District Academic Senate Executive Meeting
April 28, 2011, 1:30-3:30 pm
District Office
Minutes
Attendance: David Beaulieu, Kathleen Bimber, Ken Sherwood, Angela
Echeverri, Alex Immerblum, Don Gauthier, Pamela Watkins, Adrienne
Foster
Guest: Vice Chancellor Yasmin Delahoussaye
1. Call to Order and Approval of Agenda: Meeting was called to order at 1:40
pm.
2. Approval of Minutes DAS Executive Meetings of 2/24/11 and 3/24/11:
Minutes for both meetings were approved with corrections (MSP).
3. Public Speakers: None
4. Student Success Issues: Delahoussaye discussed a Vice President initiated
district wide priority registration proposal. She has been working with Cathy
Iyemura on the projected FTES for 2011-12. With the state budget cuts we
expect to lose about 40,000 (head count) and a significant number of
students will be cut off from services. She presented a proposal for a
different registration priority process. The proposed priority would be as
follows:
a. Students who have priority by statute (EOPS, DSPS, etc.)
b. Continuing students
c. New students
d. Continuing students not making satisfactory progress
e. Concurrently enrolled high school students
Bimber agreed that students should be making progress in their educational
plans in order to have priority registration. Delahoussaye stated that a state
committee is working toward mandating assessment and orientation. She
asked the DAS Executive Committee to support the Priority Registration
proposal. Immerblum replied the proposal needs to go back to the campuses.
He again expressed concern about students from other areas enrolling at
East during the summer. Delahoussaye replied that the data shows that
summer students from outside of East’s boundaries were less successful.
The Board currently sets priority registration districtwide based on units.
Budget Update-The DBC Executive Committee (formerly the FPRC) has
three faculty representatives: David Beaulieu, Carl Friedlander and John
McDowell; Allison Moore is an alternate. The committee also includes college
presidents Kathleen Burke-Kelly and Jack Daniels, classified representative
Velma Butler (or Dorothy Rowe), Deputy Chancellor Adriana Barrera, Vinh
Nguyen as a resource, and Jeanette Gordon as the chair. The DBC Executive
met two days ago and will be meeting now on a regular basis; its minutes are
presented to the DBC. The most recent budget news indicates we should
expect a 10% cut and not 15%. (roughly $50 million). A 5% cut would mean a
reduction of $23,350,063. At 10% we would lose $27,664,477.. Furlough days
are one way to balance the budget in response to the cuts. Foster asked
about the repercussions for not meeting the Full Time obligation number
(FON). The DBC has recommended that we meet the FON at a minimum.
Immerblum argued it should be a recommended policy to rehire for
replacements. Sherwood felt it isn’t possible to replace faculty if you have to
cut 10% and you have already cut hourly. A 6.8% workload reduction is
expected. Beaulieu stated we may have to look at other steps (aside from
reduced faculty hiring), such as furloughs. Travel allowance and cell phones
should be considered for cuts as well as a furlough after Christmas for
everyone and shutting down the colleges to save money.
District Strategic Plan Kick-off: Will take place on Tuesday, May 24 from 14 pm. Five DAS members volunteered: Don Gauthier, Adrienne Foster,
Angela Echeverri, David Beaulieu, and Tom Rosdahl.
Achieving the Dream (AtD): Immerblum inquired about the purpose of the
June AtD conference in Seattle. Each college will send a core team of mostly
administrators, which includes the college president, vice president of
academic affairs, vice president of student services, college researcher and
the senate president or designee. Beaulieu expressed his hope that AtD
would not be a top down initiative. He added he has heard complaints that the
program has had insufficient faculty involvement and emphasis on teaching.
Immerblum expressed concern there would be a long gap between the June
2011 meeting and a subsequent Strategy Institute meeting the following year.
Delahoussaye replied that the purpose of this meeting was to meet your
coach, data facilitator, and lay out the program in terms of how it works. They
will introduce the website, approach, and measurable outcomes.
Delahoussaye explained that “leader “ colleges are colleges that have
struggled with the same issues as our colleges have. For administrators,
especially the researchers, there is a lot of data that needs to be collected
and reports that need to be generated. As soon as the state hands down the
new funding models for community colleges, we will need to scramble. How
to bridge the gap would be a great summit topic. Echeverri brought up the
issue of summer sessions being canceled.
5. Bond Update: Beaulieu stated there was not much new to report, other than
the chancellor’s proposed independent review. He was unable to attend the
last Board meeting. Delahoussaye reported a handout was distributed
describing the role and composition of the District Bond Oversight Committee.
Nancy Curson from Harbor is the chair. Beaulieu will forward the document to
DAS members. The Bond Steering Committee met today.
6. Spring Plenary Update: Beaulieu reported that the ASCCC approved the
Area C resolution to study the 18-unit requirement in the Transfer Bill (SB
1440). This may result in a change in the policy (less units or a variable
number). At the very least they will develop a rationale for the 18 units or
suggest a change. All of the Articulation Officers and almost all Transfer
Center directors in the state were in support of the resolution. Beaulieu added
he expects all the LACCD colleges to be in compliance with SB1440. Bimber
reported we are exploring the idea of looking at a regional model for
Psychology and Sociology. Valley and City want to adopt Transfer Model
Curriculum (TMC) for Sociology. City wants to adopt Communication Studies
and Psychology TMC. Bimber argued that the likelihood of students taking
these degrees is low. She asked why students would choose TMC, if they can
transfer more readily without a degree, unless there is a significant advantage
for enrollment. However it seems that the advantage will be slight and there
will be no guaranteed admission. As long as students complete IGETC and
the major preparation, that’s all they need to transfer. The Fong bill is
attempting to establish TMC with the University of California and is expected
to be approved soon. Watkins stated colleges can determine the number of
students that don’t get a degree by looking at their transfer numbers.
Delahoussaye replied we need to get into the National Degree Clearinghouse
in order to get the transfer numbers. Watkins asked why students who don’t
graduate, but transfer, are not counted and stated we should be funded on
transfer preparation, not transfer. Delahoussaye added that Nancy Shulock is
largely in charge of performance metrics for community colleges.
Beaulieu stated the ASCCC approved reducing repeatability to a total of four
times, which is what the LACCD already has. Vice Chancellor of Academic
Affairs Barry Russell seemed to suggest there would be more rules on
repeatability. Beaulieu mentioned he discussed the issue with Stephanie Low
at the state chancellor’s office; she is very concerned about the state position
on Physical Education and wanted to make sure there was faculty input when
a discipline was threatened. Delahoussaye added that in the latest proposal
from the Legislative Analyst Office (LAO), the changes in Basic Skills funding
would cost the LACCD $9.8 M this year. There is interest in taking the Basic
Skills students out of the credit program, and funding them differently.
Immerblum said they also passed a resolution to limit the number of
withdrawals. Beth Smith and David Morse were elected as Vice President and
Secretary. Both are highly respected and viewed as fair and smart. Some
think the ASCCC leadership needs to be more active and assertive instead of
letting legislators take the initiative.
7. DCC Report: Bimber reported there will be several action items for DCC in
May. They will come to the next DAS meeting for approval. They have been
circulating for several months and are not controversial. The items are:

