Approved Faculty Senate Minutes
9/28/2000
I. Call to Order
A. A quorum being
present, President Reed called the Senate to order
at 2:33 in the HTC1 Teleconference Room.
Present: President Jim Reed; Vice President Carmela Arnoldt;
Senators
Renée Barstack, Larry Bohlender, Jim Daugherty, Paul
DePippo, Gay
Garesche, Patricia Hofer, Robert Hubbard, Phil Moloso, David
Raffaelle,
Jack Rose, Jeanne
Saint-Amour, Kirt Shineman, Bill Stewart; and
Councilor-at-large Linda
Smith.
Absent: None
Guests: Including, but not limited to, Lyle Walcott, Ruth
Callahan, and
Richard Cary.
B. Arnoldt moved
to approve the agenda. (Garesché
seconded) DePippo
asked whether he could address Reed's "One Agenda,
Please" letter read
to the Board 9/26/2000 under Communication with
Administration, II.A.
It was agreed.
Motion to approve agenda as amended PASSED unanimously.
C. Arnoldt moved
to approve the minutes of 8/31/2000.
(Smith
seconded) Numerous
corrections were requested. DePippo
moved that the
minutes from 8/31, 9/14 and 9/21 be approved at the next
meeting.
(Hubbard seconded) Concern was expressed that this would
delay when the
faculty would receive the minutes. Motion to approve at next meeting
FAILED. Yeas:
DePippo, Hubbard, Moloso. Nay:
Daugherty, Arnoldt,
Stewart, Smith, Shineman, Rose, Saint-Amour, Garesché,
Bohlender,
Barstack. Abstain:
Rafaelle, Hofer. Motion to approve the
8/31 minutes
as amended
PASSED unanimously.
Arnoldt moved to
approve the minutes of the 9/14 Senate meeting.
(Daugherty seconded)
Motion to approve as amended PASSED unanimously.
Daugherty moved
to approve the minutes of the 9/21 Senate meeting.
(Barstack seconded)
Motion to approve as amended PASSED unanimously.
D. Treasurer's
Report - Treasury balance of $15,551,50, with one
outstanding check of $2,112.50 to District Faculty Assn for
cash
memberships. Smith
asked why the Faculty/Staff Development Committee
has not received the $600 the Senate approved towards the
presentation
of "The Gift" and the tree. Moloso said he has not been presented with
a
bill or a receipt.
He needs one in order to write a check.
GCC's Faculty
Assn membership has risen to 130.5.
Moloso indicated
that he is resigning from the Senate as of the end
of the meeting. He is
also declining his nomination to the Staffing
Committee.
E. President's
Report
1. Reed has
discussed with President Pollack how the Senate and
faculty could meet with her and the deans. President Pollack
offered to pay for breakfasts, if the Senate would like to
meet at
7:00a.m.
2. The
Kellogg Foundation has declined the Los Vecinos project.
There is no intention to submit the grant proposal elsewhere
at this
time.
3. Reed has
some materials from MCC concerning their campus
climate study. He
will make them available.
4. At a PEC
debriefing concerning the 9/18 Board meeting
Arnoldt, attending with Reed, suggested identifying an
editor for President Pollack's memos.
5. Reed
wanted to halt some rumors that the Counseling Dept. is
to move under a different dean and how it was that Susan
High ran
unopposed for chair of the Counseling Dept. He said that another
faculty member had also been nominated for chair, but that
he had
withdrawn his name.
Hence, she was unopposed.
6. Reed has
sent flowers to Toni McClory and to Ann
Brandt-Williams following their surgeries.
II. Old Business
A. Communication
with Administration (Breakfast) - Arnoldt suggested
breakfast meetings might be another
appeasement. Senate
was reminded of its earlier decision to not have
the President at
Senate meetings because it makes them too long. Rather we had agreed to
meet
on other Thursday afternoons that are not the fourth
Thursday of the
month. To start,
Reed will ask that she meet with the Senate only, and
without her deans.
The topics will be announced later.
It was
suggested that Joseph
Bednorz could help with the meetings.
DePippo made a
few comments about "One Agenda, Please". (See
Attachment 1). 1).
It should have been reviewed by the Senate, despite
the disclaimer. The
Senate president is always perceived to be speaking
for
the faculty. 2). The
history of faculty going after Board members is
not
good. It has always
harmed faculty. (He gave example). 3) The letter
puts the faculty between a Board member and a high level
administrator.
4). When the letter states "We strongly support our
President and
Deans...", this type of unqualified support could be
interpreted as
license. 5.) The
faculty appear to be allied with other employee
groups. To treat
faculty as another employee group is to diminish
faculty's power.
Arnoldt said we
can't expect other employee groups would agree with
our request to change a hard won process. We would not like the process
circumvented by other employee groups. She further commented that
Eastin and Pollack's is not our agenda.
Saint-Amour said
she supports our campus against any outside
interference, however that is not to say that she supports
the
administration's policies without qualification. She said she is
concerned that having gone to the PEC and having the PEC
over-rule the
Senate is clearly a loss of faculty power. She expressed concern about
what this could do to education. As educators, faculty know more about
instruction than any other employee group on campus.
