November 3, 2020

 

ACADEMIC SENATE MEETING

MINUTES

Tuesday, November 3, 2020

ZOOM MEETING 

2:00 – 4:30 p.m.

 

Attendance:

Absences: 

Guests: 

 

 

 

OPEN FLOOR PERIOD:  2:00 - 2:05 p.m.

The Open Floor Period provides an informal opportunity for campus community members to raise questions or make comments directed to Senate officers or to university administrators.  Please arrive promptly at 2:00 p.m.

·       Sen. Kuchins announced that this is International Education Week and there are events being hosted by OIP that can be found on the website: Office of International Programs

CALL TO ORDER: 2:05 p.m.

1.    Approval of the Agenda for October 20, 2020

·       Proposed a new business item “Temporary Modification of Academic Senate Policy #F15-160: Policy Resolution on Lecturer (Temporary) to the agenda 

·       Approved as amended @ 2:06pm

2.    Approval of the Minutes for October 6, 2020

·       Approved as submitted @ 2:07pm

3.    Announcements from the Floor

·       None

4.    Reports

4.1. Chair Report

·       Chair Albiniak spoke eloquently about the importance of today’s election and the meaning of it in all of our lives personally and professionally. 

4.2. President Mahoney

·       Thank you to chair Albiniak – very well said!

·       Reminder to everyone that these are very difficult days and if you need help, please use campus resources to assist you or our students.

·       Legislative visits were very successful last week, especially the meeting with our student representatives of AS.

·       Regarding Academic Freedom and the Zoom cancellations. We have a number of campus groups who are in pain and we need to recognize that and have conversations about these issues. We have a lot of lingering issues, but we also have great colleagues with whom to have these difficult conversations.

4.3. Provost Summit

·       Very proud to be a senator and a part of a great Senate Chair.

·       Chair Albiniak and Provost Summit have completed the college council visits. 

·       Please attend at least one of the two budget forums upcoming this week and next. Should be a valuable presentation toward a larger goal of budget transparency.

·       Search for AVP of SAEM will begin this week. Thank you to the senate for their involvement in the committee selection process. 

·       Overview/Update on the conversation in AAC regarding staffing re-organization. Recognize the heavy impact on the campus that these changes are incurring.

4.4. Standing Committees

4.4.1.   Strategic Issues Committee

·       Sen. Goldman – last week met with Marilyn Jackson, Director of OIP regarding international students and encouraging our students to study internationally. The committee will likely bring resolutions to plenary in the near future.

o   Today have one item on the agenda (see below)

o   Also working on resolutions thanking our campus essential workers. And addressing employee morale and budget transparency.

4.4.2.   Academic Policies Committee

·       Sen. Stowers – two items on the agenda today (see below). Will have a number of upcoming policy revisions. Will be bringing the proposed academic calendar to the next plenary session. Working on a course proposal policy and petitions and signature streamlining. 

4.4.3.   Curriculum Review and Approval Committee

·       Sen. Hines – several items returning today in addition to a couple of new items (see below)

4.4.4.   Faculty Affairs Committee

·       Sen. Rubin – two items on the agenda today (see below)

4.4.5.   Student Affairs Committee

·       Sen. Olsher – one item on the agenda today (see below)     

o   Working on a number of other policies and resolutions.

 

Old Business

5.    Recommendation from the Academic Policies Committee (APC): Resolution Calling for Eliminating the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) Requirement—second reading

·       Sen. Stowers moved the item to the floor 

o   Sen. Bui spoke to the item

·       Discussion

o   Sen. Xu – speaking in favor. It is time for us to take this step forward. We need to consider the inherent problems with the GRE and if we are a campus that supports equity, then we must support this. 

o   Sen. Bloom-Leiva – speaking in favor. Is there is a statement about socio-economic status in the document? 

§  Sen. Stowers – that issue can be covered by the statement “underrepresented groups”

·       Vote

o   Item approved @ 2:40pm

6.    Recommendation from the Academic Policies Committee (APC): Revision to S19-264: Online Education Policy—second reading

·       Sen. Stowers moved the items to the floor 

o   Sen. Bui spoke to the item

·       Discussion

o   Sen. Gerber – speaking in favor, but wondering if we know whether or not it is actually possible for details about video to be indicated in the class schedule

§  Sen. Bui – we didn’t specify how, but we did discuss where it would 

§  Sen. Gerber – this is not in the typical format so it is hard to see an effective date and I doubt that we can implement immediately.

