AGENDA
1. Chair’s Report - Peter Gillett, Senate Chair
2. Secretary’s Report - Mary Mickelsen, Executive Secretary of the Senate
3. Administrative Report - Barbara Lee, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
5. Committee Report
Instruction Curricula and Advising Committee (ICAC) - Report on S-1805: Complementary Credentialing and Digital Badges for Rutgers University - Natalie Borisovets, ICAC Chair
The ICAC has been charged as follows:
Consider the feasibility of, and approach to, developing a complementary digital badging credentialing system at Rutgers University. Examine the complementary credentialing programs already in place at Rutgers. Make appropriate recommendations, including guidelines for departments and programs. Respond to the Senate Executive Committee by March 2020.
4. Issues/Proposed Charges
Proposed Charge to the Student Affairs Committee on Student Involvement in Shared Governance - Submitted by Julie Serrano, New Brunswick Student Member of the Executice Committee
Charge: Investigate ways to maximize student involvement in shared governance and make recommendations.
Rationale: Given the research that the SAC has conducted this year revolving recruiting and maintaining student senators, questions have arisen revolving how Rutgers compensates student senators as compared to other institutions. For example, it is our understanding that other Big 10 institutions compensate student senators through a stipend or academic credit. The SAC hopes to address the burdens associated with being a student senator and whether this affects the quality of student representation.
Proposed Charge to the Faculty and Personnel Affairs Committee on Review of Rutgers' Policy on Workplace Violence - Submitted by Joseph Markert, Faculty and Personnel Affairs Committee Chair/Presented by Ann Gould, FPAC Executive Committee Liaison
Charge: Consider Rutgers' policy on Workplace Violence, in particular its clarity and method of implementation. To what extent does it apply retroactively to faculty and how far back in time? To what extent is the policy's language precise? For example: "reasonable". To what extent can it be arbitrarily applied? To what extent does due process exist for all faculty/employees to whom the policy might apply. Consult with the administration, students, and unions, as needed. Make recommendations for changes to the policy if deemed appropriate. Respond to the Senate Executive Committee by December 2019.
Proposed Charge to the University Structure and Governance Committee on Unit Organization Related to Senate Entitlements- Submitted by Jon Oliver, University Structure and Governance Committee Chair
Charge: Investigate and assess how campus units are organized for the purposes of Senate entitlements. Look at commonalities and differences to determine if changes are necessary.
Rationale: Upon reviewing the ways in which student senators are elected, it was discovered that each school or college is entitled to at least one student senator. Although this does give representation in the true spirit in shared governance, this might further inequities between campuses. For example, the New Brunswick campus happens to have a School of Management and Labor Relations, with a reported enrollment of 302 students. At Rutgers-Camden, there is one School of Business that happens to have 372 declared majors.
The inequity here is that some campuses have had the historical and/or financial support to afford to create staff specialized schools, while others have not. Such examples also include Newark's School of Criminal Justice, where 875 students are enrolled. Both the School of Arts and Sciences - New Brunswick and the Camden College of Arts and Sciences have Criminal Justice Departments with significant enrollments of criminal justice majors, but neither of these two campuses have distinct schools of criminal justice, therefore making it so there is not specific student senator representation for such a school anywhere other than Newark. These types of comparisions should be considered in terms of faculty and staff distributions.
Proposed Resolution by the University Senate Faculty Caucus- Submitted by Karen Thompson, PTL Member of the Executive Committee
The proposed resolution was passed by the University Senate Faculty Caucus, who is now asking for the Executive Committee's support.
Proposed Resolution on Rutgers' Faculty Council Inclusion in the University Policy Library- Submitted by Sanjib Bhuyan, New Brunswick Faculty Council Chair/Presented by Ann Gould, FPAC Executive Committee Liaison
5. New Business
Possible Senate Action Surrounding New Course Scheduling System, Infosilem - Submitted by Charles Heckscher, SMLR Faculty Senator
The following email was sent to Chair Peter Gillett on April 3, 2019 in response to the correspondence from President Barchi titled "Update on New Course Scheduling System":
This is a significant moment; Barchi actually backed down a bit. As I'm sure you know, several faculty groups, including my department, sent him letters requesting a delay in implimentation of Infosilem, and the union has filed ULP. It seems to me that the Senate should jump into this with both feet, trying to assert a role as representative of multiple stakeholders and a forum for constructive debate rather than legal or bargaining action. Could we, for example, have an emergency agenda for the next meeting as we did for the Nursing merger and have all the committees work on developing proposals for course scheduling and involvement of stakeholders in the process?
Charles Hecksher
Selection of Members for Evaluation Committees:
- University Librarian Krisellen Maloney
- eight tenured faculty with three or more years service at Rutgers, not holding an administrative appointment above the level of Department chair, and with knowledge or appreciation for the discipline represented in the unit
- Brian Strom, RBHS Chancellor
- four faculty from within RBHS with three or more years service at Rutgers, not holding and administrative appointment above the level of Department chair
6. University Senate Agenda