November 17, 2020FAEC Minutes October 14, 2020

FAEC MINUTES 10/14/2020

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

Vote to bring meeting to order at 10:05am.

Minutes Approval: The 10/7/20 minutes were approved.

FA PRESIDENT’S REPORT

FA Minutes Approval/Graduate Council Vote: Naseem will send the minutes of our last meeting to the faculty for approval. Ashwani Vasishth is running unopposed to be the Faculty Assembly Graduate Council representative. The bylaws do not indicate if it is a voting position. We encourage tenured candidates. Clarification of the role will be sought from Provost Gaulden.

Student Survey: The construction of the questions seemed directional. Could questions have been framed in a more neutral way to gather specific information?

Budget: Naseem and Scott met with President Mercer to discuss the budget.  President Mercer will address this in his next FA address.

FAEC DISCUSSION

Spring Course Catalog: Multiple issues have been found. Faculty are sending corrections to the deans. Naseem will meet with Susan to discuss issues.

Provost’s Council: Naseem would like to ask the committee working on the Student Code of Conduct be expanded to include additional faculty in order to represent more of the units on campus. Emma Rainforth is leading the subgroup in Provost’s council.

Students’ Names: Students change their names and these are applied in some areas and not in others. Need to have a more efficient name change procedure

To change Canvas name: https://ramapo.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6WfGGEGxfLEXjeJ

To change Webex name: https://help.webex.com/en-us/nmig1kcb/Edit-Your-Webex-Meetings-Profile

We recommend these links be distributed more widely to students and faculty.

Evaluations: Faculty has concerns about how these will reflect on faculty. We are concerned that course evaluations be filled out in private by students alone. We hear anecdotal evidence of family members and others who are present during webex classes. If evaluations are used for promotion and tenure, etc. then we need to have confidence they are filled out only by student in the class in question.

Canvas Page Review: Would faculty be interested in having their Canvas pages reviewed/graded? We all think differently. Perhaps some sample Canvas courses can be used as examples.

Urgent ITS questions: We have a system to contact/text our deans for urgent ITS needs. They contact the CIO. This seems not to be working as well as expected. We need a new system; this will be addressed with the Provost.

3/1 Programs: Mia will give information about who will moderate the faculty forum on November 4 about the 3+1 program.

Academic Advisement Council: Naseem and Scott discussed with the Provost the formation of a program for non-matriculated majors.

CASP.  Committee that addressed academic suspensions and probation should be re-envisioned and brought back. Will discuss with Susan.

BIT: This committee seems especially necessary now. Informing the faculty about what is appropriate to refer to this group, is needed. Dean Lorenz runs this. Maybe he can give an FA reminder.

Meeting adjourned at 12:04pm.

 

 

Categories: FAEC MEETING MINUTES 2020, RAMAPO FAEC

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October 21, 2020FAEC Minutes October 7, 2020

FAEC MINUTES 10/7/2020

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

Guests: Pinar Kayaalp (Sabbatical/Tenure Promotions), Peter Mercer (President), Susan Gaulden (Provost)

Vote to bring meeting to order at 10:02am.

Minutes Approval: The 9/30/20 minutes were approved with one abstention.

FA PRESIDENT’S REPORT

SGA Report: FAEC representative, Ed Shannon, attended the last meeting. FAEC attendance was well received. Concerns were raised about not having a spring break. Students also requested courses addressing the current political circumstances in our nation.

Spring Break Discussion: The College is working to identify the best course of action in order to keep the campus safe from possible new exposure risks due to traveling.

EOF/CRW: Was discussed and we hope to have more information, soon. Todd Barnes is now the CRW faculty liaison.

3/1: SSHS has the most programs involved. HGS is also part of this first round of this new model. We understood we would have some assessment of the first semester at Passaic County Community College before other community colleges would be added. Course/program preparation at Sussex County Community College has already begun for the spring and discussions are in process with Hudson County Community College.

2/2: Social work is the first program to offer the 2/2 model. First it will be at Passaic County Community College (PCCC) in spring 2021.

FA Representation on Administrative Committees: Openings will be made available to all full-time faculty and a vote implemented as needed.

Virtual Classroom Concerns: Concerns about non-registered individuals having access to course content and being “present” in virtual classrooms was discussed. FERPA issues, safety concerns and intellectual/academic rigour concerns were discussed.

REPORT FROM PINAR KAYAALP

Sabbatical/Tenure/Promotions: FAEC received MFSA report asking FAEC to review and consult with faculty on issues of Sabbaticals, Tenure Clock, and how these procedures may or may not provide equity. FAEC agrees that this is an important part of the faculty handbook revisions.

Handbook Committee: No new information is available.

Spring Break: We will need an MOA.

PROVOST’S REPORT

Spring 2021 Planning: Most faculty completed the course Census and most courses have been added to Banner. Advisement week will be starting on Monday (Oct 12). The deans will send an email regarding the course listings. A document will also be issued explaining all of the codes/course types. Registration begins November 16th. Students will also be notified if changes are still possible.

Fall 2021/Spring 2022: Six sabbatical semesters will be offered for the next academic year. We await the MOA numbers for promotions.

Spring Break Spring 2021: Many colleges are posing the same question as we are regarding canceling spring break and possibly adding that week to winter break.

In-person Classes & Sick students: The faculty are responsible to accommodate the student’s learning needs.

Student Survey: Will be distributed upon request and when completed.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Promotion/Tenure/Sabbatical Concerns for the President: Faculty is eager to see the revised handbook. The committee has not been reconvened. There are many current issues, which are not answered in the current version of the handbook. The Provost will make the ultimate handbook approval. We have asked for a final draft in February so it can be discussed in the remaining two Faculty Assembly meetings.

