Meeting Minutes #267

Members Present: Francois Berthiaume, Jeremy Morgan, Gerben Zylstra, Sue Shapses, James DeFilippis, Lei Yu, Ralph Bowen, David Kryscynski, Andrew Baker, Alexander Pichugin, Anna Haley, Ted Szatrowski, Tanja Sargent, Thomas Davis, David Smith, Thomas Figueira, Robert Boikess, John Evans, Mei Ling Lo, Mary Trigg, Changlu Wang, Richard Contrada, Dilafruz Nazarova, Mark Bray, Elin Wicks, Heather Pierce, Nikolaos Linardopoulos, Alisa Belzer, Ana Pairet, Marci Meixler, Meenakshi Dutt, Xenia Morin, Eleanor Lapointe, Kaysha Corinealdi, Peter Morrone, Crystal Akers, Julia Maxwell, Linda Oshin, Benjamin Paul, Miranda Lichtenstein, Cara Cuite, Michele Bakacs, Audrey Truschke

Non-Members Present: Martha Cotter, Past Parliamentarian; Christopher Godoy, student helper; Brielle Fedorko, student helper; Audrey Truschke, Professor, Rutgers-Newark History and Chair, AAUP Academic Freedom Committee

1. Call to Order and Chair Updates

Chair Haley called the meeting to order via Zoom on Friday, October 25, 2024, at 1:10 PM. Chair Haley welcomed all NBFC members and introduced everyone to the co-chairs of the individual standing committee. She further explained that on October 24, 2024, she and Vice-Chair Berthiaume met with new and continuing committee co-chairs to get acquainted and talk through the role and operations of committees in the work of NFBC as a representative body, with constant communication with the Chancellor to become more aware of her priorities and opportunity for any recommendations. Chair Haley continued by announcing the council’s transition to Microsoft Teams, to which all members will be invited,  as a way to reduce the number of emails being sent to members and allow for council materials and communication to be easily found. She announced that updates are being conducted to the NBFC by two student helpers and called for any members who have web design experience or are interested in it to reach out. She later advertised that the first of two dean panels was scheduled to occur alongside the deans who would be in attendance. Chair Haley also announced that a Council social may happen sometime before Thanksgiving and called on members to be on the lookout for any announcements in this regard. Finally, Chair Haley gave more details about a teaching conference jointly sponsored by the NBFC and the Provost, set for December 6th, 2024, from 9:30 AM to 2 PM. Chair Haley called on all members to reach out if they, or someone they know, have experience with AI in teaching instruction.

2. Approval of the Agenda

The agenda was belatedly approved.

3.  Approval of the Minutes of the Meeting of September 27, 2024

The minutes were approved.

4. Discussion of and Vote on Revised NBFC Bylaws 

Chair Haley led the discussion on the proposed revisions to the Faculty Council's bylaws. The document was shared and discussed section by section. A key point of discussion was the relationship between the Council and the Chancellor, with concerns raised about the lack of specifics regarding the Chancellor's responsibilities in this relationship. Chair Haley clarified that the Council's role is advisory and while they pass resolutions and reports, there is no legislative power. She suggested that operational details could be addressed in the Handbook. The conversation ended without a final vote on the revisions, with plans to continue the discussion at the next meeting. 

• Council Representation Terms Amendment: Anna discussed proposed amendments to the council representation terms. Andrew suggested an amendment to allow for terms of 3 years or less, with negotiation between the chair, representative, and the representative's unit. Xenia seconded the amendment. Andrew explained the motivation behind the amendment: to provide flexibility for handling scenarios such as a unit electing a representative mid-year or a representative leaving early. The amendment was then put to a vote, but it failed to reach the required quorum. The meeting then returned to discuss the remaining content in the office and committee sections. Alisa raised a concern about a point from a recent committee meeting that she found unclear and potentially incorrect.
• Faculty Council Bylaws Amendment Discussion: In the meeting, the team discussed the amendment of the Faculty Council's bylaws. They focused on the Chancellor and Council work, the role of faculty representatives, and the process for selecting new faculty representatives. The team also discussed the process for handling sabbaticals and the issue of faculty from Rutgers Cooperative Extension. The team unanimously approved the amendments and will send out a vote to all representatives. The conversation ended with a discussion on the newly released academic freedom expression policy or guidelines, with Professor Audrey Trushke invited to discuss the implications and issues surrounding it.

