ACADEMIC SENATE
COLLEGE OF SAN MATEO
csmacademicsenate@smccd.edu
Governing Council Meeting
Apr. 24, 2007 minutes
Members Present
Jeremy Ball
Diana Bennett
Lloyd Davis
Rosemary Nurre
Alain Cousin
Madeleine Murphy
Teresa Morris
Eileen O’Brien
James Robertson
Brandon Smith
Carlene Tonini
Language Arts
Library
Student Services/Counseling
Social Science
Language Arts
Math/Science
Jacqueline Gamelin
Matthew Kaidor
Luis Orozco
Counseling
ASCSM
San Matean
President
Vice-President
Secretary
Treasurer
ASCSM
Others Attending
Sandra Stefani Comerford Language Arts
Carolyn Fiori
DSP&S
Jeremy opened the meeting at 2:22 p.m. in the absence of a quorum. Teresa announced the library is about to
put up a web page with questions and answers about copyright rules for students and faculty. Ask any librarian
to direct to webpage version.
OFFICERS’ REPORTS Smoking policy has officially been changed, after a long involved process with lots
of feedback. A committee representing faculty, student, staff, and administration is identifying areas for
smoking zones on campus. We want the areas to be convenient for and respectful to smokers while allowing
others to avoid secondhand smoke and to be able to walk to and from class without exposure. Present law
prohibits smoking within twenty feet of buildings, but the permanent concrete ashtrays are closer than that.
CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 2:30 p.m. in the presence of a quorum. Today’s
agenda, and the minutes of April 10 were approved.
OFFICERS’ REPORTS Jeremy reported he got lots of feedback from his email to faculty about action steps
on college strategic objectives. Changes will be brought to College Council. Diana announced the retirement
party will be held Tuesday May 15, 11:30-2, in 18-206. Retirees and administrators have been notified, and
plans for food and invitations are in the works. Diana reported she attended ASCCC Spring Plenary on April
21, with District Senate leaders Nick Kapp and Patty Dilko. Spring Plenary includes breakout sessions on
current issues and debate on resolutions. The Saturday session features votes on 40 or so resolutions, and for
ASCCC officers. Jeremy said ASCCC can only recommend. Having influence and having power are different.
It is hard for CSM faculty to find time for statewide activities, given the lack of support.
Jeremy reported the health service fee is going up $1, in alignment with cost of living increases. Parking fees
are also rising by $10/semester, so money for parking lot maintenance, utilities, and security won’t have to come
from the general fund. Currently the bond measures pay for resurfacing of parking lots. Alain said ASCSM and
Cañada students unanimously oppose the parking fee increase. Skyline’s student senate supports it, but will take
it back for reconsideration. Points in discussion: $10 is a lot for some students. We lose $4000 for every
student we lose. We could have a scalable parking permit, with close-in lots more expensive, or try cheaper
one- or two-day a week permits. Alain said he doesn’t see enough research done, e.g. on how many students
would be lost. ASCCC believes parking should be free. Student Matthew Kaidor asked how much the fee
increase would lighten the burden of the projected deficit. Alain said the three or four thousand students who
buy parking permits fund security for the entire campus, which seems unfair. Jeremy said both Foothill/deAnza
and CCSF have a $40 permit. SFSU has an $80 permit. Alain pointed out that makes it cheaper to pay three
tickets than to buy a permit. Jeremy said he is not an affected party so will not take a position on it. It will go
through DSGC, but few things make it through DSGC since opposition by any one group is enough to stymie
DSGC. Alain will oppose the fee increase at College Council, because of the lack of research. He said if we
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had free parking, we’d attract more students. Rosemary doubted students would decide to come here based on
parking fees.
INFORMATION – GRADE GRIEVANCES Jeremy was asked by instructional administrators, including the
VPI, to see if we could put together a panel of administration, faculty, and students to review academic
grievances (grades.) These now go to the VPI’s office. Having a panel in place could help defuse situations.
What would such a structure look like, and how would it be implemented? Alain will get documentation to
Jeremy on Butte College’s Academic Council, which meets weekly to discuss such matters as grievances, grade
alleviation, and academic renewal. Madeleine said we have something like that for plagiarism, and it seems
appropriate for grade grievances. Jeremy noted sexual harassment cases go to the VPSS. A council would be
better, but privacy issues restrict participation in discipline procedures. Grade grievances will be on the agenda
of our next meeting.
