COLLEGE OF MARIN
ACADEMIC SENATE MEETING MINUTES
FOR March 20, 2008
12:45 – 2:00
Student Service Building, Conference Rooms A & B
Senators Present: Carol Adair, Yolanda Bellisimo, Michael Dougan, Ron Gaiz, Erika Harkins,
Patrick Kelly, Robert Kennedy, Arthur Lutz, Sara McKinnon, Joe Mueller, Meg Pasquel, Radica
Portello, Derek Wilson
Senators Absent: Ingrid Schreck, Blaze Woodlief,
Guests: Hoa Long Tam, Rinetta Early
Summary
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Senator Ratica Portello will run for the part-time seat in April.
The faculty referendum on the Policy for Revitalization and Discontinuance was
ratified. The Policy drafted by the Academic Senate was sent to the Board for
approval.
The Senate accepted AP 4226 – Procedure on Multiple & Overlapping Enrollments.
Minutes
I. Approval and Adoption of the Agenda: Agenda accepted. Move to amend: The Senate
agreed to remove AP 4100. Graduation Requirements for Degrees & Certificates (Procedure) and
AP 4021, Revitalization and Discontinuance (Procedure) from today’s agenda for more study.
II. Reading and Approval of the Minutes of March 13, 2008. Minutes accepted
III. Officers’ Reports
President. In writing
Vice President. None
IV. Committee Reports

Curriculum: Derek Wilson. No courses reviewed. The committee reviewed the
nominations and elected Chris Shultz as the new Curriculum Committee Chair. The
committee may revisit the possibility of changing the dates and times of its meetings.
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Academic Standards: Rinetta Early. AS got through two of the four procedures it is
reviewing.
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Community Education: Erika Harkins. In the past ESL non-credit classes were listed only
in the little non-credit schedule. Starting this summer, ESL non-credit classes will be listed
in both the credit and the non-credit schedules

Governance Committees: Many governance committees are now part of program review,
so their charges may need to be changed. The Academic Senate will invite the committees
to a session in April to discuss these broader responsibilities and possibly renew their
charges.
V. Consent Agenda
a) Portello/Pasquel Senate Seat: One of the two part-time Senate seats must be up for
election this year. Senators Portello and Pasquel flipped a coin to decide which senator will
hold a seat and which senator will rerun for office. Meg Pasquel will keep the seat. Ratica
Portello will run in the April election.
b) Referendum: The deadline for votes on the faculty referendum on the Policy for
Revitalization and Discontinuance was Monday at 6pm. On Tuesday morning, the votes
were counted: 162 votes were valid. The Academic Senate’s proposed policy received 91
votes. The policy proposed by Arthur Lutz received 57 votes and the policy proposed by
Michael Brailoff received 14 votes. There were 4 ballots uncounted - 2 because they were
received in unnumbered envelopes and 2 because there were no ballots in the envelopes.
referendum vote ratified
Discussion:
The Senate’s policy was sent to the Board on Tuesday afternoon. The Board in a special
meeting approved AP4021 – Revitalization and Discontinuance, but added two
statements:
 “The Board of Trustees holds legal authority to make final decisions”
 “Program revitalization and discontinuance procedures must take into consideration
the opinions and recommendations of the student organizations.”
Academic Senate President, Yolanda Bellisimo, sent the Board a letter protesting these
additions, stating, in part, that “the language had not been introduced, addressed, or
reviewed by the Senate and did not follow the appropriate procedure outlined in the
governance system.” Senator’s Bellisimo’s letter asks the Board for an explanation.
Senator Lutz commended the letter, but objected strongly to the part of the letter that
grants the Board any authority over this policy. Senator Lutz insisted that there is no such
authority granted to the Board in the Ed Code or in Title V, that in the past, that Senates
have assumed that they had such an authority, but that this Senate should be more
skeptical and more vigilant.
Hoa Long Tam, Student Trustee, defended the student’s addition insisting that the
students had not been given time to amend the original policy before the Board meeting
where they introduced the sentence in a petition.
Senator Kelly responded that the students had been at every Academic Senate meeting
where the policy had been discussed and had been at the faculty forum and had ample
time to discuss their views with each other and with any of the three faculty members
drafting competing policies. They would have found cooperation at any point and could
have inserted their sentence before the Board meeting.
The Academic Senate will discuss the Board’s response to its letter.
VI. Action Items
a)
Proposed District Procedures:
 AP4226 – Multiple & Overlapping Enrollments (applies to students enrolled in two or more
sections of the same credit course in the same semester): Instead use 55007: accepted
 AP4240 – Academic Renewal (conditions for student petition for review of substandard
performance) Rinetta will resubmit this in a way we can understand it. Jane will
give us some examples from other schools.
 AP4250 – Probation (conditions of/for student probation) tabled
 AP4260 – Prerequisites and Co-requisites (for courses) tabled
For questions or information concerning the Academic Senate minutes, please contact: Carol
Adair: carol.adaiar@marin.edu X7367