September 27, 2019FAEC Minutes 9/18/2019

Faculty Assembly Executive Council [FAEC] Meeting Minutes

Date: Wednesday, September  18, 2019 | Location: A220  | Time: 10:30 am to 12:00 pm

Attendees: Kathryn Zeno, Tae Kwak, Donna Flynn, David Ohi, Christina Connor, Eva Ogens, Scott Frees

Guest: Meredith Davis, Communication Arts and Ashwani Vasishth

Secretary: Nakia Matthias

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1. FAEC Minutes Approved

2. RCNJ President Search

FAEC suggests that faculty get ahead of the search for the new college President to ensure that the composition of the committee is representative of the faculty and their interests.  Vice Chair of the RCNJ Board of Trustees, Susan Valerio, whose term expires on June 30, 2020, will be the Chair of the President’s search committee. FAEC recommends that the search committee select candidates for the position whom have a proven record of fundraising at their former institution.  Additionally, despite existing procedures for search committees and the selection of senior administrators and officers, FAEC recommends that the college assemble a faculty and staff led team rather than an external search consultancy.

3. Summer Reading Committee  – Meredith Davis, CA 

Concerns were raised regarding the summer reading criteria selection process.  Submissions are anonymous and criteria are not well defined. In the past anonymous submissions have included works that promote racism.    Currently the committee includes representatives from CSI, the student body, The Center for Student Success, and faculty. The Committee recommends texts for summer reading which are then passed onto the Office of the President and the President’s cabinet.  In the past texts have been chosen by the President’s cabinet and the President based on consideration of whether the work will meet parents’ approval and whether The College can secure the author of the work to speak at the convocation ceremony. The President has been informed of the committees’ discontent with the 2019 summer selection and the author’s speech during convocation.  Questions were raised about the process for selection of the summer reading text and its breach of academic freedom among faculty and ultimately shared governance. Faculty should have more of a say in the choice as to whether the book is included in their syllabus. Suggestions for selecting future summer reading convocation speakers include evaluation of the speaker’s expertise, accomplishment, and  commitment to the subject matter or themes presented in the summer reading selection. Furthermore, it was recommended that authorship of the summer reading text should not be a requirement for an invitation to speak a t the convocation. The summer reading selection is a curricular decision requiring some clear conception from faculty regarding the work’s objectives and goals, as well as its inclusion in course syllabi.  The selection of the summer reading process and convocation speaker is an agenda item for the Oct. 2, 2019 faculty forum.

4. Ashwani Vasishth

The faculty should be making a push for the cabinet to be held accountable for decisions they have taken which have resulted in the need to cut funds from programs and services at the College. There is a need for a town hall meeting between the Cabinet, faculty, and students.  The matter of the funding shortfall for The Learning Commons and the Data Science major are not at the fore of the concerns regarding the need for capital. There has been a 30% budget cut in academic affairs, student jobs, and faculty-student research have been cut without justification. There must be an explanation about the need for capital that is driving these decisions. There is concern that prioritization of a Data Sciences Program and building The Learning Commons over installing new classrooms is misguided decision making.  It was suggested that the decision-making process should be opened up to ensure that faculty have a voice in how the cabinet acts on funding matters. There is a need to understand why the Cabinet labeled RCNJ’s financial shortfall of $3.1 million a $6 million “crisis” in the Spring 2019. The faculty should have access to the data that caused the Cabinet to present this information as the driving force behind the need to make sweeping changes to programs.  

The Provost must explain why 3 +1 needs to take effect within a one year span of time or at all.  Faculty must consider its options for the nature of participation in the proposed program as well as whether they will participate at all.  The provost must also consider that with the 3+1 program students will require more remediation resulting in the need for more curriculum than already exists.

