Faculty Senate
February 25, 2011
10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
IP Video
Present:
Karl Brake
Fran Cardoza
Mark Chinn
Tracy Davenport
Kiersta Fricke-Gostnell
Cynthia Gott
Joyce Graham
Ann Hackford
Gary Heigel
Kelly Johnson
Bobbi Kidder
Alex Kozlowski
Gaia Layser
Cheryl Markwell, IS rep.
Russ Mitchell
Diana Moynahan, recorder
Deb Murphy
Missy Nystrom
Carolyn Oates
Jan Olsen
Susan Phillips
Kathleen Salinas
John Salinas
Midge Shaw
Serena St. Clair
Svetlana Varner
Lynda Warren, CS rep.
-Action Items in bold1. Minutes – The January 28 Faculty Senate minutes were approved as written.
2. Recycling Textbooks
Deb Murphy checked with RCC, SOU, U of O, and Portland CC and with colleagues from a private
four-year university in California and a community college in New York about recycling textbooks.
RWC library does a presentation to the Student Government. RVC has a little money in its budget.
All libraries try to have some of the more popular books, e.g. Math, on reserve for students to
borrow for two hours at a time.
SOU has had a "textbook share" program for many years. The bookstore provided texts that cost
over $100. They can't afford that now so student government and the provost are supposed to be
taking turns supplying some funds to continue this.
The library at U of O purchases some textbooks, and the Duck Book store gives some. The library is
discussing adding more money to the library budget to help with this issue.
It seems from this small sampling that some instructors are putting extra personal copies in the
various libraries on reserve. This is becoming harder as less extra copies are being sent out by
publishers. No one that she spoke to has any type of formal policy to address it. Everyone agrees it
is an issue, and they are all discussing it on their campuses. Deb learned at the meeting that there
is a textbook committee, and she will connect with them before the next FS meeting.
Lynda Warren said we looked at a textbook rental system that would be on the college’s website,
and the college would receive some of the profit. There are several companies that do that and
after the bookstore at RVC is complete, we’ll look into that also.
John also wanted Lynda to write something up about what the options were around textbooks.
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Missy Nystrom said that a student book club has raised $1000 to purchase books to place in the
library on reserve. Gary Heigel worked with a publisher to build a textbook from several books that
was customized to fit their (EMT) needs, and it turned out to be cheaper than the original textbook.
Cynthia Gott couldn’t find a book (Art) that fit, so she compiled sections from several books and put
it in the library on reserve.
See attached email from Serena St. Clair who wasn’t able to give her report at the time the topic
was discussed.
3. Initial Report on Recommendations – SENSE Survey
a. Joyce Graham uses Angel and email in discussion groups, which makes her available 24/7.
b. Deb Murphy has been doing classes via IP video and web classes for a few years. An educational
club was formed for ECEE students to get involved in, and they often have guest speakers. She
also utilizes the “coffee shop” icon, an Angel option, for students to communicate with one
another (she doesn’t monitor it).
c. Cynthia Gott gave a presentation on what she does with her art students (see attached). She
gives incentives to form study groups, i.e., extra credit. Students can send pictures of
themselves studying outside of class. Study groups give students with various abilities and
learning styles opportunities to share their scholastic approach to material. When doing an
informal survey, she discovered that students in study groups tend to get top scores on exams
and projects.
4. Update on RCC Budget
Lynda Warren gave a presentation of the 2011-12 budget (view it at www.roguecc.edu/budget ). It
was based on projections from October 2010. Since then some changes have occurred: a) We have
an additional $1 million which means there is a $3.2 million deficit instead of $5.2 next year. b)
Property taxes are not growing much in Southern Oregon, thus we get more money from the state,
so we’re a little better off. The Tuition & Fees/Budget Advisory Committee meets this afternoon
and will discuss tuition increases (possible $10-15) and the College Services fees.
5.
Presidents’ Climate Commitment
Alex Kozlowski and Kathleen Salinas gave a presentation on sustainability, carbon footprint, and
recycling (see attached). Peter Angstadt signed the Presidents’ Climate Commitment. As a part of
this, RCC had to start work on two immediate actions for reducing greenhouse gas from a list of
seven. RCC chose to work on these: 1) Purchase Energy Star certified appliances whenever they
are available, and 2) Encourage use of and provide access to public transportation for all faculty,
staff, and visitors. The college subsidizes RVTD and Jo County Transit for students at a cost of
$100,000 per year. A greenhouse gas inventory of the campus is in process, and a report will be
submitted in May 2011. A climate action plan to become “climate neutral” is due May 2012.
Master recycling classes are offered in conjunction with SPARC and our waste hauling agency.
