senate capers: February 2017

Thursday, February 16, 2017

Senate meeting, Feb 16, 2910: WE'RE MODERN!

Feb 16, 2017 meeting of the Academic Senate Rep Council: WE’RE MODERN!

I highlighted (arguably) important stuff in yellow.

PART-TIMERS AGAIN REPRESENTED. Announcement: part-timers now have representation in the senate. 3 or 4 Reps have been identified.

A BREACH. Kathy noted a recent email from the interim Chancellor (Fitzsimons): notification of a breach of our system requiring all of us to change our passwords. The matter is being investigated.

SMARTSCHEDULE 2.0. Jim Gaston, one of the district’s IT guys, came to introduce us to Smartschedule 2.0. We’re completely rebuilding the online class schedule, he said; the old schedule looked dated. The new one is clearer, cleaner

We’ve been “rethinking the class schedule.” The old class schedule treats all students the same; we want to tailor the schedule to various kinds of students

Phase 3: targeting at-risk students. Making sure they bring their skills up to college level.

The new look is much more modern, refreshed. Mobile responsive (phone or tablet).

Student tested.

Creating videos now to help students to understand the new schedule.

Looks pretty spiffy, relatively helpful.

Jim would be glad to come to our individual Schools, explain all this in detail. He's chomping at the bit.

PROPOSED CALENDAR. 2nd Guest: Miriam C: item 15; proposed calendar

Miriam said something about a change to one or two of the versions of the calendar. She’ll send out corrected versions. (I like Miriam, but I must confess that I often don’t understand what she’s ‘splainin’.) The versions of the proposed calendar attached to today’s agenda are incorrect. “Need to have at least three instructional days in a week to count in census.” –Owing to that factoid, two of the proposals needed to be modified.

We will take a vote, I guess, March 2. “Thank you, Miriam.”

Introduction of guests

The Foundation person, Allisa?, spoke. She seems nice. Thanked everyone for their participation in the Astounding Inventions folderal. Blah blah blah blah, she said. (I like her, but I suspect that this Astounding Inventions thing is pretty bogus. For one thing, Keana is all over it.)

BSTIC SCHWEINEREI. One or two senators complained, on behalf of their schools, about a lack of cleanliness in BSTIC; in the restrooms in particular.

ADULT EDUCATION. Out of town visitor, item 16: adult education block grant

Cathleen Greiner steps up. A report; something to do with “AEBG.”

Adult education block grant. Adult Ed used to be part of K-12. 2013-4, Legislature came up with great idea. A seamless bridge between high schools and this particular population. CC’s are linked to all this. The goal is “to provide adults with the academic and career skills needed to succeed.”

Big pot of money created: AEBG. That funding is expected to go on indefinitely. Governor is very supportive. Considers it a “social justice” program. We’ll be working in tandem with the high schools, not replacing them. This instruction is not our emphasis. We’re leaving it to the high schools to be the primary adult educators.

Standing reports

CURRICULUM DEADLINES

Item 4:

Setting deadlines for revised and new courses.

New courses: August 25, etc. April 25(?) for revised(?).

Contact your courses rep.

Over 350 courses.

New program approval process; draft has been submitted.

BOARD POLICY REVIEW

Blah blah blah

Also 5506 (below) accommodation of students with disabilities

All approved.

25-0-0

PATHWAYS/META-MAJORS. Item 12 – Pathways project – let’s listen to their proposal, provisionally try them on for size. Preview Day. See if the clustering works. (Re meta-major scheme.)

Brittany: group has come up with a couple of meta-majors. All of the majors taken and sorted into groups. There’s a gray area in the case of some majors. Some fit well in more than one area. Doesn’t seem to be a problem to list a major in two places.

The point of pathways is not to be restrictive. If we present too many choices, students choose nothing. If we can in a logical way as experts make some rational suggestions for people–that’s what pathways should be. Doesn’t restrict anyone but reduces choices a bit. This is for students who are sans clue how to get started choosing a major, following a course of study. Presents smaller menu to choose from. That’s OK.