FACULTY APPOINTMENTS Carolyn Fiori, Janis Ryan and Jacqueline Gamelin are on the tenure review
committee of Learning Disability Specialist Peggy Ryan. They put together a new student questionnaire for use
in the tenure review process, similar to one used at Skyline for tenure review of an LD specialist. Peggy said
she found it helpful. The committee needs approval to use it instead of the standard one. Jacqueline said the
questionnaire used for counselor/advisors is not appropriate, since the counseling in Peggy’s job is disability
management counseling, not academic counseling. Jeremy said we can comment on the process and the tools
being used, but the specifics of an individual tenure review process are up to the committee. Governing Council
approved the use of the new questionnaire. Members noted there should be a better way to tabulate the results
than using a 386 machine.
NEW BUSINESS – BUDGET UPDATE Rick Ambrose will attend our May 8 meeting. To cut $1 million
from the college budget, $82,000 is coming out of student services, $936,000 out of instruction. Jeremy said
some of the explanation is very disheartening. Several years ago the state couldn’t distribute all of its growth
funding, so it gave districts one-time FTES growth money to stimulate growth. We added 50 sections to that
end, at $4000 each. Those sections did not generate additional FTES, so we will reduce the number of
instructional positions, The proposed goal of cutting 75 classes per semester for the next two semesters will
save $600,000 in a year. The first 50, which used the one-time growth funding, are take-backs. The real net
loss is 25 sections. The exact number will depend on our allocation from the state and other issues. To have
fewer sections but the same number of students we must “drop inefficiency.” The number of courses with 12 or
fewer students has skyrocketed. To maintain and increase enrollment, be more strategic on how and when
classes are offered. Don’t offer low enrollment classes. Make strategic cuts of classes not yet announced. Be
aware of enrollment patterns and when students want to take classes.
ASCSM representative Matthew Kaidor said the cuts seem to benefit neither students nor faculty. Jeremy
pointed out we have a $2.3 million deficit, and since 95% of our budget is salary we must cut adjunct and
overload sections and released time money. It is troubling to be asked to develop new programs and implement
new initiatives without funding. We can meet student needs with fewer sections, but the loss of released time is
problematic. Replacing retired deans saves some money because new ones come in at lower salaries. WAC
money is from an outside donor. Rosemary said it is demoralizing when we’re asked to do so much, yet we
never get any relief. Eventually people say no. It is hard to get people to serve on committees, or as Senate
officers, or even to get a quorum at Governing Council meetings.
The college does relatively little marketing, compared to, e.g., Foothill/deAnza. Diana suggested putting course
schedules on stands next to places like Starbucks. Jeremy said every other meeting of the president’s extended
cabinet is on marketing. The new allocation model pits the colleges against each other. We should market the
district instead of having the colleges compete for students. The district wants to be more efficient. Our
marketing person is on maternity leave. Diana said our website is ineffective. Madeleine asserted marketing
isn’t a faculty problem. It is for administrators. Faculty mainly do fliers, but few people look at them. There
should be big, strategic marketing. Jeremy said reassigned time is being cut 15 % from Fall ‘06 levels (14.73 to
12.49.)
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Jim said demographically, the county is aging, not growing. Few young people are moving in, and older folks
are not likely to come to the college. Jing Luan has good data showing significant numbers of our students are
heading north and south, without reciprocation. We should be pulling people from our service area into our
colleges. Eileen reported the numbers of high school seniors has been constant over the past ten years, but
we’re down 50% from that source. An April 22 New York Times feature on community colleges reported 75%
of CCSF students return for a second year. 45-50% is more common in community colleges.
NEW BUSINESS – ACCREDITATION Sandra Stefani Comerford reported the accreditation self-study is
nearing completion. The third and final drafts, which respond to comments from the co-chairs, are now due
from the standards committees. Most have been turned in, and so far they look very good, though there are still
some gaps which the co-chairs are addressing. The co-chairs are working to make them web-ready. The final
posting will be May 4-18, so people can look it over and make final comments. It will be prepared for final
printing, including making sure the references are all correct. The process has worked quite well. WASC
requires that the self-study not be written by one or two people. It will go to the Board of Trustees for approval
in June. The Board will get a draft, not the picture-perfect final version. The content won’t change but there will
be reference corrections, etc. The document went to ASCSM on April 23, will be distributed by email to
classified staff, and will also be considered by Management Council. It will then go to College Council and the
Board of Trustees. The final length will be about 300 pages.
NEW BUSINESS – ASSESSMENT Sandra gave Governing Council, as the parent group of the College
Assessment Committee (CAC), an update. She hopes the second day of flex in August ’07, the day before fall
classes start, will include time for faculty to work on SLOs within their departments. By then the matrices of
departmental SLOs and institutional SLOs should be integrated. On that task, Student Services is in good
shape. Instruction needs more work, but is moving in the right direction. Quite a number of course SLOs are
posted on the CAC website, and more are going up. With completion of the grid, more department and program
level SLOs will be posted. CAC has been talking about faculty using SharePoint folders on the district server to
archive work they are doing with assessment. Jasmine could set up one for each department and program, as
well as each for each student service unit. These folders can do more than archive SLOs. Brandon said ESL
uses Yahoo groups for this purpose. A color graphic on integrating SLOAC within the institutional organization
will be posted.
