Meeting of the Faculty Senate
Approved Minutes
December 9, 2014
The meeting was called to order at 12:25 p.m.
- A motion was made to approve the minutes from the meetings of November 11 and November 18, 2014. The motion was approved unanimously by voice vote.
- Jean-Camille Birget gave a report on Lecture Capture as prepared by the FAS-C Information Services Committee. Jean-Camille explained that this policy proposal is still in draft form as there are still issues that the union needs to address with the University and legal questions. Also, the Committee is submitting some questions to the Senate to help decide whether certain language should be included in the Policy (see copy of draft proposal.) Discussion and questions from the floor included: Are lectures considered public events? Once a document has been posted, Kris Lindenmeyer explained, she believes it is considered public domain. This subject is under negotiation with the AAUP and Administration and may also be covered under the “Open Air Act”. What about “trade secret exemption”? It would be necessary to prove “trade secret validity”, which would probably not apply to intro courses, but might for unique courses or applications. Will instructors be required to turn over any recordings (even if captured for personal use/archives)? What if a student with disabilities presents documentation, but chooses not to employ a Stenographer? Can faculty refuse to turn over the recordings to such a student? Students with disabilities are entitled to information that was disseminated in class as outlined in their individual accommodations. Faculty is not required to turn over their lecture notes. ADA accommodations are separate from Lecture Capture. Julie Amon has asked legal counsel to review how best to accommodate the students with disabilities and protect access to information. She will share whatever she finds out from General Counsel.
The Senate would like the policy document to make a clearer distinction between what is actually the case and what should be the case, and include feedback from AAUP legal counsel and University legal counsel involved with lecture capturing before a resolution is made by the Senate. The Senate president asked that the FAS-C Information Services Committee continue to work on the policy and bring it back to the first Senate meeting in the spring semester.
- Maureen Donaghy, Chair of the Faculty Life Committee has communicated with Larry Gaines and Beverly Wilson (Parking) about parking in and around campus. Maureen reports from those conversations that at this time the option of parking in the Camden County Garage is still available and that there are 20 parking spots left in the garage and “…until they are used up there is no reason to ask for more.” Other possibilities discussed in her meeting with Mr. Gaines included, in the long-term, the construction of a parking deck for faculty and staff, or renting space under the bridge from the DRPA. Another option is to park in the lot by Campbell Field (C11) from 7:00 am – to 11:00 pm, with shuttle service taking about 10 minutes to campus with approximately a 10 minute wait between shuttles. It was reiterated that anyone can ask for a security escort to walk to their vehicle if there are safety concerns. Questions from the floor: What other (immediate) solutions can be offered? What are the “Reserved” spots, and will they come back to the inventory? Those spaces are in Lot 13 and should become available again once the construction project is complete. Perhaps Shuttle service could run more frequently to assist getting to campus.
A motion was made for further solutions to be explored regarding the lack of parking available on or around campus, including the lot under the Bridge and any other feasible arrangements regarding lots reserved for faculty and staff only, as opposed to TAs and students, and that parking spaces available be commensurate with the number of parking permits sold. The motion was approved unanimously by voice vote.
- Nathan Bullock, Director of Off Campus Programs, gave a very detailed presentation on the off-campus locations, the offerings at those locations, student demographics and services, and potential new and expanded programs. Some questions from the floor: What services are the students in the off-campus locations using? In theory, all services offered on campus (student activities, health/athletic center, etc.) are offered off-campus, but in practice, some services are less available in certain locations, depending on proximity to the “main campus”. We try at least to make career services and advising available to them online, but they are also invited to come to our campus for any of their needs. What are the GPAs compared to our campus? This info is to be gathered by the Institute of Research. Are students on the Camden Campus permitted to take courses off-campus? How similar are the syllabi and grading among the off-campus and on-campus courses? The departments need to have ownership of the courses, standards, and grading, as the University is held accountable by the Campus Assessment. The current off-campus student enrollment total (617) counts towards the total enrollment of CCAS.
Meeting adjourned at 1:20 p.m.
Present (Senators): Jongmin Nam, Alexander Samokhvalov, Robin Stevens, Osama Hamed, Bill FitzGerald, Keith Green, Aaron Hostetter, Margery Amdur, Paul Bernstein, Ana Laguna, Nick Kapur, Susan Mokhberi, Julie Still, Debashis Kushary, Will Y. Lee, James Genone, Joseph Gerver, Shauna Shames, Tim Knievel, Bill Whitlow, Katrina Hazzard-Donald, Louis Tuthill, Kenneth Elliott, Ken Hohing, Cyril Reade
Present (Invited administrators): Jean-Camille Birget, Maureen Donaghy, Nathan Bullock, Julie Amon, and Kriste Lindenmeyer
Absent: Laurie Bernstein, Eric Klein, Rajiv Gandhi, Carol Singley, Prospero Garcia, Grace Brannigan, Wayne Chan, Joseph Cutuli, Brandi Blessett, Stephen Danley, Wayne Glasker, Jean-Louis Hippolyte