We do not have the list. Diane: can we see the list? Nope, don’t have it now. Trying to get it. Diane: don’t see how this booth thing (on Preview Day?) is a good trial run. Kathy seemed peeved at Diane. Tension in the room. Preview day not a test. Blah blah blah. Shut up, Diane. Yadda, yadda, yadda, said Diane.

We motioned to go forward for Preview Day. Will return to all this meta-major stuff later. Nothing is set in stone. This is for students who are sans clue. It’s not for all students. Don’t overreact to all this.

Only two voted against: 28- 2- 0

GRANT NOT GRANTED. Item 13 – Cal College promise innovation grant – we didn’t get it, so that’s that

FOUNDATION DINNER. Item 17. Academic Senate Cabinet has bought a table. Interested in attending? Want to acquire a dinner ticket? Let us know. Cabinet doesn’t want to pay for significant others, evidently. (Someone asked if they could buy a chair or even a napkin.)

BYLAWS DRAFTS. Academic Senate bylaws committee: sent out drafts

Brett: we’ve asked that people respond by the 28th

Will be prepared for next meeting. Several proposals sent by Ac Affairs

SLO COORDINATOR. SLO coordinator co-chair: nominations open

Cheryl is stepping down.

BSTIC AGAIN. Item something – lots of complaint about BSTIC paper towels, toilet paper missing. Imagine.

TECHNOLOGY. Somebody focused on technology task force list. Apparently sent out the wrong list.

Well, that’s about it.

Thursday, February 2, 2017

Senate meeting, Feb. 2, 2017

My notes are a bit sketchy, but I guess they'll do:

Feb 2, 2017 meeting of Academic Senate, Rep Council

Woman came up to talk about student scholarships. Many scholarships have fewer than five applicants. So, there you go.

Executive reports:

Kathy: we now have paucity of part-time senators. Any interested parties? Let us know. (Senators to represent part-time faculty. Write asenate@ivc.edu.)

DRAC (District Resources Allocation) meets tomorrow. Something might actually happen at the meeting—will address the way in which we use the DRAC model, which is problematic (last 8-10 years). DRAC model developed nearly twenty years ago, served the district well, kept the peace. At first, IVC was getting much less allocation per FTES. We were cheap then. Late 90s and early oughts, agreements reached: over years, things evened out. The model was set up to balance income according to how many students, with limit on growth. The state always had a growth expectation, we adopted that limitation in restricting growth. How could IVC grow faster than that? In mid-2000s, use of model was frozen. If met the target, we got paid. If not, we had a year or two to make it up, not lose the money. With freeze: paid according to the target, and so the target became self-perpetuating. So you could slack off a bit, but ability to change proportions went away. We’ve been frozen at 35%, or whatever. Will go back to focusing on targets, but then looking at the actual. This will help IVC, since, in last few years, IVC has been growing faster than SC. Zero sum game, allocations. Leftovers, basic aid. Kathy has noticed improved mood at DRAC. Things are much better with interim Chancellor Fitzsimons. She’s doing much better job understanding what’s going on.

Chancellor search? I can say that the board is very interested in what is going on on the committee. A few members met with the committee to learn “what we were doing.” They seem to trust the committee. I don’t know anything about the pool, but the process is very hopeful.

VP Bob U: not much to report. Next week, three committees will meet, including BARC. Woof.

Academic Affairs guy, Brent: Proposed amendments/changes to bylaws. Show to your people. This will be posted. Discuss. Three options. Let us know what you think. “Yell at us.”

Kathy: bylaw changes, different. Recommendation of senate, voted on whole membership. Term limits? Two terms, then get out. Can get back in later. Recommendations.

Interesting paradigm to elect someone for two years. Something to think about. Steve: when we had it that way before, we had great trouble getting people to run. Kathy: things change.

BP and AR:

Drone AR adopted by the chancellor (AR 3960). Students cannot fly their drones in the building without pilot’s licenses. At the moment, framers/adopters have been cautious about regulations/safety. But have not been as sensitive about instruction and also outreach, marketing, etc. (Anyone who flies outside needs a pilot’s license.)

Item 8 – need more people for grade grievance.

Item 10 – Advisor handbook. Not heard from person. Grumble grumble.

