District Academic Senate Executive Meeting
Thursday, July 23, 2009, 1:30-3:30 p.m.
Minutes
Attending: David Beaulieu, Angela Echeverri, June Smith, Rod Patterson, Kindra Kinyon, Tom Rosdahl,
Allison Moore, Alex Immerblum.
1. Call to Order and Approval of Agenda: Meeting was called to order by DAS President Beaulieu
at 1:42 pm.
2. Approval of Minutes for June 11 Meeting: Minutes were approved (Immerblum/Kinyon M/S/U)
3. Public Speakers: None
4. Leadership Changes in District: President Beaulieu discussed several major changes in district
leadership that have occurred this summer.
 Incumbent Trustee Angela Reddock lost her Board seat to challenger Tina Park. Trustee
Reddock was very involved in the African American Outreach Initiative and a strong
supporter of Project Match. Ms. Park is the first Korean-American to serve on the Board
of Trustees; she was sworn in by Councilman Michael Antonovich. At the same meeting,
Congresswoman Judy Chu came to swear in Trustees Miguel Santiago and Nancy
Pearlman. Ms. Chu is the first Chinese-American woman elected to Congress.
 Chancellor Mark Drummond has resigned effective the end of July. He served almost
two full years on his three-year contract. There has been no Board decision on the
timeline for the selection of his successor. There will probably be an interim chancellor
announced fairly soon, and it will take up to one year to complete the search for a
permanent chancellor.
 Mona Field is the new Board president and Georgia Mercer is the new vice president.
The Board needs to clarify whether an interim chancellor can apply for the permanent
chancellor position. Last time there were two college presidents, two faculty leaders,
and classified staff on the selection committee for chancellor. If Deputy Vice Chancellor
Barrera is appointed as interim chancellor, they need to establish whether someone will
be brought in to assist her.
 Pierce President Bob Garber has resigned from his position due to his son’s recent
health problems. Smith inquired about the process and timeline for filling presidential
vacancies at Pierce and Harbor. Beaulieu noted that it took almost one year to select a
president when President Weider retired from Valley.
5. DBC Report: Beaulieu reported on the DBC meeting that took place yesterday. The LACCD is
anticipating a budget reduction of $43.3 million for 2008-09 and 2009-2010. The initial proposal
from the Emergency Response Task Force to the DBC called for the cancellation of the winter
2010 intersession, furloughs for classified staff, and a seven day “shut down”. That was followed
by a second proposal to have a 50% reduction in winter (basic skills and critical path classes
only) and no furloughs. It was this second proposal that was adopted by the DBC, with the
amendment that the board be urged to look for other cuts in 09-10.
The total savings package to be presented to the Board include
Elimination of summer 2009 classes
GASB allocation for 08-09, and 09-10
Health Benefits savings
Winter intersession 2010 Reductions (w/o cancellation)
Pro-rata allocation of cuts to campuses and DO
$7,500,000
$9,000,000
$8,000,000
$3,750,000
$4,000,000
Total savings and adjustments
$32,250,000
Some of the additional proposals that have been discussed to cover the shortfall include:
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Using the contingency reserve
Estimated 2 day furlough
Estimated 4.5 day furlough
Campus reductions to categorical programs
$11,077,712
$ 1,622,000
$ 3,649,500
$10,000,000
This is in addition to another $12 million in categorical cuts.
Smith stated that winter sessions are financially rewarding because all faculty are compensated
on a part-time (hourly) basis. Beaulieu replied that if you cut fall or spring sessions, you also cut
hourly, so there is no difference. However, normally in winter the class size average is said to be
around 45, while the district average for the main terms is 35. Beaulieu added that the Board
needs to make a decision on additional cuts by the middle of September. Colleges need to know
what to do about spring and summer sessions next year. The thinking is that because of
unemployment, CSU cutbacks, and other conditions, it will be easier to fill classes than under
normal circumstances.
Beaulieu announced that John Delloro and Kenadi Li from the Dolores Huerta Labor Institute
have now been hired permanently.
