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Minutes of the Academic Senate Meeting
May 18, 2006
Corrected minutes (June 1, 2006)
Voting Members Present: (Senators) Donna Ayers, Maria Fenyes, Clive Gordon, Ruthie Grant, Paul Kubicki, Ralph La Rosa, Leslie Milke, Said Pazirandeh. Rick Scuderi, Janice Silver, Debby Wong, Joyce Woodmanse
Voting Members Absent: Charles Dirks, Terri English, Stan Levine, John Orozco
Exec. Members: Louise Barbato, Angela Echeverri, Vickie Oddino, Gary Prostak, Mark Pursley, Gwen Walker
Executive Members absent: Eloise Cantrell, Michael Climo
Faculty Present: Harlan Goldberg, Myriam Mekelberg, David Jordan, Ed Raskin, Phoebe Rivera, Bonnie Sherman,
Abdo Malki, Margie Long,
I. Gwen Walker called the meeting to order at 12:08 p.m.
II. Approval of Minutes:
As the minutes were not attached to the agenda, the senate was unable to approve or disapprove them.
Clive Gordon made a motion to change the agenda so that under Old Business items 4 (Vote of No Confidence against Joe Ramirez) and 3 (Vote on Petition for Chicana/Chicano Studies Department) be moved to items 1 and 2, immediately following Public Address.
Paul Kubicki seconded the motion.
Discussion:
Rick Scuderi stated he would like to leave Program Viability as item 1 but with strict time limits. Maria Fenyes said that she understood this to be a special meeting called for emergency items only. She asked why there were other items on the agenda.
Vote: unanimously passed
III. President’s Report
Angela began the meeting by welcoming all guests and reviewing senate protocol and time limits.
L.A. MISSION COLLEGE ACADEMIC SENATE
PRESIDENT’S REPORT May 18, 2006
Submitted by Angela C. Echeverri
Introductory Remarks
As President of the L.A. Mission Academic Senate I would like to welcome everybody to today’s meeting and thank you for being here. The fact that so many of you are present is an encouraging sign, because it means that regardless of where you stand on the issues we are about to discuss and vote on, you care deeply about this institution. No matter what happens today, let’s keep in mind that tomorrow, all of us will have to work together as colleagues and classmates. If you are student at Mission, during the next 3 weeks, you will have to take your finals and turn in your papers. Those of us who are faculty members, will need to prepare for classes, correct finals, read papers, and assign course grades. Some of you may know that our College is facing an accreditation visit in March of 2007. There is a huge amount of work that must get done for that visit, and needless to say many of us have been greatly distracted from that work by what has been happening on our campus.
The last few weeks have been very disruptive and traumatic for all of us. We are still trying to recover from the shock of the events that culminated with the fallout of the ASO meeting on April 26th, and the arrest and injury of Mission College political science professor Chuck Dirks on April 27th. Many of us, were not present when these events took place and were stunned when we heard about what had occurred. I want to thank all of the students who came to our Academic Senate meeting on May 5th and the Board of Trustees meeting on May 10th to bear witness to what happened and for standing up for what they believe is right. We are very proud of the eloquence, passion, civility, and courage displayed by our students and faculty. President Leyba has hired an independent attorney Mr. Stuart Rudnick to investigate these issues.
Since some of you may not be familiar with the role of the Academic Senate, let me briefly explain what we do. The Academic Senate is a faculty organization whose primary function is to make recommendations with respect to academic and professional matters including: student preparation and success, development of educational programs, curriculum (courses, prerequisites, etc.), degree and certificate requirements, grading policies, faculty roles in college governance structures, accreditation processes, faculty professional development activities, program review processes, institutional planning and budget development, and other academic and professional matters agreed upon.
Our Academic Senate is a representative body with 22 voting members and a president. These voting members include an executive board and senators that represent various academic departments as well as the faculty at large. As President of the Senate, I do not vote on any item unless there is a tie.
On today’s agenda we have very important business that needs to be taken care of. I am sure most of you are not here because of the vote on our Program Viability Review process, but let me say that I believe it will have a greater long term impact on this college than any other item we discuss today. Viability deals with the establishment of new programs, and the discontinuation, improvement, and reorganization of existing programs. Before we get down to business I want to ask that you do the following:
· Do not interfere with our ability to conduct the meeting. If you are disruptive, you will be asked to leave.
· Treat each other with civility and respect at all times. Do not interrupt others when they have the floor. Listen to what they are saying, especially if you don’t agree with them.
· If you decide to take the floor, think about what you say, before you say it. Once it is said, you can’t take it back. Try to refrain from making accusations which may not be supported by fact.
Faculty Hires:
Due to the temporary hiring freeze placed on full time tenure track faculty positions, on 5/15/06 the Senate Executive Board recommended the following to Dr. Leyba:
· Hire long term substitutes for vacancies in Administration of Justice, English as a Second Language, and Multimedia.
· Renew the Learning Center Director position for one more year.
· Proceed with the hiring process for a Transfer Center counselor that was initiated in December, 2005.
Dr. Leyba has approved these recommendations.
The Director of Cooperative Education position is currently under review.
Workshop on Student Learning Outcomes
Daryl Kinney and Gary Colombo will conduct a one hour workshop on SLOs on Tuesday 5/23 at 2 PM in Room TBA.
Student Survey
A student survey is being distributed to selected class sections this week. The data from this survey will be collected and analyzed for our accreditation report. If one of your class sections was selected to administer a survey, please have your students complete it and return to Maury Pearl.
