1. Chairperson’s Report

2. Secretary’s Report

• Executive Committee Minutes of October 6, 2006
• Communications

• Administrative Report

The University Structure and Governance Committee met on Friday October 27, 2007 to begin consideration of a revision of the Referendum Guidelines for Student Organizations. The committee met with Brian Rose, who outlined some of the issues relating to the guidelines. The most pressing issue concerns the Targum referendum scheduled to be conducted during Spring 2007. According to the guidelines, the Targum cannot collect any fees beginning in Fall 2007 unless the referendum is held as scheduled and collection of the fee approved in accordance with the guidelines.

After discussion with Mr. Rose, the Committee felt that is was not possible within the current guidelines to delay the referendum until after the reorganization, and continue to collect fees next year. Therefore the Committee discussed the most reasonable way to define the units for the referendum in light of the structure that will exist next year. In the past, the Targum has conducted the referendum at Cook, Rutgers, Livingston, and Douglass Colleges, and in the last cycle, also included University College. The Schools of Engineering, Mason Gross and Pharmacy were not polled as individual units, but voted with their residential affiliates. If this system were followed this year, and especially in the event that the referendum failed at one of the residential colleges, it would present a very complicated system of billing for next year, when the four liberal arts colleges are merged into the School of Arts and Sciences. The Committee felt that this would also introduce the possibility that students who did not have the opportunity to vote with a unit this year, might nevertheless be charged the fee next year, which is contrary to the spirit of the guidelines.

Therefore, the Committee recommends that the referendum this year follow the structure that will be in effect next year, with the four existing liberal arts colleges (Rutgers, Douglass, Livingston, University) that will form the School of Arts and Sciences, considered as a single polling unit. Each professional school (i.e. SEBS, Engineering, Pharmacy, Mason Gross, GSE) that Targum chooses to poll would also be a separate polling unit. The committee noted that this will not require any changes in the procedures followed for polling or organization of the referendum, but only in how the votes are counted and the numbers required for approval calculated for each new unit. The committee voted unanimously to recommend that the referendum be conducted during Spring 2007 as outlined here.

Since the Senate has the authority to interpret its guidelines when necessary, the committee does not at this time recommend any permanent changes to the guidelines. The redefinition of units, and other possible issues relating to the guidelines will be considered at a future meeting, with formal recommendations for those changes which will require Board of Governor’s approval.

To Equal Opportunity Committee:

Michael LaSala and Connie Ellis, former co-chairs of the Equal Opportunity Committee, propose the following charge:

Research and develop a plan for a center for diversity and tolerance (name to be decided) that is similar to those at comparable universities but which suits the unique needs of the Rutgers system (e.g., three campuses, etc.).

[This proposed charge was tabled at the October EC meeting because the background which appears immediately below was not distributed with the October agenda. EOC Chair Gus Friedrich asks that, in issuing a charge, the EC be sensitive to the composition of the EOC, and issue a charge consistent with the expertise of its active members.]

The former co-chairs cite the following as background for this charge request: "The preliminary Campus Climate Report from the students identifies many areas of concern, including discrimination and harassment experienced by African-American, gay and lesbian, and female students. The Equal Opportunity Committee (EOC) understands that currently there is an uncoordinated patchwork of efforts to deal with such problems at Rutgers. Through the research of various members of th eEOC, we have learned that several institutions comparable to Rutgers (University of Michigan, Ohio State, University of Kansas) have equal opportunity departments or multicultural centers whose charges are to ensure compliance with federal regulations regarding employment, provide consultation to departments on minority recruitment and hiring, process and resolve complaints of discrimination, and also provide sensitivity training for faculty, staff and students. These programs maintain their own dedicated staff, numbering anywhere from 8 to 30 people, and have directors who report to the provost or provost-equivalent."

PTL Senator Karen Thompson requests the following charge be issued:

Examine the issue of part-time (PTL) and full-time non-tenure track (Annual) faculty's role in shared governance relative to the increasing academic reliance on those faculty.  Make recommendations regarding how part-time and full-time non-tenure track faculty's participation in University decision-making can better reflect their teaching / research responsibilities and better inform the educational process throughout Rutgers.

[This proposed charge was tabled at the October EC meeting pending to allow Ann Gould and Karen Thompson to refine its meaning. The above charge is the result of that refinement.]

Karen Thompson cites the following as background for this charge request: "The problem about the number of contingent (part-time and full-time non-tenure-track) faculty is that as contingents they are responsible for an increasing share of teaching and a growing role in research, so their voice in governance becomes more necessary to maintain the vital link between academic practitioner and academic policy.  Those links have long proven important in maintaining the coherence, consistency and community characteristic of quality education."

Staff Senator Gayle Stein proposes the following charge to the ICAC:

Investigate the need for, and make recommendations that provide, more effective access to up-to-date course rosters for anyone who teaches.

Gayle Stein cites the following as background for this charge proposal: "Currently, it is a departmental decision about which instructors get access to their online rosters. Those who do have several advantages: the rosters are updated nightly as opposed to the paper rosters which are not; photo rosters are only available to those who have online roster access; grade and warning submissions can be done anytime anywhere online; and Sakai (a major course management system at Rutgers) requires additional steps for students who must join courses for which the instructor does not have online roster access instead of being automatically included. In general, those who don't have online access are instructors, PTLs and TAs, those in great need of these features."

"Three credit courses in New Brunswick during the semester are posted for 14 weeks of class @80 minutes per class plus a three hour final exam period is reserved which is 37 hours 20 minutes plus a three hour final which totals 2420 minutes or 40 hours and 20 minutes.

"Looking at the Summer catalogue, one finds (3 credit) classes meeting listings for classes meeting 10 times from say 6-10pm for a total time of 40 hours, although with break of even 15 minutes, this total is actually only 37.5 hours (including final exam). There are some (3 credit) classes that meet only 10 times and are listed for only 3.5 hours per session, which gives 35 hours minus 2.5 hours for 15 minute breaks giving a total of 32.5 total hours. There are other (3 credit) classes that meet 11 times for 3.5 per time which gives a total of 38.5 hours minus 3.75 hours for breaks giving a total of 34.75 hours. Many (most) classes seem to have listed times in the Summer and Winter Sessions that are significantly shorter than the time listed for the regular semester.

"I recommend this should be reviewed expeditiously with start and stop times assuming at least a 15 minute break for long classes and that include contact hours that are not exceeded by the times these classes meet during the regular semester. While this is reviewed, the Summer and Winter Session offices should be alerted to this review so that they can consider making changes that would be reflected in time listing for courses offered in Summer 2007 and thereafter."

7. Old Business

8. New Business

9. December 1, 2006 Senate Meeting Agenda

10. Adjournment