Rutgers University Senate Minutes

RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY
UNIVERSITY SENATE

MINUTES: Regular Meeting of the University Senate

DATE: January 22, 2016

TIME AND PLACE: 1:10 p.m., Multipurpose Room, College Avenue Student Center, New Brunswick Campus

MEMBERS PRESENT: Ahmed, Aioub, Alder, Alizadeh, Anaele, Ardeshna, Asker, Avadhani, Balog, Barchi, Barone, Barraco, Bhuyan, Boikess, Borden, Borisovets, Boruchoff, Bridgeman, Chandler, Charles, Chau, Chayko, Y. Chen, Cherniss, Cotter, Covello, Dasari, Davis, Delnevo, A. Desai, DiVito, Durham, Edward, Edwards, Eisenstein, Esposito, Farris, Feldman, Fitzgerald-Bocarsly, Fletcher, Gillett, Goh, Gould, Gower, K. Gursoy, M. Gursoy, Heckscher, D. Hughes, Huselid, Israel,Jamknanawala, Joergensen, Joo, Kalan, Kelshikar, Killingsworth, Krapivin, Langer, LaPointe, B. Lee, K. Lee, Jane Lewis, Lu, Mahtabfar, Maloney, Markert, Martinez-San Miguel, Mazurek, McGinnis, Meck, Messer, Mouradian, Nissen, Norville, O'Connell, Okuwobi, Oleske, Oliver, Otto, Pandey, Parisi, Pintar, Pirrello, Pitt, Ponzio, C. Potter, Prestigiacomo, Puhak, Pusukur, Rabinowitz, Ramsamy, Roth, Ryan, Saltzman, Samant, Santana, Schulberg, Schwartz, Settles, J. Shapiro, Sharp, Sheflin, Spiegel, Struwe, Szabo, Tamburello, Thomson, Thompson, Toney-Boss, Torres, Wagner, Wakim, Wasserman, Williams, Winterbauer, Wise, Zurlo

EXCUSED: Abacan, Anderson, Balmer, Benford, Butler, R. Desai, Dixon, Drachtman, Dreyer, Faenza, Fagley, Fennell, Gold, Gonzalez, Hayton, Janniger, Kustka, McKeever, Miranti, Morrell, Portillo, Scheck, C. Scott, K. Scott, Shaban, Shapley, M. Shapiro, Stein, Takacs, Theiss, Winkler

ABSENT: Ahluwalia, Anthony, Avakame, Barbarese, Blanchett, Bugel, Burley, Calabrese, Cantor, Capone, R. Chen, Coiro, Cooper, Covington, Cruz, Deans, D'Souza, Eastman, Farmbry, Fehn, Gabriel, Gajic, Ganesh, Goodman, Gramieri, Grant, Grave, Haddon, Holzemer, Holzer, J. Hughes, Johnson, Kantor, Kolbaba, Kressel, Kukor, Kuzma, LaBella, Lado, Lei, Jan Lewis, Lindenmeyer, Lynch, Mahon, March, Marcone, Maruna, Meyer, Mhaske, Miller, Moran, Murphy, Oberdiek, Palmer, Pereira, J. Potter, Robinson, Salmond, Schiavo, Scoloveno, Scotto, Shinbrot, Singh, Stauffer, Stillwagon, Strom, Sung, Szatrowski, Thomas, Toth, Wang, White

ATTENDANCE SUMMARY: Faculty: Of 107 total: 67 present (63%), 17 excused (16%), 23 absent (21%); Students: Of 45 total: 23 present (51%), 10 excused (22%), 12 absent (27%); Administrators: Of 43 total: 11 present (26%), 1 excused (2%), 31 absent (72%); Staff: Of 18 total: 12 present (67%), 2 excused (11%), 4 absent (22%); Alumni: Of 6 total: 4 present (67%), 0 excused (0%), 2 absent (33%)
View Senate Attendance Record for this academic year

PRESIDING OFFICER: Ann Gould, Chairperson

CALL TO ORDER, DETERMINATION OF A QUORUM, AND CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT - Ann Gould, Chairperson

Senate Chairperson Ann Gould called the meeting to order at 1:19 p.m. on Friday, January 22, 2016 in the Multipurpose Room of the College Avenue Student Center, College Avenue Campus, New Brunswick.

