Meeting Minutes #219

Members Present:  J. Aiello, S. Bhuyan (Chair), R. Boikess, W. Castellano, B. Faga, M. Gliserman, A. Gould, D. Hamilton, P. Hirschfield, J. King, K. McKeever, T. Ozel, A. Pichugin, P. Pietroski, I. Rauschenbach, T. Rodriguez, S. Shapses, K. Thompson, S. Westfall, R. Womack
G. D'Arcangelo, B. Faga, M. Gliserman, A. Gould, D. Hamilton, P. Hirschfield, J. King, T. Kuchi, M. Mayer, K. McKeever, N. Minsky, T. Ozel, A. Pichugin, J. Pietruska, I. Rauschenbach, M. Rockland, J. Rubin, S. Shapses, T. Stephens, T. Szatrowski, P. Takhistov, K. Thompson, S. Westfall, E. Williams, R. Womack, J. Worobey, L. Yu

Non-Members Present: M. Cotter (Parliamentarian), K. Pitt (Director of Student Conduct), K. Stubaus (Vice President for Academic Affairs and Administration), K. Swalagin (Recording Secretary)

1.    Call to Order – Sanjib Bhuyan, New Brunswick Faculty Council (NBFC) Chair
 
New Brunswick Faculty Council Chairperson Sanjib Bhuyan called the 219th meeting of the New Brunswick Faculty Council to order at 1:16 p.m. on Friday, October 27, 2017 in Busch Student Center Room 174, Busch Campus. 

2.    Approval of Agenda
 
The Agenda was approved as distributed.
 
3.    Approval of Minutes of September 29, 2017 Meeting

The September 29, 2017 NBFC Minutes were approved.

4.    Chair's Report - Sanjib Bhuyan, New Brunswick Faculty Council Chair

Council Chair Sanjib Bhuyan's Chair's Report included comments on:

  • the NBFC Teaching Conference, which had taken place that morning; and
  • his thanks to Marty Gliserman and support from the New Brunswick Chancellor's office in facilitating the conference.

5.    Election of Executive Committee Member

An election was held to fill an Executive Committee position which became vacant when a member resigned. Julia Rubin had volunteered before the meeting. Bhuyan called for nominations for the floor. There were none. Rubin was elected unanimously by acclamation.

6.    Chancellor's Report - Karen Stubaus, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Administration

New Brunswick Chancellor Deba Dutta was not present at the meeting. The Chancellor's Report was presented by Karen Stubaus, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Administration. Her report included comments on:

  • Searches, including:
    • New Brunswick Provost;
    • Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation;
    • Dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy;
    • Vice Chancellor for Communications and Marketing, a position reporting to both Deba Dutta and Brian Strom, the search for which is completed; and
    • Dean of the School of Management and Labor Relations, the search for which will begin at the end of the current semester;
  • a gift of $100,000 made by Harvey Weinstein to Rutgers' Gloria Steinem Chair in Media, Culture, and Feminist Studies;
  • the ongoing Chancellor's Colloquium;
  • a large donation to the Zimmerli Art Museum;
  • Scarlet and Black dedications and naming of spaces on campus; and
  • Beyond Football: Rutgers in the Big Ten.

Stubaus then responded to questions, or heard comments, on the above subjects, as well as:

  • Rutgers' student:faculty ratio;
  • recent antisemitic Facebook postings by a SEBS faculty member; and
  • hate groups, and their on-campus activities.

4.A.    Chair's Report (Continued) - Sanjib Bhuyan

Bhuyan returned to the Chair's Report to announce that Karen Thompson and Tatiana Rodriguez had been elected as PTL members of the NBFC.

7.    Invited Guest: Kevin Pitt, Director of Student Conduct, RU-NB

Kevin Pitt, Director of Student Conduct in New Brunswick spoke to the Council about the urgent need for additional support and personnel to handle the ever-increasing number of cases of academic integrity violations at Rutgers New Brunswick.

[Note: Recording Secretary Ken Swalagin left the meeting at 2:17 p.m. NBFC Parliamentarian Martha Cotter wrote the remainder of these minutes.]

8.    Committee Reports

 

 

Academic Affairs Committee – Robert Boikess, Chair

Bob Boikess  reported that the committee has decided to concentrate on the following three activities:
  • Draft the NBFC response to SVPAA Barbara Lee on the report of the Task Force on Evaluation of Teaching;
  • Consider concerns voiced by faculty on the current state of academic integrity policies and procedures at RU-NB and make recommendations; and
  • Reconsider the desirability of adopting test-optional or test-flexible admissions in light of the current political climate.

Athletics Affairs Committee – Kenneth McKeever, Chair

Ken McKeever reported that the committee’s main emphasis is on ways to strengthen the relation between the Athletics Department and the NB Faculty. He reported that the Athletics Affairs Committee is meeting with Athletic Director Pat Hobbs on Nov 6th.

Budget, Planning, and Infrastructure Committee – Triveni Kuchi/Ryan Womack, Co-chairs

Ryan Womack reported that the committee decided not to make parking on campus its first priority but rather to concentrate on obtaining information on the New Brunswick budget.

Faculty and Personnel Affairs Committee – Tugrul Ozel/Karen Thompson, Co-chairs

Tugrul Ozel reported that the committee’s concerns about the proposed SAS-NB staff alignment have been allayed somewhat by the successful meeting of SAS-NB faculty and staff with SAS-NB Executive Dean Peter March.  NBFC Chair Bhuyan commented that the resolution passed by the Council opposing the staff realignment without departmental faculty and staff input was sent to Chancellor Dutta, who informed the Council in its first meeting in September that he would talk to Dean March.

Student Affairs Committee – Sue Shapses, Chair

In the absence of committee chair Shapses, Tatiana Rodriguez reported that the committee wants to look at a number of areas affecting student well-being, including advising and academic integrity. Her comments triggered a lengthy discussion of the current state of academic integrity in New Brunswick. In addition to reiterating a number of the concerns voiced by NB Director of Student Conduct Kevin Pitt earlier in the meeting, several faculty pointed out that the main emphasis should be on prevention and education rather than on adjudication and punishment.

9.      Old Business

In response to an inquiry from Julia Rubin about the current state of support for Sakai, Sakai users present reported that, as far as they know, Sakai continues to be fully supported and new features have been added.

10.    New Business

It was reported that the University has purchased a new course scheduling system from Infosilem (https://www.infosilem.com/theschedulingpeople/) at a cost of more than $1 million. A major goal of the new system, which will be implemented in fall 2018, is to reduce student travel and barriers to getting to class on time. Its chief effect on faculty, according to Chair Bhuyan’s understanding, is that individual faculty may not be able to control where they teach a particular course in any given semester.

11.    Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 2:55 PM.

Minutes written and submitted by,

Ken Swalagin
NBFC Recording Secretary

and

Martha Cotter
NBFC Parliamentarian