February 2, 2026

I. Call to Order

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Welcome

The meeting was called to order at 2:32 pm.

The meeting began with a discussion about the agenda, which did not include a consent calendar. Also, the Measure G Updates has been moved to the Quick Notes.

Erik Woodbury usually sends out a reminder when the agenda is published. In case anyone does not receive the email, the agenda is always published and posted on the Senate website by Friday afternoon at the latest.

Voting Members attending in person and those joining online with their names and meeting locations published on the agenda used the roll call vote link to establish quorum. They also used the same link to approve the agenda, the January 26, 2026 meeting minutes, and the consent calendar.

Roll Call Vote (22)

Angelica Esquivel Moreno, Barbara Dahlke, Christopher Bradley, Doli Bambhania, Jamie Pelusi, Jayanti Roy, Lauren Gordon, Leah Smith, Mark Hamer, Mark Landefeld, Ravjeet Singh, Rusty Johnson, Shagun Kaur, Sherwin Mendoza, So Kam Lee, Steve Nava, Sukhjit Singh, Umar Douglas, Veronica Acevedo Avila, Viviana Alcazar, Yuri Chang

Quorum reached.

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II. Agenda, Minutes, and Consent Calendar

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Approval of Agenda

Yes (22) Angelica Esquivel Moreno, Barbara Dahlke, Christopher Bradley, Doli Bambhania, Jamie Pelusi, Jayanti Roy, Lauren Gordon, Leah Smith, Mark Hamer, Mark Landefeld, Ravjeet Singh, Rusty Johnson, Shagun Kaur, Sherwin Mendoza, So Kam Lee, Steve Nava, Sukhjit Singh, Umar Douglas, Veronica Acevedo Avila, Viviana Alcazar, Yuri Chang

Agenda approved.

Approval of Minutes from January 26, 2026

Yes (22) Angelica Esquivel Moreno, Barbara Dahlke, Christopher Bradley, Doli Bambhania, Jamie Pelusi, Jayanti Roy, Lauren Gordon, Leah Smith, Mark Hamer, Mark Landefeld, Ravjeet Singh, Rusty Johnson, Shagun Kaur, Sherwin Mendoza, So Kam Lee, Steve Nava, Sukhjit Singh, Umar Douglas, Veronica Acevedo Avila, Viviana Alcazar, Yuri Chang

Minutes approved.

Approval of Consent Calendar

No Consent Calendar

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Public Comment

Sherwin Mendoza: The financial report from last week stated that $500 payments for the part-time representative for RAPP and the two at-large part-time faculty Academic Senate representatives was still pending.  

First, Sherwin wanted to clarify that the PTF reps should receive $1000 per quarter.  The Senate is contributing $500, while another college fund is contributing the other $500.

Second, he was glad to report that HR has processed the payments, and that they should appear in the February checks of the three reps.  

FA has been informed, since this is an issue of timely compensation, and hopefully, in the near-future, the PT reps will be paid for their service in their paychecks.  As a part-timer himself, he expressed appreciation for the work that Mark Landefeld, Mary Donahue, and Christina Wright are doing on their behalf, and hope that their compensation will be timely moving forward.

Ravjeet Singh raised some concerns about notations in the class schedule for Late Start classes. Some students did not realize that they were signing up for a late start class. Some of them expressed frustration over handling such fast paced classes. She suggested that the Office of Instruction may review and report back on options to better inform students about late start classes, including possible pop-up notifications during enrollment.

Mark Landefeld pointed out audio issues in the back of the room made it difficult to hear. The suggestion was to go on zoom and use AirPods or move to the open seatings in the front rows.

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III. Needs and Confirmation

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District and College Needs

Executive Vice President De Anza Senate - Spring 2026

Several people have applied. The Senate will be voting for the position next week

Faculty Coordinator VIDA - Spring 2026

The position is still open.

Tenure Review Committee [At Large Members]

This is very important. They will remind the deans to start submitting their tenure review committees next week and have the committees finalized by the end of winter quarter. They will focus on recruiting at-large committee members and ensuring all required training is completed in a timely manner.

Please sign up and recruit other faculty to sign up as well.

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Confirmations

None.

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IV. New & Continuing Business

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Quick Notes:

Educational Master Plan: Comprehensive Program Review Planning

Erik Woodbury, Shagun Kaur, faculty members of RAPP, and Ram Subramaniam have started the revision process for the Educational Master Plan.

Their first step was to review and revise the Comprehensive Program Review. 

Last Friday Erik sent a survey to the department chairs encouraging them to share it and get input from interested faculty. Through this survey, he aims to collect feedback from faculty on what works and what doesn’t work with the current Comprehensive Program Review tool. What questions should be removed? What questions should be added? 

