RUTGERS UNIVERSITY SENATE
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
M I N U T E S
April 12, 2019


MEMBERS PRESENT:  Borisovets, Dasari, Gillett (Chair), Field, Gould, Oleske, Oliver, Parsa, Serrano, Thompson, Van Stine

MEMBERS EXCUSED:    Kelly, Pappas

MEMBERS ABSENT: Estriplet

ALSO ATTENDING:  B. Lee (Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs), M. Mickelsen (Executive Secretary), S. Rabinowitz (Faculty Representative to the Board of Governors), R. Schwartz (Faculty Representative to the Board of Trustees),

The regular meeting of the University Senate Executive Committee was held on Friday, April 12, 2019 at 12:00 p.m. in Room 202 at the Cook Student Center, Cook Campus.

1.    Chair’s Report  - Peter Gillett, Senate Chair

Senate and Executive Committee Chair Peter Gillett called the meeting to order at 12:00 p.m. He announced Senior Vice President Barbara Lee's intention to deliver the Administrative Report and the May 3 Organizational and Regular meeting agendas will be finalized at this meeting.

2.    Secretary’s Report - Mary Mickelsen, Executive Secretary of the Senate

3.    Administrative Liaison

Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Barbara Lee presented an administrative report, which included comments on:

7.    Committees /Panels

Committee Reports:

Instruction Curricula and Advising Committee (ICAC) Response to Charge S-1805 on Complementary Credentialing and Digital Badges for Rutgers University  - Ann Gould, Member of ICAC

The ICAC has been charged as follows:  

Consider the feasibility of, and approach to, developing a complementary digital bading credentialing system at Rutgers University. Examine the complementary credentialing programs already in place at Rutgers. Make appropriate recommendations, including guidelines for departments and programs. Respond to the Senate Executive Committee by March 2020.

Gould summarized the committee's report on Charge S-1805:  Complementary Credentialing and Digital Badges for Rutgers University. The Executive Committee suggested minor formatting changes and docketed the report for the May 3 Senate meeting.

Issues/Charges: 

Proposed Charge to the Student Affairs Committee (SAC) on Student Involvement in Shared Governance  - Submitted by Julie Serrano, New Brunswick Student Member of the Executive Committee

Proposed Charge: Investigate ways to maximize student involvement in shared governance and make recommendations.
Rationale: Given the research that the SAC has conducted this year revolving recruiting and maintaining student senators, questions have arisen revolving how Rutgers compensates student senators as compared to other institutions. For example, it is our understanding that other Big 10 institutions compensate student senators through a stipend or academic credit. The SAC hopes to address the burdens associated with being a student senator and whether this affects the quality of student representation.

Serrano summarized her proposed charge on Student Involvement in Shared Governance.  After much discussion it was determined the charge would not be issued at this time. Senator Serrano will re-evaluate her proposal and decide whether she wants to revise and re-submit for the June 7 meeting.

Proposed Charge to Faculty and Personnel Affairs Committee (FPAC) on Review of Rutgers' Policy on Workplace Violence - Submitted by Joseph Markert, FPAC Chair and Presented by Karen Thompson, EC Liaison to FPAC

Proposed Charge: Consider Rutgers' policy on Workplace Violence, in particular its clarity and method of implementation. To what extent does it apply retroactively to faculty and how far back in time? To what extent is the policy's language precise? For example: "reasonable". To what extent can it be arbitrarily applied? To what extent does due process exist for all faculty/employees to whom the policy might apply. Consult with the administration, students, and unions, as needed. Make recommendations for changes to the policy if deemed appropriate. Respond to the Senate Executive Committee by December 2019.

Thomspon summarized her committee's proposed charge on Review of Rutgers' Policy on Workplace Violence.  The charge was discussed and issued to FPAC with a reporting deadline of December 2019.

Proposed Charge to University Structure and Governance Committee (USGC) on Unit Organization Related to Senate Entitlements - Submitted by Jon Oliver, USGC Chair

Proposed Charge:  Investigate and assess how campus units are organized for the purposes of Senate entitlements. Look at commonalities and differences to determine if changes are necessary.

