ACADEMIC SENATE MINUTES
March 15, 2005
Attendance (X indicates present, exc = excused, pre-arranged, absence)
Beley, Kate
Berney, Dan
Breckheimer, Debra
Cafarchia, Vic
Cannon, Elaine
Cowell, Chas
Dever, Susan
Gaines, Ken
Georges, William
Grogan, Donna
Hofmann, Ed
Hong, Lyman
Isaacs, Brent
Kahan, Walt
Marcoux, Pete
Marston, Doug
McCrary, Ed
McMillan, Russell
Meyer, Trudy
Moon, Mary
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Morgan, Kathy
O’Brien, Kevin
Pan, Lijun
Perinetti, Dale
Raufman, Lisa
Robles, Vince
Rodriguez, George
Sinopoli, Louis
Stanbury, Corey
Stewart, Julie
Storms, Harrison
Stupy, Mike
Taylor, Ralph
Thompson, Jacquie
Thompson, Sonya
Uyemura, Evelyn
Vakil, David
Van Lue, Nick
Widman, Lance
Wynne, Michael
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
exc
X
X
X
X
Ex Officio Attendees: Janet Young
Guests: Ann Collette, Lucinda Aborn
Unless noted otherwise, all page numbers refer to the packet used during the meeting, not the
current packet you are reading now.
Handout: Packet (called the “handout-packet” later in the minutes) that includes updated
disciplines list as proposed by the state senate, other state senate resolutions, and the latest
faculty hiring procedure and accompanying confidentiality statement.
President’s report – Julie Stewart (henceforth JS)
The state senate’s executive committee recommends that only the 1st 6 disciplines be adopted, as
written in the handout-packet. Many of the proposals were vocational education, which, by law,
cannot require a BS; they must allow for an AA with 6 years of experience.
Partnership for Excellence (P4E) funds have been targeted to be linked to a complicated
“performance ranking” system by the department of finance. See the packet, pages E21-E34. The
state senate says that this would hurt already troubled colleges, and the senate is considering
forgoing P4E funds if the suggested performance ranking goes into effect.
Minutes – Chas Cowell noted that on page A4, in the 1st paragraph, a statement should be added
about how he and Russell were talking about conversing with applicants after the hiring has
been completed. The minutes were approved as revised.
Educational Policies Report – Chas Cowell
The committee continues to await action by President Fallo on previous items. The committee
has sent to the Council of Deans a recommendation against allowing audits. This process
(committee  Deans  Full senate) follows the consultation agreements. Some reasons against
allowing audits include the amount of paperwork required (versus the small benefit), and the old
concepts of auditing classes (lectures) without getting grades are not conducive to active-learning
classrooms.
Faculty Development – Lisa Raufman
The committee will cosponsor Thursday college hour workshops on dealing with disruptive
students, teaching tips, and jobs for college graduates. On Tuesday, March 29, FACCC’s Jon
Lightman will be on campus from 12:30-2pm in the Alondra room to discuss political strategies
in play. Refreshments will be available.
Finance and Special Projects – Lance Widman
There have been no Council of Deans or PBC meetings since the last senate meeting. The
Governator is gathering signatures for a potential special November election which could have
several issues related to education.
Zuk’s and Associates will continue to host its annual financial planning workshop on Tuesday,
April 26 from noon-2pm in the Alondra Room. Flex credit and a free lunch will be available.
The potential impact of the governors proposed ballot measures may be discussed at this
meeting.
Legislative Action – Donna Grogan
No report.
Curriculum Committee – Janet Young
Title 5 updates continued for 4 divisions. The committee dedicated the remainder of the
academic year to Nadine Hata.
Calendar Committee – Lyman Hong
The meeting was postponed, pending probable senate action during this meeting.
Academic Technology Committee (ATC) – Pete Marcoux
Susan Dever reported that the College Technology Committee (CTC) was given a presentation
by Howard Story about Blackboard (e.g. enrollment in different kinds of courses, the demand
level, etc.) Both the ATC and CTC recommended ECC purchase the Enterprise version of the
site license and integrate it with our student system. This would make it available to everyone
and all courses would automatically be set up, whether used by the faculty or not.
Academic Software now falls under the auspices of ITS. This year it has fallen between the
cracks, meaning that we are currently on a short timeline to purchase software for next year.
Expect information requests and software requests in the immediate future.
Pete Marcoux reported that laptops will not be replaced. This year’s newly purchased laptops are
supplemental instructional tools and don’t belong to any individuals. With Microsoft developing
a new Windows operating system, security and support of Windows 98 will cause much concern.
Ms. Dever reported that at CTC, Melanie Graves and LaTonya Motley reported about
OmniUpdate and the school web page updates (coming soon). Ms. Dever also noted that hybrid,
distance education, technology-enhanced, and traditional courses are getting defined. See page
B2.
Lisa Raufman noted that there will be OmniUpdate web training on Thursdays from 2-4pm. This
program will allow you to create and/or update web pages. Ralph Taylor noted that updating
sites created outside OmniUpdate is not a smooth process. Ms. Dever responded that issues like
these are getting ironed out.
