Academic Senate Highlights

November 28, 2006

President’s Report: President Fellguth has sent a letter to the Board requesting that a discussion of Board Policy 2005 Faculty Governance be discussed at a Board Meeting. Language has been added to this Board Policy without the required mutual agreement by the Academic Senate. This is a violation of both our local process and the state regulations.

With no consultation with the Senate the college has entered into an agreement with University of Indiana for a joint degree program. Students would stay at Hartnell for 3 years and finish their 4^th year online. Deans, the Senate, the Curriculum Committee and the general faculty are unaware of the existence of this program. This is a violation of our processes since degree programs are under the purview of the Senate and Curriculum Committee.

The Senate received a letter from Welding Instructor Ali Amercupan regarding the college’s decision not to fill the of Tool Room Maintenance position. The letter detailed the impacts of not filling the position to instruction and to student safety. The Senate will consider a resolution about this issue.

Committee Reports: The Tech Review sub-committee of the Curriculum Committee needs members. They meet on Wednesdays at 3 pm. The Curriculum Committee will be working on modification of the Distance Ed form for the course outline and planning for a clean-up of the catalog since there are many courses in the catalog that should be deleted or made inactive.

The Student Learning Outcomes work group had its first meeting of the semester. They meet on the 2^nd Thursday at 1:30 in D 209. They will be defining the function, charge and structure of the committee so it can be added to the Committee Handbook. They will also be determining the philosophy and principles that will guide the work of the committee. Other colleges are being studied, in particular the work of Modesto Junior College.

The Technology Master Planning Committee has submitted its function, members, minutes, etc. in response to the Senate’s request. (See Resolution on Committees below.)

Action Items: The Senate unanimously approved Resolution 2.07 Shared Governance Committees and Resolution 3.07 Appropriate Facility Use. See http://www.hartnell.cc.ca.us/academic_senate/ for details.

It was reported to the Senate that appointments had been made to Faculty Selection Committees (for Football Coach and Physics Instructor) by the Deans and Human Resources Director. Title 5, Section 53203 and our local process says that the Academic Senate appoints faculty to committees. Letters are being sent to Human Resources and the Deans reminding them of the Senate’s role in appointing faculty to serve on committees. For the Football position there are 6 faculty who are qualified and interested in serving so the Senate proposed consultation with the President or designee to determine which of the candidates will be appointed. In Physics the Senate appointed Jesse Cude and Pimol Moth and will appoint the remaining members at the next meeting.

The Senate approved co-sponsoring a Holiday Luncheon with Classified and Student Senates.

Discussion Items: The Senate discussed irregularities that have been reported in the Hiring Process. One of the problems identified was that the approved process is not followed. Discipline faculty should be involved in review of the position announcement, including the minimum and desirable qualifications. We have had announcements that did not accurately describe the position responsibilities and/or the qualifications sought. The result is a pool of candidates that may not match the needs of the discipline. The process of appointing faculty to serve is not being followed (as evidenced in the action items). Another problem identified is that since the selection process is confidential, faculty who see irregularities or problems in the process have little recourse. There is concern that problems during the selection process that have been reported to the HR Director have not been resolved.

Education of Deans and faculty about the existing policies and the role of the Senate and the faculty will be important. Addressing problems with the hiring process will come up again in Senate goals.

Nursing irregularities was tabled until the next meeting. Senate goal discussion was tabled until the next meeting December 12^th at 3 pm in the Training Room of the FRC.