Ventura College Academic Senate
Minutes
Thursday, 1 November 2012      MCW-312

I.	Call to Order
This meeting was called to order at 1:34 p.m. The following senators were present:
Chen, Albert—Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities
Forde, Richard—Career and Technical Education
Guillen, Guadalupe—Student Services
Haines, Robbie—Senate Secretary
Hendricks, Bill—Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities
Horigan, Andrea—Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities
Kim, Henny—English and Learning Resources
Lange, Cari—Senate Vice President
Mitchell, Nancy—Career and Technical Education
Muñoz, Paula—Student Services
Parker, Jennifer—Career and Technical Education
Pauley, Mark—Senate Treasurer, Curriculum Co-chair
Rose, Malia—Mathematics and Sciences
Sandford, Art—PE/Athletics, Communication Studies, Foreign Languages, and ESL
Sezzi, Peter—Senate President
The following guest was present:
Lewis-Huddleston, Gwendolyn—Dean, Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities

II.	Public Comments
No public comments were made.

III.	Acknowledgement of Guest—Gwendolyn Lewis-Huddleston, Dean, Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities
Lewis-Huddleston reported that the current Distance Ed Handbook is a work in progress. The recommendations contained in the “current” distance education handbook (which was Senate approved in 2009) have become outdated and relevant best practices need to be continually evaluated and updated. She informed senators that she is working on replacing Krista Wilbur, who has left VC. The use of our Learning Management System (LMS) Desire 2 Learn (D2L) will most likely continue. While the Distance Education Task Force (now a subcommittee of the recently created ITAC, or Instructional Technology Advisory Committee) is exploring various LMSs in advance of the expiration of the contact with D2L the cost savings associated with other systems would likely not be great enough to offset associated increased costs of re-training to a new LMS. In response to a question, Lewis-Huddleston informed senators that Instructional Technology and Distance Ed are different committees—DE is local, IT is district-wide. Lewis-Huddleston solicited feedback and committed to incorporating changes suggested by faculty.

IV.	Approval of Minutes, 18 October 2012
Horigan motioned to approve these minutes, Sanford seconded. The motion carried unanimously. 

V.	Study Sessions
a.	SB 1456
A discussion occurred on the recently passed Seymour-Campbell Matriculation Act of 2012 and the great impacts this will have on all faculty. Sezzi noted that many proposed implementation guidelines are forthcoming from the Statewide Chancellor’s Office so Senators should be prepared to discuss in greater detail proposed changes that will impact all students. We should be prepared for a rich discussion between instructional and student services faculty on how we shall implement many of these changes at VC and within the VCCCD. 

b.	Statewide Academic Senate Fall Plenary Resolutions 
Sezzi identified several resolutions that seem unclear and/or worthy of discussion. Discussion ensued, including the potential adoption of a free text(book) database by the State for student use, the promotion of “alternative math pathways” for non-STEM students, and endorsing the elementary and secondary school common core standards in mathematics and English. 

VI.	Action Items
a.	Resolution on the Importance and Value of Shared Governance (Second Reading)
Pauley motioned to approve this document, Hendricks seconded. The motion carried unanimously. Sezzi will share this resolution with our sister colleges and will read this before the Board.

b.	BP/AP 5010—Admissions & Concurrent Enrollment (Second Reading)
Sezzi asked at the recent DCAA meeting about unclear language in this document regarding “provisional students”.  The intent is to allow adults without high school diplomas to take classes within the VCCCD and (most likely) this is boilerplate language from the League template for BPs/APs. Sezzi showed a graph of the District’s concurrent/special admit enrollment data, which showed that VC serves the largest number of concurrently enrolled high school students in the District but that the trend over the past five years has been a steady decline in special admits. The decline (most likely) is attributable to our District’s change a few years ago to changing when special admits enrollment priority now is. Sandford motioned to approve these documents as they are, Pauley seconded. The motion carried 13–1–0, with Muñoz voting “no.”

c.	VC ISLO Rubrics on Communication & Scientific/Quantitative Reasoning (Second Reading)
Changes to these rubrics were described by Sezzi. Forde motioned to approve these rubrics, Guillen seconded. A brief discussion ensued about how SLOs constitute a second, parallel evaluation system (along with grades) of student learning. The apparent ACCJC attitude that grades are completely unrelated to learning was discussed and identified as the source of a lot of opposition to SLOs. Sezzi drew several poorly drawn 2D diagrams to illustrate what he thinks the ACCJC was trying to indicate with regards to grades and learning. The motion carried unanimously. 

