California State University Dominguez Hills



California State University Dominguez Hills

Academic Senate Minutes

January 28, 2009 (Amended)

MSP 02/18/09

Voting Members Present: Berlin, Bordinaro, Bradfield, Brooks, D., Carvalho, Chavez, Erbe, Ferris, Fisher, Furtado, Furusa, García, Gould, Heinze-Balcazar, Hinchberger, Hwang, Jacobs, Jones, Kalayjian, Kaplan, Keville, Kowalski, Kravchak, Kulikov, Ma, Malamud, Needham, Niederman, Pawar, Sneed, Wang, Whetmore, Zugman.

Voting Members Absent: Best, Bohman, Corbin, D’Amore, Ganezer, Hancock, Murrey, Pinto, Salhi.

Ex-Officio Members Present: Arasimowicz, Bergmann, Borrego, Bradfield, García, Gordon, M., Hohm, Lopez, Maki, Parham, Robles, Rodriguez, and Strong.

Guests: Fawver, Hata and Martin

Meeting Called to Order at 2:30 p.m.

Approval of Agenda MSP

Approval of Minutes Amended MSP

Chair’s Report-Munashe Furusa-Furusa reported that the meeting for today was scheduled because of issues on the campus we needed to discuss. He welcomed everyone and welcomed Provost Ron Vogel. He reported that the state could run out of money and that faculty morale is low and we have trust issues, but on the bright side we are meeting after the inauguration of President Obama. Student Research Day is coming and we have 121 presentations and 57 mentors. Laura Robles still needs judges for this. He encouraged faculty to participate in the summer RSCAAP fellowships. And encouraged all unit 3 to apply. He reported that Sue Borrego will be giving a brief report to the senate today. The Executive Committee met with Gus Martin and Mark Seigle on Perceived Administrative Effectiveness Procedure. Furusa congratulated Greg Saks for being appointed to Vice President of University Advancement. With regard to the College of Professional Studies two memos have been sent out, one from me and one from the Exec. The Executive Committee has met with the President and the Provost about the lack of consultation that occurred with the recent merger of colleges. We met with senators from the colleges affected and faculty who had concerns. Many questions were asked like why the colleges were demoted to schools? Were students informed? Do we have to inform WASC of the changes?

Malamud said that if consultation was required we should not be moving forward, and he stated that he does not like being in the “unprofessional college”. Furusa said that we need to have a common ground of what things require consultation and sharing and we will be inviting a consultant to discuss this issue.

Malamud said that a person can’t stub their toe on this campus that there is not a rumor started and said that the lack of consultation was done intentionally to keep everyone out or there would have been a rumor about this before it took place, that’s the way this campus has always worked. Gould said that it seems we are going backwards and we have been through this before. Fawver wanted to know who was paying for the consultant on shared governance. Furusa said that the administration will help with this. Bradfield said that before all of this came down the CFA had scheduled a consultant to speak to the faculty on February 26, 2009 about consultation.

Vogel said that things were done before he got there and arriving was like jumping a train at 150 miles and hour and going over slippery rocks. Vogel said that he believed in shared governance, but the decision has already been made. This decision will save the University about $75,000.00. This kind of merging has been done around the country at different universities. Moore said that we have had an acrimonious past with administration concerning lack of consultation and shared governance and this is a huge oversight. Kaplan suggested we look at changing and renaming the colleges. Bordinaro said that there is a faculty representative on the University Budget Committee and she wanted to know when they heard about it. Fawver said that she was the representative and that the information was not shared. She said that maybe Carole Shea the chair knew about it, but the committee did not. Bordinaro asked for a cost benefit analysis to be provided to the senate and faculty. Maki said that there are now three professional schools with three acting directors heading them up, and a search for permanent positions will follow. Maki has had a discussion with Gus Martin about the RTP process and whether a director can review the RTP files and the answer is yes they can according to Gus Martin.

