RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY
OF NEW JERSEY
UNIVERSITY SENATE
MINUTES: Regular Meeting of the University
Senate
DATE: February 20, 2015
TIME AND PLACE: 1:10 p.m., Essex 232, Paul Robeson
Campus Center, Newark Campus
MEMBERS PRESENT: Admani, Ahmed, Allen, Anaele,
Anderson, Anthony, Avadhani, Barchi, Battle, Bhuyan, Bodrog, Boikess,
Borisovets, Boyle, Burrell, Cantor, Charles, Chen, Cotter, Covello,
DiVito, Draves, Durham, Eastman, Edward, Fagley, Ferraris,
Fitzgerald-Bocarsly, Gibson, Gillett, Glaser, Gomes, Gould, Gower,
Hamai, Heckscher, Hudson, Ibrahimpatan, Janniger, Karamichael,
Killingsworth, Kirna, Kressel, Lepucki, Markert, Martinez,Meggali,
Mitchell, Moran, Morrell, Norville, Oberdiek, O'Connell, Oleske,
Oliver, Otto, Parry, V. Patel, Pirrello, Puhak, Rabinowitz, Redlawsk,
Raza, Roth, Schafer, Schulberg, Schwartz, Scott, Settles, Shapiro,
Speigel, Szabo, Szatrowski, Tamburello, Thompson, Tiangco, Toney-Boss,
Trehan, Tsakalakos, Velan, Wagner, Winkler, Zimmerman
EXCUSED: Alder,
Angell, Aubry, Barbarese, Barone, Barraco, Bell, Bridgeman, Buchholtz,
Bugel, Delnevo, Donald, Dreyer, Elkabes, Fennell, Geis, Goodman, Grant,
Gupta, M. Gursoy, Hackworth, Hirsch, Krishnamurthi, Langer, Law,
Lee, Jane Lewis, McKeever, Miller, Miranti, Mouradian, Murphy, Nanda,
Navrot, Nissen, O'Connor, Padgett, N. Patel, Pintar, Powell,
Rhoads, Robinson, Saltzman, Shapley, Simmons, Stein, Struwe, Suplee,
Thomas-Hawkins, Tursi, Van Stine, Vodak
ABSENT: Abu El-Haj, Avakame,
Balog, Bernstein, Blanchett, Bolden, Borden, Caler, Cooper, Covington,
Dasari, Deans, Edwards, Eisenstein, Farmbry, Farris, Fehn, Feldman,
Fernandez, Fiore, Gajic, Ganesh, Gracias, Grave, K. Gursoy,
Haddon, Hinch, Holtzman, Holzemer, Holzer, D. Hughes, J. Hughes,
Iwamiya, Jimenez, Johnson, Joo, Joshi, A. Kim, S. Kim, Kukor, Kumar,
Lei, Leibman, Jan Lewis, Lindenmeyer, Lieu, LoMonoco, Lynch, Maher,
Maillet, March, Marchick, Maruna, Mazurek, McGinnis, McInerney, Messer,
Millonig, Mitra, Munoz, Potter, Ramsamy, Sahi, Salmond, Sambol,
Schiavo, Schurman, Scotto, Shulman, Stauffer, Stillwagon, Strom, Sun,
Svasti, Takacs, Triner, Van de Walle, Velez, Wang, Wasserman, Weigert,
Winterbauer, Wise, Yousaf
ATTENDANCE SUMMARY:
Faculty:
Faculty:
Of 104 total: 41 present (39%), 34 excused (33%), 27 absent (26%);
Students: Of 48 total: 22 present (46%), 9 excused (19%), 17 absent
(35%);
Administrators: Of 42 total: 6 present (14%), 4
excused
(10%), 32 absent (76%); Staff: Of 17 total: 12 present (70%), 2
excused (12%), 3 absent (18%); Alumni: Of 6 total: 2 present (33%), 3
excused (50%), 1
absent
(17%)
View Senate
Attendance Record for this Year
PRESIDING OFFICER: Ann Gould, Chairperson
CALL TO ORDER and CHAIRPERSON'S REPORT - Ann Gould,
Chairperson
Chairperson Ann Gould called the meeting to order at 1:21
p.m.
