November 3,2021

The Academic Senate Committee on Committee on the Environment, Quality of Life, and Disability Issues met on Wednesday, November 3, 2021 Via Zoom, 12:30 pm

Committee Members in Attendance:

Chantale Damas (Chair), Noelia Diaz (Secretary), William Faulkner, Janet Franzese, Sujun Wei, Neeraj Mehta, Stephanie Rost, John Triolo, Yusuf Gurtas, Angela Ridinger-Dotterman, Anthony Monahan, Andrew Muller, Kelly Ford, Mohammad Javdan, and Isabel Hocevar

Liaisons in Attendance:

William Faulkner

Business:

The meeting was called to order at 12:30 PM

1. The minutes from the previous meeting (September 1, 2021) were reviewed and approved with minor corrections.
2. William Faulkner, CUNY/QCC Reopening plan update
   • The plan for the Spring semester is to increase in person classes to a 70/30 ratio.
   • Classroom without windows have been provided with UV cleaning machines and the rest of the classes have adequate ventilation. For the Spring semester, when having all windows open might not be feasible due to the cold, Faulkner is seeking clarification on what the protocol should be.
   • Bathrooms have signage indicating just a 50% occupancy
   • New janitors and cleaning personnel are being hired in preparation for the increase on campus of both students and faculty on Spring 2022.
   • The Medical Arts building has a numbers of water fountains out of service. They will be made available for Spring 2022, but only the bottle function will work.
   • There are no plans to install Plexiglas at the front of the room for faculty but the mask can be lowered if the proper distance from students is kept.
   • For Spring 2022 everyone will be required to be fully vaccinated, unless a medical or religious exemption has been granted. For those with a medical exemption a negative PCR test is required. It can’t be older than 7 days old. This week 75 students were dropped from their classes from failing to provide proof of vaccination.  For Spring 2022 students will be dropped from the courses before classes begin if they have not provided proof of vaccination.
3. John Triolo, QCC Campus Safety
   • The first couple of weeks of the semester were a bit challenging, but things are going well now and everyone is screened without significant delays upon arriving to campus.
4. Angela Dotterman-Ridinger, Accessibility Committee
   • The subcommittee on Accessibility met once this semester and will meet again before the end of the term.
   • The subcommittee is developing UDL support workshops for faculty.
   • The subcommittee will reach out to the SSD office to see if students have been surveyed on how successful, or not, the services provided by the office are. If no data exists, the subcommittee will explore how to seek it.
   • The subcommittee is seeking clarification on the adequate protocol for captioning videos for online courses. In the past the captioning was done via YouTube, but it’s unclear if this is still the protocol or a more effective tool will be provided for future classes.
5. Isabel Hocevar, Liaison for Health Services provided the following updates and reminders of the current COVID protocol
   • If any students or faculty are exhibiting cold like symptoms they should stay home.
   • Health services will fully investigate any suspected cases of COVID-19 and alert students and faculty of any possible exposure.
   • A PCR test (not provided by CUNY anymore) is required to return to campus after sickness.
   • No randomized testing protocol has been established yet but it might be coming later in the semester or spring.
   • Masks must be worn while in the classrooms. If student refuses it should be treated like a disruptive incident and campus safety must be notified.
   • There are no masks available in the classrooms but they can be requested from health services in case students loose or get them soiled.
6. Andrew Muller provided updates from SSD Office
   • A faculty member can’t ask students if they require special accommodations, rather, the students must identify themselves. If the students don’t have the card, the SSD office will work with them to process it.
   • The school doesn’t provide testing (to identify disabilities) but can guide students towards getting them.
7. Other Business
   • EQLD Guide - Stephanie Roost will work on updating the EQLD guide, but volunteers are needed to complete this work. Chantale Damas will reach out to Steven Dalhke to see if there is an updated template for the guide.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Noelia Diaz
Committee on Committee on the Environment, Quality of Life, and Disability Issues, Secretary