AAACSB Site Visitors: President Mercer and Provost Gaulden met with this group, which accredits the Anisfield School of Business (ASB). Their observations found the ASB faculty and students interactions are very positive. “We have a vibrant learning community happening in ASB”. Another positive accreditation experience!

Spring break: It is hard to know which model will be safer: changing spring break to something else or not, possibly inviting a cluster of COVID-19 cases as cases and deaths are currently increasing in NJ. Yesterday, there were 700 new cases in New Jersey and 9 deaths.

Meeting adjourned at 12:04pm.

Categories: Faculty Assembly Minutes 2020, FAEC MEETING MINUTES 2020, RAMAPO FAEC

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October 21, 2020FAEC Minutes Sept 30, 2020

FAEC MINUTES 9/30/2020

Present: Roark Atkinson (HGS), Naseem Choudhury (President), Katie Cohen (Library), Donna Flynn (Councilor-at-Large under 11), Scott Frees (TAS), Kim Lorber (Secretary), Lisa Lutter, (CA), Thierry Rakotbe-Joel (ASB), Mihaela Serban (SSHS), Ashwani Vasishth (Councilor-at-Large over 11)

Guests: Chris Romano (Vice President of Enrollment Management)

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

Minutes Approval: The 9/23/20 minutes were approved.

FA PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Meeting with President Mercer: FA President and FA Vice-President met with President Mercer to ask him not to make drastic changes in his last year. He agreed in essence.

Presidential Committees: We need formal criteria for these committees. This is beneficial to the College and our accreditors and as an essential part of shared governance .

Funding: Governor Murphy has given more money than expected so we will need to take less from the reserves.

Provost’s Council: Meeting was held last Thursday.
Faculty would be well served to look at the Provost’s website for changed guidelines.
Virtual seat time: the policy to make up seat time due to snow days, etc., is being reviewed.
There is concern about the definition of tracks and concentrations in majors.
Latin Honors: Currently only “native” students (4-year Ramapo) can earn this. Transfer students are currently ineligible. The change would allow transfer students with a minimum number of credits to now receive latin honors. Minimum number of credits will be determined by the transfer agreement under which they are entering Ramapo.

3-1 programs and ARC: FAEC began a discussion about ARC’s central role in the 3-1 curriculum.

CHRISTOPHER ROMANO (Vice President of Enrollment Management)

FA Presentation: Due to lack of SAT/ACT testing availability, nursing faculty voted to make testing optional this fall. Now, all of our Ramapo College majors are testing optional except for a few in TAS, HGS, and SSHS with articulation agreements with other colleges.

CARES Act: Additional student funding is available. Every qualifying student received an email from Chris to apply for a second round of funds; this money cannot be used to offset tuition. Students need to demonstrate expenses due to Covid-19 like needing a laptop or a webcam, etc. The email will be shared with Naseem to share with the Faculty.

3/1: Passaic County Community College (PCCC) is doing well. Social work is set up to begin a 2/2 program with Sussex County Community College (SCCC) once the social work accrediting body (CSWE) and Middle States approve. Hudson County Community College (HCCC) will be the 3rd county college with which we will be developing such programs.
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Admissions: Is virtually remote. Students and their families can visit the college by appointment (2 tours/day and 3 tours every Saturday). These are sold out for the next 7 weeks.

Faculty Involvement in Recruitment: While we are virtual, faculty can still participate in break-out sessions. Chris will work with each dean as each school makes its own plan of who will participate.

Application Review Process: How are applications reviewed without SAT and other testing scores? First, there will be a higher emphasis on GPA (in lieu of the test result). The second priority is the rigor of coursework. EMSA will look at the college essays. There is a focus on community service and leadership as well as depth of experience and not breadth. Interviews will also be used, as necessary. EMSA or students can request an interview. Students can submit test scores; these will not be used in a negative way and they can have a positive benefit. Application deadlines will be used; until two years ago rolling admissions was the model with letters sent within two weeks. The Honors Program and EOF will be test optional.

Diversity in Student Body: 45% of the incoming class is comprised of non-white students, our most diverse class yet.

CRW/EOF: Faculty as well as the administrators of CRW look forward to this move being reversed. Chris Romano said this is part of a bigger centralized need for student services. FAEC stressed the importance of all academic support, remedial or otherwise, fall under the AA division. These are critical to the success of all our students, and to the delivery of our curriculum.

Enrollment Vision for Spring 2021: What are expectations for the number of students who will live on campus? What is the expected number of face-to-face courses? Athletes will be coming back. More information will be forthcoming about athletics, plans to live on campus, etc.

Contract Majors: The SSHS social science contract major seems to be the fastest growing convening group.

Provost’s 9/29/ and 9/30 Presentations: This coming semester, students should know their precise course format at the time of registration.

Faculty Course Delivery Presentation Preference: Provost Gaulden has been consistently supportive of faculty determining which mode of course delivery they prefer/feel safest using.

Undeclared Students: Some are undeclared within a school; others are matriculated as undeclared. CAAFYE is implementing a program to encourage students to settle on a school and major by the end of their first year. There are many liberal art schools which do not encourage commitment to a major until completion of the 2nd year. Naseem has asked for data; faculty input is needed.

FA Voting Items: A Qualtrics survey was sent for faculty to vote for candidates for the following positions: FAEC councilor-at-large over 11 and GECCo’s Coordinator of Global Awareness, Coordinator for Quantitative Reasoning, Coordinator for Scientific Reasoning, and the Coordinator for Values and Ethics, by October 5th at 11:59pm.

