RUTGERS UNIVERSITY
SENATE
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
M I N U T E S
March 4, 2016
MEMBERS PRESENT: Borisovets, Cotter,
Gillett,
Gould (Chair), Janniger, Langer, Lee (phone), Okuwobi, Oliver, Otto
(phone),
Puhak, Schulberg, Swalagin (Executive Secretary), Theiss, Thompson
MEMBERS
EXCUSED: Barraco
ALSO
ATTENDING: R. Barchi (President of the University), B. Lee
(Senior V.P. for Academic Affairs), S.
Rabinowitz
(Faculty Representative to the Board of
Governors), A. Samant (Faculty Representative to the Board of
Trustees), M. Spiegel (Faculty Representative to the Board of
Trustees)
The regular meeting of the University Senate Executive Committee was
held on
Friday, March 4, 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 1:16 p.m. She introduced the new Camden student
member of the Executive Committee, Senator Oluwatoniloba Okuwobi.
Senator Okuwobi then spoke briefly about her background, and was
welcomed to the committee. Gould said that the meeting's agenda was the
largest she had seen, and that she would therefore try to limit
discussions to about five minutes per issue.
2.
Secretary’s Report -
Ken Swalagin, Executive Secretary of the Senate
- Agenda: The meeting agenda
was approved as distributed.
- Minutes: The Minutes of the February 5, 2016 Senate Executive
Committee Meeting were approved with minor changes.
- Communications: The
following communications were presented by the executive secretary:
- The Web
Accessibility Policy has been finalized and approved for addition
to the University Policy Library. In a March 3 email from Bill Welsh to
Christopher Retzko, Welsh states that "The policy has not changed from
the draft format reviewed by the University Senate, except that the
approval authority changed from the Senior Vice President for
Administration to the Senior Vice President and Chief Information
Officer."
- In response to last month's discussion on the Distinguished
Professor job title, Barbara Lee has forwarded the following
information:
- "Each department has an HCM specialist that they need to go
through for those changes. As for phone number and email addresses you
can go into the HCM tab within RIAS and make those changes yourself. In
order for the phone number to be changed you need to fill it in under
the business phone number as well as the campus phone number which then
goes into the directory." [Forwarded from Catherine Battista, Senior
Confidential Administrative Assistant in SVP Lee's office] Senator
Kwangwon Lee, who first raised this issue, asked if Human Resources
couldn't change those titles centrally and globally. Barbara Lee
responded that the current process requires each department to request
the changes. President Barchi questioned why the duplication of effort
was necessary. Barbara Lee will look further into the issue, and ask
Human Relations to stop the duplication of effort.
- The Academic Appointments Manual is currently being updated.
It is not currently on the website. It should be updated and online by
the end of March. [per Lisa Bonick]
[Senator
Langer joined the meeting at 1:22 p.m.]
3.
Administrative Report -
Robert Barchi, University President
University President Robert Barchi presented an
Administrative
Report, which included comments on:
- admissions statistics/increases;
- applicants' academic profiles and SAT scores;
- fundraising and recent, significant gifts;
- Rutgers
University New Brunswick ranking by USA Today as the nation's
second
best place to study the health professions;
- recent Rutgers bond refinancing, and resultant savings;
- appeal and review of a recent denial of tenure of an
African-American faculty member; and
- commencement speaker and honorary degree nominations review,
rankings, and timing.
President Barchi then responded to questions, or heard comments, on the
above subjects and others including:
- enrollment statistics and facilities capacity for Newark and
Camden; and
- parking facilities and constraints in Camden.
In response to a question from Senator Langer, Barbara Lee said she did
not know if UHR does exit interviews for faculty, but that she would
inquire.
Langer also said it might be helpful for the New Brunswick and RBHS
members of the Executive Committee, who reviewed and ranked the
honorary degree nominees, to see the final rankings. Ann Gould said
that she considers the list to be not public, but that she would share
it.
