FAEC MINUTES 04/08/2020

DRAFT FAEC Minutes 4/8/2020

Faculty Assembly Executive Council [FAEC] Meeting Minutes

Date: Wednesday, April  8, 2020 | Location: ONLINE/REMOTE  | Time: 10:30 am to 12:00 pm

Attendees: Tae Kwak, Donna Flynn, Kathy Zeno, Christina Connor, Scott Frees, Roark Atkinson, Naseem Choudhury, Ashwani Vasishth (Interim SSHS Representative), Pinar Kayaalp (interim HGS Representative), Lisa Lutter

Secretary: Nakia Matthias

Guest: President Mercer

I. FAEC Minutes Approved 

II. Status of RCNJ Commencement 2020 

Graduating students are expressing uncertainty about the fate of RCNJ’s commencement ceremony.  President Mercer explained that RCNJ is awaiting information from Governor Phil Murphy and the Stay-At-Home order to make a determination about whether the graduation will be cancelled or postponed.  

FAEC suggested that informing students about whether graduation will happen can help them adjust the changes and mitigate uncertainty–even if graduation was pushed to December.

FAEC also proposed that the College conduct an Arching ceremony in lieu of a graduation commencement.  President Mercer will communicate with students about the prospects for a commencement ceremony and he expressed a desire to do more to do something for students beyond an arching ceremony.

FAEC will compose and distribute a message to students to provide them with information in an attempt to alleviate uncertainty.

III. President Mercer’s Communication to Faculty

FAEC informed President Mercer that all faculty have not received the e-mail message and that it is in its explanation of issues that may impact the college community.  President Mercer relayed that the state sequestered money and our funding is being reduced at a time when the College is most vulnerable. The college does not have much of an endowment.  AFT will meet with Peter to discuss the matters outlined in the e-mail.  

FAEC expressed concerns about enrollments for upcoming semesters and terms at the College citing the impact that changes may have on international student enrollment and the limited RCNJ endowment.  There is also concern that the unexpected events resulting from this crisis may be used by the administration to make abrupt changes such as possible potential programmatic changes, furloughs as causes for concern, mandated online and remote classes, and the delay or extreme limitation of  tenure decisions.

FAEC urges faculty to complete the surveys that have been disseminated by the administrator  in order to register faculty sentiments and positions on the teaching experience.

FAEC also suggested the need for a collective virtual space where faculty can communicate online.  

IV. OSS and DACA

FAEC is concerned with how students with special needs are dealing with remote learning. FAEC is wary that all students may not receive the kinds of help that they require and  may fall through the cracks.  

FAEC urges faculty to be aware that if a student is not a legal permanent resident and a Dreamer they cannot be placed on rosters to receive federal OSS funds.  The DACA program is more vulnerable than ever and measures to protect students should be revisited.

V. FAEC Position Tenure and Openings 

FAEC seeks a replacement for the FA Secretary which is  a non voting position. The candidate can be a non-tenure track faculty member.

FAEC terms are coming to an end for the representatives of TAS, ASB, and the Library

The FAEC unit representatives for CA, HGS, and SSHS have been filled on a temporary basis and require permanent faculty participation.

VI. The final FA meeting for Spring 2020 [April 29, 2020]

FAEC will assign roles for  facilitating the final FA meeting via Webex.  There is a need to manage participants, sort through comments made via the chat function, coordinate verbal participation, and enforce time limitations for verbal comments or questions

FAEC will ask the Provost to speak with deans about more consistent communication with faculty, as well as to examine and suggest models that deans have exercised to communicate with faculty 

Meeting Adjourned 12 pm

Categories: FAEC MEETING MINUTES 2020, RAMAPO FAEC