2/4/2020 Faculty Assembly Minutes

DRAFT

Ramapo College of New Jersey

Wednesday, February 5, 2020
2 pm, Alumni Lounges

FACULTY ASSEMBLY

FA Minutes Approved

FA President’s Report

1. Three Plus One Agreements [TPO’s]

A ‘pilot’ program with PCCC is starting Fall 2020.  Students will start their 2rd year at PCCC. RCNJ is unsure of where the plus-one courses will be taught.

FAEC was given an overview of financial projections in a general sense but the specifics of the  financial models were kept confidential. Assumptions are that TPO’s in 1st year would only be with PCCC.  Not other colleges.

It is unclear as to where the plus-one courses will be located.   Some at RCNJ have been asked if there is interest to teach them but it is uncertain as to where they will be taught.

Financial projections demonstrate risk and loss unless there is a 20% surge in enrollments.  

FA has been informed that the plus one plan will improve minority enrollment.  State funding would result in an increase in minority enrollments. However, these considerations were not baked into financial projections provided by Chris Romano.

Students were expected to pay two full semesters of tuition plus enroll during a summer or winter with 8 credits.  This is no longer the case. State legislation mandates that students that graduate with an AA must be awarded 64 rather than 60 credits if entering the fourth year of a  four-credit granting institution.

FA is concerned that concentrations are not being created but rather tracks are being created in the name of created TPO content  in order to circumvent ARC review. Tracks created to avoid ARC review. Ethics of Marketing a Global studies or business program although this will not be indicated on their diplomas b/c these are tracks.  An ethical issue.

Passaic County Community College is closer to RCNJ than other county colleges. Therefore, if programs are developed within the TPO structure it is unlikely that they will be taught at RCNJ.  They will have to be taught at the county/local college due to their distance from the RCNJ campus.

2. President Mercer’s Report

The new RCNJ shuttle will link  RCNJ with students commuting to and from  Garden State Plaza The shuttle is free and has attracted attention.  

Preparations for Middle states arrival will happen in the coming weeks and faculty should review the RCNJ Dashboard 2020 site that has been created for Middle States evaluation.

Faculty have raised some concern regarding sabbatical review and how sabbatical determinations are made by the Provost.

Sabbatical decisions have already been made there is elasticity in the determination of sabbatical assignment.  This is something that can be determined by the President and Provosts office based on their review of the candidates.  

President Mercer stated  that Provost maintains residual authority in the decision-making process regarding sabbatical determinations.  

Faculty mentioned that any decisions taken should be based on criteria pre-established within the faculty handbook and that \elevating research on this campus at high percentages should not be the norm.  Custom is as much law as any legal framework. The work of the committees is therefore the customary practice for designating candidates for sabbatical considerations. Customs should be followed as part of the process.

Faculty asserted that the list of candidates was reassigned without any written criteria and that this should not have happened and should not be repeated in the future. Furthermore they  mentioned that bottlenecks will grow and not shrink in the situation where criteria are applied without merit based criteria. Process is not fair on its face .

3. Provost Becker’s Report

Provost Becker mentioned that the Sabbatical Committee is invited to communicate with the Provost and the President about the process and that the criteria were followed as laid out in the handbook but he would not not like to discuss further personnel actions during the FA meeting.

There is a renewed focus on student success.   Retention rates at RCNJ as compared to national averages are good but The College can do better.  

A push for TPO programs is based on the fact that students can be poached by other institutions posing retention challenges.

The program review process will be changed from a one to a five-year process and has been implemented for two  programs already. 

The faculty were instructed to conserve paper usage on campus as the equivalent of 6 million pages per year are being exhausted costing RCNJ more than 140k per year.  

In response to Provost Becker’s comment on Sabbatical Considerations faculty mentioned that they are not only referring to particular case study with sabbatical but rather a pattern that has occurred over time during Provosts tenure.  Faculty asked the provost about why faculty input and expertise is being disregarded in the process. Faculty expressed that they have, “nothing to lose” in stating their case for the disapproval of the Provosts handling of sabbatical considerations.  Faculty mentioned that they have no confidence in the process or in the provost.

4. Information Items

• Diversity Convocation (Tamika Quick)  not in attendance
• OSS Online (David Nast)   

Be sure to respond to online testing forms even if no exam is given or if faculty plan to proctor their exams.

• Middle States Update (Stephanie Sarabia)

Information about Dashboard 2021 can be obtained via the dedicated website.  Please review the site to prepare faculty and student engagement during the Middle states visit.

5. Voting Items Follow:

If the Provost and President make decisions that contradict the recommendation of the relevant Personnel Committee, a formal meeting must be convened with the Committee to explain the differences, to ensure that the same criteria was applied as outlined in the Faculty Handbook and guided by past Practice and Precedent.

The current Faculty Handbook should be followed in all personnel matters until a revised Faculty Handbook is adopted.

Charge a Faculty Handbook Revision Task Force

Note: Voting will be conducted online through a secure Qualtrics survey.

Categories: FA RCNJ Minutes 2020, FACULTY ASSEMBLY MINUTES, Faculty Assembly Minutes 2020