Faculty Assembly Executive Council | Minutes | 9/4/19

Faculty Assembly Executive Council [FAEC] Meeting Minutes

Date: Wednesday, September  4, 2019 | Location: A220  | Time: 10:30 am to 12:00 pm

Attendees: Kathryn Zeno, Tae Kwak, Donna Flynn, Renata Gangemi, Christina Connor, Eva Ogens, Scott Frees

Guest: Ashwani Vasishth

Secretary: Nakia Matthias

1. FAEC Minutes Approved

2. RCNJ Budget

The FAEC raised concerns about the process that the administration and the cabinet are taking in regard to the budget and curriculum and suggest that involvement of the faculty is crucial in budgetary planning matters.   $1.1 million has been cut from academic affairs. The projected budget deficit of $6 million was inaccurate and rising tuition revenue had not been accounted for in that estimate. The budget deficit is 3.1 million less than half of what was projected a year ago.  The Provost proposed a task force comprising faculty that is focused on Academic affairs cuts. The task force’s first meeting was in May. Although fiscal issues are the concern of the primary administration and the FAEC should only be informed, there is concern that budgetary considerations are not being optimized or made for sustained efficiency.

3. Guest: Ashwani Vasishth

There is tremendous unease related to many decisions taken by the Cabinet, and the possibility that they will hurt rather than help the faculty and ultimately RCNJ.  Decision-making requires a conversation about shared governance that engages collegiality, transparency, and participatory decision making processes. Administrators and their offices are all being informed to make changes and have no room to push back for accountability.  There is no accountability for mistakes made and therefore faculty and the Cabinet need to revisit how decisions are made at RCNJ..  

There is also a need to make clear how 3 + 1 could impact faculty at RCNJ and whether it could result in full time faculty commuting to a community college to teach.  The nature of the program and its uptake at RCNJ can possibly lead to loss of control over curriculum, outsourcing of syllabi, and also structural cuts.

4. International Student Enrollments and Transfer Students

International student enrollments are declining and down by half of the number enrolled for the previous school year.  The current political climate does not support the influx of international students. There are a record number of transfer students at RCNJ this year.  However, relying on an uptick in transfer enrollments is not a permanent solution as the demographic profile of the pool of new college students in New Jersey is shrinking. 

5. Library and Learning Commons Reconstruction

Several of the library’s electronic databases have been cancelled and more will be cut in the near future.  RCNJ saved 65K last year with a switch to electronic databases. Although RCNJ sees more revenue because of a pilot program with Rockland Community College, students do not pay for library tech fees and Bradley Center fees.  There are currently under 15 students using the Library under this agreement. The current budget will not allow for sustaining existing databases with an increased unofficial enrollment of community college students college students whom have access to the library’s resources on campus.  

The reconstruction of the learning commons will be funded through a 15 million dollar grant and RCNJ reserves but the budget does not factor in the operating costs of the current facilities. The Learning Commons re-construction is requiring more money from the budget than has ever been raised by the President.

6. Faculty Parking Lots and Reserved Library Parking Spaces

Since entry to the faculty parking lots have not required a card key students and perhaps other unauthorized persons have been parking their cars in it.  The FAEC suggests that faculty contact public safety to address this issue through ticketing. The FAEC President will also discuss this matter with the Provost.

The FAEC will invite the registrar and Beth Foster to a future meeting to review calendar issues.  The faculty was informed that the FAEC requested specific changes to the final exam schedule. However this is not the case. Exams must be scheduled for 200 minutes and  there should be 4 exams per day. However, the FAEC has no role in exam slotting. Furthermore, if irregularities are noticed in the final exam schedule then they should be changed for future exam scheduling.  Additionally, faculty need concrete due dates for grades for each semester and grading cycle in advance. The due dates for grades are scheduled 5 years in advance. FAEC would also like to know the actual percentage of faculty that are submitting grades late.

7. Course Evaluations

If faculty opted for electronic evaluations, the instrument contained the revised questions that FA voted on last Spring.  However if faculty opted for paper evaluations the instrument reflected the old evaluation questions. There needs to be consistency across paper and electronic course evaluations.

8. Call for Interested Candidates for FAEC President

The FAEC President will be ending his tenure in the position and going on an administrative leave for 1 year.  An announcement will be made at Faculty Assembly to call for the submission of names for faculty interested in assuming the position.

Meeting Adjourned at 12 pm

Categories: FAEC MEETING MINUTES 2019, RAMAPO FAEC