4. Standing
Committees
Issues/Charges:
Proposed
Charge to Academic Standards, Regulations and Admissions Committee
(ASRAC) on Religious Holidays, and Students Excused from Classes for
those Holidays - Suggested by
Barbara Lee during her February Administrative Report to the Executive
Committee
The following proposed charge and supporting rationale, suggested by
Barbara Lee, were discussed:
Rationale
(from the February EC discussion):
Diversity makes the list of religious holidays more extensive. Should a
public university recognize religious holidays? Instructors cannot
require a note, nor can they ask if a student is a practitioner of a
particular religion.
Proposed
Charge: Consider policies at Rutgers regarding excused class
absences for religious holidays.
Respond to Senate Executive Committee by [insert deadline].
The charge was issued to the ASRAC with a November 2016 reporting
deadline.
Proposed Charge on Sale of Alcohol in
Stadiums - Submitted by New Brunswick Student Member of the EC
Justin Schulberg
The following charge rationale, submitted by Justin Schulberg, was
discussed:
Rationale:
"After RUSA passed a resolution
calling for the sale of alcohol in stadiums, specifically looking
at the Rutgers Athletic Center (RAC) and High Point Solution Stadium,
it is appropriate for the Senate to also look into this matter. This
issue does not just affect New Brunswick students, which RUSA
represents, but it stretches to the domain of faculty, staff, alumni,
and countless others who attend Rutgers' athletic events. This
issue is heated and dynamic, as it has broad-reaching consequences.
As the most representative body at Rutgers University, it is desirable
for the University Senate to look into the sale of alcohol in the
stadiums and advise President Barchi on its investigation and
recommendations into the matter."
The Student Affairs Committee and Budget and Finance Committee
were suggested as recipients of this charge. President Barchi suggested
an ad hoc committee. The EC decided that an ad hoc committee consisting
of chairs of committees or their representatives, plus three other
people to be selected by the EC, would be formed. The committee would
meet on Senate-Friday mornings. Ken Swalagin will work with Justin
Schulberg
to develop charge language for the next EC meeting.
Proposal to Elect a Senator to be the
Official Representative to the NJ State Legislature - Submitted by
Senator David Hughes
The following charge rationale, submitted by Senator David Hughes, was
discussed:
[On
February 19], “in the faculty caucus, I proposed that
the Senate consider electing a senator to be the official
representative to the
NJ State Legislature. The Faculty Senate
of the University of Washington deploys such a person and he or she has
been
effective in securing state funds and in otherwise adding to the good
name of
the University. I request that the Executive Committee consider this
proposal
at its next meeting. Let me add that, as union president, I met with
State
Senator Ray Lesniak last month. He told me specifically that Rutgers
needs a
voice. Our administration has not done a good job of conveying the
depth and
breadth of what Rutgers does, especially what the faculty do. Other
legislators
in Trenton have expressed a similar sentiment. Even if the
administration was representing
Rutgers adequately, a voice from the Senate would strengthen our hand
in
legislative hearings and in regulatory processes. This person would not
serve
as a professional lobbyist - no one otherwise employed at Rutgers has
time for
that - but she or he would testify and meet informally now and then to
underscore the perspective of faculty, staff, students, and
alumni.”
Sam
Rabinowitz pointed out that the Board of Governors' External Relations
Committee, which includes faculty and student representatives from both
the Board of Governors and the Board of Trustees, as well as some
components of University relations, are already
functioning in a manner similar to what was proposed. No charge was
issued.
Annual
Review of All Outstanding,
Pending Committee Charges: Charges issued to committees
lapse in March of the year following the
year in which the charge was issued. Ken Swalagin had emailed
all standing committee chairs to ask for a status report on pending
charges for EC review at this
meeting. Hardcopies of the status reports that were received were
distributed at the meeting. Action on this matter was also deferred.
5.
Old Business
Proposal
on "Senate Transparency" - Submitted by Justin Schulberg, New
Brunswick Student Executive Committee Member: This issue had been
discussed by the EC at several meetings. The clicker and voting record
aspect of the proposal was deemed not feasible, but on the matter of
whether Senate meetings should be live webstreamed and archived, the EC
decided an ad hoc committee should be formed consisting of volunteers
from the Senate's standing committees. At this meeting, a draft charge
was discussed, and modified to become:
Consider
the
feasibility and desirability of videorecording and live webstreaming
University Senate meetings, and archiving those videorecordings online
for later viewing. Include in discussions aspects of the issue as
transparency, technology, costs, benefits, audience, need, personal
privacy of
participants, etc. Present arguments both for and against the streaming
and archiving. Respond to Senate Executive Committee by February 2017.
