RUTGERS UNIVERSITY
SENATE
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
M I N U T E S
January 8, 2016
MEMBERS PRESENT: Barraco (by phone), Borisovets, Cotter,
Gillett,
Gould (Chair), Janniger, Langer, Lee, Mhaske, Oliver, Otto,
Puhak, Swalagin (Executive Secretary), Theiss, Thompson
MEMBERS
EXCUSED: Schulberg
ALSO
ATTENDING: B. Lee
(Senior V.P. for Academic Affairs), M. O'Toole (Nursing School-Camden
Associate Dean), K. Pastva (Interim Secretary of the University), J.
Robinson (Nursing School - Camden Dean), S.
Rabinowitz
(Faculty Representative to the Board of
Governors), A. Samant (Faculty Representative to the Board of
Trustees)
The regular meeting of the University Senate Executive Committee was
held on
Friday, January 8, 2016 at 1:10 p.m. in the Executive Board Room of
Administrative Services Building-III, Cook Campus.
1. Chair’s Report
Senate and Executive Committee Chair Ann Gould called the
meeting to order at 1:12 p.m. She introduced Kwangwon Lee, who was
attending his first meeting as Camden Faculty Member of the Executive
Committee. She then asked everyone to introduce themselves for Senator
Lee's information.
2.
Secretary’s Report -
Ken Swalagin, Executive Secretary of the Senate
- Agenda: The meeting agenda
was approved as distributed.
- Minutes: The Minutes of November 20, 2015 Senate Executive
Committee Meeting were approved as distributed.
- Communications: The
following communication was presented, and acted upon as noted:
- Swalagin
reported that President
Barchi's response to the Senate's report and recommendations on Charge
S-1410 on Honorary Degree and Commencement Speaker Selection Process has
been drafted, and should be signed and transmitted soon. Barbara Lee
said that the report's recommendations had been accepted, but that
President Barchi wanted dates and deadlines added to the process. The
Executive Committee discussed the matter, and concluded that it was
primarily up to the chancellors to conduct their processes in a timely
manner, and that the Senate needed to start the process each year as
proposed in the report, so the report itself did not need to be
revised. [Note: President
Barchi's Response was
received by the Senate secretary the following Tuesday.]
[Robert Puhak joined the meeting at 1:18 p.m.]
- Ken
Swalagin has been informed by Tony Calcado that the Senate office will
be moved, but it is not known when or to where it will be relocated.
Noted.
3.
Administrative Report -
Barbara Lee, Senior Vice
President for Academic Affairs
Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Barbara Lee presented an
Administrative
Report, which focused on:
- changes in
the University's administrative structure, including:
- Bruce
Fehn's retirement, and reallocation of that position's responsibilities;
- Michael
Gower's appointment as Senior Vice President for Finance and
Administration, and functions assigned to his supervision;
- Vivian
Fernandez's promotion to Senior Vice President for Human Resources and
Organizational Effectiveness;
- areas of
responsibility added to those of Tony Calcado, Senior Vice President
for Institutional Planning and Operations;
- and
appointment of William
Brossman as Senior Vice President, Chief Enterprise Risk Management,
Ethics, and Compliance Officer;
- Monica
Barrett's departure from Rutgers, and Lisa Wahler's assignment as
Interim Senior Vice President and General Counsel; and
- the
ongoing
search for Rutgers General Counsel.
Lee then
responded to questions and heard comments on the
above subjects, as well as plans for Rutgers' 250th anniversary, and
Senate reports to which the administration has not yet responded.
[Jerome Langer joined the meeting at 1:25 p.m.]
4.1. Old Business
Nursing Programs Merger Update:
The University
Senate's May 2014 endorsement of the Nursing programs merger
included a provision for updates to be provided to the Senate. Nursing
Deans Joanne Robinson and Marie O'Toole arrived at this meeting at 1:30
p.m. as scheduled, and provided that update. After Robinson's and
O'Toole's departure at 2:09 p.m., the Executive Committee decided that
there was no need for further follow-up reports on the Nursing merger.
[Kimberlee Pastva joined the meeting at 1:57 p.m.]