Bordinaro asked if we were having a hiring freeze, and wondered how we could initiate searches given the budget situation. Vogel said that the freeze is on critical positions but the term “critical” is not defined. Kaplan asked the senate if we need to vote on these matters and go on record. Bordinaro said that she was confused, we are saving $75,000 through the reorganization but if we have three directors how will $75,000 be saved? She asked to see a budget chart or analysis to explain the savings.

Erbe said that the Ed.D. proposal went through and that Furusa put out a memo that there was consultation but she does not think this is correct. Furusa reported his understanding was that consultation had occurred and he apologized for the misunderstanding. Erbe wanted to know what adequate consultation would be. Furusa said that he has been meeting with administration to discuss consultation. Fawver asked the senate if they could all agree that there was no consultation regarding the reorganization and she told Vogel that even if he did not know about it until he arrived, it is now his job and he needs to deal with it. She asked if there were anymore transitions in the pipeline and Furusa said the president assured him that there would be no more large reorganizations. Malamud said that he would love to know when the deans and provost found out about the reorganization.

Vogel said that he arrived here on January 1 or 2. He said that he respects what the senate does and there is a lot ahead of us. He said that we need to collectively pull together. He said that these kinds of decisions that have recently been made, will not happen under his tenure without consultation.

Bordinaro said that we need to come together to address budget issues, resolve this issue and build trust so that we can move forward.

Don Hata spoke and said that he has not been at a senate meeting for over 10 years, and is concerned about the lack of consultation. He does not understand how this could have happened and that the president says she accepts responsibility--but for what. Furusa said that the president took responsibility for what the former provost did. Pawar asked if trust was based on competency did they act incompetently. Bordinaro said that it is the purview of the administration to do what they want to do, but just because one can do something does not mean that one should do it, and she supports a motion or resolution. Gould then read from the Academic Senate Constitution the role of the senate. Bradfield said that faculty have the power to do what they want, and the CFA does not deal with these kinds of issues it is for the senate to do, but we can create a resolution.

Niederman made a motion to have two or three faculty from the schools affected, to make a report that tells the pros and cons of the merger, and the process by which the decision of the merger was made. There was a vote and the motion did not pass. Berlin said that she could not give a report because she has no background information. Malamud said that he would like to see a budget savings and would like to know how the president thought we knew about this? To think that we all knew…two days before in the senate it was not announced or discussed.

Vogel asked the senate to move swiftly because there is a 2.5 million cut in academic affairs and he would like to resolve this so that he can discuss this other important matter with the senate.

Gould said that he did not see anything the senate could do at this point. Zugman asked if the administration could give a presentation on the budget savings and the pros and cons.

Malamud made a motion that we go back to two colleges and then solve it. Gould said that this was a policy recommendation and it needed a 1st and 2nd reading. Malamud said that we need a sense of the senate to not go forward with this merger. Malamud said that he was not against what they did but is against the way they did it. Gould suggested that Executive committee bring to the next meeting an organized report. Pawar said these were two separate issues the issue of procedure and the actual merger, if it is a done deal we need to drop it.

Executive Reports

Vice President of Enrollment and Planning-Sue Borrego-Borrego reported the headcount of students was up 1034 and FTE’s were up 675. Students with complete packets are being enrolled. 38 students were accidentally disenrolled and we are fixing that. If a student has an EPT or ELM hold they can still register. She asked that faculty submit drops soon for non-attendance. She reported that they are no longer sending our paper waitlists now that that information is on people soft. Borrego reported that the strategic plan will be done by spring. We want to become a model urban university. Borrego said the strategic plan will be a framework and her job will be to shepherd the process. Borrego want everyone to be involved.