Complete the survey and give input to this process. 

They planned on completing a proposal this quarter to be presented and reviewed by the shared governance groups.

Senate Membership Drive

A Senate Membership Drive is being launched over the next six months, with a marketing plan in place to increase subscriptions of full-time and part-time faculty members.

The Senate membership drive plan:  January: Introduction to the Senate about what it does and its impact. February-March: Initial sign-up.  April: Marketing with special invitation. May: Reinforcement.  June: Final sign-up. 

Faculty may look at their pay stub to check if they are a member. Currently there are 131 supporting members of the Academic Senate out of approximately 600 to 615 faculty.

Measure G Update: Creative Arts Building progress

Updates were provided on Measure G, including progress on the new Creative Arts building.

Some work in process like the work on the bathroom renovations, some work completed, like the new sand volleyball court.

Last Wednesday Shagun and Erik met with the senior staff, creative arts faculty, staff, and their dean regarding the progress on the project. The faculty and staff have been involved in design meetings with the architects.

The schedule was to complete the initial design phase by March/April. Shift to technical construction details over the summer.  Finalize the plan in the fall. Submit the plan to the Division of the State Architect DSA for review. Hopefully break ground in Spring 2027.

Creative Arts faculty/Division Reps will provide regular updates to the Senate on the progress of the Creative Arts building project, at least once a month or a few times per quarter.

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College President Update

District and College Responses

The Senate will be providing spaces for regular college president updates aimed to increase transparency from the administrative viewpoint and an opportunity for faculty to give feedback directly to President Torres.

President Torres greeted everyone in the room and online with a Happy New Year. 

President Torres provided updates on several topics.

ICE

An updated ICE poster with information based on the advice of the school’s legal counsel has been posted throughout the campus.

The law differentiates non-public and public spaces on the campus. Federal agents cannot enter non-public places without a judicial warrant. The lab spaces, the lecture spaces, office spaces are all considered non-public.Classrooms or fields for the classes or training are non-public spaces. However, if the venue is hosting an event that is open to the public, it temporarily becomes a public space. The board will discuss the sanctuary district resolution and how to define parking lot space. If anyone sees ICE agents on the campus, let the president’s office know and call campus police (408-924-8000).

They will invite the Chief of Police (or designee) to a future meeting to clarify protocols and realistic expectations for police response to immigration enforcement actions on campus.

Educational Master Plan

President Torres encouraged faculty members to give input on the Educational Master Plan that is critical to the college’s future work. The MasterPlan aligns with the school’s Strategic Enrollment Management Plan and Strategic Plan the Senate approved last quarter. He added that Precision Campus will be the software that they use for prompts in the Comprehensive Program Review.

President Torres again emphasized that the Educational Master Plan is crucial because it will inform the future Facility Master Plan.

The president will be reporting on Measure G to the board.

The Creative Arts staff met online with the consultants and architect all day last Friday with their feedback on their needs. Architects/Consultants should send adjusted building plans to Creative Arts faculty, staff, and dean 48-72 hours before each design meeting for review and feedback. He wanted to encourage this type of dialogue throughout the process. He was excited about the process that was meant to be inclusive, transparent, and open. This kind of dialogue and process will inform the future Facilities Master Plan, also potential future bond measures

Hiring

The cancellation of the State of the College update at the end of January was due to so much going on in the calendar and other priorities. Hiring was one of the things. They will be hiring 15 new instructional and non-instructional faculty.

In March, the Board will discuss and decide on SRP (Supplemental Retirement Plan.) If SRP happens, there will be opportunities to rethink some of these other positions across campus as they look to the future.

There will be a follow up to the State of the College.

More Listening

The president’s 100 days of listening have been posted on the website. He invited everyone to his Wednesday open office hours to discuss ideas, thoughts, concerns, and suggestions.

IEP

The IEP Institutional Effectiveness Partnership Resource Team came to the college during the fall quarter to hear about what the college is doing in terms of curriculum development in serving the needs of students, staff, and community.

The team will come back on February 27 to present the college with a number of options to traditional classes as the college embraces Basic Aid and changing student needs.

Maybe some non-credit or customized workforce training for business and industry. There will be discussions on the department and division level. The K-12 student population is declining. The over 50 years old population want continuing studies and professional development. They will discuss how the college can serve this change in population.

Realignment

President Torres acknowledged past mistakes regarding the realignment proposal and expressed commitment to involving stakeholders in future discussions. 

President Torres apologized for the uncomfortable position that affected some divisions by the realignment discussion. He said it was a learning experience. He wished he could do this process differently. His vision for the school community was to co-create and collaborate on this kind of decision.

