Meeting of the Faculty Senate
Approved Minutes
October 9, 2017
The meeting was called to order at approximately 11:25 a.m., with FASC Senate President Julie Still presiding. There are 33 Senators, including 5 senators-at-large. Thirteen senators were present.
- A motion was made to approve the minutes of September 18, 2017. The motion was approved. Voting record: 13 ayes, 0 opposed, 0 abstention.
- A motion was made to approve the candidates of October graduates, as presented.
- Jennifer Thiel, Assistant Dean for Advising, confirmed that the list of candidates was submitted to the respective department chairs have been cleared for approval by the Senate. The motion was Voting record: 13 ayes, 0 opposed, 0 abstention.
- The following program was submitted for approval: CYBERSECURITY CERTIFICATE – Voting record: 13 ayes, 0 opposed, 0 abstention.
- The following courses were presented by the APC for approval:
|
Courses presented for approval by APC to Faculty Senate |
Voting Record
|
||||||
|
Dept |
Course # |
Course Title |
Credit Value |
New/ Revision |
Aye |
Nay |
Abstention |
|
Forensic Science |
50:412:490 |
International Perspectives of Forensic Science |
3 |
NEW |
See below |
||
|
English – Rhetoric |
50:842:238 |
Visual Rhetoric and Culture |
3 |
NEW |
13 |
0 |
0 |
- Discussion ensued about the disconnect between the course title and course description, as presented by Forensic Science. A motion was made for “pending approval” to support a change to either title or description to make it obvious as to whether the course focuses on study in other countries (any) or study strictly in the United Kingdom. Voting record: 13 ayes, 0 opposed, 0 abstention.
NOTES: Jennifer Thiel had previously agreed to contact the Registrar about loading onto Degree Navigator all newly approved courses for the Master Course List. Department chairs were encouraged to follow up with the Registrar and Advising to confirm that courses have been added, edited, or removed.
- Mary Beth Daisey, introduced this year’s goal of the Experiential Learning Council (ELC). The Experiential Learning Council is a campus-wide committee made up of faculty and staff who realize the importance of experiential learning and the need to infuse it into the departments. Rutgers-Camden focuses on four areas of experiential learning – Learning Abroad; Engaged Civic Learning; Internships; and Student Conductive Research. The Council will be requesting meetings with departments to meet and work with together in the department’s goals and to bring standardization of the ELC; identify barriers of non-participation (example: non-pay) and determine how to move past them, and to offer suggestions on how to grow a department’s program/goals. Studies show that students who participate in experiential learning activities have a much higher graduation and success rate.
A question was posed about offering trips that may be domestic in nature vs. abroad. Mary Beth asked that if a department is interested in such a program to bring up at the group meeting with the Council and department.
- Revised Statement regarding Right to Free Speech and Protests: Revisions were made by Jim Brown and Shauna Shames, based on the feedback received by the Senators. Further discussion at the day’s meeting also prompted changes including to:
Change language to strike “attempt to ” and reword to “threaten and defame”. Also reword to add “In response to ongoing conflicts and debates about free speech on college campuses (such as ……).” The corrected statement will now read:
“In response to ongoing conflicts and debates about free speech on college campuses (such as recent incidents at the University of Virginia on August 10-12, 2017), we, the Faculty Senate of the College of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers University-Camden, affirm our adherence to the values of integrity, curiosity, civility, mutual respect, and equal dignity of all people, as well as to the ideal of free expression, so crucial in a democracy. We are keenly aware of our responsibility as an institution of higher education to help foster a welcoming, tolerant, and diverse learning community, where our students, faculty, and staff can learn and grow together in a safe environment. While there are limits on free speech and while those who threaten or defame others are not offered the protections of free speech, we do not advocate suppressing speech based on content, so long as that content is expressed in a manner consistent with our university values of according equal dignity to all persons and so long as it approaches discussion in a spirit of mutual learning and respect.”
A motion to approve the resolution, as amended and shown above, was made and unanimously approved. Voting record: 13 ayes, 0 opposed, 0 abstention.
- New Business: At the last meeting, Jim Brown called for attention, review and future discussion of the FASC Senate Bylaws, as posted on the Sakai site, wanting to suggest changes to terms of the officers. Jim recently learned that the bylaws can only be changed by a full vote of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Jim to work to determine how to present and meet for approval.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn. The meeting was adjourned at 12:15 p.m.
Present: Andrew Abeyta, Craig Agule, Ross Allen, James Boucher, James Brown, Wayne Glasker, Osama Hamed, Jean-Louis Hippolyte, Guy Kortsarz, George Kumi, Rufan Luo, Susan Miller, Beth Rabinowitz; Jillian Sayre, Shauna Shames, Julie Still
Absent (Senators): Margery Amdur, Kate Anderson, Joseph Barbarese, Paul Bernstein, Nawaf Bou-Rabee, Melanie Bowers, Stacia Gilliard-Matthews, Angelica Gonzales, Julianne Griepenburg, Aaron Hostetter, Christopher Lim, Joan Mazelis, Silvia Perez-Cortes, William Saidel, Amy Salvage
Optional and noted (University Senators): Joseph Barbarese (present), Joseph Schiavo (absent), Daniel Bubb (absent), Elizabeth Demaray (absent), Howard Marchitello (absent), Yuchung Wang (absent), Babu Dasari (absent)
Present (Invited Guests): Mary Beth Daisey, Bill Whitlow, Jennifer Thiel
Drafted by Maria Buckley, 10/23/2017Submitted by Wayne Glasker, Faculty Senate Secretary, 10/25/2017