October 26, 2007 Rutgers University Senate Executive Committee Minutes

RUTGERS UNIVERSITY SENATE
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

M I N U T E S

October 26, 2007

MEMBERS PRESENT: Adam, Becker, Bodnar, Borisovets, Cooke, Cotter, Gould, Greenhut, Leath (Vice Chair), McCall, Puniello, Rabinowitz (Chair), Stein, Swalagin (Executive Secretary), Thompson

ALSO ATTENDING: Furmanski (Administrative Liaison), Goodman (attending as Middle States Accreditation Steering Committee Chair), Gliserman (New Brunswick Campus Faculty Liaison)

The regular meeting of the University Senate Executive Committee was held on Friday, October 26, 2007 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. He welcomed all present to the meeting. Noting that the committee had met just over two weeks previously, he skipped the chairperson’s report.

2.         Executive Secretary’s Report

Agenda: Executive Secretary Ken Swalagin added to the agenda the recently received request from the Academic Standards, Regulations and Admissions Committee request to postpone the deadline on Charge S-0605, and the penultimate draft of the Academic Integrity Policy. With those additions, the meeting agenda was approved.

Minutes: The minutes of the October 11, 2007 Executive Committee meeting were approved as distributed by the secretary.

Communication: Swalagin shared with the committee President McCormick’s Response to the Senate Report on Charge S-0602, Course Textbook Reserve Requirement.

3.         Administrative Report

Executive Vice President Furmanski presented the administrative report, which began with a brief summary of the Middle States reaccreditation process, after which Furmanski introduced SEBS Executive Dean Robert Goodman, who is also chair of the reaccreditation steering committee.

Dean/Senator Goodman then spoke about the reaccreditation process and schedule, and the draft self-study report. He thanked everyone for their participation in the process thus far, especially those who served on the working groups. Following his summary of the plans and progress related to the reaccreditation, Goodman received feedback from the Executive Committee on subjects including:

persons involved in upcoming site visits;
reaccreditation standards, which are shown in a chart in the self-study report, and published in detail in a guidebook issued by Middle States;
rationale for the unusually long executive summary in the report;
Middle States reviews at other institutions;
addition of accreditation standards met in each section, rather than just in the table (which should be addressed by a PowerPoint presentation that is being prepared and will eventually become part of the self-study);
comparison of undergraduate education across the three main campuses;
differences in campus sizes, campus autonomy, admissions and recruitment procedures;
core curricula on all three campuses; and
design and layout planned for the final version of the self-study.

Both Goodman and Furmanski welcomed further input or suggestions in bullet-point format via e-mail. Goodman left the meeting at approximately 2:00 p.m.

Furmanski continued the administrative report, with comments and discussion focusing on:

groundbreaking for the Stem Cell Institute, and plans for that facility; and
the recently issued State Commission of Investigation report on higher education in New Jersey.

4.         Standing Committees

Faculty Affairs and Personnel Committee (FAPC) Response/Input to University Structure and Governance Committee (USGC) on Charge S-0704, Standing Committee Structure Review: FAPC Co-chair Ann Gould summarized her committee’s input to the USGC on its charge relating to review of the Senate’s standing committee structure. The FAPC report had already been forwarded to the USGC. No action was required or taken by the Executive Committee on this item.

Charge Deadline Extensions: Based on committee chairs’ requests, reporting deadlines were extended to April 2008 on FAPC charges S-0710 (Proposal on Tuition Remission for Part-Time Lecturer Faculty) and S-0711 (Tenure-Track Career Flexibility), and on Academic Standards, Regulations and Admissions Committee charge S-0605 (Admissions and Financial Aid Assessment).

Senate Report Delayed: The Executive Committee agreed to postpone Senate action on the Budget and Finance Committee report on all-funds budgeting until the report could be revised based on input received during the Senate’s committee-of-the-whole discussion of that report held on October 19 in Camden. The report is expected to go to the Senate in December.

5.         November 9, 2007 Senate Meeting Agenda

Items, discussion format, and time limits for the November Senate meeting agenda were discussed, adopted, and docketed.

[Senator Greenhut left the meeting at 3:07 p.m. Senator Furmanski left the meeting at 3:14 p.m.]

Martha Cotter agreed to write a list of questions to be published for the Senate to help structure the November discussion of the Academic Integrity Policy.

6.         Old Business

There was no old business.

7.         New Business

Ann Gould, FAPC co-chair, noted that the FAPC lost its two student members earlier that week when they both requested transfer to other committees. She commented that her committee rarely has student input, and asked if other standing committees had good communication with their student members. Committee participation, particularly by constituency, was discussed generally. Gayle Stein noted that the University Structure and Governance Committee is looking at that issue. Swalagin noted that the two students who left the FAPC had mistakenly requested that committee earlier in the year, and had since requested transfer, but that EC member Jonathan Becker had agreed to be a student member of the FAPC.

8.         Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 3:34 p.m.

Kenneth Swalagin
Executive Secretary of the University Senate