Faculty Senate
P R O F E S S I O N A L S T A N D A R D S M I N U T E S
A p r i l 1 0 , 2 0 1 5
In Attendance: Deborah Bader, Dave Boden, Laura Briggs, Eddie Burke (chair), Greg Ellis, Bill Gallegos, Wade Hampton,
Warren Hejny, Scott Huber, Tammy Johnson, Linda McGillicuddy, Travis Souza & Jim Winston.
Absent: Maria Arrigotti, Louis Lawson & Brian Wells
Guests: John Adlish & Ron Marston
Meeting called to Order: 10:01 a.m.
1.
Approval of March 13th 2014 Minutes:
Motion to Approve with very minor, nitpicking, edits: Warren Hejny, Second: Linda McGillicuddy
Motion Approved: Unanimous
2.
Academic Calendar: Eddie
Eddie again asked the committee to review the new, go faster, version of the academic calendar which contains dates for the 2018-19 academic year.
Motion to Approve: Wade Hampton, Second: Debbie Bader
Motion Approved: Unanimous
3.
PS Summer Travel Funds: Eddie Burke
Eddie announced that the deadline for the summer travel funds request is Monday, April 13th. Eddie asked for volunteers to the review these applications. Linda & Warren volunteered. Eddie said that he will bring forward the recommendations for funding to the May PS meeting.
4.
Student Audit & Withdrawal Numbers: Travis Souza.
Travis Souza presented student audit and withdrawal numbers from the Fall of 2015 and the Spring of 2015 showing that there has been a substantial increase in the number of audits. This increase may be due to the recent change in the last date to allow for students to audit a class.
Fall 2014
Spring 2015
# Of Audits
51
195
# of Withdrawals
3101
3051
Some of the comments from the committee included:
• UNR audit rules are different – there may be some academic conditions on allowing a student to audit
• Instructors should get an e-mail notifying them that a student has changed to audit (like what happens when a student withdraws)
• Maybe students should be required to talk to their instructor before they can change to audit (or a W)
Travis agreed to ask Admissions & Records for more data from previous years to see if there is a trend. The committee agreed that these numbers should be tracked in future semesters.
5.
Proposed Change to TMCC By-Laws: Eddie/on Marston
Eddie presented a draft of a proposed change to the TMCC By-Laws concerning the appointment of administrators.
This draft came from the Office of The President. It reads as follows:
Page 1 of 4; Professional Standards Minutes April 10, 2015
TMCC is an EEO/AA institution. See http://eeo.tmcc.edu for more information.
Created: 5/29/2015; Rev: 6/3/2015

"The members of the TMCC community recognize the authority of the college president to make professional appointments. This right is documented in Title 1, Section 4, Title 4, Chapter 8.2 and the TMCC Bylaws Article IV,
Sections A through D. It is the obligation of the president to ensure that the college operates in an effective, efficient, and fiscally responsible manner.
A review of the TMCC Bylaws, Article IV, Sections A through D, underscores this authority, but does not provide for collegial consultation which is key to a shared governance environment. In order to remedy this flaw it is proposed that Article IV, Section D, Appointment of Administrators, be revised to read as follows (changes are in red ):
"Whenever a vacancy occurs for an administrative position, an institutional recruitment and search committee shall may be appointed by the President. This committee shall operate in accordance with relevant federal laws, TMCC personnel policies and the TMCC Affirmative Action Plan. TMCC personnel policies and the College Affirmative Action Plan shall be developed and periodically reviewed by appropriate administrators in cooperation with faculty. The President, prior to making an appointment that is not as a result of a search process, will consult with the leadership of groups on campus which include, but are not limited to TMCC Faculty Senate, TMCC Nevada Faculty Alliance (NFA), and
Classified Council to gather input . Based on budget considerations, positions can be eliminated, and appointments can be made in order to absorb the remaining body of work".
This revision, going forward, will provide greater collegial consultation and transparency while maintaining the
President’s right and responsibility for the final decision that is in the best interest of TMCC and the community it serves".
Ron Marston told the committee that he believed the intent of the proposed change was to make the decision process of appointing administrators more inclusive. The President has full authority to appoint and this language would allow input from the faculty. He also said that there is contradictory language in the by-laws and by changing this language it would make the by-laws more consistent. He believes that the "consulting" language is there to placate the faculty since the president has full authority to appoint an administrator regardless of forming a search committee or not.
There then ensued a lively debate. Some of the major concerns expressed by the committee included:
• This language is a slap in the face to the faculty since it removes the word "shall" to a "may" appoint a search committee.
• Allows the president a pocket veto to establish a search committee or not
• It was bad timing on the part of the president to introduce this measure now
• It cements presidential authority and relegates the faculty to a minor role of possible consultation.
• This language is not to placate the faculty but rather to enforce presidential authority
Ron said that the language will probably be changed whether we like it or not and this is the first step in formally notifying the faculty that the president wants to change the by-laws.
John Adlish suggested that the committee reject this proposed language and forward it to him via FS. He would then form a sub-committee to suggest edits to the proposed change in language.
Motion to Reject and send to FS: Dave Boden, Second: Wade Hampton
Motion Approved: Unanimous
6.
Possible Changes To Sliding Pay Scale for Low Class Enrollments - Eddie & John Adlish.
Eddie presented the committee with a draft of the proposed changes in the salary pay scale for classes which have low enrollments but are not cancelled. This pay-scale would allow those classes to run but the instructor would be paid by the number of students enrolled. This new sliding scale would mostly affect the part-time instructors but it could potentially affect all teaching faculty.
Page 2 of 4; Professional Standards Minutes April 10, 2015
TMCC is an EEO/AA institution. See http://eeo.tmcc.edu for more information.
Rev.: 6/3/2015

