Minutes - November 5, 2009

Members Present: Terrin Adair-Lynch, Javid Afrasiabi, Rebecca Anderson, Espy Bolivar-Owen, Greg Brookins, Sandi Burnett, Laura Campbell, Katarina Cerovic, Fran Chandler, Steve Contarsy, Rebecca Curtis, George Davison, Abbas Dehkhoda, Gail Edinger, Tracey Ellis, Blue Fier, Mark Foster, Dennis Frisch, Martin Goldstein, Keith Graziadei, Matt Hotsinpiller, Ben Jimenez,  Josh Kanin, Richard Lavallee, Ming Lu, Jim Martin, Mario Martinez, Suzanne McDonald, Marilyn McGrath, Colleen McGraw, Mitra Moassessi, Eric Oifer, Jim Pacchioli, Tom Peters, Jenny Resnick, Sal Rubin, Audrey Sandaval, Jackie Scott, Elisha Shapiro, Lantz Simpson, Howard Stahl, Michael Strathearn, Joy Tucker, Odemaris Valdivia, Sal Veas, Alicia Villapando, Carol Womack.

Excused: Garen Baghdasarian, Ken Buckner, Tom Chen, John Kennedy, Nick Pernisco, Bill Price, Paris Poirier, Elena Garate, Kathy Sucher, Kym McBride, Judith Remmes, David Zehr.

Absent: Eve Adler, Maria Alvarado, Vini Angel, Chuck Brinkman, Troy Cardenas, Gayle Davis Culp, Anna Collier, Ian Culbertson, Guilio Dellarocca, Michael Dixon, Jim Downs, Brian Dunniway, Heather Eisenhardt, Claudia Garcia, Steven Kaufman, Lesley Kawaguchi, Ed Markarian, Ken Mason, Joan Mills, Feresteh Mobasheri, Sue Moisin, Pauli Peter, Franklyn Phillips, Juan Quevedo, Michelle Scholefield, Christine Schultz, Michael Schwartz, Jim Smith,  Richard Tahvildaran-Jesswein, Nina Theiss, Holly Thiercof, Kayli Weatherford, Lisa Willaims, Ventris Woods, Anne York-Herjeczki.

Guests: Bill Nault.

The meeting was called to order at 11:25; a quorum was present.

I.               Approval of Minutes, October 22, 2009

Correction to the minutes: Josh Kanin should be listed as excused.

 It was moved by Dennis Frisch that the minutes be approved - passed unanimously.

http://www.smcfa.org/index.php/meetings/94-draft-minutes/1177-draft-minutes-october-22-2009

II.             Motion from the Executive Committee: “The Executive Committee recommends that the Representative Assembly approve $300 for a commemorative plaque for the Centennial Celebration of the Santa Monica Pier. The wording on the plaque shall read “Santa Monica College Faculty Association.”   

      Passed unanimously

III.           Motion from the Executive Committee: “The Executive Committee recommends that the Faculty Association obtain a membership to join the SMC Foundation President’s Circle.”

      Passed unanimously

 Background:  Santa Monica College Foundation’s President’s Circle was established in 2001 as a private support group for the college. Its members contribute a minimum of $1000 annually in unrestricted funds to be used for the enhancement and support of the campus programs. Contributions have been used for the Associated Students Child Care Fund, special need scholarships, support of a Dale Ride Intern and assistance with the funding of the campus Chairs of Excellence. 

Jim Martin reported that the music department has received grants for performances. Fran Chandler also reported on the benefits of membership.

IV.           President’s Report

·      Student Evaluations: The FA presented a proposal to the district to solve the problems associated with faculty not receiving student evaluations. FA proposed that starting spring semester, a double set of student evaluation forms for every section be sent to faculty in two envelopes; every student will complete two forms, one on the front side and the second one on the back side. The envelope containing the front sides of the evaluations goes to MIS; the envelope containing the backside comments goes to the department offices and will be returned to the faculty after the semester is over.  MIS will process the evaluation forms and the results will be posted on the faculty portal after the grades are turned in.   Faculty will be encouraged to voluntarily fill out the section numbers on the evaluation forms to decrease the error rate. A sub-committee is going to work on clarifying the instructions for evaluation forms.

·      Board Meeting: The Student Services building is to be completed on time in the summer of 2013; the cost for the project is $109 million.

      Non-resident tuition: AB 947 allows the college to charge an additional fee for all

      non-residents. Previously, only international students were charged this fee.

      The District has hired a new administrator; Director of Matriculation Research.

      The board agenda item concerning printing the schedule of classes was pulled, so the district  

      can obtain competitive bids. It costs $116,000 dollars to print the schedule of classes.

      A bill has been introduced in Congress that would implement President Obama’s  

      community college initiative, which will provide $600 million each year over four years    

      starting in 2010 - through competitive grants.  There are 1200 community colleges  

      nationwide.

• A memorial was held for Coach Robert Taylor on Tuesday afternoon.

Motion: It was moved by Howard Stahl and seconded by Steve Contarsy that the Faculty Association contributes $500 to the Robert Taylor memorial scholarship.

Passed unanimously

V.             Government Relations Report – Dennis Frisch

The Board of Governors is considering language regarding revisions to Title 5 regulations pertaining to implementation of the Fifty Percent Law. The revisions would expand the definition of serious hardship in the context of the state’s current fiscal crisis, and would be in effect for fiscal years 2009-10 through 2012-13. Faculty groups are lobbying for language to protect any negative effect on part-time faculty. They wish to protect part-time office hours and benefits. The 50% law requires all community college districts to spend at least half of their "current expense of education" for "salaries of classroom instructors."

There is a proposal in the state to select a few community colleges to create accelerated learning colleges. This proposal would introduce the idea of a charter school model for the community colleges. Legislation will be sought to create a statutory regulation to relieve colleges of requirements and standards. The proposal suggests they do not want to infringe upon current collective bargaining. “California Forward” is one organization behind this proposal: they are business-oriented groups pushing for reform in the community colleges.

Lassen Community College faculty have filed an unfair labor practice on failure of the district to bargain in good faith, interfering with the rights of bargaining unit employees and denying the right of the union to represent their members over the issue of SLO’s.  The administration has unilaterally decided to require its faculty to submit assessment plans whenever they submit a course syllabus. PERB has issued a document to validate the complaint.  

VI.           Negotiating Council Report – Howard Stahl

The Negotiating Council survey has gone out to faculty: please participate.

VII.         For the Good of the Order

The second issue of the FAB is out. There is a quiz Submit your answers; there will be a drawing and a prize.

Respectfully submitted,

Becky Curtis

Recording Secretary