Glendale Community College Faculty Senate

Glendale Community College Faculty Senate

Meeting of October 25, 2007

Approved Minutes

(Please note: General interest issues or meeting and notifications are listed belo= w in bold to allow them to be locat= ed more easily.)

I. = General

= A. Call to Order: A quorum being pres= ent, President Jim Daugherty called the meeting to order at 2:30 P.M. in the SU = 104 BC Conference Room. Senators present included Secretary Robert Reavis, Treasurer Alicia Ottenberg, Jose Aguiñaga, Ruth Callahan, Susan Campbell, Ph= ilip Fernandez, Fernando Garcia, Emily Gwinn, Susan High, Steve Kadel, Johnnie Clemens May, Michele Parker, Laura Schuett, a= nd Executive Councilor at Large Jim Reed.

= B. Introduction of Guests- including but not limited to: Chair of Chairs Carlos Nuñe= z, and Residential Faculty Robert Albury, Erik Gergus, Jeanne Saint-Amour and = Lyle Walcott.

= C. The proposed meeting agenda was adopted.

= D. The minutes from the September 27^th and October 4th meeting, distrib= uted via email, were approved with two additional changes each.

= E. Treasurer’s Report-

Treasurer Ottenberg report= ed a dividend deposit of $5.73 and a transfer from Savings to Checking of $3000.= 00.

President Daugherty noted = funds from membership dues will be deposited shortly.

= F. President’s Report-<= /b>

President Daugherty informed Senate of his conversations with campus administration. Program Reviews are underway by the Vice Presidents, including a review of GoalQuest by= VP Sanchez. President Green h= as still not accepted the new College Plan. Her concerns focus on existing language, rather than the recent changes approved by Senate. President Green and VP Sanchez will s= peak with Senate at our next meeting, November 29.

President Daugherty attend= ed:

-&nb= sp;         Global Sustainability Dialogue Day at Gatewa= y on Oct. 5^th and noted the Green Efforts group formed at Glendale Community College (see Item IIC).

-&nb= sp;         Glendale Chamber of Commerce Charity event. Funds were requested for GCC.

Finally, President Daugher= ty noted three faculty requested Legal Representation.

= G.    FEC Report-

Executive Councilor at Lar= ge (ELC) Reed enthused about the ‘good stuff’ at FEC. First, Faculty Association President Reyes M= edrano requested all faculty send him
their personal (non-GCC) e-mail address to receive FA news. A newsletter will be sent shortly = that will include PAC-oriented news.

Meet and Confer has added = an item to this year’s list. Because= the number of firings ongoing in the district has never been higher, a structur= ed, stepped procedure that provides correct measures prior to firing will be negotiated.

President Daugherty read Senate’s statement of No Confidence = in District Technology to FEC (see Oct. 4^th minutes). ELC Reed reported general support from FEC. The statement was taken to campus Senates for their response. Rather than read GCC’s statement to the Board, President Reyes read a letter of concern to the board with a request for an operational audit of BlackBoard.

Senators Garcia and Parker= noted an audit was superfluous. We already know Blackboard does not work.

Note: for more on BlackBoard & district technology see Chair of Chairs Report (I.I.), Special Meeting (II.D.) and PBAC (III.C).

ELC Reed reported on the v= arious use of Course Fees at different campuses and a current attempt by the Board= to better define and restrict the use of course fees.

Similarly, there is discussion of Office Hours, particularly online office hours, with an attempt to standardize rules across the campuses. Current language in the RFP (5.4.1.)

‘. . . to hold a minimum of five (5) scheduled academic support hours reflective of instructors’ teaching schedules; . . .’

ELC Reed noted this statem= ent is open to interpretation.

ELC Reed described an atte= mpt by ASU to hire MCCD faculty from another campus to teach Math on the ASU campu= s at Adjunct rates. Reed cautioned not to do this!

ELC Reed also reported dis= cussions on Intellectual Property rights.

The CEC met with members o= f the state legislature. The Legislature= does not expect to increase funding to MCCD this year and justified their decisi= on with a statement that our students perform poorly at ASU. ELC Reed noted the success of ASU at the legislature and wondered whether district’s= PR has provided any input.

