District Academic Senate Executive Meeting
August 20, 2009/1:30-3:30 p.m./District Office
MINUTES
Attendance: David Beaulieu, Kathleen Bimber, Angela Echeverri, Ken Sherwood,
Don Gauthier, Alex Immerblum, Rod Patterson, Tom Rosdahl, Allison Moore
Guest: Gale Holland (Los Angeles Times, Higher Education Reporter)
1. Call to Order and Approval of Agenda: Meeting was called to order by President
Beaulieu at 1:34 p.m. Agenda was approved (Gauthier/Immerblum M/S/U).
2. Approval of Minutes for July 23 Meeting: Minutes for 7/23/09 were approved
with minor corrections (Patterson/Moore M/S/U).
3. Public Speakers: None
4. Calendar of Meetings (2009-2010):
DAS Meeting dates: The five general DAS meetings were scheduled on the second
Thursday of the following months as noted below:
 Thursday, September 10th
 Thursday, December 10th
 Thursday, February 11th
 Thursday, April 8th
 Thursday, May 13th
Rod Patterson mentioned that the second Thursdays are in conflict with the College
Council meetings at West.
Executive meeting dates: Meetings are usually scheduled on the 4th Thursday of
each month at 1:30 pm. In November and December meetings will be on the 3 rd
Thursday at 11:30 am due the holidays. Since the 3 rd Tuesday is in conflict with
several campus meetings, the meeting time for November and December was moved
to 11:30 am.
 September 24 (Fourth Thursday): 1:30 pm
 October 22 (Fourth Thursday): 1:30 pm
 November 19 (Third Thursday): 11:30 am
 December 17(Third Thursday): 11:30 am
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January 28 (Fourth Thursday): 1:30 pm
Feb 25 (Fourth Thursday): 1:30 pm
Mar 25 (Fourth Thursday): 1:30 pm
Apr 22 (Fourth Thursday): 1:30 pm
June 24 (Fourth Thursday): 1:30 pm
Patterson/Sherwood moved to accept the DAS meeting calendar for 2009-2010
(M/S/U).
Consultation Calendar: Beaulieu has contacted Interim Chancellor Wieder to
schedule consultation meetings. There has not been a consultation since May of 2009
because of Chancellor Drummond’s departure. Beaulieu indicated he will try to
schedule meetings on Monday afternoons or on Fridays.
5. Leadership Changes in the District (Beaulieu):
 Chancellor: Tyree Wieder’s one semester appointment as interim
chancellor was announced yesterday; her tenure begins on Monday. The
appointment may go longer if necessary. The Board of Trustees will discuss
the selection of the search firm at a special meeting next week. Five firms
applied to conduct the search; yesterday the Board narrowed it down to two
firms. There has always been a District Academic Senate and Guild
representative on the chancellor selection committee. The committee was
chaired by Deputy Chancellor Barrera during the last search in 2006-2007.
Beaulieu mentioned that she has announced that she will be a candidate for
the chancellor position this time.
 Pierce College President: Beaulieu stated that President Bob Garber’s
departure continues to be felt at the district and campus level. He is missed
on the Emergency Task Force.
 Dean of Outreach and Recruitment: Dean Kaneesha Miller was being
paid out of CAHSEE money, but she took a position at Long Beach
Community College. Sherwood stated that it is important to maintain
existing outreach and recruitment relationships with high schools. Beaulieu
stated that the funding for the position is gone; it is not clear whether she
will be replaced. Rosdahl stated that enrollment cuts will make it hard to get
students that have been turned away to return to our campuses.
 Vice President Transfer: Immerblum announced that Vice President
Katherine Burke-Kelly has been transferred from East to Trade without
consultation. Immerblum expressed his consternation about the transfer.
Echeverri inquired whether it was to help Trade with accreditation. BurkeKelly is on leave from East to fill the Vice President of Academic Affairs
position at Trade. Immerblum stated that the Board is reacting to
accreditation emergencies, but has very poor long-term planning.
Moore inquired about the Strategic Plan presentations to the Board. Beaulieu
replied the presentations should not be held at the home college. Three
colleges will report on the same date. Trustee Scott-Hayes is still the chair of
the Planning and Student Success Committee. Beaulieu added that there is no
list currently of when and where Board committees meet.
