RUTGERS
UNIVERSITY SENATE
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
M I N U T E S
June 2, 2017
MEMBERS PRESENT: Boikess, Borisovets, Cotter, Esposito,
Gillett
(Chair), Gould, Krapivin (on phone), Mouradian, Puhak,
Thompson
MEMBERS EXCUSED: Janniger,
Krutyansky, Otto, Pirrello, Van Stine,
Wang
NON-MEMBER EXCUSED: Ken Swalagin (Executive Secretary of the University
Senate)
ALSO ATTENDING: B. Lee
(Senior Vice President for Academic
Affairs), M. Mickelsen (Administrative Assistant to the Senate), J.
Oliver (2017-18 Senate Vice Chair), H. Parsa (2017-18 Executive
Committee, Alumni Association), S.
Rabinowitz (Faculty Representative to the Board of Governors), A.
Samant
(Faculty Representative to the Board of Trustees), R. Schwartz (2017-18
Faculty Representative to the Board of Trustees), J. Serrano (2017-18
Undergraduate Representative to the Board of Trustees), A. Settles
(FPAC Co-Chair and 2017-18 Executive Committee Full-Time Faculty,
At-Large)
The regular meeting of the University Senate Executive Committee was
held on Friday, June 2, 2017 at 12:00 p.m. in Executive Conference
Room of ASB-III on the 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 noon.
2. Secretary’s Report - Mary
Mickelsen, Senate Administrative Assistant
Senate Executive Secretary Ken Swalagin was unable to attend the
meeting. Senate Administrative Assistant Mary Mickelsen substituted,
and drafted these minutes.
- Agenda: The meeting agenda was
approved as distributed by the Executive Secretary.
- Minutes:
- The April 7, 2017 Senate
Executive Committee Minutes were approved.
- The April 28, 2017 Senate Meeting Minutes (which the Executive
Committee
approves because the 2016-17 Senate does not meet again) were not
completed for this meeting, but will be distributed by the Executive
Secretary via email to the Executive Committee for approval.
- Communications: The
following communications were presented, and acted upon as indicated:
[Senator
Boikess joined the meeting at 12:18 p.m.]
3.
Administrative Report -
Barbara Lee, Senior Vice
President for Academic Affairs
Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Barbara Lee presented
an administrative report, which included comments on:
- overall success of students in several Academic Competitions this
year, including the Fed
Challenge and the CME
Challenge;
- Upshot
in the NY Times regarding Economic Mobility;
- fundraising for this year should reach $200 Million by the
end of the FY;
- Rutgers
Impact on the Economy of NJ;
- President's meeting with Moody's Investor's Services and Rutgers'
credit rating, which is higher than than that of the State of New
Jersey;
- Rutgers 251st
Commencement with 17,700 degrees awarded;
- ongoing construction on College Avenue, including addition of
bike lanes and
crossings;
- admissions;
- the President and Senior Vice Presidents will be moving out of
Old Queens and into Winants Hall the beginning of next year, and Old
Queens will house the new New Brunswick Chancellor and his staff; and
- progress of the Learning Management Systems working group,
chaired by Doug Blair.
Lee then responded to questions, or heard comments on the above
subjects, as well as:
- where the Senate Office will eventually be moved.
4. Old
Business
Academic
Standards, Regulations and Admissions Committee (ASRAC) DRAFT
Response to
Charge S-1509 on Default
16-Year Academic Calendar - Martha Cotter
and Matthew Winkler, ASRAC Co-chairs
Academic Standards, Regulations and Admissions Committee (ASRAC)
Co-Chair Martha Cotter
summarized her committee's draft report on Charge
S-1509, Default 16-Year Academic Calendar. It was suggested an
official
resolution be added to the report. Cotter agreed to the change. The
report, after it is revised and recirculated to this year's ASRAC, will
be docketed for the September 8, 2017 EC meeting for final review
before it goes to the Senate on September 22, 2017. [Note: Cotter noted
after the meeting that the calendar used is actually a 17-year
calendar, and requested that the charge be changed to reflect the
additional year.]
[Senator Serrano joined the meeting at 12:30 p.m.]
Proposed Charge on Sale of Alcohol in
Stadiums - Submitted by former New Brunswick Student Member of
the Executive Committee
Justin Schulberg
Peter
Gillett summarized the
proposed charge, noting that the EC had previously determined that
an ad hoc committee would be formed to examine this once the Ad Hoc
Committee on Webstreaming Senate Meetings had completed its work.
Barbara Lee stated she is not aware of the
Administration looking into this matter currently. The
following charge was issued to the Ad Hoc Committee on Sale of Alcohol
at Athletics Venues, which will consist of Robert
Schwartz (chair), Robert
Boikess,
Adrienne Esposito, Houshang Parsa, and Julieline Serrano:
Consider
the rationale
and RUSA
resolution on the potential sale of alcohol at Rutgers stadiums.
