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

April 9, 2010

MEMBERS PRESENT: Borisovets, Cotter (Interim Vice Chair and Faculty BOG Representative), Gould, Levine, McArdle, Panayotatos, Rabinowitz (Chair), Swalagin (Executive Secretary), Wild

EXCUSED: Bodnar,Gillett, Katz, Leath, Nycz, Thompson

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

The regular meeting of the University Senate Executive Committee was held on Friday, April 9, 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 1:17 p.m. There was no chairperson's report.

2.    Secretary’s Report
3.    Proposed Committee Charge:

Proposed Charge to Student Affairs Committee on Changing the Alma Mater, received from the Student Caucus: The following charge, received from the Student Caucus, was discussed: "Explore and make suggestions for possible revisions to the current Rutgers University alma mater, 'On the Banks of the Old Raritan'." The Student Caucus had submitted the following rationale to illustrate the need for the charge to be issued: "The current Rutgers alma mater, 'On the Banks of the Old Raritan', written in 1873, is not currently inclusive of all Rutgers students. In addition to being exclusively New Brunswick-centric, additional issues have been raised by the university community that the line, 'And resolved that I should be a man' is also not inclusive or gender-neutral. Revised wording has already been adopted on the Camden Campus, according to some Camden students. The new wording makes the song's lyrics more inclusive, and the Student Caucus of the University Senate would like the issue of the alma mater reviewed by a Senate committee, with a focus on making the song inclusive of all Rutgers students and alumni." Eric Kaplan argued that the issue was one without a solution, and was outside the Senate's purview. It was pointed out that the Senate had, some years prior, conducted a contest for a new alma mater. The charge was issued to the Student Affairs Committee with a reporting deadline of January 2011.

4.    Administrative Liaison

Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Philip Furmanski presented an administrative report, with comments on topics which included:
[Senator McArdle joined the meeting at 1:36 p.m.]

Furmanski responded to questions, or heard comments from the committee, on the following subjects:
[Senator Kaplan left the meeting at 1:50 p.m.]

Furmanski also asked to "remand to the Senate" the proposal to extend the add/drop period because of a conflict with Rosh Hashanah. The Academic Standards, Regulations and Admissions Committee (ASRAC) will be looking at that issue.

5.    Standing Committees 

Committee Reports:

Student Affairs Committee Response to Charge S-0910, Accessibility of Student Services- Sam Rabinowitz, who also co-chairs the Student Affairs Committee (SAC), summarized the elements of a to-be-drafted response to Charge S-0910, on Accessibility of Student Services. The SAC had been charged as follows: "Examine the function of disability services support to determine the adequacy of resource allocation and awareness. This includes the review of the adequacy of physical resources, the availability of funds for outside services and required accommodation equipment and tools, and sources for increases in professional and support personnel. Recommend best practices to be implemented which would allow for the effective dissemination of information to faculty and staff to promote awareness so they may be a part of the solution towards providing accommodations and supporting this unique population of students." The Executive Committee docketed the report provisionally for the April 30 Senate meeting, but asked that the report be circulated to all Executive Committee members via email prior to the Senate meeting. [Note: The link above goes to the report docketed for Senate action on April 30, 2010.]

Academic Standards, Regulations and Admissions Committee Response to Charge S-0905, Academic Integrity Policy - Martha Cotter, co-chair of the Academic Standards, Regulations and Admissions Committee (ASRAC), summarized her committee's response to Charge S-0905, on the Academic Integrity Policy. The ASRAC had been charged as follows:  "Consider and critique the draft permanent Academic Integrity Policy prepared by the Ad-hoc Academic Integrity Committee. Provide comments, criticisms, and suggestions for changes to the Ad-hoc Committee on an ongoing basis. Report to the Senate on progress on developing a new policy." The report was docketed on the Senate's April 30 agenda. The charge will be removed from the list of pending charges, and considered satisfied until the final adhoc committee's policy emerges, at which time another charge will be issued to the ASRAC on this matter.

Issues/Charges:

Proposed Charge to Academic Standards, Regulations and Admissions Committee on Problems with AY2010 Fall Semester Start Date: A proposed charge to the ASRAC on problems with the 2010 fall semester start date, as outlined in emails between Ted Szatrowski, Arun Mukherjee, and Martha Cotter was discussed at some length. The proximity of the fall 2010 semester made the matter extremely urgent, so the Executive Committee accepted both the calendar modifications proposed and summarized by Cotter, and her suggestion that this issue could be acted upon by the Senate on April 30. A charge was also issued to the ASRAC as follows: Charge S-1003, Fall 2010 Academic Calendar: Consider the potential problems with the Fall 2010 academic calendar brought to the Senate's attention by Senator Ted Szatrowski; namely, the fact that the first class meeting for sections of courses meeting on Monday only will not take place until near the end of the second week of classes. Evaluate the difficulties this will cause for faculty and students. Consult with Arun Mukherjee, University Director of Scheduling and Space Management, with appropriate staff in the Office of Information Technology (OIT), and with representatives of various schools and colleges and recommend whether or not changes should be made to the Fall 2010 academic calendar to solve the problems identified. Also revisit the academic calendar for subsequent years to see if changes should be made in order to avoid similar problems with Monday classes in the future. Respond to the Senate Executive Committee by April 2010 with regard to recommendations for Fall 2010 and by October 2010 for recommendations for future years. [Note: Follow this link to view the Response to Charge S-1003, Fall 2010 Academic Calendar adopted by the Senate on April 30.]

[Senator Slavin left the meeting at 2:32 p.m.]

Charge Extension Request: The Research, and Graduate and Professional Education Committee request that the deadline for Charge S-0912, Online Courses in Master's and Professional Degree Programs be extended to April 2011 was approved by the Executive Committee.

6.    April 30, 2010 University Senate Agendas

In addition to the items docketed above for the April 30, 2010 regular Senate meeting, the Executive Committee established that the organizational/election meeting of the 2010-11 Senate would begin at 1:10 p.m.
7.    Old Business

Charge S-0916, Merit Scholarship Funding, Revision and Charge-Deadline Extensions: Martha Cotter, co-chair of the ASRAC, requested and was given a reporting-deadline extension on charge S-0916, on merit scholarship funding, to November 2010. Cotter will also bring to the Executive Committee in June a revised charge which will be less broad than the charge originally docketed.

Senate Efficiency, and Renewal of Senate Revitalization Committee Recommendations and Identified Issues, Continued:Secretary Swalagin noted that there had been only very limited response from the Executive Committee to the draft misssion statement he had circulated on this issue via email. There was discussion of how and whether the idea of revisiting and broadening the examination of Senate efficiency could work. Swalagin will bring the draft mission statement and additional documents from the 1998-99 Senate Revitalization Committee back to the Executive Committee in June.

8.    New Business

There was no new business.

9.    Adjournment
 
The meeting adjourned at 3:01 p.m.

Ken Swalagin
Executive Secretary of the University Senate