There was a discussion of faculty hiring at the campuses. Patterson mentioned that West
suspended all full-time hires. Rosdahl stated Pierce hired ten faculty in the spring and will hire
18 in the fall. Immerblum stated that East hired ten faculty members. Smith added that Harbor
lost six faculty and may hire three; the campus is down to 54 full-time faculty. Moore stated that
Southwest hired six.
6. Bond Program Report/Summit Planning: President Beaulieu reported that the Los Angeles
Times reporters Michael Finnegan and Gale Holland interviewed him for three hours on Monday
about the LACCD bond program. They will be interviewing several district leaders, including
Larry Eisenberg, Ernie Moreno, Mark Rocha. They inquired about the planned solar power
purchase agreements with Edison and Department of Water and Power (DWP) and how they
would be financed. They have requested a large number of documents from Build LACCD Public
Relations representative Stu Silverstein. Beaulieu said they are also clearly interested in the
question of contracts. Beaulieu’s concerns are more related to some of Mr. Eisenberg’s energy
proposals (e.g., hydrogen fuel cells) and the compensation and/or qualifications of some of the
energy team consultants. Procurement practices in the district need to be looked at because it’s
being alleged that some people are doing procurement deals with the vendors after having
worked with them.
Smith announced that three new buildings at Harbor (Technology, North East Campus, and
Student Services Administration) will require an additional $2 million dollars to correct several
costly mistakes. She added that property acquisition plans for Harbor would have cost $50
million; the president has decided not to go forward. Immerblum stated that East lost $16
million because it failed to get timely DSA approval for one of its projects. He added that the
Design Build Process can be very dangerous because the builder user groups have very little
time to submit all pertinent information, and deadlines are not always announced in a timely
manner. He argued that it would be helpful for the DAS to have a position about appropriate
timelines.
Beaulieu explained that the bond program has a performance and a financial auditor. Some
consultant contracts are troubling, with one individual being paid up to $650,000 for 18 months.
Moore added that the performance auditor would look at what he did, but the financial audit
would probably not pick up on it because it is not a large portion of the total expenditures.
The LACCD Bond Steering Committee has more than a dozen members, including:
College Presidents
Chip Delaine (Trade)
Faculty
David Beaulieu (DAS)
District
Mark Drummond
BuildLACCD
Cindy Reilly
Jack Daniels (SW)
Don Gauthier (DAS)
Adriana Barrera
Tom Hall
Jamillah Moore (City)
John McDowell (AFT)
Camille Goulet
James Sohn
Jeanette Gordon
Dan Minka
Larry Eisenberg
Two public relations
Staff members
Beaulieu stated that Cindy O’Reilly has been identified as both a Build LACCD auditor as well as Mr.
Eisenberg’s appointment secretary, though he’s unclear about this. (Editor’s note: This is inaccurate.
O’Reilly is not an auditor. Nor are BuildLACCD staff members of the committee.) Dan Minka is Mr.
Eisenberg’s secretary. Tom Hall is the Facilities Director under Eisenberg. Beaulieu suggested
examining the composition of the Bond Steering Committee and its meeting times, and Deputy Vice
Chancellor Barrera has suggested also reexamining the charge of the committee. Beaulieu added
there is also a Citizen Oversight Committee that meets.
The 2009 Summit will take place on Friday, September 25th from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm and will be
devoted entirely to bond issues. Beaulieu has met with Larry Eisenberg to put a preliminary
agenda together. Immerblum suggested discussing the latest innovations in classroom design.
Beaulieu asked DAS members to think about which faculty should participate. This year the
summit can accommodate up to 18 attendees per campus: 8-10 faculty and 8-10 administrators,
for a total of 180 participants.
Smith inquired about the ethics probe of Trustee Kelly Candaele. Beaulieu explained that Mr.
Candaele accepted a contribution for his reelection from an agency doing business with the city
while he also sat on the city’s pension board. Mayor Villaraigosa asked him to resign from the
board a couple of months ago, according to an article in the Los Angeles Times. There has also
been concern involving his co-sponsorship of a Jack Weiss’s fundraiser.
