IV.
PUBLIC COMMENTS
Carol Matson spoke to the Senate
about the college radio station.
V.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORTS
President’s
Report
DPC—
It was announced by the Senate President that the
Board Policy and Procedures on Unlawful Discrimination was again delayed.
Despite having a verbal agreement with the District that the proposed policy
would be accepted, the proposed policy has been rejected by the Vice Chancellor
of Human Resources. The Faculty Senate representatives requested a meeting with
the Chancellor. As a result of that meeting, it was felt that the District will
attempt to work on proposed language that will be agreeable to the Faculty. One
of the main points of contention is in the Procedures section that allows the
District to investigate employees charged with unlawful discrimination without
informing the employee that he or she is being investigated. Another meeting with
the District has been scheduled where it is hoped that the language will be
finalized.
The
proposed policy on Academic Freedom met with a fate similar to the Unlawful
Discrimination policy. At DPC it was Dr. Hodge alone among the managers
who supported this proposed policy.
The
Senate President and members of the Senate expressed concerns about the
duplicitous actions of the District regarding Board policy. It was noted by the
United Faculty representative that failure to abide by current Board Policy,
including recognition of AB 1725, could be formally grieved under the current
contract.
The
new District budget models were also discussed at DPC. These models would
reallocate ongoing funding to the various District entities. Based on the
discussion at DPC, it was decided to implement the FTES allocation model for an
additional year and then evaluate the impact. The District wants to change the
budget allocation models to meet some of the findings of the accreditation
team. This new model will result in Fullerton
getting additional money.
The
Senate President again emphasized that any allocation of on-going money must be
done after salary negotiations have been completed.
It
was announced that at the last Board of Trustees Meeting a proclamation was
passed to formally appreciate faculty from May 2 to May 6. This was designated
“Teacher Appreciation Week.” It was also
noted that no specific appreciation-related activities for this week were
announced. The classified employees will be appreciated the following week.
PCC—President
Sanabria requested that anyone with questions or concerns about the parking
committee recommendations for fall, 2005, direct them to the faculty
representatives on that committee.
Staff
Development—Mark Greenhalgh addressed the Senate on various items having to do
with staff development. He also solicited ideas on how faculty can comply with information
that is required to be included on course syllabi. It was pointed out by
several Senators that, based on their research, there are no legal requirements
to include anything on a course syllabus. It was the sense of the Senate to
give this to a subcommittee for consideration.
The
Bond Oversight Committee—The two faculty members of
this committee indicated that, based on the information presented to the
oversight committee, the Fullerton College
bond projects are in trouble. The main problems are construction costs
spiraling out of control and the perceived lack of local planning and
coordination. The goal of the Bond Oversight Committee members is to help advise the college President and to make sure that as many
of the planned projects are completed without overspending earlier projects.
Although it is very early in the Bond Construction process, the Bond Committee
members expressed fear that because money is rapidly running out, not all the
planned bond projects will be done.
Both
committee members expressed dismay at the amount of money being spent on
“overhead” costs such as architectural drawings. Based on a meeting with Ron
Beeler, who is coordinating all the bond projects from the District, it was
discovered that the bond construction contracts, which were written by the
District and signed by the Board of Trustees, not only lacked any clauses to
prevent overcharging by the contractors, but actually encouraged overcharging.
Since the contractors are paid a fixed percentage of the final cost of the contract
and since the District continues to add general-fund money to the bond
projects, it is to the advantage of the various bond construction companies to
spend as much as possible on the projects. It was noted that when this was
pointed out to Ron Beeler, his response was that if a contractor overcharged,
the contractor would not get a good recommendation from the District.
The
single bright spot reported by the Bond Oversight Committee members was that
Dr. Hodge is showing exceptional knowledge of the bond projects and is working
to keep the costs down.
A
question was asked about the bond project timeline. It was previously indicated
by the District that 2007 was the “cut-off” date for the bond projects and that
they must all be done by this date. However, it has been recently discovered
that this is an artificial timeline, and the District would not lose the bond
money if it were not spent by this date. However, the bond construction
contracts, signed by the Board of Trustees, set 2007 as the project end date.
At this time the Contractors will be paid. If the projects are not done then,
we must pay the contracting companies again to complete their work.
Another
question was raised about who at the District was responsible for negotiating
and overseeing these contracts. The Bond Committee members did not have an
answer.