Provost’s Report-Ron Vogel-Vogel reported that he learned a lot today as far as what faculty want and expect. Vogel reported that there is a 2.5 million cut coming to academic affairs. Faculty have worked very hard and taken more students. He spoke of a student who was having difficulty getting a class and he was able to get her the help she needed. He wants faculty input. We need to plan for these cuts, which we have discussed with deans and chair of senate. This cut is deeper than cuts made in the 90’s. Vogel said that he needed to earn our trust and will work with the senate and faculty open and honestly. He asked faculty to please contact him with any input and that he wants to know. Malamud said that he would love to give Vogel input but doesn’t have any information where the money is going I have no information, and I need this information to give you suggestions. Vogel suggested that Malamud be on a budget committee. Vogel said that he does not believe in across the board cuts. He told the deans to come back with what they could live with without hurting students or classes. He wants input from students and faculty. Moore said that after this first round of cuts how much of the 2.5 million have you dealt with. Vogel said about half of the 2.5 million. Many cuts are one time dollars. Fawver asked which university budget committee Vogel invited Malamud to attend. She also asked what was the time line for the second round of cuts. Vogel said July 1, 2009.

President’s Report-Mildred García-García wished everyone a happy and healthy new year. She welcomed Dr. Ron Vogel to the senate meeting.

She reported that the decision to reorganize was to save as much money as possible, $75,000. There are other universities doing this same kind of model. There is a 2.8 million deficit and we cut 1.4 million this year and still have more to cut. She had delegated the reorganization project to the Provost and believed that consultation had taken place. She made a mistake. Dr. Vogel and herself met with the Executive Committee and the CFA and she said she would restore our trust with actions. García said that she and the provost would provide a cost analysis of the merger and how it benefits the university financially. She said that she and Vogel commit to being transparent. García said that California has a 10% unemployment rate, and California has had the highest employment drop in the last 30 days. At Arizona State they are cutting 600 million. We are looking at a total of 3.4 million in cuts. García did say that she has heard we may have a budget by February 1, 2009.

García reported that we still may register 700 students between now and census. We will close admissions March 1, 2009. Super Sunday is coming and García and several other presidents will be visiting several African American churches to talk with prospective students.

García said that she needs to hear from the faculty and senate on the strategic plan and we need to listen to the silences, the people who don’t talk but have something to say.

Points of Pride

• García reported that our soccer team came to the Board of Trustees meeting to show their trophy. This last game was dedicated to the player who lost his life.

• García reported that we are partnering with Southwest Law School for a joint J.D./M.A. program, and a 3+3 program through which students can earn their B.A. and J.D. degrees in six years.

• García reported that she is bringing in faculty 10 at a time so that she can learn about their research.

• García reported that she is working with the Home Depot Center and AEG about the parking situation and the first game this semester will begin at 6 p.m.

• García reported that Ken Putnam gave 2 gifts of $10,000 each, one to the president for support of students and $10,000 for students to come to DH from Catalina.

• Several of our faculty have received research grants

• García reported that The Business Plan Competition was just completed. She said that if you know these students please take the opportunity to congratulate them on their accomplishment.

1. Lakesha Harris – “My Home” – 1st Place $5,000 Award.

2. Ronald Glymph – “Math Maze” - 2nd Place - $3,500 Award.

3. Daphne Brooks – “Lead Link” - 3rd Place $2,500 Award.

4. Jeremy Head – “Head Straight” - Runner Up $1,500 Award.

5. Amelia Hammonds – “Corporate Catering” - Runner Up $1,500 Award.

• García reported that she attended the inauguration of President Obama and she represented Dominguez Hills.

García said that she feels blessed to be at CSUDH. She asked if there were any questions.

Moore said that as chair of his department he has been told over the years to prepare for a large influx of students, according to enrollment demographics, but that is not what has happened so far. Borrego said that DH will take everybody, every student we can get here.

Bordinaro asked what decision process was used to merge the colleges and is there a cost analysis. President said that a cost breakdown will be provided.

Open Forum-Bradfield said that the CFA Welcome Back Luncheon will be held next Tuesday. Keville said that beginning next Wednesday there will be a Teapot Exhibit in the university art gallery.

Fawver asked Jacobs about the online policy and Jacobs said that she has all the guidelines that have been compiled. They could be used but they are not required. She is looking at bringing a resolution on this to the senate in two weeks.

Meeting adjourned at 4:57 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted by,

Mary Brooks, Chair’s Assistant Munashe Furusa, Chair, Academic Senate

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