February 13, 2023

Attendance

Minutes

I. Call to Order

Approval of Agenda and Minutes from Feb 6, 2023

Erik Woodbury moved, Felisa Vilaubi seconded to approve both minutes and agenda. No objection.  Agenda and minutes approved by unanimous consent.

Public Comment 

• Ravjeet Singh had a question about the Academic Senate dues. Cheryl Jaeger Balm said the Academic Senate dues of $5 a month is an opt-in deduction for faculty from their payroll. Cheryl will research its current status and signups to report back in the next meeting. 
• Shagun Kaur gave a shoutout and thanked So Kam Lee for the Academic Senate notes.
• Alicia Mullens missed the Department Chairs meeting last week. The meeting notes raised some concerns regarding course modality, particularly for small, vulnerable departments, for the next year. She was worried about such departments being pressured to offer classes on campus that don’t fill and being penalized for that. She pointed out that “one size fits all” does not work. Each program/department should find its own balance of on campus classes and online classes for maximum enrollment.  Cheryl Jaeger Balm responded that there were some reports and discussion at the  Department Chairs meeting. However, there were no administrators and no mention of one size fits all at that meeting.  There was no new mandate and no new MOU from administration or FA. Everything is still under FA negotiations. People should work with their deans on class modality.  Thomas Ray confirmed that there have been no new decisions for next year.
• Felisa Vilaubi reported that students are confused after the Banner update and have a hard time finding their dates for registration in the portal. The new system is not student friendly. They like the old one better.  Thomas Ray responded that the new Banner 9 registration system is glitchy and convoluted. They are all struggling to work with it.  There are registration instructions on the website.   To find their day and time to register, student should go to the Student Registration App, then the top of that page has a link to the Registration Dashboard. Click on that and there are four options.  Click on the one that says Register For Classes, then a screen will come up that has a spot to choose a quarter. They then select Spring 2023 and they will get what looks like an error message that says their day and time to register on the top right corner
• Cheryl Jaeger Balm pointed out that Psychological Services was highlighted under Student Services and Resources in the Quick Notes for Week of February 13.

III. Continuing Business

 Academic Senate scholarships

Cheryl Jaeger Balm gave an update on the scholarship subcommittee's meeting and discussions last week. The following is the direction they are proposing for the scholarship. Those who met were Jayanti Roy, Glynn Wallis, Felisa Vilaubi, Salvador Guerrero, and Cheryl. Other volunteers for the committee were not able to make this meeting but will continue with the work.  

The committee wants to focus on need based scholarships and on students least eligible for and least targeted by traditional scholarships. They discussed ways to target and reach those students in both the application process and promotion of the scholarship. They are working on removing a lot of the requirements other than the 18 units for student residency. Requirements such as major, plans for transfer, etc. They are exploring ways to work with or without the financial aid office and will develop rubrics for assessment

Shagun Kaur asked about requirements like letters of recommendation, essay, and community services.  Cheryl responded tht they are thinking about replacing those with other items like short answers and check boxes. Also, options like videos and/or audio life stories and explanations. How to remove barriers but still have a rubric is still under discussion with no definitive answers.

This is not about career goals or transferring, but those with needs for continuing their education.  Erik Woodbury raised concerns about shifting these scholarships to need based. If these scholarships are all need based, then people would focus on their challenges and not their accomplishments. He would like some scholarships that would lift up and celebrate people’s achievements.  Glynn responded that, by nature scholarships are competitive. There are many scholarships that are merit based. The committee certainly does not discount the value of those merit scholarships. The committee’s goal was to add another spoke to the wheel to meet the needs of the nontraditional students and focus on needs often not met for those students most in need.  Felisia seconded that. How well a student is doing at De Anza is relative. They could be improving while juggling obstacles like family responsibilities, or working two jobs while maintaining a 2.0 GPA. There are those who worked to get off academic probation. Those are success stories of students with hardship but doing well. They are very different from traditional students.  Erik agreed that success can look different for a variety of reasons. However, if the Academic Senate is awarding multiple scholarships, he would like to have one that is more traditional.

Rana Marinas shared that while she was a student, she applied for as many as 24 scholarships. They were both need based and merit based. She had to demonstrate her needs as well as accomplishments, like community services and class progress. She believed that both are important. 

Glynn felt that, as an institution, the college is addressing well student merits. If the Academic Senate really wants to do something different, then it needs to look at the student body as a whole, not just those doing well. Academic success looks different to different people. A lot of students get lost if we keep using traditional methods to look at nontraditional students. Think outside the box to consider nontraditional methods.

