SENATE MINUTES DECEMBER 6
COLLEGE OF MARIN
OF
Thursday, December 6, 2007
12:45 – 2:00 pm
Student Service Building
Conference Rooms A & B
Senators Present: Carol Adair, Yolanda Bellisimo, Michael Dougan, Ron Gaiz, Erika Harkins,
Patrick Kelly, Arthur Lutz, Sara McKinnon, Joe Mueller, Meg Pasquel, Radica Portello, Blaze
Woodlief, Derek Wilson
Senators Absent:
Ingrid Schreck, Robert Kennedy,
Guests: Jim Geraghty, Rinetta Early, Hao Long
Agenda and Minutes


Motion made to approve the agenda. Approved
Motion made to approve the minute as amended. Approved
Officers Reports
President’s Report The Senate gave consent to spend $199 on the Senate end-of-the-year
lunch.
V.P Report’s Report Patrick Kelly reported on the Bolinas Facility. The Board will receive a legal
opinion of the Bolinas Task Force’s report on December 11. At the January 15th Board meeting,
Fran White will give her recommendation on the future of the Bolinas Site.
Treasurer’s Report
 Private Bank Account. Ask Meg
 College Account. Because of the Banner displays information, treasurer, Meg Pasquel is
unable to discern the total in this account. Ron Gaiz will help Meg get the totals for her report in
January.
Point of Order/Information
Arthur Lutz suggested that the Senate discuss its interpretation of its bylaws concerning
senators’ absences. The Senate’s bylaws indicate that a senator should be removed after
missing “more than three meetings without good cause”. The Senate agreed that we should
define “good cause” in January.
Committee Reports
Curriculum
 The CC is changing the current course form to place more emphasis on the interdepartmental implications of course additions, revisions, or deletions.
 The CC asked for clarification about who is responsible for determining whether
faculty members are actually teaching according to the course outline. The Senate
agreed that, while it is the Senate’s responsibility to protect academic integrity, the
Senate, and its sub-committees must be careful not to cross the line between course
and teacher. At a future meeting, the Senate will invite the UPM to discuss how the
Course Outline of Record should be enforced.
 The CC reported that the new compressed calendar is causing problems in the
CC’s scheduling. All the CC’s deadlines must be evaluated and reset.
Academic Standards
 Renetta Early reported that, counter to college policy, students are being allowed to
register until the last day of school, perhaps beyond. Although, ostensibly, Banner,
when fully employed, will stop this practice, it appears that Admissions is performing
“end runs” around official policy. Patrick and Renetta will write up a report and talk to
Admissions about the importance of adhering to policy.
 At their December 6 department meeting, the counselors discovered that Biology
110 had been accepted by the college for AP approval over the unanimous opposition
of the Biology Department. Since it is the responsibility of the Academic Senate to
approve or disapprove all AP Courses, the Senate denied acceptance of Biology 110
as an AP eligible course.
Community Education
 Community Education will hold its holiday party on December 15 at the Episcopalian
Church with the theme of “Paris in Winter.”
Governance Committees
 IPC will sponsor a two-day program review “boot camp” on Wednesday, January 14 and
Thursday, January 15 of flex week in BS 101. The template for program review will be on line at
that time and participants can work on their reviews with help.
 Sara McKinnon reported that the Compressed Calendar Committee is making a fact sheet
for the faculty and staff explaining the law, the process and the timeline of the new calendar.
Consent Agenda
Committee Appointments
 Christie Kuhn = Educational Planning. Approved
Discussion
 Course minimum enrollment for Spring 2008 The Administration has suggested that the
college cancel by January 6, courses with under 13 enrolled. The Senate listed the reasons this
is not acceptable or prudent:
1. The decision is not based on enrollment information, which shows that many
courses don’t fill until the first day of class.
2. Such cancellations will cause problems finding full schedules for full-time faculty
and will wreak havoc with department faculty schedules.
3. Such arbitrary canceling of classes keeps the college from “growing” new
courses and programs.
4. The decision does not take into account the Blue Print or the necessity of offering
prerequisite courses.
5. The decision is guaranteed to lose students at a time when the college is
charged with improving enrollments.
6. The decision was not based on data nor was it made through shared
government, as all such decisions should be.
The Senate charged Yolanda with writing a letter to Anita Martinez immediately to stop
these cancellations and to warn the Administration that the proposal is a big mistake.
This discussion will be continued at the next Senate meeting.
 Full time hires The Senate charged Yolanda with writing a Senate resolution that
directs the Administration to adhere to the 75% rule within each department. The
resolution will cite the impossibility of getting part time teachers reliably in some fields, the
difficulty of staffing governance committees, of finding faculty with time to market departments,
the difficulty of having faculty available for students outside scheduled office hours and most of
all, the fact that Best Practices advices a strong full time contingent in every department.

Program Review Committee Charge The draft will be discussed at the next meeting.
Yolanda will send each Senator a copy before the meeting.
Adjournment: 2:00