FAEC Meeting Minutes 1/17/18

FAEC Meeting Minutes 1/17/18

In Attendance: Tae Kwak, Kim Lorber, Christina,  Donna Flynn (replacing TA rep Cristina), Gladys, Marta, Eva Ogens, Roark Atkinson, Kathy

Snow late opening: 11am

Cristina introduced the new TA rep as she is teaching during our meeting times this semester.

According to the FA Bylaws, Article V, Sec. 1, H-I: “H. Meets regularly with the President of the College and sits as a member of the President’s Cabinet; I. Meets regularly with the Provost and sits as a member of the Provost¹s Cabinet.” Tae said the writing is ambiguous so he is now on the Councils of both (Provost’s Council and PAC). In practice, no previous FA cabinets have sat on the President’s Ccabinet. Tae will research this as the President’s Cabinet has the top representative from each campus body except, in this case, the faculty’s (FA President).

Homeless Students: If we provide more than we do (meal tickets and a room for one or two days ). Only two people can authorize this; one is Chris Romano, VP of Enrollment Management, the other is the Dean of Students. This seems unreasonable as the athletes stay at no extra cost and no one complains.

Tae will run for president again.

FA President Election: Tae encouraged us to bring this to Unit Council so others can run if they wish.

Library Update: At a recent library renovation marketing meeting, attendees were informed that the project will now be known as the “Learning Commons” project, and to remove the term “library” from marketing information concerning the project. Dean Siecke was informed by a librarian who attended the marketing meeting that this decision had been made.  Dean Siecke was never directly notified about this, but had inquired in the past if this was happening. Past responses confirmed the term library would always be a part of the project’s title.  There was general concern among FAEC members about the removal of library from the project title and its future implications. Librarians are currently exploring examples of Learning Commons’ projects on other college campuses and how they work in relation to the library.

Christina, Roark, Tae, and Dean Siecke met over Winter Break to discuss the handling of the library renovation. Dean Siecke is seeking clarification from President Mercer as to the rationale for the proposed name change.

There is still concern among FAEC members over the inclusion of certain offices and amenities within the proposed plan, particularly when those spaces may remain dark and not open for student use. Gladys offered to speak to Dean Petkus to verify the Bloomberg Terminals will not be transferred to the library, with general agreement from FAEC members that it seemed logical to keep the technology within ASB.

FAEC members expressed concern over potential conflict of interest of certain members of the President’s Library and Learning Commons Task Force.

Roark suggested the possibility of rewriting the Library’s Mission to strengthen the argument to keep the renovation “library-focused.” Christina has drafted a motion for Faculty Assemble about the project title change.

Nicole Agard-Morgan arrived at 11:42am. She was approached by students and faculty regarding issues of the international students. Her thoughts and recommendations following a meeting with the President. Some comments made at the FA Forum were received as insulting. Nicole feels we should have this again to talk about diversity itself as well as micro-aggressions. She is interested in getting the same or similar training from the Rutgers previous presenter, a Ramapo grad, and/or others. She would like our support. She will meet with Martha Ecker as well for AFT support.

Examples of upset follow. The mean income from Nepal, for example, was given so Stefan, president of the SGA, said people are approaching them and asking how they can afford to come here. Tae noted there is an unintentional and unconscious way in which we say some things that are actually condescending. The major problem is sometimes the most well-intentioned students come across as condescending. We will need concrete examples to understand how what we have said was received no matter how well intentioned. Whether in Unit Council or Faculty Assembly, small group discussions should be included. We need to have it and need examples so people attending know this is real. The staff training was excellent. It needs to be real/relevant to faculty with examples when the training(s) is/are made. Tokenization is common when a class discussion is about a topic with only one student with this background, present. Then the discussion defers to them. We need training. Some international students feel isolated by the response. The Roukema Center has been given new charges to attend to meals, etc. Students report feeling ghettoized. This should be under the umbrella of the Dean of Students.

This is a three part issue: homeless students, international students’ needs, and diversity training/awareness. Efforts to help international students at the last minute may have been more elegant had it been done earlier. We can proceed more thoughtfully in the future so needs can be addressed.

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