Senate meeting, Feb 18: blowing off Cesar Chavez Day

Public comments?

Diana H carped heartily about lack of progress with regard to campus safety. We were told that we’d hear back from Chief Glenn, but not yet, etc. Carp, carp, carp.

Kathy provided an update re the issue with regard to the touted nifty floor device to lock doors from the inside (it appears to fail to meet state standards).

Moving to item 15, new business

Tier 3 faculty position - Engineering Technology Full-Time Faculty Position

Overwhelmingly approved

Reports:

VP Bob Urell:

Deb Fitz is putting together a presentation on DRAC [District Resource Allocation] and how it works, how it developed. Obviously, the decisions/actions of DRAC are consequential. We recommend that you attend the presentation. (There is a link to a PowerPoint presentation.) Fitz wasn’t around when the DRAC process was developed, so this should be interesting. I'm told that our own Mark McNeil will be on hand to thwart unseemly revisionism.

The budget will be a big topic for the next few months. We hope to get a presentation from Davit (see flyer below). We are facing a deficit. Still looking at the data about that. Have put forward large amount for advertising the Summer program. Pushing forward with more substantial weekend college. We’re planning a huge summer just to meet our target. We’ve had huge increases in costs here and there and our budget is negatively impacted. An unhappy trend. 

        Resource requests: some have been approved, building and labs. Will be giving an update in two weeks (at senate).

Kathy: refers to Fitzsimmons’ DRAC presentation. Lots of rumors flying about possible changes in allocation. Lots of carping coming from Saddleback faculty in particular. If you’ve heard rumors, can ask about them at the presentation.

Kathy goes through schedule of future meetings. Will have three meetings in a row without… ? We’ll schedule unofficial socializing meetings, sans minutes. We never seem to have these occasions in which faculty can meet anymore. Spread the word.

Brett M (of Ac Affairs): cabinet members were told to go back to their schools for feedback re senate bylaws. Any ideas? Possible innovations. How we elect officers, succession, etc.

Diana H (of Curriculum): Amy and Roopa created a form for distance ed courses. It’s now formalized. Instructions for what must be done for C-NET. That’s the only news I’ve got, said Diana.

There’s a huge amount of curriculum on the CC agenda.

Kathy: we’ve been doing “crisis” work mostly on curriculum. We’re trying to find ways to eliminate all the perennial crises. Any suggestions? Discussions underway to make the system work better.

Roopa: praises those who have been working on curriculum. Warm and fuzzies. Lukewarm (and fuzzy) applause.

Tiffany: she said something, I know not what. Something about program review. See what your program looks like on Curricunet. Any discrepancies? Diana: any changes: you’d better get cracking. She said lots of things about “verbiage” (pronounced ver-bidge). I think she was ill; looked like death warmed over. Plus that pronunciation of “verbiage.” I nearly carped.

Kathy insisted on saying more. I tuned her out.

Roopa: more “verbiage.” Craig J chimed in to agree. Whatever. They hope to have the catalog ready for fall registration, he said. Unfortunately, we’ve not been able to meet that deadline in prior years. Aiming for it this time (mid-May).  We voted on something and it was unanimous, whatever it was.

Item 6: board policies, etc.

Kathy missed the last meeting (on AR and BP review). Lots of IVC folks were compelled to miss owing to some big to-do.

AR4110a – this concerns changes in Workday. Commencement attendance is now required, owing to new contract. (Can take a half day personal leave instead.)

        At IVC, they give faculty a free set of regalia, once. Not a second time. Cap and gown and hood. Rabbit's foot, too.

Nepotism policy: changed very little. Term “nepotism” again referred to.

        Abusive conduct in the workplace (4720). Please read this carefully. No action taken yet. I drew attention to the document’s “reasonable person” standard re what is abusive conduct. Who decides what is reasonable? 
        So be sure to come back with any feedback. Check it out:

4720:

ABUSIVE CONDUCT IN THE WORKPLACE

     The South Orange Community College District is committed to a workplace environment that is free from abusive conduct. The safety and security of district employees, students, and visors, is the highest priority to the District and is essential to carrying out the mission of the District. All reports of abusive behavior will be taken seriously by members of the district community.

     Abusive conduct is defined as conduct of an employer or employee in the workplace with malice that a reasonable person would find hostile, offensive, and unrelated to an employee’s legitimate District business. Abusive conduct may include repeated infliction of verbal abuse, such as the use of derogatory remarks, insults, epithets, and verbal

     A single act shall not constitute abusive conduct, unless especially

severe and egregious.

