UNIVERSITY SENATE
Executive Committee

A G E N D A
March 4, 2016 - 1:10 p.m.


1.    Chair’s Report  - Ann Gould, Senate Chair

2.    Secretary’s Report - Ken Swalagin, Executive Secretary of the Senate
3.    Administrative Report - Robert Barchi, University President

4.    Standing Committees

Issues/Charges:

Proposed Charge to Academic Standards, Regulations and Admissions Committee (ASRAC) on Religious Holidays, and Students Excused from Classes for those Holidays - Suggested by Barbara Lee during her February Administrative Report to the Executive Committee
Rationale (from the February EC discussion): Diversity makes the list of religious holidays more extensive. Should a public university recognize religious holidays? Instructors cannot require a note, nor can they ask if a student is a practitioner of a particular religion. 

Proposed Charge: Consider policies at Rutgers regarding excused class absences for religious holidays. Respond to Senate Executive Committee by [insert deadline].

Proposed Charge on Sale of Alcohol in Stadiums - Submitted by New Brunswick Student Member of the EC Justin Schulberg
Rationale: "After RUSA passed a resolution calling for the sale of alcohol in stadiums, specifically looking at the Rutgers Athletic Center (RAC) and High Point Solution Stadium, it is incumbent upon the Senate to also look into this matter. This issue does not just affect New Brunswick students, which RUSA represents, but it stretches to the domain of faculty, staff, alumni, and countless others who attend Rutgers' athletic events. This issue is heated and dynamic, as it has broad-reaching consequences. As the most representative body at Rutgers University, it is necessary for the University Senate to look into the sale of alcohol in the stadiums and advise President Barchi on its investigation and recommendations into the matter."
Proposal to Elect a Senator to be the Official Representative to the NJ State Legislature - Submitted by Senator David Hughes

[On February 19], “in the faculty caucus, I proposed that the Senate consider electing a senator to be the official representative to the NJ State Legislature.  The Faculty Senate of the University of Washington deploys such a person and he or she has been effective in securing state funds and in otherwise adding to the good name of the University. I request that the Executive Committee consider this proposal at its next meeting. Let me add that, as union president, I met with State Senator Ray Lesniak last month. He told me specifically that Rutgers needs a voice. Our administration has not done a good job of conveying the depth and breadth of what Rutgers does, especially what the faculty do. Other legislators in Trenton have expressed a similar sentiment. Even if the administration was representing Rutgers adequately, a voice from the Senate would strengthen our hand in legislative hearings and in regulatory processes. This person would not serve as a professional lobbyist - no one otherwise employed at Rutgers has time for that - but she or he would testify and meet informally now and then to underscore the perspective of faculty, staff, students, and alumni.”


Annual Review of All Outstanding, Pending Committee Charges: Charges issued to committees lapse in March of the year following the year in which the charge was issued. Ken Swalagin has emailed all standing committee chairs to ask for a status report on pending charges for EC review at this meeting. [Hardcopies will be distributed at the meeting.]

5.    Old Business

Proposal on "Senate Transparency" - Submitted by Justin Schulberg, New Brunswick Student Executive Committee Member: This issue has been discussed by the EC at several meetings. The clicker and voting record aspect of the proposal was deemed not feasible, but on the matter of whether Senate meetings should be live webstreamed and archived, the EC decided an ad hoc committee should be formed consisting of volunteers from the Senate's standing committees. A possible charge to this committee would be:
Consider the feasibility and desirability of videorecording and live webstreaming University Senate meetings, and archiving those videorecordings online for later viewing. Include in discussions aspects of the issue as transparency, technology, costs, benefits, audience, need, privacy of participants, etc. Respond to Senate Executive Committee by [insert deadline].

Proposed Charge on RCM and Allocation of Faculty Lines - Submitted by Senator Karen Thompson: This issue was discussed at the previous EC meeting. Budget and Finance Committee (BFC) Chair Menahem Spiegel accepted the proposal as an addendum to ongoing work the BFC is doing on RCM, but wanted to change the language of the charge. The rationale and proposed charge below are as submitted originally by Senator Thompson:
Rationale: With student enrollment growing at Rutgers, and with Responsibility Center Management (RCM) as our budgeting model, we increasingly notice that departments no longer retain control over faculty lines and/or have great difficulty obtaining a line when the enrollment and the curriculum suggest a line is needed. Faculty in individual departments who design courses/curricula are in the best position to determine the need and allocation of lines.

