HUMBOLDT STATE UNIVERSITY Academic Senate Minutes April 11, 2003

Chair MacConnie called the meeting to order at 4:07 p.m. on Tuesday, March 11, 2003, in Nelson Hall East, Room 102 (Goodwin Forum).

Members Present: Adkins, Bicknell, Butler, Dalsant, Derden, Dunk, Fulgham, Gill, Goodman, Knox, MacConnie, Meiggs, Mortazavi, Moyer, Oliver (5-6 p.m.), O'Rourke-Andrews, Paselk, Paynton, Sanford, Schwab, Shellhase, Snyder, Thobaben, Varkey, Vrem, Yarnall

Members Absent: Coffey, Luong, Nelson, Richmond, Travis

Proxies: Green for Cheyne; Platin for Kinney; Mortazavi for Klein; Fulgham for Martin; Post for Novotney

Guests: A. Bolick-Floss, Youth Educational Services; R. Darnall Burke, Student Affairs; K. Carlton, AHSS College; S. Higgins, PS College; R. Hughes, Student Life; L. Moore, Human Resources; V. Phillips, Undergraduate Studies; N. Sprotte, Enrollment Management; D. Sorensen, Fiscal Affairs

1. Approval of Minutes

It was moved and seconded (Snyder/Varkey) to approve the submitted minutes of February 25, 2003. MOTION PASSED WITH THREE ABSTENTIONS.

2. Announcements and Communications

Carol Terry, the new Budget Director, was introduced by Interim Vice President Vrem and welcomed to the senate by Chair MacConnie and the senators.

Chair MacConnie announced:

Congratulations were extended to Caitlin Gill for receiving the CSSA Student Advocate of the Year Award. Cal Poly Humboldt is fortunate to have such high quality student representatives.

As announced at the last senate meeting, contained in today's agenda packet is a copy of the estimates of tenure track search cancellations. When compared to the estimates from the Chancellor's Office, there are discrepancies in approximately 7 out of the 22 campuses listed.

Also included in today's packet is the Budget Reduction Planning Schedule, which lists the scheduled meetings at Humboldt leading up to the Budget Summit being held in Long Beach this Friday, as well as some URLs to get more information. Any ideas, comments, etc., that senators would like Chair MacConnie to voice at the Budget Summit may be forwarded to her before Friday. Senators were reminded that this is the first of probably many discussions regarding the impact of the governor's budget reductions on Humboldt .

3. Committee and State Senate Reports

Statewide Senate - Senator Snyder announced disturbing news stating that the legislature cannot stop the spending in the current year so the deficit continues to grow. This is the largest reduction California has experienced in the history of the state.

Two nominations have been made to the Faculty Trustees: Jackie Kegley and Kathy Kaiser.

Several resolutions have been passed, including the following: student fee increase, which recognizes the necessity of increasing student fees as a last resort; the proposed change in the CAN model; and approval of the recommendations contained in the facilitating graduation report, which the Board of Trustees will adopt. However, if this item is returned to the campuses by the Chancellor's Office, then all mitigating parts of the resolution will need to be revisited. The final outcome will depend on what takes place at the campus level.

A first reading item was the campus master plans. There is pressure to increase enrollment ceilings on the campuses, which would require a master plan review process. It is believed that such increases in enrollment ceilings should be approved by a vote of the general faculty on the campus rather than a presidential decision.

Senator Thobaben announced that the CSU's sunshine proposals are brief and of interest to all. One disturbing proposal that the Vice Chancellor suggested is putting benefits on the table in lieu of layoff. The second point of interest is the intention of the CSU that such negotiations shall include the expiration of measures intending to minimize the effect of the state's budget crisis including, but not limited to, retirement incentive programs.

On a more positive note, the report by the task force on intellectual property was endorsed by the academic senate, and it will be distributed to campuses in several ways. The reason for the significance of this is owing to major changes in the laws. This most recent report pays special attention to intellectual property rights given to students, faculty and staff, and a major change includes the rights of students; they own their property. There also is information on copyright work related to distance education, the recording of academic presentations by faculty, and patents. Anyone concerned about intellectual property or policies related to it should review this report. There are some policy recommendations included in this report and such recommendations will be transmitted to the campus.

Associated Students - A resolution on the racial privacy initiative, which eliminates any questions based on one's natural identity, was approved. Additional information may be found at the web site: csustudents.org.

Manolo Platin has applied for the student trustee position; he will be interviewed at the April conference.

The students' election deadline is April 7; Caitlin Gill is running for president. Students met with Michael Machi, City Councilmember of Arcata, and students and Councilmember Machi will be attending each others meetings in an effort to strengthen the tie between the campus and the community.

