FAEC Meeting Minutes, April 7, 2021

FAEC MINUTES 4/7/21

 Present: Naseem Choudhury (President, SSHS), Katie Cohen (Library), Donna Flynn (Councilor-at-Large under 11, TAS), Scott Frees (Vice President, TAS), Kim Lorber (Secretary), Lisa Lutter, (CA), Thierry Rakot0be-Joel (ASB), Mihaela Serban (SSHS), Ed Shannon (HGS), Bonnie Blake (Councilor-at-Large over 11, CA)  

Guests: Peter Mercer (President) and Susan Gaulden (Provost),

Vote to bring meeting to order at 10:32am.

Minutes Approval: The 3/31/21 minutes were approved. 

FA PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Transition Meeting: Naseem participated for a half hour. Survey to be distributed soon.

Communication Meeting: Bonnie attended on behalf of FAEC.

• Changes in the State’s Program Approval Process: There are changes proposed in the state’s program approval process. It may pass in the Legislature this August. We anticipate focus on duplication of programs.The impact on Ramapo is unknown. The state approval process already required us to show new programs are not “unduly expensive, duplicative, or exceeding the institution’s programmatic mission.” This may (or may not) impact the introduction of new majors and has been in the works for a year or longer. 
• Are they marketable? Can institutions collaborate?  This will impact the introduction of new majors and has been in the works for a year or longer. How much interference will there be from larger universities, like Rutgers and Rowan, when new majors will be introduced? ·     
• Student Enrollment is Dropping in NJ: President Mercer and VP Romano highlighted the drop. We have been aware of this and we do not know the future. NJ has long been the greatest exporter of students to other states. NJ state institutions have higher tuition than most state schools. Can a tuition incentive be made to creatively have graduate students live on campus?

 Meeting Calendar: Naseem will work to establish a central calendar, with Brittany A. Williams-Goldstein. A goal is to allow all to attend the Communication Meetings in the future.

 Meeting with Brittany: Naseem has submitted the schedule for FA and FAEC meetings, as well as the Bischoff’s and Thomases Awards and Scholar’s Day to be included in a central calendar. Dr. Jebb has made herself available to come to Ramapo on May 25th or 26th in the afternoon. Perhaps she can come on the earlier date to meet before the start of Summer Session 1.

 Transition Team Survey: There will be 3 surveys : Faculty/Staff, Students/Alumnae, and Friends of Ramapo. The purpose of the survey is to inform the central calendar being developed. The unions will also meet with the new President.

Presidential Advisory Council (PAC):  Still working on the recommendations for shared governance. 

PRESIDENT MERCER’S REPORT

Sister Institution Announcements: Some are announcing they  are “returning to normal” in Fall 2021. The President is skeptical.  5 states in the nation have the highest rates; NY and NJ are two of these. We are being more prudent about Ramapo’s plans. The CDC has provided different guidelines in an often confusing fashion. ; We need to know more about who will be eligible for vaccines as new categories of individuals are opened.

 Layoffs: Nothing is being planned or modeled but anything can happen. Peter very heartily believes the prospects of the College will be  challenging over the next 5 years. The State will not be able to continue subsidizing colleges.

PROVOST GAULDEN’S REPORT

Communications Meeting: There were approximately 90 people in attendance. The biggest question comes from staff asking why faculty can decide if they will be remote while staff does not have a choice.

Vaccination Site: Rowan is going to be a site and will take care of the on and off campus community members. While there is interest in Ramapo becoming a vaccination site, the process is opaque and complex. For instance, OSHE long ago received Provost Gaulden’s request to become a testing site. Were the college selected as a vaccination site, Ramapo would  have to build the infrastructure and staffing.  While some colleges are requiring vaccinations of students, faculty, and staff, the Department of Health informed Ramapo  that schools may not require anyone to take a vaccine approved “for emergency use only.” This made Rutgers’ announcement requiring vaccinations questionable. Ramapo awaits clarification from the State before making an announcement. Some schools have building swipe systems, which helps in contact tracing. Can we mandate students to use such an app?

Fall in-person practices: We do not know if CDC recommendations regarding  seat spacing and mask wearing will change.  Any such changes  will affect logistical planning.

“Hope is not a plan!”

Delivery Modes/Residence Halls: Students signing up for in-person courses are more likely to live in the residence halls. If there is a legitimate concern and request, delivery methods can be changed. Decisions would be better made earlier. OSHE’s currently encourages one student per bedroom. Some  institutions exceed this number ; our plans can change, too, if we become more comfortable. We can change the number of in-person students and beds per unit if we decide this is safe. We are operating within recommended practices. 

Sixty-two percent of FYS courses will have at least some on-campus course meetings. Most of our typical classrooms can safely accommodate  6, 12, or 15 students. If you have a large class and smaller classroom, you may need to use multiple groups to cycle through in-person meetings. In a Hyflex classroom, a professor could ask students to choose their preference. Enrollment and delivery methods will determine classroom assignments.  .

 Delivery Methods: OSHE Restart Guidelines require we  accomodate  students requesting  remote learning options. The college has wide latitude in how this is accomplished (for example, moving students from an on campus section of a course to a virtual one rather than demanding the on campus section change).

Students cannot be told there isn’t a remote option. 

In NJ, K-12 is supposedly going to be fully in-person without a virtual  option. OSHE has not updated higher education guidelines since last summer.  FAEC requested clarity on who must  be accommodated. For instance, under what circumstances may a student  who chose an on campus course request a mid-semester change? (For instance, must the student demonstrate a documented medical issue?).  

Substitute Teacher Credit Changes: The State is considering but has not  yet voted on reducing substitute teacher credits from 60 to 30 college credits. 

Graduation: Academic Achievement Ceremony: Wednesday, May 12th will start at 9am; Lisa Lutter will provide  the music. This should end at 11am. At 11:30am the nursing pinning ceremony begins . 2pm Rites of Passage event begins. The College is not ordering regalia; those who own regalia may choose to wear theirs . Graduates will wear regalia and may attend  in person with up to 2 guests (or they may attend virtually). The rain date is May 14th but if it rains for both, we will celebrate virtually. No hugging or shaking hands.

Furloughs:  Current planning suggests that announced retirements, anticipated retirements, and a lower  hiring  rate will forestall more furloughs. Some hiring continues. This fall we hope to include 3 new faculty lines. It will be a while before we have the level of confidence of hiring many tenure track faculty.  No faculty members have lost their jobs including temporary hires. Any imminent loss of temporary lines would have happened regardless of the pandemic. 

Meeting adjourned at 11:57am.

Categories: FAEC MEETING MINUTES 2020, RAMAPO FAEC, Uncategorized