Sandra recommended two modifications to program review: a grid for equipment requests, and grids to
document work on the Student Learning Outcome Assessment Cycle (SLOAC). At a deans’ meeting discussing
program reviews, the deans suggested it would be helpful if equipment requests from programs include not only
a narrative but also a grid showing items and costs (including shipping and handling and taxes), and a bottom
line tally. A document with prices embedded in narrative is hard to use. Members suggested including a
column for priority, or listing equipment requests in order of priority.
The program review form asks for a copy of the SLOs the program has chosen to assess, the evaluation of them,
and recommendations based on the evaluation. Sandra distributed grids to document the SLO assessment cycle.
She recently got from administration a 15 page report sent annually to WASC. WASC wants to know the
percent of courses for which SLOs have been made explicit. Data is needed at course, departmental, and
institutional levels, on SLOs which have been defined, assessed, the assessment analyzed, and plans made based
on the analysis.
Student Services program reviews will go on line. Instructional program reviews will not, but Grace will post a
summary checklist of department progress on SLOs. We need a way to assess our assessment. Sandra doesn’t
want to give overburdened faculty a new task. She suggested using a check-off grid to make it easier to tabulate
what work is being done. Teresa recommended using an online survey for the checkboxes. Jeremy suggested
having the deans or the VPI summarize the SLOAC data from program reviews. Sandra observed program
review now includes only what has been completed, not what is under way. Current program review documents
won’t show deans what has been started but not completed. Sandra said ACCJC has heard complaints that its
form was sprung without warning and had a short turnaround time. They may modify the form but will still ask
for annual reporting. Sandra explained “completed” means an SLO has been stated and measured, and faculty
have figured out what changes will be made based on the results. Carlene said her department (biology) is alpha
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and beta testing an attitude instrument. How does one measure an SLO addressing multiculturalism? They use
“progress variables” to see where students are moving among five levels of knowledge in every domain they
teach. This involves lots of data, and can’t be done without money.
Jeremy said moving through the phases of the assessment cycle is a separate task from doing the accounting
(filling out the grids.) Madeleine suggested having a separate form for cycles in progress. Jeremy said we
should embed the accounting in program review, or people just won’t do it. Attach it to a process, rather than to
a document. Jeremy said he doesn’t like redundancy. People will look at the grid, but not at the prose. If the
grid serves a purpose the prose doesn’t serve, use it. Improve dialogue between faculty and their division deans.
Some departments submit reports to, rather than meet with, their dean. There are too many courses, and too
many departments, for personal meetings on every one. Madeleine likes having a grid to see what is essential to
report. Sandra said we can report electronically. Jeremy took to the instructional deans the idea of doing
program review in spring, so it won’t compete with tenure review and peer review, and to allow the faculty
hiring process could be under way by winter break. Have a due date in mid-September, or roll it back to the
previous spring. Eileen suggested turning in program reviews by the end of June. Jeremy said a goal is to make
the program review document simple and clean. We don’t want to add pages. Can we integrate the assessment
report into a section where easily extractable information is assembled?
Sandra suggested embedding the equipment and SLO grids into the 3/22/06 version of program review. Jeremy
said the ISLOs are hard to find on the college website. Jeremy pointed out some departments have only one
person. Our program review document was a template. Perhaps it could be a form faculty could download and
complete. We want the assessment process semi-private. We might talk with Eric Raznick about coming up
with appropriate software. Sandra said she’s concerned ACCJC will change its 15-page form next year. Jeremy
suggested an addendum, a sheet to be filled in for accounting purposes and turned in with program review. The
issue is how to make it easy to do. Madeleine will work with Sandra on these ideas.
NEW BUSINESS – SENATE ELECTION Jeremy will ask Tom Diskin to run the senate election. .
NEW BUSINESS – CONSTRUCTION UPDATE Jeremy reported the bridging documents have not yet gone
out. We are a bit over budget on space, and planning is in flux.
OLD BUSINESS – +/– GRADES Cañada’s senate has voted in favor of +/– grades. Skyline’s will vote on
them on April 27, following an open forum April 25. If Skyline approves, Nick Kapp will take +/– grades to the
Board of Trustees. If not, DAS would submit them to a vote of all faculty in the district, and go with the
majority. Title 5 doesn’t allow C– because it is not clear that grade will satisfy prerequisites in sequential
courses.
ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 4:15 pm. The next meeting will be May 8, 2007.