Notes: the April 2, 2014 meeting of the Academic Senate (Rep Council)
At the top of the meeting, two guests were introduced: Barb Blanchard, Acting Dean, Instr/EconimicWkforce Development (I think she’s got ATEP) and Cathleen Greiner, Dean, Online and Extended Ed.
(Later in the meeting, the VPI, Craig Justice, joined us. Perhaps others.)
Item 6 is the ongoing review and revision of Board Policies and ARs. The relevant committee has not met (recently) and nothing of any consequence has happened—beyond the board’s acceptance of the new “civility” policy (BP 180) for review and study. You’ll recall that our senate objected to that policy, owing to its potential as a tool to limit speech and discipline faculty for critical remarks. At last Monday’s board meeting, on behalf of the senate, Senate Prez Kathy Schmeidler explained to the board that we IVC faculty continue to object to pursuing “civility” as a board policy. Instead, it should be something less problematic—perhaps a motto or T-Shirt. It remains to be seen what the board will do with the policy, although we’ve heard that at least one trustee takes our concerns very seriously.
In the end, we were the only group to object to the policy.
We jumped ahead to item 15: co-curricular funding: “Senators have requested an update on plans for Co-Curricular Funding.”
I do believe that Tracy F of the Social Sciences initially raised concerns about rumored(?) efforts by administration to wrest control of this funding from students. (Dastardly, that. ) Acting Director (of all things student, I guess), Dennis Gordon, a nice guy, was invited to introduce himself and explain his policies. Funding will continue as it has in the past, he said. He is planning no changes.
“What about next year?” asked a senator.
It isn’t likely that the funding status quo will change in the future, he said.
He was informed about complaints about the Faculty handbook for faculty advisors (of student clubs).
Dennis emphasized his utter embrace of transparency and openness. I believe him.
We must have moved up item 12—security issues—because, next, we had a good discussion about that. “Academic Affairs Committee is engaged in conversation with the Safety Committee concerning campus safety and security policies and procedures.”
A month ago, I asked that security and administrative presence issues be agendized, and we discussed these issues at the previous meeting. At the April 2 meeting, senators again expressed concern about safety, especially in the evening. One senator, Priscilla R, is on the Safety Committee and she took these concerns seriously; she’ll take them with her to the next Safety meeting.
I managed to bring up, once again, the problem of “administrative presence”—i.e., a lack thereof—during evening sessions. It is clear that other senators, too, view this as a problem. At the last meeting, VPI Craig J opined that we don’t want to become the “ethics police” of faculty during the evening—walking around, checking to see if they dismiss students early. At the April 2 meeting, I said that his dismissal of this problem just wouldn’t do, that, as things stand, massive fraud seems to be occurring. (Craig heard this; he didn’t say anything.) For this and other reasons, senators seemed to feel that something should be done to increase administrative presence in the evenings. (As things now stand, after 7:00 p.m., a cop is given authority to act as an administrator, but this would seem to be inadequate.)
In this instance, as always, Melanie and I sought to represent H&L faculty who had communicated to us their specific concerns.
I do believe that Prez S indicated that this matter should be pursued at Instructional Council, a group that comprises department chairs, among others.
Priscilla R informed the group that the next meeting of the Safety Committee will be on the 25th.
Item 14 concerned contract education. Recently, Traci F indicated that she was aware of some problems possibly arising once again at Crean Lutheran, where we offer courses, including H&L courses. (You’ll recall that, two or three years ago, Crean administrators pressured adjuncts to sign a declaration regarding their level of agreement with Lutheran doctrine—some such thing. There were other problems as well.)
Dean Greiner described the kinds of contract ed we provide (she mentioned GED classes that we provide for a medical device company), and she offered chirpy assurances and talking points to the effect that all is well, but these were not particularly well received by the senators. To reassure the group, VPI Justice interrupted to declare that, if instructors (at Crean, etc.) fail to live up to the contract, they will be “terminated.”
During her report, Curriculum Chair Diana H explained that she and other senate officers would be attending the upcoming “plenary” meeting of the State Academic Senate. Evidently, many across the state are unhappy with State Senate Prez Beth Smith’s regime, and a “mutiny” is underway. It’s an “interesting mess,” said Diana. It appears that, in the end, folks at this meeting will be forced to choose between two evils (choosing between “bad” and “less bad”) with regard to leadership. Or so said Diana.
Senate VP Bob U noted that ATEP master planning is afoot. The next meetings (about that) will be on May 14 and June 19. You’ll recall that the two colleges (i.e., college presidents) got into a pissing contest about ATEP a year or so ago, and Chancellor Poertner responded by making like Solomon and declaring that each college would get its own building at the site.
As it turns out, the IVC building will be built first.
In her report, Academic Senate Prez Kathy S noted that, as things now stand, both Saddleback College and IVC are “medium” sized colleges—we’re on the bottom end of that category, and they’re on the top end. Further, tea leaves persistently indicate that the prospect for growth at IVC is considerable; meanwhile, the prospects for growth down south are minimal; indeed, shrinkage is inevitable.
Naturally, this all relates to DRAC—the mechanism (and committee) through which resources are allocated between the two (or three) campuses at the district level. Up to the present, we have operated with the assumption that Saddleback is twice the size of IVC, but that isn’t true anymore and it will be increasingly less true. So changes in the DRAC formulas are necessary.
Expect plenty of squawking on the part of Saddlebackians.
