Radical district change sparks adjunct representation proposal, professor says

An ad hoc committee of Faculty Senate recommended to the senate Wednesday the addition of two adjunct faculty members with voting rights.

Alex Bernal, ad hoc committee chair and English professor, said at special meeting Wednesday the committee will not make a formal proposal until the next Faculty Senate session at 2:15 p.m. Feb. 1 in Room 120 of visual arts.

"Most of us agree, or at least the tenured faculty agree, maybe five years ago, four years ago, we would not have made the recommendation, but things have changed radically in this district, and overall, we would have more of an advantage to have adjunct on the Faculty (Senate)," he said.

A total of 26 voting members will serve on the senate: 24 tenured faculty members plus the addition of two adjuncts, Bernal said.

The Adjunct Faculty Council chair will be one of the two representatives and the other will be chosen by Adjunct Faculty Council, he said.

"We think that faculty rights are eroding … so I think all faculty need to join together," Bernal said.

The senate will vote on the recommendation and amend its constitution if approved.

Dr. Dawn Elmore-McCrary, Faculty Senate chair and English professor, said the addition requires a revision of senate by-laws.

"We do have some pretty large loopholes in our by-laws," she said.

The committee must complete revisions to the by-laws by the end of March because Faculty Senate elections are in April, Elmore-McCrary said.

Bernal said the recommendation has not been raised in senates at other colleges in the district because some do not have a representative body for adjuncts.

"The adjunct faculty have been really minimized," he said. "Since other colleges don't have one, ours are voiceless. We'll give them a voice here."

In other news, the Policy and Governance Committee reported on changes necessary for a revision in Procedure D.2.3.2 Faculty and Department Chair Positions.

Previously, faculty elected chairs with the approval of the college administration.

The procedure now requires the president to select department chairs after posting positions. The positions are open to faculty from any of the district colleges as well as external candidates.

Bill Richardson, kinesiology and dance chair, said President Robert Zeigler issued a charge for department chairs to come up with recommendations on the procedure.

"As I understand it, more than likely, we will meet with some team of administrators to select a procedure of our own," Richardson said, anticipating each college can develop a procedure.

In other news, Dr. Teanna Staggs, Faculty Senate vice chair and natural sciences chair, and allied health Professor Cheryl Startzell resigned from the senate, Elmore-McCrary said.

A motion was called for filling Staggs' position as senator with the candidate from the last election who received the most votes without winning a position on senate.

Political science Instructor Suzanne Martinez was approved unanimously, but another vote was required to fill the position of vice chair.

As no other senators put themselves forward for the position, Richardson agreed to the job. "I'll take one for the team," he said.

Discussion of filling Startzell's vacant position was tabled until the candidate with the next highest vote count could be determined.

Senators decided they would communicate electronically to determine who would fill the position so the replacement could attend the next meeting.

Today, Faculty Senate Secretary Dehlia Wallis, student development professor, said on Monday, the senate voted electronically for speech Instructor Jolinda Ramsey to fill Startzell's position.

In other business, Elmore-McCrary reported on the board of trustees' committee meetings Jan. 17.

The Audit, Budget and Finance Committee voted to recommend to the full board purchasing software to manage faculty and staff.

The software, Banner HR Talent Management Suite, is expected to cost the district $469,800.

According to Sungard Higher Education's website, it helps institutions evaluate faculty and staff and keep track of employee training and development.

"It fits in with the evaluation piece of the puzzle for faculty so that everything is going to be electronic," Elmore-McCrary said.

She said the Academic Accountability and Student Success Committee mentioned a new textbook policy.

"There's no actual copy of the policy available yet so I don't really know what's in it," Elmore-McCrary said.

She said she was confused about whether it was a district adoption rather than a college adoption, but the policy calls for one primary text for each course.

"To me, that was like nails on chalkboard," Elmore-McCrary said. "For some of the departments like English, there are multiple ways to teach some of the things we teach, so it would be very difficult to agree on one primary textbook per course."

However, the Guidelines for Selection of Instructional Materials, distributed Jan. 13 to department chairs to share with faculty, indicated that up to three textbook options per course can be selected. From those, each faculty member can choose one.

The guidelines note, however, that departments are "strongly encouraged to adopt a single textbook for a course to reduce the cost to students."

In other news, radiography Instructor Warren Parker of St. Philip's College discussed his presentation to trustees scheduled for today.

On Friday, Wallis said Parker was not on the original agenda so she was uncertain about what he was going to talk about at the meeting.

On Monday, Elmore-McCrary said she was contacted by Parker sometime over the holiday break.

"I didn't know who he was." She said she assumed he was visiting all district college senates and that this college's senate was not specifically targeted.