Senate Chair Statement to the Kean University Board of Trustees, Sep 14, 2015 Dear members of the Board of Trustees of Kean University, I want to wish everyone well as we start a new year at Kean University, and also “Shanah Tovah” to all those whose religious observance prevents them from being here today. The Senate this year plans to continue its efforts to revitalize its committee structure. Last year’s focus was on distance learning, and while there is still work to be done, the DL committee has been active in working with the director of online learning to help approve a robust online curriculum and to create mechanisms for validating the integrity of online courses. This year our primary focus will be on shared governance across multiple campuses. We’ve created an ad-hoc Wenzhou committee, and have been in contact with our Kean Ocean committee, and will focus this year on meaningful solutions to ensure that though we are three campuses, we are one faculty. We have formed an ad-hoc committee to update our constitution, to ensure the wording of our constitution reflects the nature of Kean as a multi-campus institution and addresses the different needs of shared governance that comes from being spread across the globe. We also plan to focus on methods of tracking and databasing course updates so that it is easier to determine when courses are due for revision. We are also hopeful that this year will see a more open communication between the faculty, board, and administration. It is frustrating now to see plans for the reorganization moving forward without input from faculty and staff. We are told that the reorganization will be implemented so as to not affect the quality of services we provide to students and the community, and that therefore this is merely a labor issue. I, for one, am skeptical as to this having zero impact on services and academics. For example, we have heard that the CAS is to be reorganized. Neither the Senate nor the University Planning Council have been asked for any input on what a new CAS might look like, and when asked whether the report from the President’s own advising task force, a document written over 2 years, was used or consulted when considering how the largest single unit on campus focused on student advisement and services is to be reorganized, we were told no. Additionally, we have heard that the long term plan for the library is to de-emphasize stacks full of redundant print resources readily available online, but have heard little on what new direction would be allowed by this. One can imagine many directions, focusing on specialized rare collections that boost Kean’s reputation, or moving to a more service focused library helping students to use online resources and collaborate together. How do we move forward, however, without hearing from the people who actually use the library, our students and faculty? It is difficult to imagine large scale changes being made without any impact on services or academics, and as of yet, there has been no effort to seek input from Kean faculty or Kean students about the direction and needs of these units. I ask the board to work with the administration to request meaningful feedback from students and faculty on the needs and direction of the library, CAS, and EOC before moving forward with sweeping changes to these units. The Senate stands ready to assist in any way we can. Sincerely, Dave Joiner