RUTGERS UNIVERSITY
SENATE
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
M I N U T E S
March 6, 2015
MEMBERS PRESENT: Barraco, Boikess,
Borisovets, Burrell (by phone), Cotter, Gould (Chair), Janniger,
Joshi, Langer, Otto,
Puhak, Swalagin
(Executive
Secretary), Thompson, Velan
MEMBERS EXCUSED: Bodrog,
Oliver
ALSO
ATTENDING: Barchi (University President), F. Bouchoux (Interim
Vice President
and Chief Enterprise Risk Management, Ethics and Compliance Officer),
Rabinowitz
(Faculty Representative to the Board of
Governors), Schwartz (Faculty Representative to the Board of Trustees),
K. Scotto (Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Dean), Spiegel
(Faculty Representative to the Board of
Trustees)
The regular meeting of the University Senate Executive Committee was
held on
Friday, March 6, 2015 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 1:17 p.m., saying that she wanted to make sure that
the law schools merger would go to the Senate at the next meeting, and
that the merger of the graduate schools would also move forward through
the Senate approval process. Gould also said she wanted to do some
brainstorming on what the Senate might do for Rutgers' 250th
anniversary.
2.
Secretary’s Report - Ken Swalagin,
Executive Secretary of the Senate
- Agenda: The meeting
agenda was
approved as distributed by the Executive Secretary..
- Minutes: The February 6, 2015
Senate Executive Committee Meeting Minutes were approved as
distributed by the Executive Secretary.
- Communications: The
following communications were presented and acted upon as indicated:
- Schedule
of 2015-16 Senate and Executive Committee meetings. [Schedule
approved. Note: The last Senate meeting on the schedule as distributed
was too late in the year, and was subsequently changed to April 29,
2016.]
- Former
longtime Faculty Senator Jan Dutta died on February 22. [Noted.
Gould will mention this in her Chair's Report at the upcoming Senate
meeting.]
- The
2015 CIC Faculty Governance Leadership Conference will be held
Wednesday,
September 23 - Friday, September 25, 2015 at the University of Illinois
at
Urbana-Champaign. Events will kick off with a reception the evening of
Sept 23
and conclude by 1 pm on Sept 25. Additional details will be provided as
they become
available. [Noted.]
3. Administrative Liaison Report - Robert
Barchi, University President
University President Robert Barchi presented
an administrative report, which
included comments on:
- his absolute commitment to shared governance, and to the Senate
as a primary entity in shared governance, along with other, recognized
and established faculty and student governance bodies;
- the need for the Senate to act more quickly on many issues, and
his related request that the Executive Committee think about how an
authority could be constituted to work with the administration on
behalf of the Senate when it is necessary for the administration to act
quickly on an issue, but needs Senate advice before doing so;
- Barbara Lee becoming Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs;
- applications and admissions;
- search and organizational processes relating to filling the Chief
Information Officer position;
- a recent distributed denial of services, and efforts to improve
security, including restructuring or possibly outsourcing email systems;
- coordination of transportation systems, and related coordination
with housing and assignment of classrooms;
- Rutgers' upcoming 250th anniversary; and
- his ongoing presidential visits around the country.
4. Standing Committees/Proposed Charges
Division
of Graduate Studies Proposal, and Overview of
Graduate School - New Brunswick - Submitted by Kathleen
Scotto, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Dean, and Jerome Kukor,
Graduate School - New Brunswick Dean
Kathleen
Scotto, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Dean, joined the meeting
at 1:45 p.m. to speak about the proposed formation of a Division of
Graduate Studies in New Brunswick. The proposal was discussed at some
length, but resulted in no action at this point in the meeting.
However, later in the meeting, it was decided that Kukor and Scotto
would be asked for documentation that could be sent to Senate
committees for review at their March 27 meetings. Committee chairs
would then be asked to forward each committee's questions to Ken
Swalagin so they can be sent to Scotto and Kukor for responses. [Scotto
left the meeting at 2:08 p.m.]
5. Discussion of
Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) Issues for Possible Committee
Consideration and Charges - Fran Bouchoux, Interim Senior Vice
President and Chief Enterprise Risk Management, Ethics and Compliance
Officer
Fran Bouchoux,
Interim Senior Vice President, joined the meeting at 2:08 p.m. She
spoke about her background, and about Enterprise Risk Management. Two
issues Bouchoux mentioned that may be of interest to the University
Senate are:
- requirements for monitoring class attendance of students who are
receiving federal financial assistance; and
- compliance measures for online courses taken by students with
disabilities, particularly visual impairment.
Bouchoux will send
Ken Swalagin a rationale for issuing a charge to the Instruction,
Curricula and Advising Committee on the attendance matter. No charge
was issued on either matter.
4.
Standing Committees/Proposed Charges (continued)
Committee
Reports:
Budget and Finance Committee (BFC) Response
to Charge S-1408 on Athletics Program Deficits - BFC
Chair Menahem Spiegel summarized his committee's report on Charge
S-1408 on Athletics Program Deficits. The BFC had been charged as
follows:
Charge S-1408, Athletics Program
Deficits: "
Study
the sources and the use of funds by the Athletic Department and make
recommendations concerning the use of funds from the University
operating
budget and student fees to support athletics expenditures. When
discussing this
charge, the Budget and Finance Committee may wish to ask the Student
Affairs
Committee for input relative to student funding of athletics. It may
also want
to consider the recent New Brunswick Faculty Council’s detailed
report entitled
the 'Athletics
Program's Revenues, Expenditures, and Deficit.'"
