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November 16, 2007

Call to Order: F. van Hartesveldt called the meeting to order at 6:30 a.m., 120 ATC.

Present: W. Acevedo-Ferrer, N. Alexander, R. Barnhart J. Batten, J. Berlin, L. Burris (for J. Hayes), M. Campo, A. Cook, L. Crossman, K. Danko, G. Ebels (for G. Zeeff), B. Foster, F. Garbowitz (for B. Manker), M. Gillian (for B. Morris), C. Grin, D. Godfrey, H. Hoare, B. Keelean, S. Knoppers, P. Laureto, R. Monaldo, J. Neumann, M. Parsons, R. Ralya, A. Saldivar, D. Terhune, F. van Hartesveldt, F. Zomer.

Absent: J. Berlin, F. Conner, D. Cope, J. Doane, D. Huisman, R. Montes-Sutton, J. Russell, J. Spoelman, D. Wabeke, T. Walwood.

Approval of Agenda: Approved as written.

Approval of Minutes from November 16, 2007: Approved with the following clarifications:

• Brian Morris was in attendance.
• N. Alexander further clarified the 800 minute rule to read as follows:
• The 800 minute rule states that 800 minutes must be scheduled for each credit. The 800 minutes includes the scheduled exam time. Breaks may be taken as long as the 800 minutes are still met. Absences due to sick days, inclement weather, and approved leaves do not affect the 800 minutes.

President’s report:

• Regarding the bookstore issue of suggested course material appearing automatically when a student selects a book online, faculty members are encouraged to review the suggested material online and contact the bookstore to remove any unwanted material.
• Recent meeting with library staff was held to discuss their concerns with their growing distance from academics. They recently lost a full time position and a Director.
• The Long Term Disability insurer decided to use the fall date to begin S. Rhoden’s disability, which means that only a couple of the donated days will be used. It was suggested that faculty begin a donation drive to help.
• Donated days are used to bridge the gap between when sick days run out and when disability pay begins, and they do not apply to leave of absences due to pregnancy.
• Faculty who park in the ATC, but are not assigned to park there, may be ticketed or towed. Faculty members are reminded to park in their assigned parking spaces in order to avoid a ticket and also to be covered in the event of theft or damage to their vehicles.
• Overload selection meetings for teaching faculty have been moved up to November 26, 2007 for some departments. This has caused base loads of a couple of faculty members to be modified whose classes have been dropped due to low enrollment.
• Faculty members are reminded that ESP members are not responsible for administering make-up exams because administration of a test goes beyond the scope of their job duties.
• The Press is working on a companion news article to the recent article about university administrative salaries. The new article will focus on administrative salaries at GRCC.
• Faculty members are warned that a Collegiate reporter did not honor a direction to not record interviews.
• The adjunct advisory group has continued to meet. Administration has scaled down the number of administrators who attend the group. A current adjunct concern is that full-time faculty members who retire come back as adjunct and displace long term adjuncts.
• The Foundation recently hired Trish Castiglione as Director of Annual Giving. Her job is to raise money internally. A scholarship report is anticipated to be released in January.
• The Association budget allows for conference attendance. Negotiating team members may attend upcoming conferences on collective bargaining.
• Faculty members who have concerns with BlackBoard are encouraged to contact F. van Hartesveldt. Past issues include the merging of courses and student enrollment.
• The Nursing department is moving ahead with a pilot program to begin in 2008 in which base load assignments may be made year round, not just in the academic year. This student driven pilot will admit students three times per year over three semesters to move students through the nursing curriculum faster and to help address the nursing shortage. This type of program would not work for all departments. English and Biological Science faculty have considered it, but there has been no progress in those departments.

Discussion and action items:

1. Negotiations report:

• The last meeting with the State Mediator was on November 14, 2007. Much of that meeting was devoted to clarification of the economic proposals.
• Adjunct evaluation process was settled. Every adjunct will do an evaluation in every class each semester until they complete three years. Following that period, the evaluation process will follow an every-three-year cycle similar to full time faculty.
• Administration wants a voluntary program for full time faculty who want to do an annual review of their FGIP rather than a review every three years. This process may include peer reviews and class observations.
• Language clarification for the Lab Techs and Tutors group continues.
• Work continues on settling changes within the counseling department. Administration wants a 52 week counseling position for the same amount of compensation as the current counselors. Lack of settlement has caused positions to remain unfilled.
• Some settlement has been made regarding discipline language whereas standards of just cause must exist and a process for discipline must be followed.
• The grievance MOU has been settled with the board level appeal removed, but arbitration remains. This applies to type B grievances only.
• A thank you was extended to the faculty members who have covered classes for negotiating team members.
• While only one more day is scheduled with the State Mediator, both teams continue to meet. There are a lot of issues still on the table.
• Job performance issues should be handled at the Associate Dean level. Allegations about law violations or from members of legally protected groups are likely to be referred to Human Resources. Five faculty members have been involved in discipline this semester; all concerns have been resolved.
• Faculty complaints from three departments regarding the same Associate Dean were r ecently registered within a two day span.

1. Update committee memberships

• A third member is needed on the Nominating committee.
• R. Barnhart will become a third member of the Finance committee.
• Student Group Allocations Review committee is inactive due to student request.
• The Scholarship committee remains stalled.
• Interested faculty members should contact F. van Hartesveldt.

Grievance report: F. Garbowitz reported the following:

• Grievance 171 was settled. New faculty members who attended without pay the two days immediately preceding the start of the 2007-08 academic year will receive Appendix B-19 compensation. In the future new faculty will be required to attend these orientation meetings and will be paid at the Appendix B-19 extra work rate.
• Faculty members are reminded that they have 10 days from their knowledge of a grievance to file an individual grievance, and that the Faculty Association has 30 days from that date to file a grievance on their behalf.
• Grievance 169 regarding the overload cap is pending a written decision from the arbitrator.

RCC report: B. Foster reported the following:

Next RCC meeting is Monday, November 19, 2007. Those interested in attending RCC meeting with Legislators in February should contact B. Foster.

New Business: Items for the next Faculty Council meeting should be submitted to F. van Hartesveldt.

Next Meeting: Faculty Council meeting, Friday, November 30, 2007, at 6:30 a.m. in the Multi-Purpose Room in the SCC.

Adjournment: Motion to adjourn C. Grin, seconded W. Ferrer-Acevedo. Adjournment at 8:01 a.m.

Submitted by K. Danko, Secretary.