West Valley College Academic Senate

Unapproved Minutes

Tuesday, April 22, 2003

Academic Senate Office, Ext. #2075

1.0. Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 2:09 p.m. by President King.

1.1 Roll Call

	Senators	A	P	Senators	A	P
	Berlani (Ext. 2563) Science		X	King (Ext. 2547) Pres		X
	Brueckner (Ext. 2472) FineArts		X	Kopernik (Ext.2578) Lib/TechCtr		X
Buendia-Bangle(Ext.2476)StudSer		X		Lock (Ext. 2442) Pres-Elect		X
Carey (Ext. 2419) AtLge/Bus			X	Mingione (Ext. 2075) AF/Bus		X
Cisneros (Ext. 4014) English		X		Sarlo (Ext. 2526) PE		X
Ellis (Ext. 2568) Math			X	Schock (Ext. 2447) Business		X
*Hasty (Ext.2521) Proxy/Soc Sci		X		Smith (Ext. 4082) LangArts		X
Javan (Ext. 2498) AAS			X	*Thelin (Ext. 2147) Soc Sci	X

1.2 Approval of the Minutes

The minutes for the April 15, 2003, meeting were approved with the following correction (M/S/U – Schock/Ellis):

Page 3, Item 6.2, last sentence is changed as indicated: “Meanwhile, the old existing Program Discontinuance Procedures are in affect, and Program Discontinuance remains an Academic Senate responsibility.”

1.3 Order of the Agenda

Item 6.2 will be addressed prior to Item 6.1.

2.0 Oral Communication From the Public

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

3.0 Announcements & Recognition

1. President King announced that the Spring Plenary Session for the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges will be held in San Francisco, May 1-3, 2003. She pointed out that “hot” topics to be discussed at the plenary do not include the budget crisis. The crisis that our college and district is experiencing seems to be unique to the district.

2. The Senators acknowledged the Academic Senate Secretary for minutes well written, distributed in a timely manner, and widely read.

4.0 Administrative Business/Actions/Appointments

4.1 Curriculum Committee – No report

4.2 Committee Appointments

a) Graduation Marshals – The Senators agreed, by consensus, to follow tradition this year by having Senators serve as graduation marshals. The ten Senators at today’s meeting will serve. Dr. Schock agreed to provide badges that will designate the marshals.

5.0 Reports

5.1 Review Board Agenda – Linda urged the Senators to continue to monitor and review the Board Agenda and District Council’s Agenda and report any concerns to her.

5.2 College Council – No report

5.3 ACE Issues/Liaison- It was noted that all faculty are fully up-to-date on negotiations through ACE and District e-mail messages.

6.0 Old Business

As agreed, Item 6.2 will be addressed before Item 6.1.

6.2 Continue Discussion on Budget Cuts & Concerns

President King reported that district-wide seventeen pink slips remain. This list primarily includes Librarians, Counselors, and Lab Technicians (referred to by the state as “non-teaching faculty”). The pink slips continue to be of primary concern to faculty and the Senates. A second concern is college-related and pertains to the zero cap classes that need to be restored if we plan to meet WSCH goals. It was noted that not all the courses listed in the schedule beyond the 25% reduction are zeroed out. The implication is that it was never intended for any of the issued pink slips to hold and the motivation for that action is questionable. A recent e-mail message from Dave Fishbaugh regarding negotiations was reviewed. His message described how the District has explained the restoration of pink slips.

It was reported that the Performance Goals Committee has started to discuss the process for restoring the 25% of the classes that were cut from the fall schedule, and how to bring them back as soon as possible in order to enable students to register. It was noted that after the 25% reduction, some departments have had to redo their PGC goals in order to comply with the reduction. Departments may or may not get back their FTE. These cuts were done at West Valley College “across the board.” The Division Chairs are scheduled to meet next week if the appropriate data is received from the Vice Chancellor’s office. Everything that is being planned will affect the ability of the college and district to meet WSCH/FTE goals, as well as affect the Budget Allocation Model in the future. It was also noted that Mission College did not zero out any classes and may have to cancel classes that are full. There is great concern and evidence that students are going to other colleges.

As discussion continued, another major area of concern was raised. Apparently discussion is taking place at a district level, outside of shared governance and without faculty input, that circumvents the discontinuance process. It appears that the Department Chairs and Division Chairs are being asked questions by the Vice President of Instruction that reflect an intent to combine programs between the two colleges. There is concern that the faculty will be asked to implement a decision, rather than participate in the process, and this will develop into a crisis. It is not unlike the reduction issue. Faculty were not consulted when the cuts were made, but yet, faculty were asked to implement the restoration, yet there was no process or criteria available to demonstrate how the cuts were made. Issues such as these fall under the jurisdiction of the Academic Senate and without faculty input, there will be much disagreement. The Academic Senate needs to take a stand and make a strong statement affirming its appropriate role in this situation. Linda agreed to look into the matter.

Linda advised that she and Jane Patton have questioned the Chancellor on the activities of the District Educational Services & Programs Committee. Dr. Arterberry stated that the committee is not meeting due to the budget crisis. Linda explained that this committee is an all-administrative committee, and it was noted that President Fox advised the Senate that this committee was dealing only with administrative operations.

It was suggested that President Fox be invited to discuss the vision of the academic future of the college and the District with the Senate. President King was directed to invite President Fox to the next regular Senate meeting.

6.1 Final Reading: Develop Procedures for Program Discontinuance

The Senators reviewed the April 1^st draft of the document and considered several modifications based on recommendations from the College Council and addressed issues and questions presented by Senate members. The College Council’s concerns included defining more clearly the procedures, including the College Council role and weighting criteria. Upon completion of the review, the Senators unanimously adopted the final version of the document as amended (M/S/U – Ellis/Carey).

The remaining business items were postponed to the next Senate meeting. President King urged the Senators to review the Title III grant documents, which will be on the agenda of the next meeting.

10.0 Correspondence, Publications, and Announcements

Correspondence

1. E-mail dated April 20, 2003 from Clo Hampton with negotiations update.

2. A budget update from Clay Whitlow of Evergreen Valley College.

Publications/Minutes

1. The April 2003 issue of Accreditation NOTES from the WASC.

2. The agenda for the April 17, 2003, meeting of the College Council.

3. The list of actions taken at the April 17^th meeting of the Board of Trustees.

4. The minutes for the March 31, 2003, meeting of the Division Chair Council.

5. The agenda for the April 16, 2003, meeting of the WVC Classified Senate.

Announcements/Conferences

1. The Spring Plenary Session for the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges will be held in San Francisco, May 1-3, 2003.

11.0 Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 4.15 p.m. (M/S/U). These minutes are respectfully submitted by Grace Hazán, Academic Senate Secretary.