6. Budget Report: The Board approved the District Budget Committee
recommendations to address the budget shortfall which include a 50% reduction in
winter, no furloughs, health insurance savings, GASB deferral, categorical cuts,
and others. We have closed the budget gap this year, but will not be able to defer
the GASB contributions indefinitely. Categorical programs were cut $22 million; the
exact total of program reductions is a bit unclear because stimulus money may
offset some of the cuts, and general fund money has been set aside to cover up to
$12 million of the cuts. The colleges have been asked to figure out how to cut
around a total of $10 million. Immerblum stated that East decided to cut primarily
hourly counselors at their budget meeting. A plan to eliminate the winter 2010
intersession entirely was cancelled because Valley, East, West, and Pierce wanted
to offer a winter session. Five colleges are canceling winter for all purposes
(Mission, Harbor, City, Trade, and Southwest). The proposal does wreak havoc
with Student Services. Additional shortfalls will have to come out of the
contingency reserve ($25 million) plus the college balances (primarily from East
and Pierce). The total LACCD balance is about $50 million. The contingency
reserve is used when colleges run a deficit. We are right around a 5 % contingency
reserve right now. Beaulieu stated he would summarize this information so Senate
Presidents can inform their constituents. The Board will adopt the final budget at
their September meeting. The Board Budget and Finance Committee met
yesterday and the Emergency group will keep meeting. The other big concern is
enrollment, because we are teaching students we are not being paid for. Patterson
stated it is a balancing act, because if we turn them away, students may not come
back later. Paterson inquired about reduced FTES targets (workload reduction).
Moore stated that at Southwest all classes are full, and students are very
demoralized and angry. Bimber added that for some students, not being able to
enroll means losing their jobs. Beaulieu added that students are staying in school
longer; it is harder for new students to get in, and they have less supportive
services. The Budget and Finance Committee has to consider the impact of these
cuts on Student Success.
7. Bond Program Report: Beaulieu reported that the Energy Oversight Committee
met on Tuesday and that they are making progress on clarifying matters. The Bond
Steering Committee is looking at revision of its mission statement at their next
meeting. Beaulieu added that the Chancellor may want to set up an executive
committee to monitor the bond program, with five college presidents and no faculty
representatives. He reported that they had a good meeting with Larry Eisenberg
yesterday in which they discussed Woody Clark’s compensation. Gauthier stated
that consistent confusion is the modus operandi of the Build LACCD team.
Sherwood agreed and added that Build LACCD has been inconsistent when
identifying mandatory requirements versus guidelines. Gauthier said the Bond
Steering Committee should be making recommendations instead of spending so
much time trying to get accurate information. Echeverri expressed concern about
having an additional executive committee without faculty representation. She
added that having several oversight committees without clearly defining their
functions and membership will make it more difficult for faculty to understand how
the bond program is being managed. Beaulieu replied that the charge of the
executive committee may not be broad-based, but rather to scrutinize the
individual contracts as they come up to the Board. The Bond Steering Committee’s
charge is to develop policy. How these three bodies will interface will need to be
clearly defined. Additionally, there was a proposal to hire an inspector general,
which would mean four arenas of oversight over the bond program.
8. Summit Plans: The original plans were to have the summit focus entirely on the
Bond Program. Due to accreditation sanctions at the cityside colleges, budget
problems, and leadership changes at the district, the focus has shifted. The latest
proposal is that the summit focus on the bond program, budget, accreditation,
student success in hard times, and Career Technical Education (CTE: green jobs,
sustainability, etc.). Accreditation sessions should discuss the two district wide
recommendations regarding shared governance. The originally proposed date of
September 25th needs to be changed because Chancellor Tyree Wieder, Jamillah
Moore, and Jack Daniels are not available. On September 18th there is a statewide
CEO Board meeting, a Basic Skills Initiative regional workshop, and Rosh
Hashanah. The summit will probably have to take place on October 2 nd or 9th.
There was a discussion on possible topics for the general and breakout sessions.
Bimber suggested a breakout on faculty advising. Others suggested breakouts on
federal stimulus money and the pursuit of excellence in a time of challenge. For the
general session Moore suggested having Wieder discuss CTE, stimulus money,
and budget issues. The consensus was that panels were a good idea. The format
will probably be an opening session followed by two breakouts.
