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President's Commission on Affirmative Action
Final Report 2006

Montclair State University is committed to equal opportunity, affirmative action and diversity.   Our community, by and large, embraces this commitment through established policies, as well as through personal engagement to bring and support equal opportunity, and an appreciation of diversity.   As MSU grows we need to be ever vigilant in our efforts to build upon our commitment reflective of our community's needs.

During the past academic year the PCAA built upon it's own developing team experience and the past establishment of communication efforts.   This report details the activities of the Commission at large and the subcommittees during the 2005-2006 academic year.

Executive Committee:
The PCAA continues to be one of the most diverse commission or committee on campus, with representation from faculty, staff, ethnic caucuses and student organizations.   There is also a rich diversity of gender, ethnic, race, age, culture, sexual orientation, physical abilities all at one table.   The Commission meets once a month during the academic year.   Subcommittees are:   Executive, Education, Mentoring, and Recruitment and Retention.   All Commission members are committed to at least one subcommittee.   The meeting dates and approved minutes, as well as a list of current members, is available on the PCAA Website:   www.montclair.edu/pcaad .   The Executive Committee, comprised of PCAA Officers, committee chairs, and ex-officio member, discuss pertinent issues and sets the agenda for the general membership meetings.

Meetings
Attendance to our monthly Commission meetings once again increased, up approximately 6% from the previous year with an average of 27.6 members attending meetings.   We began recording constituency representation last year in an effort to assure well-rounded attendance and equal voice at the meetings. The number of constituencies and At-Large members not represented at a monthly meeting went down slightly from the previous year 6.57 this year compared to 7.38 last year.   Interestingly, Six constituencies accounted for the majority of those who did not have either voting or alternate members attend a monthly meeting: Secretarial/Clerical - 7, University Police - 6, Latin American Student Organization - 4, Physical Plant - 4, GLFSA - 4, Spectrums - 3.   (See attached for details: Report | Excel chart).

Readings
A continuing vital part of our Commission's work is our own education, enlightenment and personal empowerment through exchange of ideas, ideals, perceptions and experience.   One vehicle used is the group discussion of a relevant reading.   Continuing a practice from last year, we asked members to recommend readings for the Commission and to lead the discussion.   This practice continues to promote insightful discussions about current issues and events related to the issues of affirmative action and diversity, relevant to the campus community at large and to the individual members of the Commission.   We saw a marked increase in participation by the student representatives this past year.   The readings are listed in minutes.   (See www.montclair.edu/pcaad/minutes.html for links to the monthly minutes.)

Minutes
The approved minutes of each full Commission meeting continue to be posted on the PCAA Website, and emails to the campus community announcing the availability of the minutes has been met with a very positive response and expanded interaction between the Commission membership and the constituencies they represent.

Affirmative Action Day
A major event provided through the PCAA is the campus community's recognition and celebration of Affirmative Action Day.   We again took on a major undertaking by coordinating the support of over 36 campus academic/administrative offices, clubs and organizations to bring a national figure to the campus as our keynote speaker, to the campus.

Affirmative Action Day was celebrated on February 15, 2006, with the keynote address in Kasser Theater.   The theme this year was "Affirmative Action:   From the Classroom to the Boardroom."   The day included our traditional flag raising followed by a lunchtime gathering in the Student Center ballrooms where 20 campus organizations were represented at table displays for attendees to visit.  

Renowned author and columnist Ellis Cose was the keynote speaker.   Mr. Cose followed his address with a book-signing event that included an opportunity for several MSU students to meet and speak with him.   The address was held in Kasser Theater with between 225-275 people attended this event and a DVD of the address will be available for loan on reserve at Sprague Library.

The support (including monetary) of many academic and administrative departments, and campus organizations made this day the success it was.   Even though we have been very successful in the past two years of bringing prominent figures to our campus in recognition and celebration of affirmative action (and these events have proven to be both popular and beneficial to our community members) the PCAA's annual budget of $5,000 and the expected extreme budget constraints throughout the academic and administrative groups on campus, casts doubt on our ability to continue this annual program.   We will make every effort to provide as positive and fruitful experience as we can in 2007.

