Ventura College Academic Senate
Minutes
Thursday, April 2, 2009
1:30-3:30 pm
Campus Center Conference Room

I.	Call to Order
	This meeting was called to order at 1:35 p.m.
	The following senate members were present:

	Algiers, Kammy
	Garcia, Jennifer
	Haines, Robbie
	Lange, Cari (Secretary)
	Lew, Warren (Treasurer)
	Mitchell, Nancy
	Morris, Terry
	Pauley, Mark
	Pollack, Deborah (VP)
	Sezzi, Peter (President)

	The following guests were present: 	
	Medina, Susan (VP, ASB)		Mansfield, Casey (Dept. Chair/Tech)

II.	Approval of minutes
a.	March 19, 2009
	Motioned by Algiers, seconded by Morris. Required revision to minutes- note that Lew and Haines abstained from voting to approve the minutes from 2/12. Approved 10-0-1, with Garcia abstaining. 

III.	Action Items
a.	DCHR: Recruitment and Selection Procedures for F/T Academic Hires (Second Reading)
	President’s Interviews: Motioned by Pauley, seconded by Mitchell. Further discussion – after discussion it was agreed that the language of this resolution should be modified to specifically state that the diversity facilitator and a faculty rep (hiring committee co-chair, or co-chair appointed rep) should both be present during the presidential interview. Further, items ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘G’, and ‘H’ were deleted due to repetition. With these additions, the motion was unanimously approved. 
	Oral Tally: motioned by Haines, seconded by Garcia. Further discussion- item ‘C’ will be moved to the Presidential interview section, and adds that the committee must consent to forwarding any candidate that fell below the natural break. Section ‘E’ was modified to read, “If no candidates are deemed to be acceptable to the screening committee, the process will terminate and the committee will meet with the college president to discuss their decision, and the position will be reopened for recruitment.”  With these modifications, the motion was unanimously approved.
	Reference Checks and Offers of Employment: motioned by Algiers, seconded by Lew. Further discussion – some discussion centered around moving the reference check to an earlier stage of the interview process, but it was determined that logistically, this would not work. Therefore, no modifications were made to this section. The motion was unanimously approved.
 	Selection Procedures: motioned by Lew, seconded by Algiers. Further discussion -  agreed to add in the VCCCD mission statement. The motion was unanimously approved.
	Announcement/Advertising: Motioned by Haines, seconded by Garcia. No modifications made. The motion was unanimously approved.
	Committee Composition and Appointments: motioned by Haines, seconded by Lew. No modifications made. The motion was unanimously approved.

b.	DCSL:  Academic Procedures  4021, 4025, 4026, 4030, 4040, 4060, 4100, 4102, 4103 (First Reading)

	These procedures will be action items for vote on the April 16th agenda. Discussion on procedure 4021 included rewording to ensure that faculty make up the majority of the program review and evaluation process from program discontinuance, and that any Stage 2 plan be reviewed by a faculty committee. 

c.	Appointment of Academic Senate Treasurer for 2009-2011
	If no write in candidate has expressed interest prior to the senate meeting on April 16th, then the senate will appoint an interested party at that time. 

d.	Statewide Academic Senate Spring Plenary Session Resolutions (If any)
	Mansfield made a presentation to the Senate detailing how the state’s proposed minimum qualification and equivalency for teaching positions would negatively impact vocational programs. Such programs often cannot find good instructors with an academic degree, and instead rely on instructors that have earned certificates, licenses, and the like from practicing the trade.  The State motion, 10.01 S09, would take away the local school’s ability to determine equivalency and require an academic degree for all instructor positions. 	Item 10.01 S09: The senate moved to have Sezzi vote “No” on this item. Motioned by Haines, seconded by Algiers. The motion was unanimously approved.
	Item 10.02 S09: This resolution would eliminate eminence. The senate moved to have Sezzi vote “No” on this item. Motioned by Haines, seconded by Morris. The motion was unanimously approved.
	Item 9.01 S09: This resolution would provide a system of checks to ensure colleges are meeting their ethnic studies requirement, and could eliminate “double dipping/counting” for this area (ie: a woman’s literature course could not be double counted as both a literature requirement and a diversities requirement). The senate moved to have Sezzi vote “Yes” on this item. Motioned by Mitchell, seconded by Pollack. The motion was approved 9 to 10 with Lange voting no.
	Item 9.02 S09: This resolution would eliminate the statistical analysis requirement for cross discipline prerequisites. The senate moved to have Sezzi vote “No” on this item. Motioned by Mitchell, seconded by Pollack. The motion was unanimously approved.

	Sezzi agreed to not vote on items that the senate did not give feedback on. 

e.	Proposed Changes to Statewide Minimum Qualifications (If any)
	Sezzi will not be voting on any of these proposed changes due to the fact that he has not received feedback from any of the faculty that would be effected by the changes.

f.	Resolution on Shared Governance and the Setting of 525 / Productivity Goal
	Due to the fact that faculty did not get their right to fair negotiations in setting the college’s productivity goal, and that the goal of 552 set by the district for Ventura College is unrealistic, impractical, and demoralizing, the senate moves to allow Sezzi to draft a letter expressing our frustrations that due process negotiations was not followed and further expressing our concerns that the district is seeking to exploit Ventura College’s faculty and students. In addition, the 552 Productivity Goal would eliminate the 11 full time growth positions Ventura College is slated to receive. The Academic Senate strongly opposes the action taken by VCCCD in the setting of this 552 goal. 
	The motion to allow Sezzi to draft and present to DCHR and Administrative Council a letter in the spirit of the above discussion was made by Lew and seconded by Haines. The motion was unanimously approved.

IV.	President’s Report
a.	Administrative Council report 
	Lange reported on the setting of the Productivity Goal at 552.
	Sezzi reminded faculty that if your WSCH (weekly student contact hours) is over 550, you are entitled to a reader. Since a higher productivity goal will mean larger class sizes and no growth hires, Sezzi encourages all to look in the contract for directions in calculating your wish, and requesting a reader.

b.	DCAS/DCSL/DCHR/DTRW/DACW reports (Peter Sezzi and Deborah Pollack)
i.	DCHR: Recruitment and Selection Procedures for Academic Management Hires
	It is the thought of the senate that the new policy needs to address academic managers, and that faculty should be involved in the hiring process. 

c.	Other
	Nothing to report

V.	Vice-President’s Report
	Nothing to report

VI.	Treasurer’s Report
a.	Senate Student Scholarships
	The Academic Senate will be giving one $1,000 campus scholarship this academic year in addition to the contributions made to the endowment fund. 

b.	Faculty Recognition Appreciation
	We learned that per college policy, we cannot give gift certificates as recognition or retiree gifts. The executive board will explore other possibilities for gifts. 

VII.	Committee reports
a.	Curriculum Committee report
	There was not quorum, therefore no action items could be voted on. Information items included an update on the evolving English Competency document due to be completed by the end of April.

b.	Due Process Task Force report
	This task force will report first to DCSL, and then to the senate later in April.

VIII.	 Information Items
a.	Course reductions and AB 1725 in the Social Sciences (Warren Lew)
	Lew looked at how the cut classes affected full-time vs part-time load in the social sciences, and determined social sciences, in particular history, is well below the Community College Reform Act’s (AB 1725) standard of 75/25 Full/Part time faculty. He encouraged each department to do the same to see how they measure up.

IX.	Adjournment
a.	The meeting was adjourned at 3:35pm.