Minutes of the

MEETING OF THE FACULTY SENATE

October 13, 2003

 

APPROVED

 

PRESENT:                             Chris Barkley, Bill Bedford, Judy Cater, Judy Dolan, Bonnie Ann Dowd, MaryAnn Drinan, Martha Evans, Brent Gowen, Barb Neault Kelber, Teresa Laughlin, Stan Levy, Dennis Lutz, Maria Miller, Marilee Nebelsick-Tagg,  Perry Snyder, Dan Sourbeer, Steve Spear, Sara Thompson, Fari Towfiq, Katie Townsend-Merino, Anne Voth, Tamara Weintraub

 

ABSENT:                               Sue Norton

 

GUESTS:                                Dan Finkenthal

                                               

CALL TO ORDER:               The meeting was called to order by the president, Steve Spear, at 2:00 p.m., in Room SU-30.

 

Approval of Minutes:         The minutes of October 6, 2003, were approved as amended.

 

Proxy Votes:                          None

 

Motion 1                                MSC Thompson, Cater: To suspend the Agenda and move to Executive Session.

 

                                                Dan Finkenthal protested the Senate’s moving into Executive Session objecting that it was a violation of the Brown Act.  His protest was noted; however at 2:08 p.m. the Senate moved into closed session and all visitors were told to leave.

 

                                                The Senate moved out of Executive Session to extend the meeting then resumed Executive Session to complete discussion.

 

Motion 2                                MSC Dowd, Thompson: To extend the meeting.

 

                                                Open Session resumed at 3:01 p.m.

 

Motion 3                                MSC Cater, Laughlin: That the Faculty Senate form an investigative Task Force composed of Dennis Lutz, Marilee Nebelsick-Tagg, and Dan Sourbeer. The Task Force shall conclude their business within a one to two-week time period and report back to the Faculty Senate.

Committee

Appointments:

 

Motion 4                                MSC Barkley, Nebelsick-Tagg: Faculty Senate approval of the following committee appointments and the result of the Faculty Senate ballot:

 

                                                Academic Standards and Practices Committee Chair

Teresa Laughlin

 

                                                Adjunct Faculty Committee Chair

                                                Bill Bedford

 

                                                Elections Committee Chair

                                                Stan Levy

 

                                                Equivalency Committee Chair

                                                Sara Thompson

 

                                                Faculty Senate Sabbatical Leave Committee Chair

                                                Judy Cater

 

                                                Service Area Review Committee Chair

                                                Dennis Lutz

 

                                                Professional Procedures Committee Chair

                                                Marilee Nebelsick-Tagg

 

                                                Personnel Standards & Practices Committee Chair

                                                Maria Miller

 

Curriculum:

 

Motion 5                                MSC Cater, Dowd: Faculty Senate ratification of the Curriculum items presented on October 6, 2003.

 

                                                Teresa Laughlin announced that the Curriculum Committee is meeting on Wednesday, October 15th. Those items will be brought to the Senate for review next week.

 

Faculty Hiring for

2005-06:                                 

 

Motion 6                                MSC Dowd, Bedford: Whereas, Faculty Hiring is an Academic and Professional Matter at Palomar College, and

 

                                                Whereas, the Faculty Senate understands that faculty to be hired for the 2004-05 academic year are based upon previously solicited and approved faculty positions that were not hired due to budget reduction requirements during the 2003-04 academic year,

 

                                                Therefore, be it resolved that the Faculty Senate requests that the Strategic Planning Council and Instructional Planning Council solicit input from all departments for faculty replacements and new hires beginning with academic year 2005-06.

 

                                                MaryAnn Drinan stated that there were never really clear numbers given at Strategic Planning with regard to what our full-time faculty obligation really is, although it is believed to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 258. It is important to have clarity with that number because of issues that could arise regarding the budget. We need to consider what the effects could be and if there is a potential for faculty layoffs in the future. A mechanism should be in place whereby we can come back and review this if indeed because of the possible effects to the faculty and staff who are already here. She added that she would bring a motion forward next week on this issue.

 

                                                After brief discussion, Senate members agreed that the motion is a separate issue which deals with the process used to hire faculty versus actually hiring more faculty.

 

Committee on

Committees:                          Copies of the recommendations from the Committee on Committees were provided. Anne Voth indicated that this item would be brought back for Senate action on October 20.

 

Motion 7                                MSC Barkley, Nebelsick-Tagg: To suspend the Agenda to discuss Information item A, Bond Issue.

 

                                                Jerry Patton provided Senate members with a brief report on how General Obligation Bonds function. The county keeps assessed value of all of the property taxes in the county, both secured and nonsecured. As of July 1, 2003, our area’s assessed valuation of property was in excess of fifty-four billion dollars. Because any entity, such as a community college district, can assess up to 2.5% of assessed valuation for property taxes, that gives us just over one billion dollars for our portion of what we could actually obligate under state statutes.

 

                                                He also reported on how the figures are calculated and changes as a result of Prop. 39, including staffing and additional property needs.

 

                                                In response to a question regarding the general public’s willingness to pay increased property taxes, Jerry Patton indicated that as a result of a poll recently taken in the community; approximately 66-67% of those asked indicated that they would approve of a $10 - $25 increase. This information will be taken to the Governing Board who will determine whether they will present a resolution to the County Registrar of Voters.

 

                                                Additional information can be found by accessing the Facilities Master Plan on the Palomar College web site.

 

Motion 8                                MSC Levy, Voth: To adjourn the meeting.

 

                                                The meeting was adjourned at 3:37 p.m.

 

                                                Respectfully submitted,

 

 

 

                                                Bonnie Ann Dowd, Secretary