FAEC Meeting Minutes, May 18, 2021

FAEC MINUTES
5/18/21 (draft)

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

Guests: Sarah Carberry (GECCo, Chair); Stephen Rice (ARC, Chair); Jeff Elsworth (WAC, Chair); Ruma Sen, Kathy Zeno, Virginia Gonsalves_Domund (Diversity); Ken McMurdy (Shared Governance); Natalia Santamaria-Laorden  (Marketing); Michael Bitz (Director, Instructional Design Center)

Vote to bring meeting to order at 10:04am.

Minutes Approval: April 28th & May 4th minutes were approved. 

FAEC DISCUSSION

Faculty Assembly with Dr. Jebb: Agenda was identified based on faculty feedback.

Guests from Academic Affairs: Guests joined the discussion regarding how to best organize the hour we have with Dr. Jebb.

Planned Agenda:

• Introductions and brief discussion on the role of Faculty Assembly and faculty governing structures.
• Discussion: Shared Governance 
• Discussion: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
• Discussion: Liberal Arts at Ramapo & recommitment to the pillars
• Questions and Comments from Dr. Jebb.

Results of the last FA vote.
Agenda was passed (105 yes, 6 abstentions)
Rikki Abzug was voted in as BOT rep
Kathy Yeaton was also voted in a BOT rep
Both ARC proposals were approved 

BoT Meeting Report: This report was provided by Dr. Stephen Larson:

This is a summary about yesterday’s BoT meeting:
The cost of living adjustments and steps will remain intact!

Our reserves have increased during the year due to COVID government funding.  We expect to use these funds due to anticipated shortages for the coming academic year.  A key estimate the college is using is to expect our dorms to be only 47% occupied.  Of course, if the actual occupancy rate is higher, we will be better off. 

The fringe rate was brought up again.  It is 55%, and the college’s administration tends to bring this up.  The fringe rate is the costs (e.g. health insurance etc.) of employing us divided by our salaries.  One way to explain a high fringe rate is to say the costs of employment are too high.  However, a reason our fringe rate may be higher than average is that our salaries are lower than average; a smaller denominator makes a larger quotient (i.e. fringe rate).  I think this may be the case, but I never formally studied the relative salary levels of college professors.  I do know from  experience that our inflation salary bumps are not adequate, which means our step increases are necessary for us to keep up with the cost of living.  That is, when people are not promoted, they tend to get poorer in real terms.  I spent years at the same step before getting promoted, so this insight comes from experience.  

Our tuition rate is set to increase by quite a bit.  However, it is being offset by the reduction in student fees.  That is, we are collapsing some of the student fees into our tuition.  The concern I brought up at this meeting is how this will look to parents and students who examine the tuition cost per credit year to year.  According to Chris Romano, the college will make sure parents and students understand the tuition increase is being largely offset by the collapsing of fees into the tuition.  I was told it is typical for colleges/universities to report the cost per year and this includes fees.  When I google “Ramapo Tuition” I get in-state tuition of $14,678.  From what I understand, this includes fees, so a person monitoring this number year-to-year should not become alarmed. “

FA President Closing Remarks

Meeting adjourned at 12:10pm

Categories: FAEC meeting Minutes 2021, RAMAPO FAEC