     The District seeks to foster an environment in which all employees feel free to report abusive conduct without fear of retaliation or reprisal. Any individual who experiences or witnesses abusive behavior violating this policy or who has reason to suspect that these acts or behaviors are occurring should immediately notify the Office of Human Resources.

     Any District employee who violates this policy will be subject to immediate and appropriate disciplinary action pursuant to the applicable policies and procedures of the District, and may further be subject to such additional civil and criminal sanctions as permitted by law.

     The District shall provide training to all employees on appropriate workplace conduct. Training is to include recognition of abusive conduct and how to report such behavior in the workplace.

4306 – calendar issue. Recently discovered that we’ve failed to observe Cesar Chavez legal holiday since 1996(?). Very embarrassing. We're scofflaws, we are. Will begin doing so. Buy grapes. (Of course, IVC is the college that steadfastly refuses to invite The Mexican as commencement speaker.)

Item 9 - AANAPISI Grant - Project

        Eddy T will come and give us an update. Lots of activity here. Lots of interest.

Item 12: Revisions to the IVC Planning and Decision Making Manual

Now done. Unanimous approval.

Item 13 - AACC Pathways Project and Conference Attendance

IVC is one of 30 colleges nation-wide to participate in this program. Interested faculty members will be needed to discuss how we will respond to this initiative, and to participate in upcoming events.

Kathy described last meeting/conference. Fabulous, she said. “Very, very interesting.” Typical students faced with difficult choices with regard to programs/majors, etc. Daunting. We should rethink clusters. Make it easier for these benighted pre-college kids. Students need more mentoring, help. Next meeting is April 14-16. We’ll talk about this more later.

Brittany is presently at meeting regarding this project in beauteous Bakersfield. (Karima also.)

Item 14 - WorkDay – Student Development Project: BPA [business process analysis] Participation
Blah, blah, blah. We work on these things with pricey consultants. BPAs are important, often interesting.

Melanie: we’ve heard that there are lots of problems with Workday.

Kathy: turns out it [the student part] is a new program with lots of bugs. Not at all as advertised before we adopted it. There are two parts of our Workday purchase: financial (a fiasco; new, not established; a surprise, a mess) and the student system part (still waiting to see; we are guinea pigs for this, and we knew this). Hoping that, ultimately, the system would inform students what their record indicates that they are close to achieving, etc.

Bakersfield, city of lights, city of magic

Item 17 - Name change – from Reading Department to The Department of Academic Literacy

Melanie presents: She describes new system, procedures. First change: the name. Very common now to adopt “Academic Literacy.” Why? That’s what we try to do. Reading can seem to be about the mechanic act of reading (irrespective of comprehension), not comprehension and analysis and the like. “Academic Literacy” makes clear we’re focusing on such aspects of reading as comprehension.

2^nd change (not on agenda): creating a pathway to basic skills. Looking to create reading competency requirement for IVC students. In assessment, placed in “academic literacy” (reading) (they’re offered a recommendation). Moving toward more common approach. Motion made. Discussion.

What’s-his-name suggested that we change the name to “Academic literacy and reading,” but that got lost in the shuffle somehow. The motion passed 23-0-0

Last group of things:

Why are we bringing up this election stuff so early? We’ve tended to wait too long in the past. Causes problems for reassigned time, etc. I made motion: let’s put together a committee. The usual suspects (Rich and Joon) were mentioned to serve on that committee. So we pushed all of this through. Go back to your schools and see if anyone is interested in these faculty offices. Passed handily.

I moved that we accept recommended dates. Readily approved.

Etc. People were agreeable.

That was about it.

LGBTQ Liaison Report for Thursday's Senate Meeting (Feb 16)

Hello, all:

     Below is my report for Thursday’s Senate meeting (and thank you, Carlos, for putting it in the minutes):

     The IVC LGBTQ student club is a go! We successfully tabled at Club Day on Jan. 27th and received over 20 signatures from interested students. Students spotted our rainbow flag like a beacon and came over and talked with Brooke Choo and Lisa Alvarez who were on hand. Student Jonathan Forde was also available on Club Day and submitted the paperwork to ASIVC to officially form the club, gathering over 20 additional student signatures. He created a club email address (IVCLGBTQA@gmail.com) and hosted the club’s first official meeting on Feb. 10th. Lisa Alvarez served as the advisor and reported that there were 12 students in attendance and they elected officers and discussed future activities. A lunchtime “picnic” was held in the quad yesterday, Feb. 17th, as a way to increase visibility and a social space for students to meet. The club plans to meet every Wednesday from 5-7pm. Email the club for more information. Michael Cassens, Lisa Alvarez, Brittany Adams and Virginia Shank have all volunteered to serve as club advisors to help the club get off the ground. 