Counseling Syllabus Statement Request by SGA: SGA is in discussions with ARC about making a statement mandatory in all syllabi.
Syllabus Details: Is it possible for ARC to provide a link for inclusion in all syllabi for all required/relevant to be regularly updated? This would make the syllabi shorter, consistent and provide students with up-to-date information. Naseem will look into this.

Meeting adjourned at 12:12pm.

Categories: FAEC MEETING MINUTES 2020, RAMAPO FAEC, RCNJ Faculty Assembly Minutes 2019

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October 7, 2020FAEC Minutes Sept 23, 2020

FAEC MINUTES 9/23/2020 

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

Guests: Virginia Galdieri (Assistant Vice President of Human Resources; HR), Janet Faber (Assistant Director, Employee Relations & Faculty Services (AFT; HR)

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

Minutes Approval: The 9/9/20 minutes were approved. One abstention. The 9/16/20 minutes were approved.

Councilor-at-Large Over 11: We have two candidates. The vote will go out on Monday. A quorum will require a minimum of 50 votes. The candidates are: Bonnie Blake and Alexandre Olbrecht.

As a future discussion:  The roles of the Councilors at large needs to be defined. Should these be tenured/untenured, other time breakdowns (less than 15 years and over), etc.

President’s Council: The President’s Committee On Campus Sustainability (PCCS)- Dr. Ashwani Vasishth has been the chair. Dr. Vasishth was notified by President Mercer he would no longer be chair. Faculty have a unique opportunity to push for more sustainability practices than Facilities or another campus group due to job security. Faculty on PCCS believe it is essential to have a faculty chair.  Dr. Vasishth asked that FA support having a faculty member as the chair of this and be in charge of the committee? FAEC feedback was invited. Some examples are below:

• An example was given about recycling bound journals from the library. Facilities said it was too expensive to remove the bindings for recycling. Dr. Vasishth asked for a few students to be hired and very inexpensively to prepare the volumes for recycling. This could have been a press opportunity showing student volunteers doing this to maintain our sustainability mission.
• Sustainable and beneficial trees should be planted as recommended by the committee; instead, others have been planted, which die, requiring reinvestment. Expertise about sustainability should be utilized.
• The FA President and Vice President will ask President Mercer to consider during his last year to not make these changes before a new president is installed in less than a year. What are the bylaws, how are decisions made for presidential committees?
• Can the PCCS be moved from under the President as sustainability issues have changed since it was established and perhaps another body on campus can do more? The committee can seek members with expertise from all campus bodies and address this under FA, for example.

Good News:

• Pre-requisites: The pre-requisite issue is being resolved by the Registrar regarding students being dropped from courses due to pre-requisite courses not having been completed or passed. This semester will be a trial period following the recommendations of TAS. The goal is to remove from faculty the need to find out who was missing the pre-req and should be in their class.
  
• ITS immediate issues: Contact your dean, who will contact Rob, who will dispatch immediate assistance. This means the dean would need to give their cell numbers to all faculty and adjuncts in their units.
  

SGA: Would like information on how to access help for mental health issues included in all syllabi. ARC is in discussion with SGA regarding this.

Spring Schedule:  The Provost is finalizing the spring schedule. There are 200 live classes and a variety of formats will be used for the others.

Spring Break: It is possible spring break may be cancelled this year to allow faculty to have more time to prep for the spring during a longer winter break while also minimizing the risk of students leaving campus for spring break and bringing COVID-19 back upon return.

ITS Issues: Assistant Dean Kathy Burke has been advocating with ITS for assistance in the Respondus exam process. For the moment, Jefferson Sampson will be available by phone for the indefinite future. A shortage of student assistants (due to student job budget cuts) has resulted in great delays and the needs for more immediate response opportunities. There is a proposal to divide help desk requests into urgent and non-urgent. Is there a hotline number we can call if something is happening in class and must be addressed immediately? Contact your dean for the immediate future regarding urgent ITS needs (such as in-class tech issues).

HR Report by Virginia Galdieri and Janet Faber:

Promotion Process: All of the binders have been scanned to make the process electronic. Candidates’ can give their final approval of their binders by the end of day tomorrow; at least 7 of 9 have approved.

Spring 2020 Promotion Schedule: 

• Candidates complete their electronic application by close of business tomorrow.
• Committee reviews 9 applications through 9/29 and will be asked to meet on 9/30.
• Then allow candidates to submit additional information.

Virginia will send an email to see if this schedule is viable. It is hard to fit another committee into the fall schedule: Sabbatical, Tenure, FDF are already taking up most Wednesday meeting slots. Since we are working remotely, it may be possible to have meetings on other days at other times.

Once the committee begins, candidates cannot add further information to their application packets.

10/14 or 10/15 might be the deadline for adding anything to the tenure packages.

Virginia will ask if the tenure committee can have an extension. The HR calendar is coordinated with others on campus. Perhaps working backwards from the final deadline will provide more time than the 9/29 deadline for the Promotions Committee from the last academic year. The committee will be solicited.

Faculty Handbook: Can this be revised this academic year? In our digital world, much is not addressed in the handbook. Units function differently.

• A timeline is needed. The last Faculty Assembly meeting will be in April, at which we would vote. A final draft received by February or March would be very helpful.
• The promotions section is almost ready for the committee to review.
• There should be guidelines about digital binders and remote committee meetings.
• It is planned to reconvene the faculty handbook task force by the middle of October.

Faculty Handbook Concerns: 

• Streamlining rules for how to conduct promotion and other votes; in some schools one can vote for oneself. In other units, the candidate leaves the room and cannot vote in support of their own application. If someone has a partner in a unit, should they stay in the room while their significant other is being discussed? The Faculty Handbook is silent regarding these and other matters.
• Guidelines for applications for promotions to different ranks are unclear or missing in the handbook. Some details are in the checklist but not in the handbook. If the checklist is not known to an applicant, their handbook may be missing peer observations or something else. This compromises their application due to the gaps in the handbook.