Item 12 – AACC pathways project. People are at conference at Tempem Arizona right now. –Not heading toward a “one size fits all” conclusion. That’s good.

Item 14: California Promise program.

Hopefully you’ve all been talking about this in your schools. Entire year scheduling.

Didn’t get enough votes for this to pass (here at Senate). Arranging your scheduling to permit students registering for a year at a time. Need to do that to have access to some funds. We can‘t do it right now because IT can’t do it.

Motion: support adjusting process so that we schedule an entire academic year at one time?

Vote: 21 -1 – 0 Passes

Item 15 - DE coordinator co-chair

Meredith anticipates taking leave midway through semester. Need a co-chair.

Open nominations: none

Item 16 – Academic Calendar 2018-9

Asked to give advice to the Calendar committee—pursue 16 week semester and then either longer or shorter intersession. Lots of documents posted about this. Life sciences is happy to consider 16-4 16-8. 16 16 12—what we used to have. Brittany: hate that. None of our classes (in Humanities) can do 6 weeks. Kathy: I’m hearing. Yes, investigate the possibility, but longer summer is what is really important to people. Don’t cut the summer, whatever you do. “I’ll pass that along.”

Item 17 – senate elections – need to appoint an elections committee (Rich and Joon)

Pass the word. Any interest in participating?

Item 18 – establish election dates. June McLaughlin, Business Law: nominee, president of Academic Senate

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College and district acronyms

DRAC – District Resources Allocation

BAARC – Basic Aid Allocation Committee

CET – Chancellor’s Executive Team

BPARC – District Board Policy and Administrative Regulations

SPOBDC -- Strategic Planning Oversight & Budget Development Committee

SPAC -- Strategic Planning and Accreditation Council

APTC – IVC Academic Planning and Technology Committee

SSAMMO – IVC Student Success/Access/Matriculation/Marketing & Outreach
BDRPC – IVC Budget Development and Resources Planning Committee See
See What's "Bark"? And what on Earth is the DRAC?

The Faculty's Role in Community College Decision Making*

The Concept of Shared Governance

Shared governance is a process created by the California state legislature that guarantees faculty input in the decision-making process of community colleges. The purpose of the law, AB 1725, was to provide a mechanism to insure that the expertise of the faculty would be used in developing college policies. Although the phrase "shared governance" is not found in the legislation, it has become the commonly used description of the process that provides for faculty input. AB 1725 mandates that colleges "consult collegially" with local Academic Senates (the law also encourages colleges to seek active participation of other constituencies such as classified staff or students in appropriate areas). Consult collegially means that the district governing board shall develop policies on academic and professional matters through either or both of the following:

1. Rely primarily upon the advice and judgment of the Academic Senate

2. The governing board, or its designees, and the Academic Senate shall reach mutual agreement.

The state identified "academic and professional" matters as eleven specific areas:

1. Curriculum, including establishing prerequisites
2. Degree and certificate requirements
3. Grading policy
4. Educational program development
5. Standards or policies regarding student preparation and success
6. College governance structures, as related to faculty roles
7. Faculty roles and involvement in accreditation processes
8. Policies for professional development activities
9. Processes for program review
10. Processes for institutional planning and budget development
11. Other academic and professional matters as mutually agreed upon.

Since each college determines exactly how shared governance will be implemented on its campus, the process varies widely in its scope and details. With relatively few exceptions, shared governance has provided California community college instructors with a vehicle for input into the decision making process unmatched in any other state.

*Provided by 4Faculty

The SOCCCD Academic Senates sue their district (and win)

[UPSHOT: the Chancellor/Board essentially unilaterally changed the district's full-time faculty hiring policy despite a statute according to which the Academic Senate (i.e., the faculty) has important rights in the development of such policies. In the end (2005), faculty entirely PREVAILED.]

Part 1: From Dissent 66, Oct. 7, 2002

LEGAL STORMS BREWING

I counted two and seventy stenches, All well defined, and several stinks. —Coleridge

Intervention sought: During an August meeting of the IVC Academic Senate, it was suggested that, given the Chancellor & Board’s exclusion of the Academic Senate from governance, there really is no point in continuing. It was suggested, too, that the Senate might better devote its energies to seeking redress in the courts.

