Meeting Minutes #245
Members Present: Akin, Bal, Berthiaume, Bhuyan, Boikess, Bouchard , Bowering Mullen, Cevasco, Curchitser, Faga, Figueira, Flahive Di Nardo, Gasman, Gliserman, Gonzalez, Haley, Kalan, LaPointe, Linardopoulos, McKeever, Morales, Ozair, Ozel, Parker, Ryan, Sanchez, Szatrowski, Taghon, Takhistov, Thompson, Williams, Womack, Zahn
Non-Members Present: Saundra Tomlinson-Clarke (Vice Provost for Academic Affairs); Martha Cotter (Parliamentarian)
1. Call to order
The meeting was called to order by Chair Marybeth Gasman on Friday, September 12, 2021, at 1:15 pm via Zoom.
2. Approval of the Agenda
The Agenda was approved.
3. Approval of the minutes of the meeting of April 23, 2021
The minutes were approved with the understanding that minor edits would be made.
4. Chair's Report – Marybeth Gasman
Chair Gasman welcomed everyone to the meeting and presented the following updates:
- Chair Gasman and Vice-chair Sanjib Bhuyan met with Chancellor-Provost Conway regarding having open communication, working together, and ensuring faculty engagement on all faculty and academic related matters.
- Chair Gasman is serving on the executive committee of the NB Academic Master Plan (AMP) – Chancellor-Provost Conway will be joining our October meeting to speak specifically about this initiative and to answer questions. A suggestion was made to identify Faculty Council members to engage in this process.
- The AMP Executive committee was asked to provide feedback on the rollout of the response of the Chancellor-Provost to the COACHE Workgroup recommendations. Thanks were given to Bob Boikess for his work on the shared governance piece.
- Chair Gasman met with University Senate Chair Jon Oliver to ensure Board of Governors approval of the Faculty Council inclusion in the University Policy Library.
- There have been a variety of improvements in the tech area to provide better service and better engage faculty – tech support for the Council is now located in the Chancellor’s office. Thanks to Sanjib for spearheading this.
- The Chancellor-Provost Office will provide administrative support to the faculty council.
- NBFC is co-sponsoring a teaching conference with the Chancellor-Provost office on Dec 3, which will be part of President Holloway’s inaugural events.
5. Administrative Report – Saundra Tomlinson-Clarke, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs
Vice Provost Tomlinson-Clarke shared a PowerPoint presentation and provided updates in the following areas:
- Chancellor-Provost Office leadership team
- Repopulating our campus
- Academic Master Plan
- Chancellor-Provost Initiatives
- Diversity Strategic Plan
- One-Stop Student Services
- Celebration of Rutgers Classes of 2020 & 2021 (Oct 21-24)
Following the presentation, discussion ensued on the following:
- Wide-ranging concerns raised about COVID-19 safety protocols, faculty vaccine mandates, and testing. There is a need for clarification on testing availability for vaccinated students and faculty.
- Enrollment updates as a result of SAT/ACT test-optional admissions – what are the numbers for Latinx students? Updates for all underrepresented minority groups to be provided for the next meeting.
6. Committee Reports:
Academic Affairs – Bob Boikess, Chair
- The committee will continue:
- addressing the issue of test-optional admissions beyond 2022; and
- looking at issues with teaching evaluations and the use of student evaluations in personnel decisions.
- The committee will be:
- introducing a resolution to require faculty consultation on any changes to the class schedules; and
- looking into issues at the honors college regarding diversity and admissions, and student funding for room and board.
Athletic Affairs – Chair: Ken McKeever, Chair
- The committee will continue:
- putting together a report on the tangible and non-monetary ways athletics benefits the university, the general student population, and the community at large, with the goal of getting a seat at the table to be part of the process with athletics.
- The committee will be:
- Addressing how to remove barriers and “turf-issues” that prevent students from being able to choose programs and courses they want; and
- looking at how we can help athletics with recruiting and retaining better student athletes; and
- discussing recent events that cropped up in the news with the budget committee.
Budget, Planning, Infrastructure – Tom Figueira, Chair
- The committee will continue pursuing the issue of parking and.
- will be addressing the recently reported budget issues regarding athletics.
Faculty and Personnel Affairs – Francois Berthiaume, Chair
- The committee is continuing work to set up a task force to pursue the issue of NTTs being appointed as program directors and chairs.
- The committee will be:
- updating a survey on how Rutgers supports their faculty in various areas of teaching, research and service;
- looking into the idea of adding DEI criteria for tenure and promotion decisions
- tabling the initiative to pass a free speech resolution modeled after the U of Chicago statement on free speech and academic freedom until new information can be presented by faculty council member Haym Benaroya.
Student Affairs – Christine Morales, Chair
- The committee will be following up on the resolution that was passed regarding gender identities – ensuring that this is making a difference for students and not just a symbolic gesture.
- The committee will be gathering feedback from students and from faculty on how students are faring at this point during the pandemic.
7. New Business
- A poll was taken regarding the scheduling of Fall semester meetings: the majority voted to hold meetings remotely.
- Poet Laureate for Rutgers University - Martin Gliserman
- Martin presented a resolution “that Rutgers University celebrate the arts by creating a post for a faculty (TT/NTT/PTL) member to be the Poet Laureate of the University”.
- The motion was seconded.
- Members spoke favorably of the resolution, with a few friendly revisions. One suggestion was made to table the resolution until feedback could be garnered by relevant departments.
- The resolution was moved to a vote.
- The resolution passed with a majority of the vote.
- Resolution on faculty representation in class scheduling – Bob Boikess
- Bob presented a resolution “that there must be informed faculty input on the schedule of classes BEFORE changes are made,” with the NBFC being the appropriate body for providing feedback.
- The motion was seconded.
- Members support the resolution and would like to make some revisions to provide specific language regarding NBFC consultation and involvement before moving forward..
- A motioned to table the resolution for the next full meeting was made and seconded.
- A majority voted to table the resolution.
8. Old Business
There was no old business.
9. Adjournment
Chair Gasman adjourned the meeting at 3:35 pm.
Respectfully submitted:
Jacqueline McGlynn, Office of the Chancellor-Provost