SECRETARY'S REPORT - Ken Swalagin, Executive Secretary

Agenda: The meeting's agenda was approved as distributed by the Executive Secretary.
Minutes: The Minutes of the December 11, 2015 Senate Meeting were approved as distributed by the Executive Secretary.
Communications:

President Barchi's Response to Senate and Student Affairs Committee December 2014 Response to Charge S-1311 on Process of Changing Rutgers Cultural and Traditional Icons
President Barchi's Response to Senate and University Structure and Governance Committee November 2015 Response to Charge S-1410 on Honorary Degree and Commencement Speaker Selection Process
President Barchi's Response, Newark Chancellor Nancy Cantor's Response, and Camden Associate Chancellor for Student Affairs Mary Beth Daisey's Response to Senate and Student Affairs Committee May 2014 Response to Charge S-1210 on Early-Open Study Space
Swalagin said that memos detailing the need to elect Senators were being sent to responsible parties in all units with Senate representation, with current Senators copied on the memos going to their respective units. He asked that all Senators be aware that he needs election results prior to the date of the last Senate meeting of this academic year, which would be April 29.

OLD BUSINESS

Senate Bylaws Changes to Establish University Commencement Panel, University Structure and Governance Committee (USGC) - Jon Oliver and Robert Puhak, USGC Co-chairs, and Ann Gould, Senate and Executive Committee Chair, on behalf of the Executive Committee

Senate Bylaws changes to reflect establishment of the University Commencement Panel were introduced in the November 2015 Response to Charge S-1410 on Honorary Degree and Commencement Speaker Selection Process. At this meeting, the Senate was asked to implement the Bylaws changes shown in the report, as follows:

Be it further resolved, that if these recommendations are accepted by the University, then the Handbook of the Rutgers University Senate should be updated as follows:

i) In Article VII. B., the sentence

“The vice chair acts as chair of the Appeals Panel if an appeal is being heard, and reports on Executive Committee action at Senate meetings.”

should be replaced with the sentence

“The vice chair acts as chair of the University Commencement Panel and of the Appeals Panel if an appeal is being heard, and reports on Executive Committee action at Senate meetings.”

ii) In Article VIII. A., the sentence

“Procedures concerning the structure and operation of committees were approved by the University Senate on May 5, 1974, and amended April 28, 1995.”

should be replaced with the sentence

“Procedures concerning the structure and operation of committees were approved by the University Senate on May 5, 1974, and amended April 28, 1995 and January 22, 2016.”

iii) In Article VIII. D., append the following text

“11. University Commencement Panel
Standing Charge: The University Commencement Panel (UCP) shall be appointed by the Executive Committee at the beginning of each academic year, and shall consist of the vice chair of the Senate, serving as chair of the UCP; four faculty senators (one each from Camden, Newark, New Brunswick, and RBHS, and including at least one tenure-track, one non-tenure-track, and one part-time lecturer senator); two student senators; one staff senator; one alumni senator; and the executive secretary of the Senate (non-voting). Members will be appointed to this panel in addition to their regular committee duties, with the following responsibilities:

Identify and select faculty and student senators to serve on the Camden, Newark, and New Brunswick/RBHS Commencement Committees (which vet and rank nominations for honorary degrees and for commencement speakers), as follows:

three faculty senators from the respective campus (in the case of New Brunswick/RBHS, at least one from each)

two student senators from the respective campus (in the case of New Brunswick/RBHS, at least one from each)

Advise the chancellors on a timely basis of the names of those selected for appointment.”