Rationale: Upon reviewing the ways in which student senators are elected, it was discovered that each school or college is entitled to at least one student senator. Although this does give representation in the true spirit in shared governance, this might further inequities between campuses. For example, the New Brunswick campus happens to have a School of Management and Labor Relations, with a reported enrollment of 302 students. At Rutgers-Camden, there is one School of Business that happens to have 372 declared majors.

The inequity here is that some campuses have had the historical and/or financial support to afford to create staff specialized schools, while others have not. Such examples also include Newark's School of Criminal Justice, where 875 students are enrolled. Both the School of Arts and Sciences - New Brunswick and the Camden College of Arts and Sciences have Criminal Justice Departments with significant enrollments of criminal justice majors, but neither of these two campuses have distinct schools of criminal justice, therefore making it so there is not specific student senator representation for such a school anywhere other than Newark. These types of comparisions should be considered in terms of faculty and staff distributions.

Oliver summarized the proposed charge on Unit Organization Related to Senate Entitlements, of which he co-authored with Brian Everett, Camden Staff Senator.  After careful consideration it was determined not to issue the charge to the USGC at this time.

Proposed Resolution by the University Senate Faculty Caucus - Submitted by Karen Thompson, PTL Member of the Executive Committee

Thomspon summarized the resolution passed by the Faculty Caucus on Issues and Concerns relating to the progress of Rutgers University toward the goal of becoming one of the leading research institutions. The Executive Committee was not in agreement of the strong language oringally proposed, however was behind the sentiment. The EC made appropriate changes to the resoltuion and docketed it for the May 3 meeting.
           
Proposed Resoltuion on Rutgers' Faculty Council Inclusion in the University Policy Library - Submitted by Sanjib Bhuyan, Chair of New Brunswick Faculty Council (NBFC)/Presented by Ann Gould, NB Faculty Member of the Senate EC and Member of the NBFC

Gould summarized the NBFC proposed resoltuion on Rutgers' Faculty Council Inclusion in the University Policy Library.  The Executive Committee discussed this proposal and agreed to issue it as a charge to the University Structure and Governance Committee with a reporting deadline of November 2019.

8.    New Business

Possible Senate Action Surrounding New Course Scheduling System, Infosilem - Submitted by Charles Heckscher, SMLR Faculty Senator

The following email was sent to Chair Peter Gillett on April 3, 2019 in response to the correspondence from President Barchi titled "Update on New Course Scheduling System":

This is a significant moment; Barchi actually backed down a bit. As I'm sure you know, several faculty groups, including my department, sent him letters requesting a delay in implimentation of Infosilem, and the union has filed ULP. It seems to me that the Senate should jump into this with both feet, trying to assert a role as representative of multiple stakeholders and a forum for constructive debate rather than legal or bargaining action. Could we, for example, have an emergency agenda for the next meeting as we did for the Nursing merger and have all the committees work on developing proposals for course scheduling and involvement of stakeholders in the process?

Charles Hecksher

Chair Peter Gillett discussed his and Vice Chair Jon Oliver's meeting with President Barchi which included this topic and a possiblitiy of CIO Michele Norin and Paul Hammond visiting the Senate EC or Senate for a presentation on the system.  Based on scheduling conflicts it was decided Norin and Hammond would address the Senate Faculty Caucus at the May 3 Senate meeting and then the full Senate in the fall.

Selection of Members for Evaluation Committees

The EC discussed possible names for both Evaluation committees. Chair Gillett will reach out to all to determine williness and availability of the nominnees which he will then report to SVP Barbara Lee for final vetting.

10.    University Senate Agenda

The May 3, 2019 Senate Meeting agenda was discussed, and will include: 

11.    Adjournment 
 
The meeting adjourned at 2:58 p.m.

Minutes written and submitted by,

Mary Mickelsen
Executive Secretary of the University Senate