Meeting minutes #230
Members Present: S. Bhuyan, R. Boikess, O. Carbonell-Nicolau, W. Castellano, M. Flahive-DiNardo, M. Gliserman, J. Gonzalez, A. Gould, P. Hirschfield, R. Kettler, T. Kuchi, J. Mathew, D. Miller, K. Morgan, A. Pichugin, F. Ryan, T. Szatrowski, P. Tartakoff, K. Thompson, S. Westfall, E. Williams, R. Womack, L. Yu
Non-Members Present: D. Hughes (Vice President, AAUP-AFT), C. Molloy (New Brunswick Chancellor), M. Mickelsen (NBFC Recording Secretary)
1. Call to Order – Sanjib Bhuyan, New Brunswick Faculty Council (NBFC) Chair
New Brunswick Faculty Council Chairperson Sanjib Bhuyan called the 230th meeting of the New Brunswick Faculty Council to order at 1:10 p.m. on Friday, March 15, 2019 in Room 174 of the Busch Student Center, Busch Campus. His report included comments on:
- David Hughes, Vice President of the AAUP-AFT is the guest speaker
- There will be no Administrative Report
- Senator Boikess expressed his displeasure in Chancellor Molloy not attending the meeting and suggested the follow resolution be passed and formally sent to Chancellor Molloy
- An administrative report is required at every meeting and if the Chancellor is not available he should send a replacement.
- The resolution passed unanimously which Chair Bhuyan will transmit to the Chancellor on behalf of the NBFC.
- Senator Boikess expressed his displeasure in Chancellor Molloy not attending the meeting and suggested the follow resolution be passed and formally sent to Chancellor Molloy
2. Approval of Agenda
The Agenda was approved
3. Approval of Minutes of February 22, 2019 Meeting
The February 22, 2019 NBFC Minutes were approved.
4. Union Update on Contract Negotiations – David Hughes, VP, AAUP-AFT
Hughes discussed the top priorities/concerns of negotiations for the faculty union (http://equitysecuritydignity.org/our-campaign/) to include:
- equal pay for equal work
- hiring more diverse faculty representative of the NJ demographic
- support for graduate students
- Infosilem and filing of an OPRA request
- possible strike
5. Committee Reports
- Ad Hoc Committee on Inclusion of NBFC in the University Policy Library – Ann Gould
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- The NBFC, along with the Camden and RBHS faculty councils, have adopted the resolutions. Still awaiting a response from Newark. Szatrowski agreed to bring it to the Newark Faculty Council’s attention at their meeting on March 18.
- Goal is to put it before the Senate Executive Committee for backing at their April meeting.
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- Academic Affairs Committee - Robert Boikess
- Boikess reported his committee met with the Budget, Planning and Infrastructure Committee to discuss the issue surrounding closure of the New Brunswick Library Media Center resulting in layoffs. It was determined the resources of the Media Center will still be available but not as readily. The Director of the NB Libraries will attend the April Academic Affairs meeting for further discussion.
- Boikess reported his committee met with the Budget, Planning and Infrastructure Committee to discuss the issue surrounding closure of the New Brunswick Library Media Center resulting in layoffs. It was determined the resources of the Media Center will still be available but not as readily. The Director of the NB Libraries will attend the April Academic Affairs meeting for further discussion.
- Athletic Affairs Committee – Ken McKeever
- McKeever proposed the following resolution on Rutgers Athletics
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- Thompson proposed an amendment to add at the end of #3 “instead of taking money from academics.”
- Amendment was considered friendly and therefore no vote occurred.
- Bhuyan stated the NBFC EC will take another look at the background and bring it back in April.
- Thompson proposed an amendment to add at the end of #3 “instead of taking money from academics.”
- Budget, Planning, & Infrastructure – Ryan Womack and Triveni Kuchi, Co-Chairs
- Womack reported their meeting consisted of collaborating with the Academic Affairs Committee on the Media Center issue.
- The final parking report with recommendations will be sent to the Executive Committee for review at the next meeting.
- Faculty and Personnel Affairs - Karen Thompson/Tugrul Ozel, Co-Chair
- The Faculty and Personnel Affairs committee did not meet.
- Student Affairs – Sue Shapses, Chair
- Shapses noted the committee is looking into some topics of interest such as student mental health and templates faculty could use when developing their syllabi that would help students understand the resources available.
- The director of CAPS will attend the April meeting to gain a better understanding of the role of the faculty in assisting students obtain the services needed.
6. New Business
Resolution – Robert Boikess
Boikess discussed the resolution, however it was not distributed in writing. The following amendments were suggested by Williams:
Be it resolved the NBFC supports the efforts to achieve:
- Equal pay for equal work, pursuant to addressing gender and inter-campus inequities;
- Hiring more full-time faculty and graduate teaching assistants;
- More ethnic and racial diversity among the faculty;
- Appropriate salary increased (that keep up with inflation), more generous graduate funding packages, and more secure contracts for non-tenure track faculty; and
- Family- and research-friendly work schedules (e.g. more faculty control over Infosilem)
Due to the resolution being New Business, a vote was held on whether to vote on the resolution this day. The vote passed. Then, after further discussion, Gliserman called the question and, the vote to pass the resolution was also passed.
7. Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 3:33 p.m.
Written and submitted by:
Mary Mickelsen
NBFC Recording Secretary