FAEC minute May 27th, 2020

FAEC 5/27/2020 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), Lisa Lutter (CA), Thierry Rakotobe-Joel (ASB), Mihaela Serban (SSHS), Ashwani Vasishth (Councilor-at-Large over 11)

Secretary: Kim Lorber

Guests: Martha Ecker (AFT-President), Interim-Provost Susan Gaulden, President Peter Mercer,

FAEC President’s Report

Meetings with the President: Naseem met twice with President Mercer; she will have Scott Frees (as VP) with her at future meetings. State budget and drawbacks for finishing/extended fiscal year and what might come next year was discussed: We have a big budgetary hole. Going forward we have about an $11 million hole and if for the full year, it is estimated to be a $31 million+. If we open dorms, etc. it will make the holes smaller. She encouraged him to be more transparent with the community to let people know where we stand.

Meetings with Provost Gaulden:

Faculty handbook revision: Susan was not aware that faculty handbook had been stalled; she will check.

Stipend/reassignment times for summer & fall: faculty were approached by deans to give these back for the summer and possibly the following AY. No decisions have been made about withholding stipends in the summer or fall. These are in negotiations with the union.

5 Year Assessment Plan: some groups are starting this in the fall to be completed in the spring. Naseem asked if this can be deferred for a whole year in order to have all materials on hand and to avoid additional projects during this chaotic time. Provost agreed with the caveat that CG provide rational and understand that programmatic changes will be delayed for a year.

Reopening committee: Considering multiple options and engaging faculty. The committee is waiting for representatives to return worksheets for summary. Report to the provost is due June 1.

AFT President, Martha Ecker reported: The 3 unions have met more with the Provost more regularly than the President. Ongoing local negotiations. Stipends and reassignment time: Should be negotiated by the union at a fair rate. Faculty handbook: Employee Relations is working on Faculty Handbook beginning with promotions. Statewide College Councils: AFT is negotiating with the States Office of Employee Relations to secure a no lay-off deal. Negotiations are ongoing. The offer is with the Presidents of the colleges.

FAEC Member

Question regarding student evaluations were raised: Will there be student evaluations in the Fall?

Personnel procedures: Uncertainty around timelines and process going forth is creating confusion. Faculty who are waiting for promotions, etc. have been unofficially told there has been an extension. Needs verification. Questions regarding the reappointment, tenure and future promotions timelines and processes are also unclear.

Re-opening Task Force: Questions about covering for unwell colleagues was raised. What if a faculty member becomes unwell and cannot teach or has to care for someone else? Who is going to teach those classes?  A discussion about the role of convening groups and deans and having consistent processes to address these issues ensued. Scott, who is on the reopening committee, reports from now? until August, we will have to figure out how we communicate within convening groups. Deans will have the final say as this is a personnel and HR matter. We will need to have a conversation with our deans about renumeration; they need to have plans.

For Fall 2020: We need to prepare to be online. We will need to spend our summers converting our courses and need to do very well as a faculty in the fall.
Question about lower our caps was raised: Naseem was told that they would not go down. Suggestion: Faculty with a new prep for a new course that was intended to meet F2F, swap with a colleague who is already offering that course online? May reduce the stress of prepping a new course and in a new delivery mode. Should we expect to go back in the spring? What will happen if we do or do not? Spring 2021 registration has not happened so can those caps be reduced? It will increase instructional cost. We need more information.

Martha reiterated that there is an ongoing conversation with employee relations re: Faulty handbook, personnel calendars and deadlines. This needs to be communicated to faculty. We negotiate with Virginia (HR) now instead of Nicole (previously ER) so timeline is longer. HR also reports to CFO and not Provost. Structure is not ideal. She does not expect caps to be reduced.
What happens if a faculty member becomes sick; some faculty taught through COVID. We need contingency plans.

Grading/attendance: will we go gently/lightly/easier as this semester with one or possible two semesters being remote during possible future COVID 19 waves? No accommodations for additional pass/fail going forth.

Sciences (Scott): Science meetings today. Labs will have to be drastically different. Whatever we decide to go with, unit discussions are needed.
Some programs have been asked to rethink courses: art studio classes, for example. We are discussing remote and not online classes.

President and Provost Gaulden Arrived
Naseem will make a schedule for FAEC meetings this summer and invite them. We are also planning a Faculty Forum.

President Mercer reported that the budgetary news is not good. State of NJ is down 25% in revenues: $10 billion. We are receiving 50% of the April, May, and June planned income. They are not giving any state funding for July, August, and September. Loss of references from events, conferences, etc., we will end up with a loss of 10s of millions of dollars. We have small cash reserves for an emergency.

