Ventura College Academic Senate
September 4, 2008

I.	Call to order.
	      The meeting was called to order at 1:34 pm.
	      The following Senate members were present:  Terry Morris, Angelica 			      Gonzales, Robbie Haines, Cari Lange, Jennifer Garcia, Paula Munoz, Mark 	  	      Pauley, Lisa Anderson, Nancy Mitchell, Star Hunter, Warren Lew (Treasurer), 	      Deborah Pollack (Vice-President), Peter Sezzi (President).
II.	Approval of the minutes.
            The May 1 meeting minutes were approved with 5 abstentions by Senate 	 	      members who were not present at the meeting when they were recorded.  The 		      August 28 meeting minutes were approved as amended.
III.	Guests.
Ventura College President Robin Calote addressed the Senate at 1:45 pm on the 	following issues:
		Academic honesty
  The four page document written by the State Chancellor’s Office in response to Chaffey College’s question about appropriate responses to student cheating and plagiarism is a restatement of a policy that has been in effect quietly for the past 12 years.
		  Faculty may give students a 0 on the assignment during which they acted
dishonestly, but cannot throw the student out of class for anything other than poor attendance or persistent behavior problems. Students always have a right to due process as outlined in the Ventura College catalog.
  Previously the language on this issue in the VC catalog was inconsistent with Title 5; this has now been rectified to be in compliance.
  Representatives from the nursing and criminal justice departments have are working with their colleagues from the other colleges on a District-wide task forces that insures that their policies are in compliance with the standards of their particular disciplines.
		Accreditation Self Study
		  Accreditation is becoming increasingly rigorous, with the expected levels 
		of implementation being raised, as illustrated in the Rubrics for 				Evaluating Institutional Effectiveness that Calote handed out.  She 				believes that Ventura College is in good shape on these scales.
		Educational Master Plan
  We will soon be working with consultants to update the 2002/3 plan.  This will involve many interviews, open forums, and research.  We’re all encouraged to participate in the process.

Director of College Technical Services Rick Shaw addressed the Senate at 
2:30 pm on the following issues: 
		Active Directory
IT personnel are currently going building by building to link computers to Active Directory and Microsoft Office 2007.  Lotus Notes will be replaced by Microsoft Outlook.  The advantages of these new systems are that they are easier to use and more fiscally responsible than their predecessors.
		Wireless Access
		  Technical service personnel are working toward a wireless campus.  By 			the end of September, each building at Ventura College will have some 			wireless capability; by the end of the year, wireless access on campus will 			be total.	
		Tech Support
		  Support is constantly available through the HELP desk, either by dialing 
the word HELP  (4357) or by email (VChelpdesk@vcccd.edu).  The walk-in HELP desk is staffed from 7:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday and from 7 a.m.-5 p.m. on Friday.  Currently housed in the former International Students Center, it will soon be located in a newly-constructed space adjacent to the Canon Copy Center. 
IV.	Action items.
a.	Appointments of members for accreditation team training.  Sezzi 	      affirmed that time spent on accreditation by team members will qualify as 	       professional development hours and that, in the future, it may qualify for   	      release time.  In addition to Sezzi and Pollack, the following team members were nominated:  Alex Kolesnik, Sandy Melton, and Bea Herrera or Marian Carrasco-Nungaray.  The Senate approved these candidates unanimously.
V.	President’s report.
a.	Robert’s Rules of Order handout.  Sezzi will email this to all Senate members.
b.	Administrative Council report.  Sezzi reported that there were no significant developments to report from this body.
c.	Consultation Cabinet report.  Sezzi noted that this group determines the board’s agenda and the upcoming meeting should have a light agenda.
d.	DCAS/DCSL/DCHR/DTRW.  Sezzi reported that DCSL is developing a procedures manual that would accompany the Board policy manual.
e.	Ventura College Educational Master Plan Advisory Committee.  Sezzi reported that this group met on Sept 3 with the consultants.  The intention is to create a useful document with truly actionable and fewer goals than had the 2003 Educational Master Plan. Faculty representatives on this Advisory Committee are the Senate Executive Committee members as well as Art Sandford.  Sezzi reiterated Calote’s encouragement of Senate members to participate in the open forums that will be part of the process.  He also noted that the Senate executive committee has the penultimate interview with the consultants on Sept 24, so members of the Senate should funnel their concerns through their officers.

VI.	Vice-President’s report.
	      Pollack collected outstanding suggestions from Senate members for topics to
	      be considered by the Senate.  These will be incorporated into future agendas.
	      Lew suggested that a manual for the Academic Senate, including our 			      constitution and bylaws, be distributed to Senate members and made available 	      on our website with a hard copy in the library.  Senate members  
	      Mitchell, Hunter, Morris, Anderson, Pollack, and Lew requested manuals.
VII.	Treasurer’s report.
	      Lew does not yet have a treasurer’s report, but will soon be meeting with his
	      predecessor, Lauri Moore, from whom he will gather current information to
	      report at the next meeting.
VIII.	Committee reports.
a.	Curriculum Committee report.  Sezzi asked whether the members of
the Academic Senate wanted regular reports from the Curriculum Committee regarding certificate and course updates, to which the response was positive.  He reported that a unique new math class, Math 88. This offering is actually five one-unit self-paced courses designed for lower level math students.
b.	Professional Development Committee report.  This committee currently
	meets at the same time as the Academic Senate.  Committee members are
      considering changing the meeting day, enabling some Senate members to
	serve on both.
IX.	Discussion items
a.	DCHR—Equivalence/eminence discussion. Following a discussion of the existing guidelines for equivalence through eminence for full-time hires, Senate members agreed that, since only the fourth equivalency point is covered in the 2006 Senate resolution distributed to the Council, a more complete document needs to be developed.  It was moved by Lew and seconded by Pollack that a task force take on the assignment of developing criteria for all four possible methods of equivalence as presented on the Declaration of Equivalence form and to present their report to the Senate Council no later than the end of the fall semester.  The task force members shall consist of Sezzi, Gonzales, Mitchell, and Pollack.  Sezzi will ask Becky Hull, who was involved in drafting the 2006 guidelines, to serve on the subgroup as well.
X.	Items for information
Sezzi noted that the Senate needs one more representative from Career & 		   Technical Education.  
XI.	Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 3:08 p.m.