Minutes of the

Minutes o= f the

MEETING OF THE FACULTY SENATE

August 23= , 2004

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APPROVED

PRES= ENT: &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Rosa Antonecchia, Bill Bedford, Monika Brannick, Bonnie Ann Dowd, Martha Evans, Robert Gilson, Sherry Gordon, Brent Gowen, Anne Hohman, Barb Neault Kelber,= Teresa Laughlin, Stan Levy, Maria Miller, Marilee Nebelsick-Tagg, Sue Norton, Fari Towfiq, Katie Townsend-Merino, Lori Waite

ABSE= NT: &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Doug Key

GUES= TS: &= nbsp; &nbs= p; =

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CALL= TO ORDER: &= nbsp; The meeting was called to order by the president, Katie Townsend-Merino, at 2:00 p.m., in Room SU-30.

Welc= ome: &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Senators were welcomed for the new semester.

Appr= oval of Minutes: &n= bsp; The minutes of May 17, 2004, were approved as amended.

Facu= lty Vice President: &nbs= p; Katie Townsend-Merino announced that Rocco Versaci has resigned as Faculty Vice President due to scheduling difficulties. A call for nominations was distributed today to fill the position.

Than= k You: &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Senators expressed their thanks to Professional Development Coordinator Lori Waite f= or her excellent work on last Friday’s Plenary Session.

ASG:= &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; There was no report. Katie Townsend-Merino stated that she will once again invite= the ASG to provide a weekly report to the Senate.

Gove= rning Board &

Inte= rim President Jones: &nb= sp; Katie Townsend-Merino provided the following report of the Governing Board meetin= gs as well as her summer meetings with Interim President Jones:=

= · = The newly elected Governing Board will select the new Superintendent/President = with the new time-frame that was adopted.

= · = A special board meeting has been scheduled for August 26 to address the issue= of ratifying an agreement which would release the parity money for adjunct fac= ulty members.

= · = A resolution was passed last month recognizing the contributions of part time faculty, adjunct faculty, and full-time non-tenure track faculty. It is a resolution which has been approved statewide for CSUs, UCs, and community colleges suggesting that it is not in the best interests of the California College and univers= ity system to rely so heavily on a contingent work force.

= · = The issue of English 100 scheduling was also discussed by the Board in July. Many f= aculty members and department chairs were asked in late June and early July to add classes and many classes were added to the schedule. The English department= was not asked at that time to increase their number of classes. At the July boa= rd meeting several students spoke to the problem of getting into English 100 classes. The English department currently offers over 280 classes, 33% of t= hem are English 100, 84.3% are English 10, 50, and 100 with only 5 electives ou= t of almost 300 classes. It was al= so reported that there are a lot of students who were unable to get into Engli= sh 100 classes because of the new placement test which places them into English 100. It was also noted that b= ecause enrollment is down 4.5%, all departments on campus are being asked by Inter= im President Jones to revisit their Spring schedules and offer more classes. <= o:p>

Anne Hohman added = that her department was not asked in the Spring to increase its Fall schedule but was approached by her dean in July. Faculty are on a 10-month contract and = many aren’t available over the summer. The department policy/procedure is = that the department chair acts only upon the advice of the department so in July= she did refuse to increase the Fall schedule and sai= d that her department would meet during the Plenary Session on August 20 to discuss adding sections. Anne reported that the English Department did meet and vot= ed to add up to 10 sections of English 100. Instructors have been found for 5 = sections. Anne also reported that the colleg= e has yet to provide definitive answers on how and when the classes will meet as there is an issue of room availability, which has not been resolved.

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There was addition= al discussion about the many factors which have possibly contributed to the dr= op in enrollment: increased fees, an increase in employment, and the discontinuation of PAR. Can more be done to market the college and our clas= ses? It was also noted that other area districts are also experiencing low enrollment figures.

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The Senate discuss= ed the possibility of a letter from the Senate President to the Administration and Governing Board stating that although the Senate recognizes that there are = many challenges facing the district, no one should be making statements that pla= ce responsibility for low enrollment on any one department because clearly there are many contributing factors to the decrease in enrollment.

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Discussion followe= d on the need for the Superintendent/President to directly communicate with the chair of a department rather than through the deans, then the Vice President for Instruction if the President has a concern about a department.