9. Accreditation Update (Colombo): Vice Chancellor Colombo distributed two
handouts: Graduation Rates for Entering Freshmen, Fall 1997 to 2004 and Critical
Issues from the Three 2009 Cityside Reports. Acting Chancellor Barrera had asked
George Prather for a report on UC graduation rates. Colombo stated that it takes
about six years for entering students to obtain a bachelor’s degree, but Community
College students graduate at better rates than students admitted to UC’s as
freshmen. Colombo then briefly summarized the lessons learned from three
cityside accreditation visits. He encouraged senate presidents to share this
information with others at their campuses. The accreditation expectations have
increased significantly. Colleges need to have extremely comprehensive program
review and must document the use of student review to improve instruction. They
must have formal and periodic documentation of all planning processes. Colombo
offered to come out to campuses and talk to the local senates. The ACCJC made
three district-wide recommendations; two of which are brand new and refer to
district/ college relations (the functional map) and the evaluation of governance
processes. They want both quantitative and qualitative evaluation of district
committees. Colombo mentioned that Mission had completed a thorough
evaluation of its governance committees. All colleges need to develop planning
and governance handbooks. They are reviewing the membership of the District
Planning Committee (DPC). DPC normally meets on Wednesdays between DBC
and Board meetings. They will need to change the meeting day because there are
only two Wednesdays in the fall that work (September and October). Colleges in
the process of compiling their self inventory; they should develop institutional
effectiveness websites by January. Colombo stated he has received three of the
college self inventories so far. Once all come in, he will put them together and
report to the Board. Colombo stressed that the local senates needs to formally
review their self inventory and the ARCC numbers in the fall. Every other year
District Research Office administers a Student Survey. The minimum number of
sections sampled per campus will be 100, maximum 200. Faculty selected to
distribute the surveys will receive cover letters between September 9 and 11;
packets will go to campus mailboxes September 24-26. The contact person on
each campus is the researcher, who may give a brief presentation on the survey at
Council of Instruction or Senate meetings.
10. Update on Stimulus Grant Group Meetings: Bimber stated that if campuses are
going to pursue the energy and transportation part of the stimulus money,
proposals are due this week. Proposals need to define the scope of the projects.
Not every campus was represented at the last meeting on Friday. Career pathways
out of poverty will be discussed in a couple of weeks. Colombo stated that there is
a huge amount of money ($12 billion over 10 years) coming in for college
completion, most of it is focused on getting students in and through college.
11. DCC Report (Bimber): There are twelve items that are in various stages of
completion:
 E-79 Competency Requirement: Brought back for a few changes, has been
approved by DCC. Added Title 5 language on pages 2 and 3. Faculty requested a
process set up to add another course to the list, which has been laid out on page
4. There is challenge process on page 4, which brings it back to the full DAS. The
Curriculum chair should have discussed revisions with local curriculum
committees; should be vetted in the Academic Senates as well.
 E-65 Curriculum Development and Approval: Standards and Procedures:
Please review, as this regulation has not been changed in a long time. Language
on course changes and cross-listing was cleaned up. On page 7 there is an
important change on cross-listing that may be controversial. In the past crosslisting was done arbitrarily. Cross-listing is a district attribute, and once approved it
applies to everybody else in the district. The revision keeps cross-listing as a
district attribute and includes the District Discipline Committees in the approval
process. Colleges will have one year from the date of implementation of the
revised procedure to submit lists of courses to be cross-listed.
 E103 Repetition of Activity Courses: No major changes, not controversial.
 E55 Student Grievance Procedure: Need a student subcommittee to work on this
regulation. Pattterson volunteered.
 E-12 Credits for Units Earned for Law Enforcement Academy Training: Title 5
to define credits earned for law enforcement training.
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Board Rule 6700 Academic Standards: It is becoming a big issue in terms of
grievances.
Board Rule 6202 Catalog rights: Defines when a catalog year begins.
6703.11 Acceptance of Credits: Had a problem because it was not clear how to
apply credits coming from campuses with plus/minus grades. Courses accepted
with a grade of C minus do not satisfy LACCD requirements of C or better grade
for the major, but can satisfy course credit.
8605.10 College Policies and Procedures: Added language on a challenge
because of Title 5 requirements.
College Level Examination Program (CLEP) Credit: Elizabeth Atondo at Pierce
helped with this. There are other ways students can earn credit. Regulation
stipulates how credit can be used for general education credit; does not apply to
the major. Each college faculty will decide whether to accept it. See the course list
on page 3; these are the most requested ones.
International Baccalaureate Credit: Still making changes. Please have faculty
review this.
Community Service Offerings: We have never had an administrative regulation
about Community Services. Cannot use the term courses for Community Services
classes, they must be called offerings. Community Services offerings do not go
through the curriculum approval process. They must be approved by the college
vice president or president and then the Board. Once approved, the state assigns
each offering a code.
12. EPAC Report: Please get representative names to Kathleen Bimber. Immerblum
expressed his concern with the Emergency Equivalency Process. Gauthier stated
that we need to improve the current form.
13. Student Success Report: Postponed
14. DAS Reorganization Proposals: Postponed
 Two Vice President Suggestion
 EPAC Title Change Proposal
 Other Reforms
15. Proposed Future Actions and Announcements: David Esparza and Elizabeth
Atondo will be working with Beaulieu on the Transfer Committee. There is a pretty
big agenda for the SSISC meeting tomorrow. Gauthier requested that we move
item #14 a little higher on the agenda next time.
16. Adjourn: Meeting was adjourned at 4:10 p.m.
Minutes submitted respectfully by DAS Secretary Angela Echeverri