RUTGERS
UNIVERSITY SENATE
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
M I N U T E S
October 6, 2017
MEMBERS PRESENT: Boikess, Borisovets, Esposito,
Gillett
(Chair), Gould, Kelly, Krapivin, Oliver, Parsa, Scoloveno,
Settles, Thompson, Van Stine
MEMBERS EXCUSED: Walters
ALSO ATTENDING: M. Norin (SVP and Chief Information Officer), M.
Spiegel (Faculty
Representative to the Board of Trustees)
The regular meeting of the University Senate Executive Committee was
held on Friday, October 6, 2017, beginning at 1:10 p.m. in Room
450/451 of the Nursing and Science Building on the Camden Campus.
1.
Chair’s Report
- Peter Gillett, Senate Chair
Senate and Executive Committee Chair Peter Gillett called the
meeting to order at 1:10 p.m. He thanked Chancellor Haddon, Ken
Swalagin and Mary Mickelsen for arranging the trip to Camden, and the
day's activities. He said that the University Commencement Panel (UCP)
had completed its work, but that there were some issues of how one
Chancellor's Commencement Committee transitions into another, and that
the Secretary of the University had issued a call for honorary-degree
and commencement-speaker nominations before the UCP could complete its
work, so the Senate may need to work on those timing issues. He said
that Michelle Norin, Senior Vice President and Chief Information
Officer, would be joining the meeting today, but that there would be no
Administrative Report because Barbara Lee had been diverted to another
responsibility, so questions on the policy list (see below) she had
sent would be raised at the next Executive Committee meeting.
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 Minutes of September 8, 2017 Senate Executive
Committee Meeting were approved as
distributed by the executive secretary.
- Executive Secretary's Retirement: Swalagin reiterated the
announcement he had made at the September 2017 Senate meeting, that he
would retire effective February 1, 2018.
- Communications: The
following communications were presented by the Executive Secretary, and
noted by the Executive Committee:
3.
Administrative Liaison Report -
Barbara Lee, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
Senior Vice President Lee had been assigned to another responsibility
at the time of this meeting, so there was no Administrative Liaison
Report.
4.
Old Business
Preliminary Response to Charge S-1612,
on Procedures for Handling Student Complaints Against Rutgers Personnel
- Viktor Krapivin, Student Affairs Committee (SAC) Co-chair
In a September 24, 2017 email to Peter Gillett, Krapivin wrote:
Hello
Peter,
A
few Executive Committee meetings ago you asked me to go to
my committee to figure out how charge S-1612 could be responded to
(language
regarding charge reproduced below):
Discussed
charge S-1612 - Procedures for Handling Student
Complaints Against Rutgers Personnel:
Investigate
procedures at Rutgers for handling student
complaints against University personnel, and make recommendations
regarding how
such procedures should be best publicized and communicated, and how the
rights of
all parties might be appropriately protected. Consider also how
training might improve our response to such complaints. Respond to
Senate Executive Committee by October 2017. [Issued September 2016.]
The
committee deliberated on this issue, this past meeting.
The committee does not have enough information to proceed as the
grievance
process is confidential. Most members do not have any experience with
this
issue. The committee is more than willing to provide feedback on a
specific
proposal. Additionally, in regards to the question on how procedures
should be publicized
and communicated, we can also issue a response to how things should be
communicated to students.
Thank
you,
Viktor
Krapivin
The matter was discussed. Krapivin said that the issue is too broad for
a committee composed mostly of students. Ultimately, the Executive
Committee discharged the SAC on this matter. Senator Settles will speak
with Senators Boikess and Krapivin and draft a charge for the Faculty
and Personnel Affairs Committee, and submit that to Swalagin no later
than ten days before the next Executive Committee meeting.
Response to Request for Compiled List of
University Policies and Statements on Academic Freedom and Free Speech
- Barbara Lee, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
In a September 26, 2017
email to Ken Swalagin transmitting the above-linked document, Lee wrote:
Dear
Ken,
At
the last Senate Executive Committee meeting, members of the committee
asked me
to compile a list of University policies and statements on academic
freedom and
free speech. I interpreted that request very broadly to include any
official
statement posted on the university website. So attached is a 43-page
list of
those policies and statements.
Please
let me know if you have questions, or if there are additional people to
whom this
should be sent.
Thanks,
Ken.
Barbara
Barbara
A. Lee
Senior
Vice President for Academic Affairs
The issue was discussed. Lee was not present at the meeting, and
therefore could not respond to any questions about the list itself, but
the Executive Committee decided to accept Van Stine's offer to put
together a summary of some of the points related to the need for a more
cogent free-speech policy. However, the Committee voted against placing
the issue back on the next agenda.
