RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY
OF NEW JERSEY
UNIVERSITY SENATE
MINUTES: Regular Meeting of the University
Senate
DATE: January 19, 2018
TIME AND PLACE: 1:10 p.m., Multipurpose Room,
College Avenue Student Center, New Brunswick Campus
MEMBERS PRESENT: Ahmed, Alizadeh, Barchi,
Bekdash, Bhatnagar, Bhuyan, Boikess, Bora, Borisovets, Boruchoff,
Bradley, Bridgeman, Chayko, Chulak, Collins, Craig, Cummings, Dana,
Dane, Dasari, DeFilippis, Dettloff, DiVito, Eisenstein, Emmons,
Esposito, Fagan, Fellenz, Field, Filippelli, Fitzgerald-Bocarsly, Fox,
Ghate, Ghesani, Gillett, Goh, Goldfarb, Gould, Graber, Greenberg,
Hartman, Heckscher, Ivanovski, Joergensen, A. Johnson, Joseph,
Junboonta, Kabia, Kasichainula, Keddis, Kelly, Kettle, Khattab,
Krapivin, Langer, LaPointe, Lasala, B. Lee, Lindboe, Linz, LoGrippo,
Lulla, Lutz, Maloney, Mammis, Marchetta, Markert, Masiello, Matto,
McKeever, K. Murphy,Nash, Nitzsche, Norville, O'Brassill-Kulfan,
Oleske, Oliver, O'Neill, Owens, Padgett, Pandey, Pantazis, Pappas,
Parsa, M. Patel, Shivane Patel, Patrick, Phadke, Pichugin, Pintar,
Ponzio, K. Powell, Pradhan, Rabinowitz, Resnick, Rivera, Ross,
Rothpletz-Puglia, Salazar, Saltzman, Sanchez, Schwartz, Serrano,
Settimo, Shah, Shapses, Shinbrot, Spiegel, Steinberg, Szatrowski,
Tharney, Thompson, Thomson, Toney-Boss, Tracey, Wilde, Winkler,
Ziessler
EXCUSED: Ardeshna,
Booth, Bugel, Burley, Civile, D'Anna, Denham-Barrett, Dreyer, Eaton,
Gross, Honeycutt, Kane, Kustka, Langsam, Leavy, Levy, Manyaga, Miller,
Patton, Puhak, Samant, Schneider, Settles, Sheflin, Shinn, Siddiqui,
Soto, Strom, Takhistov, Zurlo
ABSENT: Abayhan, Alidou, Artun, Balaguru,
Barbarese, Barone, Battle-Brown, Blanchett, Brunson, Bubb, Butterfield,
Cahill, Cantor, Chen, Coiro, Conway, Covington, Deshpande, Dixon,
Drachtman, Dutta, Eastman, Eng, Farmbry, Farris, Feldman, Fletcher,
Gabriel, Ganesh, Gonzalez, Goodman, Gower, Haddon, Halkitis, Hatefi,
Hernandez, Holzemer, Iannini, R. Johnson, Kothari, Kukor, C. Lee, Lei,
Lewis, Lindenmeyer, Lugg, Mahon, March, Marchick, Mazurek, Minsky,
Molello, Moran, B. Murphy, Novelli, Pagan, Pardlo, A. Patel, Suja
Patel, Petrucci, C. Potter, J. Potter, V. Powell, Roberts, Robinson,
Schiavo, Scoloveno, Sen, Sheridan, Stauffer, Tasneem, Thomas,
Tsakalakos, Van Ryzin, Van Stine, Walters, Warburton
ATTENDANCE SUMMARY:
Faculty: Of 109 total: 70 present (64%),
17 excused (15.5%), 22 absent (20%); Students:
Of 50 total: 26 present (52%), 7 excused (14%), 17
absent (34%); Administrators: Of 41
total: 5
present (12%), 2 excused (5%), 34 absent (83%); Staff:
Of 18 total: 12 present (66%), 2
excused (11%), 4 absent (22%); Alumni:
Of 6
total: 5 present (83%), 1 excused (17%), 0 absent (0%)
View Senate
Attendance Record for this academic year
PRESIDING OFFICER: Peter Gillett, Chair
CALL TO ORDER, DETERMINATION OF A QUORUM, AND
CHAIR’S REPORT - Peter Gillett,
Chair
Senate Chair Peter Gillett
called the meeting to order at 1:10
p.m.
in the Multipurpose Room of the College Avenue
Student
Center, College Avenue Campus, New Brunswick. He said that a death in
Chancellor Strom's family made him unable to attend the meeting, or to
present his RBHS Chancellor's Report, but that President Barchi would
present an Administrative Report. He also said that this would be the
fourth time the Senate meeting would be webstreamed..
REPORT OF THE SECRETARY -
Ken
Swalagin, Executive Secretary
- Agenda: The
meeting's agenda,
including time limits, was approved by the Senate.
- Minutes: The Minutes of the
December 8, 2017 Senate Meeting were
approved as distributed by the Executive Secretary.