in the Essex Room of the Paul Robeson Campus
Center, Newark Campus. She welcomed all
attendees, and thanked Chancellor Nancy Cantor and her office
for hosting the Senate, and
for providing lunch. She then summarized the meeting agenda, and
gave some history and background on the Senate's activities related to
the proposal to merge the School of Law - Camden and School of Law -
Newark, as well as her expectation that the Senate will decide on that
merger proposal at the March 27, 2015 Senate meeting.
SECRETARY'S REPORT - Ken
Swalagin, Executive Secretary
- Agenda: The meeting's agenda
was was modified to place the Administrative Report before the Newark
Campus Report, and was then approved.
- Minutes: The January 23, 2015
Senate Meeting Minutes
were
approved as distributed by the executive secretary.
ELECTION OF CAMDEN AND NEWARK STUDENT
MEMBERS OF THE SENATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
- An election was held at this meeting because the incumbents in
both positions had resigned. Paper ballots were distributed to
voting Senators at the meeting. Self-nominations for the positions were
solicited in advance, and candidates'
statements in support of candidacy were posted online. Nominations
were not be accepted from the floor.
The slate of candidates was:
- Camden Student Member of the Executive Committee:
- Mark Bodrog (Graduate School-Camden)
- Newark Student Member of the Executive Committee:
- Hamzah Raza (Newark College of Arts and Sciences)
- Edmund Janniger (School of Public Affairs and Administration)
Candidates introduced themselves to the Senate, and made statements on
their candidacy. Senators were instructed to complete their ballots,
which were then collected and tabulated by Mary Mickelsen of the Senate
office. Senator Bodrog ran unopposed and so became the Camden Student
Member of the Executive Committee. Edmund Janniger was elected Newark
Student Member of the Executive Committee.
COMMITTEE
REPORTS
USGC
Co-chairs Robert Puhak and Jon Oliver summarized their committee's
report on Senate Election Procedures, which was a response to the USGC
having been charged as follows:
Charge
S-1309, Senate Election Procedures: Review election procedures
used by the Senate, and, if appropriate, recommend improved procedures.
The report was discussed very briefly.
It included no recommendations for any change to current Senate
procedures, and was therefore not subject to a vote, being for
information only.
Faculty and Personnel Affairs
Committee
(FPAC) Response
to Charge S-1313 on Travel and Business Expense Reimbursement (TABER)
Appendix 1:
TABER Survey Appendix 2:
TABER Survey Summary - FPAC
Co-chairs Ann Gould and Rudy Bell
Senate Vice Chair Martha Cotter assumed
the chair while Senate Chair
and FPAC
Co-chair Ann Gould summarized her committee's report on Travel and
Business Expense Reimbursement, which was a response to the
FPAC having been
charged as follows:
Charge
S-1313, Travel and Business Expense Reimbursement (TABER): Review
current university policies and practices
concerning reimbursement to faculty and staff for professional
expenditures,
including but not limited to, travel, conference attendance, and
purchases;
survey impacted constituencies for suggestions, and propose possible
modifications or improvements to the current system.
Without
further discussion, the report and its recommendations were adopted by
the Senate on card vote, with none opposed.
[Ann Gould then resumed the chair.]
