Montclair State University
PCAffirmative Action 2004-05

Minutes
October 19 , 2005

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Present : E. Abreu (Women's Caucus), M. Brown (African American Caucus), M. Coleman-Carter (At-Large), Saundra Collins (University Senate), M. Colon (Latino/a Caucus), S. Davage (CWA), D. Davis (AFT Local 1904), J. Hain (Ex-Officio) L. Jenkins (At-Large), D. Keiser (AFT Local 1904), C. Lange (Women's Caucus), L Lemley (IFPTE Local 195), S. Lewis (Faculty), D. Lorenzo (At-Large), C. Matteis (Managerial), C. Meneghin (Professional Staff), B. Milton (Ex-Officio), H. Perez (GLFSA), D. Ragin (University Senate), L. Reed (Physical Plant), L. Rodriguez (At-Large), O. Rodriguez-Srednicki (At-Large), T. Ronquillo (UAASO), L.Smith (ADA Representative), N. Trivedi (APIC), & Q. Vega (At-Large).

Constituencies Not Represented: Latin American Student Organization, Organization for African Unity, Secretarial/Clerical Staff, SPECTRUMS, Student Government Association and University Police.

Guest : K. Morillo (Bias Response Task Force and Diversity Conference).

The meeting was called to order at 12:30 p.m.

Minutes of the September 21, 2005 Meeting

Lemley motioned to approve the minutes; Davis seconded.   No recommendations to change the minutes as submitted were made.   Lemley motioned to approve the minutes as submitted.   Davis seconded.   The minutes were approved as submitted.  

Reading

Coleman-Carter led a discussion of "A Coach, A Mentor, A What?" available from the Coaching and Mentoring Network web site at: http://www.coachingnetwork.org.uk/ResourceCentre/Articles/ViewArticle.asp?artId=72. Before the discussion, she thanked C. Lange for finding the article and sharing it with the Mentoring Committee.   They had a good discussion of the article and decided to share it with the full PCAA.   A very lively discussion on the issue of the difference between coaching and mentoring followed.

Committee Reports

Recruitment and Retention Committee : Brown reported that the committee hared President Cole's response to the Recruitment and Retention Committee report with the caucuses.   The committee asked the caucuses to revisit the issue of finding at least one actionable item to address or implement.   The committee is asking the caucuses to meet with their members about the issue/s to work on and get back to the Recruitment and Retention Committee in November to see if there is a need for the Recruitment and Retention Committee to meet again with the caucuses in the spring.   The committee has received words of thanks for using the report as a basis to continue a dialog between the caucuses and the PCAA.

Mentoring Committee : Coleman-Carter reported that the committee is reviewing last year's "Thank Your Mentor" month activities (January 2005) to help plan for the 2006 "Thank Your Mentor" activities.   They are considering sponsoring a panel discussion on mentoring, putting together a web site on the topic, and the sending of e-cards to thank mentors (and mentees).   The e-cards and other activities during the month were well-received and appreciated.

Education Committee : Smith reported that the committee is thinking of sponsoring another "Conversation about Affirmative Action" program (a program the PCAA sponsored last year).   Two student representatives (Ronquillo & Lilla) will moderate the program.   Like last year's program, students will ask panel members questions about affirmative action.   Meneghin asked the Committee to coordinate their activities with Milton to tie into any other PCAA programs.

A discussion of the Affirmative Action Day events followed.   Some events planned are a "Parade," a film/discussion on the Leo Frank trial, and a showing of "Two Towns of Jasper," a film about the town where James Byrd, Jr. was dragged to death (go to http://www.twotownsofjasper.com/ for more information).   Meneghin asked for information on the Affirmative Action Day events to include in PCAA email she sends to the campus.

Bias Response Task Force

Abreu thanked the PCAA for its participation in the focus groups on how to respond to bias incidents on campus.   She summarized what her group, which is developing protocols for such responses, found from its meetings with the PCAA focus groups and its own deliberations:

•  There was a need to have a "go to" group to respond to such incidents.