Explore the issue, and make recommendations, as appropriate. Respond to
Senate Executive Committee by February 2018.
Discussion of how to get agenda
items out faster, how to avoid
last-minute wordsmithing, and how business is handled generally at the
Executive Committee meetings
Executive Committee and Senate Chair
Peter Gillett summarized his concerns regarding how the Executive
Committee conducts business and asked for suggestions on how to improve
effectiveness of the meetings. Four points were agreed upon to begin
implementing at the September 8, 2017 meeting:
- The Executive Secretary is to distribute draft meeting
minutes one
week after the meeting.
- A schedule will be established for Senate reports to be
submitted to the
Executive Secretary no later than 10 days before the EC meeting at
which they will be reviewed. If that date is not met, the report will
not be placed on the agenda. To aid in this process, a schedule of due
dates for all reports will be published on the Senate website. Agendas
for Senate and EC meetings will be distributed no later than seven days
in advance of the meetings.
- A report template and best practices summary will be created
and made available as a follow up to the
Parliamentary Procedure appendix.
- The EC will attempt to establish time limits for discussion and
handling of agenda items.
Possible
Senate or Committee Action on the Senate's March 2017
Committee-of-the-Whole Discussion
on
Free Speech and Academic Freedom - Michael Van Stine
Senator Van Stine was not in attendance at this meeting, so the
discussion was be postponed until the September 8, 2017 EC meeting.
5.
Standing
Committees/Panels
Draft
Standing Committee Rosters
2017-18,
and Assignment of Chairs: Mary Mickelsen distributed
hardcopies of draft 2017-18 committee rosters, and summarized the
assignments and those still needing additional work. Robert Schwartz
volunteered to co-chair the Academic Standards and Regulations
Committee. Suggestions were made as to who may want to chair the
Research, and
Graduate and Professional Education Committee and those Senators will
be contacted by the Executive Secretary. Samuel Rabinowitz stated
he
will be on sabbatical in Fall 2017, and suggested a co-chair in
his place. Ken Swalagin will contact that Senator. Swalagin will also
forward the completed list to
President Barchi so that he may select and
assign administrative liaisons. The EC then approved the standing
committee rosters provisionally based on the summary of what
would be changed or added.
Issues/Proposed
Charges:
Request to
"Correct the Record": Rick Hearin, Executive Director of
University Career Services - New Brunswick, had asked that the record
be "corrected" regarding statements about Career Services in the
Proposal to Form a School of Graduate Studies. Following discussion,
the EC determined that
the issues brought forth by Hearin are embedded within responses from
the deans, and not in the resolution or the report on which the Senate
ultimately voted. Swalagin will inform Hearin that he should contact
the deans who authored the document in question.
Proposed Charge to Faculty and
Personnel Affairs Committee (FPAC) on Stipend or
Course Release Payment for PTL Senators - Submitted by Karen
Thompson
A proposed
charge and accompanying rationale, submitted by Senator Karen
Thompson, on stipend or course release payment for PTL Senators were
discussed, and a charge issued to the FPAC with a March 2018
deadline, as follows:
Consider
the role of
PTLs in shared governance at Rutgers, investigating policies at other
Big Ten institutions as well as the unique circumstances at Rutgers
University, and make recommendations to allow for adequate
participation with appropriate incentives.
Rationale: Despite PTLs being responsible for such a large portion of
the instruction at Rutgers and therefore given the importance of their
having a meaningful role in shared governance, compensation on a
per-course or piecework basis makes it unlikely that PTLs will be able
or willing to spend time with governance. Governance participation for
full-time faculty may be a consideration for promotion, may generate
course release, or may otherwise provide incentive/compensation. There
are no such provisions for PTLs.
Proposed
Charge to Instruction, Curricula and Advising Committee (ICAC) on
Learning Management Systems, and
Rationale
- Submitted by Robert Boikess
The
following proposed charge and rationale were discussed, and it was
determined that
because SVP for Academic Affairs Barbara Lee already has a committee
actively working on this, with a report anticipated for the
Fall 2017, the Senate does not need to address this issue at this
time. After that committee's report is issued, if there are still
issues the Senate would like
to address, the Executive Committee can revisit this proposed charge
and
issue it to committee at that time.
Proposed Charge: Consider
the nature and use of the available Learning Management Systems on all
the
campuses of Rutgers and make recommendations to the Administration for
improvements that also protect the rights and interests of faculty and
students.
6.
New Business
There
was no new business.
7.
Close of 2016-17 Senate Year
Gillett
expressed his appreciation to all 2016-17 EC members and board
representatives for their
hard work this year, and welcomed all new EC members and
board representatives coming on board next year. He reminded new and
continuing members that
the next EC meeting will be on September 8, 2017.
8.
Adjournment
The
meeting adjourned at 3:33 p.m.
Minutes written and submitted by,
Mary Mickelsen, Administrative Assistant to the Executive Secretary
and edited by Ken Swalagin, Executive Secretary of the Senate