Meeting Minutes #239

Members Present: Akin, Bal, Benaroya, Berthiaume, Bhuyan, Boikess, Castellano, Cevasco, Curchitser, Faga. Figueira, Gajic, Gasman, Gliserman, Hirschfield, Linardopoulos, Longo, Margolis, Mathew, McKeever, Morales, Ozel, Parker, Paul, Pichugin, Rendsburg, Rhiney, Ryan, Sanchez, Shapses, Szatrowski, Taghon, Thompson, Tsakalakos, Winters, Williams, Womack, Yu, Zahn

Non-Members Present: Christopher Molloy (New Brunswick Chancellor), Francine Conway (New Brunswick Provost Designee), Martha Cotter (Parliamentarian), Morgan Smith (Substitute NBFC Recording Secretary)

1. Call to Order – Tugrul Ozel, New Brunswick Faculty Council (NBFC) Chair

Chair Ozel called the meeting to order at 1:05 PM on Friday, October 23, 2020 remotely via WebEx.

2. Approval of Agenda

The agenda was approved.

3. Approval of the Minutes of the September 18, 2020 Meeting

The minutes were approved with a correction of the spelling of a member’s name.

4. Chair’s Report – Tugrul Ozel

Chair Ozel welcomed everyone to the meeting and presented the following updates:

  • The response of the University Structure and Governance Committee (USGC) to its charge (S-1904) on inclusion of the Faculty Councils in the University Policy Library, with corrections suggested by the NBFC, will be discussed at the November 30th Senate meeting.  
  • President Holloway will meet with representatives of all four Faculty Councils on November 12.; he will speak to the full New Brunswick Faculty Council at its meeting on November 13.
  • The NBFC’s Twitter account is up and running, thanks to Marybeth Gasman.

5. Administrative Report – Chancellor Molloy

Chancellor Molloy began his comments by thanking NBFC members for being present and for inviting him to the meeting. He then made the following announcements/comments.

  • Prof. Francine Conway of GSAPP has accepted the Chancellor’s invitation to be the New Brunswick Provost and will begin officially on November 1.
  • The follow-up to the very valuable COACHE survey seems to have lost momentum due to the Covid problems. The Chancellor is determined to get the efforts to address the problems identified by the survey back on track, particularly via the working groups on faculty development and mentoring; research support and infrastructure; and strategic planning and communication.
  • The FCP process has been slowed down by the Covid pandemic but is now moving along.
  • The equity process agreed upon in union negotiations has not gotten very far due to Covid, but Chancellor Molloy and President Holloway are committed to moving the process forward in the very near future.
  • The spring 2021 semester will largely be held remotely: less than 10% of courses will be held in person, mostly Mason Gross and lab courses. Chancellor Molloy would like to open up the campus more by increasing the occupancy rate of dorm rooms, which currently stands at 6%, and has opened the application process for 16,000 beds in New Brunswick. He will see what is feasible and make a final decision by December 16.
  • The Chancellor is optimistic that there will be an effective vaccine soon and that the fall 2021 semester will be closer to normal.
  • According to a presentation by Vice President Michael Gower, the University is facing a very large decrease in revenue, including $60 million in tuition and $150 million in housing and dining services revenue. Any federal help received would have to be given to students and not used to offset the resulting deficit.
  • Enrollment is currently down by 30% and the University is working to try to enroll more out-of-state and international students. Applications for fall 2021 are down by 12%, mirroring a national trend.

In the Q&A session, the Chancellor responded to questions on the following topics:

  • The refusal of SAS Dean March to put together a faculty committee to advise on budget-cutting measures, as requested by a resolution passed at the recent SAS faculty meeting.
  • Plans to continue support of international students, including tuition remission for international Ph.D. students.
  • Delays in the process of appointing PTLs.
  • Delays and bottlenecks in hiring postdocs and lab techs, including those who are completely grant funded.

Finally, Tom Figueira informed the Chancellor that the NBFC Budget, Finance, and Infrastructure Committee is working on a series of questions for him so that the Council can provide better advice on budget matters.

6.  Proposed Resolution on Adopting Freedom of Speech Principles

The resolution states that “the New Brunswick Faculty Council calls upon the Rutgers administration to adopt its own version of the Chicago statement on freedom of speech.”

Several Council members expressed strong opposition to the resolution while others strongly supported it. After a rather lengthy discussion, Tom Figueira moved to call the question.  The motion was seconded but did not pass. Discussion continued for a while until Tom Figueira moved to table the resolution until the next meeting. This motion was seconded and passed.

7.  Proposed Resolution on PTL Appointments

Ken McKeever moved to accept the resolution as written. Marty Gliserman seconded the motion which then passed.

8.  Committee Reports

Academic Affairs – Bob Boikess and Marybeth Gasman, Co-chairs

  • Committee members are currently considering two matters:
  • They are considering test-optional admissions and whether it should be implemented at Rutgers. This is a complicated issue and committee is currently seeking needed data.
  • They continue to consider the use of student evaluations of teaching in personnel decisions.

Athletic Affairs – Ken McKeever, Chair

  • The committee continues to explore two closely related topics:
  • How athletics can be integrated optimally with the rest of the University.
  • How athletics benefits the University in its entirety.
  • Chair McKeever wants to put together a report for the next Council meeting

Budget, Planning and Infrastructure – Tom Figueira and Ryan Womack, Co-chairs

  • Committee members have decided to go ahead with preparing a list of questions for Chancellor Molloy on the financial status of the University in the near term and longer term. They are preparing a single list of questions, which they will present for Council members’ comments at the November NBFC meeting.

Faculty and Personnel Affairs – Francois Berthiaume and Karen Thompson, Co-chairs

  • Committee members continue to discuss the issue of NTT faculty heading departments, centers, etc. or holding other positions in which they need to be able to make independent decisions, including whether such faculty should be offered tenure. The committee will summarize the data collected at the next full Council meeting. A resolution may or may not be presented.
  • Committee members are also considering software for research management and how it is serving as a barrier to research and grant acquisition.
  • At the end of the committee presentation, Marty Gliserman asked about course loads for NTTs who take on administrative responsibilities. Karen Thompson replied that workloads are determined by departments but there should be some release time for the NTT.

Student Affairs – Haym Benaroya and Emily Greenfield, Co-chairs

  • The committee is focusing on concerns about student stress in the current environment, where many students face traumatic family/financial problems. The goal is to identify relevant resources for students and also resources to allow instructors of online courses to help alleviate student stress. The committee hopes to have a report by the end of the semester with recommendations that could be implemented in the spring.

At the end of the committee reports, Sanjib Bhuyan reminded members that reports and resolutions must go through the Executive Committee before they come before the full Council.

9.  New Business

There were two suggestions for matters that the Council might wish to consider:

  • Paul Hirschfield suggested the Council might wish to look at recent problems with getting access to learning management system support; in particular he was unable to get through to Canvas support for several days due to overloading. Other members voiced similar concerns. Chair Ozel conveyed his concerns about such problems to Vice President Michelle Norrin, who promised to have her IT team investigate and try to solve the problem.
  • Bob Boikess reported that Proctor Track on Canvas and Sakai had a major breach about a week and a half ago and has been shut down. The University is looking for a new system to support academic integrity in this remote environment.

. 10. Old Business

There was no old business.

11. Adjournment

Chair Ozel adjourned the meeting at 3:05 PM

Written and submitted by

Martha Cotter, NBFC parliamentarian and Morgan Smith, substitute recording secretary