§  Sen. Way – previously it stated “in class notes” so we decided not to indicate how it would be done. It may need to be done in notes, but there may be another way to do it.

§  Sen. Wilson – offer the following amendment on line 137-138. 

When faculty require video sharing, students may request a video sharing exemption from the faculty member for concerns such as: privacy, equitability, or accessibility concerns, or during periods of emergency remote instruction.

·       Sen. Stowers – second

§  Discussion

·       Sen. Bloom-Leiva – this is a sticky issue when there are presentations that need to be made.

o   Sen. Wilson – the previous statement references presentation

o   Sen. Bloom-Leiva – this causes an issue for faculty if one student does not use video it creates havoc in the classroom.

o   Sen. Wilson – this is a request and it can be granted or not.

o   Sen. Bui – students can request an exemption, but the instructor can deny the request, particularly for certain types of assessments.

o   Sen. Stowers – Sen. Bloom’s concern is addressed in the amendment. 

o   Sen. Wong – the exception actually requires the instructor to come up with a completely new way of assessing work. Is the amendment requiring instructors to grant the exception?

o   Sen. Wilczak – in the next line it states that exemptions can be denied for certain reasons.

o   Sen. Wong – wondering if this opens up the instructor for complaints. 

o   Sen. Stowers – the only change in the amendment clarifies whom a student appeals to for an exemption.

o   Sen. Gerber – in support. We do have a grievance process through which students can grieve.

o   Sen. Bui – committee discussed a possibility of a student and the instructor working out another video option that might not be live/synchronous.

o   Sen. Wilczak – pointing out that the third bullet point is when the video is required for assessment purposes.

o   Sen. Bloom-Leiva – feel uncomfortable with the policy and the amendment. Puts the student and instructor in a tough situation. We should look at the wording more clearly. If a student has an accommodation or there is a group presentation.

o   Sen. Gerber – point of information – we are talking about the amendment

o   Sen. Stowers – line 139 states accessibility concerns. This amendment clarifies who a student goes to in order to request an exemption.

§  Vote on the amendment

·       Amendment is approved @ 3:06pm

§  Sen. Daus-Magbual - Offering the following amendment in line 194-197:

All classes shall comply with applicable law and policies in effect at the time, including but not limited to: the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as Amended (2008), Section 504 and 508 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act, California Government Code 11135, and CSU Executive Order 1111.

All students shall have access to the course evaluation process.

§  No discussion

§  Vote 

·       Approved @ 3:08pm

§  Sen. Gerber – concerned with the phrasing about the accessibility language. Cede time to speak to Wendy Tobias

·       Guest Tobias – concerned that students might be confused about where to ask for accommodation, but specifically the DPRC are not making decisions about performance or clinical courses without consultation with the instructors.

§  Sen. Way – when are we thinking an effective date? This is not possible for the spring 2021 class schedule. 

·       Chair Albiniak – asking Sen. Stowers – we intend to bring this back again in the Spring and this is just to address the immediate issues pertaining to video use. 

o   Sen. Stowers – yes, exactly.

·       Sen. Woo – speaking in support but also need to be clear that students have different types of accessibility and equity issues that might not be able to be addressed by DPRC areas of expertise.

§  Sen. Wilczak – offering an amendment to line 137: 

When faculty require video sharing, students may request a video sharing exemption from the faculty member for concerns such as: privacy, equitability, or DPRC accommodations, or during periods of emergency remote instruction.

§  Second – unknown

§  Discussion

·       Sen. Stowers – accommodations needs to be more specific. Adding “applicable” prior to accommodations would be better.

·       Sen. Gerber – speaking against the amendment. We need something more specific stating that student need to go to DPRC for accommodations.

·       Sen. Wilson – agree with Sen. Gerber.

§  Vote

·       Amendment does NOT pass

§  Sen. Gerber – propose an amendment line 142 adding the following sentence: 

If reasonable accommodations are needed the student should meet with DPRC.

§  Van Cleave – second

§  Discussion

·       Sen. Stowers – support the amendment

·       Sen. Wilson –cede time to Wendy Tobias

o   Guest Tobias – there are a number of reasons for accommodations, so we normally use the language “reasonable accommodations”

·       Sen. Gerber revised her proposed amendment to:

If reasonable accommodations based on disability are needed the student should meet with DPRC.

 

§  Vote

·       Amendment approved @ 3:27pm

§  Sen. Stowers – the committee did consider the variety of reasons that students may need to turn off video. We tried to leave it open for all of the options.