Finally, ELC Reed describe= d to FEC the new ‘Rule of Seven’ presented by GCC Administration the day before (Oct. 22). President Green a= nd Vice President Abel mandated the new hiring policy at the Chair Meeting. According to their new policy, hiring committees will consist of seven memb= ers: two outside members, one administrator and four members of the hiring department.

Discussion ensued. It was determined that only one other campus (Estrella Mountain) had an administra= tor as a normal part of faculty hiring committees.

Note: for more on the new ‘Rule of Seven’ see Chair of Ch= airs Report (I.I.) and The Rule of Seven (III.A.).

= H.    Governing Board Report-

President Daugherty report= ed the Board focused on adoption of new rules that will regulate use of firearms on campus. A new policy is needed in response to legislation that will allow p= eace officers to carry guns on MCCD campuses.

= I.      = Chair of Chairs Report- NEW ITEM =

   &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;       Chair of Chairs (CC) Carlos Nuñez reported on recent Chair meetings.

-&nb= sp;         New= SIS System: Chairs are dissatisfied with performance and concerned with the money spent, which comes off the top of the budget.

-&nb= sp;         Pro= gram Reviews are slated or ongoing within many departments due to declining enrollment. Although no plans have been stated to move faculty, faculty jobs are on the line.

-&nb= sp;         Goa= lQuest Vice President Sanchez reported the annual cost of $97,000 would be covered= by a FTSE increase of 40 students. Senator Garcia asked if the funds were roll= ed over from some other budget item. CC Nuñez understood the funds came from an OYO position. President Daugherty noted that Vice President Sanchez= was coming to the next Senate meeting and asked Senators and faculty to prepare their questions for VP Sanchez and send to the Senate distribution list ‘dl-gc-facsen@gcmail.maricopa.edu&= #8217;. Questions will be sent to VP Sanchez ahead of the meeting. CC Nuñez noted that GoalQuest will require much work by the campus and shared governance.

-&nb= sp;         Bla= ckboard (Bb) was extensively discussed. The Administration acts as if main prob= lems are solved, except for minor, ‘acceptable’ problems expected wi= th any technology. ELC Reed shared parts of a letter received from Chancellor Glasper that stated Bb was fine. ELC Reed also reported student groups are meeting across the district to deal with Bb problems. Many comments followe= d: Administrators may not hear about problems because facu= lty absorb the complaints. Students and faculty no longer complain becau= se we no longer expect the system to work well. As fewer people use the system= , it has fewer problems caused by load issues. CC Nuñez responded that Se= nate and the Chairs must work together to correct Administrations misperception = and to finally deal with these problems. ELC Reed offered to bring the issue to Chancellor Glasper. Senator Ottenberg asked if we should forward every complaint to the Bb group. Je= anne Saint-Amour asked if we should forward student complaints directly to Chancellor Glasper. President Daugherty will send out directions to all faculty s= o they can forward every complaint to Chancellor Glasper and the Bb group.

-&nb= sp;         Cam= pus Security remains an issue, in particular how to respond to a sniper att= ack and quickly notify all members of the campus community of an emergency.

-&nb= sp;         Bud= get Rankings are nearly finalized and will then be forwarded to PBAC. Thus far = the process has been very polite, but it maybe more contentious at PBAC. We nee= d to prioritize instructional items if we are truly concerned about instruction = on campus. The administration has added the Faculty Connection Center to the Instructional Budget for the second time. President Daugherty noted that mo= st of the items in FCC were donated from the Innovation Center. CC Nuñez noted the desire of Chairs to support FCC, but chairs were put in a bind to fund it given other needs.

II.      =           Old Business

= A.    Retention and Recruitment: GoalQuest<= o:p>

Senator Callahan summarize= d the problem. Senators thought we had settled on something quite different than GoalQuest when we made repeated requests to the Administration for a new Recruitment Czar in the spring. Instead, we were suddenly presented with GoalQuest as a fait accompli. Moreover, VP Sanchez seems to feel faculty are delighted! No further discussion occurred = at this time due to: 1) the earlier discussion and, 2) VP Sanchez’s expe= cted visit to the next Senate meeting (see I.I. GoalQuest above and send your questions for VP Sanchez to ‘dl-gc-facsen= @gcmail.maricopa.edu’).