Meeting adjourned at 11:57am.

Categories: FAEC MEETING MINUTES 2020, RAMAPO FAEC, Uncategorized

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September 26, 2020FAEC Minutes Sept 16, 2020

FAEC MINUTES 9/16/2020 

Present: Roark Atkinson (HGS), Naseem Choudhury (President), Katie Cohen (Library), Donna Flynn (Councilor-at-Large under 11), Scott Frees (TAS), Kim Lorber (Secretary), Lisa Lutter, (CA), Thierry Rakotbe-Joel (ASB), Mihaela Serban (SSHS),  Ashwani Vasishth (Councilor-at-Large over 11)  

Guests: Sarah Carberry (GECCo) and Stephen Rice (ARC)

Vote to begin meeting to order at 10:06am.

Minutes Approval: The 9/9/20 minutes will be approved at the next meeting.

Faculty Assembly Qualtrics Votes: GECCo and the Councilor-at-large over 11 positions will be voted on by the faculty via Qualtrics.

Targeted List for Faculty and Adjuncts: Naseem will be working with other campus constituencies to make sure we have a completely up-to-date list. There is a great need to have an easily accessible and up-to-date list at all times from administration.

Graduate Council: Scott Frees is the chair of the committee. We need clarification of the FA role and we should have an FA member who is involved with graduate programs. Ashwani Vasishth has volunteered.

SGA: We will invite the president of the student government to come to Faculty Assembly. Our Unit Council meetings are at the same time as those of SGA. FAEC members will rotate attending SGA meetings.

Student Insurance: The opt out option was confusing to students as there was also mention of revisiting this in the spring; it should be once each year except for new students who come to Ramapo College in the spring. There were conflicting explanations and information given to students regarding the health insurance billing and opt-out procedures, which must be addressed. 

Spring 2021: We do not yet know what the spring will be like regarding the number of face-to-face courses. Naseem will seek clarification.

Committees on campus: Naseem will see who is serving in the following committees each of which should have a 2-year term: Mission Fulfillment Committee, Human Capital and Financial Resources Committee, and the Audit Committee. Clarification is needed of whether tenured faculty should serve on these. 

Committees: The campus has many committees at many levels, charged by different bodies on campus and it would be helpful to have a central location with an up-to-date master list with the members identified.

EOF/CRW: Provost Gaulden and Vice President of Enrollment Management Chris Romano notified Faculty Assembly President Naseem Choudhury of a faculty liaison position that will be created for the CRW; the person hired for this combined position would handle the management part of CRW. This means we will not have a director of the CRW; it is no longer part of the budget. 

ARC: 

• ● Stephen Rice, ARC Chair will work closely with FAEC. Two of the unit representatives are new to the committee. Meetings will be on Wednesdays at 11am. Stephen is working with Sarah Carberry to streamline the online submission of materials. Signature management is needed. Hyland is a document management system, not yet operational. The committee will use Google Drive folders until it is. The ARC manual will be reviewed for revisions with a particular focus on procedures. Stephen will work with Naseem. ARC’s presence in the bylaws does include functions not currently being performed. Perhaps WAC and GECCo should also be included in the ARC bylaws. Another goal is to make the submission process easier.
• ● 3/1 Programs: Under Provost Becker, these were called ongoing programs and not new. 

3/1 Programs: Naseem is part of the Psychology 3/1 committee, which worked with our partner institution to ensure the curriculum they cover is comparable to the courses we have here. Some courses are easy substitutions. There are other courses like Research Methods they are not set up to teach.

New Gen Ed: Part of the goal was to make GECCo a standing committee per the GECCo bylaws. It is not in the FA bylaws. In some ways GECCo is an FA committee running parallel to ARC doing pre-reviews. There is a bit of overlap. The ARC bylaws say GECCo reports to ARC. The ARC bylaws need to be revised. 

Bylaws: The various bylaws of major committees need to be reviewed, updated, and synchronized. This will be a big project. In particular, these will concern the relationship of WAC, ARC and GECCo. This will involve a conversation with the Provost. Ed Shannon (FAEC), WAC Chair (TBA), Stephen Rice (ARC), and Sarah Carberry (GECCo) will work with Mia Serban (FAEC) on coordination.

Mission Fulfillment:  This is a BoT subcommittee attending specifically to the activities of: Academic Affairs, Enrollment Management, Institutional Advancement, and Student Affairs. There is one faculty member, Stephen Rice, who has had his first orientation and was invited because he is the ARC Chair. The following document describes the three BoT subcommittees faculty participate in:  https://www.ramapo.edu/board/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/2018/05/Committee-Charter-ao-April-30-2018.pdf

Strategic Resources Allocation Budget (SRAB) Committee: Sarah Carberry is the only faculty representative. This committee makes budget recommendations to Cabinet. At least one more budgeting expert faculty member might be a beneficial addition joining Sarah. The following document contains information about this committee:  https://www.ramapo.edu/iec/srab/

Personnel Issues: These seem to be resolving and dates are appearing for the different committees.

Meeting adjourned at 11:57am.

Categories: FAEC MEETING MINUTES 2020, RAMAPO FAEC, Uncategorized

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September 25, 2020FAEC Minutes September 9, 2020

FAEC MINUTES 9/9/2020

 

Present: Roark Atkinson (HGS), Naseem Choudhury (President), Katie Cohen (Library), Donna Flynn (Councilor-at-Large under 11), Scott Frees (TAS), Kim Lorber (Secretary), Lisa Lutter, (CA), Thierry Rakotobe-Joel (ASB), Mihaela Serban (SSHS),  Ashwani Vasishth (Councilor-at-Large over 11)

Guests: President Peter Mercer, Provost Susan Gaulden, Martha Ecker (AFT President), Tim Judge (AFT Adjunct Representative)

Voted to begin meeting to order at 10:02am.

