Ventura College Academic Senate
Minutes
Thursday, 7 February 2013

I.	Call to Order
This meeting was called to order at 1:35 p.m. The following senate members were present:
Enfield, Amanda—English and Learning Resources
Haines, Robbie—Senate Secretary
Horigan, Andrea—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:
Arevalo, Gloria—Articulation Officer
Cruz, Margie—ASVC
de la Rocha, Mayo— Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities
Higginbotham, Sarah—ASVC

II.	Public Comments
Muñoz informed senators that the March in March will happen in Sacramento. VC will be flying 10 students to this event. Additional students may ride on a bus with students from OC or MC and our sister colleges may need faculty advisors; interested faculty were directed to contact Muñoz or Student Trustee AJ Valenzuela. Five faculty advisors per bus will probably be required and two busses are currently scheduled. 

III.	Acknowledgement of Guests
Mayo de la Rocha was acknowledged.

IV. Approval of Minutes, 24 January 2013
Kolestnic noted that his name was missing from the 24 January minutes. Lange motioned to approve the minutes with this correction, Horigan seconded. The motion carried unanimously. 

V.	Study Sessions
a.	Program Review Rubrics for Instructional Programs
Differences in the implementation of the rankings on this document were discussed. Several suggestions for improving this document were made: guidelines for filling out this document are needed, definitions for evaluation of criteria should be created, the purpose of the rubric should be defined. The distinctions between this rubric and a program discontinuance rubric were discussed. The District and campus methods of assessing productivity and efficiency were discussed. It was opined that individual departments should develop their own retention goals and their own methods for implementing and/or interpreting this rubric. The inclusion or disclusion of a “resources” criterion was discussed; this criterion was re-worded and re-weighted to general consent. Sezzi will capture and consolidate the key points of the discussions and revise the document or future consideration. 

b.	External Support for Class Schedule Offerings
Senators reported from their constituents that there’s generally no faculty interest in this idea. Sezzi will gently break the news to Tan, offering the alternate suggestions that were made at the previous meeting (e.g. funding of texts and other instructional supplies, funding for general division expenditure, funding of unfunded Program Review initiatives, etc.) 

c.	Letters of Recommendations for Full-time Faculty Hiring
Sezzi recapped the issue for senators. District currently does not allow letters of recommendation for f/t faculty hires but MC strongly desires them. After much debate (and no agreement) about the value of such letters, it was opined that those who do not value them should not deny them to those who do value them. Consensus was reached that letters of recommendation should be optional, decided on a job announcement-by-job announcement basis, they should be written in the last 1–3 years and/or written specifically for each position, and a third party submission process should be set up whereby the writer may submit them through a third party link. 

d.	VC Presidential Search Screening Criteria and Questions
Leadership and diversity were identified as criteria that should be used. “Diversity” was defined and discussed. Two-way communication (including accessibility to faculty) was identified as a criterion, as was respect for shared governance. The vision a candidate may have regarding hiring full-time faculty, developing distance ed, future technologies, and the role of student services were all identified as valuable lines of questioning for the interview process. Sezzi will consolidate and present the results of this discussion at our next meeting. 
	
e.	VC/VCCCD—FTES and Enrollment
These data were presented and discussed. Sezzi discussed our current enrollment management problem, some of which is of our own creation and some of which is not. (The factors discussed included changing financial aid rules, new prerequisite enforcements, difficulty and perseverance issues associated with adding into full classes, etc.) The benefits of increasing the size of wait lists and letting instructors control late adds were discussed, as was having faculty, counselors, and students participate in outreach to local high schools. 

VI.	Action Items
a.	Election & Appointment of Four (4) Faculty to VC Presidential Search Committee
Ballots and candidates’ statements were distributed, ballots were cast, and Morris collected them for tabulation. Tania de Clerck, Alex Kolestnik, Peter Sezzi, and Steve Turner were elected to this Search Committee. Based on election results, Art Sandford was appointed first alternate and Gloria Arevalo was appointed second alternate. Pauley motioned to approve these results, Sanford seconded. The motion carried unanimously. 

b.	Distance Education Handbook (Second Reading)
This matter was postponed until a future meeting.

c.	BP/AP 2510—Participation in Local Decision Making (First Reading)
Muñoz motioned to approve this document as a first and second reading as this draft incorporates the changes we discussed at a previous meeting. Horrigan seconded. The motion carried  9–0–2 with Koch and Muñoz abstaining. 

d.	BP/AP 4025—Philosophy and Criteria for Associate Degree and General Education (First Reading)
This document was not ready yet for presentation to the Council yet. It will be presented at a future senate meeting. 

e.	BP/AP 4100—Graduation Requirements for Degrees and Certificates (First Reading)
Sezzi identified his suggested changes, which were briefly discussed. Pauley motioned to move this document to second reading, Sandford seconded. The motion carried 10–0–1 with Koch abstaining.

f.	BP/AP 4030—Academic Freedom (First Reading)
Pauley motioned to move this document to second reading, Morris seconded. The motion carried unanimously with one minor requested change. 

g.	BP/AP 4240—Academic Renewal (First Reading)
Pauley motioned to move this document to second reading, Horrigan seconded. The motion carried 9–0–1 with Koch abstaining.

VII.	President’s Report
a.	Consultation Council report—VCCCD Educational Master Plan Planning Process & Implementation
Sezzi proudly reported that our Senate’s discussion from the last meeting about the VCCCD Education Master Plan drove this matter’s discussion at the last DCAP. The goal is to get a draft ready for Senate review by our last meeting of this academic year in the first week of May, to incorporate additional edits, etc., over the summer and have a second reading of a final version of this document signed off by Senate at our first meeting of the next academic year in August. A final version of this document must be Board-approved by September as we told ACCJC that this was our plan. 

b.	Administrative Council report
Long story short: Extra-large classes will be added back in the fall. 

c.	DCAP, DCAA, Chancellor’s Meeting reports
DCAP: The Educational Master Plan was discussed at this meeting. DCAA: Most of the BPs/APs on today’s agenda have come through DCAA; all curriculum has been forwarded onto the Board. Chancellor’s Meeting: The Chancellor is now meeting with the three Academic Senate Presidents once per month, starting this past month. The Board resolution in support of participatory governance will likely be presented at the next Board meeting. The district gave notice to the county that they must leave the space they are renting from Oxnard College. 

VIII.	Senate Subcommittee reports
a.	Curriculum Committee report
Pauley reported that the Priority 1 list for COR updates will be out in a few weeks, as will the new COR update schedule. Nothing else significant was reported. 

b.	Other Senate Committees reports
Nothing significant was reported. 

IX.	Campus Committee reports
a.	CPC report
The different format of the last meeting was discussed. The merits of the presence or absence of Deans at Division-level campus organizational/SLO meetings was discussed. It was agreed that having Dept Chairs lead the Division-level campus org/SLO meetings would be the best plan.

b.	Campus Committees reports
Student Trustee Valenzuela asked if we would like to have a representative from Assemblyman Das Williams come to a future Senate meeting. Senators agreed that we should invite the Assemblyman, if possible. 

X.	Adjournment
This meeting adjourned at 3:35 p.m.