5. Vicki Banyard, Vice Provost of Faculty Affairs

Due to time constraints, this section of the meeting was postponed.

6. Audrey Truschke, Professor, Rutgers-Newark History and Chair, AAUP Academic Freedom Committee

Audrey, a professor of history at Rutgers University, discussed the importance of academic freedom and its threats. She highlighted that academic freedom protects a range of ideas and distinguishes between the university and individual faculty members. Audrey also noted that academic freedom includes the expression of offensive ideas and that it is not a partisan concept. She criticized the new free-expression guidelines at Rutgers, arguing that they conflicted with other free-expression guidelines and were not formulated correctly. Audrey also discussed the challenges faced by faculty members, particularly those with tenure, and the need for alternative venues to enhance academic freedom. She concluded by offering advice and support for individual cases of academic freedom concerns and violations.

7. Committee Reports 

Academic Affairs – Julia Maxwell & Xenia Morin, Co-Chairs

The Academic Affairs Committee plans to review the library’s strategic plan and course management systems and contribute to the AI and Teaching Conference.

Julia Maxwell reported:  

• The first part of the committee meeting was to set expectations for the year and how the committee would function—discussed priorities of the year, such as libraries, course atlas, InfoSilem, and AI teaching conferences. The committee talked more about what success will look like for the committee this year, concrete deliverables, developing channels for communication, and how the committee would represent their constituencies this year.

Athletic Affairs – Ken McKeever & Nick Linardopoulos, Co-Chairs

The Athletic Affairs Committee will assess the benefits and costs of the athletics program.

Nick Linardopoulos reported:  

• Reframe existing plans for this year, getting the perspectives from the interim athletic director in terms of what is occurring in the athletic department, as well as hearing from the academic support for student-athletes, with the primary goal of figuring out an overall assessment of the benefits and costs of running a successful athletics program and maybe come up with some recommendations for the future due to the current disconnect in regards to what is occurring in the athletics department.

Budget and Planning – Tom Figueira & Tom Davis, Co-Chairs

The Budget and Planning Committee discusses student group storage, charging stations, faculty dining options, and the parking situation. 

Tom Davis reported:

• Formalized agenda items, which covered the proposed change on storage for student groups, charging stations, and the exaction of fees by central administration on travel vouchers; a letter will be sent to the chancellor on that. Faculty dining and the parking situation throughout New Brunswick are also looked into. Attended the University Senate budget town hall to get more context for the committee as they moved along their agenda for the year.

Faculty and Personnel Affairs – Heather Pierce (HP) & Eleanor LaPointe, Co-Chairs

The Faculty Personnel Affairs Committee focuses on DEI in hiring, including teaching faculty in decision-making, term limits for chairs, service work in promotion and tenure, and class size increases. 

 Heather Pierce (HP) reported:

• Went through and discussed a list of current charges and ways to proceed with them. I also talked about Microsoft Teams. The committee is currently working on a DEI resolution, the inclusion of teaching faculty in decision-making spaces, a resolution to put out guidelines for term limits for department chairs, consideration of service work in promotion and tenure, as well as attempting to address the increase in class size in classrooms, and the layoffs of lecturers.

Student Affairs – Alisa Belzer & Mei Ling Lo, Co-Chairs

The Student Affairs Committee will work on mental health resources, textbook policies, and non-academic student advising issues like study abroad and career services.

Alisa Belzer reported:

• Framed discussion of priority for this year, about strategic decisions that could be impactful, deliverables in the form of resolutions and reports, and want to aim towards the complement of work that was done last year on mental health resources for students, first-day textbook plan (approached by NJPIRG about), and also want to open up a new topic that is in agreement with the Chancellor’s priorities and also Discovery advantage that is student advising, focused on non-academic advisement issues, including study abroad, experiential learning, career advisement, personal issues of students, mental health issues, and more.

8. Other (Any Old or New) Business

The Council also notes the need to improve communication efforts, including potentially posting agendas in advance on the website.

9. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 3:00 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Francois Berthiaume, Vice Chair; written with the help of Christopher Godoy