Budget
The bulk of the money from annual budget of $5,000 was spent on the cost of the Affirmative Action Day program, supplemented by various contributions from academic/administrative offices and campus clubs/organizations.   The remainder of the budget was spent on food for our meetings, in compliance with allowed practices. (See attached for details: Report)

Adhoc Committee on Parking and Transportation for People with Disabilities
The issue of available parking on campus for people with disabilities was brought to the PCAA in the 2003-2004 academic year.   During the 2004-2005 academic year the Commission reviewed related procedures and brought concerns from individuals and constituencies and made several recommendations to appropriate offices.   Specifically the office of Transportation and Parking Services responded positively to many of the concerns and suggestions brought to them in the past year.   However, several concerns still remain.   Those concerns have been compiled in a report distributed to appropriate campus administrators.   As our campus grows, and as we encourage increased participation in our campus activities and facilities by the greater community, we must be even more watchful of accessibility issues.   (See attached report "Transportation, parking and accessibility issues for person with disabilities.")

Graduate Assistantships
A concern about diverse students enrolling in graduate programs and the availability of graduate assistantships to minorities since the changes to the assistantship program were addressed at our March Commission meeting by The Graduate School's Associate Dean in the Graduate School Dr. Kim O'Halloran and Assistant Dean in the Graduate School Ms. Carolyn Jones.   They both provided a very thorough review of the overall graduate enrollment, enrollment of a diversified group of students in the graduate programs and the status of graduate assistantships.   Dr. O'Halloran welcomed spontaneous suggestions and comments and encouraged further discussion on the issues that will be included in the PCAA agenda in the next academic year.

Education Committee:

James Harris, Co-Chair
Linda Smith, Co-Chair

The Education Committee of the President's Commission on Affirmative provides a vehicle to educate the Montclair State University community about affirmative action and equal opportunity activities at the University and in society.

The Education Committee devoted its attention toward advertising and recruiting support for the Affirmative Action Day Program that was held during the spring 2006 semester. Individuals and organizations were educated about and recruited to participate in the Organizations Fair that was held in the Student Center Ballrooms prior the lecture and book signing.

During the fall 2005 the Education Committee sponsored "Conversations on Affirmative Action" which was conducted to provide opportunities for students and employees to gain information regarding the myths and realities of affirmative action. A panel of experts presented facts about how affirmative works and participants were allowed to discuss their concerns.   Participants gave the program positive evaluations.

Mentoring Committee:

Margaree Coleman Carter, Co-chair
Esmilda Abreu, Co-Chair

Goals for 2005-2006

1. Expand "Thank You Mentor Day" to include more e card choices and create a photo gallery of MSU Mentor-Mentee Pairs. Sponsor a small reception for participants. Repeat the program twice a year.

2. Work with PCAA and Human Resources to create a questionnaire concerning mentoring needs.

3. Create a comprehensive list of formal and informal mentorship opportunities at Montclair State University.

Accomplishments for 2005-2006

• The PCAA Mentoring Committee sponsored the second "Thank Your Mentor Day" on January 26, 2006. Cindy Meneghin was helpful in providing additional selections of MSU e cards, which were used by the campus community. Also, a 30% increase in hits to the e card website was recorded. (January 2006: 1279 hits vs. January 2005:   925 hits)

• Montclair State University ACE-NET held its Fall Luncheon. The topic was "Mentoring and Coaching: Tools for Change". Charline Russo, Ed.D was the speaker. PCAA members were invited and several of the mentoring committee members attended. Carole Lange, sub committee member, posted materials on the MSU ACE-NET Website.

• Sub committee members Carole Lange and Esmilda Abreu addressed mentoring issues via the newly formed Women's Caucus and have created a liaison between the PCAA Mentoring efforts and that of the Caucus.

• A reading was presented and facilitated by the Mentoring sub committee to the PCAA general commission. The reading was entitled "A Coach, a Mentor.....A What? By Anna Britnor Guest

• Goal #3 was placed on hold until the questionnaires administer and the data compiled.

•   The Mentoring Questionnaire was completed along with goals and a timeline for implementation.

Mentoring Questionnaire Goals/ Timeline

Goals:

1.       Find out what people know about mentoring and their general interest.

2.       Gauge people's perceptions to whether they have been mentored or are currently being mentored.

3.       General sense of people's knowledge of how/where to access mentoring programs on campus.

4.       Create small group of volunteers for focus groups to discuss more specifically

mentoring experiences and challenges.

