Agenda for Academic Senate Meeting

February 10, 2005

Voting Members Present: (Senators) Donna Ayers, Terri English, Maria Fenyes, Leslie Foster, Paul Kubicki, Eloise Cantrell, Stan Levine, Vickie Oddino, Gary Prostak, Janice Silver, Rick Scuderi, Charles Dirks, John Orozco

(Exec. Members) Angela Echeverri, Louise Barbato, Gwen Walker, Margie Long, Michael Climo, Dale Newman

Faculty Present: Lorraine Manoogian, Said Pazirandeh, David Jordan, Sonia Soto-Bair, Tricia Johnson,

Cindy Cooper, Phoebe Rivera, John Klitzner, Lilamani De Silva, Mark Pursley, Jeanne Cassara, Sandy Thomsen, Suzanne Ritcheson, Joanne Kalter-Flink, Sandi Lampert, Cecilia Chu-Ru Chan, Ralph LaRosa Debby Wong, Carolyn Daly, Vilma Bernal, Maria Bates, Dena Feldman, Terri English, Bonnie Sherman

Visitors Present: Martha Soto, Dean of Academic Affairs

Voting Members Absent: Leslie Milke, Roxanne Dalrymple, Pat Flood, Clive Gordon

I. Parliamentarian Gwen Walker called the meeting to order at 1:42 p.m. (“Guests may attend sessions upon

the invitation of senators who will introduce their guest and inform them of their speaking privileges, including time

limits.” ) Walker asked if any senators wanted to introduce guests. There was no response.

II. Approval of Minutes-(MSC CANTRELL/KUBICKI) TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF

DECEMBER 2, 2004

III. Officer’s Reports

A. President (Angela Echeverri)—Below is the report submitted by President Echeverri:

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Responses to LAMC Senate Motions (Approved 12/2/2004)

Motion # 1: The approval of the departmental modification procedure.

Response: An agreement to approve the departmental modification procedure was signed by President Barrera,

Maria Fenyes, and Angela Echeverri. The procedure is in effect now.

Any discipline(s) interested in moving from one department to another needs to fill out an application and submit to

Dale Newman by March 15^th. Applications are posted on the LAMC Academic Senate website.

Motion # 2: Regarding the noncredit course Vocational Education 178 (See 12/2/04 minutes).

Response from President Barrera: “Regarding the recommendation from the Senate on a vocational course,

I inquired of academic affairs what the issue was about. Dr. Soto responded that it was a photography

course for which an effort was made to collect positive attendance on the lab. However, she noted that

this would have been inappropriate and that it would not be reported as part of the non-credit FTES.

I have since discussed this matter with both Maury Pearl and Dr. Soto and both confirmed that no FTES

generated in such a manner would be reported for non-credit apportionment”.

2. Resource Analysis Committee Motion (Approved 11/10/2004)

The Resource Analysis Committee moves to set aside $120,000 out of program 10147 for an instructional

equipment sub-committee established by the Academic Senate.

Response: Recommendation was approved by College Council on 1/20/2005.

Instructional Equipment Subcommittee

The following individuals will be on the committee: Sandy Thomsen, Pat Flood, Gwen Walker, Louise Barbato,

Rick Scuderi, Carolyn Daly, Deborah Paulsen, Angela Echeverri, and Mari Rettke. Applications for instructional

equipment requests are posted on the LAMC Academic Senate website.

3. LAMC Budget Deficit and Enrollment

LAMC is projecting to have a budget deficit between $1.4 and $1.9 Million for the fiscal year 2004-05, the largest

deficit in the district. Most of this deficit will be incurred by increases in Winter ‘05, Spring ‘05, and Summer (I) ‘05

course offerings, in an attempt to reverse recent enrollment declines and reach growth targets of about 8%.

Unfortunately, even after investing heavily in additional course sections, it appears unlikely that we will meet

these targets for 2004-05. The debt incurred and the failure to achieve the expected enrollment increases,

create a downward spiral for the college’s financial picture.

Table 1. Duplicated Enrollment and Section Count for Day 3 of Spring 2005 and 2004

(Credit WSCH only)*

	Total Enrolled	Estimated FTES	Section Count	Average Classroom size
Spring, 2004	15,914	1972.8	534	29.8
Spring, 2005	15,905	2000.1	587	27.1
% Change	-0.1%	+1.4%	+9.9%	-9.1%

*Data provided by Maury Pearl

Class Cancellations

As of yesterday (2/8/2005), 56 class sections had been cancelled for low enrollment. I received several complaints about

classes being cancelled without proper justification. Maria Fenyes, AFT president, was able to reinstate several classes.

Meeting with Vice Chancellor Young

Maria Fenyes, Carl Friedlander, and Angela Echeverri met with Dr. Barrera and Vice Chancellor Young on 2/1/2005,

to discuss the difficult financial outlook at LAMC. The consensus was that poor enrollment management, delays with

the schedule, and problems with the enforcement of prerequisites that were not validated, have contributed to the

present situation.

