Glendale Community College Faculty Senate

Meeting of September 23, 2004

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 2:30 P.M.  Senators present included: President Carmela Arnoldt, Vice-President Jim Reed, Treasurer Jim Daugherty and Secretary Pam Nelson, as well as Senators Larry Bohlender, Doug Brenner, Paula Davis, Fernando García, Rachelle Hall, Robert Hubbard, Steve Kadel, Connie LaBuhn, Carlos Nuñez, Alicia Ottenberg, Robert Reavis, Frank Rivera and Joy Wingersky. Executive Councilor-at-Large David Rodriguez was also present.

 

B.         Introduction of Guests – including, but not limited to, Ruth Callahan, Claire Englehart, Frank Gonzalez, Walter Kehowski, Mary Jane Onnen and Lyle Walcott.  President Arnoldt informed Senate that Governing Board Member Scott Crowley was called to work an extra shift; his visit with Senate today was rescheduled to December 2, 2004.

 

      C.        The proposed meeting agenda was adopted as amended. 

 

      D.        The minutes from the September 2, 2004 meeting were approved unanimously.

 

      E.         Treasurer Daugherty reported a balance of $15,681.42 for all accounts.

 

      F.         President Arnoldt reported:

·        President Arnoldt informed Senate that a review of the District MEMO/Web policies was underway.  New versions will require employee group approval, and then will be sent out to all Maricopa for review.  President Arnoldt encouraged Senators to review the document carefully.

·        President Arnoldt informed Senate that the possibility of changing MCCD College Safety Dept’s to College Police Dept’s was discussed at the District level.  An initial estimate of $3.5 million to institute the plan at the 10 campuses was mentioned.  Senate discussed the potential ramifications if MCCD chooses to change College Security (safety officers) to College Police (police officers).  The first vote on this will likely take place at CEC (the Chancellor’s Executive Committee); FEC will discuss the issue further.

·        Twelve-month pay option for faculty has been approved to begin on July 1st, 2005.  President Arnoldt has not received detailed information on implementation (i.e., whether the faculty will be paid in July or on an August-to-August basis).

·        President Arnoldt requested that should Senators have any concerns about the method used for choosing PBAC members that they be raised during today’s meeting. (No issues were later brought up.)

 

G.  FEC (Faculty Executive Council) Report - Vice-President Reed

·        FEC will continue to request terminating the current FIPP (Faculty in Progress Pilot) program.  FEC and V.C. Solley will review after the entire FIPP Committee meets.

·        Vice-President Reed reported a good turn out and a “lively discussion” at Dr. Glasper’s speech at the Orpheum Theater on 9/21.

·        Vice-President Reed encouraged Senators to read through the new Faculty Association brochure that Faculty will receive shortly.

 

H.     Governing Board Report.  President Arnoldt reported:

·        GCC’s report to the Board is scheduled for 9/28.  President Arnoldt thanked Senate for their contribution to building the list of topics.

 

II. Old Business

A. College Plan Review Subcommittee – Daugherty

·        President Arnoldt reminded Senate that GCC President Randolph is still reviewing last semester’s College Plan revision.

·        Senator Daugherty informed Senate that the subcommittee had not yet met, but that they would meet prior to the next Senate meeting. 

·        Senator Daugherty reminded Senate that Dr. Carl Samuels will be invited to serve on the ad hoc committee to assist in the process of developing administrative reviews.

 

B.  EEOC Ruling – FEC Executive-Councilor-At-Large Rodriguez

·        Exec-Councilor-At-Large Rodriguez reported no new information.

·        President Arnoldt informed Senate that she had obtained FEC approval to obtain legal advice about the current situation.  However, when she contacted Mike Napier (Fac Assn lawyer), she was informed that he could not discuss the case because he was already in the process of working with a Phoenix College group whose case involved events and people at GCC.  Thus, if Senate should request legal counsel, an outside attorney will have to be hired.

·        President Arnoldt reminded Senate that all District employees are covered by the indemnity clause that precludes an individual from being sued for work done as an agent of the District. 

·        Senate discussed the EEOC & HLC process briefly.

·        The following motion was made and seconded: “Move that Senate move into executive session following the regular session.”  Motion passed unanimously.

 

C.  Faculty Committee Service Review - Arnoldt

·        President Arnoldt informed Senate that she had received a “couple of dozen” responses to the Committee Review questionnaire. 

·        President Arnoldt reminded Senate that the review was taking place because of the noted variety in parameters, schedules, and accountability among different committees on campus.

·        President Arnoldt suggested that questionnaires should be returned no later than November 1st and reminded Senate that additional information about college committees, which would be useful in filling out the questionnaire, can be found in the Faculty and Staff Handbook.

 

 

III. New Business

 

A. GCC Faculty Travel Request Processor - Arnoldt

·        The potential value of having one campus person handle all travel requests has been discussed.  Some departments already have one person responsible for filing all travel documents.  One person would make the process more consistent and efficient.

·        The following motion was made and seconded: “Move that Senate recommend to the administration that a single person be assigned to the duty of processing travel requests for Faculty in order to improve the efficiency, security, and accountability of the process.”  The motion passed unanimously.

 

B. Faculty Offices - Bohlender

·        As space is at a premium, 49% faculty and faculty on sabbatical may be asked to share or give up their offices. This situation has come up recently in a case where someone on sabbatical nearly had the office appropriated.  This situation was resolved prior to the office being entered, but the issue the question of Faculty rights with respect to office and office space.

·        District RFP (Residential Faculty Policies) guarantees “office space,” but not necessarily a private office.

·        Senate discussed the possibility of Faculty having their office entered/altered while they were on sabbatical and found this unacceptable.  Senators agreed that Faculty should be contacted and kept informed of office policies and the possibility or necessity to share offices throughout the process.  Senator Bohlender agreed to write a motion that would state Senate’s position and bring it to Senate’s next meeting.

 

 

 

C.  GCC Presidential Search Committee - Arnoldt

·        President Arnoldt informed Senate that Dr. Glasper has requested a meeting with her regarding the search committee that will select GCC President Randolph’s replacement.

·        It has been suggested that an external search firm might be used to augment the search along with the internal Maricopa committee.

 

IV. Information

 

A.    New Student System - Nelson

·        Senator Nelson expressed concern regarding recent messages received by Senate from a Faculty member that implied there may be serious problems with the forthcoming NSS.

·        Senator Daugherty informed Senate that the concerns had been raised by an incident at another university in which the system inadvertently excluded a large number of students from the registration system and caused them to lose their Financial Aid.  The developers of the system are aware of the problem and are working to correct it.

·        Target release date is mid-March.  This date has been chosen so that the system will go on-line between semesters rather than at a key enrollment period.  The system will be used to register students for Summer and Fall 2005.

·        Over-all, confidence is high that the system will function as expected.

 

B.  Faculty and Faculty Senate Listening Sessions - Arnoldt

·        President Arnoldt reminded Senators to encourage all faculty to attend the All Faculty or All Campus discussions on the Campus Climate report.

·        The dates of the Listening Sessions are as follows:

·        Meeting with Faculty Senate: Sept. 30 (Thurs.) 2:30-4:00 p.m. - Student Lounge

·        Meeting with ALL Faculty: Oct. 1 (Fri.) 1:00-2:30 p.m. – Student Lounge

·        Meeting with All Campus: Oct. 6 (Wed.) 2:00-4:00pm

 

Meeting was adjourned at 3:45 pm.

 

Senate re-convened in Executive Session.

 

Next meeting of the GCC Faculty will take place at the regularly scheduled week and time on October 28th @ 2:30pm.