Thank you!

Brooke

Feb 4 sentate notes: Intern'l students look for a better deal elsewhere

Hello Everyone [from Brittany],

     I am down for the count with the flu, but wanted to send these notes out from the world's most boring Senate meeting on 2/4. I was standing in for Roy, as he was out last week sick (perhaps being a Senator makes you ill...it is a decent hypothesis).
     Kathy S. was absent at a conference in San Antonio for the AACC Pathways. As such, the Senate meeting was run by VP Urell. There was not much on the agenda of notice and I really do not have much to report that is of great interest.
     Counselors announced that if you want to have a workshop in your class regarding time management, you can contact Amanda Romero.
     Bob Urell also mentioned that IVC is working on a pathways program with CSU (Fullerton?) to "guarantee" that you can become an accountant with an MA in five year (two years at IVC, two at CSU, one more year for a MA).
     The date of the Foundation Awards gala is going to be April 2 at the automotive museum.
     Edward Tiongson presented regarding the Annapisi grant. He seemed very enthusiastic and mentioned plans for a new multicultural center that will be placed in the B300 building once our new Hum building in unveiled from underneath the giant white sheet. There will also be a non-credit ESL center.

November, 2007

     Then, we spent about an hour discussing and approving hiring committees. We approved the two English positions (Lewis Long was present to check their accuracy).
     Also, we approved the appointment of Jodi Titus, Mark McNeil, and Elizabeth Chambers to the Social Science Dean hiring committee (unanimously supported with the exception of Kiana T, which was odd).
     If you are interested in the teacher of the year award committee (not being the TOY but picking them), please let senate know.
     At this point, I had to go to the dentist. The dentist was preferable to the meeting if that says anything.....(thanks Henry!)

Here are his notes:

     "Bob U. talked briefly about the Emeritus Studies program which would offer non-credit courses. He said we need a full-time faculty member to serve as chair of this program. Compensation for this would be a stipend equivalent to 3 LHE. Someone asked the question: “Do you need to have tenure?” Answer: “Don’t know, have to check back and see.” Bob said we should contact Cathleen Greiner if we're interested.

     Bob reported that the budget will be a concern over the next 3 to 5 years. Apparently there’s a big shortfall coming down the pike. Not sure if I understand all this budget stuff, but apparently we face increasing expenditures re: faculty and managers’ benefits (?). [Recall that our enrollments are flat; that is a major source of difficulty re funding. --RB] Steve R. pointed out: what about huge increases in administrative costs? This shortfall is also due, Bob said, to the fact that the big block grant we had will be gone by next year. We’ll have only 12% of this block grant next year. I didn’t catch the exact amount of the shortfall, but it was pretty big.

     Bob went on to report that international student enrollment is flat. Up to this point the international student program has been growing on its own accord. No more growth now. So what are we going to do about it? Mainly our international students hail from China, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. Qatar and Saudi Arabia offer full government scholarships to their students coming here. Bob says that IVC is no longer on the Saudi government’s “approved” list (as of spring semester?). Not sure why. Someone said jokingly that “someone must have said something.” Melanie H. said this might be because many of these Saudi students were not well prepared (re: language skills) when they arrived at IVC and so they were not succeeding to the extent that the Saudi gov’t wanted. Bob mentioned that many Qatari and Saudi students have already migrated (en masse) to Saddleback, which has cost IVC $500,000 in lost revenue. Jeff W. mentioned that since Saddleback offers Arabic, these students can take that for credit. Maybe that’s a big incentive for them.

     Martin McGrogan mentioned that American colleges are now encountering steep competition for international student money from British and Australian Universities offering 3 year degrees: “Get your degree in less time!”

     Brett gave a report on professional development. Upcoming speakers are listed on the website.

     Diana’s report: “nothing.”


November, 2007

     Biology wanted to add someone to their hiring committee. This required Steve R. to reopen the motion and we voted on it. Unanimous “yes” to biology getting another person for their committee.

     Meeting adjourned early. Everybody happy."