- Communications: The
following communications were presented by the Executive Secretary:
ADMINISTRATIVE
REPORT - Robert Barchi, University President
University President Robert Barchi presented
an Administrative Report, which included comments on subjects including:
- his sympathies to Chancellor Strom's family on the death of
Strom's father;
- future administrative reports, and how and by whom they will be
presented;
- recent weather conditions, and Facilities Services responses;
- an anticipated, but not yet public, announcement about Rutgers'
endowment;
- the ongoing Middle States Reaccreditation process;
- issues of hate speech and prejudice, and a planned, related,
March 27 symposium;
- efforts to maintain affordability of Rutgers education; and
- an increase in Rutgers' minimum student wage, which will be paid
from the president's strategic funds for the first few years.
Barchi then responded to questions, or heard comments, on the above
topics, as well as:
- Cornerstone, and ongoing difficulties therewith;
- when he might meet with Governor Murphy;
- his
response to Senate recommendations on staff promotion and salary
adjustments, on which he offered to follow up with Vivian Fernandez
if the matter was not resolved;
- Big Ten athletics;
- the potential for student members of the Board of Governors;
- standards for adjudicating academic integrity; and
- New Jersey State funding for Rutgers.
COMMITTEE
REPORTS
SAC
Co-chair Viktor Krapivin presented the SAC's response to Charge S-1702
on increasing student voter turnout in federal, state, and local
elections, and read and moved the incorporated resolution. Ann Gould's
motion to remove Resolution Section B ("B. The University Senate urges
the Rutgers University Office of State Government Affairs to advocate
for automatic voter registration in New Jersey,") was seconded,
discussed, and adopted. Section C then became the new Section B. Ted
Szatrowski's motion to remove Section A.13 was seconded, discussed, and
defeated after the question was called. Matthew Winkler's motion to
amend Section A.13 to include a parenthetical statement of specific
examples ("voting and family emergencies") was seconded, discussed, and
adopted. The full resolution, as amended, was then adopted unanimously
by the Senate.
NEW
BUSINESS:
Executive Secretary Swalagin's
Retirement: Gillett moved that the following resolution
recognizing Ken Swalagin's retirement from Rutgers be added to the
agenda as new business:
Whereas
Kenneth W. Swalagin
currently holds the office of Executive Secretary of the Rutgers
University
Senate; and
whereas
he has served with
distinction in this office for 21 years; and
whereas
over the course of
these years he has consistently provided thoughtful guidance and
leadership to
senators, to senate chairs, to the Executive Committee, to the other
standing
committees of the senate, and to the university; and
whereas
he has made
invaluable contributions to the promotion of shared governance at
Rutgers in
many and various ways
Therefore
be it resolved
that
The Rutgers University Senate expresses its sincere gratitude and
appreciation to Ken, and extends to him its best wishes for a happy,
healthy,
and fulfilling retirement.
The resolution was added to the agenda, and thereafter adopted by
acclamation. Swalagin was presented with a commemorative, engraved
clock and plaque. He then made the following statement:
Forty
years at Rutgers, and 21 as Senate Secretary, so I have a lot of
thanking to
do.
Thanks:
To
Rutgers, for the degrees, the salary, and the benefits, and the
opportunity to
work for them;
To
RCM for changing the way the Senate is funded, and hopefully making
possible
some communication and technology improvements that weren’t
possible for the
Senate in the past;
To
the administration, and in particular Barbara Lee and Roberta Leslie,
for the
level of communication and responsiveness the Senate now has;
To
the Senators who are here today, and all those who participate
regularly. You
are the true heart and soul of the Senate. I hope you realize how
important
what you do really is.;
To
the Senate’s committee chairs, who work for little or no reward
other than
knowing they’re making Rutgers a better institution;
To
Linda and Mary Mickelsen, who assisted me as Senate Secretary over the
past two
decades;
To
the many and all people at Rutgers, both here and gone, who have shown
me
kindness, acceptance, cooperation and appreciation over these 40 years;
Finally,
and especially, thanks to two colleagues whose support, guidance, and
friendship is so important to me, my two best, favorite lunch buddies:
Ann
Gould and Jon Oliver.
It’s
been great. Thanks, and good luck.
SENATE
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT: Senate Vice Chair Jon Oliver
reported that the scheduled January 5, 2018 Executive Committee meeting
had been canceled due to weather conditions and anticipated absences.
REPORTS
OF REPRESENTATIVES TO BOARDS OF GOVERNORS AND TRUSTEES: Samuel
Rabinowitz, Faculty Representative to the Board of Governors, reported
on the December 7, 2017 Board of Governors meeting. Robert Schwartz,
Faculty Representative to the Board of Trustees, reported that the
Board of Trustees had not met since the previous Senate meeting.
REPORTS
OF CAMPUS FACULTY AND STUDENT LIAISONS: Newark Faculty Senator
Member Joseph Markert report on recent plans and activities of the
Newark Faculty Council. Faculty
Senator Sanjib Bhuyan, Chair of the New Brunswick Faculty Council,
reported on plans and recent activities of that group. New Brunswick
Student
Senator Viktor Krapivin reported that RUSA had met for the first time
this semester the previous day. Faculty Senator
Patricia Bocarsly, Former Chair of the RBHS
Faculty Council, reported on plans and recent activities of that group,
including election of officers, and continuing work on the Council's
website.
ADJOURNMENT: The
meeting adjourned at 3:36 p.m.
Minutes Written and Submitted by,
Ken Swalagin
Executive Secretary of the University
Senate