Montclair State University
PCAA 2004-05

Minutes
October 20, 2004

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Attendance:

Present: E Abreu, I. Barriera, M. Brown, I. Caprio, T. Carey, R. I. Cartagena, C. Chakraborty, M. Coleman-Carter, M. Colon, J. Dennis, C. Dobson, A. Gutierrez, J. Hain, J. Harris, A. Holder, L. Jenkins, K. Key, L. Lemley, C. Matteis, C. Meneghin, , B. Milton, O. Morales, D. Ragin, L. Rodriguez, O. Rodriguez-Srednicki, L. Smith, & Q. Vega.

Constituencies Not Represented: GLFSA, SPECTRUMS, Faculty, Local 1904, Secretarial/Clerical, Physical Plant, University Police, & the SGA.

At-Large Members Not Present: J. Ficke, L. AJ Kelton, & D. Lorenzo.


Welcome: The meeting was called to order at 12:08 p.m.

Minutes of Sept. 15, 2004 Meeting: Harris motioned for the minutes to be approved. Lemley seconded. Minutes were approved as submitted. The minutes of this meeting will be shared with the campus after Pres. Cole sends out her letter to the campus announcing that the PCAA will be sharing its minutes with the campus.

Reading: As part of its practice of discussing at meetings different readings on the issue of affirmative action and diversity, the PCAA discussed "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack," by Peggy McIntosh (http.www.utoronto.ca/acc/events/peggy1.htm). Based on the report of the Mentoring and Professional Development Committee, we agreed that we would read "Mentoring" (http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/Articles/mentoring/start.htm) for the next meeting. [Note: After the meeting, a PCAA member recommended another article: "Hispanics Debate Census Plan to Change Racial Grouping," which will be our reading for the November meeting. We will be reading the mentoring article at our December meeting.

Committee Reports:
Education Committee
Harris reported that the committee will concentrate in planning a campus-wide conversation to occur in November to build to Affirmative Action Day in February. He passed out a draft proposal for a program on Nov. 15, to start at 2 p.m. Four questions will drive the conversation:

• What is affirmative action and equal opportunity?
  
• Who benefits from affirmative action and equal opportunity?
  
• What are the similarities and differences between affirmative action and diversity?
  
• Do affirmative action and equal opportunity lead to integration and/or tokenism?

The PCAA discussed the program. It was suggested that students in the Freshman Experience course be asked to submit questions they have about affirmative action. Questions would be answered, at the event by MSU resource people. The students on the Education Committee will be encouraged to "talk up" the event with the groups they represent. Milton brought up the issue of refreshments. Meneghin asked Harris to coordinate this with Jenkins, the PCAA fiscal agent. Meneghin would like to invite other groups as co-sponsors to all PCAA events. These groups would be asked to (1) endorse the program concept; (2) lend their name to the program; and (3) encourage their members to attend. Smith suggested that the PCAA contact the coordinator of the Freshman Experience program to see if instructors can be asked to delay the date that the Campus Event paper is due or to give extra credit for an additional paper to encourage first-year students to attend the program. Meneghin asked Harris to reach out to the caucuses represented on the PCAA and for Coleman-Carter to do the same for student groups.

At its 88th annual dinner, the Montclair chapter of the NAACP will give its 2004 Thurgood Marshall award to James Harris, Associate Dean of Students and University Ombudsman and a member of the PCAA. The PCAA extends it congratulations to Dean Harris!

Mentoring and Professional Development Committee
Coleman-Carter recognized Dean Harris’ contribution to mentoring on campus. She then discussed committee plans and activities. The Committee is examining the question of what kinds of mentoring program can be realistically implemented at MSU. A goal for this year is to look at non-faculty oriented mentoring programs. As a way of thinking about mentoring, she summarized an article, read by her committee, which described mentoring as a two-way exchange and relationship. [The PCAA agreed that this will be the reading for discussion at next month’s meeting.] Coleman-Carter thanked Jacobowitz for pushing the committee to think of a definition of mentoring. The committee is planning to develop a boilerplate for mentoring that the University can use. The committee will also examine the ACENET program, the Brotherhood, and the SGA advisor positions for models to use when developing mentoring programs.

