RUTGERS
UNIVERSITY SENATE
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
M I N U T E S
March 2, 2018
MEMBERS PRESENT: Boikess, Borisovets, Esposito, Gillett
(Chair), Gould, Krapivin, Oliver, Parsa, Settles,
Thompson, Van Stine
MEMBERS EXCUSED: Kelly, Scoloveno, Walters
ALSO ATTENDING: A. Kustka (Research and Graduate &
Professional Education Committee Chair), B. Lee (Senior Vice President
for Academic
Affairs), S.
Rabinowitz (Faculty Representative to the Board of Governors), M.
Mickelsen
(Interim Executive Secretary)
The regular meeting of the University Senate Executive Committee was
held on Friday, March 2, 2018 at 12:00 p.m. in Room 202ABC
at the Cook Student Center, Cook Campus.
1.
Chair’s Report
- Peter Gillett, Senate Chair
Senate and Executive Committee Chair Peter Gillett called the
meeting to order at 12:00 p.m. He spoke about:
- the status of the Executive Secretary search;
- his scheduled meeting with Kimberly Manning and Jon Oliver to
discuss the EC's concerns regarding Rutgers' Identity in Rating Reports
- a proposed charge by Jon Oliver at the February EC meeting that was
not issued, but throughly discussed. Gillett will report back to
the EC at the April meeting; and
- Tony Calcado and Harry Agnostic's plans to attend the June 8
meeting to discuss employee parking fees.
2. Secretary’s Report - Mary Mickelsen,
Interim Executive Secretary of the Senate
3. Administrative Liaison
Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Barbara Lee presented
an administrative report, which
included comments on:
Lee then responded to questions, or heard comments on the above
subjects, as well as:
- follow up on the President's responses to Senate charges;
- status of the creation of a PTL website; and
- status of Lee's committee looking into learning platforms and
when a final report is anticipated.
4. Schedule
of Senate and Executive Committee Meetings, Academic Year 2018-19
Next-year's
schedule of Senate and Executive Committee meetings was
discussed. Mickelsen responded to questions about the schedule,
which was modified
and adopted. [Note: The link above goes to the schedule as adopted.]
5. Standing
Committees
Reports:
Identify
specific grant cost issues that negatively impact the University's
mission to conduct research across disciplines, and actively engage in
its students in that research, including but not limited to:
tuition, fringe rate, Facilities and Administrative costs ("F&A,"
formally known as indirect costs), support services, and negotiated
vendor contracts. Identify and engage stakeholders, and make
recommendations.
Kustka summarized his committee's
report on Charge S-1703, on Grant Costs. The RGPEC response was
discussed at length with a few formatting recommendations. The
report was the docketed for the March 23 Senate meeting.
[Kustka left at 1:11 p.m.]
Issues/Charges:
Proposed
Charge to Instruction, Curricula, and Advising Committee (ICAC) on How
OIT and Other Offices Solicit and Integrate Feedback - Submitted
by Jon Oliver
Proposed
Charge: Investigate and make recommendations on how OIT and other
offices solicit and integrate feedback from all constituencies at
Rutgers to ensure the optimal purchase and use of information systems.
Rationale:
The university has seen major
changes to its procurement and
enterprise resource planning systems over the past 3 years. This
trend is continuing with the study and implementation of a new human
resource and student information systems. The Office of
Information Technology (OIT) has also undertaken multiple studies and
working groups investigating cloud information systems, storage, and
research computing to name a few. While all of these significant
changes have had various stakeholder participation study, not all have
included all university constituencies.
Jon
Oliver summarized the proposed charge on How OIT and Other Offices
Solicit and Integrate Feedback. The proposed charge, which was
supported by the rationale shown below, was issued to the Budget
and Finance Committee, after much debate on which committee would be
the most appropriate, with a December 2018 reporting
deadline.
Proposed
Charge to Instruction, Curricula, and Advising Committee (ICAC) on
Online and Hybrid Course Support - Submitted by Jon Oliver
Proposed
Charge: Investigate and consider how online and hybrid courses
are supported at Rutgers. How are courses created and delivered
and how are faculty supported. What tools, licensed software
technologies are used for the best content delivery?
Jon Oliver summarized the proposed
charge on Online and Hybrid Course Support. The proposed charge
was discussed and issued to the Instruction, Curricula and Advising
Committee who had dealt with a similar charge in 2009 -
S-0806: Hybrid
Courses and Model of Teaching. ICAC will report to the
Executive Committee by November 2018.
Proposed
Charge to Instruction, Curricula, and Advising Committee (ICAC) on A
Policy Relating to Student Posting of Faculty-Owned Documents -
Submitted by Peter Gillett
Proposed
Charge: Investigate and make recommendations on University
Policies relating to students' posting of syllabi, slides, tests,
examinations,
and other professor created documents to sites such as Course Hero.
Consider
similar issues related to student-created documents.
