Montclair State University
PCAA 2002-03

Minutes
November 21, 2002

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Present: T. Jacobowitz, B. Milton, L. Lemley, H. Gera, B. Aldridge, L. McInerney, I. Caprio, R. Halaby, H. Perez, E. Isaacs. A. Delacanog, D. DeBlasio, J. Harris, M. Carter, J. Hain, D. Rogers, L. Smith, C. Meneghin, N. Connolly, M. Brown, L. Rodriguez,

Absent: L. Wise, Q. Dent, J. Rivera, S. Vallejo, S. Shah, I. Barriera, and J. Fickeand J. Wang

I. Call to Order T. Jacobowitz
Reaching a quorum at 12:10 PM, chairperson T. Jacobowitz called the meeting to order.

A. Minutes - N. Connolly
J. Harris moved and D. Rogers seconded that the minutes of the October 17 meeting be accepted with corrections in the spelling of Coleman-Carter and Lemley.

II. Readings - N. Connolly
N. Connolly led a lively discussion on anti-affirmative action articles
Sex, Race, & Merit… entitled From Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez, p. 139 and Shelby Steele's entitled From the Content
Of Our Character: A Vision of Race in America, p. 144. Comments were:

• Rodriguez offers no alternatives to affirmative action.
  
• It is ironic that Rodriguez denies his worthiness of his fellowship and current position.
  
• It is interesting that Crosby and VanDeVeer begin the anti-affirmative section with writers of color.
  
• The "mascot effect" is not fair to impose on people of color in a classroom.
  
• Recipients of the benefits of affirmative action are unfairly stigmatized.
  
• Sometimes social class is more important than race.
  
• Regardless of what the anti-affirmative action proponents say, I've never met a person that wasn't happy to a achieve a position to which he/she applied.
  
• AA is for the good of the culture at large.
  
• The public needs to be educated about about AA standards.
  
• (University) search committees need to stick to the stated qualifications.



III. Committee Reports

A. Status of Women - M. Coleman-Carter
The committee met November 15 and discussed the positive rate of participation among women and support staff in general at University Day. Another discussion centered on ways the committee could reach out to the constituency and partner with the Women's Center. Further, the committee plans to work with S. Brokenburr and C. Matteis in Human Resources on PAR workshops to train managers in using the development aspect of PAR for support staff. Finally, the committee plans to explore maternity leave policies.

B. Status of Minorities - K. Bledsoe
No report. Due to repeated absences of the committee chair, B. Milton was asked to convene a committee meeting and elect a new chairperson.

C. Recruitment and Retention - L. Rodriguez
Committee chair Rodgriguez distributed a draft of a letter to be sent to Dr. Cole concerning the low retention rate of Latino/o faculty as compared to
other groups. The letter was simple, direct, and contains data. J. Ficke,
who was not able to attend the meeting sent a message that she would like to comment on the data. J. Hain suggested that the committee meet with J. Ficke first, and then move forward with the letter, amending it if necessary. The Commission decided to send the letter with an additional paragraph that J. Ficke was going to meet with the committee to discuss the data. The Commission is looking forward President Cole's assistance and direction in this matter.

IV. Old Business
A. Affirmative Action Day - B. Milton
The ad hoc committee consisting of B. Milton, C. Ortiz, and I Barriera met recently to begin planning an interactive day that involves administration on panel to discuss diversity and AA at MSU. Although a specific date has not been determined yet, it is suggested for late February.

J. Hain has mixed feelings about just including leadership on a panel, because the discussion may become idealistic rather than hearing about the experiences of employees and students. The panel would need to include the vision of leadership balanced by the experiences of people on campus.

An example of a panel topic might be: What it is Like to Be at Predominantly White MSU. Fill in the blank with faculty of color, student or staff with disabilities, student of color, etc. or The Status of Affirmative Action and Diversity.

T. Jacobowitz suggested that the PCAA cosponsor with the Organization of Students for African Unity (OSAU) since February is also African American History Month. She also suggested using the panel topic for for small group discussion. We might consider a format similar to University Day where the group meets in Memorial Hall for the panel and then moves to the Student Center Ballrooms for the small group discussions. Please send suggestions to the committee to B. Milton via email.

B. Committee Structure - T. Jacobowitz
The PCAA needs to examine the current committee structure, because there is a lot of overlap in committee assignments. Should we use our current standing committee structure and add special task forces? Or should we use ad hoc committees to work on projects to get folks involved who are interested in the issues they chose? The discussion posed more questions than answers. Should committees address classes of people or issues? Even though no definitive solutions were reached, C. McInerney appealed to the Commission to keep classified staff issues on the agenda. L. Smith also suggested that the Status of Minorities not only speak to race, but also to disabilities or any groups that in the minority. Also, it was suggested that constituency reports become part of the general meeting agenda.

On a related issue, B. Milton was asked to inform President Cole that The Commission has vacancies that need to be filled. Simultaneously, B. Milton will update the letter that lists representatives for each constituency.

C. Physical Plant Update - T. Jacobowitz
T. Jacobowitz distributed a copy of her November 4 letter to President Cole inquiring about the status of computer (email) and telephone access of PPD employees and recommending some solutions. L. Lemley reported that a recent conversation with fellow employees in
his department revealed that they didn't know they had e-mail accounts. The PCAA recommends that e-mail accounts should be required of all employees and become part of the employee training. We still have not seen the PPD Report done by the consultants following the two years of training. J. Hain stated that the report is in the hands of VP H. Shuckel for review and should be shared with the PCAA in the near future.

Next Meeting is December 19. Adjourned at 1:55 PM

Submitted,

Michael Brown
Recording Secretary