* * *

On September 12, the exec. cabinet of the IVC Academic Senate sent a letter to State Chancellor Nussbaum, seeking his “intervention” “to secure rights granted to local senates under Title 5” of the Ed Code. The letter cited four examples of the Board’s many actions in violation of “law, policy and process.” The first concerned the Board’s action (Fall 2000) to revise BP6120 (academic freedom), despite objections from the senates. Example 2 was the Board’s adoption (12/01) of a revision of BP5604 (eligibility for admission) despite “vehement” senate objections. Example 3 was the Board’s decision (2/02) to unilaterally revise BP 2100.1 (delegation of authority to academic senates), despite the policy’s explicitly prohibiting such action.

The fourth and most recent example concerned “revisions to District hiring policies,” including revisions to the Full-Time Academic Employees Hiring Policy, developed over the summer by Chancellor Mathur. These revisions, said the letter, “are rife with numerous individual violations of law, policy and good practice.” Despite Title 5, “At no time were any of the governance groups on either campus invited to participate, or even alerted to the existence of the committee.” Further, governance groups were given only 8 days to provide “input.”

* * *

The Senate’s letter yielded a response—a letter discovered belatedly, and already opened, in the senate president’s mail box! Dated Sept. 16, the letter, from Ralph Black, attorney for the State Chancellor’s Office, requested further info to determine whether his involvement “would be warranted.” Black offers a jurisdictional point: “Unless faculty hiring is listed as an ‘academic and professional matter’ under the SOCCCD shared governance policy..., faculty hiring does not fall under the jurisdiction of [the Board of Governors’] regulations.” (More on this later.)

On Sept. 25th, Mathur emailed the Saddleback Academic Senate, suggesting that he is under no obligation to consult the Academic Senates regarding modifications of the hiring policy. To support this odd view, he cited Black’s letter and its point about jurisdiction, but he ignored Black’s remark, in the same letter, that Faculty hiring procedures are covered by [the] Education Code..., which requires that “hiring criteria, policies, and procedures for new faculty members shall be developed and agreed upon jointly by representatives of the governing board, and the academic senate….” (Ralph Black)

Late in 1993, the Board approved a “Full Time Academic Employees Hiring Policy” that makes clear that the hiring policy can be changed only upon mutual agreement between the district and the faculty senates. This, of course, is the crucial “further information” that Ralph Black needs and will soon receive.

* * *

Budget development, of course, is plainly listed among the academic and professional matters of the district’s “shared governance” policy (2100.1). Hence, a failure to consult with the academic senate regarding budget development would be a violation of “shared governance”—one that clearly does fall under Black’s jurisdiction. Mr. Black will be interested to learn that, at IVC, the senate has been excluded from the budget development process for years.

Part 2: From Dissent 67, April 14, 2003

[“Kurt Bozny” is one of Chunk’s alter-egos.]

According to a statute, faculty hiring policies are to be “mutually” agreed upon by the district (i.e., the board) and the faculty (i.e., the academic senates).

During the Summer of 2002, Chancellor Mathur established a committee, including no faculty, that developed a new hiring policy. The faculty were not even informed of this committee’s work. The product of the committee—a truly appalling and incompetent policy—was then adopted by the board.

Thus, at long last, the faculty senate sued the district. (It was about time!) Below describes the serving of papers and its immediate aftermath.

April 14, 2003

Saddleback and Irvine Valley Colleges' Academic Senates Sue the District

By Kurt Bozny

April 8:

Santa Ana, 1:15 p.m.: Wendy files the much anticipated “faculty hiring policy” lawsuit against the SOCCCD Board of Trustees and Chancellor RAGHU P. MATHUR. She’s well-prepared, and so she breezes through the paperwork. Soon, she’s out the door, headin’ south!

2:10: Wendy’s back at IVC. She and I decide to head down south together to serve Mathur with the writ and the attached documents—a big stack. It’s good to bring an observer, cuz some people get way squirrelly when you try to serve ‘em with a lawsuit, and Mathur’s definitely the type.

