Cabinet Meeting, July 15, 2024

Cabinet Meeting
Monday, July 15, 2024
10:00 am - Noon

1. Vince Boudreau, President

2. Doris Cintron, Senior Associate Provost

3. Alex Couzis, Dean, Grove School of Engineering

4. Ramon De Los Santos, Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs

5. Scott Gurba, Chief Operating Officer

6. Marta Gutman, Dean, Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture

7. Ken Ihrer, Chief Information Officer

8. Sheryl Konigsberg, Chief Diversity Officer

9. Edwin Lamboy, Dean, School of Education

10. Tony Liss, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs

11. Juan Carlos Mercado, Dean of Interdisciplinary Studies at CWE & Professional Continuing Studies

12. Renata Miller, Dean, Division of Humanities and the Arts

13. Pat Morena, Director, Public Safety

14. Naomi Nwosu-Stewart, Assistant Vice President of Enrollment Management

15. Marie Owumi, Special Projects Manager, Office of the President

16. Susan Perkins, Dean, Division of Science

17. Andrew Rich, Dean, The Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership

18. Teresa Scala, Chief of Staff, Office of the Provost

19. Ruth Stark, Chairperson, Faculty Committee on Personnel Matters

20. Mary Ruth Strzeszewski, Associate Provost for Academic Programs

Absent:

1. Ranajeet Ghose, Interim Associate Provost for Research

2. David Jeruzalmi, Chairman, The Faculty Senate

3. Dee Dee Mozeleski, Senior Advisor to the President and VP & Executive Director, Office of Institutional Advancement, Communications and External Relations and The Foundation for City College

4. Paul Occhiogrosso, Executive Counsel to the President

5. Ismael Perez, Chief Financial Officer

The meeting was called to order at 10:00 am by Provost Liss.

The minutes of the June 17 Cabinet meeting were approved and President Boudreau gave his announcements:

1. Around the time of the encampments, conversation regarding the potential closure of the Convent Avenue street that runs through the campus was opened. He disclosed a recent meeting with the Department of Transportation to walk through what the project would entail. There are potentially threeways the project could take shape:

   1. Close off the street entirely

   2. Formation of a temporary plaza, which would entail moving in outdoor furniture, paving stones and amenities. This would essentially close the street off to parking but would allow for the passage of vehicles.

   3. De-map the street

      Senior staff discussion concluded that talks will need to be had with the faculty to get a sense of approval for this process before any final decisions are made.

2. He gave background information on the Office of Civil Rights decision that came down in the CUNY voluntary settlement arrangement. The CUNY decision was to draft a settlement agreement that would encompass all CUNY campuses, thus committing all CUNY campuses to the process of remediation. This includes training for new hires, annual training for diversity officers, and so on.

3. COO Gurba expanded on the progress of the project to add charging stations and battery storage to the NAC parking lot. There are two phases to the project:

   1. Setting up the base structure

   2. Construction

The major factor for this project is finding parking spaces for the cars that will be displaced during this process. The Operations office has been in negotiations with external parking lots and garages. Construction is estimated to last for the next couple months, and staff will receive communication during the process to alleviate any concerns.

President Boudreau opened the conversation for plans for the coming Fall 2024 semester. The plan was broken down into the following categories:

1. Physical security

   Director Morena outlined the policies that Public Safety currently has in place in preparation for the opening of the campus in the fall. The contract security officers (light blue shirts) will respond to everyday safety issues, such as key assists and backfilling posts. Peace officers will solely respond to emergencies.

   The officers are currently training during the summer in preparation for the fall. He assured the Cabinet of his office’s history with protests. The first few weeks of the semester will be carried out as they have in the past with ID checks. There will be a grace period to get IDs sorted at the beginning of the semester, and class schedules can be used as an alternative.

2. Educational continuity

   President Boudreau asked that the Provost and Deans come forward with contingency plans for occasions where there may be disruptions in instructional

   activity over the course of the semester. Appropriate resources should be for faculty and students in such cases.

   There was an expanded Cabinet conversation surrounding defining the roles of Department Chairs and specific training for handling situations involving their students.

3. Rebuilding campus community

   There will be a Professional Development Day scheduled on August 26, in collaboration with Rhonda Fitzgerald from the Sustained Dialogue Institute, that is open to all faculty and staff. The Cabinet conversation revolved around communication lines with the campus to prepare them for the coming semester, and outline the steps that the administration have taken to ensure their safety as well as hear their voices.

4. Communications & crisis communication

   The Public Safety and Communications offices are working together to draft clear policies around protests, and to establish clear lines between students, staff and the administration.

5. Finance

   The COO and CFO will draft a financial plan for the contingencies in the fall and will share this with Cabinet.

6. Student anxiety & programming

   CDO Konigsberg advised deans to have conversations with their teaching staff around providing a space for their students to feel comfortable sharing their concerns without going outside the boundaries of their job responsibilities, as this could lead to further complications down the line. AVP De Los Santos spoke about student leadership on campus:

   1. Student government elections were not conducted in Spring 2024 due to the encampment, so that process has been moved to the fall. There will be a professional development day for student leaders on August 27, as well as monthly meetings for leadership to share their groups’ thoughts and experiences.

   2. An Interfaith Council was established in Spring 2024 for all the campus’ religious leaders to come together. This council was relatively successful and there are plans to continue them in the fall.

   3. The theme of the fall Sustained Dialogue series will be surrounding the concept and psychology of “them vs us”. Some dates have been held and will be released to the campus at the start of fall.

   4. There will be weekly meetings with students from minority groups, so they can come together and discuss their anxieties.

   5. He wrapped up by sharing that everyone who deals with students has a responsibility to ensure that they feel secure and well informed of communities and avenues to share their concerns.

      The Colin Powell School will start a program, similar to the Sustained Dialogue series, termed Constructive Dialogue, where students receive broad training on interaction. The program was developed by a group of psychologists and, for the time being, the online module will be used for students and staff.

7. Discipline & policy

Henderson rules will be established around protests inside of buildings on campus, wherein protesters are asked to move their demonstrations outside to allow for the continuation of educational activities. Specific protocols are also in the works where the cases become complicated, such as the students can not be identified or refuse to move.

Community Standard will be reaching out to all deans, to ensure that there is a member of the Student Affairs team at academic meetings. This is to ensure that faculty is aware of the rules being followed to ensure the conduct process.

President Boudrea briefly discussed the PMP which was submitted earlier in the month. Some Cabinet members were named as point people in that document. COO Gurba then expanded on the Master Planning process, including the interview process for the campus architect.

Action Items: A letter to the campus describing what has been prepared for the fall semester will be drafted for release in early August. This letter will contain:

1. Acknowledges that we have work to do.

2. Outlines specific programming each department has prepared, starting with Professional Development Day (specifically focused on equipping the professionals on this campus with the skills to navigate the kind of conflict and anxiety that we are likely to encounter).

3. Shares that the administration is committing resources to training people and invoking the responsibility of those endowed with academic freedom as one of the responses to the moment that we find ourselves in.

All deans should prepare documents with a description of the initiatives in respective departments designed to reframe or rebuild community by Friday, July 26.

Any dean who has not already submitted their 4 semester schedule to the Provost needs to do so as soon as possible. These will be submitted to AVP Nwosu-Stewart for programming.

The meeting was adjourned at 11:49.