Santa Monica College Faculty Association

Representative Assembly Meeting

March 18, 2004

Members Present: Maria Alvarado, Vini Angel, Garen Baghdasarian, Robin Briggs, Sandi Burnett, Fran Chandler, Tom Chen, Steve Contarsy, Tim Cramer, Gwen Dophna, Dennis Frisch, Mark Foster, Kai Ganado, Martin Goldstein, Pierre Goueth, Carolyn Holmes, Josh Kanin, Lesley Kawaguchi, Richard LaValle, Ann Maddox, George Marcopulos, Fran Manion, Ed Markarian, Ben Martin, James Martin, Ken Mason, Robert Massey, Kym McBride, Richard McColl, Suzanne McDonald, Colleen McGraw, Richard Mednick, Mitra Moassessi, Brenda Ness, Lyle Nichols, Jim Pacchioli, Ernest Padilla, Pauli Peter, Krystyna Oakes, Juan Quevedo, Judith Remmes, Rick Russell, Michael Schwartz, Lantz Simpson, Eleanor Singleton, Michael Soldatenko, Howard Stahl,  Michael Strathern, Richard Tahvildaran-Jesswein, Sumy Takesue, Sal Veas, Alicia Villapondo, Andrew Walzer, Betty Wong, David Zehr, Linda Zwang-Weissman

Members Absent: Anthony Archer, Fariba Bolandhemet, Juanita Burris, Jim Croxton, Becky Curtis, Nick DiCamillo, Naja El-Khoury, Anneliese Gerl, Julie Greenfield, Craig Hammond, Ridgeway Knight, Jim Lemmon, Arnold Lessing, Alan Litt, Sheila Mason, Melissa Michelson, Elaine Morton, David Phillips, Paul Roberts, Audrey Roche, Mario Semere, Rita Soshnik, Marci Spiegler, Lydia Strong, Denise Travis, Robert Ware, Mari Womack,

Members Excused: Alan Buckley, Don Emery, John Hoover, Kathy Sucher

Guests:  Dan Nannini, Bill Price

Meeting was called to order at 11:15 A.M.

I. Approval of minutes of December 4, 2003 and March 4, 2004

II. Approval of Negotiating Council-Mitra Moassessi

     The following members have been nominated for approval by the Assembly for the Negotiating Council:

Dennis Frisch

            Kym McBride

            Melissa Michelson

            Mitra Moassessi

            Peter Morse

            Lantz Simpson

            Howard Stahl

      Fran Chandler moved and Ann Maddox seconded the approval of the Negotiating Council as presented.  Motion passed unanimously.

III. President's Report-Lantz Simpson

     A. Ken Mason reported that there were close to 10,000 students, faculty and staff at the March in March in Sacramento on Monday, March 15.  Cruz Bustamonte appeared and marched briefly with the students.   The message to the Governor and Legislature emphasized student and staff opposition to the proposed 44% fee hikes for community college students.   Thanks to Josh Kanin, Martin Goldstein, and Associated Students Government for their work on the teach-in on Friday preceding the march.  Thanks also to Kelly Hayes-Raitt who was very helpful in getting publicity.

     B. 2004-2005 Calendar-The district administration has the right to choose calendar dates and first they set the starting date for Fall, 2004 at August 23.  However, Robert Sammis recently asked that the starting date be changed to August 30, which will put the last day of finals on December 21.

      C. Coordinating Council-Dr. Robertson reported to the Council on her work in Sacramento.  As Assistant to Mr. Riordan who is the Secretary of Education, she has been given the responsibility to find appointees for eleven vacant seats on the Board of Governors.  She also intends to push hard at the Board of Governors to waive penalties for not meeting the 75% rule applied to full time faculty hires. In other words, waiving the penalty would mean that districts are under no obligation to hire full-time faculty instead of part-time.  It is possible that SMC Board Member Margaret Quinones will be appointed to the Board of Governors.

IV.  Benefits Committee Report-Sandi Burnett

     Sandi reported on the survey on benefits that was recently sent out to all faculty and retirees. Full-time faculty in general are very satisfied with the PERSCARE Blue Cross plan and somewhat less so with the Kaiser plan.  Retirees are extremely pleased with the PERSCARE plan, and expressed thanks for being included in the survey.  Part-time faculty were not as satisfied with the Kaiser plan they have, which is a different plan from the full-time faculty Kaiser plan.

     PERSCARE is apparently in the process of establishing five geographical regions statewide.  Since healthcare in Southern California is less expensive than in the north, the hope is that health plan benefit rates will be less for us in the south.

For the good of the order

     Richard Tahvaldaran-Jesswein announced that the Job Action Task Force will meet at 5:00 on Wednesday, March 24 in the Senate conference room.

     Fran Chandler announced that Richard is running for Academic Senate President.

Meeting adjourned at 12:00 P.M.

Respectfully submitted, 

Ann Maddox

Recording Secretary