I briefly search for one of those neon green “legal observer” caps like they wear at the big protests in L.A., but I can’t find one. Dang!

Mission Viejo, 2:40: we’re up on the 3rd floor of the Library, closin’ in on Chancellor Mathur’s office. I catch a glimpse of Mathur exiting his office, movin’ towards Robina Husting’s desk. He hasn’t spotted us yet.

Wendy closes in, holdin’ the thick stack of legal papers in front of her. As it turns out, Mathur is holding a similar stack of papers in front of him. The two meet in the small space in front of Robina’s desk. Mathur just stands there. So Wendy places her stack on top of Mathur’s stack, sayin’, “You’re served.”

Mathur’s horrified. The indecorous fellow now jostles and squirms to avoid holding the papers, but it’s too late—he’s got ‘em.

I’m thinkin’: “Does he actually suppose that the lawsuit won’t happen if he avoids holdin’ this stuff?”

Finally, in a desperate attempt to avoid being served, Raghu shoves the legal papers forward and they fall to the floor. Fwap!

Legally speaking, such fwappage is irrelevant; he’d been served and, once again, he’d attained the title “Respondent Mathur.” Besides, leaving the lawsuit on his secretary’s desk counts, too, so Wendy now picks up the papers and places ‘em there.

Meanwhile, I size up the Chancellor’s unseemly conduct. “How rude,” I proclaim. We exit.

Respondent Mathur struggles to think of a comeback, but Attorney Wendy (and her cap-less Boswell) are already out the door.

Finally, he’s got one. He shouts:

“How rude are YOU!”

* * *

Wendy Gabriella

April [9]: The next day, the district issues a peevish press release. It says:

SOCCCD Chancellor Raghu P. Mathur…commented on a lawsuit filed by the IVC and Saddleback College Academic Senates that disputes a new SOCCCD faculty hiring policy, stating, “The district is following the guidelines established under Title 5 that defines the ‘Delegation of Authority to the Academic Senates.’ There are 11 areas within the scope of academic and professional matters for which the academic senates have primary responsibility.

“The State Chancellor’s office has confirmed our view,” Mathur said, “that our hiring policies do not fall within the primary responsibility of the faculty….”

This is classic Mathur. The State Chancellor’s office does indeed hold that hiring policies are not among the 10 + 1 areas in which faculty are assigned primary responsibility by Title 5, a state regulation.

The problem is that the lawsuit does not mention Title 5 and it does not allege that Title 5 has been violated. Rather, it alleges that the new policies, and the manner in which they were developed and approved, violate an Ed Code statute (EC87360) and utterly defeat the intentions of legislators.

Ed Code statutes, of course, are more than regulations; they’re laws. They count bigtime.

In other words, with regard to the issue of faculty “hiring” policies, we don’t need no stinkin’ Title 5.

Respondent Mathur is ignoring—or failing to understand—that, in reality, the State Chancellor’s office takes the following view:

Education Code section 87360 requires governing board and academic senate representatives to agree on hiring criteria, policies and procedures to be adopted by the board. (Letter from California Community College Chancellor’s Office, Ralph Black, General Counsel, January 29, 2002).

In the District’s press release, Board President Don “So sue me” Wagner offers his own spin, expressing “disappointment” that the senates have decided to force the district to “spend money on attorneys, rather than students.”

* * *

On the 10th, the Register reports that

In an unprecedented move, the faculty senates of both Saddleback and Irvine Valley colleges have voted to sue their district chancellor and trustees over a new hiring policy that gives more power to college administrators at the expense of traditional academic hiring committees.

The lawsuit … asks a judge to set aside the new hiring policy because it was not approved by each college’s Academic Senate.

When the new rules were approved by a 4-3 vote by the …trustees in January, faculty representatives unsuccessfully pleaded with the board for more time to discuss them.

The state’s Education Code requires that hiring criteria and policies for new faculty members must be developed “and agreed upon jointly” by board members and the Academic Senate….

…Typically, new college instructors are selected by hiring committees made up of faculty members who are experts in the field and the head of the department. Their selection is usually ratified by the college president, the district’s board of trustees or both.