Treasurer’s
Report
No
report.
VI.
CURRICULUM COMMITTEE REPORT
The
English and Math requirements were increased, and it will take time to implement
them. SLO (Student Learning Outcomes) workshops
will be held April 29 and May 2.
VII. ELECTIONS
President-elect Joumana McGowan
announced that only one at-large position is still open.
Dr. Hodge would like to resubmit
the announcement for the permanent Vice President, Instruction position with an
end date of May 27. Interviews for this position would be in June. The faculty
members on the last EVP hiring committee were Jeff Courchaine, Bruce Hanson,
and Joumana McGowan. It was the sense of the Senate that they should serve on
this new committee as well. If any one of them cannot serve during the month of
June, a call will go out among the Senators first.
It was announced that a Student
Learning Outcome Coordinator would be selected. Since this is a 20% reassigned
time position, it requires a shared-governance interview process. It is
requested that the Senate select two faculty members to serve on the selection
committee for this position. Three people volunteered for this position, (Liz
Kiszely, Joumana McGowan, and Jeff Courchaine) and it was the sense of the
Senate that all three names be sent forward.
Joumana reminded Senators whose
terms will expire in May to give their Senate binders to their replacements.
VIII.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
A.S.
Smoking Proposal—The Senate supports the concept of a smoke-free environment;
however, it will have to develop policy and procedure to implement it in order
that to avoid legal liability and protect rights of individuals. It is a work condition
matter and must be consistent with District policy. The new proposal is to support the concept of
a smoke-free environment and continue investigating this with a view toward
satisfying the concerns of all the constituent groups.
IX.
OLD BUSINESS
Constitution
Committee—This committee developed a proposal to change the Senate By-laws to
reflect new, earlier, deadline date for elections so that they can be completed
by the end of the spring semester.
M/S/U
(Courchaine/Wilson) to accept the recommendations of the Constitution Committee
to change the date for filling Senate positions. An amendment will be made to
Article VII to add that the Senate shall also elect alternates and replacement
representatives to committees when necessary.
The Budget Development Committee proposal
on the instructional equipment budget allocation model for was discussed.
Several different budget models have been discussed at PCC. The recommendation
of the Budget Development Committee was to reduce the instructional equipment
budget by 25 percent for various areas on campus and to put the saved money
into a pool. This would be done for one year only at the end of which the
budget model would be evaluated. This pool would then be allocated based on specific
proposals submitted by faculty and others. The money saved would be about
$100,000, which would be augmented with PFE money.
Senate members discussed this
proposal. Some Senators were in favor and others had reservations. It was
pointed out that this budget model provides faculty with the opportunity to
develop new programs or fund existing programs by developing a proposal for
funds. This is different from the current “historical based budgeting” in which
money is automatically allocated to divisions based on past allocations.
However, it was also pointed out
that making faculty and divisions compete for these funds puts one more
obstacle in front of faculty who need ongoing funds to teach their classes. It
was noted that when funds are allocated in this way, political considerations
often outweigh academic considerations.
M/S/P (Wilson/Courchaine) to accept
the recommendation by the Budget Development Committee to reduce instructional equipment
by 25 percent.
X.
NEW BUSINESS
Responsibilities of Senate Representatives
in PCC—Discussion was held on whether or not a Senator must vote in accordance
with direction from the Senate when in PCC and possible consequences for
failing to do so. Due to lack of
sufficient time, this item was tabled until the next meeting.
Senators were asked to contact
their constituents for recommendations on how to accomplish campus priorities
for budget consideration, 2005-2006.
XI.
LIAISON REPORTS
United
Faculty
Dale
Craig asked everyone to return their ballots on the pay increase by the end of
the week. He expressed the hope that
everything will be wrapped up by Monday, and the increase will be in the end of
May paycheck.
At
this point, President Sanabria mentioned that he had received several calls
from faculty expressing concerns about long-time members of the United Faculty
negotiating team. The callers encouraged UF to bring new people onto that team.
Associated
Students
Araz
Pourmorad stated that A.S. elections are finished. The Festival of Diversity will be next
week.
Adjunct
Faculty United
No
report.
The meeting was
adjourned at 5:05 p.m.
Respectfully
submitted,
/s/
Jane Troop, Secretary
