University Senate marks major milestone
Archived article from Sep 22, 2003
By Sue Burghard Brooks
See also: A historical look at the Senate
The Rutgers University Senate kicked off its 50th year as the Rutgers community's voice in shared governance with a meeting largely dedicated to President Richard L. McCormick's address to the university community.
"At 50, the University Senate is, at the same time, mature and full of youthful eagerness," said Paul Panayotatos, professor of electrical and computer engineering and chair of the Senate. "The word is out, and the increasing enthusiasm of new and returning senators — in combination with a president who wants to associate his administration with the strengthening of shared governance — hold the promise of continuously improving the recent effectiveness of the Senate for the benefit of the university."
The University Senate, which held its first meeting on Nov. 19, 1953, consists of representatives from Rutgers faculty, students, administrators and alumni. The Senate is involved with all academic matters pertaining to the university, regulates formal relationships among academic units within the university and recommends norms for teaching loads. Additionally, the Senate establishes the university calendar and has other powers as delegated by the Rutgers Board of Governors.
"For 50 years, the Senate has helped coalesce the voice of the Rutgers campus community and has conveyed the advice of its constituencies to the president," said Senate executive secretary Ken Swalagin.
The Senate's membership now stands at 203: 101 faculty, 57 students, 39 administrators and six alumni. Swalagin said that some of the toughest policies at Rutgers were ironed out in the beginning with the Senate writing policy and the administration often accepting it largely as it was written. "Many issues related to the structure and governance of the proposal to establish a College of Applied and Professional Studies were considered at length within the Senate, and the Asian Cultural Center was a recommendation of the Senate as well," he noted.
As president, McCormick is a voting senator. His involvement with the group dates back to his former faculty days, when he was elected as an at-large New Brunswick senator in 1982, a post he held until 1984. McCormick's participation continued from 1989 through 1992, when he was acting FAS dean.
"Over the past half century, the University Senate has played an integral part in molding Rutgers into one of the nation's leading public research universities," said McCormick. "I commend the senate for fostering Rutgers' growth and progress through commitment and shared governance, and celebrate its role in my administration."
Swalagin urges members of the university community to visit the Senate's Web site at http://senate.rutgers.edu to learn more about the Senate and the opportunities it holds as the voice for Rutgers, as well as to follow issues in the Senate's committees. He also encourages people to communicate with their designated senator regarding issues of importance to them. "This anniversary year promises to be one of innovation and change," he added.
A historical look at the senate
The formation of the Senate was as an outgrowth of the Rutgers University Council, which was itself a replacement for the Rutgers University Faculty organization. In "Rutgers: A Bicentennial History," Dr. Richard P. McCormick, university historian emeritus and father of the president, writes that the University Council, comprising an almost equal number of administrators and elected faculty representatives, was designed to "exercise advisory and legislative powers pertaining to all academic matters except those which have been assigned by the Trustees or the President [to others]…."
The lead article in the July 1953 edition of the Rutgers University "Faculty News-Letter" states that in May, a recommendation made by the standing committee of the council to establish a University Senate, was approved. In June of that year, the Rutgers' Board of Trustees adopted the change in the university statutes needed to make the recommendation effective. Hence, the council was dissolved, and the Senate, which was given greater powers than the council itself, became the legislative body of the university.
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