OAA - A new distance learning program in speech pathology has been proposed by Professor Langlois, who will be working with colleagues from Fresno on this program. It is hoped that it will be in place by Fall 2003. The plan for this spring is to have an address and a dinner for the recipient of the Outstanding Professor of the Year Award, probably to be held Wednesday, April 31. All were encouraged to attend.

Office of Student Affairs - Vice President Butler reported that this is Everybody is Beautiful Week, and there is a traveling art exhibit in the UC. The basketball team is playing in the western regionals of the NCAA Conference. Vice President Butler has been meeting with the student government along with Dean Carlton, faculty and other students regarding issues of tolerance, and in the event of an international conflict, there are a number of campus actions planned including teach-ins, a telephone tree, and an ad in the Lumberjack. Vice President Butler hopes to enlist the leadership of the senate in helping to maintain civility on the campus. Nominations for the Outstanding Student Awards are due the end of March.

Faculty Affairs - The Committee met with the UFPC and also met with the deans and the UFPC together regarding RTP changes, and it will meet this week to discuss the proposed changes. A meeting also has been scheduled with members of the Faculty Awards Committee. The processes used for the selection of the Outstanding Professor of the Year and the Scholar of the Year will be reviewed, with the goal being to bring these two processes into alignment with one another. Also under review are the Whistleblower Protection Act (recommendations will be made to the Senate Executive Committee at its next meeting) and the policy on electronic privacy on campus regarding email policies and web surfing habits of students, staff and faculty. The Committee hopes to develop a policy that insures privacy to all users on this campus with the support of President Richmond.

Educational Policies - There is a resolution on today's agenda.

Finance Committee - There are many ongoing budget meetings and discussions of budget issues.

UCC - The UCC met and discussed the difficulties of some interdisciplinary programs that depend upon cross listing with other departments. Given the budget constraints, some departments are reluctant to lose potential FTES and this needs to be discussed. The Committee approved 5 more DCG courses for Fall 2003 so there are now close to 60 approved courses.

General Faculty Association - General Faculty President Fulgham announced that an election will be held the week after spring break. He also announced that John Travis, Humboldt's CFA Chapter President, will be running for CFA President; at this time he is running unopposed. The CFA Diversity Conference, dominated by latino/a populations, reflects the changing population in the state. An analysis of the demographics of faculty and students in the CSU was compiled and interesting data on Cal Poly Humboldt were received. General Faculty President Fulgham will extract and produce some of this information for the senators before the end of this academic year.

CFA - Notification of CFA's election will be forwarded within a week or so. The president, vice president and delegate-at-large for the local council will be nominated so anyone interested in running for any of these positions should contact Senator Derden. During negotiations it appears as though the Chancellor is doing everything possible to send to the faculty a message of nonsupport. When one considers the choice of having to negotiate on whether to lay off someone or sacrifice health benefits, the picture is clear that the Chancellor is not willing to support faculty.

Additional Announcement - Dean Carlton announced that a delegation from Oaxaca is on campus. They are looking for teaching partnerships and are eager to connect with people from the university. They will be here through Thursday.

4. Discussion Item: Budget Update

Chair MacConnie announced that at the expanded executive committee meeting held Sunday the vice presidents were asked to give a budget update for their area at today's meeting so that senators would know the most current information and would be able to provide comment for consideration at the expanded URPBC meeting this Thursday.

OAA - Interim Vice President Vrem distributed a handout containing updated budget information. [See attachment to these minutes.]

Currently Humboldt is looking at a total reduction of $8 million. Shown on page 1 of the handout are the amounts and approximate reduction percentages each unit will be taking.

Page 2 shows the general fund shortfall to be approximately $5 million. The mandatory expenses for 2003-04 are detailed to show the different amounts for each category. These mandatory expenses include compensation, health premium and risk pool premium increases. There is an additional $800,000 cost connected to CMS, assuming that the implementation of the student module will be delayed one year.

According to Interim Vice President Vrem, at Sunday's meeting a frank discussion occurred on the initial allocation of the budget reductions. The budget cuts under consideration are based on the governor's proposed budget so substantial changes may, and probably will, occur over the next few months. As stated earlier, the original budget reductions were estimated at $8 million. During earlier conversations Interim Vice President Vrem raised concerns regarding the ability of Humboldt to meet its enrollment target of 7525 for next year with the amount of dollars available for faculty salaries. As a result it was decided that $800,000 would be added to the OAA budget for the purpose of adding class sections for the fall term only. This decision will be considered by URPBC and then a recommendation will be forwarded to President Richmond. Decisions regarding spring term will need to be made at a future date. The $800,000 will come from several places: (1) the income for 2003/04 was slightly underestimated if the student enrollment does increase by about 200 FTES, which is the hope, so the additional state university fee money on the base level of approximately $1450 for 200 FTES translates into approximately $300,000; (2) there is a 10 percent fee increase for the summer, which may add an additional $50,000 to the operating budget; and (3) there appeared to be some roll forward money available at the university level which would cover the remaining portion to bring the amount to $800,000. In sum, the money has not been identified precisely; however, the commitment has been made and given that Friday is the deadline for the class schedule a decision must be made immediately.