Minutes Approval: The 9/2/20 minutes were approved with one abstention.

Indemnification Clause for Fieldwork: The administration did not sign this, which resulted in students losing their field placements.

Personnel HR Deadlines: Schedules are still being addressed.

Fall Schedule Planning: This is being determined for the spring as students will begin to register by the end of October. An assessment of how many face-to-face spaces for spring requests for classrooms is needed.

Pre-requisites: FAEC is continuing to work with the Provost and the Registrar to address missing pre-requisites and student qualifications for courses so the faculty does not have to.

Today’s Meetings: FAEC members reviewed Faculty Assembly and Faculty Forum agendas.

FAEC Councilor-at Large over 11: We are still accepting candidates before the faculty votes.

FA By-laws: Mia Serban is leading the update committee.

Student Study Spaces: Can more be designated on campus for students who do not have space at home to study? Perhaps some unused classrooms can be used.

Library: The library is open from 9am-5pm on Monday through Friday. Reference services are available online 9am-10pm Monday through Thursday, 9am-5pm on Friday, and 5pm – 8pm on Sundays. This will be reassessed throughout the semester. The librarians and library staff are rotating. There are other printing areas (E-wing lab, the Fishbowl, etc.). There are study spaces in the library and they have been meeting current demands using reserve and curbside methods via the online form. One can stop in, sign in, and books can be brought to the person but browsing is not permitted. Interlibrary loans may take time as some libraries are not open. VALE Reciprocal Borrowing is a group of colleges sharing resources directly; this is not working now due to campuses limiting outside visitors.

Faculty/Student Survey for Spring 2021 Course Type Planning: What is the preference for remote versus face-to-face classes this semester as we plan scheduling for next semester? Is there a difference between schools or disciplines? Faculty should be informed about students’ preferences in making their spring course format decision

Restart Committee: Is there a successor committee of the Campus Restart Committee, to identify possible plans for futures semesters well in advance?

Adjunct Space: Do adjuncts have enough space? Can current spaces be repurposed for their use?

AFT Report:

Intellectual Property MOA: is being reviewed.

Class Coverage for A Colleague: Provost Gaulden has informed the deans if any faculty member becomes ill, and another steps in, the latter should be appropriately remunerated.

Return to Campus: Mixed results have been found so far about the return to campus for staff and librarians. Big classes are very hard to manage remotely.

HR: A draft calendar is being reviewed. The promotion binders are being scanned. Promotions will be retroactive to September 1^st. The sabbatical and promotion calendars seem to be on track for this year.

Electronic Packages: What should and should not be in the packages? This needs to be reviewed with HR. There needs to be more structure as to what should be included.

Emergency Help: Strict rules have been implemented about all ITS requests going through the help desk. They respond promptly. During class, how can we ensure immediate responses? Steven Urgo was very helpful, immediately. At this time, ITS has much on its plate. In SSHS we are having trouble with SPSS. Is Social Explorer going to become problematic as it is being offered by the library and running well now?

 

EOF/CRW: The merging does not seem logical and perhaps should be under Academic Affairs (AA). EOF used to be under AA when Martha Ecker was an administrator and it reported to her. CRW was moved by the previous Provost on a temporary basis due to a lack of help. Why is it still there? It was created to bolster Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC).

PROVOST’S REPORT

Face-to-Face Classes: Students in classes on campus seem to be complying with safety requirements. There are approximately 1,000 unique students taking one or more classes and these might meet 3-4 times in a semester and not on the same days.

Events for On-campus Students: Students need safe options while living on campus. If anyone has a suggestion, it should be sent to the Provost.

Fall 2020: is going well. Faculty is asking about Spring 2021. We do not have a spring course delivery decision date yet. Few students made schedule changes regarding their remote course designations. Provost Gaulden wants the spring schedule to be accurate so students will know the delivery method right away. At minimum, if in-person meetings can be designated in Banner, it will be informative to students. This must be done this month for early November registration. A census was sent to students about preferred course delivery for the fall. A new census will have to be done for the spring. Only 34 rooms can hold a full class. Provost Gaulden is appealing to all offices on campus to identify other rooms that might be able to hold face-to-face sessions. The courses that will suffer the most should have the highest priority.

Cleaning: Facilities cleans the classroom between classes. Will the schedule change? The plan is not to do this and to alternate classrooms so a full session’s time is available between meetings for cleaning. This reduces the number of classrooms. COVID-19 will have the last word. The classrooms have had desks removed and others taped off, to ensure social distancing compliance.

In-person Class Pushback: Some courses have experienced in-person resistance. A survey of faculty and students is being prepared by the Provost. The census asks if faculty will teach face-to-face if the state was in stage 3.

Course Delivery Method Vocabulary: There are many differences between online and virtual classes. These should not be used interchangeably; most of our courses are virtual. Asynchronous classes are less popular.. Remote courses were not allowed to convert to online; existing online courses remain as they were. Students do not prefer online courses. In-person classes on select days can be for exams, for example. If we have multiple sections of a course, it would be good to offer them in different formats. We need to maintain the best course delivery for our college. Parents are providing feedback to the Provost as classes are being held in the home

 

PRESIDENT’S REPORT 

Students on campus: So far it seems we are doing well and are in compliance with safety requirements.