Rationale: This practice compromises both copyright,
and
instructors' ability to manage and control the effective use of the
materials
they create.
Peter Gillett summarized the proposed
charge on A Policy Relating to Student Posting of Faculty-Owned
Documents. Viktor Krapivin discussed some positive uses for such
sites as Quizlet and asked the committee also consider student related
documents. The charge was issued to ICAC with a reporting
deadline of February 2019.
6.
New Business
Issue Raised by Newark Faculty Council
Chair, Jane Gilman,
regarding holding more Senate meetings on the Newark Campus.
The
following is an email sent to Senator
Robert Puhak from Chairwoman
Gilman on February 12, 2018:
The Newark
Faculty Council discussed its interaction and connection with the
University
Senate at today's meeting.
I am writing to
ask whether as one of the Newark representatives to the Senate,
you
are willing
to ask the Senate (i) to hold more meetings in Newark. Instead of one
out of
nine yearly meetings, perhaps the Senate could hold at least two
of them
in Newark and (ii) to arrange for Newark representatives to participate
via
Skype in Senate meetings. If there were place dedicated to Skype for
Newark
faculty, that would be an improvement to the current situation. If this
arrangement were of interest to Camden faculty, they should be
included, of
course. A similar Skype arrangement for Senate committees would also be
desirable.
After discussing NFC Chair Gilman's
request at length, giving much consideration to the lack of attendance
and participation of Newark senators, the larger contingent on the New
Brunswick campus, fairness to other campuses, and logistical issues;
the Executive Committee decided not to add more senate meetings in
Newark (or any other campuses) at this time. The Executive
Committee will be reviewing the live streaming test that has been going
on for the last 6 months during Senate meetings and will begin
a video
conferencing pilot program during committee meetings, starting with the
Instruction, Curricula, and Advising Committee in September 2018.
Gillett will reach out to Gilman on the results of her request.
Request
for a Presentation on "Bargaining for the Common Good" at the
March 23 Senate Meeting - Submitted by Robert Boikess
The
following is an email sent to Senate
Executive Committee Member Robert Boikess from David
Hughes, VP of the Rutgers AAUP-AFT Faculty Union on February 25, 2018:
As
you well know, the union contracts of 24 bargaining units
– covering 20,000 Rutgers workers – expire on 1 July
2018. The coalition
of these unions is requesting to make a presentation to the plenary of
the
University Senate on 23 March. In the context of the negotiations
beginning in March, we would like to share our proposals of
“bargaining for the
common good.” Those proposals include:
Reduced health insurance
premiums and greatly
expanded accessibility to health insurance for all university employees:
Collective bargaining
rights for all university
employees;
Tuition benefits for
all university employees;
A minimum wage of
$15 for all university
employees;
A
tuition freeze for students.
The
presentation would allow us to seek input from the
largest representative body of the University community, surely a
worthwhile
process. The presenters would be:
Premelia
Toney-Boss, Corresponding Secretary, AFSCME Local 1761;
David
M. Hughes, Vice-President, Rutgers AAUP-AFT.
I
would be grateful if you could pass this
request along to the Executive Council of the Senate. Feel free
to share the message in its entirety.
Boikess summarized the intention of
David Hughes and Permelia Toney-Boss and defended the idea this
presentation was not centered around collective bargaining but a
collaborative event focused on the common good. The Executive Committee
felt it was too close to collective bargaining, which the senate does
not participate in, and suggested a joint caucus be formed prior to the
Senate meeting on March 23, where Hughes and Toney-Boss can make their
presentation to interested parties. Gillett offered this option
to Hughes, which he accepted. The presentation will take place at 12:30
p.m. in the multipurpose room of the College Avenue Student Center
immediately prior to the March 23 Senate meeting.
[Lee left at 3:08 p.m.]
7. Assignment
of Nominating Panel
Nominating
Panel 2018: Mary
Mickelsen will send an
email to all current Senators announcing the opportunity to submit
self-nominations or nominations of
others for 2018-19 Senate officer and board representative positions,
and that the email will direct Senators to nominating instructions and
the Nominating
Panel Charge. The
Executive Committee was asked to suggest Senators
to serve on a Nominating Panel that can be called upon to suggest
additional nominees in categories not sufficiently populated within the
next several weeks. Ann
Gould will serve as chair and Viktor Krapivin, Adrienne Esposito, and
Natalie Borisovets will
serve as members on the Panel.
8.
University Senate Agenda
The
March 23, 2018
Senate Meeting agenda was discussed, and will include:
- Meeting
to be held in New Brunswick
- New
Brunswick Chancellor's Report to be given by Chancellor Debasish
Dutta
- Research and
Graduate & Professional Education Committee (RGPEC) Response to
Charge Charge
S-1703, on Grant Costs
9.
Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 3:11 p.m.
Minutes written and submitted by,
Mary Mickelsen
Interim Executive Secretary of the University Senate