Santa Monica College  Faculty Association

Representative Assembly Meeting

November 1, 2007

Members present: Maria Alvarado, Espy Bolivar-Owen, Sandra Burnett, Fran Chandler, Tom Chen, Rebecca Curtis, Gail Edinger, Tracey Ellis, Dennis Frisch, Martin Goldstein, Jeff Gordan, Toby Green, Ben Jimenez, John Kennedy, Richard Lavallee, Colleen McGraw, Melissa Michelson, Mitra Moassessi, Dave Phillips, John Quevedo, Jenny Resnick, Lantz Simpson, Eleanor Singleton, Howard Stahl, Michael Strathearn, Kathy Sucher, Sumy Takesue, Nina Theiss, Esau Tovar, Joy Tucker, Odemaris Valdivia, Sal Veas, Alicia Villapando, Edward Wilkinson.

Absent: Diana Aghabegian, Vini Angel, Jill Assadi, Rory Barnett, Chuck Brinkman, Gwen Dophna, Lawrence Driscoll, Jolia Einstein, Don Emery, Ron Fitzgerald, Donald Gantner, Richard Goldenson, Michael Gougis, Patricia Halliday, Veronica Herrera, William Hogan, Peter Lee, Richard Mednick, Suzanne McDonald, April Mizuki, Sue Moisin, Dana Morgan, Brenda Ness, Jeffrey O'Connell, Jim Pacchioli, Nick Pernisco, Pauli Peters, Tom Peters, Guadalupe Ramos, Elaine Roque, Jennifer Schofield, Mario Semere, Elisha Shapiro, Tara Shima, Richard Tahvildaran-Jesswein, Frank Turner, David Zehr.

Excused: Kym McBride, Susan Sterr, Gary Todd.

Guests : Jackie Scott, Franklyn Phillips, Steve Contarsy, James Smith, Fereshteh Mobasheri.

I. Approval of Minutes: May 17, 2007 and May 31, 2007 passed unanimously.

II. President's Report: FACCC Conference FA representatives attended the FACCC conference in Pasadena October 18-20. Lantz Simpson and Trustee Andrew Walzer participated in a panel facilitated by Dennis Frisch on faculty and Board relations. Keynote speaker Stephanie Miller from Air America pledged to support Proposition 92, the Community College Initiative. Rosyln Kahn, a freeway flyer who teaches here at SMC, won the Margaret Quan Award.

Dennis Frisch reported on Proposition 92 and on the CCCI conference held October 12-13 in San Diego. A new poll from the FACCC Public Policy Committee taken regarding Proposition 92 shows positive support in the state for the initiative: 66% of those polled believe the community colleges are doing a good to excellent job; 70% believe the community colleges are doing a good to excellent job training students; and 85% of those polls believe the funding is inadequate. CTA opposes Prop 92, but it is believed they will not spend money to defeat it. Recent endorsements for Prop 92 have come from the AFL/CIO and from the State Federation of Labor. The Governor has not taken a position.

 
The Faculty Association will attend a dinner Monday night at the downtown Marriott Hotel for Prop 92 supporters. FACCC is asking all full-time faculty to contribute $100 toward the effort to pass this initiative. You can go to FACCC.org for more information.

Also, the executive committee of CCCI felt it was important to have a part-timer on the executive committee, so Cornelia Alseimer, from Santa Barbara City College will serve until the next CCCI election.

Part-time faculty STRS debacle: 200 part-time faculty have been moved into STRS DB from LARISA. The first step for resolution is to file a claim with the District. An article appears in the current Hourly Advocate to inform part-time faculty, and to urge them to attend the Board meeting on November 6 at 7 pm in Business 117.

Problems with full-time overload pay for faculty :

Those full time faculty who teach 8-week classes as overloads and part-time faculty who teach 8-week non-load factor 1 classes have not been paid correctly. They were paid for 16 weeks instead of 18 weeks. (The District did not count flex week). The District has said it has fixed the problem from this point forward. The Faculty Association will request that the District go back at least four years to correct previous years. So inform your colleagues: let the FA know if your department is affected. The only way faculty will know if they have been underpaid is to look at their pay checks and add up their hours on their overload classes.

III. Negotiations Report—Mitra Moassessi Nothing has happened. No new salary proposal from the District. The negotiating team will meet on 11/16 after the next board meeting . If the FA and the District cannot reach an agreement, the next decision the Negotiating Team needs to make is to go to impasse.

IV Executive Committee Recommendation

Motion -- A motion by the Executive Committee recommends that the Representative Assembly urge faculty not to add students to classes commencing winter session if the contract is not settled. A motion to amend was made by Howard Stahl and seconded by Martin Goldstein. The amendment recommended adding the following language to the motion: “and the FA will inform the faculty of their rights and responsibilities to drop students under AR 4320 (page 230 of the 2006/07 College Catalog).” The amendment passed unanimously. The amended motion recommends that the Representative Assembly urge faculty not to add students to classes commencing winter and spring session, and the FA will inform the faculty of their rights and responsibilities to drop students under AR 4133 (page 230 of the 2006/07 College Catalog) if the contract is not settled. The amended motion passed unanimously.

V. Work to Contract – A discussion took place suggesting pulling back from the DPAC committees as a negotiating tactic, and also because these committees are not functioning well. Fran Chandler suggested we need to support our FA leaders and relieve some of the pressure of negotiations. She also suggested we need to urge the Senate and classified staff to unite with the FA in this effort. There are as many DPAC recommendations that have been rejected completely or have been changed substantially as have been accepted. Other suggestions: wearing T-shirts and marching on campus as a job action. Also, letting Associated Students know what is happening is important.

 Respectfully submitted,

Becky Curtis FA Recording Secretary