Proposed Charge: Investigate policies at Rutgers regarding allocation and retention of faculty lines, especially in comparison with peer or aspirant institutions. Consider how these policies have changed over the years and to what extent faculty have been involved in the decision-making process concerning line allocation. Make recommendations about how to ensure that lines are preserved, grow as enrollment does, and that decisions are based on academic priorities. Respond to Senate Executive Committee by [insert deadline].

Charge Revision Request - Submitted by Senator Joseph Markert, Faculty and Personnel Affairs Committee (FPAC) Co-chair: FPAC requests deletion and resubmission of Charge A-0812-3 to indicate a focus on chancellors only:

Evaluation of Administrators, Part II: Evaluation of Chancellors: Reconsider the process for evaluating upper administrators  recommended by the University Senate in 2012, focusing on a process for evaluating the chancellors. Respond to the Senate Executive Committee by [insert deadline].

 

Proposed Charge on Test-Optional Admissions - Submitted by Senator Robert Boikess: "Dear EC Members, Perhaps it might be appropriate for you to issue a charge related to 'test optional admissions' in light of this new information from today's [January 26, 2016] Inside Higher Ed." This issue was discussed at the previous EC meeting, during which ASRAC Co-chair Martha Cotter said she would consult with Vice President for Enrollment Management Courtney McAnuff on the matter before the EC considers issuing a charge to the ASRAC.
Instruction, Curricula and Advising Committee (ICAC) Response to Charge S-1504 on Determination of Student Attendance - Natalie Borisovets, ICAC Chair

This report was postponed at the February Senate meeting. The ICAC was charged as follows: "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 students' participatory attendance in the classes for which they are registered."

NJPIRG Student Chapters Concept Plan Review - Addendum to Concept Plan: NJPIRG Student Chapters submitted their Concept Plan and audit reports to the Senate office and directly to the Student Affairs Committee during the first week of this semester, in preparation for a Fall 2016 referendum. A cover memo was submitted later when Ken Swalagin requested it. The Student Affairs Committee (SAC) met with NJPIRG representatives and discussed the documents at the January 22 SAC meeting, and submitted the following response to the Executive Committee:

"There is no doubt that the presence of NJPIRG on Rutgers campuses provides educational value. While the students do express some concern about the eventual fate of the funds provided by the student body and the formal wording of the proposed resolution, NJPIRG is welcome to continue to work with the Rutgers community."

On January 26, Nick Jermer, a member of the Executive Committee of the NJPIRG Students Board of Directors, sent a "NJPIRG Budget Shorthand" email directly to Ann Gould.

Ken Swalagin sent a detailed list of concept plan deficiencies, with citations from the policy, to NJPIRG Student Chapters, and they responded with the Addendum. The policy on funding for special student organizations is online here.

Timelines for Commencement Panel/Committees - From Kim Pastva, Interim Secretary of the University:

"We are in the process of getting the call [for honorary-degree and commencement-speaker nominations] out to the community. My suggested timeline is:

 

"After the Senate receives the nominations, how much time do you think you will need for review and ranking? Do you think we could have the results by the end of May (after graduation?) Then the administrations can meet and start making offers over the summer. I think we should then do a call in September 2016 for 2018's commencement. Barbara Lee suggested that, and that would certainly give us a lot of time to get on people's calendars."


Addendum to Charges S-1510 (to ICAC on Student Teaching Evaluations, and Best Practices in Evaluation of Teaching 2015) and S-1511 (to FPAC on Personnel Considerations Related to Student Teaching Evaluations, and Best Practices in Evaluation of Teaching): Senator Boikess has forwarded a New Brunswick Faculty Council Resolution on this matter. He also asks that the ICAC and FPAC "Consider how the Senate could extend the planned actions on the New Brunswick campus concerning evaluation of teaching to the other three campuses as well."

6.    New Business

Nominating Panel 2016: An email was sent by Ken Swalagin to all current Senators on February 24 announcing the opportunity to submit self-nominations or nominations of others for 2016-17 Senate officer and board representative positions. The email directs Senators to nominating instructions and the Nominating Panel Charge. The Executive Committee is asked to suggest Senators to serve on a Nominating Panel that can be called upon to suggest additional nominees in categories not sufficiently populated within the next several weeks. Jon Oliver and Robert Puhak have again agreed to chair the panel and present the slate and election process at the April 29 Senate meeting. [Senate rosters will be distributed in hardcopy at the meeting.]

7.    University Senate Agenda

April 1, 2016 Senate Meeting:

8.    Adjournment