Minutes #589

John Jay College of Criminal Justice

Attendance

Present (34):

Jacob Adler, Chevy (Schevaletta) Alford, Cristina Lozano Arguelles, Elton Beckett, Ned Benton, Bibi (Silvina) Calderaro, Kathleen Collins, Artem Domashevskiy, Joy Dunkley, Jennifer Dysart, Jonathan Epstein, Diana Falkenbach, Sergio Gallegos, Heath Grant, Sergio Grossi, Veronica Hendrick, Karen Kaplowitz, Allison Kavey, Anru Lee, Kyoo Lee, Jamie Longazel, Alejandro Garcia Lozano, Joseph Maldonado, Brian Maule, David Munns, Ray Patton, Kumar Ramansenthil, Macushla Robinson, Amada Santiago, Francis Sheehan, Todd Stambaugh, Charles Stone, Shilpa Viswanath, Violet (Sung- Suk) Yu

Absent (3):

Michelle Holder, Josh Mason, Marie Springer

Invited Guest:

VP for Institutional Advancement Ketura Parker

Agenda

1. Adoption of the agenda
2. Approval of Minutes #588 of the November 5, 2025, meeting
3. Report from the Chair

• a. CUNY Mandatory Title VI Brightspace Training

4. Invited Guest: VP for Institutional Development Ketura Parker
5. Proposal to establish a policy prohibiting students from recording/photographing class sessions without the instructor’s permission:  Executive Committee
6. Proposal to recommend to the University Faculty Senate that it recommend to the CUNY Board of Trustees that CUNY’s Accommodations Policy 7.10 be amended to prohibit students from sharing or duplicating recordings of classes or other materials provided to them solely as an ADA accommodation: Exec Committee
7. New business

1. Adoption of the Agenda

Approved.

2. Approval of Minutes #588 of the November 5 2025 Meeting

Approved.

3. Report from the Chair

a. CUNY Mandatory Title VI Brightspace Training

President Kaplowitz reported that all CUNY employees now must engage in mandatory Title VI Training on Brightspace that went live about a week ago; May is the deadline to complete it. She said that parts of the training are very troubling. The CUNY Alliance to Defend Higher Education [CADHE], which sent a letter to VC Alvero about her Academic Freedom posting last month, is about to send the Chancellery and Board of Trustees a letter about the problems with this Title VI training. Although the training acknowledges our academic freedom and freedom of speech, it warns that if we post to social media things that upset our students, those students can file a complaint about our posting, and the university may make “academic adjustments” in response. There is no explanation as to what “academic adjustments” are but at other universities, faculty have been removed from teaching a particular class in such situations. It calls on us to give both sides of controversial issues. It says faculty are free to attend off campus protests but we need to be mindful of the possibility that students will claim a hostile learning environment because they disagree with our politics and that the University retains right to take remedial actions against faculty.

She said our colleagues should be made aware of this. Once the CADHE letter is completed and sent, she will post it to our Senate listserv. But Senators should also make their department colleagues aware. She suggested department representatives ask their chair to be on the agenda of their next department meeting. Everything they learn at the Senate should be shared with colleagues as best they can.

Senator Violet Yu asked if this is the kind of thing that happened a few years ago when an adjunct posted on social media about “dead cops” and was, she believed, fired. President Kaplowitz said that situation involved an adjunct who had posted that he loved teaching at John Jay because he was teaching future dead cops; he hated the police. He received so many death threats that Public Safety and the NYPD said they could not ensure his safety or the safety of others at the college and as a consequence he asked to be relieved of his teaching position out of fear for his own safety.

She said there are two approaches we need to take to this situation: one is to object, by means such as the CADHE letter, which the Senate may wish to endorse at our next meeting. The second is to mobilize people both to object and to be knowledgeable. This training is putting all CUNY faculty and staff on notice; if henceforth we decide to engage in protests or post on social media, we should be doing so in the full knowledge of possible consequences.

4. Invited Guest: VP for Institutional Development Ketura Parker

President Kaplowitz welcomed VP Ketura Parker and thanked her for the documents which have been already distributed to the Senate. VP Ketura said she is thrilled to be meeting with the Senate and is thrilled to be at John Jay. She chose to come here because of its mission of educating for justice. Everything she and her team do is to align with and advance that mission. She knows there can be no student success without faculty success.