7. Accreditation Update: The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC)
sanctioned all three city-side colleges at its June 2009 meeting. The three colleges completed
their self-studies last fall and had their accreditation visits in the spring. Trade and City were
placed on probation; East is on warning. The Los Angeles Times published an inaccurate editorial
about the district’s accreditation problems this week. They falsely claimed that City and Trade
had no program review going on. That’s not at all true. Beaulieu reported that a short version of
Vice Chancellor Gary Colombo’s response will be printed in tomorrow’s newspaper. There is a
lot of concern about Trade’s problems, because they seem to be the most pervasive. Senate
President Kinyon stated that Trade was making progress in the area of program review and SLOs
and that the senate is in charge of program review now. Program viability was formerly run by
the administration; now a faculty member (Chini Johnson-Taylor) will be in charge. Kinyon
stated that they need to make more progress on SLOs; three individuals will be working as a
team. There was no Accreditation Steering Committee at Trade. One faculty member was
getting 1.6 reassigned time for coordinating all accreditation matters. Because of Trade’s shared
governance problems, the chancellor arranged for former San Bernardino Chancellor Don Averill
and former ASCCC President Kate Clark from Irvine Valley College to visit the campus to provide
assistance. They prepared a report and met with Deputy Vice Chancellor Barrera, Vice
Chancellor Colombo, and Beaulieu on Wednesday. One of the recommendations of the ACCJC
and the report by Clark and Averill, was that boundaries need to be established between the
senate and union. Trade must identify in what areas their responsibilities overlap and what
constitutes encroachment. Smith suggested examining memorandums of understanding (MOUs)
between senates and unions. Rod Patterson stated he would e-mail DAS members the MOUs
between the senate and union at West. He added that while the Distance Education and
Technology Committees are under the senate, they have AFT seats.
Beaulieu reported that there is an ad hoc committee headed by Rebecca Tilberg from West who
is reporting to the District Planning Committee (DPC) and is examining program review
instruments. Finally, the best news on the accreditation front is that the ACCJC took Southwest
College off probation.
8.
Report on Sustainability/CTE Meetings for Stimulus Grants: Vice Chancellor Marvin Martinez
and Chito Cajayon are helping coordinate the LACCD’s application for $18 million in federal
stimulus money with Kathleen Bimber and Beaulieu.
9. Union Issues: There was a concern about classified sitting on faculty hiring panels. A dean at
Trade believed that the new classified contract required classified voting representatives on
faculty hiring and also tried to place a voting student member on the committee. That is not the
case, though the language was unclear. Acting Chancellor Barrera was helpful in getting things
clarified. Classified representation can take place on administrator hiring panels. They have to
request participation, and the college president can accept or deny the request.
10. SSISC Report: None.
11. DAS Reorganization Proposals
 Workload for DAS President and Vice President: David Beaulieu stated that his
workload is such that he’s not able to use a large number of his unpaid days. He
reported that Eloise Crippens has been doing equivalencies at .4 on D basis. He has
thought of stepping down from co-chairing DBC. He discussed the feasibility of
publishing the DAS Newsletter Academically Speaking twice a year instead of four
times. $1,200 per issue is budgeted for editing, which Deborah Kaye has done for
several years.
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Two Vice President Suggestion (not discussed)
EPAC Title Change Proposal (not discussed)
Other Reforms (not discussed)
12. Proposed Future Actions and Announcements: The Board of Trustees is meeting next week.
We should have some news about the interim chancellor position and the president at Pierce.
Moore inquired whether faculty typically sign in and sign out for FLEX day to ensure
participation. Beaulieu suggested having a raffle at the end of the day. If faculty don’t attend,
they must turn in an illness card. Patterson mentioned that Jack Kaiser will be the keynote
speaker at West’s Flex Day.
The next Exec meeting will be Thursday, August 20th at 10:00 am. Otherwise, we will continue to
meet on the fourth Thursdays of each month and keep the second Thursdays open for full DAS
meetings.
13. Adjourn: Meeting was adjourned at 4:07 pm.
Minutes submitted respectfully by DAS Secretary Angela Echeverri