District Academic Senate Exec. Meeting
April 24, 2008
District Office
MINUTES
Members Present: David Beaulieu, Kathleen Bimber, Angela Echeverri, Lina Chen, Alex Immerblum, Ken Sherwood,
Rod Patterson, and June B. Smith.
Guests Present: Bernadette Staine, Robert Sambrano (Project Match), Vice Chancellor Gary Colombo, Deborah
Harrington (LACCD).
1.
Call to Order and Approval of Agenda: Meeting was called to order by DAS President Beaulieu at 1:50 p.m.
2.
Approval of Minutes for April 4 Meeting: There was no quorum at the 4/4/08 meeting.
3.
Public Speakers: None
4.
Spring 2008 Plenary Session Review: President Beaulieu gave a brief overview of the session. He added that he plans to write a
summary of the Plenary for the next issue of Academically Speaking.
 Resolution on Associate Degrees: Proposal for separate A.A. and A.S. degrees. Presented at a breakout at the plenary
session, was not brought to an area meeting.
 Resolution for Minimum Qualifications for Vocational Degrees: A resolution by Larry Pogoler to change the
minimum qualification requirements for vocational faculty was not approved.
 Concerns over federal mandates and substitute accreditation with standardized testing.
5.
Board Approval of Third Bond: Beaulieu stated that the Board unanimously voted to approve a $3.5 Billion construction bond.
The original amount proposed was for $2.9 Billion. Another proposed amount for $4.9 Billion was voted down earlier. Chancellor
Drummond argued against the higher amount. All of the LACCCD colleges submitted building lists for each of the proposed
bond amounts. Proposition J will be on the November 8, 2008 ballot. There is some concern that the proposition would be
competing with LAUSD bonds, transit tax, and other measures. The November 8 ballot will not have a housing bond or state
higher education bond. Beaulieu added that the district no longer has a publicist to help promote the bond.
6.
Rollouts (Beaulieu):
(a)
Faculty Web Page on SIS (Student Information System): Site is up as of 4/16/08 and seems to be working. There
was not very much training at local campuses. Functionality is not very different from the former system. The early alert
roster is not active yet.
(b) Recycling Program: Will start on May 1, 2008 at City, East, and Valley Colleges.
7.
Contract Update: President Beaulieu stated that the articles under negotiation were published by the Board a month ago with a
brief description. He summarized some of the most important items being discussed without mentioning specifics:
 Academic Freedom: Changes to the current language are off the table.
 Faculty committee obligations: The negotiators have discussed the idea of increasing the requirements.
 Faculty evaluations: The evaluation form is being reviewed to incorporate the assessment of student learning
outcomes. President Beaulieu stated that many faculty are concerned with the use of SLO's in evaluations. He added that
ASCCC Executive Board member Janet Fulks discussed the validity of using of student self evaluations to assess SLO's
at the last Plenary Session.
 Departmental Chair Elections: There is a proposal on the table to grant adjunct faculty members a vote in
departmental chair elections. If 50% of instruction is taught by adjunct faculty, then all adjuncts that are on the seniority
list can have a single vote. Adjunct faculty may get a second vote if their numbers are high enough. Beaulieu stated he
was very clear about full time faculty opposition to this proposal and that he wrote a letter to Vice Chancellor Carleo on
this topic. He added that he told AFT President Carl Friedlander that he must reassure full time faculty that while
adjunct faculty are political equals, they are not professional equals. Smith expressed her opposition to this proposal and
added that the full time faculty may decide to form their own union if the adjunct AFT membership becomes
increasingly influential.
8.
Next Issue of Academically Speaking (Beaulieu): Beaulieu is still collecting suggestions for agenda items; have one more week
to submit them. Pat Siever will write an article on late DAS President Winston Butler. City will be holding a memorial service for
Mr. Butler. Next issue needs to go out by the end of May. Beaulieu added that he will develop a proposed schedule for next year.
9.
Sustainability Project Update: Beaulieu stated that the Sustainability task force is meeting tomorrow. Don Gauthier is on the
task force which also has representation from City, East, Pierce, and Harbor. The upcoming DAS summit may focus on
sustainability. Beaulieu added he might write an article on sustainability for Academically Speaking.
