FAEC MINUTES 02/12/2020

FAEC Minutes 2/12/2020

Faculty Assembly Executive Council [FAEC] Meeting Minutes

Date: Wednesday, Feb  12, 2020 | Location: B226  | Time: 10:30 am to 12:00 pm

Attendees: Tae Kwak, Donna Flynn, Kathy Zeno, Christina Connor, Scott Frees, Roarke, Naseem Choudhury, Ashwani Vashihth (Interim SSHS Representative), Pinar Kayaalp (interim HGS Representative), 

Secretary: Nakia Matthias

Guests:  Interim Provost Gaulden

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FAEC Minutes Approved

1.  FA Voting Items Survey  Results

122 votes were registered in the recent FA survey that was administered by FAEC via qualtrics.  

2. RCNJ’s Acting President 

Provost Gaulden informed FAEC that Kirsten Loewrigkeit is serving as RCNJ’s acting president as President Mercer is “off campus” and the role will be filled on a rotating basis among President Mercer’s cabinet members.

3. Three Plus One Students and Programs at RCNJ [TPO]

The plus-one year amounts to a total of 38 credits.  TPO students will enter RCNJ with 90 credits and would need a total of 38 credits.   FAEC was informed that TPO students will enter RCNJ with, “advanced” Associates Degree rather than an Associates Degree. Eight credits are required for the completion of the plus-one term and will not be covered by the Pell Grant and will instead be covered by a provisional loan that students will need to take out.

4. Interim Provost Susan Gaulden:  Middle States, Faculty Concerns at RCNJ

The Provost is primarily concerned with  how can FAEC support a good Middle States visit although the Middle States agenda is not finalized.  Provost Gaulden explained that “70% of colleges that are on warning,” from Middle States is due to the lack or absence of programmatic and curricular assessment.   

She explained that the trend in online learning means that online contact hours are assessed, in addition to the workload, and the span of time that learners are engaged with coursework. Furthermore, she explained that the assessment of the quality of online education should meet the same standard as classroom-based contact.

The Provost assigned Michael Bitz to the Middle States interview group for online learning due to his work with the facilitation of an online learning taskforce at RCNJ.

Provost Gaulden advised that the Middle States team will question GeccO regarding curricular changes although she is aware that the GeccO membership has changed since new curricular changes were implemented.  She also mentioned that a lot of thought went into which GeccO members would sit for interviews with the Middle States team and will be based on bottom-up recommendations and administrators’ inputs. The Provost informed FAEC that its members will be asked about shared governance.

FAEC shared their hope for a shift in the culture of shared governance and information sharing at RCNJ.  The Provost assured FAEC that justification will be provided for decision-making relative to faculty and campus related issues.

FAEC also expressed concerns that faculty have with the administration relative to support and real action for ensuring diversity at RCNJ.  FAEC mentioned that despite task forces, focus groups, and campus climate surveys it is unclear as to what is being done with the information that is generated, as well as how it is used toward growing and securing real diversity at RCNJ.

5. Presentation of FA Concerns to the Interim Provost 

FAEC discussed and will further develop a “laundry list” of concerns to present to Provost Gaulden. FAEC Unit representatives will request input from their unit members regarding their concerns and questions for the Provost. The FA President was asked to reconsider things that the Provost changed or proposed to change and will provide Provost Gaulden with a list of the FA’s most pressing concerns related to tis matter.

The FA President was also asked to account for leadership at RCNJ for the Middle States study and report. Middle States’ interests transcend the results obtained about leadership via campus climate surveys, but rather they want to see that action has been taken to address matters evidenced by survey results.  They want to see a pattern of attempts to address matters/concerns that have been recorded.

6. Other concerns raised for examination by the provost are outlined below:

7. Alcohol and Other Drug [AOD] Policy

The AOD policy and fines imposed on students as means to enforce policy compliance must be revisited.  There have been requests for meetings regarding how this policy has changed. The enforcement of the disproportionately impacts students of color on campus.  The policy is in need of revision and culturally competent considerations must be waged in this process, as well as in its enforcement.

A conversation must take place with the be The Chief Diversity Officer who does not make the policy but serves an advisory role in its enforcement.

Link to AOD policies: https://www.ramapo.edu/publicsafety/alcohol-and-drug-policies/

8. Diversity at RCNJ

President Mercer and the former Provost stated that TPO’s would support RCNJ’s diversity goals, as well as increase minority student enrollments but increased enrollment of minority students was never a factor in their financial projections for TPO’s at the College.  

RCNJ is on its way to being a minority serving institution regardless of TPO’s  and The College must make a commitment to diversity. One of the concerns is the reporting process for bias incidents.  In effort to avert gatekeeping, bias incidents can also be reported to the New Jersey State Ethics Commission, in addition to the EDIC, ELO, and the Affirmative Action Director.   

9. Course Evaluations

The average response rate for online course evaluations is around 25%.  The FAEC will recommend that the College revert to paper based evaluation as the default and employ online evaluations only if faculty Opt-in relative to the mode of instruction.

The current incentive proposal for granting extra credit to students that complete course evaluations is problematic. This method of granting extra credit per student cannot occur unless information about the whom has completed evaluations is disclosed to faculty.  FAEC maintains that the extra credit scheme is a non-policy and needs to be addressed by the current provost. The withholding of student grades for a defined period of time is proposed as a means to encourage participation in student course evaluations via electronic delivery.  Faculty concerns regarding course evaluations are important for personnel considerations but can easily be addressed through immediate return to paper based evaluations.

10. Faculty Handbook Revision 

Helen Higgenbotham, RCNJ’s former Director of Affirmative Action, is still listed as the current Affirmative Action Director in the faculty handbook

The Faculty Handbook revision task force is being assembled to address immediate concerns regarding the processes outlined in the handbook for tenure, promotion, and sabbatical considerations.

Meeting Adjourned at 12 pm

Categories: FAEC MEETING MINUTES 2020, RAMAPO FAEC