Notes - January 31, 2005
De Anza Academic Senate
Approved Notes for the meeting of
January 31st, 2005
Senators and Officers present: Argyriou, Bresnan, Bryant, Chenoweth, Cole, Cordero, Dolen, Dunn, Fritz, Goodwin,
Hearn, Hrycyk, Illowsky, Jensen Sullivan, Joplin, Logvinenko, Lopez-Morgan, Mitchell,
Moreno, Mosh, Pierce, Salah, Setziol, Winters, and Zarecky
Senators and Officers absent: Mujal and Sheirich
DASB: Alex Candia and Katie Zeng
Classified Senate: Dennis Shannakian
Administrative Liaison:
Guests: Willa Dawson, Manisha Perera, Anna Callahan, Brian Murphy, and Karl Schaffer
[NOTE: Item numbers are reflective of agenda numbers in the order they are actually taken up at the meeting.]
The meeting was called to order at 2:34, a quorum being present.
I. Approval of Agenda and Notes: The notes of January 24th were approved as distributed. The Agenda was approved as distributed with a split in item II to allow Hearn to participate and moving Item VIII before Item IV.
IIa. Needs and Confirmations (Part One): All those proposed (in bold) for confirmation on the January 31st tenure review committee spreadsheet distributed at the meeting were confirmed for service.
III. Tsunami Relief Project: Willa Dawson and Manisha Perera were present to promote the tsunami relief effort with an emphasis on Sri Lanka. A group called Architects Without Borders has committed to the rebuilding effort and Dawson and Perera would like De Anza faculty and staff to help. Sri Lanka was chosen as a focus, in part, because the loss there was the greatest on a per capita basis. There will be a fundraising event on the de Anza campus February 15th from 11:00 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. in Conference rooms A + B. A continuing relationship with a college in Sri Lanka is a desirable secondary outcome of the effort.
IIb. Needs and Confirmations (Part Two): There was a discussion of an ESL hiring committee, initially in terms of whether or not a probationary faculty member in their third phase of Tenure Review could serve on the committee. The committee confirmation was held over until the meeting of February 7th when an Equal Opportunity representative should be known.
VIII. IPBT Report: It was reported that even in the best case scenario developed by Mike Brandy, De Anza has a projected budget deficit of $1,000,000 which needs to be overcome by the end of Spring. The worst case scenario has that deficit at $2,000,000.
As of the time of the meeting, no March 15th notices were being prepared. Since the deadline to begin that process was said to be February 1st, it seemed fair to anticipate that there would be no such notices. On the other hand, this does not mean that all programs will be maintained. It could be that one or more programs will be eliminated in which the full time faculty have Faculty Service Areas elsewhere.
A crucial factor in the prognosis of budget cut severity is the extent to which both colleges, taken together, recover enough enrollment to at least maintain the current enrollment cap target WSCH.
Hearn spoke about carrying forward the Senate's traditional interest in qualitative Program Review data. This should happen not just in the PBTs but, also, in department and division discussions.
IV. Charge to Subcommittee on Scheduling Issues: Mitchell began the item by suggesting that three things should be taken up by the sub committee: 1) Final exam schedule – is there a better way, 2) Block scheduling compared with hourly scheduling (sometimes said to be block scheduling versus hourly scheduling, and 3) Room utilization, including spreading classes over all the available hours of the week and uniform starting times to avoid awkward barriers to room availability and doubled booking of exam times.
It was suggested that a rigorous pursuit of number 3 might result in some off campus classes being brought on campus with a side benefit of cost savings to the college.
It was the sense of the Senate that Mitchell's suggestions comprised an appropriate charge to the sub committee
VI. Textbook Policy: The group considered the sections on Cost and Faculty Authored Texts. Regarding Cost – It was reported that a statewide study had found textbooks to be the largest cost factor for students attending community colleges. Several suggestions were made as possible additions to the Cost section. Among them were 1) indicating at least approximate cost of texts on course outlines and or the schedule of classes, 2) Investigating the extent to which online resources available through the library could reduce or eliminate the need for "readers", and 3) adopting texts for a minimum amount of time, say, three years. It was suggested that this idea belonged in the bookstore section but others thought it important to put it in the cost section among other items for faculty to consider when adopting texts.
Regarding Faculty Authored Texts – Karl Schaffer presented information he has gathered regarding sales by campus faculty of self published texts. He posited a causal relationship between dollars earned by faculty authors and decisions as to numbers of sections of classes using their books offered.
It was observed that the section did not contain policy language. Mitchell and Setziol reminded that group that this was previously announced as being intentional in order to stimulate the members of the group into talking and stating what they thought should be policy statements in this tricky, hard to make black and white, section.
VII. District Environmental Policy Revisions: Jensen Sullivan made a presentation consisting of three main elements: 1) an acknowledgment that many people have done good work towards environmentally sound practices at the college and that the theme of healthy environment sustainability was not at all controversial at the college, 2) the District is revising its policy in the face of a district attorney threatened large fine having to do with hazardous materials, and 3) now is a good time to make the policy much stronger than is currently proposed. By the end of the presentation it was clear that the Senate needed much more information about and emphasis on environment issues in the future. Mitchell mentioned that increasing the empowerment of the College Environmental Advisory Group was important.
V. Electronic Distribution of Senate Documents: Mitchell will distribute the Senate agenda and support documents via electronic mail and on the Senate website.
IX. For the Good of the Order:
- It is time for those interested in running for Senate President or Vice President to come forward and for Senators to consider running or identifying those who might be good candidates.
- Jane Patton from the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges sent a request for six faculty to read recommendations for a statewide faculty award. The reading is to be done Monday, February 7th immediately following the Senate meeting. Dolen, Fritz, Mitchell, Jensen Sullivan, Lopez-Morgan, and Setziol agreed to read.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:32 p.m.