Federal Relief:  We will receive a modest portion of the $150,000,000 relief aid recently announced by the State.  The total will be divided among public and private institutions.  The new budget will be coming out shortly including increases as in the past. It will make up for the $68 million cut this fiscal year from the state schools. We are hoping we can get at least another million dollars this year which was denied last year. We are doing very well retaining students; we have a full complement. Most are not living in the residences. The financial picture is pretty sound but we will not know our situation fully until the budget is approved. We will have to cover significant amounts from reserves, which we can use once. The President is cautiously optimistic.

Revised Budget: Will be presented to the Board of Trustees (BoT) this month; it is not known if this will be an open meeting. The FA President and Vice President will speak with President Mercer about having faculty representation at the budget meeting

 

Meeting adjourned at 12pm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Categories: FAEC MEETING MINUTES 2020, RAMAPO FAEC

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September 16, 2020FAEC Minutes, Sept 2, 2020

Categories: FAEC MEETING MINUTES 2020, RAMAPO FAEC

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August 13, 2020FAEC Minutes, July 17, 2020

FAEC 7/16/2020 DRAFT

Attendance: Roark Atkinson (HGS), Naseem Choudhury (President), Kim Lorber (Secretary), Lisa Lutter (CA), Thierry Rakotbe-Joel (ASB), Mihaela Serban (SSHS), Ashwani Vasishth (Councilor-at-Large over 11)

Guests: na

Minutes approved for 7/1/2020 meeting.

President’s Memo (7/15/2020) outlined many details about the fall semester.

Questions: Who is responsible for cleaning classrooms between classes? How will shared adjunct offices be cleaned? Details about the instructional process are needed. How will office hours work as distancing from a second person needs to be sorted out among other issues? Most can work with students via Webex.

Return to Campus: Will all faculty who choose to teach remotely be allowed? Per Provost Gaulden’s email(s), she will approve all requests.

Student Surveys: The majority of students prefer F2F classes.

Discussion re: which courses will be virtual: Some courses like senior seminars might be harder to deliver at the same quality level if they are not in face to face meetings.

Who will live on campus: International students, possibly first year students, housing insecure, and others. See restart document

Discussion regarding “Compliance” and enforcement: What are the repercussions regarding compliance, or lack of, in the email and restart document? What if faculty or students do not do what they are expecting them to. Students already take a pledge regarding behaviors on campus. Who will enforce these? F2F faculty will need specific guidance regarding compliance. What training will be provided? For COVID19? Who cleans the classrooms? We should not be required to police.

Punitive approaches should be reframed; how do we practically lead?

We need a community buy-in contract to be for compliance regarding masks.

Discussion re: “What is Face to Face”: What are the different models?  Not whole class, split classroom, small group F2F. It is more hybrid than the traditional F2F model we usually do. Can we pivot if we feel psychologically or health wise it is not working; can you tell the class you will be remote henceforth? Selecting F2F means knowing all of these things. Should FA make a statement to support faculty teaching F2F?

Faculty Assembly Meeting: FAEC reps should ask conveners to survey members for questions to be pre-sorted by FAEC to avoid repetition by Monday deadline using a Google doc.

Different College Models in NJ: TCNJ, Montclair, Stockton are proposing plans for stage 3 (see their restart docs) and make clear that they anticipate that the state will be in stage 3 at the beginning of the Fall semester. Most colleges are asking for commitments so the College can prepare dorms, classroom assignments, etc.

Faculty in different schools (units) have varying degrees of information: ASB will be off campus for stage 2 and 3; other deans have not made this directive or given as much information. Naseem will ask the Provost for more information about what is happening in each school and to ask the deans to convey information to faculty with more frequency. We need consistency across the college.

Performance courses meeting F2F need guidelines and resources. How does one sing in a chorale with a shield? Naseem will share a contact from K-12 with Lisa.

Return to campus provisions: It seems we will receive a PPE packet which will be given to each person upon return. These will include a washable mask, which will not be appropriate in labs or performance courses.  We would need microphones to use in classes with proper PPE. We do not expect to have these situations arise because we will be mostly remote.

Convening groups should have their needs addressed: masks for musicians, field work; the answer has been “figure it out yourself”. Resources should have been recommended for certain disciplines.

Personnel issues, timelines, and submission times are important to address with Provost Gaulden so electronic methods, etc. can be sent to everyone. Example: The sabbatical application process should be announced and electronic.

Library Construction: It is possible the shell of the building will be prepared and construction stopped because we do not have the money. When will the library be completed? Our library is now in a dorm. FA can make some of these issues public even if the BoT made no mention at the last meeting.

Please see the changes proposed by Provost Council’s Academic Council page and encourage the faculty to look at it. There are transfer, credit and other issues to be addressed.

Read Peter’s reopening email. The link was in the 7/15/2020 email.

 

 

 

Categories: FAEC MEETING MINUTES 2020, RAMAPO FAEC

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July 20, 2020FAEC minutes, July 1, 2020

FAEC 7/1/2020 DRAFT

 

FAEC 

Attendance: Roark Atkinson (HGS), Naseem Choudhury (President), Scott Frees (TAS), Kim Lorber (Secretary), Lisa Lutter (CA), Thierry Rakotobe-Joel (ASB), Mihaela Serban (SSHS), Ashwani Vasishth (Councilor-at-Large over 11)

Guests: none

Minutes approved for 6/17/2020 meeting.

FA President’s Report

• President Mercer’s bi-weekly email: We hope this will include more new information.
• Funding sources: The College is seeking funds from a variety of sources; it would be helpful to know how these different lines of revenue change the balance going into 2020-2021
• Provost Gaulden has stated that she is trying to keep all lines, tenured and not (temporary, etc.).
  • If the budget process is not transparent, we will not know what is to be cut and why. We know faculty have been furloughed, as have CWA and IFPTE. Unsure about managerial and senior administrative furlough’s or give backs. Rutgers’ president is giving 10% back.

