Notes - April 11, 2005

De Anza Academic Senate
Draft Notes for the meeting of
April 11th, 2005

Senators and Officers present: Argyriou, Bryant, Cole, Cordero, Dolen, Dunn, Illowsky, Jensen Sullivan, Joplin, Lopez-Morgan, Mitchell, Pierce, Salah, Winters, and Zarecky
Senators and Officers absent: Bresnan, Chenoweth, Fritz, Goodwin, Hearn, Hrycyk, Logvinenko, Moreno, Mosh, Setziol, and Sheirich
DASB: Alex Candia and Katie Zeng
Classified Senate: Dennis Shannakian
Administrative Liaison:
Guests: Mike Brandy, John Schulze, and Anna Calahan

[NOTE: Item numbers are reflective of agenda numbers in the order they are actually taken up at the meeting.]

The meeting was called to order at 2:34, a quorum being present.

Before proceeding to the normal order of items, Mitchell introduced new senators Dawnis Guevara (replacing Gary Zarecky) of Physical Education and Stephen Zill of Social Sciences

I. Approval of Agenda and Notes: The notes of March 14th will return April 18th for approval with a change in Item VI to reflect the sense of the Senate with regard to the item. The agenda was approved with the elimination of Item VIII Senate Dues on the distributed agenda.

II. Needs and Confirmations: No new needs were presented but the group was reminded that the vacancies announced in March are still in effect.

III. District Senate President Selection: Mitchell introduced the item and then Illowsky chaired the group for the remainder of the item. A document from Paul Starer was distributed proposing a selection process for the District Academic Senate President position and proposing a stipend for that position. Illowsky reported that there were several ideas as to how to fund the District Senate President position. Getting the District (i.e. Martha Kanter) to pay, splitting it between the two campuses each year, and asking each Senate to put aside money when it wasn't their turn. She answered several questions including "What if one campus doesn't ratify the other campus's choice for president?" and "What is the primary constituency of this office?" It was explained that, among other things, a primary duty of the person holding this office was to preside over those positions and initiatives already agreed to by both Senates. It was the sense of the Senate that potential candidates for District Senate President should include all former officers, not just former presidents.

IV. Senate Election Update: Illowsky told the group about various formal and informal aspects of officer nomination and election. The nominating committee of Bryant, Winters, and Dolen is now prepared to put out what is called for in order to conduct a timely election.

V. Senate Scholarship Readers: Illowsky asked for volunteers to read scholarship applications along with one of the officers. Joplin, Sheirich, and Clavijo volunteered.

VI. Scheduling Subcommittee Report: The group reported that they had met four times and were considering each of the three areas charged (final exam schedule ramifications, block scheduling, and the relative priority of block and hourly scheduling) primarily from the perspective of what is best for students. It was reported that there has been a shift towards afternoon scheduling and that 6:00 p.m. was now the most common time for classes to start. The group also plans to distribute and collect a student survey. After discussion, it was the sense of the Senate that such a survey should be done in the fall.

VII. State Senate Report: Mitchell reported that the three day session in San Francisco was very good and important to attend. Many informative breakout sessions were held including two for which Setziol was a presenter and one for which Illowsky was a presenter. He went on to say that the last day, the voting on officers and positions was especially important. Among many resolutions creating the work of the organization through its executive committee were two about raising the Mathematics and English graduation requirements for the colleges as a system (bringing the system up to the level already attained by De Anza) and many proposed changes to the state list of disciplines and discipline requirements. Paul Starer, Foothill Senate President, was elected to represent the Northern part of the state. Interested Senators were told to contact Mitchell about how he voted on various things. Setziol reported on his two breakout presentations, one on the Associate degree (especially about how bad an idea having externally determined degree requirements is) and one on textbook issues. He suggested that the group read the state Senate's paper on textbook issues (for which he was a principal author) before it finalizes its textbook and other course materials policy work.

IX. Visit with Mike Brandy and John Schulze: Mitchell began by asking Brandy a question the Senate asked him to ask: What is the policy pertaining to faculty members selling books, readers, etcetera, directly to students and keeping the money? After some prompting by Mitchell, Brandy said that it was not to be allowed, explained the reasons why it is not to be allowed, and then said he would have to get back to the group with specific policy or law quotation forbidding it.

Most of the conversation dealt with the hazardous materials liability of the District. To start with, the District has created a new administrative position responsible for the close monitoring of hazardous materials in the District. The most direct way for the District to monitor and to correct the problem is to focus on the purchasing function of the District. Unfortunately, even rigorous work in District purchasing will not suffice given that size of the campuses and the variety of ways hazardous materials come on campus and are used. He was asked whether individual faculty had hazardous materials liability. He responded by saying that, as long as what faculty are doing is within the scope of their positions, there is no individual liability. It would take an on campus private action unrelated to faculty responsibilities for a faculty member to have individual liability.

With very little time remaining, John Schulze was asked if there was anything he would like to add. He said that he spends most of his time on Measure E projects, that construction related disruptions are now much more evident at Foothill than at De Anza because De Anza is a little farther along in progress towards completion of Measure E projects than Foothill, and that, even though there are currently insufficient funds, the proposed performance hall is still very much in the works because the project has state approval and state matching funds identified with it.

X. For the Good of the Order:

  • Illowsky showed a pamphlet promoting a Great Teacher's Seminar in Hawaii in August.
  • Jensen Sullivan reminded the group about special classes open to faculty and staff aimed, in part, at the creation of an environmental management plan for the college.
  • Drafts of the four accreditation self study standards are now available online.
  • Jensen Sullivan recommended a show called "Not a genuine black man" currently playing in San Francisco by distributing postcard flyers promoting the show.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:40 p.m.

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