E-103 Repeatability

6201 General Education Requirements

6701 Repetition of Courses
Cross-listing: Bimber reported that the DCC is still looking at cross-listing
requests; colleges have one more month to submit them. She added that
Valley has submitted many cross-listing requests and there were a few from
Mission.
Curriculum Deans and Scheduling Deans meet monthly. Bimber reported that
the deans made a decision that violates E-64 (Program Development). When
you change a course attribute (units, etc), the changes have to be aired. You
can’t say it will be done by the time students register. E-64 states changes go
into effect the next viable semester. Dean Bobbie Kimball got upset about this
and left the meeting. The deans decided we can’t enter any changes except
once a year in the fall. DCC is not happy about it because this will slow down
curriculum unnecessarily. Bimber added that either E64 must change or the
deans will have to change their position.
Immerblum asked about how a new discipline, such as Art History, would
affect hiring practices. Bimber replied that when you create a course, you
attach the minimum qualifications (MQs) to it. Nothing will change unless you
choose to assign Art History min quals to that course. Faculty assign the MQs
to the course; MQ areas are not top code. If someone is teaching Art History
now, they will not be affected. However, if someone wanted to develop a new
course they can rewrite it as an Art History course with the new MQs. This
was not clear before, which is why the ASCCC initially rejected this change.
We can also cross-list courses, which makes it a moot point. Beaulieu added
that DCC is going well; Southwest is the only LACCD campus without a
Curriculum Committee chair.
8. Professional Development Fund Request: Tabled
9. Academic Rank: Immerblum distributed a handout. He would like to notice
a motion regarding the academic rank policy. East has changed its academic
rank process; the past process required that the rank committee meet with
the department chair, and it was very detailed. Once East approved adjunct
ranking, they had to revise their policy completely. The DAS Academic Rank
Policy was established in 1980 and last revised in 1989. Beaulieu reported
he has never seen the current DAS Policy and is not sure if it exists at all. It
has not been discussed in the last ten years in either the DAS or the DAS
Exec. Immerblum is asking to change the current policy for something
simpler. The current policy requires having district personnel check
employment records. The district doesn’t have the personnel to do this
anymore. He summarized East’s new academic rank policy:

Assistant Professor: Once hired

Associate Professor: Once tenured

Full Professor: After first comprehensive review after receiving
tenure.
This simplifies the process and is based on the honor system. He argued the
Academic Rank committee should not be evaluating faculty. They are hoping
for DAS support to archive the current policy. Gauthier stated that the original
policy comes from 1973 and was approved by ballot in Spring of 1980. There
were issues about carrying rank from one college to another. Beaulieu
promised to ask the Academic Rank chairs for input. We could take a vote at
the next Executive Committee meeting. Bimber added Academic Rank
Committees feel they should not be evaluating people, just verifying how long
they had taught. Immerblum will send out the document, so senate presidents
can send to their Academic Rank Committees and directly solicit their opinion.
Colleges would still maintain local control of their rank policy.
10. Constitution/By-Laws Review: Immerblum and Gauthier have been working
on a revision. Issues that need to be addressed include who appoints the
Parliamentarian, voting, and the Senate Budget Committee. Beaulieu added
that we have the original DBC-sanctioning document that was signed by
Winston Butler. The parliamentarian is an optional position, who is not a
member of the Executive Committee (non-voting).
11. Ed Code/Contract Dispute: This is primarily a Trade issue. No further
discussion took place.
12. Strategic Planning Committee: Tabled.
13. Treasurer Report: Immerblum distributed a mileage reimbursement form
and will send it electronically to DAS, DBC and EPAC representatives. Funds
will be distributed on a first come, first serve basis. Foster asked if the
allocation for the ASCCC Fall 2011 Plenary session will be increased
because it will take place in San Diego. Immerblum replied that it would.
14. Adjourn: Meeting adjourned at 4:25 pm.
Minutes respectfully submitted by DAS Secretary Angela Echeverri