She takes a holistic partnership approach to raise funds – from all: faculty, staff, students, alums, foundations, and donors. Philanthropy plays a huge part in the work of the college. Our personnel costs account for 94% of our budget and the remainder is for OTPS. [Other Than Personnel Services]. 99% of funding our student success programs come through philanthropy. We have to raise between $6 to $8 million each year to fund our student success efforts. Most of this comes from foundations and corporations. Funding for faculty success support also comes from philanthropy. We have created two key funds: (1) the Faculty Opportunity Fund for non-research faculty support; and ( 2) the Student Success Fund.

Since Karol’s tenure began seven years ago, the college has raised $47.7 million in philanthropy. We have decided to create an endowment by raising $250 million and investing it so as to secure permanence for our community and to ensure student success funding in perpetuity. This way, no matter what happens with the city, state, or federal government, the funding for our student success programs will be secure.

$250 million when invested will generate $10 million a year in perpetuity for student success initiatives. She explained that because philanthropy is a partnership approach, everything we do is built on relationships. We are not just asking for money; we are building relationships with faculty, alumni, staff, foundations, and donors.

She explained that they created the Faculty Opportunity Fund to support faculty in their professional development. Faculty often join donor calls to inspire donors to invest in their initiatives. Faculty are brilliant story tellers. And faculty also are donors.

We have 90,000 plus alumni. Two hundred are engaged through our mentorship program; sixty are active this semester. We also pair students with alumni in the field. And we engage alumni in volunteering – for example, by participating in our Open House. We are building metrics to track engagement.

Senator Alejandro Garcia Lozano asked whether she has a system for tracking alumni; his department wants to reach out to their alums but doesn’t have contact information. VP Parker said she has a constituent relationship management system. Any supporter or alum is put in the database and in this way the college can send curated communications. Senator Garcia Lozano asked whether once money is raised, whether faculty have any input into where our money is invested. VP Parker said that to receive donations, John Jay must have its own 501C. The Foundation is the vehicle and channel. The JJ Foundation underwent an RFP to secure a new investment advisor; prior to that we had an investment manager. We hired Pivotal Advisors and as a part of their hiring, we have recently revised our investment policy, which includes guidelines as to how the money is invested. We only invest in John Jay mission-aligned entities. For example, our investment advisor knows not to invest in prisons. As part of the onboarding of our advisor, we are going to survey our stakeholders so they can define even further what our mission-aligned entities are and are not. Faculty will be included in this survey.

Senator Ray Patton said the information about the investment plan is great to hear. It is exciting to build an endowment for JJ. The Honors Program budget comes almost entirely from the JJ Foundation, which has provided incredible support for Honors and other programs. The VP thanked Ray, as the director of the Honors Program, for always providing stats and reasons for donors in invest in the program.

Senator Ned Benton had three questions: first, whether MPA and other graduate students are being tracked so we can communicate with them when they become alums; second, whether people will be permitted to make donations specifically to the $250m investment plan, which he would like to do; and, three, as someone involved with several endowments, he’s concerned that reports to governance bodies are delayed; he recognizes there are staffing constraints, but Baruch provides monthly reports which we do not. VP Ketura answer that MPA and other graduate students are in her data base and she always welcomes the addition of other names she might not have; second, once set up, donors may donate just to the endowment; and three, as for annual reports she is very aware of the timeliness challenges regarding reporting; when a donor has a restricted fund, they receive annual reports at a minimum and, ideally, they’d like to report on an annual basis overall but there are challenges.

President Kaplowitz asked the VP to talk about the JJ Foundation Advisory Board, which is chaired by Jules Kroll, and about who the current faculty member on the Board is. The VP said the Board, which is the Foundation’s brain trust, comprises 27 members; the faculty rep is Angela Crossman. Senator David Munns noted that Angela is an administrator on leave from her faculty position. VP Parker explained that the faculty trustee position is a 3-year term and Angela was appointed when she was still a faculty member; Allison, Karol, and she are discussing whom they will appoint in Angela’s place likely at the end of this fiscal year or at the beginning of the next one.

Senator Francis Sheehan spoke about the New Building’s lack of a name and asked about that process. VP Parker said a donation of $60 million is required to name the building, which represents 10% of the worth of the building at the time it was constructed; this is still a goal.

5. Proposal to Establish a Policy Prohibiting Students from Recording/Photographing Class Sessions Without the Instructor’s Permission:  Executive Committee

President Kaplowitz explained that John Jay does not have a policy prohibiting students from making audio or visual recordings of class sessions. This agenda item is a discussion of the pros and cons of the Faculty Senate proposing such a policy to the College Council and of the elements such a policy should include if the Senate supports moving forward with this proposal. Both Queens College and the CUNY Law School have policies prohibiting such behavior.