Unfinished Business
Gifted K-10 students
Lance Widman and Pete Marcoux moved that the procedure on page B1 be adopted. This would
be effective in Fall 2005. The motion passed unanimously.
Calendar
On page B2 is the proposed calendar for 2006-2007. The mandatory Fall flex day can be on
either Thursday or Friday. Pete Marcoux and Nick Van Lue moved that we follow the contract
and have the mandatory flex day on Thursday. (It was noted that we have no option in the Spring
semester.) Chas Cowell remarked that even though this is in the contract, the administration has
asked our opinion and responded to it, so we should be willing to express our honest opinion.
The motion passed, with 20 in favor, 8 opposed, and 1 abstention.
Lance Widman suggested that perhaps we should revisit the contractual nature of the mandatory
flex day. JS responded that ECCFT’s president, Angela Simon, is already working on this.
Sonya Thompson asked what happened to Spring Recess coinciding with Easter. The response
was that the recess has been placed after the 8th week of class, and that this works especially well
for 8-week courses.
Donna Grogan noted that with our current calendar system, the last day of winter intersession
(presumably used for final exams), the mandatory Spring flex day, and submission of winter
grades fall on 3 consecutive days. This can be quite a burden on a winter teacher, and she hopes
that something might be done to make this easier.
Faculty Attendance at Graduation
The prior suggestion of using newly hired faculty into needed slots to balance the 3-year cycle
was reiterated. JS noted that we need a concrete suggestion for balancing and we need to have
provisions for people who cannot go. Trudy Meyer explained that the Math division already has
an informal, internal trading policy in place.
Tenure-track Hiring Committee Procedures and Confidentiality Statement
The latest version of these documents begin on page 25 of the handout-packet and continue until
the end of the packet. Susan Dever and Sonya Thompson moved that we approve these
documents. Chas Cowell inquired if the mandatory confidentiality statement is new. Lucinda
Aborn replied that the previous (1990) version did not have one. After some further discussion,
the question was called on the Procedures. The motion passed with 16 in favor, 6 opposed, and 6
abstentions.
The new version of the confidentiality statement, in the handout-packet, fixes a typo present in
“the packet’s” version. Pete Marcoux was concerned about the definition of a “personal
relationship.” Lucinda Aborn said that this statement was not intended to refer to casual
relationships. JS noted that the statement says that if you are concerned about a relationship, you
will discuss it with the hiring committee’s chair regarding your fairness. The confidentiality
statement is not meant to exclude people with professional relationships with or friends of
applicants from serving. Trudy Meyer noted that there is not necessarily a conflict of interest
even if you serve on a committee and have written letters of recommendations for applicants.
Lucinda reiterated that the intent is to prevent conflicts of interest at the earliest time or any time
afterwards.
Chas Cowell is concerned that there are still vague terms, such as “nonauthorized.” He finds the
confidentiality statement unnecessary, and doesn’t like the fact that there is no time limit for
confidentiality. He is not aware of prior problems and thinks that confidentiality is already part
of professional behavior. Previous discussion about how talking to candidates post-interview
would give an unfair advantage to those candidates doesn’t seem consistent. Prior candidates and
part-timers who know the department already have an advantage. Russell McMillin noted that
with the current confidentiality statement, you can’t even explain to someone why you did hire
them. JS noted that this is not allowed because such knowledge could be used against the school
in a lawsuit. Dr. Cowell replied that this means that lawyers are writing our policies for us.
Mike Stupy asked what disciplinary actions are taken if confidentiality is broken. Nobody knew.
Lucinda Aborn noted that the need for a confidentiality statement came from results of legal
actions and follow-up advice and added that it is for the school’s protection.
Trudy Meyer noted that the math hiring committees last year were much smaller than in years
past because of the fear inspired by the previous confidentiality statement. Faculty were
concerned they could be personally sued. David Vakil noted that he was previously very
concerned about this, but is now satisfied based on discussions at the previous senate meeting.
Several points were brought up: we don’t know what other schools are doing about this, the
ECCFT has not taken a position, and confidentiality applies to all interviews.
Susan Dever noted that public officials are often required to follow such rules. While it is true
that the strictest interpretation could be troublesome, often you get common sense
interpretations. With practical interpretations, she sees no problem, although the necessity of
such a statement is tragic.
The motion to approve the confidentiality statement was defeated: 13 in favor, 16 opposed, no
abstentions.
It is not clear if the statement will be fixed, or if senate will object to the entire concept.
Math requirements for AA/AS degree
JS asked if the senate would consider raising the math requirements to one level above
elementary algebra. It was so moved.
The math department representatives noted that the math department has voted to keep the
requirements as is, and not to raise them. Ralph Taylor was appalled by this, but the
department’s biggest concern was practicality. Dale Perinetti noted that the requirement was
raised once for nursing majors. This was a disaster that was quickly reversed.
The motion failed: 7 in favor, 12 opposed.
New Business
None
Announcements
The Major’s fair needs faculty involvement. Flex credit is available.
Meeting was adjourned at 1:55 pm.