= B.     Nominating Committee Report

Senator Gwinn reported bal= lots will be distributed tomorrow. Balloting will close at Noon, Wednesday, Nove= mber 7.

= C.     Global Warming Issues and ‘Focu= s the Nation’

Senator Reavis informed Se= nate of the newly formed group on campus ‘Green Efforts’. The group will help facilitate and promote campus information on and efforts toward sustainability, recycling and awareness of environmental issues. They will = host a Focus the Nation event the last week of January, part of an effort to draw attention to climate change and to develop the will to make appropriate changes. Senator Reavis moved that Senate support Green Efforts and their F= ocus the Nation event at GCC. The motion passed.

D.&n= bsp;   Spe= cial Meeting: Outcome and Follow-up

President Daugherty descri= bed the response of our ‘no confidence in district technology’ vote. FEC was very supportive of our statement. They sent our statement to the other campuses and requested their immediate response before sending the statement to Chancellor Glasper. Alth= ough most other Senates were also supportive, not all agreed to the exact wordin= g. FEC altered the statement and Reyes will go directly to Chancellor Glasper = with our concerns (see I.G. FEC Report).

President Daugherty believ= es that Blackboard will be outsourced.

Senators voiced their conc= erns that our problems may be more fundamental, e.g. Blackboard will not work wi= th our hardware. Others questioned why FEC watered down our statement.

Senator Garcia received a = call from district with an offer to talk with Darryl Huish. He further noted he = does not want to talk; he wants the problems fixed!

III.      =        New Business

= A.    The Rule of Seven

ELC Reed reiterated the ne= w hiring committee rules, the ‘Rule of Seven’ presented by GCC Administration the day before (Oct. 22). President Green and Vice President Abel mandated the new hiring policy at t= he Chair Meeting. According to their new policy, hiring committees will consis= t of seven members: two outside members, one administrator and four members of t= he hiring department. (see I.G. FEC Report).

Discussion focused on the = changes in committee composition over time:

-&nb= sp;         A gradual increase in outside members, most = of whom are completely unable to judge the professional qualifications of candidates

-&nb= sp;         Administrators on committees pushing for cer= tain candidates, apparently based on their ‘charisma’

-&nb= sp;         Outside members have no vested interest in broader department functions

Others noted that Faculty = are responsible for instruction, including the hiring = of new instructors. Variation in hiring-committee size was mentioned, from relativ= ely small committees (less than seven) to some departments in which the majorit= y of the members participate in hiring committees. The system is not broken; why= do we need new rules? Moreover, why the sudden decision and where is shared governance? Senator Reed noted that shared governance is gone!

Robert Albury clarified di= strict rules on hiring committees: a minimum of two members - one man, one woman a= nd one minority (which could be either the man or woman). Usually committees consist of fewer than seven members.

After further discussion S= enate crafted and passed the following motion:

“Faculty value our active, primary= role in hiring our colleagues in our academic community. Therefore, the GCC Facu= lty Senate strongly objects to the implementation of the ‘Rule of Seven’ a= nd the precipitous manner in which it occurred.”

= B.     PBAC

ELC Reed suggested we requ= est an accounting of SIS and asked if Chairs and the Senate will stand together to stop funding SIS.

Senator Kadel noted he had= already planned to vote down any funding for SIS.

After some discussion, ELC= Reed formally moved and the Senate passed:

“The GCC Faculty Senate requests an accounting of SIS monies = allocated and spent on SIS over the last ten years, before the first PBAC meeting in November.”

= C.     Departmental Fees

ELC Reed suggested Senate = invite Regis Della-Calce, Director of Business Services and Herman Gonzalez, Manag= er College Fiscal Services to the next Senate meeting to discuss fee usage (se= e above, I.G. FEC Report).

President Daugherty stated= he will invite them.

IV.          &n= bsp; Inform= ation/Announcements

= A.    Behavioral Intervention Team – Senator Johnnie Clemens May moved this item to New Business, next meeting.

= B.     Senator Kadel informed Senate he forwarded the Online Remuneration recommendations.= The recommendations were received, but without any feedback.

V.          &nb= sp;     Senate Adjourned at 4:55 PM. Next meeting will be on November 29, 2:30 PM SU104BC.=