Revenue side: gave back $5.2 million to students for room/board, and parking.

Naseem asked Peter if there is any possibility to roll out a plan before 7/15. We can have multiple plans while we wait for the Governor’s directives.

Susan said the working timeline is through 6/8. Then it is unlikely to know anything before end of June. PPE costs: where is the breakeven point? When does it make sense to open or not. Many are asking for liability protection, which might change peoples’ minds about reopening.

What would you like us to convey to faculty? Personnel costs and furloughs and potentially layoffs are possible, per Peter. It is frustrating and there is not enough info to know the extent. Courses are filled; who will pick those up?

Susan was asked about the timeline for cancelling courses and what is considered “low enrollment”. She responded; we have to fill classes. Conversation about cancelling courses earlier than in the typical year ensued. She confirmed that deans were paying close attention to this. Cannot increase instructional cost.

Remote work: Susan said this will be a Human Relations issue; we have to have contingency plans for faculty and staff is people become sick. This is a heavy lift and a chance to understand the community we are. We do not want to demoralize anyone. We need to deliver a high-quality product.

Course caps: can’t reduce them now; cannot afford. Assured us to return to old caps when all is well. This is not the new normal.

Faculty who are not comfortable being on campus in the Fall: Can this be communicated to them sooner rather than later? If one cannot come for whatever reason, alert your deans now (Naseem’s suggestion). Can we start these incremental things in-house now?
Susan has been waiting for HR, faculty are not unique, and employees may not be comfortable coming in either. The communication will be forthcoming, but she cannot promise when. She speaks with Virginia (HR) all the time.

Opening Research Labs: there will be the option to use the labs but will need social distancing guidelines. She does not want to give today’s plan but will be communicating soon.

If K-12 doesn’t open, how could we open? Issue surrounding public transportation, etc. were discussed.

Renegotiating academic calendar with the union: Pro’s and Con’s were considered. Lots of unknowns.

Communication: Naseem addressed this with Susan after Peter left. Inclusion of faculty is important in this process including budgetary issues. Transparency is needed.
Susan discussed concerns about meeting enrollment targets vs. deposits, and attracting students to the smaller programs. She discussed the cost of only expanding the bigger majors (there might not be seats for these students). Roark noted other schools are not lowering their tuition and asked if can we create such incentives:
Montclair did a 2 for 3 courses: sign up for 2 and we’ll give you the 3rd. Montclair, Kean, are not in good positions; Ramapo is leading the pact without these problems so far.
In the summer of 2020 deans will create a new 2-credit topic courses to give students a taste of what remote learning is like? If we do not do it well, it will be tough.

Returning students are asking: can they live on campus? How will these be maintained? How will bathrooms be cleaned? Naseem suggested adding a video of the dorms so people can see: you will have your own room, etc. CDC recommends 1 person per bathroom. They also say in healthcare facility, have to have separate room for people with symptoms: we would have to figure that out. We don’t fill dorms so we can spread out students. Timely info is needed for parents to make timely decisions.

Indefinite remote teaching (Mia): We will need to plan for indefinite remote teaching, too. Is the task force plan going to be fall, spring, 2 years ahead?
Susan: The task force is focusing on Reopening only. Maybe another committee is needed

Susan: Summer courses will not be pass/fail. Provisions for course evaluations was also for spring, too. Susan is fine with making temporary policies and extending them.
Course evaluations will go forward in the summer and fall (as before). If we had a redo of S20 of being in person and pivoting the semester, she would possibly consider pass/fail, again.

5-year Program Reviews Communication
Susan will let all convening groups who are on the calendar for next year that they may opt to defer the review for a1 year.

Summer communication: This would be appreciated from deans as well as her. She will ask the deans to join her in her plan to do so.

MARTHA: Required to come to campus or not: This is not a union issue, it is ADA. The real problem will be for people who are at risk of transmitting to elders in the household. She will look into compensation for taking over courses.

Message to convening groups: complete working group documents and note problems.
Reach out to faculty who might have stepped back due to being overwhelmed, etc. Who is coming back and who is not?

Political issue of virus/infection cases/Mia: Other countries have handled things differently and have had better outcomes; this is something we can control. The differences across the globe are based not on the virus but policies/politics.

Communication: Naseem has asked the President and the Provost to communicate every other week; she will communicate with faculty as needed. The deans need to share more information; unit reps from various constituencies need to communicate more as we should, with what we can share, when we meet with our own.

See CNN interview with NYU’s Scott Galloway (per Thierry) re: college at risk of closing.

Categories: FAEC MEETING MINUTES 2020, RAMAPO FAEC