LEEWARD COMMUNITY COLLEGE

2003 – 2004 Faculty Senate

 

APPROVED Minutes of the February 18, 2004 Meeting

James Goodman, Chair

Nancy Buchanan, Vice Chair

Candace Hochstein, Secretary

 

 

SENATORS PRESENT:  N. Buchanan, C. Chernisky, L. Currivan, R. Flegal, C. Ganne, K. Hill, C. Hochstein, W. Imada, P. Kennedy, P. Lococo, C. Martin, S. Palombo, M. Reese, F. Sherry, W. Teraoka, L. Yamada, S. Wood

 

SENATORS EXCUSED:  M. Nakano, R. Pfeiffer, D. Sakai

 

GUESTS:  Judy Kappenberg, Kathleen Cabral, Bob Hochstein, Judith Ceite, Aonani Ahakuelo-Chernisky, Ed Wiggers, Shelley Ota, Karen Fujishima-Lee, Jack Pond, Donna Matsumoto, James West, Aulii Silva, Eli Tsukagama (Senator, Student Government), Anna Campbell-Berman (Vice President, Student Government), Daniel Chun (Senator, Student Government), DJ Danner (Senator, Student Government), Steven Boun (Senator, Student Government), T. Espinosa (Senator, Student Government)

 

CALL T0 ORDER:  The meeting was called to order at 3:15 p.m. with a quorum.

 

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES:  The minutes were approved as presented.

 

NEW BUSINESS:

 

Review of LCC Mission Statement – Judy Kappenberg, Chair of the Mission Statement Committee, shared the background of what the Mission Statement was to contain as required by the Accreditation Commission and Administrators in the UH System:

 

1.  The Commission was concerned with the restructuring of the UH System, particularly with the loss of the Chancellor of Community College’s Office.  The Commission was concerned that the Mission of the Community Colleges be continued even though the Office of the Chancellor the CC’s was no longer in existence.

2.  Due to this concern, the Chancellors agreed to have the Community College Mission Statement in each of the community college’s mission statements.

 

Judy brought up a third point.  This was that as the LCC Strategic Plan was going to be brought before the Board of Regents (BOR) in March, the Chancellor would like to have the LCC Mission Statement approved at the same time.  What was being presented to the Senate was the mission statement without the Core Values.  The Core Value statements would be more specific and would address many of the issues being asked today.

The Senate had concerns with the proposed Mission Statement:

 

-         That the mission statement was too specific due to the last paragraph which stated that LCC would focus on teacher education, workforce development training in the areas of tourism, agriculture, and health, programs that feature advances in technology and the arts, and continued development as a preeminent center for Hawaiian Studies.  While they are areas LCC could take the lead in the future, some are currently not offered at LCC and are not contained in the Academic Development Plan (ADP), and so the last paragraph should be removed.

-         Specific information/priorities should be contained in the ADP.

-         That LCC will be asked to rewrite the mission statement as it is a reflection of the Community College mission statement.  This concern was raised because Kauai Community College used the Community College mission statement, and was told to rewrite it.

-         If the last paragraph was kept, it was suggested that distance education opportunities be added to the Access section, and job development and placement services for students be integrated as part of the process under the Work Force Development section.

 

 

Motion 04-04  (Wood/Lococo)  To accept the proposed mission statement with the deletion of the last paragraph and understanding that the Mission Statement would be revisited within 1 year by the Faculty Senate.

 

MOTION PASSED:  Y = 12; N = 4; Ab = 0

 

 

N Grade Recommendation – The discussion and resolution on the issue of the N grade was taken up by the Faculty Senate because the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior College (ACCJC) was requiring LCC to have a progress report on it submitted to the ACCJC by April 1, 2004.  The main issue of concern was the WASC perception of alleged inconsistent use of the N and F grade by faculty members. 

 

Because any change in the grading policy will affect the faculty at large, the Faculty Senate conducted two open forums, and polled the 181 Board of Regent appointed faculty members on the N grade.  Of the 181 BOR appointed faculty, 141 voted.  Six of the 141 votes were voided due to errors in how the ballot was completed/incomplete.  The results of the poll were: 

77 votes or 57% voted to discontinue using the N

57 votes or 43% voted to keep the N, possibly define it better

                             of the 57 votes to keep the N, 27 votes wanted to keep it as is.

