First Draft of the Minutes of the Faculty Senate Meeting March 20, 2013
Paul Lococo, Chair
Susan Lum, Vice-Chair
Eileen Cain, Secretary
Senators Present: Yumiko Asai-Lim, Paula Asamoto, Michael Bauer, Eunice Brekke, Eileen Cain, Christian Ganne, Candy Hochstein, Keith Knuuti, Eiko Kosasa, Paul Lococo, Erin Loo, Susan Lum, David Millen, Blanca Polo, Tara Rojas, Christy Takamure, Greg Walker, James West, Irwin Yamamoto.
Senators Absent: Helmut Kae, Michael Scully
Guests: Tracy Imper, Student Government President
Additional Documents and Links:
1. Agenda (Lococo)
2. Chair’s Report (Lococo)
3. Curriculum Committee Report (Lane)
4. UHCC Faculty Senate Subgroup on Academic Policies, Record of Proceedings, 2/28/13 (Ono)
5. Student Committee Report (Asamoto): Addressing the Plagiarism Plague
6. Legislative Committee Report (Kosasa): H.B. No. 200, H.D. 1: Relating to the State Budget
The meeting was called to order at 3:15 pm.
II. Approval of Minutes of the Meeting of February 20, 2013
Minutes of the meeting were approved unanimously as amended.
III. Faculty Senate Reports
A. Standing Committee Reports
1. Curriculum Committee (Lane)
Senator Lane thanked Senator Albritton for his work at the last Senate meeting.
B. Chair’s Report (Lococo)
1. From the All Campus Council of Faculty Senate Chairs (ACCFSC) Meeting of 2/22/13:
A. New Programs for UH System Faculty – Chair Lococo asked if there were any recommendations from our campus about UH system-funded programs for faculty. He mentioned three that seem to be common so far with faculty on other UH campuses: professional travel, child care, and library resources access.
Senator Ono made two suggestions: reviving the President's Emerging Leaders Program and travel support for faculty leading professional organizations. She mentioned that many colleges give faculty stipends for professional development. Our faculty cannot afford to take leadership roles because of the expenses involved in national leadership in professional organizations.
B. Faculty Dependent Scholarships – President Greenwood is in support of this, and something "will happen" with details being worked out by Linda Johnsrud's Office. There should be more information at the March 22 meeting of the ACCFSC.
C. Chair Lococo also informed the Senate that the UH system is looking at replacing Curriculum Central with Kuali. A consultant has been hired to advise. There will also be a full-time employee to run whatever system is decided on, even if we keep Curriculum Central. The position has already been advertised.
Senator Albritton further briefed the Senate on the issue. He said that one drawback of the current system is that if the person working on it (Thanh Giang) is unable to perform these duties, we have no access to Curriculum Central. Kuali will link everything so if we change a prerequisite for a class, the change will take place in all courses that are affected. This system was developed by educators for education. One drawback is that we have to be retrained. It looks like a better system than what we have.
Senator Polo asked if we are going to have more options. She said that staying with Curriculum Central is not a an option in the long term.
Senator Bauer noted that it is a great improvement over the current system that the new system will automatically notify you of how everything else will be affected.
Senator Albritton pointed out that the new system coordinates with Banner. It is recommended that the change-over take place over an 18-months period.
Senator Brekke asked which system has fewer fields.
Senator Polo noted that we can specify the number of fields and what kinds of reports we want. We won’t have to ask the Office of Planning, Policy and Assessment (OPPA) for some of the reports we need.
D. UH-Mānoa is looking at a "quantitative reasoning" requirement for Foundations. PHIL 110 does not qualify – should it have a MATH 25 prerequisite? Chair Lococo asked the Senate, and especially those teaching PHIL 110, if that would qualify.
Senator West mentioned that UH-Mānoa has been attacking PHIL 110 for 40 years. The Math Department there thinks that everyone needs Calculus. PHIL 110 serves about 30-40% of our graduates instead of MATH 100. A change such as UH-Mānoa suggests would impact many of our students. If MATH 25 were added as a prerequisite, that could go before the Foundations Committee.
There is no standard regarding MATH requirements under WASC.
Senator West said that PHIL 110 teaches algebraic logic without applying it to numbers.
