Academic Affairs Meeting Minutes (2009-2010)
The second meeting of the Spring Semester for the 2009-2010 Academic year was held
on March 10th, 2009 in the Horton Point Room (Babylon Student Center lower level).
The following individuals are members of the Academic Affairs (Senate) Committee:
Audrey DeLong, Julie Hanauer, Pamela Lynch, Nicole Reitman, Catherine Lipnick,
Robert Lowry, Lisa Aymong and Laurie Kaha. All members were present for meeting.
I.
Minutes:
The first order of business was to “approve” the meeting minutes from the previous 2
meetings (last of Fall Semester and 1st of this semester). We had problems holding
both meetings face-to-face (because of fire alarm and snow day) thus these meetings
were completed via e-mail. Both meetings focused on HR 3221 (described again
below).
II Current meeting:
(1) The second order of business was to discuss the edits and updates made to HR
3221, now titled “Officer Dan Faulkner Children of Fallen Heroes Scholarship
Act.” The “Executive Committee” will be looking at this later this afternoon (i.e.
day of our meeting) and both Julie and Audrey will be present to address
questions/concerns. We had the following additional statements regarding HR
3221:
(a) If we agree w/ this (@ SCCC) then it can be forwarded to other
Community Colleges (such as Nassau CC) so it may become relevant at
the State level. This is a positive thing.
(b) “On-Line” courses for our (SCCC) students may not, uniformly, be
appropriate. Our student body may not be prepared and disciplined
enough to complete these types of courses. However, since we are
currently unclear as to what these courses will entail, we could not address
this further (i.e. how long are they? Are these assessments throughout?
Etc.)
(c) What about “Special Services” students?
(d) Is the “No Child Left Behind” section (on pg. 3, #15) ok?
(e) We reviewed the “Journal of On-Line Learning and Teaching” for their
assessment regarding this issue and their published percentages were
much higher than ours (currently @ 40%, unofficially, @ SCCC) showing
a 10-20% increase in learning through on-line courses.
(2) The third order of business was to discuss “Governance Day” participation and
activities. Julie will be present and Catherine will complete a tri-fold board to
display our Committee goals and tasks/mission. We would like to gain new
members and get our Committees “word” out. Our focus will be on “Academic
Freedom” and “Students’ Rights.” Pamela will provide bullet points for the trifold and all members will offer materials for the “Raffle Box” (if available).
(a) The Governance Day will be held April 7th
(3) The fourth order of business was to, again, discuss and address the bookstore and
its contract. (now Follett since July 09). We have been told to lay low w/ our
concerns however, now that we have contract in hand, it seems a difficult item to
ignore. Perhaps we could at least ask a few questions regarding a few sections
(for clarification purposes only)? The items are:
(a) “MSRP” vs. 25% (max.) mark-up that can be charged?
(b) “Buy-Back” amount (listed @ 50% - do students ever get this amount?)
III. Next meeting schedule and Upcoming tasks:
(1) The next meeting will be held on 3/14
(3) To Do: During the next meeting the committee will continue to discuss and
address the “Textbook” and “Bookstore” issue (included above) and will be better
informed if/when we can obtain the information clarifications requested.