Minutes of Monday, March 6, 2017

Bristol Community College

Faculty & Professional Staff Senate Meeting

Minutes of Monday, March 6, 2017

Room H 209 3:00 pm

Senators in attendance: C. Almeida, D. Avedikian, J. Barry, D. Behuniak, J. Bjornson, J. Boulay, J. Corven, J. Dekkers, L. Delano-Botelho, J. Emond, M. Geary, G. Hamel, M. Hyde, J. Jodoin-Krauzyk, C. Kenney, J. Pelletier, K. Plante, D. Quenga, D. St. George, H. Tinberg

Absences: A. Marden, R. Rebelo, L. Neubert, K. Hiller, S. Ferreira, M. K. Roberts, J. Constantine, K. Woldegiorgis

Excused Absences: R. Worthington

Five guests attended this meeting.

Meeting called to order:  3:14 pm

Minutes:  Minutes from February 13, 2017 were reviewed and approved with one amendment to correct the number of hours for the Writing Center Director position.

Division Reports

·       4: Questions were raised over the number of Senate seats available within the division.

·       5: With classrooms moving from the E building to J, questions were raised over the other purposes for the vacated rooms in E building.

·       Lash: the Writing Center has been redesigned and will offer refresher writing workshops in the summer; co-curricular workshops have been added for an annotated bibliography assignment; embedded tutors in online courses are being explored; the Writing Center Director position will soon be posted.

2017 Jeanne Grandchamp Speaker

·       Vice President St. George provided an update on the 2017 Grandchamp Lecture Speaker.

·       An at-large call for nominations went out to the college on 2/8 with a 3/1 deadline; nominators are encouraged to send suggestions to the Grandchamp Committee or Executive Committee.

·       Speakers are encouraged to present on their scholarship, special projects or civic engagement.

·       The Granchamp Committee met on 3/1 to review nominations and recommended to the Senate that Bob Rak speak; the Senate unanimously voted to approve the Grandchamp Committee’s recommendation.

·       This year’s Grandchamp Lecture will be held on 4/19 at 3pm in H209.

Update on Strategic Goals

A. Sustainability: Nominations & Term Limits

·       The general Senate election is scheduled to be held in April, per the By Laws. The deadline for nominations was 3/1.

·       At present, all members of the Executive Committee are term-limited.

·       Lash Division is the only division with a vacant seat at this time.

·       Senators Neubert, Quenga, and Jodoin-Krauzyk will seek another term.

·       The following constituents expressed interest in running for a seat representing their respective divisions:

o   Ron Weisberger, Division II

o   Paul Robillard, Division III

o   Stephen Alves, Division IV

o   Ely Dorsey and Nikolas Mavridikis, Division V

·       Senator Worthington updated the Executive Committee prior to the meeting and indicated that other constituents have also been nominated; she is awaiting confirmation from these individuals.

B. Academic Support and Retention

·       Secretary Boulay provided an update on the Retention Summit:

o   The summit is scheduled for March 22, 2017.

o   Invitations have been sent campus-wide and details about the event are available on the Lash CTL blog.

o   The Buzz will spotlight the Retention Summit this week.

o   Senators are encouraged to register for the event.

C. Collaboration

·       Ad Hoc Joint Senate Task Force on Textbooks:

o   At the February Senate meeting, President Tinberg issued a call for Senators to serve on a joint task force with the Student Senate; Margaret Cox and Senators Hyde and Emond expressed interest in serving.

o   A charge and timeline will still need to be determined; however, it may include options available at the bookstore and items for consideration for contract negotiation.

D. Governance

·       Ongoing Academic Initiatives (AI): Title III, Gen Ed

o   Title III: In January, the Design Team met to discuss possible programming; a Writing Team is now working on language for the grant submission.

o   An AI was previously submitted and there is a protocol to monitor initiatives after the initial signing.

·       The W: Is There a Senate Role?

o   A campus-wide special meeting was held to discuss the instructor generated withdrawal policy

o   A number of questions were raised:

§  How to resolve whether existing policy should remain or new one?

§  Should Senate have voting role to present to administration?

§  Will it be left to Academic Standards to decide the outcome?

§  Why is there resistance to giving up W? Proper grade for student in some cases, but not reporting in a timely fashion will impact receiving financial aid for the school.

§  Encroachment on faculty authority; slippery slope?

o   A number of points were noted:

§  Withdrawals are an academic status not a grade.

§  Other schools don’t allow faculty to issue W.

§  There has been resistance on Academic Standards, but might be coming to vote.

§  Some faculty withdraw students who do not consistently show up rather than failing that student and negatively impacting classmates with disruption.

§  Shifting from W to F could have an impact on academic standing, more F, lower GPA, more students dismissed; may increase workload for Connections Center staffing (currently only part-time staff).

·       Response to Request for Ex-Officio Representative to Board of Trustees

o   President Tinberg emailed BOT Chairman Marshall to request an ex officio faculty/staff position. At present, the BOT relies on a single source for information about the College.

o   At the special BOT meeting to select the next president, the possibility of an ex officio member was mentioned in passing.

o   President Tinberg’s request was forwarded to the College’s General Counsel; the response indicated all trustees are appointed by the governor (except for the student trustee, he/she is elected by the student body), as dictated by Massachusetts General Laws.

o   BrCCC President McCourt was consulted to see if the union’s lawyer might interpret the law differently.

o   While there appears to be no precedent for this at Massachusetts community colleges, this may be practiced by some state universities.

o   Questions were raised as to whether the Senate should begin lobbying for changing the law.

Meeting Adjourned:  3:57 pm

Respectfully submitted, Jennifer Boulay, BCC Faculty & Professional Staff Secretary