Preliminary
Draft of the Middle States Decennial Reaccreditation Review Self-Study
[NetID and password required.] - Mentioned at the September 8 Executive
Committee meeting, and subsequently forwarded by email to the Rutgers
community, and comments invited therefrom to the Middle States Steering
Committee, by Barbara Lee on September 25, 2017
Ann Gould, who co-chairs Rutgers' Middle States Steering Committee,
spoke briefly about the Preliminary Draft of the Middle States
Decennial Reaccreditation Review Self-Study, and reiterated the
solicitation of comments from the Rutgers community. Swalagin pointed
out the sections of the Self-Study in which the University Senate is
mentioned.
Follow-Up Response to Response
to Charge S-1614 on Acceptable Use Policy for Information Technology
Resources - Michele Norin, Senior Vice President and Chief
Information Officer
The following Draft Policies and
Overview related to Rutgers' Acceptable Use Policy for Information
Technology Resources were summarized by Michele Norin, Senior Vice
President and Chief Information Officer, and were
discussed by the Executive Committee:
Norin said that her goal was to use the next two or three weeks to
gather feedback, have discussions, and modify the draft policy and have
it instituted by the end of October. Gillett said the Senate could look
at the draft, but could not respond in that timeframe. Norin offered to
look into a question about the absence of parameters in the policy
regarding what is, and is not, acceptable to send via email. After
discussion, the following charge was issued to the Instruction,
Curricula, and Advising Committee:
Charge A-1711 - Review Draft Acceptable
Use Policy for Information Technology Resources: Review the draft
information technology policies, and respond with comments. Respond to
Senate Executive Committee by October 24, 2017.
5.
Committees/Panels
University Commencement Panel - The
University Commencement Panel, chaired by Senate Vice Chair Jon Oliver,
met on Friday, September 29, and selected Senator members for each
Chancellor's Commencement Committee. Oliver has informed the chancellor
of those selections and appointments, as follows:
Camden:
Faculty:
Perry Dane, Samuel Rabinowitz, Robert Scoloveno
Students:
Michael Van Stine, Christopher Shinn
Newark:
Faculty:
Alexander Settles, Adam Kustka, Philip Patrick
Students:
There were no student volunteers from the Senate, so Senior Vice
Chancellor Peter Englot will work with Newark student leaders to select
from the following Newark student Senators: Kemal Abayhan, Mrittika
Majumdar, Sindu Parvthaneni, Rita Nasr, Jon Gonzales [Note: Rita Nasr
has since resigned from the Senate.]
New
Brunswick/RBHS:
Faculty:
Eleanor LaPointe, Karen Thompson, Mary Bridgeman
Students:
Viktor Krapivin, Aneesh Deshpande
The UCP process was discussed briefly, particularly regarding the need
to address overlap of processes and Chancellors' Commencement
Committees whose work takes longer than a year, as well as the timing
of solicitation of commencement-speaker and honorary-degree nominations
by the Secretary of the University.
Issues/Proposed Charges:
I'm
writing to you, in your capacity as the Chairperson of
the Faculty Senate [sic], to request that the Senate investigate the NB
School
of Arts and Sciences' plan to "realign" the organization of
departments' support staff.
The
SAS faculty are so concerned about SAS's proposal and
its roll-out that we, though the AAUP-AFT union, petitioned Executive
Dean
Peter March to hold a special meeting with faculty and staff about this
plan.
We have multiple concerns, including faculty governance and autonomy,
as well
as the increasing corporatization of the university.
I am
attaching a memo that explains the reorganization in
more detail. Please feel free to contact me with any additional
questions.
Many
thanks,
Joanna
The
matter was discussed, and it was pointed out that is related to
University Structure and Governance Committee (USGC) Charges S-1403 and
S-1604 on Senate structure and organization, or structural changes at
Rutgers, respectively. The Executive Committee then sent this issue to
the USGC to consider in its deliberations on Charge S-1604 on Process
for Unit Mergers or Other Structural Changes, Continued.
6.
University Senate Agenda
October
20, 2017 Senate Meeting:
- The Executive Committee decided that, because the Senate agenda
was light, and because some committees need additional time to work on
pending charges, that committee meetings would extend to 12:55 p.m.,
caucuses would take place from 1:00 p.m. until 1:50 p.m., and the
Senate meeting would begin at 2:10 p.m. and end by 2:45 so that a large
number of SAS-New Brunswick faculty Senators could attend an urgent
faculty meeting at 3:00 p.m.
- Meeting to be held in New Brunswick
- Election of Newark Student Member of the Executive Committee -
Mrittika Majumdar (Rutgers Business School) has self-nominated for the
position.
- Update on Middle States Reaccreditation [Note: On this matter,
Gillett said that he had discussions with President Barchi about issues
relating to the Senate's traditional focus on issues that are common
across all Rutgers, and possible conflicts with Barchi's plans to give
chancellors the opportunity to create individual solutions for their
units, and how all of that relates to the Middle States assertion that
Rutgers is one university with three locations, as well as the role of
the Senate in these issues.]
7.
Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 3:56 p.m.
Minutes written and submitted by,
Ken Swalagin
Executive Secretary of the University Senate