Martha
Cotter noted that much of the report's section on the long-range
financial plan was taken from the New Brunswick Faculty Council report
on this subject, and asked that a reference be added to the report.
Spiegel agreed to add that reference. The report was docketed for
action at the upcoming Senate meeting.
Issues/Proposed
Charges:
Proposed
Charge to Research, and Graduate and Professional Education Committee
(RGPEC) on Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) Implementation, and
Rationale,
submitted by Jane Otto, RGPEC Chair:
RGPEC Chair Jane Otto
summarized her proposed charge on ORCID. The charge was issued as
follows: Investigate
and make recommendations with regard to an implementation of Open
Researcher and Contributor IDs (ORCID) (i.e. issuing ORCID
IDs) at Rutgers. If deemed appropriate, make specific
recommendations
for incremental implementation, for example, beginning with the
graduate school(s).
Identify benefits, processes, timeline, who would be involved, and
approximate
costs. Respond to Senate Executive Committee by December 2015.
Division
of Graduate Studies Proposal, and Overview of
Graduate School - New Brunswick - Submitted by Kathleen
Scotto, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Dean, and Jerome Kukor,
Graduate School - New Brunswick Dean
Discussion continued on the Division of Graduate Studies proposal,
which began at the previous Executive Committee meeting. Ann Gould will
ask the proposers for additional documentation that can be sent to the
Senate's standing committees for review, and to formulate questions on
the subject. The questions are to be sent to Ken Swalagin to be
compiled and sent to Kukor and Scotto.
Proposed Charge to Academic Standards,
Regulations and Admissions Committee (ASRAC) on Academic Calendar for
All RBHS Units - Suggested by Matthew Miller, Assistant RBHS
Registrar
A proposed charge to the ASRAC
on the academic calendar for all RBHS units was discussed briefly.
Martha Cotter said that University Registrar Ken Iuso had been working
on this issue, and that she will email him to ask what he is looking
for. Cotter will then draft a charge to the ASRAC to be issued with a
one-year due date.
6. Old
Business
Continued Discussion of
Proposed Merger of School of Law - Camden and School of Law -
Newark
Discussion of the proposed merger of
the two Rutgers law schools continued, and was based on the following
supporting documents:
The
deans' responses to Senate committee questions were distributed in
hardcopy at the meeting, and reviewed. The responses will be forwarded
to the Senate. Ann Gould and Ken Swalagin will draft a Senate
resolution endorsing the merger, and that will be brought to the Senate
floor at the upcoming Senate meeting. Prior to the Senate meeting, all
standing committee chairs will be asked to send any concerns or
additional questions to Swalagin within one week.
Proposed Charge on Modifying Academic
Calendar and Exam Times for Online Courses,
submitted by James Massachaele, Executive Vice Dean of SAS-NB via email
as follows:
"I
write in my capacity as Executive Vice-Dean of SAS to ask the Senate to
consider a proposal for making an adjustment to the University's exam
schedule.
A number of faculty in SAS have asked for an improved process for
scheduling
final exams in online courses. Currently the University makes no
provision for
this. Many faculty who teach online courses feel that in-person final
exams are
the best way to ensure the integrity of the exam. To make the
scheduling of
final exams for online courses more effective, we propose that the
University
set aside and advertise certain time slots as standard exam times for
online
courses. You can find details
of the proposal on the attached document. Please
let me know if you need more detail or if there is a different avenue I
need to
pursue to have the proposal considered by the Senate."
This matter was discussed at the
January Executive Committee meeting,
where it was suggested that ASRAC Chair Martha Cotter would consult
with Instruction, Curricula and Advising Committee (ICAC) Chair Natalie
Borisovets to determine how this issue may fit in with ICAC discussions
on exam space and facilities, and online course exams. The issue was
discussed again at the February meeting, at which Academic
Standards, Regulations, Admissions Committee Co-chair Martha Cotter and
Instruction, Curriculum and Advising Committee Chair Natalie Borisovets
were present. Cotter and Borisovets agreed to draft a charge on the
matter,
which will come to the Executive Committee. At this meeting, Borisovets
said she will ask for a charge to the ICAC on work they've already been
doing on a related issue, and would include this component in that
charge as well.
7. New Business
Discussion of Senate Participation in
Rutgers' 250th Anniversary: Various ideas for Senate
participation in Rutgers' 250th anniversary were suggested, and the
committee decided to explore the idea of a symposium on shared
governance. Ann Gould said the Executive Committee should create a
supporting proposal, and ask the administration for help with the
project.
8.
University
Senate Agenda for March 27, 2015
The March 27 Senate meeting agenda was determined, and will
include:
- BFC Report on Athletics Program Deficits
- BFC Annual Budget Report
- Presentation on Enterprise Risk Management
- SAC report on Cost of Textbooks (if available)
9. Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 4:31 p.m.
Minutes written and submitted by,
Ken Swalagin
Executive Secretary of the University Senate