According to Wendy Gabriella, an IVC instructor and attorney who filed the lawsuit, faculty members were particularly unhappy with new rules that allow the district’s human resources director to change the scores awarded by committee members if she deems them too far off the norm and to unilaterally change interview questions.

Professors were also displeased with a new ethics and confidentiality section of the hiring policy that allows the human resources director to investigate and punish any member of a hiring committee who is accused of violating confidentiality.

“The policy allows the human resources department to accuse hiring committee members of bias, change their scores and discipline them without any due process or opportunity for appeal,” [said the] Irvine Valley Academic Senate President….

* * *

Also on the 10th, the President of the IVC Academic Senate, Greg Bishopp, sends a memo to IVC faculty. (The Saddleback Senate Prez later spams it to Saddleback faculty.) It says:

The Academic Senates of IVC and Saddleback College have filed suit in California Superior Court to block the implementation of a faculty hiring policy, which they believe to violate … the California Education Code. While the trustees and the administration of the SOCCCD maintain that their new policy, and the process used to develop this policy, does not violate the law, the Academic Senates claim that they do. In violation of the law, the Senates maintain, district administration has failed to allow faculty involvement in developing the procedures for hiring new faculty members. As a result, the adopted policy is fraught with violations of law, policy, and accepted practice.

Prez Bishopp also notes that the senates have “exhausted all internal means of appeal” and that, in January, Wagner “invited the Senates to sue the district to resolve the legality of the Board of Trustees’ alteration of board policy.”

That Wagner is quite a guy!

Bishopp closes by noting that the record

shows who has been responsible for wasting the district’s money in the past. Board President Don Wagner has stated that, “our district will again prevail on this misguided litigation.” However, in the seven legal actions brought by members of the faculty against the Board of Trustees, the courts have sided with the faculty and against the Board every single time, demonstrating that the Board, by violating the law, has been responsible for the suits, not the litigiousness of the plaintiffs. If the Board of Trustees does not wish to spend money on litigation, it should avoid breaking the law.

* * *

The district’s new faculty hiring policies (BP4011, 4011.1, 4011.2) are available online at the Saddleback College Academic Senate website.

Those who wish to read the statute should go to

Statute

To read a review of the statute and its relation to the historic AB1725 legislation, one might start by reading the local senates “handbook” on the State Academic Senate’s website:

Handbook

See you in court! —KB

Part 3

Judge Clay Smith
[10/10/09:]

Here’s what happened next:

Judge Clay Smith ruled that the district had indeed failed to include the faculty in the development of the faculty hiring policy, contrary to law. He thus ordered the district and senates to get together to develop a faculty hiring policy. But, in the end, the district’s representatives and the senates’ representatives did not see eye to eye on major issues, and so the district unilaterally pushed through the version of the policy that it liked, and it pronounced that policy the product of the committee. That policy was almost as appalling as the one that was neutralized by Smith.

Surprisingly, despite the vociferous objections of the Academic Senates to the new policy, Judge Smith ruled that the policy was indeed the product of “mutual agreement.”

It was an absurd judgment.

The Academic Senates appealed.

By summer 2005, the appellate justices unanimously acted to overturn and vacate Smith’s absurd judgment. The board tried one or two last ditch efforts to have the court reconsider, but to no avail. The academic senates had won, and that was that.

The senates had prevailed, period. That meant that the only valid policy was the one developed at the end of 1993 (that one was mutually agreed to). It was good from the faculty’s perspective.

The appellate justices urged the parties to work out their differences, and so, in the Fall of 2005, district representatives (namely, Mathur, the instigator of the original unilaterally imposed policy, and Lang, now the board president) and Academic Senate reps (namely, the two senate Presidents and the union president) mutually developed a policy that both sides could agree on.

That work was completed by late October, 2005. This mutually ageed to policy is a vast improvement.

At the time of writing, it only remains for the board to approve the new policy, and there is every indication that they will do just that. If they fail to do so, then the decidedly faculty-friendly 1993/4 policy will apply.

[The policy was approved.]