There then ensued yet another lively debate. Some of the major concerns expressed by the committee included:
• Some instructors will be forced to run "Independent Study" classes as a substitute.
• Instructors are not compensated at the same rate for these independent study classes – so this pay scale could actually help those instructors.
• Independent study classes do not count towards a full-time faculty members teaching load so they are then required to take up an extra class.
• Instructors do not get paid for independent study classes unless they specifically ask for those classes to be added to their contract.
• Independent study class cannot exceed 10 students (as per the NFA contract)
• There is serious danger that classes and some programs could be killed by low enrollments. Classes which are required by students to graduate could now be dropped.
• The administration should either support classes or not.
• Different deans have different rules for cancelling classes based on enrollments.
The committee suggested that the administration be asked to present data showing class enrollments versus cancelled classes.
Eddie mentioned that this potential pay-scale is also being looked at by the Salary & Benefits and the Part-Time
Issues committees. He will keep the PS committee informed of any new developments.
7.
Next Meeting: Eddie Burke
Next (and last) meeting of the semester will be on May 8th at 10:00 am in Sierra 201.
8.
Old Business:
Eddie told the committee that FS senate passed all of the items that came forward from the March PS meeting.
These included:
• FS passed the Administration Evaluation language
• FS passed the Spring travel fund recommendations
• FS passed the Counselors/Librarians annual plans
• FS passed the IT resolution
• FS voted to "own the Professional Recruitment & Search Committee manual and is forming an ad-hoc committee to update it and pass it on to the administration. Brian Wells will chair this committee.
John Adlish informed the committee that the Deans Administration Evaluation survey will be released very soon
(possibly next week). This survey will be open to all faculty and the results will be used as part of the annual evaluation of the Deans.
New Business:
• Eddie - Reminder to the committee members to try and attend the open forums for the VPAA candidates who will be interviewed over the next 2 weeks.
• Eddie - The committee that they will be receiving an e-mail from the FS office asking for nominations for the chair of the Sabbatical Review. At the May PS meeting the committee will vote on who will be chair of the
Sabbatical Review committee.
• Eddie - There are open nominations for at-large senators.
• Ron - New gun survey – last one was not conducted via a secure site which meant the data could have been skewed. New survey will be via a secure server.
• Ron - New resolution by Lars Jenson. Please review before the next FS meeting.
• Ron - There will be a new yearly presidential review survey. This is coming from the NSHE system office and will include the faculty at each of the NSHE institutions.
Page 3 of 4; Professional Standards Minutes April 10, 2015
TMCC is an EEO/AA institution. See http://eeo.tmcc.edu for more information.
Rev.: 6/3/2015

• Greg Ellis – the bookstore is reportedly marking up e-books by 75%. Who is responsible for this?
• Dave – wants the Withdrawal/Audit policy on the agenda for the next meeting.
• Eddie – Greg Ellis has just published a new children’s book. Check it out on Amazon. Yeah for Greg!!!
Motion to Abandon the meeting: Everyone, Second: Everyone
Meeting adjourned 11:25 a.m.
Page 4 of 4; Professional Standards Minutes April 10, 2015
TMCC is an EEO/AA institution. See http://eeo.tmcc.edu for more information.
Rev.: 6/3/2015