• • Naseem will ask Peter, Kirstin, and Susan about this. Follow-up may be needed. AFT salary savings are ca. $2.5 million
• .

• Scott noted the totals are not identified as included or not in the deficit.
• July 22 will be a morning budget meeting. Naseem encourages us all to be there. We are walking in blind.

•  Presidential search is proceeding as planned and in a timely manner. Is there a contingency plan if the search fails? We should ask the faculty representatives on this committee. We would welcome an update as this process has been going on for 6 months; little will be available to be shared but some information would be appreciated.
• Tentative Faculty Assembly Meeting: July 22, 1:00
  • we need an agenda but we need information about stage 3, the reopening plan, will there be layoffs, etc.?
• FA President’s meeting with Provost Gaulden next week. Naseem will ask Provost about stage 3? Faculty needs to know now which classes might hypothetically be in-person. Cornell modeled online versus not-online and their point is they will open because the infection rate will be higher with online courses than not.
• The College will likely have 1,800 dorming students; many will need structure as opposed to taking all of their courses online. The Governor has said housing insecure and students who cannot remain home should be able to live on campus. Who are the others? Freshmen? No seniors? SSHS Dean Lorenz is meeting with each convening group to determine the course priorities. How will we deliver the courses in-person (logistics) and who will want to teach them? The Task Force is being run by Virginia and Susan. Susan already works 7 days a week. It would be best not to have a train wreck. They should not be blamed. We need a hypothetical Stage 3 plan. Who will teach the face-to-face courses? We were told to swap. With whom? We will need ADA approval from HR to be remote and then the convening groups will have to scramble to fill courses at the last minute with full-time faculty. Naseem will email the Provost and copy FAEC reps.
• Stage 2: ca. 96% of the courses will be remote. Who will be teaching face to face? Will we have a cluster of infections from 1,800 students? Students will share bathrooms at this point. If we must have 1 bathroom per student, opening the dorms becomes more expensive than keeping them closed.
• Naseem will email Peter about the fiscal piece and Susan about academic concerns with Stage 3, copying FAEC. She will also ask when deadlines for ADA exemptions must be submitted.
• Stipends and release time: some have more than they expected and others have less. How was everything calculated? The union negotiates $105/hr. Some faculty were disappointed as they were notified that they were not getting release time or stipends they had expected.
• Diversity on campus: We do not have policies regarding this as seen by Nicole Morgan-Agard’s response to BOT comments. There may be a committee but nothing seems to be happening and faculty has not been included. What is the decency code to which Peter referred at BOT meeting? A speech code cannot be developed so the only approach is to use the rules we have. The Dean of Students used to send many students to a larger body; has it been reduced in numbers as more cases seem to be handled inside that office.
• • Next meeting: THURSDAY, July 16^th at 10am.

 

Categories: FA RCNJ Minutes 2020, FAEC MEETING MINUTES 2020, RAMAPO FAEC, Uncategorized

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July 11, 2020FAEC minutes, June 17th, 2020

FAEC 6/17/2020 DRAFT

Attendance: Roark Atkinson (HGS), Naseem Choudhury (President), Katie Cohen (Library, incoming), Christina Connor (Library), Donna Flynn (Councilor-at-Large under 11), Scott Frees (TAS), Thierry Rakotbe-Joel (ASB), Stephen Rice (HGS), Mihaela Serban (SSHS), Ashwani Vasishth (Councilor-at-Large over 11),  

Secretary: Kim Lorber

Guests: Martha Ecker (AFT-President), Tim Judge (AFT Adjunct Representative

Minutes approved for 5/27/2020 meeting. 

FAEC President’s Report

FAEC President Summary with President Mercer: 

No news; zero allocations for new FY and nothing was received for the last quarter. We have an approximate $31 million deficit. Depending on the Governor’s actions, dorms will or will not be opened. There are 800 dorm bathrooms, which means a maximum occupancy of 800 students based on current CDC guidelines of one per student. This is 25% occupancy, staff would have to come back and we would run at a deficit. $1800 would be 1 student per unit sharing a bathroom. That would be little over 50% capacity and would be a break even amount for staff and services, we would still have a deficit. We are looking at furloughs, layoffs and deficits. The Secretary of Higher Education has changed positions; the junior person is now running things and has less influence. It is unlikely we will have money coming from the state to help this.

Budget /Impact on Faculty: Naseem asked President Mercer to include a faculty member on the budget process; he declined. She will continue to ask. We should know more about what will impact our salary/furlough costs. Two were asked to serve; Jason Hecht has agreed to serve if needed.

Costs and Information Asked of Faculty: We have been asked to estimate costs for delivering some of our courses face to face. It is unclear what to address. There is an estimate of $6,000 to retrofit classrooms for Hyflex teaching. We do not have this information to share. Faculty cannot cost out these things as we don’t have the parameters facilities is supposed to use (tendering etc). Subcommittee Meeting: Katie Cohen said there is no information about costing guidelines for each department/convening group. The numbers are due by June 22^nd. We can only do our best. We need to know which courses are coming back to campus.

Fall Models Approved and Decisions Needed: Stephen Rice reported two have been approved by the Board of Trustees (BoT). One is fully remote and the other is a hybrid. The working group has asked Provost Gaulden for the committee to keep working past June 22^nd. Nursing is considering alternating weeks for groups: one week on campus, one remote. Is it our role to consider how classes will be delivered? We need a universal policy. Scott noted conveners should have been reached out to or will be regarding course prioritization. Other committees have additional information. CA and TAS have the most courses preferred to be taught in a face-to-face format. Most of HGS and SSHS courses can be done remotely; some convening groups/units will be more impacted than others regarding in-person teaching. There are concerns about untenured faculty teaching face-to-face feeling they may not have a choice. Martha Ecker noted there is no central information source in the state; we do not have insight. 

