RUTGERS UNIVERSITY SENATE
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
M I N U T E S

February 12, 2010


MEMBERS PRESENT: Cotter (Acting Vice Chair), Gillett, Katz (by phone), Levine, McArdle, Nycz, Panayotatos, Rabinowitz (Chair), Swalagin (Executive Secretary), Thompson

MEMBERS EXCUSED:  Bodnar, Borisovets, Gould, Leath, Wild

ALSO ATTENDING: Fehn (Administrative Liaison), Furmanski (Administrative Liaison), Kaplan (Student BOG Representative), McCormick (Administrative Liaison), Slavin (Undergraduate Student BOT Representative)

The regular meeting of the University Senate Executive Committee was held on Friday, February 12, 2010 at 1:10 p.m. in the Executive Board Room of Administrative Services Building-III, Cook Campus.

1. Chairperson’s Report 

Senate and Executive Committee Chairperson Samuel Rabinowitz called the meeting to order at 1:16 p.m., moving directly to the agenda. There was no chairperson's report.

2.    Secretary’s Report 3.    Administrative Liaison

President McCormick began the administrative report, with comments on topics which included:
Executive Vice President Furmanski continued the administrative report with comments on: Secretary Swalagin asked if there has been any progress in the administration conducting elections for staff and PTL/annual-appointee faculty Senators. Furmanski responded that Don Smith and Greg Blimling would set up some variation of the software used for student elections, and would contact Swalagin shortly. Swalagin asked if he was expected to conduct the elections himself, and Furmanski responded that it would be a matter of "a few keystrokes."

4.    Standing Committees

Committee Reports:

The Faculty and Personnel Affairs Committee Response to Charge A-0812, Part I, Evaluation of Deans and Appendices II (Faculty Survey Template) and III (Staff Survey Template) were discussed and docketed for action at the upcoming Senate meeting.

The Budget and Finance Committee REVISED Response to Charge S-0803, Rutgers Emergency Communication Processes was discussed. Vice President Fehn said that Jay Kohl, Vice President for Administration and Public Safety, had expressed concerns that some aspects of the report may already be out of date, and that the report and its recommendations would benefit from a review by Rutgers' emergency management team. Fehn asked that the report be sent back to the BFC. Following some discussion, the Executive Committee declined to return the report to the BFC. Instead, Fehn will have Kohl's recommendations sent to the BFC within a week, so that the BFC can consider whether they can be incorporated or used to revise the report. The report will be docketed provisionally on the Senate's upcoming agenda, but will not be posted online until the BFC again responds. If a revised report is not ready by noon on Wednesday, February 24, the report will be pulled from the Senate docket.

The University Structure and Governance Committee Response to Charge S-0902, Senate Speakers, Discussions, Forums had been revised since first being seen by the Executive Committee. USGC Co-chair Peter Gillett summarized the changes. Several additional, minor revisions were made, and the report was then docketed for introduction at the February Senate meeting.

The University Structure and Governance Committee Response to Charge S-0904, Assessment of Research, and Graduate and Professional Education Committee Standing Charge had also been revised since first coming to the Executive Committee. USGC Co-chair Peter Gillett pointed out the change, and the report was then docketed for introduction at the February Senate meeting.

Issues/Proposed Charges:

Follow-up Charges for Academic Standards, Regulations and Admissions Committee (ASRAC) on Commencement Dates and Add/Drop Period: The Executive Committee discussed issuing follow-up charges to the ASRAC, as specified in recently adopted reports and recommendations on both commencement dates and the add/drop period. Secretary Swalagin will place both issues into a suspense file for reconsideration by the Executive Committee after the trial periods for both issues.

Proposed Charge to University Structure and Governance Committee on Balancing Constituencies: The Executive Committee again discussed suggestions that voting proportionalities in the Senate should be examined because they have changed as staff and other Senators have been added. No charge was issued, but the matter will be part of a planned Executive Committee exploration of Senate structure and operations generally.

Proposed Charge/Issue regarding Academic Calendar, Seven-Week "Mini-terms" and Spring Break Saturdays: Chairperson Rabinowitz summarized an issue which had been sent to him by Camilo Garcia, Camden Registrar. Senator Cotter, co-chair of the Academic Standards, Regulations and Admissions Committee, will draft a charge for her committee on this issue. Cotter expects the ASRAC to be able to respond to the charge by October 2010.

Proposed Charge to Instruction, Curricula and Advising Committee, on Online Education: A proposed charge to the ICAC on online education, sent by ICAC Chair Natalie Borisovets, was discussed. The Executive Committee deferred this matter until Senator Borisovets, who had been excused from the meeting, was present.

Proposed Charge to Academic Standards, Regulations and Admissions Committee, on Transfer and Nontraditional Students: A proposed charge to the ASRAC on transfer and nontraditional students, sent by ICAC Chair Natalie Borisovets, was discussed but not issued. Borisovets had pointed out that:
In the Final Report and Recommendations on the Proposals of the Task Force on Undergraduate Education (February 2006) the Senate recommended that “A task force should be charged with considering how best to meet the needs of transfer and nontraditional students. (approved 1/20/06) . To date no such committee has been charged. Therefore we propose that the Academic Standards, Regulations, and Admissions Committee: Examine the issues and needs of transfer and nontraditional students in light of the reorganization of undergraduate education in New Brunswick as well as the move of the professional schools towards becoming four-year admitting schools.

Martha Cotter directed the Executive Committee's attention to a report issued on this matter by the Rutgers Task Force on Nontraditional Students in December 2006 entitled "The University College Community: A Vision for Serving Nontraditional Students." Cotter also pointed out that this is not a university-wide issue, and is therefore not appropriate for a Senate-committee charge. No charge was issued.

A discussion of Senate Efficiency, and Renewal of Senate Revitalization Committee Recommendations and Identified Issues was deferred until the next Executive Committee meeting, largely because many Executive Committee members were either excused from this meeting, or had left by this time.

5.    February 26, 2010 University Senate Agenda

The February 26, 2010 Senate meeting will be held in Newark, and will include Newark Chancellor Diner's Newark Campus Report, items docketed above, and the previously introduced (and now docketed for action) USGC Response to Charge S-0908, Proposal to Increase Staff Membership on the Senate. It was decided that, due to budget constraints, lunch would not be provided to Senators this year, but that Senators would be directed to several options for buying lunch within or near the campus center. The bus from the New Brunswick campus to the Newark campus, for which there is no funding in the Senate budget, was considered essential to ensure quorum at the Newark meeting, however, and student Senators McArdle and Slavin volunteered to ask their student associations if they would contribute to the cost of the bus. Secretary Swalagin will also ask Executive Vice President Furmanski (who had left for another appointment by this point in the meeting) for funding for the bus.

6.    Old Business

There was no old business

7.    New Business

There was no new business.

8.   Adjournment
 
The meeting adjourned at 3:14 p.m.

Ken Swalagin
Executive Secretary of the University Senate