10.
Vice President’s Report: Vice President Bimber stated that the following items will be coming to the 5/8/08 general DAS
meeting. She added that local curriculum chairs should be bringing this information to campuses.
(a) Administrative Regulation E-65 (Topic: Curriculum Development and Approval): Bimber distributed a draft of
E-65 last revised by DCC on 9/21/07. She reviewed the changes in bold and stated that the document was ready for
approval. It was developed in response to issues that came up a few years ago, when one campus challenged another
campus’s new course or program (e.g.: CAOT, Physical Education, online Educational Technology classes). This
regulation is an attempt to honor decentralization. She explained that there has always been a challenge procedure, but
this will allow for an extended review period by stopping the clock on the normal 20-day review period. She added that
other campuses will not have veto power over curriculum. Other important changes include definitions of “subject” and
“discipline” to help ease confusion about the differences between them.
(b) Noncredit recommendation: Bimber distributed a memo titled Non-Credit Taskforce Curriculum Recommendations.
The document states that colleges in the LACCD should award and transcript non-credit Certificates of Completion and
Certificates of Competency. Non-credit courses shall be graded with a P/NP, but non-credit courses and grades should
not appear on the transcripts. This will require amending administrative regulation E-64.
(c) Credit by Examination 6704 and 6705: Bimber distributed a draft of revised Board Rules 6704 and 6705 which was
developed as a result of Title 5 changes. Replaces reference to credit and noncredit by examination (CRX and NCX) and
replaces these with pass and no pass.
(d) Advanced Placement Policy: Bimber distributed a draft of Board rule 8100.09 titled Admission with Credit for
Advanced Placement Courses. This draft is being proposed by LACCD Articulation Officers: She asked members to run
the draft through their local senates.
(e) Computer Competency: Bimber distributed a resolution titled Computer Competency Requirement. The document
was developed by the District Discipline Committees for Computer Applications and Office Technologies (CAOT) and
Computer Science Information Technologies (CSIT). The resolution calls on the DCC and DAS to add a computer
competency requirement from a specific list of courses for students earning their associate degrees. Bimber stated that
this is just a proposal and asked members to run it through local senates. She added that it will take some time to air this
proposal; there was discussion on credit by exam. Colombo inquired what kind of courses were being suggested. He
argued that anything called literacy should be too broad to be housed under a single discipline. La Guardia has a studio
hour course that exposes first year students to many computer skills across all disciplines. Colombo argued that many
students are very computer savvy and that we don’t want to disengage them by adding too many requirements.
(f) ESL Taught Only Through the ESL Subject: Bimber distributed a handout developed by the ESL discipline
committee and dated 4/11/08. The document states that all ESL classes should be offered only through the ESL subject
and taught by faculty with ESL minimum qualifications. Bimber explained that there have been situations in which
people that do not meet ESL minimum qualifications were assigned to teach ESL courses under other disciplines such as
speech. Sherwood said that City is in the process of retitling all of its courses to get rid of ESL. City has three
departments teaching ESL: English, Speech, and Developmental Communication. He added that there has never been an
ESL department at City. The Developmental Communication discipline is not recognized by the state, but ESL is.
11.
Project Match: Robert Sambrano from City College distributed a copy of a memo dated 3/20/08, which was mailed to
faculty. They are recruiting Project Match mentors. He explained that they have gone from 18 to 50 interns this year. They have
identified 30 mentors up to this point. This year there are 10 interns in business and 10 in counseling. He accepted an invitation to
come to Mission for the upcoming Senate meeting to promote the program. He explained that mentors need to resubmit applications
every year. Project Match has a Steering Committee which meets twice a year.
12.
Student Success (Harrington and Colombo)
Basic Skills Expenditure and Action: Vice Chancellor Colombo stated that Basic Skills plans are due to the state by May 1st. He
requested that campuses send him copies of their plans. The state slightly adjusted the amount of money going to each college;
Harrington sent out an e-mail last week detailing the changes. The Board is asking that each college highlight one aspect of their Basic
Skills action plan at the 5/21/08 Board meeting (held at Mission) at a presentation for the Planning and Student Success Committee.