The
charge is to be issued to an ad hoc committee that would consist of two
volunteers from each of the standing committees. The ad hoc committee
would meet an hour before the standing committees convene on Senate
Fridays. Ken Swalagin was asked to find out if other senates are
streaming and/or archiving videos of their meetings.
[President
Barchi left the meeting at 2:35 p.m.]
Proposed Charge on RCM and Allocation of
Faculty Lines - Submitted by Senator Karen Thompson: This issue was discussed at the
previous EC meeting. Budget and Finance Committee (BFC) Chair Menahem
Spiegel accepted the proposal as an addendum to ongoing work the BFC is
doing on RCM, but wanted to change the language of the charge. The
rationale below was submitted originally by
Senator Thompson:
Rationale:
With student enrollment growing at Rutgers, and with Responsibility
Center Management (RCM) as our budgeting model, we increasingly notice
that departments no longer retain control over faculty lines and/or
have great difficulty obtaining a line when the enrollment and the
curriculum suggest a line is needed. Faculty in individual departments
who design courses/curricula are in the best position to determine the
need and allocation of lines.
A
revised charge proposed by BFC Chair Menahem Spiegel was amended and
issued as follows:
Allocation of Faculty Lines/Positions in
RCM Units: Investigate policies at Rutgers University regarding
allocation of faculty lines/positions within Responsibility Center
Management (RCM) units. Identify areas of concern, and make appropriate
recommendations. Respond to Senate Executive Committee by March 2017.
Charge Revision Request -
Submitted by Senator Joseph Markert, Faculty and Personnel Affairs
Committee (FPAC) Co-chair: The FPAC had requested deletion and
resubmission of
Charge A-0812-3 to indicate a focus on chancellors only. The following
charge was issued to the FPAC:
Evaluation
of Administrators, Part II: Evaluation of Chancellors: Reconsider the
process for evaluating upper administrators recommended by the
University Senate in 2012, focusing on a process for evaluating the
chancellors. Respond to the Senate Executive Committee by April 2016.
Proposed Charge on
Test-Optional Admissions
- Submitted by Senator Robert Boikess: Senator Boikess had sent the
following charge suggestion:
This issue was discussed at the previous EC meeting, during which ASRAC
Co-chair Martha Cotter said she would consult with Vice President for
Enrollment Management Courtney McAnuff on the matter before the EC
considers issuing a charge to the ASRAC. At this meeting, Cotter said
she will continue her research on this issue, and report back to the EC
at the next meeting.
Instruction,
Curricula and Advising Committee (ICAC) Response
to Charge S-1504 on Determination of Student Attendance -
Natalie Borisovets, ICAC Chair
This
report was postponed at the February Senate meeting due largely to
student objections to its recommendations and the Senate meeting in
Camden on that day, and the expectation that student Senator attendance
would be greater at a New Brunswick meeting. The
ICAC had been charged as follows:
Develop
guidelines that would allow units
and individual instructors to comply with U.S. Department of Education
requirements that Rutgers keep records for students receiving federal
financial aid that substantiate students' participatory attendance in
the classes for which they are registered.
ICAC Chair Natalie Borisovets said she would bring back a revised
report. She will also try to have staff from Financial Aid attend the
Senate meeting to respond to questions or concerns when the revised
report is presented.
[Senator
Borisovets left the meeting at 3:40 p.m.]
NJPIRG Student Chapters Concept Plan
Review - Addendum
to Concept Plan: NJPIRG Student Chapters had submitted their
Concept
Plan
and audit
reports to the Senate office and directly to the Student Affairs
Committee during the first week of this semester, in preparation for a
Fall 2016 referendum. A cover memo
was submitted later when Ken Swalagin requested it. The Student Affairs
Committee (SAC) met with NJPIRG representatives and discussed the
documents at the January 22 SAC meeting, and submitted the following
response to the Executive Committee:
"There
is no doubt that the presence of
NJPIRG on Rutgers campuses provides educational value. While the
students do express some concern about the eventual fate of the funds
provided by the student body and the formal wording of the proposed
resolution, NJPIRG is welcome to continue to work with the Rutgers
community."