Recruitment and Retention Committee
Rodriguez-Srednicki reported that the Committee met and reviewed the last year’s report on meetings with various PCAA constituency groups. Some editing changes were suggested. Meneghin asked that any other changes, comments and suggestions be sent to Rodriguez-Srednicki, Vega or Kelton. The committee will continue to review this report and report back at the PCAA December meeting on suggestions on the next steps or actions with the report and its recommendations. It will talk to the PCAA constituency groups for suggestions on ways in which to improve recruitment and retention at MSU.

The committee also looked at ways in which it could assist the Education Committee with its educational programs.

At the committee meeting, Kelton suggested that we consider using Internet2 to allow us to bring in speakers for the Affirmative Action Day program via videoconferencing and to allow us to share the speakers’ presentation with other NJ higher education institutions. All agreed that this was a good idea.

Old Business:
Meneghin mentioned some administrative issues: (1) the PCAA has been approached by a group of women who want to form a Women’s Caucus to have representation on the PCAA; and (2) She asked that she be sent a list of committee members. She also reminded everyone that they must be on a committee.

Parking for Persons with Disability
Smith and Meneghin met to discuss information Smith has received and issues that have arisen about the status of parking for persons with disabilities. Meneghin passed out three documents related to this issue. The document dated Oct. 2004 provides a summary of current MSU procedures and questions about those procedures for certifying eligibility to use a handicapped parking space and the location of lots and spaces for a person with a disability to park. While the University is compliant with legal requirements for the number of handicapped parking spaces it must provide, there may not be enough handicapped parking spaces to handle the demand for such spots. In particular, it seems that the number of permits issued to faculty and staff is twice the number of spaces allotted for such parking [this does not include spaces in the Red Hawk Deck which are designated for use by visitors with handicapped parking decals who come to the campus]. This could be why students are saying they have a problem finding a handicapped parking spot at 10 am.

It was also mentioned that another reason for lack of spots may be that Speech Therapy clients are also parking in the spots at Morehead instead of the Alexis Diner.

Some noted that it was not clear from the "Where Can I Park" document (distributed at the meeting) where a person who needs handicapped parking can park. The lots are hard to find on the map. In addition, information on parking and transportation for persons with disabilities is found on pages 12 & 13 of the Parking Regulations and they, too, are hard to find. The PCAA recommends that a one or two-page handout with the parking and transportation information and clearer maps of designated lots be developed to give to persons who need this information.

The PCAA next discussed the issue of allowing faculty and staff to use handicapped parking spaces in the Red Hawk. Hain said that this was not a precedent the University was likely to establish.

Meneghin mentioned that the University is planning to develop an interactive map that would show how to get from point A to B on the campus. The map would include a specially designed route for a person with a disability to use to get to the designated lots.
This was followed by a discussion of some other issues:

• It was mentioned that the doors on the Red Hawk Deck are hard to open.
  
• A question was asked of how a person who parks at the Bond House can get to the other parts of the campus if all the shuttle buses meet at the Red Hawk Deck?
  
• A member talked about her experience as a person who relies on the shuttles that transport persons with a disability to parts of the campus led her to conclude that there were not enough shuttle buses for persons with a disability. She talked about her experiences with calling for a bus to pick her up and waiting for quite a while for the bus to arrive.
  
• There was a question about how someone can call the extension to ask for a shuttle if one is parked at a lot that does not provide ready access to a campus phone?
  
• Several members who use the shuttle service commended the customer-service orientation of Omar Cappelan, the person at Parking and Transportation Services who works with staff with a disability to arrange for shuttle bus service.
  
• Someone asked if there were other lots in which to put handicapped parking spots.
  
• A question was raised about the adequacy and shelter of spots to sit and wait while waiting for a shuttle bus to arrive.
  
• Someone mentioned problems with making pre-arrangements to have a shuttle bus meet them in a lot and then not finding a space to park in that lot.
  
• Someone mentioned the difficulty of getting to the interior of the campus from the exterior lots. A suggestion was made that the University provide two lots, exclusively for parking by persons with a disability, in the interior of the campus.

• Maya Angelou
  
• John Hockenberry (NBC reporter)
  
• Beverly Daniel Tatum (author of "Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together In The Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race: A Psychologist Explains the Development of Racial Identity").
  
• Bill Lann Lee (former head of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission). Milton will find out about availability and fee.
  
• Eleanor Smeal (former president of NOW and president of the Feminist Majority Foundation).

Respectfully submitted,
Luis Rodriguez