RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY
OF NEW JERSEY
UNIVERSITY SENATE
MINUTES: Regular Meeting of the University
Senate
DATE: December 9, 2016
TIME AND PLACE: 1:10 p.m., Multipurpose Room,
College Avenue Student Center, New Brunswick Campus
MEMBERS PRESENT: Anaele, Ardeshna, Arezzi, Artun,
Barbarese, Barchi, Bekdash, Bhuyan, Boikess, Borisovets, Boruchoff,
Bradshaw, Bridgeman, Burley, Carrasco, Chandler, Chang, Chayko, Clark,
Collado-Garrido, Cotter, Craig, Cutler, Dana, Dane, Dasari, Davis,
Desai, Deshpande, DiVito, Edward, Eisenstein, Esposito, Fagley, Farris,
Field, Fitzgerald-Bocarsly, Fox, Gillett, Gould, Gross, K. Gursoy, M.
Gursoy, D. Hughes, Huselid, Jackson, Jaffry, Joergensen, A. Johnson,
Joseph, Junboonta, Kaptan, Kalan, Kelly, Kelshikar, Kouraeva, Krapivin,
Krutyansky, Langer, LaPointe, Lattime, B. Lee, Jane Lewis, Lutz,
Maloney, Mammis, Marchetta, Marcone, Markert, Markosian, McKeever,
Meck, Miranti, Moran, Moseray, Mouradian, Nasr, Norville, O'Connell,
Oleske, Oliver, Otto, Pagan, Pappas, A. Patel, D. Patel, Pintar,
Pirrello, Ponzio, Puhak, Rabinowitz, Rivera, Rothpletz-Puglia, Samant,
Schwartz, C. Scott, K. Scott, Serrano, Settles, Sharp, Sheehan,
Sheflin, Shinn, Soto, Spiegel, Stepleton, Strom, Sulley, Szatrowski,
Takacs, Thomson, Thompson, Thornton, Toney-Boss, Torres, Upadhyay, Van
Stine, Wakim, Wang, Wasserman,
EXCUSED: Brunson,
R. Chen, Collins, Dreyer, Durham, Flores, Grant, Joo, Leibman, Linz,
Lugg, Marchick, Nissen, Okada, O'Neill, Pandey, Powell, Romanchuk,
Roth, Saltzman, Schneider, Scoloveno, Settimo, Taillefer, Thomas,
Winkler, Zurlo
ABSENT: Alizadeh, Balaguru, Balmer, Barone,
Benford, Blanchett, Bubb, Bugel, Butterfield, Cahill, Calabrese,
Cantor, Charles, Y. Chen, Coiro, Conway, Cooper, Covington, Diaz,
Dixon, Drachtman, Eastman, Edwards, Farmbry, Feldman, Fletcher,
Gabriel, Ganesh, Goh, Goodman, Goswami, Gowr, Haddon, Hart, Hayton,
Heckscher, Holzemer, Holzer, J. Hughes, Iannini, Janniger, R. Johnson,
Kukor, Kustka, Kuzma, K. Lee, Lei, Jan Lewis, Levy, Lindenmeyer, Mahon,
March, Martinez, Mazurek, Morrell, Paneque, Parmar, K. Patel, C.
Potter, J. Potter, Robinson, Rozenberg, Salazar, Salmond, Santana,
Schiavo, Scotto, Shapses, Shapiro, Shinbrot, Singh, Stauffer
ATTENDANCE SUMMARY:
Faculty: Of 106 total: 69 present (65%),
16 excused (15%), 21 absent (20%); Students:
Of 50 total: 31 present (62%), 5 excused (10%), 14
absent (28%); Administrators: Of 40
total: 5
present (12.5%), 2 excused (5%), 33 absent (82.5%); Staff:
Of 18 total: 12 present (67%), 3
excused (17%), 3 absent (16%); Alumni:
Of 4
total: 3 present (75%), 1 excused (25%), 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 Chairperson 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 welcomed all
attendees to the final Senate meeting of 2016. Gillett's Chair's Report
included comments on:
- a summary of the activities of the University Commencement
Panel;
- the status of the proposal to form a new School of Graduate
Studies in New Brunswick; and
- the meeting agenda.