It was noted that it is a coincidence that the $800,000 added to the OAA budget is the same amount as that needed for CMS.

Enrollment figures for next year are anticipated to be at least at the same level as last year regarding first year students and an increase in transfer students. The 200 continuing students will help reach the target figure.

Page 5 shows a breakdown of the items included in the All University category from page 1 which carries a total budget of $4.4 million. The reduction of $441,886 will be taken from this amount; the breakdown has not been identified yet. Similarly, the breakdown from the Other category on page 1, containing Work Study and Staff Benefit Contingency, is shown on page 5; the reduction of $116,979 has not been identified yet.

At Sunday's meeting the discussion regarding OAA centered on the fact that Humboldt will not be able to meet its enrollment target. However, there are other consequences of the budget reductions such as time to degree for students since fewer courses will be offered; reduction in operating expenses for academic affairs; travel cuts; many outreach programs will be affected, library hours may be affected, etc.

Student Affairs - Vice President Butler reported that Humboldt is not like other institutions: this is a rural campus with traditional age full time students and 80 percent of the first year students live on campus. Part of the problem is that there may not be alternate services available to students when such services are cut. Satisfaction surveys indicate that students who get involved with Humboldt activities are successful; those who do not practice such involvement do not stay here. This is a campus community and we are the only support for many students. Reductions of the various support services will have a negative impact on such things as student success, FTE and student employment. Most likely there will be reductions in the Multicultural Center, child care, testing services, disability services, learning center, EOP, and outreach programs. In Athletics, services will be reduced and programs possibly eliminated. There may be a reduction in career services and counseling and psychological services, which will reduce in-class support to faculty, risk assessment, and emergency response. There will be a reduced amount of service time at the Health Center; some services will be eliminated, and there will be additional costs for students for other services. There will be reductions in cultural programming, and HOP will cost more for orientation. The university police will no longer cover special events, and if such coverage is needed, then one will have to pay for such services. There will be charges for false alarms and parking services, if such service is provided. All student interns would have to be eliminated, including the possible elimination of a police officer and any associated coverage. Approximately 20 percent of the budget is in University Police, which provides 7-day, 24-hour service. Together with Athletics, this totals approximately one-half of Student Affairs' budget.

Administrative Services - Donna Sorensen, Director of Fiscal Affairs, reported for Vice President Coffey, who is away from campus.

Based on the proposed $8 million reduction to campus, the administrative affairs' portion of such reduction is $1,547,321, or 12.53 percent. Preliminary reductions have been identified for the following areas: (1) community relations, which includes KHumboldt, the Natural History Museum and the First Street Gallery, $94,450; (2) contracts, procurement and risk management, $59,745; (3) fiscal affairs, $230,551; (4) graphic services, $27,503; (5) human resources, $58,469; (6) physical services, $1,012,110; and (7) university advancement, $64,493. The impact of such reductions on administrative affairs and the university has not been determined at this time.

Additional Comments - Chair MacConnie acknowledged the difficulty of this budget issue and reminded everyone of the importance of working together. Carol Terry, Budget Director, reminded all that the way to get through this is to think creatively and make sure that every decision made is the right one for this campus.

Discussion included:

Concern was expressed that Humboldt would take an $8 million reduction and increase FTES so as to reach the desired target. Even if this were possible, it is not the right message to send since we would be saying we can take this cut and do more with less. A careful scrutiny of class sizes, student services and university services should be conducted and the minimum level at which this campus can function needs to be determined. At that point Humboldt would need to state it cannot do more than this. [The problem with taking such a stance means running the risk of having CSU respond by saying if Humboldt refuses to take the additional students, then it will remove such funding from Humboldt's base, leaving the campus even worse off.] [Humboldt may have to take that risk; it would not be good for the campus to be in the situation of admitting additional students and then not have adequate personnel to support the campus. The entire situation must be considered and a reasonable response developed.]

What plans are under discussion to assuage the devastation such budget reductions will have on people's lives? Proactive humanitarianism is called for during this time; it is not just a money issue. Concern was expressed regarding the campus climate.