Voluntary Transfers of Classified Staff

On Monday, February 7^th, President Barrera held a town-hall meeting in which she outlined her plan to save $800,000 to

$1’000,000 for FY 2005-06. The administration is attempting to arrange the voluntary transfers of 14-15 classified

positions to other campuses in the district. Classified staff targeted for transfers should be notified within a couple of

weeks. If employees decline to transfer voluntarily, they may be transferred involuntarily. The faculty leadership has

been not been informed which positions have been targeted, but we have been told that the area of Academic Affairs

will not be affected. Faculty have voiced concern that essential student services and the campus climate may be

adversely affected by the loss of personnel.

4. Spring Schedule of Classes

The Spring 2005 schedule of classes came out several weeks late. Academic Affairs blamed the delay on technical

problems with “Protocol” (a new scheduling program) and the fact that they did not prepare a back-up schedule. The following is a timeline of registration and schedule developments.

November 17^th, 2004: Priority registration appointments for continuing students begin

December 6^th, 2004: Open registration for all students was supposed to begin

December 8^th, 2004: Schedule of classes first available (online only)

December 9^th: Registration begins (3 weeks late). Registration appointments started to be changed retroactively to give priority to EOPS, DSPS, and continuing students.

December 15^th, 2004: Several LAMC faculty (Mike Climo, Louise Barbato, and Angela Echeverri) and students attend Board of Trustees meeting to express their concerns about the effects of the schedule and registration delays. They request support from the BOT to launch aggressive recruitment efforts for LAMC, give out free schedules to all students, prevent

the early cancellation of classes, and ensure that the LACCD take steps to prevent future delays in the production of the schedule of classes.

December 17^th, 2004: Printed version of schedule of classes available from printers.

December 18^th: Last day of Finals week

5. Discipline List Review Process: Every three years the Academic Senate for the California Community Colleges

(ASCCC) reviews the Discipline List and votes on proposed changes. Changes are usually recommended for the

following four reasons:

1. To update language to reflect new terminology
2. To create a new discipline,
3. To make the minimum qualifications more restrictive, or
4. To make the minimum qualifications less restrictive.

Disciplines that will be undergoing review for proposed changes during the current cycle include: 3-D Modeling, Addiction Paraprofessional Training, Administration of Justice, Astronomy, Computer Applications, Computer Graphics, Counseling,

Dance, Health, Human Services (new discipline), Physical Education, Nursing, Psychology, Sociology, Speech

Communication, and Theater Performance.

LAMC faculty members have expressed concern about the proposed changes for Astronomy, which would make

the minimum qualifications more restrictive than they currently are.

Hearing: On Friday, February 18, 2005 from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM, the ASCCC will hold a hearing at the Ontario

Airport Marriot Hotel, to allow for modifications in the proposals under consideration. For a complete list of disciplines

or to obtain more details about the hearing, refer to the ASCCC website (www.academicsenate.cc.ca.us) or contact me.

6. Student Equity Plan

Title 5 (Sections 51026 and 54220) require that college districts produce student equity plans. The components of the

plan are:

1. Campus based research of student equity in five (5) indicator areas: access, retention, degree and certificate
2. completion, ESL and basic skills completion, and transfers.
3. Goals to address shortcomings in 5 indicator areas for student population groups.
4. Strategies for attaining goals
5. Sources of funds to support plan implementation
6. Process and schedule for evaluation
7. Executive summary

On Thursday, January 27^th, I received a copy of the student equity plan from David Green, and was told it needed to

be reviewed, signed, and submitted by the following Monday. A committee with a single faculty member developed

the plan, with no input or participation from the Academic Senate. After reviewing the document and receiving

feedback from several faculty members, I decided I could not sign off on it in its current form. Therefore, I would

like faculty to review the document and provide their feedback.

7. Audit of Noncredit Courses at LAMC

At the request of the Chair of the Senate Committee on Government Oversight (Jackie Speier), the State Controller’s

Office has initiated an audit of LAMC’s process for reporting non-credit FTE students. The purpose of the review

is to ensure compliance with Education Code requirements for the period of July 1, 2001, through June 30, 2004.

A team of auditors visited LAMC for several days in January and last week, and interviewed faculty, staff, and

administrators. The focus of their investigation appears to be on the Vocational Education 108 class (Computer

Commons), which has generated most of the noncredit FTES during this time period (Over $5 Million).

It is not clear what the outcome of the investigation will be at this point, but due to the large amount of money involved,

there are reasons to be concerned.