Educational Master Plan Updates: Colombo stated that campuses are working on brief updates of EMP goals and objectives. The
Board is assuming that the bond projects are somewhat in alignment with EMP. The next District Planning Committee (DPC) meeting
is May 28, all campuses will report in on their updates. On June 11 there will be another meeting of the Planning and Student Success
Committee; Colombo encouraged faculty attendance The Board will develop the prioritization list for Proposition J on that date.
College Institutional Effectiveness Reports: Colombo stated this has been discussed at DPC for three months. The Board has asked
for quarterly updates on progress towards goals and objectives. DPC came up with a process in which a committee of the whole will
meet with the Board in the morning to examine access, success, and efficiency measures. Then the college leadership will make a
presentation to the Board on college goals and objectives, and their effectiveness. The Board has nine campus visits during the year,
one per month at each campus. Since the Board schedule is set up on July 1st for the following year, don’t have the dates yet. In
August a self-inventory will be developed to see what colleges are doing to move towards district goals. The purpose of this report is
to have serious discussions about college effectiveness. The Educational Master plan should be housed within the strategic plan. This
process should force colleges to think about their plan in relation to the LACCD plan. Colombo added that the strategic plan is a shell
document that holds all other plans. Beaulieu expressed concern that there may be a tendency in such a large gathering to overlook
flaws.
E-Portfolios: Harrington stated that there are five campuses (West, East, Trade, Pierce, and Valley) that have Title V grants with
technology funds to help develop e-portfolios. There is great interest in having the entire district adopt e-portfolios. The CCCCO
Technology unit wants to implement a state of California e-folio and is looking to the LACCD to pilot this. The goal is that students
would have a portfolio throughout their entire academic career. This is done in the state of Minnesota and allows the aggregation of
student work (SLO’s, blogs, wikis, etc.) over time. They want to use the Minnesota model and the state is offering to partner with us.
East, West, Trade, and Valley are on board for the pilot. The first year the campuses would have to cover the cost of the portfolios
themselves, but in the second and third years the state would pick up the cost. The CCCCO is going to write legislation to get funding
for e-portfolios into the state budget. It is estimated to cost one million for the whole state. They are talking about starting with 200
students/campus. The initial cost would be $5 to 8 per student. Basic skills money could be used for the first year. Harrington will be
sending information to vice presidents and Academic Senate presidents. Want to start implementation of e-portfolios by fall. Other
colleges could opt in later.
SLOs and Program Review: SLO coordinator Bradley Vaden at Trade Tech has developed a program to join program review with
SLO assessment. There will be a demonstration of this technology on 5/16 at Trade from 10 am to 12 noon. Interested faculty were
invited to attend.
Contextualized Learning Workshop: Will take place on May 9, 2008.
Professional Development Directors: Would like to design some kind of activity on all campuses that involve discipline specific
activities. Harrington distributed a handout with a proposal which grows out of point 8 of Basic Skills assessment, to spread basic
skills across the curriculum. Colombo expressed concern that the BS effort may get siloed under a dean or in a room. The most
promising idea is to figure out what the most essential skills are and figure out a way so that every course helps student with these
skills. Colombo said that we need to do something innovative and dramatic in the academic area to support student success. Bimber
suggested starting in DCC.
13.
DBC Update: None given.
14.
Open Textbooks: Placed on general DAS May agenda. Nancy Pearlman is proposing a resolution to provide books for free
on the Internet, so students won’t have to pay for them. Current wording of the resolution does not spell out who will pay for this.
Some publishers argue that if this movement continues students will wind up with fewer choices.
15.
Announcements: President Beaulieu stated that video conferencing should be up by July.
(a) Summit Location: There was a brief discussion on an alternate location for the summit.
16.
Adjourn: Meeting was adjourned at 4:15 pm.
Minutes respectfully submitted by DAS Secretary Angela Echeverri
DAS meeting dates (2007-2008): Oct 11 (LAMC), Dec 13 (LATTC), Feb 14 (LATTC), Mar 13 (LATTC), May 8 (West)
DAS Executive Committee meeting dates (2007-2008): Jul 12, Aug 9, Sep 13, Sep 28 (Summit), Nov 8, Jan 31, Feb 21, Mar 27,
Apr 24, and Jun 9