For the third time in the fall 2024 semester, the University Senate reconvened on Nov. 22 to discuss the issues that have been most impacting the campus community in the month since their last meeting on Oct. 22.

The meeting began with a moment of silence for Derek Hunsberger from the Office of Advising and Student Information Services, who also served as an adjunct faculty member in the Rohrer College of Business, as well as having formerly worked in Rowan’s Department of Public Safety.

The first item of business for the Senate to handle was the curriculum report, where a motion for new concentrations in crisis management and managerial communication, as well as a new Certificate of Undergraduate Study (CUGS) in system engineering and electrical and computer engineering all carried out.

A motion for an MFA in devised performance was approved. The program was previously run through the Pig Iron Theater Company, that partnered with the now-defunct University of the Arts in Philadelphia, and Rowan will now be taking up this mantle. 

Chrissy Feil, the director of well-being and resiliency with the Center for Wellbeing, then spoke to the Senate about the role of the new Center. This included the initiatives that the Center now houses within it, including Rowan Thrive and Rowan Cares. Services of the Center include emotional and financial support for students experiencing emergency situations or grief due to the loss of a loved one, podcasts about on-campus resources, and aid to those dealing with financial insecurity, among various other programs and resources set up for the campus community. 

The Care team has also been expanded, now including university police and those specializing in RSN and social justice. 

She also discussed the differences between wellness and well-being, with wellness being about physical and mental health care, like receiving vaccinations, going to talk or group therapy, and making sick visits to take care of illnesses when they arise. This, according to Feil, is distinct from well-being, which is a more holistic way of viewing how well students are doing, which includes not just mental, emotional, and physical health, but also financial wellness, finding meaning or purpose in life, and the social aspect of things as well.

Feil also discussed that Cares Reports should be made in addition to RSN reports to reach out to students who are falling behind seemingly due to personal issues outside of the classroom. 

Concerns were also brought forward about the lack of available advisors, meaning students with urgent needs have to wait longer for meetings, advisors have to see and take notes on more students, and if necessary those advisors have to make multiple Cares Reports per day to cover all of the students with needs for the Center’s resources, despite the already tight scheduling many advisors have reported.

These concerns of staffing and how the university plans to remedy them were not stated in the meeting, though possible solutions were discussed back and forth, and a joint Senate AFT meeting with the advisors was proposed to further discuss solutions.

Then, the Senate moved on to discuss concerns about higher education following the election earlier this month. Due to Donald Trump’s stated intentions to attack higher education institutions, as well as his campaign promise to disband the Department of Education, the Senate especially highlighted that PELL Grants would no longer be available to students if the DOE were dissolved. They then discussed various ways to prepare in case these proposals actually come to fruition and how to handle them if they do. 

Since policies of the upcoming administration have not yet been set in place, specific plans or recommendations to faculty, besides some changes in curriculum that specific professors were setting up for their own classes, were not discussed in detail. 

Concerns and questions were also raised about some of the Rowan Online and Rowan Global programming, items categorized under these programs, and revenue discrepancies in these programs.

Reports were being made of entire master’s programs being part of Rowan Online, with the faculty in these programs being notified of this via email, despite this not being accurate. The Senate asked those who raised the concerns to send them the emails in question to be further reviewed and looked into.

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