Minutes #594
John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Attendance
Present (31):
Jacob Adler, Chevy (Schevaletta) Alford, 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, Jay Hamilton, Michelle Holder, Karen Kaplowitz, Allison Kavey, Anru Lee, Jamie Longazel, Cristina Lozano Arguelles, Joseph Maldonado, Brian Maule, David Munns, Ray Patton, Kumar Ramansenthil, Meriem Rebbani, Macushla Robinson, Amada Santiago, Francis Sheehan, Todd Stambaugh
Absent (6):
Veronica Hendrick, Kyoo Lee, Alejandro Garcia Lozano, Marie Springer, Charles Stone, Shilpa Viswanath
Guest:
Professor Stephen Russell
Agenda
- Adoption of the agenda
- Approval of Minutes #593 of the March 10, 2026, meeting
- Report from the Chair
- Election to fill 2 currently vacant alternate faculty seats on the College Council
- Election of Adjunct Representatives to the 2026-27 Faculty Senate
- Election of JJ Delegates to the University Faculty Senate
- A proposed amendment of the Faculty Senate’s & Council of Chairs’ policy on recording class sessions to the policy: Exec Committee
- Proposed Values, Mission, Vision, and Goals & Objectives of our next 5-year Strategic Plan: Proposal to amend the Draft Strategic Plan: Exec Committee
- Academic Advising: Faculty Advisors & Professional Advisors: Senator Allison Kavey
- Proposal to Recommend that departments boycott CUNY’s Mandatory Brightspace Title 6 Training: Senator Jamie Longazel (Political Science)
- ADA accommodation: preliminary discussion about flexible absences
- New business
1. Adoption of the Agenda
Approved.
2. Approval of Minutes #593 of the March 10, 2026, Meeting
Approved.
3. Report from the Chair
President Kaplowitz expressed her gratitude to Senator Kathleen Collins and to Senator Kumar Ramansenthil for volunteering to do the work needed to bring the Faculty Senate homepage and the 593 (so far) sets of Senate minutes into compliance with the new federal ADA regulations.
4. Election to Fill 2 Vacant Alternate Faculty Seats on the College Council
Professor Mark McBeth (English) and Edward Snajdr (Anthropology) were elected.
5. Election of Adjunct Representatives to the 2026-27 Faculty Senate
Professors Jonathan Epstein (History) and Marie Springer (Public Management) were elected.
6. Election of JJ Delegates to the University Faculty Senate
Professors Bettina Carbonell (English), Heath Grant (LPS), Kimora (LPS), and Paul Narkunas (English) were elected as delegates serving 3-year terms. Professors Jocelyn Castillo (Library) and Emese Ilyes (Psychology) were elected as alternate delegates serving 1-year terms.
7. A Proposed Amendment of the Faculty Senate’s & Council of Chairs’ Policy on Recording Class Sessions to the Policy: Faculty Senate Exec Committee
President Kaplowitz reported that the Executive Committee has reviewed the many comments and suggestions about our proposed policy on recording class sessions. The XC concluded that the requirement that students (or visitors) must have written permission to take photographs of content on the whiteboard or of content projected onto screens is onerous and impracticable. Therefore the following amendment is being brought forward; the underlined text is to be added:
Now Therefore, Be It Resolved,
That The following be the policy of John Jay College of Criminal Justice:
The recording, photographing, or videotaping of all or parts of classes is prohibited unless written permission is given by the course instructor(s)[.]; however, in the case of photographs of presentations, such as materials written on whiteboards or projected onto screens, oral permission by the presenter is sufficient. This prohibition includes undisclosed or surreptitious recordings of any kind, including photos, audio, and video recordings by students or class visitors;
When this amendment is embedded in the text it reads as follows:
Now Therefore, Be It Resolved,
That The following be the policy of John Jay College of Criminal Justice:
The recording, photographing, or videotaping of all or parts of classes is prohibited unless written permission is given by the course instructor(s); however, in the case of photographs of presentations, such as materials written on whiteboards or projected onto screens, oral permission by the presenter is sufficient. This prohibition includes undisclosed or surreptitious recordings of any kind, including photos, audio, and video recordings by students or class visitors;
The amendment was adopted by unanimous vote. President Kaplowitz said she will bring the amendment to the Council of Chairs meeting on March 30, where she expects approval of the change. She has already briefed the chairs about it.
She also reported that Provost Pease will be speaking publicly in support of our proposed policy at the April College Council meeting.
President Kaplowitz thanked VP Heath Grant and Senators Elton Beckett, Joseph Maldonado, Brian Maule, and Todd Stambaugh with accompanying her at a meeting with the Student Council three days earlier. The six of them answered questions and explained the reasons for the policy, especially the ways in which it protects students. She also thanked VP Heath Grant and Senators Joseph Maldonado, Brian Maule, Todd Stambaugh for joining her in a meeting with the HEO Council to address their concerns and answer their questions. She said there did not seem to be any change in their opposition and that they still have not made any specific recommendations for changes but perhaps today’s amendment will make the difference.
