The De Anza Academic Senate
Notes for the meeting of
February 8th , 2010
Senators and Officers present: Anderson, Annen, Argyriou, Beckum, Botsford, Brennan, Cordero, Glapion, Guevara, Larson, Lathers, Lee-Klawender, Maynard, McNamara, Mjelde, Nengo, Nickel, Roberts, Schaffer, Setziol, Singh, Stockwell, Swanner, and Tao
Senators and Officers absent: Beggs, Goodwin, Hanna, and Norte,
District Senate President: DASB: Classified Senate:
Administrative Liaison: Rich Schroeder Guests: Isabelle Barrientos, José Romero, Wayne Chenoweth, and Mary Sullivan
SLO coordinators: Colleen Lee-Wheat and Jim Haynes
Curriculum Co Chair: Anu Khanna
[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 agenda was approved as distributed.
The draft notes of February 1st were approved as distributed.
II. Needs and Confirmations: The item began with a plea from Wayne Chenoweth for volunteers for the Foothill - De Anza Educational Technology Advisory Committee (ETAC) and the De Anza Technology Taskforce. Marshall Hattori and Beth Grobman (alternate) were confirmed for service on the Distance Learning Supervisor Search and Selection Committee.
III. Landscape Committee Update: Mary Sullivan was present from the committee and gave an overview of pending landscaping projects. In light of a landscaping fiasco in 2007 (sometimes known as the great L Quad chainsaw massacre) and a subsequent pledge to try to prevent such a fiasco from happening again, the group asked for a session with the arborist who advises the landscape committee.
IV. Academic Probation proposal: Argyriou distributed and thoroughly presented a document showing, side by side, current De Anza probation and dismissal policy and Title 5 language laying out minimum standards for probation and dismissal. The recently presented proposal by the counseling division was mentioned but not discussed directly because the officers wanted a basic position relative to Title 5 standards first. The Senators were asked to get feedback on this from their constituents.
V. SLO Assessment Timelines: Coleen Lee-Wheat and Jim Haynes were once again present. They focused on two aspects related to timelines. One aspect was an attempt to educate the group and the college community about getting various accreditation and accreditation related activity cycles in sync. The other aspect was to get clearer direction from the group related to the options presented at the last meeting, one having each of five years in the six year cycle focused entirely on one Institutional Core Competency and the other approach having a certain percentage of courses each year in the cycle address all five ICCs. There was a strong consensus around the second option.
VI. Resolution for March in March Local Action: The resolution distributed at the meeting was approved unanimously after discussion, one correction, and an addition to a whereas clause.
VII. Senate President's Update: The item was held over
VIII. Faculty Hiring: It was MSC(Anderson/Cordero) to endorse the Instructional Planning and Budgeting Team's recommendation for full time faculty hiring (ten positions) for fall 2010.
IX. IPBT - Budget Reductions: The item was dominated by concerns about the ramifications of position eliminations recently approved by the college. Decent treatment of those whose positions have now been officially targeted for elimination as well as those whose will be bumped from their positions by those losing eliminated positions was seen as essential. Also, in response to a suggestion about mechanisms which would save money in areas other than positions, the officers said that it was not the purview of the Academic Senate to recommend any specific means covered under collective bargaining. Rather, it was suggested that the group could urge that the positions targeted not be eliminated. This would automatically imply finding reductions outside of the purview of the college’s internal processes.
X. March for California's Future: In light of Goodwin's absence, the item was held over.
XI. Wrap Up: Argyriou mentioned two items for Senators: One, should the college policy on Academic Probation and Dismissal be more stringent than Title 5 regulations (as it is currently) or should they match or be close to them? The other was one final opportunity for faculty to weigh in to their Senators about the SLO options discussed in item V above.
XII. Good of the Order and Announcements: - Lee -Klawender strongly urged the Senators to spread the word about the warning from Sharon Luciw regarding a phony request for information from “FDHA”
- Isabelle Barrrientos distributed a flyer announcing a Haiti earthquake relief effort event.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:28.