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
November 11, 2016 Senate Meeting
were
approved as distributed by the Executive Secretary.
- Communications - The
following communication was presented by the Executive Secretary:
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Research,
and Graduate and Professional Education Committee (RGPEC) Response to
Charge S-1508 on Responsible Conduct of Research - Jane Otto, RGPEC
Chair, and Judy Neubauer, Associate Vice President for Research and
Regulatory Affairs, and RGPEC Member
Research, and Graduate and Professional Education Committee Chair Jane
Otto, and RGPEC Member Judy Neubauer presented the RGPEC response to
Charge S-1508 on Responsible Conduct of Research. Otto then read the
report's resolution, which was discussed briefly, then adopted by the
Senate.
Executive
Committee (EC) Resolution on Rutgers, a Safe and Welcoming Environment
- Peter
Gillett, EC Chair, and Ann Gould, EC Member
Senate and Executive Committee Chair Peter Gillett introduced the EC's
Resolution on Rutgers, a Safe and Welcoming Environment. EC Member Ann
Gould then read the resolution, which began discussion on the matter.
Senator William Field, proposed amending the resolution to include
a recommendation that "The Rutgers University Senate encourage the full
faculty of Rutgers University to self-report to the Watchlist." This
referred to the Turning Point USA list of "professors that
advance a radical agenda in lecture halls." The amendment was seconded
and discussed, then failed. Senator Akeen Anaele moved to delete the
second element under "Be It Further Resolved." [See the link above for
the specific language, which remains in the resolution.] The amendment
was seconded and discussed, then failed. Following some additional
discussion, the Resolution was adopted by the Senate.
RUTGERS
BIOMEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES
(RBHS) CHANCELLOR'S REPORT - Brian Strom, RBHS Chancellor
Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences (RBHS) Chancellor Brian Strom
presented an RBHS Chancellor's Report. The
presentation on that report is
linked above. Strom then
responded to questions, or heard comments, on the report and related
issues.
ADMINISTRATIVE
REPORT
- Robert Barchi, University President
President Barchi presented
an administrative report, commenting on topics including:
- his appeciation for the Senate's, faculty councils', and other
entities' support of Rutgers initiatives on safe environment;
- the Professors Watchlist; and
- the Cornerstone Project.
Barchi then responded to questions, or heard comments, on the above, as
well as:
- Rutgers' financial reserves;
- postdoc salaries;
- boundaries and contemporary standards of free speech;
- Rutgers
students winning the College Fed Challenge in Washington, DC;
- humanities and STEM initiatives and funding; and
- academic freedom for part-time lecturers.
SENATE EXECUTIVE
COMMITTEE
REPORT - Senate Vice Chair Robert Puhak reported on the November
18, 2016 meeting and activities of the Senate Executive Committee.
REPORTS
OF THE REPRESENTATIVES TO BOARDS OF GOVERNORS AND TRUSTEES:
Senator
Samuel Rabinowitz, Faculty Representative to the Board of
Governors, reported on the December 6, 2016 Board of Governors
meeting. Senator Asha Samant, Faculty Representative
to the Board of Trustees, said that there had been no meeting of the
Board of Trustees since the previous Senate meeting. Akeen Anaele,
Undergraduate Student Representative to the Board of Trustees, said
that the next Board of Trustees meeting would take place on December
14, 2016.
REPORTS OF CAMPUS FACULTY AND STUDENT
LIAISONS:
Senator Samuel Rabinowitz, a member of the Camden Faculty Council,
reported on that group's recent activities. Senator Michael Van Stine,
Camden Student Member of the Executive Committee, reported on
recent Camden student governing association plans, activities and
events. Senator Sanjib Bhuyan, Vice Chair of the New Brunswick Faculty
Council, reported on that group's recent activities and plans. Senator
Viktor Krapivin, New
Brunswick
Student
Member
of the Senate Executive Committee, reported on New Brunswick student
governing association activities.
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting adjourned
at 3:08 p.m.
Minutes Written and Submitted by,
Ken Swalagin
Executive Secretary of the University Senate