Faculty Assembly Executive Council | Minutes | 2/20/19

Faculty Assembly Executive Council [FAEC] Meeting Minutes

Date: Wednesday, Feb  20, 2019 | Location: A220  | Time: 10:30 am to 12:00 pm

Attendees: Kathryn Zeno, Tae Kwak, Donna Flynn, Sam Mustafa, Kathy Zeno, Renata Gangemi, Christina Connor, Hugh Sheehy, Eva Ogens, Maxim Goldberg-Rugalev

Secretary: Nakia Matthias

Guests:  Provost Becker and Naseem Choudhury, MFSA

FAEC Minutes Approved

1.  Scheduled Teaching Days for Summer Courses

The Provost’s office proposed that summer classes adopt a Monday-Tuesday-Thursday schedule rather.  The rationale for the proposed change is premised upon (1) reverting to a former schedule for summer courses at Ramapo College of New Jersey (RCNJ) and (2) allowing more time for students to absorb courses and prepare for exams.  The FAEC asserts that this decision should be at the discretion of instructors and deans. Additionally, a Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday schedule was discussed.

2.  Promoting  the Ramapo College We Care Program’s Food Insecurity Resources

Stephan Lally the Student Government Association president has enters a request to have faculty consider the inclusion of information about the We Care Program’s food pantry on their syllabi.  The FAEC will support the publicity needs of the We Care Food Pantry.

3.  Emergency Meeting in the School of Humanities and Global Studies [Formerly the School of Humanities and Global Studies]

The Salameno name has been removed from the school’s Humanities and Global Studies’ programs.  Graduates from the school will receive a degree from the School of Humanities and Global Studies.   The immediate action was determined as the Salameno’s have confirmed that they are unable to fulfill their pledged financial obligation of three million dollars to RCNJ. To date the Salameno’s have furnished approximately over seven hundred thousand dollars to RCNJ.  The school has seen its fourth name change in a span of four years.

4.  Minority Faculty and Staff Association [MFSA]

Naseem Choudhury addressed the need to re-examine the “interim suspension policy” related to students and their hosting of gatherings where alcohol is used. Presently, if a student is found to be the host of an on-campus residential hall party s/he will be suspended from residence halls upon the first offense with a $500.00 fine.  The policy was implemented after former New Jersey Attorney General, Ann Milgram recommended that RCNJ revise the campus host/alcohol use policy.

A number of unintended consequences can occur when such a punitive blanket policy is in place.  For example, suspension from housing is for one semester. Suspension at the beginning of the year, during January may impede students’ ability to successfully complete their courses. However, suspension toward the end of the academic year during the month of May could allow them to serve their suspension and potentially pass their courses. Furthermore, at other campuses students’ first alcohol-related hosting offense is met with a warning.  Another issue may be that the actual alcohol consumption policy is different from the hosting policy. The policy is inconsistent since in one section it states that all parties present will be presumed to have consumed alcohol but in the section that proceeds it a distinction is made between presence and consumption.

Link to the current policy: https://www.ramapo.edu/student-conduct/wp-content/uploads/sites/162/2018/08/ALCOHOL-AND-OTHER-DRUG-POLICY-18-19.pdf

Concerns were raised over the use of suspension as a means for corrective action upon students’ first offense.  Additionally, suspension from academic activity at RCNJ bears a significant detrimental impact to RCNJ students that have less socio-economic means. It was discussed that students of color are disproportionately affected by the suspension policies related to campus residential housing and hosting events that serve alcohol.  

Two recent but separate incidents involving female students of color who had been deemed hosts of residential housing parties where alcohol was present culminated in their suspension from campus.  The students were first-time offenders of RCNJ policies on hosting and alcohol. In one incident the student was immediately removed from campus by a Ramapo College public safety officer and transported to the Ramsey Train station at 2 a.m. where she was instructed to go home via train.

In another incident RCNJ public safety officers detained a student that was suspended and barred from the residential halls after they had been called by a Residential Assistant who identified the student as she waited outside of the residential hall while classes were in session. The student had not entered the residential hall at any time. Public safety then turned the student over to Mahwah Police and the student spent the night in the Mahwah police station.

The policy to immediately remove students from campus for hosting/alcohol-related offenses has since been revised to permit that students can be suspended without having to be immediately removed from campus. Students are cited and need to meet with the Student Conduct Board.  The board does not include faculty, as these are not considered academic offenses.

The MFSA recommends that the policy and handling of offenses related to alcohol and hosting on campus, as well as in the residential halls be taken up by the Alcohol and Other Drug Committee. The FAEC and Dr. Choudhury also recommended that community service be considered a viable and constructive option in lieu of suspension for first offenses. The Provost agreed that the measures taken to address and guide behavior involve constructive means that support RCNJ’s goals for preparing students to be lifelong learners.

5.  Provost Becker’s Announcements

Provost Becker announced that RCNJ is moving to replace the Moodle learning Management System with the Canvas Learning Management System. This is in part due to the Student Government Association’s feedback which presented students’ concerns over their inability to access information regarding their standing and grades in their courses.

Meeting Adjourned at 12:00 pm

Categories: FACULTY ASSEMBLY MINUTES