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Katie continued her report:

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Many faculty and s= taff are concerned with rumors that the Superintendent/President has expressed t= hat there are too many Academic Department Assistants and that some should be l= et go. Katie indicated that she has asked him about this at two separate meeti= ngs over the summer and each time he has denied making those statements, althou= gh at a recent meeting he did state that he has placed a partial freeze on employment, and that 3 ADAs are not being replaced pending a recommendation from the Fiscal Stability Task Force. Dr. Jones has suggested that Palomar = is not overstaffed, but that perhaps our staffing is not appropriately distributed= .

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Senators also disc= ussed recent communications with classified staff regarding their exclusion from = the Plenary Session. Classified and CAST members were sent a letter from Presid= ent Jones indicating that they were not invited to the session. Many on campus believe that the Fa= culty Senate asked that those employee groups be excluded from this year’s program. Senators agreed that there was never any intent to exclude any employee group from the Plenary Session but rather a request that it be returned to its historic focus on faculty issues an= d be renamed “Plenary” to better represent the focus of the day. The Senate’s motion in May dealing with this issue specifically asked that all constituent groups be invited to attend the event.

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Katie added that I= nterim President Jones intends to send a clarification to all employees soon, but = it is important that the Senate communicate to all faculty and staff that it w= as never the Senate’s intent to exclude any group from the event.

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After additional discussion, Senators agreed that perhaps Katie should also send an email to= all Classified and CAST members to express the Senate’s concern that it w= as never our intent to exclude, and to apologize for any distress experienced = as a result of miscommunications.

Moti= on 1 &= nbsp; &nbs= p; MSCU Bedford, Levy: That the President of the Faculty Senate be directed to send= a letter to the Classified staff and CAST members stating that the Senate, af= ter reviewing Faculty Senate minutes relating to this issue, did not ask for any employee group to be excluded from the Plenary Session and that the Senate apologizes for any ill feelings caused by the misinformation that led to the exclusion. Both constituent groups will be invited to participate in discussions regarding the plenary session for Fall of 2005.

Moti= on 2 &= nbsp; &nbs= p; MSC Dowd, Hohman: To extend the meeting until 3:30 p.m.

Katie also reporte= d that she met with Dr. Jones over the summer to discuss the issue of faculty memb= ers having access to Academic Due Process.&nbs= p; There have been well documented instances where faculty have been de= nied and assurance from our interim president is needed that the process will be followed. Dr. Jones has indicated that he will review the Academic Due Proc= ess Board Policy and compare it to the TA Grievance Policy. Katie stated that she will reiterate to Dr. Jones that until there is a signed contract faculty need c= onfirmation that the District will continue to honor the Academic Due Process Policy in existence. Bill Bedford added that the present policy is in force and that = it cannot be denied. He stated t= hat it is expected that when the contract is signed the current Academic Due Proce= ss will remain in place because it is much broader than the Grievance Policy.<= /o:p>

Strategic Planning

Coun= cil: &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Katie Townsend-Merino reported that a special SPC meeting was called over the sum= mer to approve the hiring of a second Chemistry professor. The Chemistry Department was on the faculty hiring priority list as submitted by IPC for next year. This action in effect moved the po= sition ahead a few semesters. IPC had a special meeting over the summer and approv= ed that this position should be moved forward because Chemistry is having difficulty hiring adjuncts and there were two strong candidates in the last hiring pool Moving this position forward eliminated the costs associated = with starting a new hiring effort next year. The funding for the second position came from four positions that were not hired this semester but which will be filled in the Spring.