Gould introduced the matter, noting that deadlines would be added to the recommendations at a later date, and that a resolution would be forthcoming on that. USGC Co-chairs Oliver and Puhak presented the resolution above, which was adopted without change, and with none opposed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Student Affairs Committee (SAC) Response to Charge S-1507 on Deregistration for Non-Payment of Term Bills, Including for Online Courses - Robert Barraco, Zachary Borden, and Samuel Rabinowitz, SAC Co-chairs

This report report does not include a resolution or recommendation for any change to current Rutgers policies or practices. SAC Co-chairs Barraco, Borden and Rabinowitz presented the report for information only.

Resolution on Web Accessibility Policy - Senate Executive Committee:

Gould presented the Senate Executive Committee's Resolution on the Draft Web Accessibility Policy. William Welsh, Executive Director of the Office of Disability Services, and Christian Aziz, Manager of Information Technology, responded to questions from Senators about the policy. The draft policy was distributed in hardcopy at the meeting. Welsh said that there had been no changes to the draft since it was first discussed by the Senate and Executive Committee. Gould said that the Senate was being asked to approve the policy in principle only because it was still in draft form and may change in the future. Gould then read the resolution, which was adopted unanimously by the Senate as follows:

Whereas, the Rutgers University Senate Executive Committee has discussed the Draft Web Accessibility Policy; and
Whereas, the Rutgers University Senate, at its meeting on November 13, 2015, conducted a committee-of-the-whole discussion on the policy; and
Whereas, the Senate and Executive Committee have benefited from presentations by, and responses to questions from, Gayle Stein, Associate Director for Instructional Technology, OIT-Office of Instructional and Research Technology; Christian Aziz, Manager of Information Technology; and William Welsh, Executive Director, Office of Disability Services; and
Whereas, the University Senate recognizes the need for the policy, and finds it appropriate and in the best interests of Rutgers University;
Therefore, Be It Resolved, that the Rutgers University Senate endorses the Web Accessibility Policy in principle, and recommends its implementation.

NEW BRUNSWICK CHANCELLOR'S REPORT and Administrative Report- Richard Edwards, New Brunswick Chancellor

Senator Richard Edwards, New Brunswick Chancellor, presented a New Brunswick Chancellor's Report. The presentation on that report is linked above. He also presented a brief Administrative Report on President Barchi's behalf, focusing mainly on progress on, and plans and funding for, construction and renovation projects. Edwards then responded to questions, or heard comments, on his report. Barchi also responded to questions.

REPORT ON RESPONSIBILITY CENTER MANAGEMENT - Michael Gower, Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration

Michael Gower, Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration, presented a report on financial reporting and Responsibility Center Management. The presentation on that report is linked above. Gower then responded to questions, or heard comments, on his report.

SENATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT - Senate Vice Chair Peter Gillett reported on the January 8, 2016 meeting and activities of the Senate Executive Committee.

REPORTS OF THE REPRESENTATIVES TO BOARDS OF GOVERNORS AND TRUSTEES: Senator Alexandra Williams, Student Representative to the Board of Governors, reported on the December 15, 2015 Board of Governors meeting. Senator Samuel Rabinowitz, Faculty Representative to the Board of Governors, reported on the January 14, 2016 Board of Governors teleconference dealing with projects for consideration for the capital improvement program. Senator Asha Samant, Faculty Representative to the Board of Trustees, reported that there had been no meeting of the Board of Trustees since the previous Senate meeting.

CAMPUS FACULTY AND STUDENT LIAISON REPORTS: Senator Samuel Rabinowitz, a member of the Camden Faculty Council, reported on that group's recent plans and activities. Camden Student Senator Zachary Borden reported on recent Camden student plans and activities. Senator Mark Killingsworth, New Brunswick Faculty Council Chairperson, reported on that group's plans and recent meeting. Senator Justin Schulberg, New Brunswick Student Member of the Senate Executive Committee, reported on New Brunswick student governing association activities. Swalagin read a statement prepared by Newark Student Member of the Senate Executive Committee Edmund Janniger, reporting on Newark student activities. Senator Patricia Fitzgerald-Bocarsly, RBHS Faculty Council Chair, reported on that group's plans and recent activities.

ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 3:22 p.m.

Minutes Written and Submitted by,
Ken Swalagin
Executive Secretary of the University Senate