·       Vote

o   Approved @ 3:30pm

7.    Recommendation from the Curriculum Review and Approval Committee: New Certificate in Modern Language Learning and Teaching—second reading

·       Sen. Hines moved the item to the floor and spoke to the item

·       No discussion

·       Vote 

o   Item approved @ 3:32pm

8.    Recommendation from the Curriculum Review and Approval Committee: New Certificate in Special Study in TESOL—second reading

·       Sen. Hines moved the item to the floor and spoke to the item

·       No discussion

·       Vote

o   Item approved @ 3:34pm

9.    Recommendation from the Curriculum Review and Approval Committee: Proposed changes to concentrations in MS Nursing, MS Nursing (Entry-Level), and MS Nursing (Accelerated Entry Level)—second reading[1]

·       Sen. Hines moved the item to the floor and spoke to the item

·       No discussion

·       Vote

o   Item approved @ 3:37pm

10. Recommendation from the Educational Policies Council (EPC): Proposal for Discontinuance of the Master of Arts in German—second reading

·       Sen. Stowers moved the item to the floor and spoke to the item

·       No discussion

·       Vote

o   Item approved @ 3:39pm

11. Recommendation from the Education Policies Council (EPC): Proposal for the Discontinuance of the Master of Arts in Italian—second reading

·       Sen. Stowers moved the item to the floor and spoke to the item

·       No discussion

·       Vote

o   Item approved @ 3:40pm

12. Recommendation from the Education Policies Council (EPC): Proposal for the Discontinuance of the Master of Arts in Japanese—second reading

·       Sen. Stowers moved the item to the floor and spoke to the item

·       No discussion

·       Vote

o   Item approved @ 3:42pm

13. Recommendation from the Student Affairs Committee (SAC): Revision to S16-121 Board of Appeals and Review Policy—second reading

·       Sen. Olsher moved the item to the floor and spoke to the item

·       Discussion

o   Sen. Gerber – in favor, point of information: when is the effective date?

§  Sen. Olsher – this is simply bringing the policy into alignment with current practice, but effective date would be spring 2021. 

§  Sen. way – We have been consulting and it is possible for next Spring

·       Vote

o   Items approved @ 3:47pm

14. Recommendation from the Strategic Issues Committee (SIC): Resolution in Support of Research, Scholarships, and Creative Activities as a Core Academic Commitment—second reading

·       Sen. Goldman moved the item to the floor and spoke to the item

·       No discussion

o   Chair Albiniak – thank you to the committee for all of the work you did on this recognition resolution.

·       Vote

o   Item approved @ 3:50pm

15. Recommendation from the Faculty Affairs Committee (FAC): New Policy resolution on RTP—first reading

·       Sen. Rubin moved the item to the floor and spoke to the item

·       Discussion

o   Sen. Wilczak – for RTP proposes we are stating the full AY, but the lecturer policy resolution states only through Fall 2020

§  Sen. Rubin – yes, the committee addressed that. Can address it specifically later during the discussion regarding the lecturer policy resolution.

o   Sen. Wilson – propose moving the item to second reading

§  Second - Sen. Gerber

§  Vote – item moved to second reading @ 3:53pm

§  No further discussion in second reading

o   Vote 

§  Item approved @ 3:54pm

·       Vote

o    

New Business 

16. Recommendation from the Curriculum Review and Approval Committee: New BA in Ethnic Studies—first reading 

·       Sen. Hines moved the item to the floor and spoke to the item

o   Sen. Hines ceded time to Associate Dean Catriona Esquibel, who spoke to the specifics of the program.

o   Sen. Hines ceded time to Dean Amy Sueyoshi, who let the senate know that the program has already received WASC approval.

·       Discussion

o   Sen. Wilson – wholly support this program. Especially a fully online degree

o   Sen. Collins – speaking in favor in particular because there may be a population that began their degree here in the 60s and wish to complete it. Also considering those who are incarcerated will now have the opportunity to access this degree.

o   Sen. Black – also support. This really levels the playing field for many students.

o   Sen. Bloom-Leiva – also support the program and the previous speakers’ statements, especially regarding the incarcerated students.

·       Returned to committee @ 3:37pm

17. Recommendation from Curriculum Review and Approval Committee: New Graduate Certificate in Computational Linguistic—first reading; 

·       Sen. Hines moved the item to the floor and spoke to the item

·       Discussion

o   Sen. Olsher – Strongly support. Currently have some student who have taken courses in this area and have expressed interest in developing these skills and another certification.

o   Sen. Collins – this skill is something individuals need to understand each other, especially in terms of cultural variation. This could be attractive to a wider audience on campus.

o   Sen. Wilczak – this is a tremendous intersection for the Anthropology department. This will be attractive for our students and agree with Sen. Collins.

o   Sen. Olsher – the student projects in the program include many ways in which various campus academic units intersect.

