Glendale Community College Faculty Senate

Meeting of April 24, 2003

Approved Minutes

(Please note: General interest issues or meetings & notifications are listed below in bold to allow them to be located more easily.)

 

I.  General

 

A.        Call to Order:  A quorum being present, President Carmela Arnoldt called the meeting to order at 2:35 P.M.  Senators present included: President Carmela Arnoldt, Vice President John Griggs, Secretary Pamela Nelson and Treasurer Diana Abel as well as Larry Bohlender, Jim Daugherty, Amanda Dunnagan, Dianna Dwyer, Robert Hubbard, Gary Marrer, Cate McNamara, Alicia Ottenberg, Robert Reavis, Carl Samuels, and Bill Stewart. Newly elected or re-elected Senators present included: Fernando Garcia, Bob Hubbard, Steve Kadel, Cate McNamara, and Joy Wingersky.  Newly elected Executive Councilor-At-Large Jim Reed was also present.

 

B.         Introduction of Guests – including, but not limited to: Gay Garesché, Michael Holtfrerich, Christine Moore, Lyle Walcott, and John Winters. 

 

            C.        The proposed meeting agenda was adopted as amended.

 

            D.        The minutes of the February 27, 2003 meeting were approved.

 

E.         Diana Abel reported a balance of $17,371.74 for all accounts.  Abel has received several requests for payment, which she will process in the up-coming week.

 

            F.         President Arnoldt reported:

·        The Adjunct Association was considering a change in by-laws.  Active Adjunct Association on GCC campus has done a good job of fostering communication to the adjuncts.  Since almost 50% of full-time faculty have been adjuncts in the District, it is important to treat them well.

·        President Arnoldt brought a recent newspaper article that detailed some of the proposed budget changes for the state of Arizona to Senate’s attention. Senators were encouraged to review the article or the legislative information available to see what would be included or eliminated.

·        President Arnoldt complimented the successful move to the Administration Building.  She noted that further positive changes are occurring on the campus with respect to waste disposal cans and the over-all look of the grounds.

 

G.        FEC Report – President Arnoldt and Vice President Griggs reported:

·        FEC thanked Faculty for their support throughout the academic year.

·        FEC members have worked very hard this year representing the Faculty.

·        See below (Board Report) for more information.

 

H.        Governing Board report.  President Arnoldt, Vice President John Griggs, and FEC-Rep Jim Reed reported:

·        President Arnoldt thanked those who attended Tuesday’s Board meeting.

·        Discussion and details about the Tuesday, April 22nd Board Meeting followed.  Points of information and items of discussion included:

·        Board approved (3-2) a $5 increase in tuition after a confusing set of motions and amendments was discussed.

·        Board approved (5-0) all employees a step (if eligible) and 2 salary % increases.  Those at the top of the scale will receive 1% (the first increase in a long time). 

·        Should additional revenue become available from the State after adoption of the new budget, employees will receive an additional 1% (total=3%); those at the top of the scale would receive an additional 0.5% (total=1.5%)

·        President Arnoldt noted that the Board had decided to cover the 3% increase in costs associated with the increase in health insurance (Core Plan); however, Arizona State Retirement will begin taking approximately 3% more from employee paychecks.  In the end, the 3% awarded, if completed, covers the cost of this increased ASRS contribution.

·        Regarding the Meet & Confer process, following introductory remarks from Janice Reilly, Meet & Confer Co-Chair, each of the Campus Faculty Senate Presidents made a statement to the Board, followed by a statement from Meet & Confer Co-Chair Alan Haffa.  President Arnoldt read her statement to the Senate:

Following greetings to Board Members and introducing herself,

“I’d like to thank the Board members for many contributions and their commitment to public service and community college education.

 

Along with many of our Maricopa colleagues, GCC faculty has provided thousands of students with post-secondary education and other life-changing educational opportunities for almost four decades,

as you just witnessed by our own student ---- you’ve just heard from (gestured to where wheelchair bound GCC student had spoken a little earlier) Maricopa faculty are committed to maintaining our colleges’ reputation of academic quality, as test results, transfer numbers, and other measures of student success repeatedly show.

 

The MCCCD-sanctioned Faculty Association is obligated to speak for the will of its members.  Thus, I encourage you to show your respect for faculty efforts and, in compliance with the RFP, establish and adhere to a meaningful and sincere Meet & Confer process.

 

We do not wish an adversarial relationship; instead, we recognize that it is incumbent on Board members as public officials and us as professional educators to work cooperatively for the benefit of students and the community.  Thank you.”

 

·        Questions and statements from the Board followed the presentations. Meet & Confer Co-Chair Alan Haffa fielded these statements. During the discussion, Nancy Stein offered support of the faculty by urging the rest of the Board to “think outside the box” and find a workable solution to the current request that more closely followed the RFP. At one point, Board President Contreras asked GCC President Randolph to provide a brief history of the Meet & Confer Process.  Dr. Randolph’s summary helped to clarify the nature of the current request to adhere to process. 