Senator Macushla Robinson asked about accommodations for students with disabilities some of whom are permitted to record or videotape class sessions. President Kaplowitz said it would be made clear in the proposed policy that this is an exception as it is required by the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Senator Jonathan Epstein spoke in strong support of this proposal. Senator Jake Adler said he supports this in principle but would like to know more about how it would be implemented, how it would work. Senator Alejandro Garcia Lozano said he also supports this. One of his students was recording every class; the student told him it was an ADA accommodation but he had never received any notice from the college that this student had such permission. Senator Jamie Longazel spoke in support but would like clarification about the permission process. He also noted that metaglasses is the next new thing, which would make surreptitious recording even easier and, therefore, we need to be preemptive.

Senator Brian Maule said that in 2006 he was teaching Criminology and was talking with his class about a killing and the failure of the grand jury to indict. A student later told him that he had recorded what he had said and had posted it to Facebook and that his friend couldn’t believe what the professor had said. So Senator Maule asked the advice of his deputy chair who told him that he could put on his syllabus that students were prohibited from recording class session. He has done so ever since and asked if he has been wrong to do so. President Kaplowitz said not at all; in the absence of a CUNY or John Jay policy, a faculty member may do so but the only penalty that can be imposed is by the instructor in terms of the final grade. On the other hand, a college policy means that college-wide disciplinary actions may be taken and also a college policy carries more weight and can better socialize students to not record class sessions.

Senator Deedee Falkenbach noted that it’s interesting that the Title VI training calls for teaching both sides of controversies but a photograph of only part of a whiteboard can give the false impression that an instructor is not doing so.

The Senate unanimously voted to authorize the Senate Executive Committee to develop a draft policy for consideration at the next Senate meeting.

6. Proposal to Recommend to the University Faculty Senate That It Recommend to the CUNY Board of Trustees That CUNY’s Accommodations Policy 7.10 Be Amended to Prohibit Students from Sharing or Duplicating Recordings of Classes or Other Materials Provided to Them Solely as an ADA Accommodation:  Executive Committee

Students with disabilities may receive such accommodations from the Office of Accessibility Services (OAS) as permission to record class sessions and access to PowerPoint slide decks and similar materials to accommodate their needs. But there is no language in the relevant CUNY Accommodations Policy 10.7 prohibiting such students from copying, distributing, uploading, or selling such materials. This proposal is for the Faculty Senate to recommend to the University Faulty Senate that it recommend to the CUNY Board of Trustees that it amend its Accommodations Policy 7.10 to include such a prohibition and to require students to sign a pledge that they will abide by these rules.

Senator Francis Sheehan pointed out that CUNY doesn’t permit online recording; they do not permit us to record our online class sessions and, so, it makes sense that students should not be to record our class sessions, either. He said there had once been such a prohibition for ADA students but it no longer exists. An OAS student can unfairly advantage other students if they were to share such recordings or materials with a select few.

The Faculty Senate unanimously authorized the Executive Committee to develop a proposed policy for consideration at the next Senate meeting.

7. New business

Senator Veronica Hendrick, on behalf her department, asked about the status of the promotion of lecturers and whether it is true that promotion is going to require taking on additional duties even with their already heavy teaching load. President Kaplowitz said that is her understanding. This is being negotiated between the PSC, the UFS, and CUNY management.

Senator Hendrick also asked how the new advising process is connected to the UG Foundations initiative. Senator Patton said he was a faculty co-chair of one of the committees that made these recommendations and that he had expressed concern as to whether it makes sense to create these two new models at same time. He was told that there is no way to do advising without the academic departments being at the core; on the other hand, the administration doesn’t want UF to back students into majors. The two initiatives were created with different philosophies and, thus, different structures.

Senator David Munns said he is not a fan of UG Foundations: it does not deal with curricular matters, it doesn’t deal with majors, it deals with the experiences of undergraduates in generic ways. Our students don’t know about the humanities until they come here. Then through advisement they need to become aware there are other things to study besides criminal justice. He spoke about a poster he saw on a bulletin board the previous day urging students to take four courses which are called Signature Sophomore Courses; the poster is labelled as coming from UF. But UF is not supposed to deal with curricular matters. He asked Karen to convey his outrage and opposition to UF encroaching upon curricular matters. She said she would discuss this with the provost.

The meeting was adjourned at 3:07 PM.

Provided by H. Grant & K. Kaplowitz