Nov. 19 Senate Meeting: the fall of the House of Beno

     The agenda can be found here.

     A student, representing student government, asked for faculty volunteers to participate in a “group event” at the upcoming Talent Show. It’s probably something really stupid. Interested?
     The new Foundation Director (Elissa Oransky?) spoke. She seems nice. She reported that they’ve adopted a new program or system for scholarship data, replacing the hideous old STARS system. (This elicited some cheers.) Evidently, the new system is popular among community colleges. So there’s that.

     They’re looking for VOLUNTEERS for THE APPLICATION REVIEW COMMITTEE (I think). The committee must be at least 50% faculty, you’ll recall.

     Senate Prez Kathy S provided an update on FACULTY HIRES. A list of new IVC hires was approved by the board. Here’s where our prospective hires appeared on the list: 

   3. English/basic skills instructor

   13. Humanities

   14. Philosophy

   15. English/basic skills

     I think one School high on the list deferred a position (reading?). We don’t yet know how many of these positions will actually go forward.

     At IVC, one must live with uncertainty.

Oransky

     Kathy reported recent events re our accrediting body, the much despised ACCJC, headed by the secretive Barbara Beno. A few weeks ago, at the Senate Plenary, our local senate’s contingent presented a resolution (before the state senate) challenging the ACCJC to defend its reliance on the discredited philosophy behind SLOs. As occurred at the Spring Plenary, the gathering rejected the resolution, this time on even more absurd grounds: (1) sponsors did not cite any study (we were dinged for doing exactly that last spring); (2) gosh “we’re tired of talking about SLOs.”

     I have always believed that the state senate is worthless.

     Meanwhile, there’s been an effort to round up letters in support of the recommendations (including cutting loose the ACCJC as CCs’ accrediting body) from a task force put together by the Board of Governors or the State Chancellor’s Office. You’ll recall that the Our Fords—i.e., Prez Roquemore and Prez Burnett—refused to support such a letter on the grounds that the Task Force failed to consult with CEOs (this appears to be flat false).

     Our senate, you’ll recall, wrote a letter in support of the Task Force recommendations. We were pretty enthusiastic about them. Makes you proud.

     In any case, on Monday, the Board of Governors of the state Community College system voted unanimously to cut ACCJC loose as the accrediting body for California community colleges!

     I asked: will WASC [Western Association of Schools and Colleges] (the umbrella body) now construct a replacement agency or will an independent agency be created?

     –Don’t know. The task force’s recommendations urged that California’s CCs just join WASC and be accredited by that body (which accredits 4-year institutions).

     I asked about the length of the transition from ACCJC to whatever replaces it. “Could be 10 years,” said Kathy. But we really don’t know. It's anybody's guess.

The Ear is back!

     VP Bob Urell (he of the impressive salary) reported that we are working hard on the college’s budget. Unfortunately, our enrollment is now flat. That’s not good, since, 2% growth was projected/expected. Upshot: we’re in danger of losing as much as a million bucks should we fall short of our target.
     Consequently, there’s some scrambling to reverse the situation. It’s the IVC way.

     For instance, we’ll be beefing up “outreach” at the feeder high schools (we’ve been relying on the solitary Ann Akers; she’ll get assistance).

     Unfortunately, IVC lacks the party reputation of OCC, and that hurts us. Our great transfer rate is not so shiny a bauble, it seems.

     Maybe more bouncy houses? 

     International enrollments are suddenly down (not just flat). How come? Don’t know. We’re exploring the causes, said Bob. As you know, we recently hired a full-time director or something, and so this really blows.

     NOTE WELL: the VPI has announced a change in philosophy. When a course hits the 85% enrollment mark in (early?) enrollment, the VPI will urge us to add another section immediately.

     Where will we put these added courses? We’re contemplating adding PORTABLES out at the (largely unused) basketball courts—at a cost of about $60-70K. Sounds expensive, but not when you consider the potential cost to us if we don’t meet our target (of 2% growth).

     Faculty are urged to participate in outreach to attract more students. If there’s anything you can do or if you just want to help, then contact Ann or Mikiko at Outreach and Community Relations.

     Another idea being contemplated: WEEKEND COLLEGE. More about  that momentarily.

Sunny, cat

     Among the more interesting policies or regulations that came up for discussion was the one governing INDEPENDENT STUDY. Traci Fahimi (aka, “her deanship”) presented proposed changes made to the policy.

     Traci was also called upon to present/explain the WEEKEND COLLEGE (WC) idea. There are a few half-baked Weekend College programs around the state, but very few that seek to offer all courses needed to satisfy IGETC (etc.) requirements. (That’s us.) Evidently, there’s a big (successful?) program in Austin (Texas, I assume), and we might want to take a gander at that.

     A WC would involve courses offered late Friday afternoon through Sunday. A typical schedule would be, Sat and Sun, 9-12, then 1-4, and then at night. If we do this thing (attempting to attract that demographic that can’t attend during the week but that seeks an AA degree or transfer or a certificate), we’ll have to commit for years (as per Early College). It can’t be a one-time thing that we immediately drop like a bad habit.

     Support, on the weekend, could include such things as child care, health facilities, etc.

     Traci F seemed excited about the prospect. So was Bob, though he urged us to go slowly and carefully. Success in such a program, he said, depends on “support,” and there’s no guarantee that this thing will be supported sufficiently to work. Some have noted that, as it is, the college fails to support the NIGHT PROGRAM, which is half of what we do.

     There would be definite pluses to pursuing such a program. For instance, our increased room usage would put us in a better position to ask for new buildings. We can be a leader in something important—we can be the only game in town, etc. The start-up costs should be relatively low, and, if it works at all, it will help with our flat enrollment difficulty, where we stand to lose as much as $1 million.

Flow chart

     A motion to approve exploration of this idea was made. Traci wanted something stronger—she already wants to schedule for Fall 2016—but that’s what we went with.

     WE WERE URGED TO DISCUSS THIS PROPOSAL WITH MEMBERS OF OUR SCHOOL.

     We didn’t have time to discuss Calendar options, so we put that off until next meeting. (See D1, D2, D3, D4, D5, and D6.) PLEASE EXAMINE THESE OPTIONS.

     We put off discussion of the Early College program.

     A nice looking gal stood up and discussed all things technological. There’s some group and she’s hoping for faculty volunteers to join the dang thing. Any interest?

     There’s been work on the Planning and Decision-Making Manual. As things stand, there’s an official flow chart showing SPAC (a group that includes significant faculty representation) making recommendations straight to the COLLEGE PREZ, and the PEC, the President’s Executive Committee (VPs and no faculty), is indicated as a consulting body. That looks pretty good, I guess. Evidently, someone (i.e., Glenn) is urging adoption of a chart in which SPAC recommends to PEC, and then PEC recommends to the COLLEGE PREZ, which pretty much leaves faculty out of the loop.

     “That sucks,” said Kathy, essentially.

     We’re supposed to bring this back to our school. THAT’S YOU. Got an opinion? Let us know.

     Kathy (or somebody) also said something about how, from now on, any communication with the Publication Office must cc the dean. Or something. People were groaning about that but they were also packing up and half way out the door. So maybe I didn’t get that quite right.