She reported that she has learned that quite a few CUNY colleges, in addition to Queens and CUNY Law School have this policy. And she has learned that at all those colleges, the students were enthusiastic supporters of the policy because they saw that it would protect them.
The University Faculty Senate is developing a proposed policy which they hope to convince the CUNY Board of Trustees to adopt. The chair of the UFS, Professor John Verzani, told her that he hopes every CUNY college adopts its own policy because that would, in his view, give the UFS leverage in convincing the Board. He is not overly optimistic that the Board will adopt a policy, and so we must adopt our own for our John Jay colleagues and students.
Because the student and HEO members remain opposed, every faculty member of the College Council who can possibly attend the April 15 CC meeting must be present.
8. Proposed Values, Mission, Vision, and Goals & Objectives of Our Next 5-Year Strategic Plan: Proposal to Amend the Draft Strategic Plan to Add an Additional Objective
President Kaplowitz reported that at the last meeting of the Strategic Planning Committee Professor Michael Brownstein, Chair of the Council of Chairs, proposed that an Objective be added that the college increase the number of full-time faculty. She then spoke in support of this added Objective. But the administration opposed this. Subsequently, she and Michael Brownstein met with VP Flower and successfully persuaded him to support the following Objective:
Strengthen enrollment levels to support long-term financial sustainability while maintaining or improving student-to-full-time faculty and student-to-staff ratio.
VP Flower then obtained the support of Provost Pease and VP Shults. This requires a motion at the next meeting of the Strategic Planning Committee and then an affirmative vote by the SPS.
Senator Todd Stambaugh raised an objection about the word “maintaining” since this could result in a diminution of the number of full-time faculty, were enrollment to decline. Senator Francis Sheehan agreed. Senator Ned Benton said we do not know what might happen in the next five years: there might be different leadership in Washington; he agreed that the word “maintaining” should be deleted. President Kaplowitz said she would go back to VP Flower and try to convince him and the other administrators to delete the word “maintaining.”
9. Academic Advising: Faculty Advisors & Professional Advisors: Senator Allison Kavey
Senator Allison Kavey explained that after saying at the Senate and, as Professor Stephen Russell said at the Council of Chairs, that a department could chose to not have professional advisors, Provost Pease has decided that every student will be assigned a professional advisor. Senator Kavey asked that the following proposed statement be considered by the Senate for adoption.
Advising is an academic activity and, as such, should remain the province of academic departments. Faculty in each academic department and program should determine the relationship between students and professional advisors. The faculty who engage in major advising should be responsible for informing professional advisors about new and changing course requirements and professional expectations and standards only when their department chooses to hand major advising over to the professional advising staff.
When it is the expressed wish of an academic department, professional advisors should advise students about only general education and college option requirements. Similarly, when it is the express wish of an academic department, professional advisors should refer all questions about majors and minors to the faculty advisors.
After discussion by the Senate, Senator Kavey said she and Professor Stephen Russell, the Chair of History, would revise and submit a new statement for the next Senate meeting.
10. Proposal to Recommend That Academic Departments Boycott CUNY’s Mandatory Brightspace Title 6 Training: Senator Jamie Longazel (Political Science)
Senator Jamie Longazel, representing the Department of Political Science, reported that his department has voted to boycott the mandatory Title VI training on Brightspace. He explained that his department is not opposed to Title VI but rather to the way CUNY presents it in this video. His department also charged him to bring this to the Senate for possible adoption by the Senate as a recommendation by the Senate that faculty boycott the training.
President Kaplowitz thanked Senator Longazel and added that the chair of Political Science, Professor George Andreopoulos, has asked the chairs of each academic department to discuss the possibility of boycotting the Brightspace training. She reported that when her department, English, discussed this, Professor Nivedita Majumdar, a long-term leader of the PSC, said that boycotting the training would be a violation of the Taylor Law, which could lead to severe penalties against individual faculty members and against the union. She spoke strongly against anyone boycotting the training. Another faculty member who is also a long-term leader of the PSC at John Jay, Paul Narkunas, who served as our grievance officer for years, also spoke strongly against a boycott, saying the training is part of the terms and conditions of our contract and is, therefore, mandatory. In addition, it is State law.
11. ADA Accommodation: Preliminary Discussion About Flexible Absences
Students with certain disabilities are being given an ADA accommodation by the Office of Accessibility Services (OAS) that reads as follows: “Student may miss class due to issues related to the disability.” Some students are interpreting this to mean that they are permitted unlimited absences.
Several Senators reported their students receiving such accommodations and spoke of the tremendous challenges this posed. This will be one of the topics of the April meeting of the college’s ADA Committee, which Francis Sheehan and Karen Kaplowitz serve on.
12. New Business
None.
The meeting was adjourned at 2:50 PM.
Submitted by H. Grant and K. Kaplowitz