Discussion
of how University Policies are revised and disseminated, and other
Board of Governors and Board of Trustees Issues: Kimberlee
Pastva, Interim Secretary of the University, had been invited to brief
the Executive Committee on the processes by which University Policies
are implemented or updated. Pastva reported on those processes, and
responded to questions thereon. It was decided that Swalagin should
begin sending Senate reports to the Office of the Secretary of the
University after positive administrative responses are received on
Senate recommendations for changes to University Policies. Pastva also
responded to multiple questions regarding process and timing on
nominations and vetting of candidates for honorary degrees and
commencement speakers. Pastva said that if the nomination solicitation
is done during the summer, students are less likely to be aware of the
opportunity than they would be if it were done later. She added that it
could possibly be done in April, after the first Board of Governors
meeting following selection of the following year's selections are
complete, or possibly earlier. She offered to discuss the timing
further with the Executive Committee.
[Pastva and Barbara Lee left the meeting at 2:53 p.m.]
5. Standing
Committees
Report:
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
SAC
Co-chairs Robert Barraco and Samuel Rabinowitz spoke about their
committee's response to Charge S-1507 on Deregistration for Non-Payment
of Term Bills, Including for Online Courses. The
SAC had been charged as follows: "Examine the issue of student
deregistration
for non-payment of term bills, including for online courses. Refer to Senator
Rudy Bell's proposal and background when pursuing this charge. Make
recommendations for preventing inappropriate deregistration." The
report, minus the resolution that Swalagin had added, was docketed for
information only on the upcoming Senate agenda.
4.2. Old Business (Continued)
How Faculty are Counted - Senator
Jerome Langer had raised the issue of how faculty are counted for
Senate-entitlement and other purposes, particularly relevant to the
faculty entitlements for Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Swalagin
explained that, although he had been receiving numbers of only
state-budgeted faculty lines for each unit, he had requested and
received total numbers of faculty lines, and had used those in the
entitlement calculations for next year.
Draft Resolution on Web
Accessibility Policy -
At the previous Executive Committee meeting, Ken Swalagin was asked to
draft a resolution documenting the Senate's
discussion and endorsement of the Web Accessibility Policy. The
committee discussed the resolution, and docketed it for action at the
upcoming Senate meeting 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.
Proposal
on "Senate Transparency" - This proposal had been discussed at
previous Executive Committee meetings. The aspect of the report
suggesting that Senate meetings be webstreamed remained unresolved.
Swalagin reported that meetings could be streamed from the College
Avenue Student Center, and from the Camden Campus Center. The matter
was discussed further, and it was decided that
Swalagin would work with Justin Schulberg, who co-sponsored the
proposal, to limit it to the webstreaming aspect. The pared-down
proposal would then become the basis for a charge to an ad hoc
committee, and the standing committee chairs would be asked to solicit
volunteers from their respective committees to serve on that ad hoc
group.
Further Discussion of the
Senate's report and recommendations on Charge
S-1410 on Honorary Degree and Commencement Speaker Selection Process:
University Structure and Governance Committee (USGC) Co-chair Robert
Puhak asked for confirmation that no changes to the USGC report on the
Honorary Degree and Commencement Speaker Selection Process are
necessary. Peter
Gillett noted that the report already stipulates that the University
Commencement Panel shall be appointed at the beginning of each year,
and that the Senate is only responsible for forming that panel, and the
rest would be up to the chancellors. The Executive Committee agreed
that the report would not be amended.
6.
University Senate Agenda
The
agenda for the January 22, 2016 Senate meeting was established.
Docketed items included:
- New
Brunswick
Chancellor's Report - New Brunswick Chancellor Richard Edwards
- Resolution on Draft Web Accessibility Policy
- Action on previously introduced changes to Senate Handbook/Bylaws
to establish the University Commencement Panel
- Student Affairs Committee report on Charge S-1507 on
Deregistration for Non-Payment of Term Bills
7.
New Business
There was no new business.
8.
Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 3:58 p.m.
Minutes written and submitted by,
Ken Swalagin
Executive Secretary of the University Senate