Meeting Adjourned at 12 pm

 

Categories: FAEC MEETING MINUTES 2019, RAMAPO FAEC

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September 11, 2019Faculty Assembly Executive Council | Minutes | 9/4/19

Faculty Assembly Executive Council [FAEC] Meeting Minutes

Date: Wednesday, September  4, 2019 | Location: A220  | Time: 10:30 am to 12:00 pm

Attendees: Kathryn Zeno, Tae Kwak, Donna Flynn, Renata Gangemi, Christina Connor, Eva Ogens, Scott Frees

Guest: Ashwani Vasishth

Secretary: Nakia Matthias

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1. FAEC Minutes Approved

2. RCNJ Budget

The FAEC raised concerns about the process that the administration and the cabinet are taking in regard to the budget and curriculum and suggest that involvement of the faculty is crucial in budgetary planning matters.   $1.1 million has been cut from academic affairs. The projected budget deficit of $6 million was inaccurate and rising tuition revenue had not been accounted for in that estimate. The budget deficit is 3.1 million less than half of what was projected a year ago.  The Provost proposed a task force comprising faculty that is focused on Academic affairs cuts. The task force’s first meeting was in May. Although fiscal issues are the concern of the primary administration and the FAEC should only be informed, there is concern that budgetary considerations are not being optimized or made for sustained efficiency.

3. Guest: Ashwani Vasishth

There is tremendous unease related to many decisions taken by the Cabinet, and the possibility that they will hurt rather than help the faculty and ultimately RCNJ.  Decision-making requires a conversation about shared governance that engages collegiality, transparency, and participatory decision making processes. Administrators and their offices are all being informed to make changes and have no room to push back for accountability.  There is no accountability for mistakes made and therefore faculty and the Cabinet need to revisit how decisions are made at RCNJ..  

There is also a need to make clear how 3 + 1 could impact faculty at RCNJ and whether it could result in full time faculty commuting to a community college to teach.  The nature of the program and its uptake at RCNJ can possibly lead to loss of control over curriculum, outsourcing of syllabi, and also structural cuts.

4. International Student Enrollments and Transfer Students

International student enrollments are declining and down by half of the number enrolled for the previous school year.  The current political climate does not support the influx of international students. There are a record number of transfer students at RCNJ this year.  However, relying on an uptick in transfer enrollments is not a permanent solution as the demographic profile of the pool of new college students in New Jersey is shrinking. 

5. Library and Learning Commons Reconstruction

Several of the library’s electronic databases have been cancelled and more will be cut in the near future.  RCNJ saved 65K last year with a switch to electronic databases. Although RCNJ sees more revenue because of a pilot program with Rockland Community College, students do not pay for library tech fees and Bradley Center fees.  There are currently under 15 students using the Library under this agreement. The current budget will not allow for sustaining existing databases with an increased unofficial enrollment of community college students college students whom have access to the library’s resources on campus.  

The reconstruction of the learning commons will be funded through a 15 million dollar grant and RCNJ reserves but the budget does not factor in the operating costs of the current facilities. The Learning Commons re-construction is requiring more money from the budget than has ever been raised by the President.

6. Faculty Parking Lots and Reserved Library Parking Spaces

Since entry to the faculty parking lots have not required a card key students and perhaps other unauthorized persons have been parking their cars in it.  The FAEC suggests that faculty contact public safety to address this issue through ticketing. The FAEC President will also discuss this matter with the Provost.

The FAEC will invite the registrar and Beth Foster to a future meeting to review calendar issues.  The faculty was informed that the FAEC requested specific changes to the final exam schedule. However this is not the case. Exams must be scheduled for 200 minutes and  there should be 4 exams per day. However, the FAEC has no role in exam slotting. Furthermore, if irregularities are noticed in the final exam schedule then they should be changed for future exam scheduling.  Additionally, faculty need concrete due dates for grades for each semester and grading cycle in advance. The due dates for grades are scheduled 5 years in advance. FAEC would also like to know the actual percentage of faculty that are submitting grades late.

7. Course Evaluations

If faculty opted for electronic evaluations, the instrument contained the revised questions that FA voted on last Spring.  However if faculty opted for paper evaluations the instrument reflected the old evaluation questions. There needs to be consistency across paper and electronic course evaluations.

8. Call for Interested Candidates for FAEC President

The FAEC President will be ending his tenure in the position and going on an administrative leave for 1 year.  An announcement will be made at Faculty Assembly to call for the submission of names for faculty interested in assuming the position.

Meeting Adjourned at 12 pm

Categories: FAEC MEETING MINUTES 2019, RAMAPO FAEC

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