Garesché was
gratified to hear the Chancellor say that all employees
have areas in which they are the appropriate decisionmakers. He
repeated that statement towards the end of the 9/18 Board
meeting at
GCC. He
clearly gave support to the principle of shared governance.
Hubbard asked
Reed why he didn't ask Senate to review the letter.
Reed
said he didn't see himself as representing faculty. He wanted to take a
stand. Hubbard
advised Reed that he can't beat the Board, and that Reed
placed the
faculty in jeopardy.
He said the Senate president "can't step out of
your skin", as he and Paul know, having been Senate
presidents.
Daugherty said no
one disagreed with Reed at the 9/18 Board
meeting.
Reed said he
"will bridle his tongue henceforth".
B. Nomination
Committee for Two Senators - Daugherty attempted to
reconvene the nomination committee from last spring. Two of the
non-Senate members declined to serve. Last spring Pat Haas served as a
Senator on the committee.
He has agreed to serve as a non-Senate member
of the committee now.
The new nominating committee to be Senators
Daugherty
and Hubbard, and non-Senators Pat Haas, Richard Cary and
Steve Emrick.
Moloso
recommended preferential balloting for the election. He
enumerated its advantages.
Daugherty cited Robert's Rules as saying
that preferential balloting is not ideal if a run-off is
possible.
Smith indicated that the Constitution indicates that the
nominating
committee decides the type of balloting and that
preferential balloting
is given as an alternative voting method in the
Constitution, and that
previous research by the elections committee indicated that
elections
with few candidates for a small number of slots were
adversely affected
by preferential voting.
C. Faculty
Mentoring/ Faculty Picnic - The decision was made to hold
the
picnic indoors.
(Noted that it is no longer a picnic then). It will
make
it easier to sign up faculty in the Faculty Assn. It is to be held in
the Student Lounge at 1:00 p.m.
Meetings are
being planned by the Faculty/Staff Development
Committee to provide mentoring to new faculty.
Current plans are for a meeting in October, one in November,
and perhaps
as many as three in the spring.
III.B. Voting on email - (item taken out of order) Discussion followed
concerning whether the Senate should discuss and vote on
issues on
email. Hofer explained
that she didn't see the item, that the Senate
attempted to vote on before the 9/14 meeting was called
instead, until
the vote had been taken.
She suggested that we need some rules.
Perhaps it would work if the
Senate president gives a 72 hour vote warning. It would require a
change
in the Constitution.
Informal polls among Senators would be fine in
some cases. Some Senators felt
that the email approach doesn't seem to allow for
discussion. Bohlender
spoke in favor. He
said GCC has a computer package called Perception in the HTC
for
polling. Shineman
commented that technology is a problem in
communication.
People appear to be willing to say things in an email
that they would never say in person. Shineman moved to create a
committee to look into the possibility of using email for
Senate votes.
(Smith seconded)
Moloso commented that if an issue is not important, it
can wait until the next Senate meeting. If it is important, the
Executive Committee can decide. Richard Cary suggested that it is not a
good way to represent the faculty, as it amounts to a secret
ballot.
Smith thought it would shorten the lengthy Senate
agendas. Motion to
create committee PASSED unanimously. Committee to be chaired by
Bohlender; members Hofer, Saint-Amour and Shineman.
II. Old Business (continued)
D. Communication
with Faculty - Moloso distributed lists of faculty
assigned to each Senate member to keep in touch with this
year. The
list doesn't indicate which faculty belong to the Faculty
Assn and which
don't.
E. Campus Forum -
The next Campus Forum will be two weeks from
today.
It will continue the discussion on ethics. Next topic: whether campus
safety
officers should carry firearms.
F. Recruitment -
Covered above.
G. Dual
Enrollment - The campus meeting on dual enrollment was
rescheduled to October
20th. Hubbard asked
how Garesché became a
member of the Legislature's Dual Enrollment Study
Committee. Garesché
replied that the governor had requested her resumé and
appointed her.
H. Donation for
"the Gift" and tree - Covered above
III. New Business
A. Campus Climate
Survey - Garesché moved that a committee be
created to gather information about campus climate surveys.
Reed and
Arnoldt informed Senate about how the results of the first
part of MCC's
campus climate survey were returned to the campus
administration, which
was able to identify respondents who made unfavorable
comments. There
appears to have been retribution. Hubbard asked who would pay for the
survey. He is
concerned that if we don't pay, we won't get to call the
shots. The College
is to pay. Comments made to the effect
that if
Senate
identifies good options for the survey, we can affect what
instrument is
used. Motion to form
committee PASSED unanimously. Members:
Reed,
Smith, Barstack, Garesché, Lamkin and Arnoldt.
C. Referenda
Resolution - Several Senators thought the proposed
language was too open-ended. It appeared every vote would need to be
taken
to the faculty for approval. Daugherty suggested the Senate would
decide what is "significant". It was suggested that it might raise
faculty's expectations
unreasonably. Moloso
thought the Constitution's passage on which
Daugherty based his proposal was intended to allow faculty
to overturn
Senate decisions.
