Mission College Academic Senate

Ext. 5413

Approved Minutes

Thursday, April 8, 2004   

 

I.          Call to Order/Roll Call

                  The meeting was called to order by President Alex Braun at 2:10   p.m. 

Senators

   A

   P

Senators

   A

   P

Braun      (Ext. 5355) Pres/Tech

 

    X

Laird       (Ext. 5186) SocScience

  

   X

Brennan    (Ext. 5313) Comm

     

    X

Lavallo    (Ext. 5399)  Math

 

   X

Brichko    (Ext. 5222)  CATA

 

    X

Martin     (Ext. 5356)  Tech.

     X

 

Charland  (Ext. 5046)  Stud. Dev.

    

    X

Musat      (Ext. 5331) Math

     

   X

Cox        (Ext.5164)  CommSvc

 

    X

Oliver      (Ext. 5427)  AAS

     X

 

Dooley    (Ext. 5379)   AAS

     

    X

Perlas      (Ext. 5041)  Stud.Dev.

   

   X

Harris     (Ext. 5413)  AF/Comm

    

    X

Rath       (Ext. 5413)  AF/CIT

   

   X

Johnson   (Ext.5277)  CATA

 

    X

Smebye   (Ext. 5305) CommServ

 

   X

Kashima  (Ext. 5319)  ESL

 

    X

Zeisler     (Ext. 5426) Comm

 

   X

Guests:  J.Van Tassel

   

    X

 

 

 

 

II.       Approval of the Minutes

                The minutes for the meeting of March 11, 2004, were accepted and approved as submitted   (M/S/U – Charland/Harris).

 

                The minutes for the meeting of March 18, 2004, were accepted and approved as submitted (MS/U – Charland/Harris).

 

III.     Order of the Agenda

                It was agreed (M/S/U – Brennan/Cox) that the order of the agenda will be changed to indicate Item VII.C is an Information/Action item.  The I/A indication was inadvertently left off the agenda.

                 

 IV.    Oral Communication from the Public

                There was no oral communication from the public at today's meeting.

           

  V.    Information & Announcements                                                                                 

 

VI.     Administrative Business/Actions/Appointments

           A.     Curriculum Committee Report – No report was presented at today’s meeting.

         B.    Staff Recognition -  An individual was recommended for staff recognition at today’s meeting.  Alex volunteered to draft a resolution to be presented to the Academic Senate for consideration at a future meeting.                                                                                                                                          

                C.    Committee Appointments  -  No appointments were made at today’s meeting.

           D.   Oral Reports

            1.    Staff Development  -  No report was presented.

              2.   Other: 

                           a)  Senator Kashima reported that a portion of the document prepared by the ESL Department relative to the questions regarding the Associate Faculty, the hiring process, and the issue of the Testing Center, that was distributed by Senator Brichko to the Senators at the March 18, 2004, Senate meeting was altered and distributed to the Associate Faculty members with Senator Kashima’s name on it.  A number of people were upset and have indicated their concerns to Senator Kashima.  A brief discussion ensued, and it was stated that this indicates that someone intercepted a copy of the document from e-mail or through the Senate, altered it, and distributed it without the permission and/or knowledge of the department or the Senate.  This action is inappropriate and unacceptable.

VII.     Old Business

 

   A.     Discuss Status of Resolution of No Confidence in Chancellor

                  Unfortunately, the Chancellor’s responses to the Bill of Particulars were not discussed at the District Academic Senate meeting.  At this time, there is nothing new to report.

 

                  The Chancellor has indicated he would like to visit the MC Academic Senate next week.  The Senators requested that the President of the Senate ensure that there will be ample time for an open floor discussion.

 

   B.     Continue Discussion & Development of District Budget Contingency Plan

                  Alex advised that the District Budget Advisory Council (DBAC) will meet next Wednesday to consider additional detailed information on the budget and to present best case and worst case scenarios, based on the Governor’s initial budget.  This is what the District did last year, leading the District to issue pink slips to faculty.  The District seems to be taking the same approach this year, basing their budget scenarios on the Governor’s initial budget.  Alex plans to recommend at Wednesday’s DBAC meeting that the District and DBAC give serious consideration to a budget scenario that is based on the budget submitted by the California Community Colleges’ (CCC) system.  Alex asked the Senate for their views and direction on this matter.

 

                  Discussion ensued, and it was stated that it appears the district uses budget numbers to give weight to negotiations, which is not an ethical procedure.  Alex stated his view that budgets are not real, so much as they are projections or intentions.  What is real is what is actually expended.  That information is available in the “311 Report,” which is submitted annually to the State Chancellor’s Office as mandated by law.  This report must be certified as accurate under the pain of perjury.  Budget needs should be compared to actual expenditures.  These figures necessarily impact academic programs, the FON, Associate Faculty, etc.  Alex would like to recommend that DBAC examine the CCC system version of the budget and create a District budget on that basis in addition to the best and worst case scenarios based on the Governor’s budget.  He asked the Senate for direction on this matter.  There was unanimous consensus that Alex be directed to present this recommendation to the District and DBAC on behalf of the Mission College Academic Senate and MC Faculty.

                 

    C.   Continue Discussion on Transfer Program/Director Counselor Position

              The gist of the discussion focused on the existing process, jointly implemented by the Division Chair Council (DCC) and the Academic Senate (AS).  There is currently nothing in the process that deals with exceptions, such as a lateral transfer within a department that has already been ranked for an additional position.