Block Grant Requests
Requests for instructional equipment funds have been submitted by the following areas in Academic Affairs:
Learning Center ($9,500)
Counseling ($6,590)
Professional Studies ($9,953)
Developmental Communication ($3,346)
Math ($720)
ESL/English ($12,500)
Foreign Languages ($4,000)
Art, Health & PE ($13,547)
Library ($24,507)
Business and Law ($9207)
Natural Sciences ($23,592)
Additionally requests for Student Services areas included DSPS ($10,900) and Child Development Center ($5,481). The Athletics program is requesting $8,300.
The subcommittee for block grant allocation will be meeting on Thursday 5/25/06 at 12 noon. Room TBA.
IV. Public Address: comments on matters on the agenda for the current meeting
· Jose Luis Ramirez – stated that Joe Ramirez has a right to due process and that he should be seen as innocent before proven guilty.
· Rick Scuderi –pointed out that in his 27 years at Mission College that this kind of thing has happened about four other times. He asked senators to “go with what you know.” And to not vote based on pressure or intimidation.
· Harlan Goldberg –said that we have a right to work on this campus in a safe environment. He noted the recent fire at the art center. He wanted to know why Sheriff Grasso was present at the scene.
· Clive Gordon –said he would be voting yes on the vote of no confidence due to Ramirez’ attitude toward faculty and the student body and his preferential treatment for one group. He said he is voting for what is best for the student body and for Mission College as a whole. He doesn’t need to look at the results of an investigation.
· Jesse Martinez – A group of students purchased a book, The Professors by David Horowitz, to be presented to Chuck Dirks at today’s meeting. However, Chuck was not present and was again at the hospital. So Jesse presented the book to the senate to forward it to Chuck.
.
V. Old Business
A. Motion for vote of no confidence:
Whereas Mr. Joe Ramirez in his capacity as Los Angeles College Vice President of Student Services since July 2005 has demonstrated his inability to work effectively with the student body and through his actions has
· Contributed to the serious disruption of campus activities,
· Exacerbated the divisions among campus constituents,
· Severely affected the morale, sense of security, and learning environment on our campus, and
· Adversely impacted the image of the college among our students and in the community,
Resulting in multiple investigations into his conduct and his removal from campus until such investigations are concluded,
Be it resolved that the Academic Senate of Los Angeles Mission College express a vote of NO CONFIDENCE on Vice President Joe Ramirez.
Discussion
- Maria Fenyes –stated that she supports a vote of no confidence. She pointed out that this is not about guilt but simply about confidence. Two incidents that resulted in her losing confidence were the erasing of the ASO secretary’s tapes and Ramirez’s reported attitude during Chuck Dirks’ arrest. She also noted that should Ramirez return, he could very well be acting president and deciding who should be involuntarily transferred.
- Ed Raskin –compared what is happening at Mission College to an episode of the Twilight Zone. He then stated that whether or not Ramirez remains on campus will not solve the problems here.
- Parthenia(Ruthie) Grant –agreed with Raskin that the problems here go higher, but she said we cannot dismiss what has happened. She asked people to avoid voting based on group or institution but to vote on principle.
- Rick Scuderi said he did a lot of research on this. He talked to eye witnesses who said that Ramirez had nothing to do with the arrest and did not have a smile on his face. The investigation concluded that the election should have been postponed. He will vote no on the motion.
Vote on motion: yes 19
Abstain 2
No 1
Motion passes.
B. Petition for Chicana/Chicano Studies Department
Neither of the faculty members who submitted the petition, John Morales and Jose Maldonado, was present when it was time to discuss the proposal.
Leslie Milke moved to table the discussion and vote until the June 1st meeting, providing that at least one on the petitioning faculty members be present. If neither is present, then the request is forfeited. They will then have to re-submit the petition.
Vickie Oddino seconded the motion.
Discussion:
· Harlan Goldberg –pointed out that Maldonado is out on stress leave and Morales was present at the beginning of the meeting and left.
· Maria Fenyes –suggested we wait so we can learn more.
· Ed Raskin –said Morales left to go to class.
· Louise Barbato –thought we should discuss now or emotions will continue to heighten.
· Rick Scuderi –said he has risked his career for Chicano Studies, but in the context of what is going on at this campus, he has a problem with the point in the petition about collaboration with other departments. He said the vote cannot be held right now; things need to settle down.
· Clive Gordon –is in favor of tabling and said the petition needs to be revised and a new petition should be presented taking into consideration suggestions.
· Myriam Mekelberg –asked, “How long do we have to wait?” She said we have been working on this one department for a long time.
· David Jordan –said that in a court of law, it the petitioners do not show up, the petition is denied, and they must re-file. He suggested in the future that a subcommittee go over, analyze, and report on the petitions. He also indicated there could be a one year probationary period for new departments.
· Louise Barbato –noted the senate executive board serves to go over, analyze, and report on the petitions, and the e-board will do that during discussion of the petition.
· Abdo Malki –wanted to know why we could vote no confidence without Joe Ramirez present but we cannot vote on Chicano Studies without Morales and Maldonado present.
· Louise Barbato explained the differences in the two votes procedurally.
Vote on motion: unanimous yes
C. Program Viability
· Vote – unanimous yes
D. Shared Governance -
Leslie Milke moved to table this issue until June 1st.
Paul Kubicki seconded the motion
Vote – unanimous yes
VI. Announcements and Open Forum
A. Louise Barbato –presented a notice motion
B. Angela Echeverri – In response to questions about the possible involuntary transfer of faculty, she stated that she did not know how that would be determined.