Process to Outcome:

1.       To gauge general campus knowledge, involvement and needs regarding mentoring. The questionnaire is being used as a vehicle to gather information.

2.       Focuses groups will provide more detail of experiences, challenges and needs that people may have around mentoring.

3.       The information obtained from the focus groups will help us determine the next step in the long-term goal of raising awareness of, and access to, mentoring opportunities a Montclair State University.

(Outcome Expected):  

1.       Provide vehicle by which to educate the campus about mentoring.

2.       Clear sense of interests and needs regarding mentoring.

3.       Identity pre-existing program initiatives that would answer stated needs and interests.

Timeline for Mentoring Questionnaire Project

September 2005 through April 2006: The Mentoring Subcommittee (MSC) discussed the perception and ideas of mentoring.   It was determined that a questionnaire should be developed and deployed to gauge the primary knowledge and interest in mentoring a Montclair State University.   Each member presented a series of questions. That list was reduced and then further fine-tuned during this "alpha" test.

April 19, 2006: The MSC will present to the PCAA its intent, purpose, and goals of this project based on findings from the initial "alpha" test of the questionnaire.   It will also introduce the "beta" test of the questionnaire, which will be made available to the PCAA membership soon after the meeting.

May 31, 2006: The MSC hopes to present input and findings from the PCAA membership participation in the "beta" test of the questionnaire. At this same time, the MSC hopes to gather additional input from PCAA membership.

June through September 2006: New PCAA members will have an opportunity to experience the 2006 questionnaire and provide feedback. Those returning members who were not able to provide feedback prior to the advance will also have an opportunity to do so.

September through Mid-November 2006: The MSC will continue to fine-tune the questionnaire base on suggestions from the PCAA membership.   The MSC will also begin to draft the sections of the final report relevant to the process leading up the distribution of the questionnaire and develop a game plan for focus groups that may come as a result of the responses to the questionnaire.

Mid-November 2006:  The questionnaire will be opened to the determined constituency. Each participant will be restricted to one submission during the survey period.   The MSC will continue to work on the final report and planning for the focus groups.           

March and April 2007: The MSC will review the data collected via the questionnaire and complete the sections of the final report relevant to the data collected from the questionnaire.

April 2007:  At the final meeting of the PCAA the MSC will present it's finding to the PCAA for inclusion in the 2006-2007 PCAA Final Report to President Cole.

September 2007 through March 2008: Based on responses to the 2006/2007 questionnaire, the MSC will meet with focus groups based on a planned strategy aimed determining ways to raise awareness of, and access to, mentoring at MSU.

April 2008: The MSC will present its findings, based on meetings with the Focus groups, in a final report to be presented at last regular meeting of the PCAA and to be included in PCAA report to President Cole.

Goals for 2006-2007 will be determined with the newly formed sub committee at the May 31 st PCAA Advance.

Members of the Mentoring Committee: AJ Kelton , Mary Colon, Joan Ficke, Charles Matteis,, Carole Lange, Larry Lemley, Susan Skalsky and Lourdes Reed.

Recruitment and Retention Committee:

Michael Brown, Co-chair
Ofelia Rodriguez-Srednicki
Quinn Vega, Co-Chair

In Academic Year 2006, the President's Commission on Affirmative Action (PCAA) Recruitment and Retention Committee shared with all the caucuses Dr. Cole's response to last year's report. The committee then asked for feedback and invited the caucuses to continue the discussion of their actionable items from the previous year and to add any new items for the coming year.   There was a request for each caucus to bring any issue affecting the caucus to our attention.   In order to facilitate this discussion and to standardize the approach from year to year, a timeline was developed. The two caucuses who wanted further discussion were the Latino Caucus and the African American caucus.

The committee discussed the issue of whether perceived bias in recruitment or retention could be addressed by simply studying the number of individuals currently employed at the university.   In order to address this issue, information regarding present faculty and faculty from 2000 to 2006 were studied.  

In the initial data, while underrepresented groups generally saw increases during this time, there was a drop in the number of Latino faculty at the university.   Since these numbers were obtained, there has been a general discussion of the accuracy of the numbers specifically, and the possible reasons for this decrease.   The Latino Caucus met with Drs. Lynde, Ficke and VP Hain and had a productive discussion as to how to work together in addressing the issues of retention and recruitment. For the next academic year the Vice Presidents and the Caucus will continue working on this issue and will begin to address issues related to other Latino employees at MSU .

