rabinowitz (Vice Chair), Panayotatos (Chair), Scott, Swalagin (Executive Secretary)

EXCUSED:  Manhoff, Rijhsinghani

ALSO ATTENDING:  T. Cooper (Student Affairs Committee Co-chair), Kauffman (New Brunswick Faculty Liaison), McCormick (Administrative Liaison), Szatrowski (Budget and Finance Committee Chair), Walker-Andrews (Faculty BOG Representative), Wozniak (Faculty BOG Representative)

The regular meeting of the University Senate Executive Committee was held on Friday, February 7, 2003 at 1:10 p.m. in the President’s Dining Room, Brower Commons, College Avenue Campus.

1. Chairperson’s Report

Chairperson Panayotatos called the meeting to order, and asked that the agenda be reordered to place “New Business” immediately after the Administrative Report.  The committee agreed to the change.  He then updated the committee on actions and processes underway regarding the proposed restructuring of higher education in New Jersey, including formation of, and solicitation of nominations for, the advisory committee and working groups at Rutgers.  He said that charges on this issue had been sent to Senate committee chairs via e-mail.  Chairperson Panayotatos then moved to the Administrative Report.

2. Administrative Report

President McCormick delivered the administrative report, which included comments on:  the budget, primarily the impact of recently announced cuts in state funding, efforts to manage and prevent the cuts, priorities in distributing budget reductions, and the need to mobilize every possible resource to speak out against the reductions; ongoing activities related to the proposed restructuring of higher education in New Jersey; and planning for organizational changes in Rutgers’ central administration.

3. New Business

Chairperson Panayotatos led a discussion of planning a Senate response to the impending budget cuts, and distributed a list of “First-Draft Ideas on Response to Budget Issues” to the committee.  He said that the New Brunswick Faculty Council Executive Cabinet (NBFCEC) had met that morning, and had discussed the issue.  He shared with the Executive Committee the basic points raised during the NBFCEC discussion, and used it as a foundation for consideration of a Senate response.  The committee agreed that a Senate response to the budget reduction would be drafted and circulated via e-mail through the Executive Committee for approval and placement as an action item on the University Senate’s February 21, 2003 agenda.

4. Secretary's Report

Minutes:  The Minutes of the January 17, 2003 Executive Committee meeting were approved, with the following change:  Under “New Business,” the words “Big Ten” were deleted in the first sentence of the second paragraph.
 
5. Standing Committee Actions, Reports and Charges

• Report on Charge S-0209, Status of Hispanic/Latino Faculty and Administrators

Senator DeRosa, Co-chair of the Equal Opportunity Committee (EOC), summarized his committee’s Report on Charge S-0209, Status of Hispanic/Latino Faculty and Administrators.  There followed a discussion of the language of the report, and of a potential conflict between its recommendation that AY 2003-04 be designated “Hispanic/Latino faculty, staff, and student recruitment and retention year” and the possibility of a hiring freeze as a result of budget cuts.  The committee asked that the recommendation be changed to “the first available year.”  Senator DeRosa accepted the change on behalf of the EOC.  Following further discussion, which also included a suggestion that an executive summary be added to the report, Senator DeRosa agreed to revise the report, incorporating the Executive Committee’s suggestions.  The revised report will be placed on the Senate’s February 21, 2003 agenda.

• Nominations the Student Charter Trustee 2003

A list of three nominees for the 2003 Student Charter Trustee vacancy was approved for forwarding to the Board of Trustees, as submitted by the Student Affairs Committee, co-chaired by Senators Tahirah Cooper and Matthew Ramsay.  The three nominees to be forwarded are:  Kelly Brennan, Douglass College; Adam Cooper, Rutgers College; and Jennifer Seto, School of Engineering.  Secretary Swalagin will forward the nominations to Secretary of the University Mildred Schildkamp for action at the June 2003 Board of Trustees meeting.
 
• Charges to Standing Committees regarding Proposed Restructuring of New Jersey Higher Education

Senate standing-committee chairs had been asked, via e-mail, to review a list of questions related to the Report of the New Jersey Commission on Health Science, Education and Training (NJCHSET), and to suggest which would be best addressed by their respective committees, in what priority order, and in what timeframe that could be accomplished.  

Senator Szatrowski, chair of the Budget and Finance Committee, distributed his committee’s response to the committee, and summarized it.  Senator Borisovets, chair of the Instruction, Curricula and Advising Committee, said that her committee had met and discussed the list of questions, but were reluctant to respond, since the benefits of such response were not clear.  Senator Scott, co-chair of the University Structure and Governance Committee, summarized her committee’s response to the charge.  Senator DeRosa, co-chair of the Equal Opportunity Committee, asked that his committee be charged with questions related to recruitment and Affirmative Action (Questions 49 and 56).

The Budget and Finance, University Structure and Governance, and Equal Opportunity Committees will be charged with exploration of the questions they selected.

• Update on Student Affairs Committee Charge S-0212 regarding the Use of Athletic Facilities

Senator Tahirah Cooper, co-chair of the Student Affairs Committee (SAC), had been present, but was called away before this point in the meeting.  Senator DeRosa, from whose suggestion arose charge S-0212 (to review and provide recommendations on policies regarding the use of athletic facilities as rain sites or venues for non-athletic events), said that the SAC is awaiting information on the charge in order to complete the report, and asked if the report could be approved by e-mail for placement on the upcoming Senate agenda.  The Executive Committee did not vote on the suggestion.

The following items were docketed for the January 24, 2003 meeting agenda:

• Equal Opportunity Committee Report on Charge S-0209, Status of Hispanic/Latino Faculty and Administrators
• Response to State Budget Cuts

The meeting was adjourned at 3:12 p.m. by Chairperson Panayotatos.
 

Kenneth Swalagin
Executive Secretary of the Senate