Perhaps polling or straw polls is what the Senate
could use.
Hubbard moved to table the proposal. (Barstack seconded) Yeas:
Arnoldt, Stewart, Smith, Shineman, Rafaelle, Rose,
Saint-Amour,
Garesché, Hubbard, Bohlender, DePippo, Moloso,
Barstack. Abstain:
Daugherty.
D. Faculty Code
of Ethics - A District committee is forming to
address this.
Saint-Amour pointed out that as academics, we have the
expertise to write a code of
ethics. Hubbard
mentioned that the Professional Rights &
Responsibilities Committee had made recommendations to the
administration. Reed
asked whether it had to have teeth in order to
have an effect.
Hubbard agreed. DePippo pointed
out that the
Professional Rights & Responsibilites Committee's
purpose was only to
settle issues between
faculty.
E. Bookstore
Follow-up - Smith received information that the episode
she described at the previous Senate meeting will not be
repeated. The
bookstore manager has agreed that study guides/other
materials
recommended by the bookstore staff will not be placed with
faculty
required texts.
F. Slate Process
- Garesché reminded the Senate that we had agreed
to consider ways to improve the process for generating
committee
slates. Garesché
proposed to put forward a
recommendation by email before the next Senate meeting.
Reed mentioned
that a proposed member of the Student Services
Subcommittee of the Budget Committee has declined the
appointment. Reed
will put forward the next
name on the list by email.
IV. Information
A. Book for New
Faculty - Smith showed the Senate a book that the
Faculty/Staff Development Committee proposed to purchase for
each
new faculty member. The book is "Advice for New Faculty
Members", by
Robert Boice. The
price is $25.20/copy. She will make a
motion at the
next meeting.
B. Campus
information request - Dean Abel has asked how she could
find out what we need to be more effective.
C. Response to
Kozak - Arnoldt suggested that the Senate formulate a
response to Scott Kozak's letter to the campus following the
9/18
meeting. Comments
followed to the effect that PEC is the problem, not
Kozak. Hubbard
mentioned that
PEC is eroding our (the Senate's) power. DePippo said the PEC weakens
the power of the faculty.
Faculty are grossly underrepresented on PEC.
Garesché said that while they decide things by consensus on
the PEC, the
small number of faculty cannot carry the argument in a large
committee.
That was our experience on the Budget Committee that lead
the Budget
Process Review Team to make the number of faculty equal to
the number of
other employee group members on the committee. Bohlender likened the
PEC to the Senate of the U.S., where each state has equal
representation, irrespective of its size. This underrepresents a
large employee group, like the faculty.
D. 9/18 Board
Meeting Tape - Arnoldt mentioned that a videotape is
available of the 9/18 Board meeting here at GCC. DePippo mentioned that
every department chair also has been given a copy.
E. Buyback - Doug
Dawson brought forward a problem with the buyback
of years for the State Retirement System. He requested that the FEC
members ask that the Faculty Assn lawyer, Mike Napier, look
into
possible problems with the IRS for faculty who are buying
back years and
making contributions to a TSA account. The issue has already been taken
to the FEC.
V. Meeting adjourned 5:09.
Respectfully submitted,
Gay Garesché
Attachment 1
Dear Colleagues:
The presidents of our campus employee associations met
several days ago
and drafted the following letter. I then took the letter to the Board
last evening and read it at the citizens' interim. I made it quite
clear that these words came ONLY from the five individuals
listed at the
bottom of the letter.
Although other opinions we're quite certain
exist, we felt a very definite need, and took this
opportunity, to
express ours--complete with title.
"Only One Agenda, Please!
We find it truly unfortunate that more than one agenda was
being
entertained at Glendale Community College's meeting with the
Chancellor
and Governing Board.
While four of the five Board Members as well as
the Chancellor pledged their support to our President Dr.
Pollack, Board
President Gene Eastin seized upon this opportunity to dredge
up issues
from the past and called for her resignation. In so doing, Mr. Eastin
did not act in accordance with the directive from NCA, nor
did he move
forward in a spirit of reconciliation, but chose rather to
undermine
NCA's clearly stated recommendations.
For many of us in attendance this provided an all too real
example of
the unprofessional and inappropriate behavior we have grown
to abhor and
will no longer tolerate among our GCC administration,
faculty, or staff.
Such actions and comments are even less tolerable from the
individual
who was elected to objectively govern--not micro-manage--the
number one
community college district in the United States.
Our employee groups began this term in a very upbeat
fashion, and we as
their elected leadership refuse to waiver from our
college-wide
commitment to develop community. We look forward to another
year of
shared governance as we continue to serve the needs of our
students
through our Mission and our tradition of educational
excellence. We
strongly support our President and Deans as we further our
productive
dialogues and develop more effective programs to better
serve the needs
of our students and community."
James W. Reed, Ph.D.,
President of the Faculty Senate
Scott Kozak, President of the Professional Staff Association
Herman Gonzalez, President of the Management, Administrative,
and
Technological Employee Association
Bruce Morrison, President of the Crafts Employee Association
Mario Quezada, President of the Maintenance and Operations
Employee
Association