The unsettling part of this budget crisis is that no one knows with any certainty what the magnitude of the impact will be nor will anything be known until after the governor's May revise.

Students are aware that the more reductions may affect the offering of student services, the more the student budget, supported by student fees, will be asked to pick up such costs. Cities and counties are grappling with budget reductions that will affect services on campus, such as the children's center and the health center, and the extent to which such services may be affected is not known. A pressing question remains: where does one find these numbers when the governor and the legislative analysts cannot agree on the actual amount of the deficit.

It is not known whether the Work Study line item found in the Other category includes both state and federal work study. [Reductions of the state university grant are being considered, but federal work study would still be available. What this probably means is that student jobs on campus, other than work study, probably would be eliminated so only those students eligible for work study will be able to find a job.] [If department budgets are reduced, then most likely such departments will have difficulty in finding matching funds for federal work study.]

Perhaps it would be possible to cancel summer session and use that money and/or use the CMS money to help offset the budget reduction. [Cancelling summer term has been discussed; it would mean that funding for approximately 375 FTES would be lost and would result in a budget reduction.] [The CMS audit report has been released.] [Discussions regarding postponing CMS have occurred; there are a number of possibilities, but nothing has been decided yet.] [Students concur that postponement of CMS is something that ought to be considered.]

For several years Humboldt has been budgeted at a level higher than the actual student enrollment, and it is important to remember this as creative solutions and ways to serve students with less are explored. Losing the general fund part of the state funding we receive for students would be even more devastating.

At Thursday's expanded URPBC meeting, the vice presidents will be giving similar presentations; it will be an informational and advisory meeting to assist President Richmond with his presentation to the Chancellor on the impact of such budget cuts to Humboldt, including potential impacts on personnel and any impact on contractual language in the various nine bargaining units. Also there will be closure on the additional $800,000 to OAA.

If the additional $800,000 to OAA is approved, allocations will be made to the colleges. The proposal to the colleges is that money be returned to the colleges' part-time pool based on the percentage of the cuts proposed by the colleges. The deans will be asked to use that money solely for adding additional sections to the fall schedule.

Approximate FTES figures (1400 to 1600) have been estimated and given to President Richmond. However, such numbers cannot be translated into lost FTES to the campus because students may take other classes and some class sizes have been increased. Interim Vice President Vrem estimated that Humboldt would lose approximately 500 to 800 annualized FTES under the original proposal cuts. If $1.7 million could be restored, then Humboldt may be close to meeting its enrollment target.

When President Richmond meets with the Chancellor, he will explain the devastation that will be experienced by Humboldt should the proposed budget cuts be made. In turn, the Chancellor will use such information when he meets with the legislature and the governor to explain the effects on the campuses. [Other campuses have the enrollment growth money so their budget will increase next year, but they are expected to take many more students. This type of scenario lends itself to being easier to adjust one's budget than in Humboldt's case where there is no enrollment money and the campus is taking a 10 percent cut.] [President Richmond is at a meeting today and he took with him that very message - that Humboldt is in a unique situation and is looking for some relief.]

Interim Vice President Vrem assured senators that he has made it clear to the deans, and will give them the message again, that the additional money is to be used to re-establish class sections.

5. Resolution on the Informational Designation in the Schedule of Classes for Courses Containing a Community Service Learning Component (#12-02/03-EP)

Senator Varkey provided background on the resolution stating that the memorandum attached to the resolution describes the attempt by the Chancellor's Office to create a data base which would include the community service learning courses. The objective is to have a computer program that will identify the number of courses containing a service learning component so that such data may be collected in a timely fashion. Another objective is to provide students during registration with the information that specific courses carry the service learning component. This resolution is not an attempt to define service learning courses; this resolution only identifies courses with a service learning component.

It was moved and seconded (Goodman/Fulgham) to place the motion on the floor.

WHEREAS, The Chancellor's Office, in a memo dated December 16, 2002, (attached) has requested that all CSU campuses generate a "service-learning indicator" to facilitate creation and maintenance of a system-wide Academic Planning Data Base (APDB) of the CSU; therefore, be it

RESOLVED: That the Academic Senate of Cal Poly Humboldt recommend that courses containing a community service learning component be designated with a "CSL" in the schedule of classes with the following explanation:

This course contains a community service learning component. For further information, students may contact the academic department or course instructor.

and be it further

RESOLVED: That the Academic Senate of Cal Poly Humboldt recommend that the community service learning (CSL) designation take effect in the Spring 2004 Schedule of Classes.

Discussion comments included:

At this time the department or individual faculty member will designate which courses are to be identified as containing a service learning component and perhaps this should be stated in the resolution.