The SAC had not responded to the other concept plan requirements
explaining some financial matters, and the need for the funding
mechanism being requested, and outlined in the policy on funding
for special student organizations. On January 26, Nick Jermer, a
member of the Executive Committee of the
NJPIRG Students Board of Directors, sent a "NJPIRG
Budget Shorthand" email directly to Ann Gould. Ken Swalagin sent a
detailed list of concept plan deficiencies, with
citations from the policy, to NJPIRG Student Chapters, and they
responded with the Addendum.
The EC reviewed additional information provided by NJPIRG Student
Chapters, and approved the concept plan (with two dissenting votes) as
satisfying the requirements outlined in the policy.
Timelines for Commencement
Panel/Committees - From Kim Pastva, Interim Secretary of the
University:
Interim
Secretary of the University Kim Pastva had sent the following message
relative to the Senate's November 2015 Response
to Charge S-1410 on Honorary Degree and Commencement Speaker Selection
Process, as amended to include timelines:
"We
are in the process of getting the call [for
honorary-degree and commencement-speaker nominations] out to the
community. My suggested
timeline is:
- March
11, 2016 - Call for Nominations for Commencement 2017
goes out to Rutgers Community. I hope this will give the student some
time
during spring break to write a nomination, if they want to do it then.
- April
15, 2016 - Call for Nominations Closed
- April 19, 2016 - All
Nominations submitted to Senate for committee review.
"After
the Senate receives the nominations, how much time do
you think you will need for review and ranking? Do you think we could
have the
results by the end of May (after graduation?) Then the administrations
can meet
and start making offers over the summer. I
think we
should then do a call in September 2016 for
2018's commencement. Barbara Lee suggested that, and that would
certainly give
us a lot of time to get on people's calendars."
The issue was discussed. Ann Gould said she would ask Kim Pastva to
issue the call for nominations after Spring Break. Ken Swalagin will
send an email to the Senate asking which faculty and student Senators
are interested in volunteering for their chancellor's committees, and
will bring a list of volunteers to the next EC meeting so names could
be chosen and communicated to the chancellors.
[Senator
Schulberg left the meeting at 3:59 p.m.]
6.
New Business
Nominating Panel 2016: An
email had been sent by Ken Swalagin to all current Senators on February
24
announcing the opportunity to submit self-nominations or nominations of
others for 2016-17 Senate officer and board representative positions.
The email directed Senators to nominating instructions and the Nominating
Panel Charge. At this meeting, the Executive Committee is asked to
suggest Senators
to serve on a Nominating Panel that could be called upon to suggest
additional nominees in categories not sufficiently populated within the
next several weeks. Jon Oliver and Robert Puhak again agreed to
chair the panel and present the slate and election process at the April
29 Senate meeting. Additional members of this year's Nominating Panel
will be Edmund Janniger, Martha Cotter, and Samuel Rabinowitz.
5.A. Old Business (Continued)
Addendum to Charges S-1510 (to ICAC on Student Teaching
Evaluations,
and Best Practices in Evaluation of Teaching 2015) and S-1511 (to FPAC
on Personnel Considerations Related to Student Teaching Evaluations,
and Best Practices in Evaluation of Teaching): Senator Boikess
had
forwarded a New
Brunswick Faculty Council Resolution on this matter. He also asks
that the ICAC and FPAC "Consider how the Senate could extend the
planned actions on the New Brunswick campus concerning evaluation of
teaching to the other three campuses as well." Ken Swalagin will
forward the resolution to the FPAC and ICAC chairs. The related charges
were not changed.
7.
University Senate Agenda
April 1, 2016 Senate Meeting:
8.
Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 4:41 p.m.
Minutes written and submitted by,
Ken Swalagin
Executive Secretary of the University Senate