·        The Board agreed, at the conclusion of the discussion, to set up a committee to begin “working on a Memorandum of Understanding for the Meet and Confer process.” (from Alan Haffa’s M&C Update, 04/24/03)

 

I.          Meet & Confer update. FEC Rep Jim Reed reported:

·        See above in Board Report.

·        The Meet & Confer team, including President Arnoldt, for 2003-2004 was elected at the 4/22 FEC meeting. 

 

II. Old Business

 

            A.        Retirement & Health Insurance –Arnoldt for Doug Dawson

·        Committee will distribute a follow-up survey soon.

·        Committee continues to put together figures showing the financially beneficial effect to the District.

 

B.         College Plan – John Griggs/ John Winters

·        Faculty Senate had received a copy of the current draft of the College Plan prior to the meeting.

·        Winters offered an opening statement on the amount of work and effort that had been put into the current document.  He recommended that the Faculty Senate consider adoption of the current draft and later return to reviewing portions that may need to be altered.  He noted that he had not received any word on the PSA section of the Plan and assumed that Senate should consider it part of the document.

·        Senator Carl Samuels presented each member of the Senate with a draft of different wording for section IIC of the Plan.  This draft included changes that would make the Department Chair Evaluations standardized as well as reported to their over-seeing Dean.  (The current draft views Dept. Chair Evaluations as a self-improvement evaluation similar to the FEP that is not necessarily forwarded to the Dean.) Considerable discussion followed regarding the potential for a Chair to misuse information from an evaluation in singling out or endangering the position of faculty, including:

·        Information was presented about one situation in which the Chair contacted faculty within a department in order to request their evaluation (obviously, at that point, no longer anonymous).  Concern was raised that this issue had not been brought to the attention of the Senate sooner.

·        Others argued that the Chair evaluation is meant to be useful for the Chair only, and is not meant to be sent to the administration.  Further arguments included the idea that the evaluation should be open enough so as to allow the Chair to ask questions of use to him/her and not as restrictive as would be a standardized form.

·        The point was raised that previous versions of the College Plan that had been considered under President Pollack contained more detailed language, including that proposed by Senator Samuels.  This wording had passed in a previous Senate, but the wording had been changed in later drafts.

·        President Arnoldt pointed out that parts of the Plan, in its current form under review, would no doubt be returned to Senate for later amendments. “You will see this again.”

·        A motion was made and seconded to “adopt the College Plan in its current form.”  The motion passed 10-3 (with 3 absent).  History of Senate has been that the previous (2002-2003) Senate serves through the Old Business and that the new Senators take over during New Business.

·        Senator Daugherty requested that the incoming Senate vote on the motion as well, since the Constitution says that the new Senators take their positions as soon as they are elected.  The motion again passed 9-4 (with 3 absent).

·        A question was raised as to whether the Executive Councilor-at-Large was a voting member of the Senate (The vote above would stand 10-4 (with 3 absent) if so).  President Arnoldt agreed to examine the legality of this vote and suggested Senate consider this issue in the Fall.

 

C.        Capital Planning Advisory Committee (CPAC) Report - Arnoldt

·        FEC asked every college to send a representative to CPAC.

·        College Presidents have been asked to present information at a retreat April 29 and May 2, next Tuesday and Friday.  GCC President Randolph will present information drawn from the Master Plan, Futures Committee, and the charges of the Higher Learning Commission (HLC).

·        President Arnoldt will attend the retreat.

·        Question remains about whether the District will request a Bond and at what amount.  Current discussions mention estimates of about $1 billion.  Comparisons to other districts and regions are being accumulated with respect to Bonds that have been passed, as well as acceptable levels of property taxation, etc.  At the latest, a Board decision must be made by February or March 2004.

·        Senator Samuels reminded Senate that the 1992 bond failed without the efforts of faculty and that the faculty drove the later 1994 successful bond.  He encouraged Senate to remind the Board of the necessity of Faculty support to pass the Bond.

 

D.        Appreciation of Retiring Senators - Arnoldt

·        Senate thanked retiring Senators Gary Marrer and Bill Stewart. 

·        President Arnoldt reminded Senate of the dedicated service of Kirt Shineman prior to his March resignation to devote more time to the GCC Forensics Team and informed Senate that the Team had earned 2nd place in the nation.

·        President Arnoldt also thanked Linda Smith (in absentia) for her service and activity on the Faculty Executive Council as the Rep-At-Large this past year.

 

III. New Business

 

A.        Installation of New Senators - Arnoldt

·        President Arnoldt welcomed returning Senators Hubbard and McNamara and thanked them for their continuing service.