It was accepted as a friendly amendment to revise the first resolved clause so that it reads, " . . . Academic Senate of Cal Poly Humboldt recommend that the faculty member identify which courses contain a community service learning component and should be designated with a "CSL" in the schedule. . . ."

The problem is that there are a number of courses with service learning components but probably do not have community service learning components.

It was suggested that the resolution be revised so that community service learning would read, community/service learning.

Chair MacConnie read from CSU publications:

In April 1999, Governor Gray Davis called for a community service requirement for all students enrolled in California's public institutions of higher education. After months of intensive dialogue about ways to strengthen and build upon the service initiatives that have developed over decades, the California State University responded to Governor Davis's call. The CSU Board of Trustees passed a resolution in March 2000, calling on the chancellor and each CSU president to "ensure that all students have opportunities to participate in community service, service learning (deemed academically appropriate by faculty), or both." [California's Call to Service: A Report from 2001/2002]

In 1997, representatives from across CSU campuses came together to develop the CSU Strategic Plan for Community Service Learning. This Plan's primary goal is to offer service-learning and community service opportunities for each CSU student prior to graduation. [Annual Report of Community Service Learning in the CSU]

It was accepted as a friendly amendment to revise the resolution so that community service learning would read community service/service learning and the designation would read CS/SL.

Perhaps community component could be used. The wording community service/service learning would not be clear to students and they would not know which of these two components is contained in a specific class. The important point is that some indication be made to alert students to the fact that there is some type of community based component in certain courses which will require additional time on their part. As it is written, there is no oversight regarding such classes; it is the faculty member's decision to designate a course as having a community service/service learning component.

It was suggested that the designation CSL be used, rather than CS/SL, provided that the explanation contain the community service/service learning wording.

It was moved and seconded (Varkey/Meiggs) to vote immediately.

Voting occurred and MOTION PASSED.

Voting on the amended resolution occurred and MOTION PASSED WITH TWO ABSTENTIONS.

The revised resolution reads:

RESOLVED: That the Academic Senate of Cal Poly Humboldt recommend that the faculty member identify which courses contain a community service learning component and should be designated with a "CSL" in the schedule of classes with the following explanation:

This course contains a community service/service learning component. For further information, students may contact the academic department or course instructor.

and be it further

RESOLVED: That the Academic Senate of Cal Poly Humboldt recommend that the community service learning (CSL) designation take effect in the Spring 2004 Schedule of Classes.

It was moved and seconded (Goodman/Fulgham) to suspend the rules and discuss new business after 5:30 p.m. Voting occurred and MOTION PASSED.

6. Resolution Supporting Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities Bond Act of 2004 (#14-02/03-EX)

It was moved and seconded (Thobaben/Paynton) to place the resolution on the floor.

WHEREAS, The Kindergarten-University Public Facilities Bond Act of 2004 (2004 Statewide School Bond) provides $12.3 billion in bonds to relieve overcrowding, reduce class size and repair and upgrade California's elementary, middle and high schools, community colleges and universities; and

WHEREAS, The 2004 Statewide School Bond measure is the second half of a two-part statewide education bond package to repair, upgrade and build new school facilities, and the first half of the package (Proposition 47) was approved by California's voters in 2002, and passage of the second half of the package is equally important to continue the work that has been started; and

WHEREAS, Within 6 weeks of voter approval of Proposition 47, more than 300 school districts had their school construction and repair projects funded, and the remainder of the 2002 bond funds will be exhausted soon as new classrooms are built and old schools are repaired; and

WHEREAS, California has the second most overcrowded classrooms in the country: 22 percent of all K-12 public school students are on year-round class schedules because there isn't enough space in overcrowded school districts, and one-third of all K-12 classrooms in the state are portable trailers; and

WHEREAS, The 2004 Statewide School Bond provides matching funds to school districts that have passed local school construction bond measures or will pass such measures soon; and

WHEREAS, More than 710,000 new students are expected to seek enrollment at a California college or university by 2010; and

WHEREAS, The 2004 Statewide School Bond provides a much needed boost to our state's economy and to putting Californians back to work building a better learning environment for all children is a wise investment in these difficult economic times; and

WHEREAS, The 2004 Statewide School Bond funds must be spent on school construction, not on overhead, and projects must comply with strict accountability requirements, including mandatory audits, to safeguard against waste and mismanagement; therefore, be it

RESOLVED: That the Academic Senate of Cal Poly Humboldt supports the Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities Bond Act of 2004.

It was accepted as a friendly amendment to delete the word to in the seventh whereas clause.

Voting occurred on the amended resolution and MOTION PASSED.