Tim Judge noted the challenges posed for adjuncts who need to prep and may have their courses cancelled within the two weeks prior to the start of the semester. Naseem has advocated for a decision before July 15^th; this has been declined. Communication about the approved two models should be shared with the entire faculty. Fully virtual or hybrid curriculum formats should be made known to the faculty. 

A memo noting course development funding is confusing. There will be no compensation for faculty to be paid to convert courses; course development information was confusing as Thierry noted. Naseem asked for money for adjuncts and there isn’t any funding available. Naseem will seek clarification for the course development funding note. Scott Frees noted first it is necessary to identify how courses must be taught and then who will teach them. Naseem noted we may be in the same place in the spring so it might be helpful to swap courses if one has prepped 3 for fall, try to teach these again in the spring. Provost Gaulden told Katie she will send a memo this week, possibly to let everyone know. The four models proposed will be confusing to faculty who should be informed about the Cabinet approved 2 models, which is more clear. 

FYS, SSI, CRW courses require a delivery decision. In person? 

Liability for everyone is of concern; the universities are seeking limited liability. Stockton created a thoughtful white paper. Martha will ask if she can share it with Naseem. Can faculty be held liable if masks are not made required in class? It is unlikely the requirements to follow school rules and being penalized for this, will be enforced. We can only manage so much in a classroom: phones, texting, etc. How can we monitor mask wearing? 

Martha noted no one can be made to retire; some have offered to take a furlough if medical care and pension contributions continue until they become Medicare eligible. The Cabinet salaries were about $2 million a few years ago; they will have to make some cuts. They have to look at debt services, mortgages, etc. Much is based on state revenue and the virus. The $31 million does not include state loss; this is just dorms, meals and parking. It could be higher if we go 100% virtual. How can we make up $31 million?

AFT President Martha Ecker:

There have been ongoing negotiations regarding furloughs. We have a contract to avoid layoffs using furloughs instead. There will be details this afternoon which cannot be shared per the established rules. Neither Kirsten Loewrigkeit nor President Mercer have shared much information. Provost Gaulden communicates with the union regularly.

● Other Issues:

o Promotion/Tenure: This calendar is not published for next year as they are trying to address what did not happen this semester. Martha said they will try to scan folders to send to the committee members to act quickly. 

o Stepping in To Finish Another Class: Martha discussed this with Provost Gaulden. Historically, if someone has fallen ill, someone else has stepped in without payment. A new system will made requiring the sick individual to use sick leave and the covering professor will be paid on a pro-rated basis.

o Stipends: These should have been negotiated with the union to have a uniform rate. The union wants it to be equitable and transparent. All faculty should be able to apply. This is up to Provost Gaulden; they are not being suspended as some fear. There is a widespread issue with those with course release time picking up an additional course resulting in an overload; this is in violation of the contract. This will not be allowed any longer.

o Handbook: Naseem and Martha have been told the  handbook revision committee is working on the handbook; the Stockton handbook is still the model. At some point the committee will receive an email. Perhaps Donna and Mia can encourage the committee of which they are members to keep moving forward.

o Summer Forum: one was held for students re: racism; faculty is not required to attend. Students were concerned about academic affairs not being involved. There were classrooms issues. Naseem has discussed this with Provost Gaulden. 

o Faculty: 15-25% of the faculty are not US born; not clear about immigration status of visas. There are some faculty who are in limbo and cannot get their visas renewed. Another issue is speeding up that process; the College said they will not pay the extra money to make sure our faculty’s visas are processed in time leaving people in very difficult situations.   AFT is mindful that visas and furloughs are linked and this is an issue. It is part of the AFT proposal for international faculty to not be furloughed. While full-time faculty teach regardless of being furloughed, they are still teaching so is this an issue? Naseem will follow up with Nikhil and Raj. 

o Clarification of Expenses: In-person costs for the library, for example, will require many masks and gloves, barriers, etc. Who will decide what we really need when we create our lists?

o Options to Teach Remotely: We do not have the promised documentation from Provost Gaulden to not have to teach face-to-face if we do not feel safe. There are many decisions that have to be made. No one is compelling anyone to have to come back to campus. Deans on the subcommittee asked how to manage this. They cannot ask of the intentions/needs of faculty. An anonymous survey may be coming from Virginia. Martha noted the decision is up to the Governor about coming back to campus; age is not protected by the ADA, and it is up to OSHA (health and safety). It is murkier than we would hope. There are also possible ripple effects. If someone says “I am not coming” and the faculty member has job security, will adjuncts be asked? They may have less flexibility. Swap now for the spring. We do not know which courses are coming back to campus. If we knew which classes were coming, we could swap now. Thus we are in limbo. The Cabinet makes the decision. 

o Questions: If we go remote, will we have interlibrary loans? Are we losing sight of the pedagogy? asked Roark. Katie spoke with Leigh Keller, the Library Coordinator/Director, and it is complicated to arrange the loans. Do they mail resources? An $11 bill for an interlibrary loan was questioned; the College did not want to pay. Do they require pick up times? How can the budget be calculated? Will the College still be a college? Talk to Deans about pedagogy. 

o Question regarding what do adjuncts know? (ASB) Are they included in memos and surveys regarding the frequent updates with what is happening now?

o Unit FAEC Updates: Be conservative. Keep it factual and evidenced based. If there are timelines, share.  

July 22nd FAEC Meeting: We can schedule a faculty forum. We may have more information from Peter.

Categories: FAEC MEETING MINUTES 2020, RAMAPO FAEC

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