2. From the Community College Council of Faculty Senate Chairs (CCCFSC) meeting of 2/22/13:
A. Chair Lococo informed the Senate that the UHCC system will attempt common course numbering (alpha-number-title-description). They would also like to have common elements but, at least for now, the proposal that 80% of the content of courses be the same across the system seems to have been rejected.
Common course numbering and content across the UH system has been difficult because UH-Mānoa has rejected SLO’s.
B. UHCC VP John Morton has expressed concern over several CC 200-level TIM courses which are EXACTLY the same as 300-level courses at UH-Mānoa, but UH-Mānoa has not accepted them as equivalent. Why aren't they accepted or changed to 200-level?
C. Concerning accreditation, Leeward CC fared well. Chair Lococo confirmed that Leeward CC received one simple recommendation. We just took care of the recommendation regarding AAS degrees. Other CC's had from 4-9 recommendations. Honolulu CC was put on warning. There is confusion because Kapi‘olani CC had essentially the same recommendations but was not put on warning. Most campuses were criticized regarding SLO Assessment. The UHCC system plan is to have all campuses in compliance by October 2013. ACCJC will be expecting to see further improvement since its last visit, even at Leeward CC.
Senator Hochstein asked if there was any mention of UH-West O‘ahu.
Chair Lococo said he has not heard anything.
D. Chair Lococo said that there is concern about identity security for DE courses and Math exams. The Federal Department of Education has been asking questions about this.
Senator Knuuti mentioned that at some campuses with DE courses, at least exam has to be proctored in a lab and students have to bring their ID. In North Carolina, students shared answers after taking the exam the first time.
Senator Yamamoto pointed out that this is not a new issue.
Senator Lococo said that recently the Federal government has expressed concern about this.
C. Standing Committee Reports (cont).
2. Faculty Committee (Ono)
a) Senator Ono distributed the UHCC Faculty Senate Subgroup on Academic Policies, Record of Proceedings, dated 2/28/13. Common Course Numbering, Pre-Requisites, and Student Learning Outcomes Policy – the sub-group discussed issues such as updating alphas, course numbering for remedial and developmental classes, and common SLO's.
Senator Hochstein said that she agrees with common course numbering but sees no reason for common SLO’s and prerequisites.
Senator Ono replied that the sub-group agreed that it would be a too difficult to come up with common SLO’s. She asked if we agree that course content should be the same.
Senator Hochstein pointed out that counselors cannot check on content when they do transcripts.
Senator West said that whether he would agree that course content should be the same depends on what is meant by "content."
Senator Ono asked if we would say that 70% of the content should be the same.
Chair Lococo said that there are too many possible problems with percentages.
Senator Bauer said that here at Leeward CC, Human Anatomy & Physiology is ZOO 240 and ZOO 241, both 4-credit lecture/lab courses. At other institutions in our system, the lecture and lab portions are split into two courses, a 3-credit lecture and 1-credit lab. Our ZOO 240 is equivalent toKapiolani's ZOO 141 (3-credit lecture) and ZOO 141L (1-credit lab). This is true forseveral science classes. If we are pressured to conform with the proposal it takes away the academic freedom of our faculty to offer thecourses in a way that we feel best serves our students.
Senator Ono asked if we agree with the idea of having common course numbering and descriptions.
Chair Lococo said that the Senate has not taken a position on common course descriptions.
He said that UH-Mānoa cannot have common SLO’s because they have formally rejected the concept of SLO’s.
Senator Kosasa asked if UH-West O‘ahu needs to agree on common numbering and alpha.
Senator Ono replied that UH-West O‘ahu is not part of this discussion, only the Community Colleges.
b) An Academic Forgiveness Policy is still being drafted.
c) Academic Status Policy - Senator Ono reported that there was discussion about how long an unsuccessful student should remain in college. There are concerns about students who withdraw and about the fact that a withdrawal is considered as being unsuccessful. A draft document is still under consideration.
d) Writing Intensive Pre-requisite Policy - Senator Ono will send information about writing intensive classes to Senators. Comments are invited.
