Regular Meeting of the Faculty Senate

Unapproved Minutes

March 11, 2014  

The meeting was called to order at 12:27 p.m. 

1. A motion was made to approve the minutes from the February 4, 2013 meeting, as previously circulated.  The motion was approved unanimously by voice vote.

2. Bill FitzGerald, on behalf of the Academic Policy Committee, presented courses for approval.  These included several requests for changes in course numbers and other minor changes, which the APC had recommended for approval.  There was one new course proposed by the Economics Dept., 50:220:318 Cost Benefit/Effective Analysis.  One senator remarked that the slash in the title of this course seemed confusing, and wondered if the title could be shortened to “Cost Benefit Analysis” (or perhaps “Effective Analysis”).  Bill said that he would check back with the Economics Dept. and share the Senate’s concerns.

A motion was made to accept the course as proposed, with the due diligence as described above.  The motion was approved unanimously by voice vote.

3. Bill Fitzgerald, on behalf of the Teaching Matters Assessment Center, proposed the creation of a small committee to review and edit the College Wide Learning Goals, as mandated by Middle States.  This small committee would work with the University, College, and Departments, to articulate the goals behind the various departmental and general education requirements.  The committee would also reflect our commitments to civic engagement and experimental learning.  Bill called for volunteers to meet and work with him and present goals to the Faculty Senate at a future meeting.  Julia Still and Alisa Belanger agreed to work with Bill on this matter.

4. Tyler invited the Senate to consider a resolution to oppose the awarding of an honorary doctor of laws degree to Condoleezza Rice, as submitted by the New Brunswick Faculty Senate via Camden faculty member Janet Golden.  The resolution was also being brought to the Newark Faculty Senate for consideration.  The discussion revolved around two separate issues, the invitation to speak at the Commencement and the awarding of an honorary degree.  Someone said that a petition was also being circulated among the faculty for their individual consideration.  The Senators had a very thoughtful and passionate discussion about the proposed resolution, and questioned the process by which commencement speakers were selected and honorary degrees were awarded.  Several senators said that they opposed granting Rice an honorary degree, but had no problem with her speaking at the commencement, and thought that we should draft our own resolution, distinguishing the two issues. Others thought that it might not be appropriate for the Camden Senate to officially take a stand on who the New Brunswick commencement speaker should be, but it was pointed out that the honorary degree would be granted by the University, so that this was the legitimate business of members of the Rutgers community on all three campuses.

A motion was made not to adopt the resolution as presented and to draft our own statement and response with regard to the New Brunswick commencement speaker and awarding of an honorary degree.  The motion was approved by voice vote with one no vote and the remainder all in favor.  Tyler said that he would draft such a resolution, based on the discussion the Senate had just had, and email it to all Senators for review and an email vote.

5. Ad Hoc Faculty Senate Bylaws Revisions Committee – Cyril Reade agreed to chair this committee, which will review the bylaws and present suggestions to the Faculty Senate in the near future.  Margery Amdur, Paul Bernstein, Jean-Louis Hippolyte and Tyler Hoffman in an ex-officio context, volunteered to work with Cyril.

6. No one had new business to report.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:05p.m.

Present:   Margery Amdur, Alsia Belanger, Laurie Bernstein, Paul Bernstein, Kate Epstein, William Fitzgerald, Siqi Fu, James Gennone, Joseph Gerver, Carla Giaudrone, Osama Hamed, Katrina Hazzard-Donald, Jean-Louis Hippolyte, Tyler Hoffman, Haisheng Li, Beth Rabinowitz, Cyril Reade, Ira Roseman, Robin Stevens, Julie Still, Lorrin Thomas, Louis Tuthill

Absent:  Grace Brannigan, Courtney Cavanaugh, Kenneth Elliott, Michael Fortner, Rajiv Gandhi, Wayne Glasker, Kenneth Hohing, Aaron Hostetter, Simeon Kotchoni, Charlotte Markey, Bill Saidel,  Alexander Samokhvolov, Carol Singley