RUTGERS UNIVERSITY SENATE
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
M I N U T E S
June 5, 2015

MEMBERS PRESENT:  Boikess, Borisovets, Cotter, Gould (Chair),  Janniger (by phone), Langer, Oliver, Puhak, Swalagin (Executive Secretary), Thompson, Velan

MEMBERS EXCUSED:  Barraco, Burrell, Joshi, Otto

ALSO ATTENDING: Ahluwalia (RSPH Dean), Gillett (15-16 Senate Vice Chair), Lee (Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs),  Rabinowitz (Faculty Representative to the Board of Governors), Spiegel (Faculty Representative to the Board of Trustees), Strom (RBHS Chancellor), Theiss (15-16 Camden Student Member of the Senate Executive Committee)

The regular meeting of the University Senate Executive Committee was held on Friday, June 5, 2015 at 1:10 p.m. in the Executive Board Room of Administrative Services Building-III, Cook Campus. Next-year's Executive Committee members and board representatives were also invited.

1.     Chairperson’s Report 

Senate and Executive Committee Chairperson Ann Gould called the meeting to order at 1:15 p.m. She welcomed current and incoming members and board representatives, and thanked everyone for their participation, particularly those not returning next year.

2.    Secretary’s Report - Ken Swalagin, Executive Secretary of the Senate
3.    Administrative Report - Barbara Lee, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs

Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Barbara Lee presented a brief administrative report, which included comments on:
4.    Standing Committees/Panels

Draft Standing Committee Rosters 2015-16, and Assignment of Chairs

Swalagin distributed hardcopies of 2015-16 Senate Committee rosters to date. He said he needed to follow up with Senators who had not responded to requests for their committee preferences, and would bring revised rosters to the Executive Committee in September. There was discussion of potential co-chairs for the Faculty and Personnel Affairs Committee, and the Student Affairs Committee, as well as a chair for the Research, and Graduate and Professional Education Committee (RGPEC) because Jane Otto, current RGPEC chair, has other commitments that preclude her chairing next year.

Pending Charges:

Discussion of Status of Pending Charges:  Charges with March 2015 or earlier deadlines, issued before this year, were reviewed, evaluated, and either renewed/reissued with a new deadline, or withdrawn.

5.     Continued Discussion of, and Decision on,  the Proposal to Reorganize the School of Public Health (RSPH), submitted by Jasjit Ahluwalia, RSPH Dean Designate and Brian Strom, RBHS Chancellor:

At 2:15 p.m., RSPH Dean Designate Jasjit Ahluwalia, and RBHS Chancellor Brian Strom, joined the meeting to discuss the proposal to reorganize Rutgers School of Public Health. The Executive Committee had previously agreed to decide on whether to approve the proposal at this meeting. The original proposal included the following:

"The proposed reorganization and expansion will expand the breadth and depth of SPH research programs by increasing its number of faculty and encouraging collaborations; unify faculty across RBHS with a public health focus; and enhance SPH educational, research, and service programs.  This will be achieved with full approval and endorsement of affected faculty and without loss of any faculty positions. This is the first step of many that will be planned in the upcoming years as we strive to compete with the strongest schools of public health in the country."

Ann Gould and Martha Cotter had met with Dean Designate Ahluwalia and Chancellor Strom to discuss this matter. Questions arising in Senate committees during discussions of the proposal were compiled and forwarded to Ahluwalia and Strom, whose responses are online here. The Executive Committee asked additional questions, and discussed the proposal with Ahluwalia and Strom, who left the meeting at 2:56 p.m. After their departure, the Executive Committee, on Martha Cotter's motion, duly seconded, voted to approve the proposal, with one opposed.

4.B.    Standing Committees/Panels (Continued)

Issues/Proposed Charges:

Proposed Charge on Modifying the Academic Calendar and Exam Times for Online Courses - submitted by James Massachaele, Executive Vice Dean of SAS-NB via email.

This matter was discussed at the February and April 2015 Executive Committee meetings. Instruction, Curricula and Advising Committee (ICAC) Chair Natalie Borisovets had drafted the following charge to be issued to the ICAC on related work they are already doing:

Testing Facilities at Rutgers: Examine the state of testing facilities at Rutgers. Are there issues relating to facilities for both traditional and computer-assisted testing? Is there a need for a separate testing facility/facilities? Can existing space be better utilized? What is the availability and process for instructors in online courses to reserve physical spaces for their exams?

The charge was issued with an October 2015 deadline.

Proposed Charge to Academic Standards, Regulations and Admissions Committee (ASRAC) on Academic (and Holiday) Calendar for All RBHS Units - Suggested by Matthew Miller, Assistant RBHS Registrar

This proposed charge was discussed. It was agreed that the Academic Standards, Regulations and Admissions Committee would decide what should be done with the issue. ASRAC Chair Martha Cotter said she would bring charge language to the next Executive Committee meeting.

Proposed Charge to Instruction, Curricula, and Advising Committee on Class Attendance Record Keeping Requirements for Students Receiving Federal Funds [Previously discussed] - suggested by Fran Bouchoux, Interim Senior Vice President and Chief Enterprise Risk, Ethics, and Compliance Officer:

"We ask that the University Senate provide guidance, in collaboration with relevant units, to develop a systematic approach to complying with attendance requirements. The DoE's guidance on this issue suggests institutions have a broad latitude in its approach to capture the necessary information. Collaboration in developing a clearly defined protocol will assure an efficient and optimal way that best suits the academic practices at Rutgers."

 ICAC Chair Natalie Borisovets had drafted a charge on this matter, which was issued as follows, with a February 2016 deadline:

Determination of Student Attendance: Develop guidelines that would allow units and individual instructors to comply with U.S. Department of Education requirements that Rutgers keep records for students receiving federal financial aid that substantiate a student’s participatory attendance in the classes for which they are registered.


Report Reviews:

Senate Report on Academic Reappointment Promotion Form 1-A Review: This report included a recommendation that it be reviewed. [See also President Barchi's response.] This recommended review was discussed, and Swalagin was asked to draft language for a follow-up charge to be issued to the Faculty and Personnel Affairs Committee to review the original report and the status of Form 1-A. The charge will be issued with a "B" suffix appended to the original charge number (S-1007), and a reporting deadline of December 2015.

6.    Old Business

Peter Gillett noted that there is no response to the Senate Response to Charge S-1307 on Senate and Executive Committee Eligibility, and requested follow-up. Swalagin will contact the president's office to ask about this response, as well as other Senate reports without administrative responses. There was discussion about administrative responses to Senate reports, and how those responses, as well as implementation of Senate recommendations accepted by the administration, could be tracked. Gould suggested this may be the Senate vice chair's role. Gillett suggested it could also be done by the Senate's representatives to the Board of Governors.

7.    New Business

2016 Shared Governance Symposium Committee Discussion - Ann Gould said she and Martha Cotter had spoken with Barbara Lee about the proposed 2016 shared governance symposium, which they had suggested would include a keynote followed by panel discussion. Barbara Lee said that President Barchi wants to do one spring and one fall symposium. "The Research University in the Modern Age" would be a broad-subject symposium that would include a keynote and panel discussion on shared governance. Another symposium would be on the role of the humanities and their importance in a modern research university. Lee said that Kim Manning has been asked to coordinate all of the 250th anniversary activities, and that Jorge Schement has formed a committee to address the symposia. Gould said that she has asked Cotter to chair the Senate's committee on the anniversary activities, and that Cotter has agreed to do that, and would be in contact with Lee.

8.    Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 3:40 p.m.

Minutes written and submitted by,

Ken Swalagin
Executive Secretary of the University Senate