COLLEGE OF MARIN
ACADEMIC SENATE MEETING MINUTES
FOR March 5, 2009
12:45 p.m. – 2 p.m.
Student Service Building, Conference Rooms A & B
Senators Present: Yolanda Bellisimo, Michael Dougan, Ron Gaiz, Erika
Harkins, Robert Kennedy, Arthur Lutz, Sara McKinnon, , Radica Portello,
Derek Wilson, Eric Dunmire, Joe Mueller Meg Pasquel, Blaze Woodlief
Senators Absent: Joetta Scott, Patrick Kelly
Guests: John Sutherland
I. Approval and Adoption of the Agenda: Agenda accepted
II. Reading and Approval of the Minutes of Feb. 26, 2009: Minutes
accepted
III. Officers’ Reports:
President (Bellisimo): Written. Attached
Treasurer (Gaiz): Report on our two accounts: Across the street with quick access,
we have $1809.01 in Union Bank of California; our budget with the District amounts to
$7529.94. Our grand total is $9338.95. Some already approved travel expenses will be
coming out of that. Money will be allotted for retiree gifts.
IV: Governance Council Reports:
Sen. McKinnon said some people using the SLO Wiki were confused by the
term General Education SLOs, so they will be called College Learning
Outcomes, as is done at other community colleges. The Senate approved
that change by consensus.
Budget (Wilson): The committee met Tuesday and was given a copy of the
2008-2009 budget to review. They will meet each Tuesday to review all IPC
recommendations. Sen. Wilson expressed concern “about how the adopted
budget will be presented to us” because none of the committee members are
department chairs, nor are they part of the approval signature process. That
means they have limited access to viewing the overall budget. “The money is
not as transparent as it should be,” he said. The committee would like to see
the entire breakdown by accounts. Sen. Bellisimo said the Academic Senate
would work on ways to obtain satisfactory access.
V: Governance councils
Budget Committee (Wilson): The last meeting generated a timeline under
which, by March 3, Peggy Isozaki will bring forward a line-by-line 2008-2009
budget.
VI. Consent Agenda
No committee appointments were brought forward, but an empty seat on the
Technology Committee needs to be filled, according to Sen. Bellisimo.
VI: Action Items
a) Motion To Approve Athletic Dept Request to Discontinue Football:
Before the vote, Sen. Lutz contended that questions had been raised about
the viability of a vote of 60 percent of the coaches to terminate COM’s
football program. He said the athletic department director had indicated that
the vote was merely a survey, with no automatic consequences. He said the
Administration wanted to cancel the program, and was “trying to use the
Senate as a rubber stamp.” Sen. Lutz pointed out that the program primarily
serves African American students at a time that the school is attempting to
recruit more African American students.
Before the vote, the motion was amended to insure that money allocated to
the football program would remain within the athletic department budget in
event of discontinuance.
Sen. Lutz requested a roll call vote. The results were:
YES: Dougan, Wilson, Pasquale, Harkins, Kennedy, McKinnon, Mueller, Gaiz,
Woodlief
Portello
NO: Lutz
The motion passed.
VII. Discussion
a) Summer Field Course (Mueller): The summer biology field programs
were saved when it was determined that student fees could be used to pay
for travel costs accrued by instructors. The discussion ended with a proposal
that a fund be created to cover these types of expenses.
b) UPM Newsletter Misinformation about the Senate (Dougan): In two
of the last three issues of the Union Press, published to inform UPM
members, false stories regarding the Academic Senate have been
reported. One suggested that the revitalization/discontinuance policy
approved by the Senate had been rejected by the Board of Trustees, and
replaced with a policy of their own device. In fact, they accepted the
Senate’s policy word for word. The most recent UPM newsletter published
a letter implying that the Senate was pursuing a “zero tolerance” policy
toward faculty members who declined to participate in the program
review process. In truth, the Senate has written the only published
document that specifically protects faculty members from that obligation.
It was adopted as part of an appendix to the IPC’s Program Review
Handbook. Sen. Dougan said these fictions appear to be designed to
cause harm...in the first instance, to the Trustees, and in the second to
the Senate itself.
He introduced a motion to write a formal letter-to-the-editor from the Senate
outlining these offenses, and requesting a correction and apology.
Sen. Mueller suggested one amendment to the proposed letter, removing the
word “mean-spirited.” Sen. Dougan agreed. All Senators were asked to
review the letter during the week and forward any changes to Sen. Dougan.
Sen. Lutz said he would need to investigate the facts of the letter before he
could support it, and said it might serve to divide faculty members at a time
when they need to achieve solidarity in their contract dispute with the
Administration.
Sen. Dougan and others responded that it had been the UPM newsletter that
was divisive, and the Senate’s response was called for.
Guest John Sutherland, UPM Executive Board member and editor of the
newsletter, addressed the group. He said he tries to be a conscientious editor
and “I apologize if I put anything in that’s wrong.” He said he would recheck
his sources, including board packet publications and meeting minutes, to
determine what facts are correct. He contended that Sen. Dougan’s
argument “seemed to be hedging on the fact” that the Trustees actually did
alter the discontinuance policy by adding a sentence of their own at the end.
(Sen. Dougan had addressed this, but claimed the sentence did nothing to
alter the wording, intent or impact of the Senate’s policy).
Mr. Sutherland said he would “welcome the letter to the editor and would be
happy to publish it.”
Adjournment: 1:55 p.m.