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