 

                  As discussion ensued, one view stated was that if a position has been prioritized, and a lateral transfer within a department takes place, then the ranked position should be filled as approved.  Another view stated is that there should be some process in place, approved by the Academic Senate and the Division Chair Council, that allows for specific review on a case-by-case basis.  The object of the prioritization process that is used by the DCC and the AS jointly is to ensure that departments are staffed as needed, and there was general consensus that the existing process should not be abdicated or compromised. The following motion was passed unanimously (M/S/U – Brennan/Cox):

 

                  “that the Division Chair Council and the Mission College Academic Senate jointly develop, by April 22, 2004, a position replacement justification for internal transfer policy, that Counseling submit an application according to the new policy guidelines, and that the Mission College Academic Senate and the Division Chair Council act on this application within two weeks of receipt.”         

                    This motion will be forwarded to Harriett Robles with a request to set up a joint meeting of the DCC and the Academic Senate.

 

D.  Continue Discussion on the Faculty Hiring Policy

                  Alex advised that the proposed Faculty Hiring Policy revisions were distributed at the District Academic Senate meeting.  The discussion was diverted to the issue of diversity in the hiring practices and a resolution was adopted by the District Academic Senate.

 

                  At the District Council meeting, Alex reported that an information item has been placed on the Board agenda regarding diversity in the Faculty Hiring Process. Stephen Juarez plans to take the District Academic Senate’s resolution to the Board for discussion.  It appears that Mr. Juarez is misrepresenting the intent of the District Academic Senate’s resolution.  Mr. Juarez intends that the current hiring processes be stopped to ensure that applicant pools are diverse.  

 

                  Alex stated that the objectives of the Faculty Hiring Policy are as follows:

                 

                  1)  to staff departments with full-time faculty as needed,

                  2)  to meet the District’s FON and/or the 75/25/ ratio, and

                  3)  to increase or implement diversity of the hiring pool consistent with Title 5 regulations.

 

                  These three objectives must be satisfied or there could be serious consequences.  Alex and Vivian Lock, President of the WVC Academic Senate, have advised the Chancellor of the District Academic Senate’s resolution with a note indicating their willingness to work with the Chancellor to achieve the three objectives.  If the process to ensure that hiring pools are sufficiently diverse has begun, we hope to achieve the three objectives without sacrificing any one of the objectives.  It appears that Mr. Juarez wants an immediate end result.  The District needs to work toward these objectives in a way that does not create other problems.  Alex reported that he and Vivian have begun a dialogue with Sandra Dillon, Interim Director of Human Resources in an attempt to achieve the objectives in an equitable manner. 

 

                  Discussion was opened to the floor, and it was noted that the District Academic Senate’s resolution specifically requested that the Chancellor, not the Board of Trustees, take specific steps to address the issue. Alex explained that the dilemma is that the District is trying to increase the diversity of the application pool in an attempt to achieve parity with two populations:  1)  faculty and 2) under-represented groups. Mr. Juarez states that the demographics of the student population is a factor. The true question is what is the demographic makeup of those who qualify in a given discipline?  No analysis has been conducted to determine those factors. It is clear that HR has been in disarray for a number of years.  In the past, if an applicant pool was found to be inadequate, the process was stopped and HR made additional recruitment efforts.  The process, however, must be stopped early and not at a point that would prevent meeting the FON and staffing requirements.  If not, more damage is done to the hiring process. 

 

                  The District Academic Senate’s resolution specifically requested that the Chancellor take specific steps and follow through with HR.  Alex was directed to request that the Chancellor be prepared, at next week’s meeting, to report on the progress made in each point of the resolution that requested action.  In addition, the Chancellor should report on the function of Human Resources (HR), particularly relative to the efforts made to expand limits on advertisement and recruitment efforts imposed by HR.  In addition, Mr. Juarez should be asked to remove the item from the Board’s agenda or to ensure that Mr. Juarez’s request be consistent with the District Academic Senate’s resolution regarding diversity in faculty hiring.  Alex advised that he and Vivian are in contact with Mr. Juarez.

 

 

VIII.   New Business

 

    A.  Report on Update of Disciplines List

                  Each Senator was provided with a letter from the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) listing the process for the three-year review of the Disciplines List, and a timeline for submitting proposed changes.   Alex explained that the Disciplines List indicates the State’s minimum qualifications and/or equivalencies for given disciplines and serves as the basis for local minimum qualifications and equivalencies. This is also the appropriate time to add new disciplines to the list.   Alex asked that the Senators inform their constituent groups of the timeline and the process to ensure that any changes in the Disciplines List be proposed in accordance with the ASCCC’s requirements.

 

IX.       Correspondence, Publications, & Announcements

              Correspondence

             1.  E-Mail dated March 18, 2004, from Victoria Lewis with a budget update.

              Publication/Minutes

              1.  Notice of Cancellation of the Mission-West Valley Land Corporation meeting of April 15th.

                  2.  HR items that will be reviewed at the April 7th District Council meeting.           

                  3.  The agenda packet for the April 14, 2004, meeting of DBAC and the minutes for the March 17th meeting.

              Announcements/Conferences

              1.  The International Conference on Teaching & Leadership Excellence will be held May 23-26, 2004, in Austin, Texas.  Additional information is available from the Senate Office.

 

X.        Future Agenda Items

1.    Discuss and Consider Associate Faculty Hiring Process Issues (Brennan) April 15   

                  2.   Discuss Report & Recommendations from Student Readiness Task Force (Brennan) April 15        

              3.    Discuss Balance of Curriculum/Academic Directions Proposal (By End of Semester)  

 

XI.       Adjournment

                  The meeting was adjourned at 4:02 p.m. (M/S/U - Brennan/Smebye).  These minutes are respectfully submitted by Grace Hazán, Academic Senate Secretary.