Foothill College Academic Senate Minutes
October 27, 2003; 2:30 – 4:30 pm, Room 6712

For a listing of the Officers and Senators, refer to the Agenda.

The meeting was called to order at 2:35

Minutes of the October 13, 2003 meeting were approved unanimously (13 Aye).

The consent calendar was unanimously approved with the following additions:
 
 Scott Lankford  to serve on Kathleen Armstrong’s TRC
 Nicole Gray to replace Scott Lankford on Ken Mellquist’s TRC

Announcement:  The District Board Room has been reserved for Wednesday,
November 19th from 12 to 1 PM, to discuss FSA information with all interested faculty.  The Senators will inform their divisions.

Information Items:

Plus/minus grading:  DeAnza is in favor of this, but the issue needs to go to a full faculty vote.  There is no official record of a vote having been taken at Foothill.  Efforts will be made to have the vote on the same day as DeAnza, and to have the vote take place before the end of the quarter, and preferably before Thanksgiving (11/27).  Faculty and the Senate have primary reliance in this area.  

Dues:  The Foothill Senate will need to pay the total sum for dues.  Paul is putting together an FAQ sheet to send via email to senators to distribute to division faculty.  Feedback by 11/11 would be appreciated.  All efforts are being made to place the issue of raising dues on the same ballot as the +/- grading.

Replacement for Secretary Treasurer for Winter 2004 quarter:  Maureen Mac Dougall is unable to attend senate meetings during the winter quarter, so a replacement is being sought.  The position comes with 0.25 release time.  

Bernadine Fong,:  Presentation on Restructuring:  The President began by stating that there will be a 10% (4 Million) reduction for the 2004-2005 academic year.  Ideas and input are being sought campus-wide to help discover new ways to either save money or increase revenue to cope with the reduction.  The process is being initiated in order to identify areas that the college needs to talk about and to look at more closely before any hard decisions are made.  President Fong discussed how funding is distributed, how the financial FTES cap works, and how to maintain enrollment.  The timeline for these changes will be attempted by December, 2003.  Many ideas were discussed, and the general fear on campus was relayed by the Senators, especially in reference to program cuts.  President Fong distributed a list of suggestions that have been offered to date (attached, green sheet).

IPC Restructuring Model: Bill Patterson, Robert Johnstone:  A decile system analysis report of programs over the past five years was distributed and discussed.  The report seeks to identify programs that are not performing according to a variety of measures, and to further study these programs to see if they can be made more cost-effective.  A balance is sough between the program’s needs and the financial reality of the college.  All programs will be asked to systematically report and address ways to decrease costs.  Senators that represent divisions that include smaller and more expensive programs raised the issue of the usefulness of the decile system with regards to their programs.  Similar concerns were raised with respect to programs that receive categorical funding.  Further discussion reiterated that this was a working model to just identify where to start looking to help offset budget cuts, not to be used immediately to possibly cut programs.

Basic Skills:  Rob Johnstone:  A presentation was given that highlighted the academic success of students that needed basic skills (English and Math).  Students who take the testing and are determined to need basic skills training do not always take the needed courses, and are unlikely to succeed in more advanced courses upon which those skills are based.  In addition, students earning a C in a basic math class will be unlikely to succeed at higher course levels.  Many types of data were presented, but all clearly indicated a need for better basic skills assessment, achievement, and tracking student progress to better serve these students.  

With the above information in consideration, the Academic Senate needs to take a leadership role in how to proceed in the decision-making process.

Accreditation Report:  Tess Hansen and Rosemary Arca distributed materials related to the  Accreditation report for the November 2005 site visit.  Faculty and staff will contribute to the creation of the report, and much of the information from program reviews can be included.  The themes include dialogue, student learning outcomes, institutional commitments, organization, evaluation, planning and improvement, and intstitutional integrity.   See the attached for more information.

Faculty handbook:  A draft of the revised handbook was distributed to senators for their divisions.  Faculty will have the opportunity to provide feedback on proposed changes.  FA declined to have input on the document.  

Committee members needed:
 At-large member for Carolyn Holcroft’s TRC
 At-large needed for Julio Rivers
 IPC faculty needed
 LOAN faculty needed
The meeting was adjourned at 4:40

Respectfully submitted:
Maureen Mac Dougall
Secretary/Treasurer