Reve= nue Allocation

Comm= ittee: &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Bonnie Dowd reported that RAC is not expected to meet for the first few months of = the semester because Fiscal Stability Task Force (FSTF) has been and will conti= nue to meet. FSTF membership incl= udes the RAC members plus two members from each of the planning councils. FSTF w= as convened by the Strategic Planning Council to work on the immediate deficit issues in the budget, as well as to devise a plan that will go before SPC a= nd the Governing Board in October or November for implementation in January for rightsizing the budget and moving the district to fiscal stability. One of the charges to the group this summer was to reduce the deficit by $1,000,000. FSTF has made recommendations that= reduced the deficit by approximately $960,000. Prior to these reductions, the proje= cted deficit was 1.8 million dollars, with a 3% reserve rather than a 5% reserve. Most of the $960,000 reduction is a result of the capital outlay accounts b= eing frozen. Monies coming in from the Block Grant will be used to offset some o= f the instructional capital outlay needs. The capital outlay accounts will be administered directly by the Vic= e President of Finance & Administrative Services and through the Deans rather than = by the departments for the next academic year. Another sizable portion of this reduction is attributed to a change in how retiree benefits are handled for those who work in categorical programs.&nb= sp; It was reported that FSTF has requested that all categorical programs attempt to absorb in the next two years the cost of retiree health benefits= . Past practice has been that benefi= ts are only charged to the categorical program’s budget when the employee is active. Upon retirement the c= ost is charged to the general fund budget. There was discussion about the fact that some programs are poorly fu= nded now and the services they provide are crucial to supporting student success. Bonnie reported that= these discussions did take place and that there was unanimous agreement by FSTF members that the change needs to be phased in so as not to cause extreme hardship to any program.

Palomar Faculty

Fede= ration: &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Bill Bedford reminded everyone of the joint Classified/PFF sponsored picnic on Saturday, September 18.

Facu= lty Senate

Meet= ings: &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Katie Townsend-Merino provided the following report on two issues relating to the current Faculty Constitution:

<= span style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-fareast-font-family= :"Courier New"'>o&nb= sp; The current constitution states that the Senate meetings are to be fifty minute= s in length. Every attempt will be made to end the meetings by 3:30 in considera= tion of those Senators with classes or other meetings.

<= span style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-fareast-font-family= :"Courier New"'>o&nb= sp; Although our constitution allows proxy voting, other organizations are reporting tha= t proxy votes do not meet Brown Act requirements. Katie said that she has been advise= d by statewide faculty leadership to abide by the Brown Act.

Both of these issu= es will be sent to the Constitutional Review Committee for review and recommen= dations. Senate members discussed whether proxy votes should be accepted in the inte= rim and it was agreed that they should not be.

Motion 3&nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; MSC Brannick, Hohman: To move the issue of proxy votes to action.

Moti= on 4 &= nbsp; &nbs= p; MSC Bedford, Dowd: The Faculty Senate will dispense with the use of proxy voting until formal recommendations are received from the Constitutional Review Committee.

Constitutional Rev= iew is a Faculty issue so Barb Kelber will be convening a group to address these issues. She asked if any Senators would like to assist. Bill Bedford, Bonnie Dowd, Brent G= owen, and Marilee Nebelsick-Tagg volunteered.

Chai= rs of Senate

Comm= ittees:

Moti= on 5 &= nbsp; &nbs= p; MSC Gowen, Levy: Faculty Senate approval of the following Senate Sub-Committee = and Governance committee appointments:

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Equivalency Committee

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Rosa Antonecchia, Chair

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Sabbatical Leave Committee

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Rosa Antonecchia (Senate representative)

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Academic Technology Committee

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Bonnie Ann Dowd, Chair

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Katie Townsend-Merino added that she asked Monika Brannick to serve as the Chair = of the Committee on Committees. According to the Faculty Constituti= on, the Faculty Senate President appoints the chair and members to this committ= ee. Katie announced that two additional faculty members are needed to serve as members and asked for volunteers. No one volunteered at this time.

Comm= ittee

Appo= intments:

Moti= on 6 &= nbsp; &nbs= p; MSC Brannick, Gowen: Faculty Senate approval of the following committee appointments:

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Curricunet

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Teresa Laughlin

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Jackie Martin-Klement

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Senate members briefly discussed the need for release time for the Committee on Committees chair. Katie stated that the members of the Faculty Council would further discuss this issue.

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Monika Brannick also announced that because of a vacancy on the Tenure & Evaluations Review Board, the faculty member elected to the alternate at-la= rge position will be moved into the permanent position and another election will be held= to fill the alternate at-large spot.

Elec= tions: &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Stan Levy provided the following update on elections:

= · = A call for nominations will be distributed to fill current Senate vacancies f= or the terms of the Senate seats to be replaced.

= · = The proposed changes to the Faculty Constitution voted on by faculty last semes= ter passed by a majority of the faculty that voted.

ADJOURNMENT:= &nb= sp; The meeting was adjourned at 3:30 p.m.

= &nb= sp; = &nb= sp; Respectfully submitted,

= &nb= sp; = &nb= sp; Bonnie Ann Dowd, Secretary

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