Ventura College Academic Senate 
Minutes
Thursday, 21 March 2013    MCW-312

I.	Call to Order 
This meeting was called to order at 1:34 p.m. The following senate members were present:
Chen, Albert—Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities
Enfield, Amanda—English and Learning Resources
Forde, Richard—Career and Technical Education
Guillen, Guadalupe—Student Services
Haines, Robbie—Senate Secretary
Hendricks, Bill—Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities
Koch, Katherine—Career and Technical Education
Kolesnik, Alex—Mathematics and Sciences
Lange, Cari—Senate Vice President
Morris, Terry—PE/Athletics, Communication Studies, Foreign Languages, and ESL
Muñoz, Paula—Student Services 
Pauley, Mark—Senate Treasurer
Rose, Malia—Mathematics and Sciences
Sandford, Art—PE/Athletics, Communication Studies, Foreign Languages, and ESL
Sezzi, Peter—Senate President
The following guests were present:
Margie Cruz—ASVC

II.	Public Comments 
Forde described a difficulty arising from stolen equipment and the need to keep his lab locked conflicting with M&O workers’ tendency to leave doors open. 

III.	Acknowledgement of Guests 
No guests were acknowledged.

IV.	Approval of Minutes, 7 March 2013 
Forde motioned to approve those minutes, Pauley seconded. The motion carried 10–0–2 with Hendricks and Guillen abstaining. 

V.	Study Sessions 
a.	Program Review/Discontinuance Rubric for Instructional Programs 
Sezzi pointed out text in the document that stipulates that this document should not be used as a justification for funding or resource allocation. Criteria and weighting of evaluation items were discussed. Senators pointed out concern that faculty have no control over funding, so funding as a self-evaluation item is problematic; Sezzi pointed out that mechanisms now in place give us more control now than we’ve ever had before. Retention vs. persistence was discussed. This document will be moved to an action item in a future Senate meeting. 

b.	Annual Survey of VC Faculty on Professional Life and Satisfaction 
Discussion of this survey revealed consensus that more data are better, and that survey burnout among faculty was unlikely to continue. The benefits of trend analysis were discussed, as were the quality and the quantitative elements of survey results. Each question on last year’s survey was discussed and either deleted or edited, and a new survey was generated. This revised survey will be presented at a future Senate meeting. 

VI.	Action Items 
a.	Distance Education Handbook 
This item was not yet ready for Senate review. 

b.	BP/AP 4025—Philosophy and Criteria for Associate Degree and General Education (Second Reading) 
Sezzi and Kolesnik reported that degree requirements were “cleaned up” throughout the District, so that essentially no courses are required for a degree at one campus but not at another campus. Sandford motioned to approve this document, Hendricks seconded. The motion carried 12–0–1 with Koch abstaining.

c.	AP 5055—Priority Enrollment (Second Reading) 
A discussion ensued regarding the order in which students are listed in the first category of enrollment priority on this document. Consensus was reached that the language of that paragraph should remain the same, except that it should be made grammatically clear which student groups are “defined by statute.” Hendricks motioned to approve this document, Muñoz seconded. The motion carried 12–0–1 with Koch abstaining. 

d.	AP 4260—Prerequisites and Corequisites (First Reading) 
Sezzi informed senators that this document allows faculty to create prerequisites outside their discipline, most notably with the establishment of computational and communicative prereqs on non-Math and –English classes. The potential represented in this change were discussed and minor changes to content and spelling/grammar were suggested. It was noted that if more prerqs are established, we should also offer more of those prereqs in order to allow students to take the gatekeeper courses they will then need. Sezzi will provide an updated version of this document to senators with track changes shown for a second reading. Sandford motioned to approve a first reading of this document, Forde seconded. The motion carried 11–0–2 with Muñoz and Koch abstaining. 

e.	VC/VCCCD Accreditation Midterm Reports 
Sezzi noted an encouraging difference between this midterm report and the last self-study report in 2010: this draft was provided to faculty about 6 months in advance, while last time it was provided just a few days in advance. This document was not voted on due to its length and the fact that senators had not had time to read it yet. It will be discussed as a formal first reading by the end of this semester, and a formal second in beginning of Fall 2013.

VII.	President’s Reports 
a.	Administrative Council Report 
Sezzi reported that Forde will assist a sustainable business MBA student. Budgeting changes were discussed so that Divisions will have greater control in how they meet FTES goals by less restricted use of set funding amounts. The 75%–25% law was discussed in light of Institutional effectiveness. 

b.	DCAP, DCAA Reports 
DCAP: Got the District’s mid-term accreditation report, nothing else significant was discussed.  DCAA: A BP and AP on bookstore was made, but after a brief discussion, it was decided to be of little significance to this Senate. 

VIII.	Senate Subcommittee Reports 
a.	Curriculum Committee Report 
Kolesnik reported that it was a short meeting focusing on matters discussed above.

b.	Other Senate Committees Reports 
There was nothing significant to report.

IX.	Campus Committee Reports 
a.	Budget Resource Council Report 
Kolesnik and Sandford informed senators that we went over our proposed budget, and that don’t yet know how the $4.5 million in increased funding will be used. Proposition 39 allocates money for energy efficiency projects or instruction in the topic of energy efficiency, and it remains to be seen how that funding will be used. Sezzi reported that the matter of shifting Adult Education to CCs died in committee in Sacramento. Our ice hockey team travelled to Buffalo NY, where they took 4th out of 6 teams. 

b.	Campus Committees reports 
There was nothing significant to report.

X.	Adjournment 
This meeting adjourned at 3:06 p.m.