Executive Committee (EC) Introduction
of Bylaws Change Regarding Annual Elections of Senate Leadership,
Executive Committee Members, and Board Representatives -
EC
Vice Chair Martha Cotter summarized the Executive Committee's report
introducing a recommended bylaws change regarding the annual elections
of Senate leadership, Executive Committee members, and board
representatives. In accordance with parliamentary procedure and
established Senate practice, because this is involves a change to the
Senate's bylaws, this item was docketed for introduction and prior
notice and discussion at this meeting, but would not be voted on until
the March 27, 2015 meeting. There was considerable discussion of this
matter, during which suggestions were made to clarify language to state
that, although candidates in the Senate chair, vice chair, and
Executive Committee categories could become eligible for additional
categories on the ballot as runoff elections are conducted (e.g., a
candidate who does not win in a contested election for chair could
elect to be placed into the vice chair category following a runoff
election for chair), no candidate could be placed into nomination
initially in more than one category. The language in the report will be
revised prior to the March 27 Senate meeting. [Note: The link above
goes to the report as introduced. The revised report, as docketed on
the Senate's March 27 agenda, can be viewed
here.]
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT - University President Robert Barchi
President Barchi presented a brief administrative report,
commenting on
topics
including:
- the Senate's role as the shared governance body for all of
Rutgers;
- frustration with the length of time the Senate requires to
respond to some matters which may be on short timetables in the
administration, and his request that the Senate consider ways in which
the Senate could streamline processes, possibly by delegating work to a
subgroup;
- an entirely new TABER system currently expected to be in place by
July;
- his congratulations to the two students just elected to the
Senate Executive Committee;
- appointment of Rutgers Business School Newark and New Brunswick
Dean Lei Lei, and of Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Barbara
Lee; and
- progress on the Physical Master Plan.
President Barchi then responded to questions, or heard
comments, on
the above and a variety of other subjects, including:
- the number of vice presidents at Rutgers, and inclusion of PTLs
in calculating ratios of administrators to faculty;
- PTLs and non-tenure-track (NTT) faculty as a major, and
increasing component in future years;
- student expenses relating to Proctortrack software, and
associated webcam privacy issues;
- his meetings with Rutgers Camden student governing association
members, and a request that he discuss with them student fees and
allocations; and
- contract negotiations for full-time, NTT faculty.
NEWARK CAMPUS
REPORT - Newark
Chancellor Nancy Cantor
Newark Chancellor Nancy Cantor presented the Newark Campus
Report. Click the following link to view Chancellor
Cantor's PowerPoint presentation. Cantor then responded to
questions from Senators.
OLD
BUSINESS:
There was no old business.
NEW BUSINESS: There was no new
business.
REPORTS
OF THE REPRESENTATIVES TO BOARDS OF GOVERNORS AND TRUSTEES:
Senator
Samuel Rabinowitz, Faculty Representative to the Board of
Governors, reported on the February 3, 2015 Board of Governors
meeting. Senators Robert Schwartz and Menahem
Spiegel, Faculty Representatives
to the Board of Trustees, reported that there had been no Board
of Trustees meeting since the previous Senate meeting.
CAMPUS FACULTY AND STUDENT LIAISON
REPORTS:
Senator Samuel Rabinowitz, Camden Faculty Council Chairperson, reported
on that group's recent plans and activities. Senator Mark Bodrog, newly
elected Camden Student Member of the Senate Executive Committee,
reported on Camden student governing association (SGA) activities.
Senator Martha Cotter,
New Brunswick Faculty Council Chairperson, reported on that group's
recent plans and activities. Senator Vetri Velan, New Brunswick Student
Member of the Senate Executive Committee, reported on New Brunswick SGA
activities. Non-Senator Newark SGA member Eslam Abdelbasset reported on
Newark SGA activities. Senator Patricia Bocarsly reported on activities
of the RBHS Faculty Council.
CHAIR'S CLOSING COMMENTS:
Chairperson Gould again thanked everyone for remaining through the end
of the meeting, and commented on the importance of the board and campus
liaison reports, which allow the Senate to know what's taking place
universitywide in various shared governance groups.
ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned
at 3:22 p.m.
Minutes Written and Submitted by,
Ken Swalagin
Executive Secretary of the University Senate