There was a fundraiser for the Jo. County Fairgrounds to get solar panels on a building to save on
energy costs.
Serena St. Clair asked for the report about what percentages of our courses have a “green”
component to them and suggested that faculty have an obligation to students to incorporate
sustainability consciousness into courses.
For next meeting, think about ways to incorporate sustainability into your curriculum.
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6.
Board Policy on Academic Freedom – Joyce Graham had asked her husband, Robert Graham, an
attorney, to provide a legal perspective on academic freedom to the Faculty Senate. He began by
giving the history of freedom of speech and expression issues with colleges and universities. In the
1940’s there was a standard by which colleges and universities operated under which protected the
faculty member under the constitution in regards to freedom of speech and expression. Then in
the 60’s and 70’s after campus riots and civil demonstrations, the standards were revised by
colleges and universities.
To him, the current board policy looked like it is focused mostly on risk management. Both the
instructor and the student are afforded the rights of freedom of speech and expression. But
there’s a balance. When do someone’s rights of expression conflict with another’s? Does an
instructor allow a student to write a technical report on how to create a local chapter of the KKK?
The college is a public institution and as such is viewed as “the state.” The act of the instructor is
viewed as the action of the state. There are limitations to freedom of speech and expression, i.e.,
hate speech, pornographic speech, etc. Where is the balance? He urged the Faculty Senate to
discuss this further and come to a collective agreement on why we have academic freedom in the
classroom. A right assumes responsibility and social consequences.
Instructors were asked about their experiences in the classroom regarding academic freedom
issues. In Astronomy class, John Salinas presents scientific views of the age of the planet and
doesn’t want to get entangled in discussions outside of that. Bobbi Kidder doesn’t want to hear
speeches on abortion or religion because they polarize the class. Deb Murphy, Early Childhood &
Elementary Education, asks her class to take on controversial subjects on purpose because she
believes we’re in college and students are allowed to speak and think for themselves. We need to
create a rich environment with open minds. Russ Mitchell felt we need to teach people to have
disciplined responses to things instead of an emotional response – we need to teach students to be
adults.
Joyce prepared draft language on academic freedom which will be reviewed in more detail at the
next meeting.
Cheryl will send out the accreditation language to inform our work.
Next meeting: April 22, 2011
10 a.m. to 12 p.m., over IP video
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Attachment to Minutes:
From: St. Clair, Serena
Sent: Monday, February 28, 2011 1:41 PM
To: Murphy, Deborah; Salinas, John; Moynahan, Diana; Patterson, Cynthia; Wood, Doreen
Cc: Kozlowski, Alex; Salinas, Kathleen; Markwell, Cheryl; Olsen-Oliver, Tracey; Warren, Lynda
Subject: More about textbooks on reserve
Dear Faculty Senate Colleagues,
I had a time conflict on Friday morning so as you may have noticed was only able to attend second half
of meeting. On the DRAFT agenda, it listed textbook discussion during second half of meeting so I
thought I could report out, but as it turns out you discussed this earlier in the meeting  I also did
some fact finding this past month and have some information that complements what apparently Deb
reported on.
 I checked with PCC, COCC, LCC & SOU on whether they have a “textbook-on-reserve” policy.
o LCC and COCC do not have any policy; it’s up to individual teachers and depts. to decide
whether to put textbook copies on reserve. For example at LCC the math dept. is
committed to this and consistently provides all the course text books at the reserve desk.
o PCC-Cascade received a grant from student government of $32,000 to purchase all campus
text books for students. The interesting twist is that they applied to the “Green Initiative
Fund”, with the idea founded in “less environmental impact”. (Their student government
passed a tax to support green projects.)
 It was so successful that the larger PCC student government group has now
committed $320,000 (yes THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS) to extend this
textbook-on-reserve program for all their campuses.
 There were a few aspects of this pilot Cascade program that they learned from,
which I can share in more detail if we go this route, such as: not buying books used
for classes that meet when the library is closed. I also have the librarian contacts
name.
 Students and faculty love this project.
o SOU told me something very similar to what Deb reported on. I think the important
concept from their project is to be selective about what books to purchased, (only the more
expensive books) to lessen the blow to students but still leverage the funds a student should
reasonably expect to spend on course texts and materials.
Sorry this information is coming after the meeting, but maybe you will want to include as an addendum
to the minutes or just send out to the whole faculty senate as an information item, or save until April
22nd meeting. It seems timely to announce in relationship to Deb’s recycling textbook idea. Please share
this information as you see best.
Peace,
Serena
Serena Ota St. Clair, Ph.D.
Pathways and Articulation Coordinator
Rogue Community College
541-245-7864
sstclair@roguecc.edu
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