•  Faculty and staff were clear on whom to see if someone experienced a bias incident; students were not as clear on this (students tended to think of going to someone with whom they had prior contact and not necessarily an individual in an office charged with handling such incidents).   The bias response team could serve the role of educating the campus the appropriate person/office to contact if someone experiences an incidence of bias.

•  There was some confusion about the difference between a hate crime and a bias incidence.   The bias response team could help in clarifying the difference.  

•  Students thought that presenting information in a flow chart approach would be an effective form of communication.

•  It was not advisable to announce every bias incident to the campus.   A more flexible approach was suggested, one that would take into account a variety of factors.

•  The person experiencing the bias incident is not the only victim.   Communities on campus could also be victimized.   Perpetrators of bias incidents could also be victims, if their actions are unintentional or naïve.   They need to be helped by the community.

•  University Police have changed the name of public lists of campus crime and other incidents from "Crime Alert" to "Crime Update."   This would allow more kinds of events, such as bias incidents involving graffiti to be listed.

•  Representatives from the following offices should be on a bias response team:

•  Student Development and Campus Life

•  Information Technology

•  University Council

•  University Police

•  Diversity officers

•  The PCAA could serve as a good source of consultants.

•  The importance of following up, for as long as necessary, after an incident was noted.

•  Online reporting of bias incidents was not supported.   There were concerns about false reporting if anonymous and the loss of one-on-one attention if online.

•  There should be process advisors/advocates for perpetrators of the incidents.   A similar advisor should be available for the victim(s) as well.

•  Sanctions should be influenced by intent and motivation. Under NJ law, the motivation for a crime is an important factor as well.

•  In the last five years, the perpetrators of most bias incidents were first year students.   The need to cover this issue in the First Year Experience (FYE) courses was noted. Morillo said that this is being done in many FYE classes.   She has created a unit for the FYE courses on bias, dealing with such issues as living in a diverse community and dealing with incidents of bias.

•  There is a need for a comprehensive approach to bias, like we have for sexual harassment.

•  A member noted that dealing with issues of diversity one week out of thirteen is not enough.   It was noted that perhaps not all schools/colleges, in their first year courses, were covering this issue.

•  When asked what MSU is doing right, the focus groups mentioned:

•  Training and the creation of a bias group

•  Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) safe spaces

•  Disability advocates

•  The presence of caucuses

•  The PCAA

•  The work of union representatives

•  The Dean of Students Office

•  The University Senate

•  A member noted that more could be done with LGBT services.

Abreu will bring the policy being developed to a PCAA meeting.   Vice President Pennington is willing to come to talk to the PCAA about the policy.   Abreu sees the PCAA as a source of consultants and as a place for advice when incidents occur.  

Abreu noted that the task force will be a vehicle for dealing with bias incidents, not the unit responsible for handling them.   That may vary with the nature of the incident.   The task force will also be used to get information to the campus.

Meneghin asked Abreu to follow up with Vice President Pennington's offer to meet with the PCAA.   Meneghin thanked Abreu for her work on developing a bias response policy.

Abreu mentioned that the "What's The Deal@MSU" event went well.

Affirmative Action Day

Plans for Affirmative Action Day in February 2006 were discussed.   Ellis Cose will be the speaker.   For more information on Ellis Cose, go to http://www.elliscose.com/index.html .   We have to finalize the date of his presentation.   Kasser Theater is only available on February 1 or February 15.   To avoid a potential conflict with opening day of   African-American Heritage Month, we will see if Cose can come to campus on the 15th .

Other Items

Meneghin spoke about a program which the Executive Committee is considering: the PCAA would sponsor a call for papers from campus community on the topic" "Strength of Diversity Comes from the Power of Civility."   The idea will be discussed at a future meeting.

A member mentioned that Charlene Russo will be speaking on mentoring at the Nov. 10 ACEnet meeting.  

A member mentioned the Academic Integrity Week programs during the week of Oct. 31 - Nov. 4.

Another member mentioned that the Lambda Families Conference 2005   will be held Saturday, October 22, 2005 at Montclair State University. 

The meeting adjourned at 2:10 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Luis Rodriguez

PCAA Recording Secretary