·       Returned to committee @ 4:06pm

18. Recommendation from the Curriculum Review and Approval Committee: Elevation of the BA in English: Concentration in Creative Writing to a BA in Creative Writing—first reading

·       Sen. Hines moved the item to the floor and spoke to the item

·       Discussion

o   Sen. Collins – speaking in favor. Has the department identified or considered pathways to the BA, especially in terms of integrations with the other academic units mentioned?

·       Returned to committee @ 4:10pm

19. Recommendation from the Faculty Affairs committee: Temporary Modification of Academic Senate Policy #F15-160: Policy Resolution on Lecturer (Temporary)—first reading

·       Sen. Rubin moved the item to the floor and spoke to the item

·       Discussion

o   Sen. Way – understand the reasons for the difference from the TT policy resolution, but concerned about equity. Hope that the committee can continue to consider

§  Sen. Van Cleave – with lecturers you get into entitlements relatively sooner. It is a compromise, but the committee welcomes other suggestions.

o   Chair Albiniak – right now have a discrepancy between policies is something we probably want to avoid.

o   Sen. Goldman – appreciate the committee dealing with this difficult issues. Could we consider an informal assessment? Maybe sitting in on class sessions?

o   Sen. Collins – speaking in favor. This challenges us to look at how we evaluate our peers. Has the committee examined ASCSU AS 3405? It may be useful to consult.

§  Sen. Rubin – yes, we considered the document. We are trying to find a balance of all of the various issues. Useful to continue considerations but we are running out of time.

o   Sen. Drennen – question about careful consideration and the  “most recent” evaluation. 

o   Sen. Wong – difficult conversation in committee. The other side of the conversation was about students and if they don’t have an opportunity to express their experience a hole exists there. 

o   Sen. Hulik – line 91 – not sure if you are saying that we should no longer consider qualifications. We need to consider a full package of all areas of qualifications.

§  Sen. Rubin – there is no intent to remove qualifications from the consideration process.

o   Sen. Wilczak – could the committee make a distinction between the 3-year lecturer vs. a newer lecturer or someone hired during the crisis.

·       Returned to committee @ 4:22pm

20. Adjourned 4:22pm 

 

[1]  Concentration changes include: 

·       Master of Science in Nursing- Adult/Gero Clinical Nurse Specialist (Accelerated Entry Level)

·       Master of Science in Nursing- Community Public Health Clinical Nurse Specialist (Accelerated Entry Level)

·       Master of Science in Nursing- Neonatal Clinical Nurse Specialist (Accelerated Entry Level)

·       Master of Science in Nursing- Nursing Administration (Accelerated Entry Level)

·       Master of Science in Nursing- Pediatrics Clinical Nurse Specialist (Accelerated Entry Level)

·       Master of Science in Nursing- Psychiatric and Mental Health Clinical Nurse Specialist (Accelerated Entry Level)

·       Master of Science in Nursing- Women's Health Clinical Nurse Specialist (Accelerated Entry Level)

·       Master in Nursing- Adult/Gero Clinical Nurse Specialist (Entry Level)

·       Master in Nursing- Community Public Health Clinical Nurse Specialist (Entry Level)

·       Master in Nursing- Neonatal Clinical Nurse Specialist (Entry Level)

·       Master in Nursing- Nursing Administration (Entry Level)

·       Master in Nursing- Pediatrics Clinical Nurse Specialist (Entry Level)

·       Master in Nursing- Psychiatric and Mental Health Clinical Nurse Specialist (Entry Level)

·       Master in Nursing- Woman's Health Clinical Nurse Specialist (Entry Level)

·       Master of Science in Nursing- Adult/Gero Clinical Nurse Specialist

·       Master of Science in Nursing- Community Public Health Clinical Nurse Specialist

·       Master of Science in Nursing- Neonatal Clinical Nurse Specialist

·       Master of Science in Nursing- Nursing Administration

·       Master of Science in Nursing- Pediatrics Clinical Nurse Specialist

·       Master of Science in Nursing- Psychiatric and Mental Health Clinical Nurse Specialist

·       Master of Science in Nursing- Women's Health Clinical Nurse Specialist