COSUMNES RIVER COLLEGE
ACADEMIC SENATE\
REGULAR MEETING
SEPT. 28, 2007
DRAFT MINUTES
Senators Present: Balbina Chaderjian, Lily Kun, Gregory Beyrer, Hiram Jackson,
Darlene Mathias, Debra Welkley, Sue Palm, Tamyra Carmona, Rick Schubert, Travis
Parker, Maha Myren, Rubina Gulati, Marybeth Buechner, Lon Davenport, Kale Braden,
Marjorie Duffy.
Guests Present: Chuck Van Patten
Call to order at 12:38 pm
Announcements:
Sue Palm says Curriculum is working on a Phase II for course level Student Learning
Outcomes process. She indicated 1500 courses are still lacking SLOs, and some are still
incomplete after the initial move to SOCRATES. ACTION: Jamey Nye will send Phil
Smith’s ARC process to Sue Palm.
Transfer Day is Oct. 8.
The statewide organization CCC-Media Solutions offers a PBS-type programming for
Community Colleges. Greg Beyrer will send information.
Monday October 1, 2007, 2pm LRCFT negotiations forum at CRC. The negotiations
team will be here to listen to issues from CRC.
2nd annual CRC/CSUS Ethics symposium will be Oct. 9.
Faculty Party Oct. 13 at the home of ESL professor Lisa Marchand.
A handout noting today’s African American student reception was distributed.
Additions to and approval of the Agenda
Convocation – Chuck Van Patten
Minutes of 14 September 2007 approved.
Updates:
Human Services Department: Jamey reports Francisco’s only concern about the creation
of this new department was that full-time counselors would not be teaching in Human
Services as part of their regular load. The counselors had already agreed to this
stipulation and were not seeking to teach courses as part of their full-time, so Hoyt gladly
added this language to the proposal. Hoyt Fong has provided a written rationale for the
department which has been forwarded to Francisco as well.
Faculty Handbook: No meeting or follow up yet.
Faculty Forum: Some have volunteered to work with Chuck Van Patten and Jamey Nye
to work on individual issues one at a time. A meeting in early October between Chuck
and Jamie will help create a process of meetings/discussions to move forward.
First Reading:
R2231 DMC Proposal – postponed to next meeting
Discussion
CRC Mission Statement:
Handout provided. Last year’s Academic Senate discussion was concerned about format
that the Mission and Values statements weren’t statements at all, but bullets. President
Rodriguez presented the same version at Executive Council last week with the intention
of moving it directly to next year’s college catalog. The value of academic and rigor
doesn’t seem to be reflected at all in the values area of the document. ACTION:
Senators should review the document and send comments to the College Planning
Committee for a review and new recommendation. Jamey also will send the document to
all faculty with an opportunity to review and edit or propose changes.
Convocation Issue:
A concern was presented by LRCFT president Chuck Van Patten that Academic Senate
President Jamey Nye’s comments during the Fall convocation about President Francisco
Rodriguez’s successes as president were ill-timed. Given last semester’s faculty forum
where administrative pros and cons were presented, Chuck said it should be clear when
comments from a sitting Academic Senate President represent the voice of the faculty
and when they are simply personal opinion. Some felt it was clear Nye’s comments were
personal opinion or simply general statements of support rather than the results of an
actual Vote of Confidence. Jamey commented that his remarks were intended as a general
statement of support and not an actual poll of the faculty. Others commented in general
about the term Vote of Confidence and Vote of No Confidence and how they might apply
to CRC’s president.
Academic Honor Code:
Handout Provided. The Academic Integrity Committee is looking into a variety of issues
including the opportunity for students to look at ethical issues thoughtfully (Ed. Code)
and for ethical decision making (CRC college level SLO). The committee felt an honor
code would be one way to approach this issue and has prepared the handout document for
review. This document would serve as a statement of understanding by the students who
sign it, and would recognize the previously approved policy regarding Academic
Integrity that appears in the college catalog and was approved by the Academic Senate
previously. The committee would provide this Honor Code for use by individual faculty
in their classrooms, and is working with the matriculation committee about making it part
of the college’s orientation, freshman seminar, student ambassadors and other ways to be
determined. President Nye thanked Rick Schubert for his presentation and the work of
the committee. These comments were echoed by the senate at large. One suggestion
would be to include the word “cheat” in the prohibitions listed in the honesty area of the
document. The respect statement about valuation may be unclear to students. Another
distribution method would be through on-line classes. It was questioned whether this is
boiler plate language that all should adopt and whether individual faculty could modify
the statement. Rick Schubert indicated the language could be changed, given faculty
members’ individual academic freedom rights. He also felt since this is an exposure and
growth issue of students, that similar language and multiple exposures would have the
highest retention. As an issue for accreditation, the question of how to track how many
students have signed would be of value. Likewise, the honor code could become part of
new employee orientation for all staff. ACTION: After edits, if appropriate, the latest
draft should move to a First Reading next meeting.
Outcomes Assessment Task Force and SLOs: A first meeting has been held with about
half the members attending. The intention would be 1) to create a tool box for faculty
and the college to assess outcomes, and ultimately to meet the new accreditation
standards, and 2) the development of a future reporting cycle for on-going review and
modification. Much of the meeting was spent building a list of interests and options in
how to meet these two overarching goals. ACTION: Jamey Nye to contact the VPI
about securing clerical support for faculty who wish to write curriculum in word, and
then to have a clerk transfer it into SOCRATES.
Compressed Calendar & Shared Governance: SME has full representation now on
Budget, Curriculum and Senate. It is still very difficult for many faculty to meet when
the shared governance committees are scheduled. Can some percentage of meetings be
held in the mornings? Could more of the meetings be done as a blackboard or e-mail
exchange? Shared Governance is both an obligation and responsibility. Is the culture of
CRC changing to allow more professors to back off from committee work since there are
no ramifications from non-participation? ACTION: Jamey will consider an e-mail
survey to all faculty to see how many are having trouble attending their shared
governance obligations, and to solicit possible options for how to increase participation.
Basic Skills Initiative: postponed to next meeting.
Classified Staff hours: postponed to next meeting.
Accreditation: postponed to next meeting.
Meeting Adjourned at 2:05 pm
Respectfully submitted,
Gary Martin
CRC Academic Senate, Secretary