Bristol Community
College
Faculty and
Professional Staff Senate
Monday, December 8
2013
3:15 p.m. – 4:15 p.m.
B113
Minutes
Senators
in attendance: Betsy French, Tom Grady, Sandy Lygren, JP Nadeau, Howard
Tinberg, Rebecca Clark, Martha Williams, Sil Fereira, Cecil Leonard, Jim
Constantine, Jim Corven, Jim Pelletier, Susan McCourt, David Warr, Kelemu
Woldegiorgis, Jean Myles, Sally Gabb, Ron Weisberger, Jennifer Boulay, Kevin
Forgard, Cindy Poore-Pariseau
Excused
Absences: Jeanne Grandchamp
Absences:
Alan Rolfe, Robyn Worthington, Gina Heaney, Thomas McGarty, Paul Robillard,
Sharon Pero, Joy Rose, Debra St. George, Johanna Duponte
An
uncounted number of guests attended this meeting.
The
meeting was called to order by President Susan McCourt at 3:20 p.m.
MINUTES: Minutes for November
2013 were reviewed and passed unanimously with amendments.
BCC
Website Changes: President
Susan McCourt and VP Howard Tinberg met with Greg Sethares and asked for the involvement of the Academic Community including
Students, Staff, Faculty, Program Chairs and others. After that meeting CAO
contacted Sally Cameron, who responded to Senate President and mentioned asking
for feedback now. There was no mention of involvement in the early stages of
questioning ideas for possible use of the site.
Discussion included:
a) Need for academics to be involved
in initial stages
b) No involvement of the Office of
Disability Services and need for accessibility from the beginning;
c) Having the Educational Media
Committee be involved in website as educational media;
d) Question of whether Learning
Resources Center staff were involved
This led to a discussion of the BCC Committee System, including:
a) Committee meeting Attendance,
b) Committee Agendas set by
Administrators and being asked to do Administrative work that is clearly not
part of the mission of the Committee,
c) Need for review by the Central
Committee.
Hiring
Protocol Ad Hoc Committee:
Discussion of how the system is broken
as the committee recommendations have not been implemented and there is no
accountability. There is a need for regular review of hiring practices and
procedures with accountability of hiring committees to follow protocols and
regular review.
Program
Director/Department Chair Meetings: A constituent concern that because
the meetings are voluntary, some constituents are not present when decisions
are being made. Senators attending those meetings reported that no decisions
are made at the meeting and that chairs/directors offer the agenda of the
meetings. The Senate suggests that the agendas and minutes of these meetings be
made available to all constituents.
Divisional
Assessment Teams The
Senator who asked for this to be on the agenda asked for it to be removed.
NEASC
Evidence of Student Works: Discussion of syllabi requested by NEASC to
validate student time spent on their courses.
Didactic
Courses: A senator suggested the senate ask for a
definition of didactic and/or non-didactic courses. This discussion continued.
Final
Exam Schedule:
The Senate discussed the delay in offering the Final exam Schedule to faculty
and students. President McCourt reported that CAO Sethares reported that the
schedule is the same every semester. The Senate will request of President
Sbrega that the College post the Final Exam schedule and make it available to
all students, faculty and staff at registration.
Shared
Governance with Departments
It was reported that an academic
department voted on a matter of concern to the department and when reported to
the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs was told that departments are “not
allowed to vote.” It was discussed and the Senate has asked the Senate
President to bring this matter up with President Sbrega as an example of
evidence against the administration participating in shared governance.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:20 p.m.