3. Student Committee (Asamoto)
Senator Asamoto distributed minutes of from panel and meeting on Professional Development Day. The consensus was that a lot of plagiarism happens in upper level classes. There is a proposal attached from Instructor Meredith Lee of Language Arts. Senator Asamoto asked Senators for comments.
It has been suggested that the college have a master list of repeat offenders
Senator Lum mentioned that Dean Manaseri has sent a statement and wants direction from the Senate. What should the consequences be? We didn’t agree on this. Would the Student Conduct Code need to be changed?
Chair Lococo said that the Senate could make a recommendation for procedure and consequences.
Senator Lum mentioned that Dean Manaseri’s letter says that he would like the policy to be consistent.
Chair Lococo asked how the committee plans to proceed.
Senator West mentioned that he was the only one who voted against the Senate resolution on plagiarism. He said that he gives his students assignments that are not canned. They are given some quotations to comment on. In contrast, a lot of teachers just tell students to write a paper. He said that no policy will ever be accepted that tells everyone that they have to report plagiarism.
Senator Lane said that when students realize that there are consequences, that is a good lesson for them.
Senator Hochstein suggested that the committee draw up a draft of a policy. She expressed concern about probation, suspension or dismissal because that means that the student would be shut out of the whole UH system.
Senator Ono also expressed concerned about systemwide suspension.
Senator Cain pointed out that faculty might be less likely to report students for plagiarism if the consequences seen as being too severe. She mentioned that one of her ENG 100 classes is working on this issue as an assignment: drafting ideas for a policy.
Senator Albritton said that students are in favor of a policy.
Chair Lococo invited Student Government President Tracy Imper to address student concerns. She said that students should be expelled if they keep cheating.
Senator Rojas said that we could offer workshops on a continuous basis on avoiding plagiarism .
Senator Millen asked if this is part of New Student Orientation (NSO).
Senaotr Hochstein replied that it isn't, but NSO has too much content already. Everyone could put it on their syllabus, and we could have more Success Connection workshops on these issues.
Senator Lum reminded Senators that Dean Manaseri wants some direction from the Senate.
IV. Old Business
A. Fast-Track for Teaching Classification and Curriculum Central (Lococo and Lane)
Chair Lococo informed the senate that Director of the Office of Planning, Policy and Assessment (OPPA) decided that they do not need to do this, so there will be no further discussion or voting on this issue.
B. Student/Military Veteran’s Resolution (Ono)
On March 8 there were about 50 veterans at the Leeward CC event. They were invited to come out to support a Veteran’s Resource Center and make a wish list. This shows the need for such a center. 10% of our students are Veterans. Perhaps Building E at the former UH-West O'ahu site could be used for this. Our campus will have a Veteran’s Resource Center with a counselor. Chair Lococo acknowledged Senator Ono for her work in this endeavor.
C. Teaching Equivalencies (Lococo)
Senator West: Bob Hochstein wrote a really good position paper on this. It would help to get an administrative viewpoint on this matter.
Senator Ono said that we should ask for a list for any exceptions to the list of teaching equivalencies.
Senator West indicated that this is a different issue.
Senator Cain mentioned that this policy has not been approved yet, so it is premature to ask if any exceptions have been made.
Senator West pointed out that the Teaching Equivalency Policy does not apply to summer school or to lecturers or overloads. It applies only to workload that we are expected to do during the academic year.
Senator Yamamoto questioned the process of how this all came about. The definition of credit hour came to the Senate. This Teaching Equivalency Policy never came to the Senate. Affected faculty are said to be no longer concerned. No one has even talked to them about this.
Chair Lococo indicated that VPCC Morton has stated that most faculty are satisfied with the revised wording.
Senator West pointed out that most are not affected by the policy.
Senator Yamamoto explained that, for Senator Millen, using the new formula, 3.125 credits with 25 contact hours. The Administration has not sat down and figured this out. How can they implement such a policy? It is ridiculous.
Senator West said that the purpose of this policy was to address the workload of non-teaching faculty but that has not addressed. He feels antagonism toward UHPA for having people involved who did not know anything about non-teaching faculty. People should have been on this committee who were in these areas.
Senator Hochstein said that we agreed that a credit hour is a credit hour. She questioned Morton in regard to why we have to re-define a credit hour.