 

Discussion included:

-That faculty do access student skills/knowledge, and there is a difference between the issuance of an N and F grade. 

-That sometimes it is not possible to give any other grade, especially in the case of a student’s death or for military personal deployment.

-That faculty will begin to advise students to withdraw from the class before the deadline.

            -That the Veteran Benefits and Financial Aid awards are affected by N grades.

-That many faculty were still discussing the issue and did not feel that they were ready to commit to a decision yet.

 

Motion 04-05:  (Flegal/Lococo) The Faculty Senate, in agreement with the recent formal certified vote of BOR appointed faculty members, recommends that the N grade be discontinued, effective Fall 2004.

 

Motion Passed:  Y = 12; N = 5; Ab = 0

 

 

OLD BUSINESS: 

 

Student No Shows – Senator Currivan informed the Senate that the Faculty Committee was still collecting information.  They will try to have a recommendation by the next meeting.

 

COMMITTEE REPORTS: 

 

BUDGET AND PLANNING – Senator Chernisky did not have a report at this time.

He did inform the Senate that the Executive Salary Committee recommended that the Governor should receive a 12% salary raise, and 2% on top of the initial 12% for the next few years.  It was felt that this recommendation was reasonable due to the current economic status of the state.

 

FACULTY COMMITTEE – No report at this time.

 

ELECTION’S COMMITTEE – No report at this time.

 

ACADEMIC/INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT – Senator Martin reported that several small issues were brought up which the committee will follow-up on.  One such issue was finding out how the money from the vending accounts was being used.

 

The committee wanted to compliment the Help Desk and Computer Labs for their good work.

 

LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE – No report at this time.

 

STUDENT COMMITTEE – No report at this time.

 

It was recommended that the Student Committee explore alternate grades to address the grading issues the N grade discussions and vote highlighted.

PROGRAM REVIEW – No report at this time.

 

CURRICULUM COMMITTEE – Senator Lococo reported that although the deadline for curriculum submission had past, faculty could still submit curriculum proposals.  However, Curriculum Committee review of such proposals would not be completed in time for the catalog, or by the end of this semester.  He also reminded everyone that proposals must go through the Division for discussion and vote before being reviewed by the Curriculum Committee. 

 

He informed the Senate that program modifications and new proposals will soon be available on line in Curriculum Central.

 

The last item reported was that the AA committee to review whether or not to revise the AA would be meeting next Tuesday, February 24, 2004.

 

SERVICE COMMITTEE – No report at this time.

 

CHAIR’S REPORT:

 

BOR meeting at Kapiolani Community College on January 16, 2004

-There was informational picketing of approximately 150 faculty members regarding the State’s non-activity in negotiations.  Signs stating “UHPA Not On Strike Yet” were displayed.  Faculty salary is currently at the 30th percentile in comparison to our peers.  Although the faculty were promised by President Dobelle to take the faculty to the 80th percentile, the union is currently working to make it to the 50th percentile.

 

All Campus Council of Faculty Senate Chairs (ACCFSC) meeting on January 16, 2004

-The Chief Academic Officers were looking into creating policies to establish lab/technician fees for students.  It was unknown how this would affect students on financial aid.  They also wanted to know if they could create and establish the policy, or if they had to go through the BOR.  The Chief Academic Officers also met for a strategic planning follow-up session.  They showed the evolution of where money came from in the past and present – how the economic base is now greatly reduced and affected by factors such as the military.

 

-The Chairs also discussed the possibility of having common grades and a standard GPA calculation policy.  These issues were recorded in the January 28, 2004 minutes.

 

-The next ACCFC meeting will be on Friday, February 20, 2004 at Honolulu Community College.

 

-The ACCFSC has established a website.  It is:  hawaii.edu/accfc/   You may visit this site and read the minutes of the ACCFSC.

 

EIF Grants – The committee met and reviewed all grant applications.  Letters of acceptance and non-acceptance have been sent out.

 

ADJOURNMENT:  The meeting was adjourned at 5:12 PM.

 

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:  Candace Hochstein, Secretary