d.	VC ISLO 5 year rotational plan (First and Second Reading)
Pauley motioned to approve this plan, Parker seconded. The motion carried unanimously. 

e.	Statewide Academic Senate Fall Plenary Resolutions (First Reading)
Pauley motioned to have Sezzi vote according to our recommendations (see section V.b., above) unless some new and/or compelling information arises at the meeting, in which case Sezzi should vote according to his best judgment. Forde seconded. The motion carried 13–0–1 with Muñoz abstaining.

f.	Distance Education Handbook (First Reading)
It was agreed that teachers should probably drop students who are not participating, so that audits of distance ed courses don’t reveal non-participating students for whose financial aid VC might end up being responsible. The U.S. Department of Education does not provide financial aid to correspondence course schools, so we need to distinguish our distance ed courses from correspondence courses. Muñoz suggested inviting Alma Rodriguez from Financial Aid back to talk to senators about this topic. Definition of “distance” education was discussed, as were best practices for the teaching of distance ed classes. Sandford motioned to move this document to second reading, Forde seconded. The motion carried unanimously. 

g.	VC Tiering of Courses Rubric & Process (First Reading)
Changes to this document were identified by Sezzi. Pauley motioned to approve this document, Lange seconded. A discussion ensued in which Sezzi described a timeline of Fall 2013 that he and Calote discussed for the full and complete dissemination/challenging of the tiering of courses presented in this list and the development of departmental proposed rotational schedule for the offering of Tier 2 or Tier 3 courses. Sezzi will update document to reflect discussed elements. The motion carried 13–1–0 with Muñoz opposed. 

VII.	President’s Report
a.	Announcement of Candidates for Senate Officer Positions
Sezzi announced the two candidates nominated for the four vacant Senate officer positions:  Art Sandford for President and Peter H. Sezzi for Vice-President. No nominations for Treasurer or Secretary were made. A discussion ensued regarding the procedures involved in appointing a Secretary/Treasurer next term vs. entertaining a write-in candidate before the end of this term. 

b.	Administrative Council report
Sezzi reported that he was remiss for not mentioning at the last Senate meeting that at the Admin Council before last, the VC Foundation broached the topic of sponsoring/subsidizing certain courses at VC. The advantages and disadvantages of this situation were discussed. The advantages of a “blank check” model of course funding was discussed, wherein the funder (the Foundation in this case) has no say over how or for what courses the funds would be used. Consensus was reached that the blank check model is probably the only acceptable option. Senators requested that Norbert Tan from the Foundation evaluate the implementation of this process at other schools to determine what the pros and cons are likely to be. 
c.	DCAA report
Sezzi reported that at the last DCAA meeting the body voted quite specifically to affirm that our AP on Enrollment Priorities has not changed and shall remain as is for the Spring 2013 registration period. This vote was in marked contrast to a vote on our AP on Enrollment Priorities that had occurred at DTRW-I the week prior. Despite Sezzi’s inclination, the body chose not to affirm all 632 other BPs/APs that we were also not changing. Other tasks reviewed by DCAA included the composition and charge of the Board of Trustees’ created “subcommittee on general education” as stipulated in Board Goal 1.A.
VIII.	Vice President’s Report
a.	Department Chair’s & Coordinator’s report
Lange reported that there were presentations made on textbook affordability, institutional SLOs (ISLOs), the new Title V grant, and student success. In addition, Ramiro Sanchez updated the group on SB 1456, Implementation of Student Success Task Force, and statewide changes occurring in the areas of repeatability and enrollment priority.

IX.	Senate Subcommittee reports
a.	Curriculum Committee report
Pauley noted that a meeting focusing on philosophy and general ed will take place in two weeks, and he requested that suggested proposals for general ed changes be submitted now.

b.	Other Senate Committees
Sezzi reports that sabbatical proposals are due today.

X.	Campus Committee reports
a.	CPC
Program review presentations and defenses of programs considered for discontinuance will be next week. Faculty unhappy with discontinuance outcomes will present to Senate after the CPC meeting.

b.	Other Campus Committees
Nothing significant was reported.

XI.	Adjournment
This meeting adjourned at 3:28 p.m.