Questions:

Mark Landefeld asked about the athletics areas. Some of these areas cannot be declared non-public.They will check and post appropriate non-public signs in areas like locker rooms and athletic training centers.

Who to contact? Contact Santa Clara Rapid Response should ICE agents break the law. Always call campus police; they do not willingly cooperate with ICE 

Some faculty appreciated the president’s comments on the realignment.

Jayanti Roy expressed concerns regarding safety in the evening and after hours. Police escort is available until 11 pm

There was a question about retaking classes. Sometimes this was allowed through petition. Students may also explore the non-credit

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Updates on ICE.

District and College Responses

The Board will decide on the Resolution Prohibiting the Use of District Facilities for Federal Immigration Enforcement. Resolution No.2026-06. Before it went to the board, the Academic Senate endorsed the resolution. One of the resolves prohibits ICE from using the school’s parking lot for staging. Please see the details in the link.

Mark Landefeld recommend that the board adopt this resolution, Veronica Acevedo seconded

Veronica Acevedo moved to pass with acclamation.

All Ayes

The Senate President will take the Senate's recommendation to the board regarding the resolution on prohibiting the use of district facilities for federal immigration enforcement.

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Global Education Partners Update

John Swenson provided an update on the Global Education Partners, highlighting past and future study abroad programs, with a focus on faculty recruitment for upcoming trips.

This summer, students will go to Barcelona. Sal Mareiter and Kim Palmore will lead the trip. John Swenson explained the structure, costs, scholarships, and the upcoming fundraising concert featuring Carl Blake. He mentioned the need to build a waitlist and attract new participants. All donations go to student scholarships.

John also talked about his plans to retire and the search for a new coordinator. They need to determine the specific release time details for the Global Education Partnerships coordinator position in consultation with the VP of Instruction (The Foothill coordinator gets .4 release time). 

See presentation for more details.

Faculty interested in Global Education Partnerships coordinator role or in leading study abroad programs: Email John Swenson to express interest

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Syllabus Language Update

CommonSyllabusSecondRead.docx

The Academic Senate discussed and approved a draft document of proposed common syllabus language aimed at addressing academic freedom and creating supportive classroom environments. 

The document originated from concerns raised by faculty during Opening Day about creating safe spaces for critical discussions. There was a recent incident in which a known hate group came after a faculty member. In this current climate, the team wanted to create this document to make the syllabus a welcoming, warm, and protective space for students. 

The final draft document, which was revised based on previous feedback, seeks to provide a framework for faculty to navigate challenging discussions and student concerns while maintaining academic freedom. The group emphasized that the language is not prescriptive but offers a sample for faculty who wish to adopt it. They plan to pilot the document in the spring to gather student feedback and encourage faculty to engage in dialogue about its implementation. 

The discussion highlighted the importance of creating safe and inclusive spaces for students to engage in difficult conversations, particularly in light of recent challenges to academic freedom and the spread of misinformation.

Veronica Avila Acevedo moved to approved, Barbara Dahlke seconded

No objections.

Document approved.

The document will be used as a resource for faculty, though not as a mandate, and will be revised to include explanatory context about its development and intended use.

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GE Committee Update

• Charge
• GE Philosophy
• GE Criteria: Area Criteria
• Charge 4 - GE Policy and Workflow Summary.docx
• Charge 5 - Final Draft.docx

Rajveet Singh moved to table this agenda item until the next meeting. Jayanti Roy seconded. No objection

Committee members should review and provide feedback on Charges 4 and 5 before the next Senate meeting.

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Good of the Order

Veronica Acevedo: DALA will distribute information about upcoming fundraising activities (e.g., conchas sale) for Latinx graduation and scholarships.

Mark Landefeld Volleyball matches on Friday, the opening of the new beach volleyball facility

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Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 4:19 pm.

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Attendance

In person

Erik Woodbury,  Shagun Kaur, So Kam Lee

Veronica Avila Acevedo, Viviana Alcazar, Doli Bambhania, Christopher Bradley, xYuri Chang, *Jacob Chen, Barbara Dahlke, Umar Douglas, Kevin Glapion, Lauren Gordon, Dawnis Guevara, Mark Hamer, Mark Landefeld, Sherwin Mendoza, Angelica Esquivel-Moreno, Christian Rodriguez, Jayanti Roy, Lakshmikanta "LK" Sengupta, Ravjeet Singh, Sukhjit Bob Singh, Leah Smith, *Ram Subramaniam 

Online

Lisa Castro, Rusty Johnson, Jamie Pelusi

Absent

James Adams, *Deborah Armstrong, Dave Capitolo, James Capurso, Mary Donahue, Mary Pape, Angela Winch

*Non-voting member