·        President Arnoldt officially welcomed Senators Fernando Garcia, Steve Kadel, and Joy Wingersky.

·        Diana Abel was nominated to continue as Faculty Senate Treasurer.  A motion to accept was made and seconded.  The motion passed unanimously.

·        Pamela Nelson was nominated to continue as Faculty Senate Secretary. A motion to accept was made and seconded.  The motion passed unanimously.

·        Diana Abel volunteered to serve as the Senate-selected FEC Representative for 2003-2004.

 

B.         Scholarship Accounts – Committee Report

·        The full committee has not yet been able to look at the scholarship information provided.  Committee plans to have a report in the Fall.

·        President Arnoldt has a Scholarship Luncheon Program that lists all of the students who received one or more of the many GCC scholarships available.

 

C.        Proposed GCC Budget Process - Samuels

·         Senators received a packet that included a copy of the campus-wide message from President Randolph regarding the upcoming meeting and accompanying PowerPoint slides.  The official presentation on the Budget Proposal will be made Friday, May 2 from 1:00 to 3:00pm in the HT1-Teleconference Room.

·         President Arnoldt asked that Senator Samuels lead the Senate through the documents as an introduction to the new Budget process.  Senator Samuels explained the proposed flow of information that would accompany adoption of the new process.  The primary change in the process involves flow of information through three super committees (Instruction – as the primary concern of Faculty, Student Services and Admin/Operations).  The individual departments would present their requests to the appropriate super committees.  The super committees would then report their results and requests to the Presidents Budget Advisory Council (PBAC).

·         Senate requested some clarification of the information in the slides.  An opinion was expressed that the new policies seem to add more layers and make the process more difficult.  Another point was made that this plan seeks to utilize multiple-year planning cycles that would allow real budgeting (vs. spending).  Other discussion regarding the nature of the plan took place.

·         To close, President Arnoldt and Senator Samuels reminded Senate that this was a work in progress. Senators were encouraged to attend the up-coming budget planning meeting and to express the concerns and questions that had been raised.  Senator Samuels also requested that the Senate examine the unresolved questions at the bottom of the President’s message to consider what answers to these would be in the best interest of the Faculty.

·         Senators discussed the membership of the PBAC.  Senators, in general, felt that the committee should have at least 50% faculty representation.

 

D.        Establishment of ad hoc Employee Picnic Subcommittee - Arnoldt

·         Picnic to be held Friday, May 9th, 2003.

·         Jim Reed, Jim Daugherty, John Griggs, Diana Abel & Dianna Dwyer agreed to serve on the subcommittee.

·         Senate agreed that the Picnic should be held off-campus at the Park.

 

E.         Reimbursement for Travel Expenses - Griggs

·         Vice President Griggs requested that Senate consider granting the Faculty Senate President some reimbursement for the high numbers of travel miles required of the office.

·         A motion to “approve a $100 stipend to be granted to the Faculty Senate President” was made and seconded.

·         Discussion included that past Presidents had not been awarded such stipends, whether or not the reassigned time that comes with the office of President doesn’t somewhat help cover expenses, and whether or not $100 would come anywhere close to actually covering the expenses incurred.  Questions were also raised about how to determine what travel is required and what occurs at the choice of the President.  Further discussion included that, with respect to past leaders, progress (and the current gas prices) could allow payment, that allowing some stipend would make the job more attractive to those who might consider it in the future, and that a stipend would be far more attractive and much easier on the President than a detailed log of miles to be paid at the District rate.

·         During the discussion, President Arnoldt asked that the motion be recalled.  The request was refused.

·         Question was called.  Motion passed unanimously.  Arnoldt thanked Senate, but refused to accept the allocation.

 

IV.  Information

A.        Messages– President Arnoldt reported:

 

·        Senate received a note of thanks from Richard Rees for “Get Well” wishes sent after his surgery.

·        Senate received a note of thanks from Mentoring Program Director Trini Sandoval for Senate’s $500 funding of a recent Mentoring BBQ.

 

B.         Other Information – President Arnoldt reported:

·        She was pleased to have represented faculty at the Scholarship Luncheon and was able to congratulate many students; it was a great success, pairing students who received awards with both faculty and donors at the tables.

·        A Planning & Memorial ad hoc committee agreed to relocate Dr. Pollack’s commemorative plaque to the rose garden.  Each acknowledgement/memorial must now be individually approved by the committee on which the Faculty Senate President, a person connected to the person being recognized/ memorialized and members of the standing committee will serve.

·        College Wide Academic Achievement Committee (CWAAC) has published the executive summary for the past year.

·        Fall Convocation will take place on August 18th, the first day of Faculty Accountability.

·         

The meeting adjourned at 4:20 pm.

 

Next meeting of the GCC Faculty Senate will be held on September 25th at 2:30 pm.