Approved Minutes
Sacramento City College
Academic Senate
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
RETREAT
President: Ginni May
Vice-President: Greg Rose
Secretary: Troy Myers
Past-President: Connie Zuercher
Senators Present: Jared Anderson, David Fabionar, Irma Rodriguez, Adam Freas, Robin Roffey, Lewis Bair,
Dena Chubbic, Robyn Waxman, Chris Seddon, Cathy Chenu-Campbell, Joseph Steever, Nadine Kirkpatrick,
Marcia Bonawitz, Josh Roberts, Norman Lorenz, Liam McDaid, Niefia Zupancic, Deborah Gambrell, Debra
Crumpton, Steve Cirrone.
Senators Absent: Amy Zannakis, Lori Petite, Gabriella Nuttall, Laura Leek, Lynne Giovannetti, John Herlihy,
Andrew Jones, Kris Janssen, Joshua Carboni, Jang Ha Oh, Glennda Wagner, Robert Crawford, Gayle Pitman,
Andrea Greenwell.
Guests: Michael Poindexter, Karen Kunimura.
Call to Order: meeting called to order by Ginni at 11:00.
Introduction/Affirmation of Newly Appointed Senators: from Advanced Technology, Marcia Boniwitz and
Robyn Waxman; from Behavioral and Social Sciences, Nadine Kirkpatrick; from Business, Lewis Bair; from
Humanities and Fine Arts, David Faboniar, Joshua Carboni, and Lori DeLappe,; from Language and Literature,
Laura Leek; from Mathematics, Statistics, and Engineering, Robert Crawford; from Science and Allied Health,
Nafia Zupancic and Glennda Wagner. Motion made and seconded to approve, passed by consensus.
Program Discontinuance Process
G. May
Mary Turner asked us if we could change some language in this document. Ginni reminded us that we are in
unprecedented times and she expects proposals to discontinue programs. Should we refine the current language
defining “programs?” There are clear guidelines as to how a program can be discontinued; it must be initiated in
the first three weeks of the semester and the Senate creates a committee of five faculty and two administrators to
assess whether a program should be eliminated. The last two times we discontinued programs, Real Estate for
example, this process did not exist. Mary Turner would like to establish language which allows for “mutual
agreement” between affected faculty and administration to discontinue programs which would bypass the
formation of the committee. Should a student be included on the discontinuance committee? Currently student
needs are supposed to be considered. Someone noted that the extended process is a fail-safe. Some expressed
concerns over what mutual agreement means. What about larger departmental concerns? Does not mutual
agreement only involve the faculty and administrator directly affected? What about community needs? Someone
reminded us again that these are unprecedented times. Someone noted that there are times when mutual agreement
makes sense and saves time; in light of this, who does “mutual agreement” refer to? What is the pre-process
before a committee is formed? What about adding classes back after they are removed?
President’s Cabinet Retreat
G. May, G. Rose
Greg and Ginni attended. The Cabinet is constituted of those who report directly to the President. Faculty leaders
were invited to discuss shared governance and the Senate white paper of last spring. The white paper was
included as an attachment in the Midterm Report for accreditation. At the Retreat, strategies were discussed for
forming friendships between faculty and non-faculty. Better communication between committees was also
discussed. Also, timely communication and respect between colleagues. Ginni will distribute a document
covering the conversations at the Retreat.
New Repeatability Rules
C. Zuercher
Connie reminded us of the changes to Title 5 and that now students have less repeatability options. Courses can
no longer be taken for credit more than one time and there are no grandfather rules. Also, basic skills courses are
now no longer exempt. This will impact many departments. These changes are meant to limit lifelong learners.
We are aware that we need to maintain integrity as we create new leveled courses when needed. Los Rios wants
the new changes to integrate across the district; these must be completed by next fall. One solution in Los Rios
will be to create “families” of courses. A “family” of courses, for example, would be sequential courses for
swimming; swimming can be broken into levels of beginning, intermediate, advanced, but each course can only
be taken one time. Theatre could have a musical family, a performance family, and a technical family of courses.
Under the new changes, students can only take four courses per family. New families must have pedagogical
justification and the disciplines will have to get together across the district to discuss adapting to the new law. All
language regarding repeatability must be removed. There are exemptions for competitive teams in athletics and
forensics, license courses and work experience because it receives no apportionment. Also, if the is a transfer
degree requirement at a university there is an exception. Auditing is under this discussion; we would not get
apportionment for audits.
How will students be informed regarding the new changes? The District is forming a Task Force which will
address communication.
New Faculty Hiring Form/Process
G. May
Ginni sent out the new form. It can be filled out on the computer. Does anyone want to beta check the form to see
if the form does what it is supposed to. Dena and Cathy volunteered. We do not know what will happen with
hiring this year, and we will have to discuss whether to go through the process. Ginni read our current process:
Mary and Ginni meet and randomly draw the order of presentations once the Chairs have submitted their forms;
each presenter gets two minutes to present, three if there are two positions, followed by one minute of questions.
In the past some have used the extra minute to finish their presentation. Also, for Senators, each must be present
at both meetings to vote, or a designee must be approved before the presentation. Do we want to continue to allow
this? Do we want to make any changes to the process? We will be discussing this at a later Senate meeting. Also,
what about a department chair who does not show, especially at the second meeting?
Budget
G. Rose
Much hangs on the passage of the tax initiative, including the six percent reduction in salaries. Los Rios passes
three budgets each year, the best, middle, and the worst case; we operate under the worst case scenario and if we
end up in best case we get a retro check. Current best case assumes the tax initiative will pass and the Governor’s
budget will pass which sets aside money for growth. If the initiative does not pass we will see another almost 5
percent cut in FTE for 13-14. Classified will be hit hardest because of the fifty percent law and the fact that the
majority of cuts so far have been taken by faculty. If it does pass some sections will be added. Greg reminded us
again how the conservative nature of our district has led to stability. We have still not laid-off a full time faculty
member.
SLO Report to ACCJC
K. Kunimura
Karen distributed this report to the Senate. All Accreditation reports now must contain an SLO report. Ours is due
October 15th. Karen thinks SCC is in decent shape, and we were able to include information from student services.
Presidents Response to Campus Issues
G. May
Standing Committees will not be consolidated; Honors and Awards is now again called Honors and Awards;
Student Equity meetings have been extended by thirty minutes.
New faculty and new faculty coordinators
G. May
We have six new faculty hires, two of these were replacing faculty who left within their first two years. Norman
Lorenz is the new Staff Resource Coordinator. Sherry Patton is the new International Studies Coordinator; Marci
Selva is continuing in her last year as the UCD English Coordinator.
Faculty Handbook
G. May
We will be forming a Senate committee to take yet another look at the Faculty Handbook.
Goals for 2012/2013
-
Revise/Refine SLO process: Josh is chairing this committee.
Update Faculty Handbook
SSTF plan: what do Senate want to do this year with the SSTF? The SCC Senior
Leadership Team has produced a document which Ginni will distribute.
Others???: someone noted the new “CFO” and “CIO” and “CEO” language
being used for college administration is disturbing. Several agreed. Someone else
brought up the minus and plus grade issue. Also the Student Discipline
Committee has concerns about violent students on campus. Also what about
Financial Aid rules? Are they created by the campus or the District? There have
been differing interpretations of the Federal guidelines. Also, food services.
Next Senate Meeting: Tuesday, September 4, 12:00-1:00, RHN 258