Montclair State University
PCAffirmative Action 2004-05

Minutes
December 15, 2004

Commission
Constitution

List of members

Committees and
members

Meeting schedule

Upcoming agenda

Minutes

Policies and
Proclamations

MSU related links

Other related links

Attendance:

Present: E. Abreu, M. Brown, I. Caprio, T. Carey, C. Chakraborty, M. Coleman-Carter, C. Dodson, A. Gutierrez, J. Hain, J. Harris, AJ Kelton, K. Key, L. Lemley, S. Lewis, D. Lorenzo, C. Matteis, L. McInerney, C. Meneghin, , B. Milton, O. Morales, L. Rodriguez, O. Rodriguez-Srednicki, L. Smith, Q. Vega & M. Zabourney.

Constituencies Not Represented: Asian Student Group, GLFSA, Local 1904, Physical Plant, SGA, SPECTRUMS, University Police & University Senate.

Welcome: The meeting was called to order at 12:10 p.m.

Minutes of Nov. 17, 2004 Meeting:  Abreu motioned to review the minutes.  Carey seconded.  Guiterrez motioned for the minutes to be approved as submitted.  Kelton seconded.  The minutes of the Nov. 17, 2004 meeting were approved as submitted and they will be shared with the campus. 

Reading: Coleman-Carter facilitated a discussion of “Mentoring” (http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/Articles/mentoring/start.htm).  In addition to a discussion of this article, other items mentioned were:

• In response to a question about what forms of mentoring are available for non-faculty, Hain said that Human Resources is beginning to develop this area more fully.  One thing they are doing is trying to identify “go to” people throughout the campus who can serve as mentors to new hires. 

• Several members praised the new hire course to be available on Blackboard.  IT and Human Resources are working on a method to enroll all staff into the course.  A member suggested that the course material be made available in more ways than through online access, given the difficulty that some staff have in accessing online resources, that the course material has to be available

• Abreu discussed ACEnet and some of is mentoring components.  The first luncheon in November was a success.  Opportunities about professional development opportunities were provided to attendees.  They are now encouraging more networking.

• Abreu mentioned that January 2005 is National Mentoring Month (http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/chc/wmy2005/nmm/intro.htm).  January 25 is “thank your mentor” day.  The PCAA is interested in supporting activities during the month related to mentoring.  The PCAA will try to see if we can get an article in Insight to talk about what mentoring and about what mentoring opportunities exist.

Meneghin reminded members to send suggestions for next month’s reading.

Committee Reports: 

Education Committee
Harris reported that the committee will center their activities around Affirmative Action Day (see below for more on Affirmative Action Day).  He thought the groups that co-sponsored or supported the Nov. 15th program would be willing to co-sponsor or support the activities on Affirmative Action Day as well.

Mentoring and Professional Development Committee
Coleman-Carter reported that her committee met to discuss how to facilitate today’s discussion of mentoring. 

Recruitment and Retention Committee
The committee has reviewed the report written by last year’s Recruitment and Retention Committee and made suggestions for some minor changes.  Kelton motioned and Rodriguez-Srednicki seconded that the report be accepted by the PCAA as a whole and sent to President Cole.  The motion passed.

The committee is working on having each constituent group, that is represented on the PCAA, have as a liaison at least one member of the Recruitment and Retention Committee.   The goal is to have the liaison meet with a group and ask the group to review the report and provided actionable recommendations on suggestions made in the report.  The committee will report back to the PCAA in April on its findings.  Meneghin encouraged bringing to the PCAA any issues that require immediate attention.

Old Business:

Affirmative Action Day
Lorenzo reported on the activities of the group working on Affirmative Action Day (members are Lorenzo, Meneghin, Milton & Onore):

Donna Brazile (http://www.authors.aalbc.com/donnabrazile.htm) has agreed to speak on the theme of this year’s AA Day, the politics of affirmative action, on March 3, 2005.  Her program, which will be held in Kasser Theater, will start at 2 p.m., followed by a book signing at 3 p.m. 

In the morning, there will be a conference featuring speakers from throughout the state speaking on the theme of the day.  We plan to use videoconferencing to connect to speakers from other campuses and to allow staff from other campuses to participate in the program.  Kelton will offer technical support. 

At noon, there will be the flag raising, followed by a program at the Student Center Ballroom where student groups will have a table in the ballroom and where food will be served.

Meneghin will reach out to vice presidents, deans, and caucuses to ask for co-sponsorship of the event. She asked others to reach out to student groups for their co-sponsorship.

Lorenzo will email to Brown information from Amazon.com on Brazile’s book, Cooking With Grease: Stirring the Pots in American Politics, which Brown will then send to the PCAA.

Parking for Persons with Disability
Meneghin passed out a document prepared by the committee studying this issue.  It is based on their research and has recommendations based on this research.  We will discuss the document at our January meeting. 

A discussion of some of the material in the document followed.  Among the comments made were:

• There was a sense that information about the state metering policy for persons with handicapped parking privileges was not getting to the potential audience.
• The University meets the legal requirements for the number of required spaces for persons eligible for handicapped parking spots but there still seems to be a problem.
• Getting to the Red Hawk Deck does not seem to be a problem for a person with a disability.  However, getting to the interior of the campus does. 
• Smith said that she speaks regularly with Elaine Cooper, Director of Parking and Transportation Services, especially for updates on changes in the numbers of persons requiring parking in handicapped parking spots because of a temporary disability.
• One source of the problem with parking could be the number of spots taken by staff working normal business hours.  This may not leave a sufficient number of spots for students, faculty and staff who arrive on campus after the start of normal business hours. 
• Members are encouraged to share the document with other members of the campus community who can help provide insight in our discussion of the document in January. 
• Smith said it is not discriminatory to require that a person with a State handicapped parking sticker to also get an MSU sticker to park in handicapped parking spots in an MSU staff/student lot.  The requirement to obtain an MSU sticker applies to all faculty, staff and students. 
• The issue of booting and towing came up.  It is practice to boot or tow a car after the third unresolved ticket.  There is no prior notification of this.  There was discussion about the need for some sort of prior warning.

New Business

Caucus Representation on the University Senate
The Asian-Pacific Islander Caucus brought a recommendation that there be a slot on the University Senate for a member who can represent the campus caucuses.  A discussion of this recommendation followed.

• A member observed that Senate membership seems to be defined by job title and that there is an opportunity to make a presentation to the Senate during the “open” part of the meeting. 
• Another member observed that deans are invited to the Senate.  Why not a member representing the caucuses?
• A member recommended that the PCAA keep in mind that if the caucuses are to have a seat on the Senate, why not other organizations? 

Meneghin asked Chakraborty to look at the Senate Constitution to see if its mission statement would support such a recommendation from the PCAA and to report back to the PCAA in January.

Tenure and Maternity Leave
Meneghin said that she sent a letter to Prof. Landweber about the question of disparate impact for women faculty who go on maternity leave.

Other Business

Harris asked if we know how the University is doing in recruiting new faculty and what has been done this year to attract faculty of color.  Milton stated that she is meeting with departments to discuss recruitment strategies and that departmental recruitment plans do include such strategies.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:38 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Luis Rodriguez