At the most recent meeting with President Cole (Provost and Vice Presidents with the African American Caucus, the Caucus discussed concerns over the number and percentages newly admitted African-American freshmen.   Although the numbers new freshmen at the university have increased dramatically each year since 2002, the number of African-American students entering the university has not increased proportionately.   The 2005 freshman class represented a 9% growth rate over 2004, but the increase in African American students was only a numerical increase of 7 over the previous year, but represented a percentage decrease of the entering class.

The committee recommends that these numbers be monitored closely and that the commission discuss possible reasons for this change.

Timeline for Recruitment and Retention Committee 2005-2006

September:   (First PCAA meeting)-Meet with subcommittee members and formalize the goals of the new year. Read response from Dr. Cole concerning actionable items requested by the individual caucuses. Ensure that response has been distributed to the individual caucuses.

October:   (Second PCAA meeting)-Ensure that every caucus has a member of the PCAA RR committee as a liaison. Request that members meet with each caucus prior to the next PCAA meeting.

November:   (Third PCAA meeting)-Summarize caucus response to president's summary from the previous year (i.e., was the actionable item implemented; if not is the item still an issue).

February:   (Sixth PCAA meeting)-Summary of new caucus actionable item (if new) and any items that may be handled by the PCAA directly. These items should be issues related to recruitment and retention. Additional input to be requested from the rest of the PCAA committee.

March:   (Seventh PCAA meeting)-Final clarification of any actionable items that will be sent to Dr. Cole. Report on actionable items that could be handled by the PCAA directly.

April:   (Eight PCAA meeting)-Final report of the PCAA Recruitment and Retention committee. Report presented to the full committee for review.  

Women's Caucus

Esmilda Abreu

This was the Women's Caucus' first year after being recognized by the PCAA and we have met monthly since then with ever increasing membership.

The Constitution and By-Laws were written and approved. Elections and positions have been filled with only two vacancies.

A list-serve of female staff is ever expanding and giving the caucus a terrific way to unite women staff and faculty. The Caucus and the Women of MSU have also established an affiliation such that the Women of MSU provides a fund raising arm to the Caucus for Scholarships and outreach efforts.

Another very important area that this group already successfully addressed, was that of the establishment of a Lactation Room at the Drop-In-Center, addressing the need for Breastfeeding/milk pumping rooms for student mothers and staff/faculty mothers. This upcoming year the Caucus will work on promoting this service such that the campus community is aware of it.

The Women's Caucus is also working with the PCAA Mentoring sub-committee to provide mentoring programming for the physical plant staff, especially the Latina population.   In addition the Caucus has researched the University's Maternity Leave information and will be working with Vice President Judy Hain to create a publication that more clearly outlines benefits on Maternity Leave, Child Care and Family Leave. In addition workshops or open meetings providing this information are also part of next year's goals.

Conclusion
This year, we continued our efforts to fulfill the charge of the Commission through self-education, outreach and exchange with the campus community and the constituencies we represent, and the review and response to issues and concerns related to equal opportunity and diversity for the campus community.   It is a very exciting and fulfilling opportunity for each member of the Commission to participate in this very valuable work.   However, it has been my observation, especially in the past two years, that participation in such vital groups (such as the PCAA) is becoming more and more difficult because of the already stretched community resources.   We are all asked to do more with less which often leaves us with little option but to painfully choose between equally important tasks, with membership and participation in a campus committee often the one abandoned.   As we grow we must continue to value campus member participation in committees, organizations and groups.   We must remember the importance of community building which relies upon personal interaction between the academic and administrative offices, between students, faculty and staff, and with the benefit of our diversity.   A campus community is far different from a corporate environment, in need of a more broad level of exchange and personal involvement by its members.   It is difficult in these very resource restrictive times, but the life of our community is dependant on our individual participation.   The life of a university depends on the breadth of our personal involvement.  

That gives even more weight to the fact that several members of the MSU community recently sought out membership on the Commission, despite current extended workloads.   That is a testament to the University's support and encouragement to equal opportunity and diversity, to the individuals who make up our community and their commitment to these important values, and to the work of the PCAA.

Respectfully submitted,

Cindy L. Meneghin

Chair, PCAA

June 15, 2006