Academic Affairs Meeting Minutes (2008-2009)
The second meeting of the 2008-2009 Academic year was held on Oct. 16th, 2008 in the
Old Field Room (Babylon Student Center lower level).
The following individuals are members of the Academic Affairs (Senate) Committee:
Audrey DeLong (*), Pamela Lynch (*), Nicole Reitman, Catherine Lipnick, Julie
Hanauer, Arthur Del Duca, Robert Lowry, Lois Mignone and Lisa Aymong (Note: a *
denotes “Senator” while all other members are representatives). The following were
members present for meeting: Audrey DeLong, Pamela Lynch, Nicole Reitman,
Catherine Lipnick, Julie Hanauer, and Robert Lowry.
I. Minutes:
(1) The first order of business was to “approve” the meeting minutes from the
previous (Sept. 18th) mtg. The meeting minutes were reviewed and approved.
(2) The second order of business was to report on the Senate Resolution for Transfer
(“Joint Resolution on Transfers”) vote (at the Senate mtg.). Our committee voted
to unanimously support the resolution (9-0-0) and Audrey was happy to report
that the Senate (also unanimously) approved the resolution.
(3) The third order of business was to report on the Senate (resolution) regarding
“CAEL.” Again, our committee voted to unanimously support the resolution (90-0) and Audrey reported that the Senate also unanimously approved it.
(4) The fourth order of business was to discuss the “Textbook Law” and its’ updates
since the previous mtg. As previously reported, 4 sub-committee’s were formed
(to further address these (and related) issues) and some of our members
volunteered to represent us as follows:
(a) Customized Text
(b) Faculty Authored Text
(i) Volunteer: Catherine Lipnick
(c) Implementation of Law/Legislation
(d) Policy on Ordering
(i) Volunteer: Julie Hanauer, Rob Lowry
These names were forwarded to the Senate (Tina Good) and members were now
wondering when they’d be contacted (and what the “next steps” may be). They
have not yet been contacted but we assume this will happen shortly.
To finish this discussion (for now), Audrey also highlighted the currently adopted
Nassau CC “policy” in effect that is similar to the issues we may face w/ our
“Textbook Law.” After our last mtg. this (Nassau CC info.) was e-mailed to
Comm. Members and reviewed. We took this to mean that, since other local
Colleges are “adopting” these related policies, that this issue is a large one and
one we will likely be faced with addressing shortly.
(5) The next order of business cont.’ed this same (Textbook) topic. Julie was able to
procure the (Barnes and Noble) bookstore (current) contract. It was distributed
and we reviewed it briefly. Many of our previous issues (see last minutes) were
confirmed and we agreed that this topic should be “followed up on” in subsequent
forums including, but not limited to, the textbook sub-committee’s (see #4 above)
and the (larger) Dean Caniff Textbook Committee. Sections of particular interest
included:
(a) Exhibit B (pgs. 3-4); are we (SCCC bookstore) “violating” the terms of
the contract? Who’s “in charge” of policing such things? Who do we
(Academic Affairs comm.. members) contact to discuss?
(b) We noticed that it expires soon but has a “7 year renewal” option; are we
renewing? Is this open to discussion?
(6) Action items that need to begin being “researched” for our next mtg. were
highlighted (by Audrey) in preparation for our Nov. mtg. These items included
the following (and brief, preliminary, discussions began):
(a) “Higher Education Act” (and similar) laws
(b) Test/Grade Inflation (and standardized testing at all levels)
(i) Relationship to “promotion potential?”
(ii) “Learning objectives” (in also all Dept’s) cannot be met through
standardized testing (i.e. a multiple choice exam/exam similar for all etc.)
(iii) Will an “RFP” be “on our heels” for this soon?
(c) Student Bill of Rights
(d) “Foundations of Excellence”
(i) 2 of our members, Julie and Catherine, have signed up to participate on
sub-committee’s relating to this.
II. Next meeting schedule and Upcoming tasks:
(1) The next meeting will be held on 11/20 (3:45 p.m.; same room).
(2) To Do for next meeting: (a) Review “Higher Education Act” (and similar)
laws; (b) address the test/grade inflation issue; (c) Update textbook issues; (d)
review and revisit the “Student Bill of Rights.” For this (Student Bill of
Rights) it’s important that we realize that an updated (hopefully improved)
version will be coming our way (for approval/disapproval) soon and that, if
approved, we are agreeing to POLICY guidance for SCCC students.