During the last few years LAMC has claimed apportionment for the following noncredit courses: Citizenship

(001 & 010), ESL (006,007,008, & 009 CE), Tutoring (001), Voc. Education 108 (Computer Commons),

Voc. Ed. 167 (Computer Science Lab), and Voc. Ed. 178 (Office Technology Lab). The course outlines for

these noncredit courses are very outdated, most are from the 1980s.

LAMC has many other noncredit courses that have not been offered for several years.

8. Educational Master Plan

Approval of Educational Master Plan will be postponed until March, 2005. Statistical information will be updated

to reflect Fall, 2004 data which became recently available and to give faculty an opportunity to provide additional feedback.

9. LAMC Departures

Associate V.P. of Administrative Services R. Arvizu was transferred to City College.

Faculty retirements: Dan Seymour (Business) and John Cantley (Art)

Faculty Leave: Lucy Griesbach (Multimedia) is on a one semester leave.

10. Honors Reception

The LAMC Honors reception has been rescheduled for Friday, April 1^st. Volunteers are always needed and appreciated.

Please contact Debra Manning if you are interested.

11. VP of Student Services Selection Process

Committee met to select candidates for interviews. Interviews will take place on March 7 & 8^th, 2005. The Acting

VP for Student Services has been extended through June 30, 2005. The chancellor just approved this action.

Thus, the applicants who have been contacted for interviews for the permanent position have been told that the

position will be filled effective July 1, 2005.

12. Construction of Student Parking Lot

The following is a memo from VP Karen Hoefel: “Construction of the new parking structure is scheduled to begin

this summer. In order to provide shuttle service for our students we must create an RFP to acquire the most

competitive price for these services. The RFP will require specific timeframes, including the number of days

per week and hours per day. I would like to convene an ad hoc group to address the specific questions to

finalize this proposal. I have asked Dave Green to identify three students and a staff member in Student

Services. I would like to request that you identify 2-3 faculty members who can participate with this process.

I plan to convene the group within thet week of February 22^nd as this process needs to move very quickly”.

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B. Treasurer —Margie Long presented the following report:

Faculty Senate Checking Account _________________________$2,212.87

1. Paid to District Academic Senate for yearly dues…$100.

2. Scholarship monies designate for the four (4)

$200 Academic Scholarships are included in this

latest total. Scholarship total for 2004-05…$800

Carla Bowman Scholarship________________________________$3,657.25

Byron Iriye Scholarship __________________________________$ 500.00

Matching Funds sent to L.A. Mission College from Mrs. Iriye’s workplace..

William Gallagher Scholarship $ 0

Mrs. Gallagher-Thompson will be contacted in March requesting a check for $1,000

to be presented to two (2) student recipients Each award will be for $500.

IV. Public Address--None

V. Reports of Senate Committee Meetings

A. Curriculum: Leslie Foster informed us that the district is developing PNCR forms for non credit

B. courses because the old form does not address all the issues. Most of our non-credit courses are

C. outdated. They have not yet met. Madeline Hernandez courses on advising form at the state level. handout

D. District Academic Senate- The next meeting is March 10^th at Pierce.

VI. Old Business

A. Education Master Plan—The plan is being updated with new statistics. We will postpone approval to March.

B. Instructional Equipment Committee—This is explained in the president’s report.

C. Request to Move a Discipline- President Barrera signed off on our motion and forms were made available

and also placed on the web page.

VII. New Business

A. Student Equity Plan—A copy was given to Angela to sign at the last minute. She could not do so in good

conscience as she found several problems with the report. Only one faculty member ( not appointed

by the senate or union) was involved. High school outreach and tutoring were misrepresented.

There was no mention of ESL or English. She asked for volunteers to work on revising the document.

Leslie Foster interjected that the task had been given to acting Vice President of Student Services

David Green at the last minute and that the plan was composed with information from accreditation

and the Title V grant. Leslie Foster agreed to help with the document. We also need input from math,

English, ESL, and basic skills

B. Min qualifications for new hires—Gwen Walker reminded us that people interested in qualifying for

teaching positions with the District are now referred to the individual campuses. She expressed concern

with our lack of a local process. Maria Fenyes suggested that department chairs handle this. As there were

many questions about the new process, it was decided to invite the DAS Vice President, Beverly Shue,

to our next meeting to explain the process and answer questions.

C. Discipline Review List—This was explained in the president’s report. A notebooks circulated with

further information for those disciplines involved.

VIII. Announcements

A. Sandi Lampert announced that on May2 at 3:00 p.m. there would be a discussion on maintaining

your brain led by the Alzheimer’s Association.

B. Maria Fenyes announced that the Governor was proposing drastic changes to our retirement plan.

The February 22 AFT meeting will be devoted completely to this issue (defined benefits plan).

She has reserved rooms 1 and 2 in the Campus Center—faculty, administration, and classified staff

are all invited. More information will be available at the District Retirement Workshop on March 4.

The meeting was adjourned at 2:50 p.m.

Submitted by Dale Newman, Secretary