Shagun realized that this is a work in progress. However, from the perspective of a possible scholarship reader, she will feel uncomfortable about passing value judgment on someone’s life journey without fixed criteria that are equitable but not subjective.  Felisa said the committee is working on the criteria and rubric for the scholarships. They would like to make them accessible and remove barriers to students who don’t normally apply. Removing these barriers will not lower the scholarship standards for those who apply. This is an opportunity to create a sense of community and belonging for these students to see themselves as college students at an institution and a space like De Anza. This is not about lowering standards but meeting students where they are at and making it accessible.  Glynn added that looking through an equity lens, this is not about lowering the bar. There will always be students who do well academically that still apply for scholarships. This is to expand the range for students who don’t normally apply for scholarships for various reasons.

Vernon Gallegos would like to have something visual to pinpoint these ideas. He stressed the importance of upholding standards to prepare students for the real world. De Anza has a great reputation and higher standards than some of the other colleges. He advocated the two-fold approach of keeping high standards as we apply non-traditional methods.  Have clear deadlines, clear criteria, and maintain a high level of expectations for our students. Recognize and commend progress.

IV. New Business

Governance handbook and onboarding/training procedures

De Anza is under shared governance reform with the new Progarm Allocation Committee proposed by the Shared Governance Task Force. The Task Force also recommended an update of the De Anza College Governance Handbook and the college developed onboarding and training procedures for each committee. 

The current De Anza College Governance Handbook was developed by the Governance Task Force under the College Council in November in 2010 and has been maintained by the College Planning Committee.  In the Governance Handbook, the Academic Senate description is on pages 13-14. In going through the pages, there are definitely areas for update.

The Academic Senate should check this description for accuracy against the revised Constitution and Bylaws from 2019.  The key areas are Mission and Charges. Shagun Kaur suggested consulting the new Academic Senate for the California Community Colleges (ASCCC) Mission and Charge.  Other areas for update will be membership, membership terms, and decision making process.

There were discussions on training, Academic Senate onboarding procedures, and succession planning,  like mini videos.  Shagun Kaur suggested housing the training and onboarding materials in the Academic Senate Canvas Shell.

The following is a list of topics people want information and training on:

• Robert’s Rules Basics
• Roles and responsibilities of Senators and Officers
• Communication protocols/behaviors
  • Building and maintaining a positive communication climate
  • The protocols/rules of electronic communication
  • Collegiality and ethics
• Expectations of communication with constituents
  • How to take the posted minutes and sharing them with your constituents
  • Reporting and gathering feedback to bring back to Academic Senate report-outs
• Ground rules
• General procedures
• 10+1
• Academic Senate within the De Anza shared governance structure and FHDA District structure
• Brown Act
• Constitution and bylaws
• Resolutions - how, when, why
• Academic Senate for the California Community Colleges (ASCCC) overview 
• Why you should consider being a senator
• Protection for speaking your mind - rights of Senators and public
• Academic Senate vs FA purview
• Planning to leave and recruiting the next Senator for your area

IV. Other Items

Virtual Posters

Dawn Lee, Mary Donahue, and Shagun Kaur shared their posters

Good of the Order

• Mary Donahue: Village Centers Grand Opening, Feb 14 12:30 to 2:30 pm
• Carmen Lizardi-Folley: The Intercultural and International Studies (IIS) division is planning along with the California History Center an Ethnic Studies summit on Thursday, June 1st.
• Opportunity for Students: Students are the center of OER work, so the Michelson 20 Million Minds Foundation is looking for three California students to participate in a year-long paid fellowship program. We are particularly interested in working with students from the California Community Colleges, but CSU or UC students are also eligible to apply. If you have students on your campus who might be a good fit, please forward them our application, which you can find here!  https://recruiting.paylocity.com/Recruiting/Jobs/Details/1525955 Registration: Tinyurl.com/DAMGStudentForum More information:  Tinyurl.com/DAMGinfo
• De Anza Student Government Presents: Measure G Student Forum.  Febrary 16, 2023, 10:30am - 1pm, Lower Level Campus Center, Student Council Chamber, Online through Zoom

• How to Help Earthquake Victims: The massive earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria last week has killed more than 35,000 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless in the region. The disaster has also caused grief and anxiety for people around the world, including De Anza students who have ties to the region.  You can find a list of reputable groups providing aid for this disaster on the website of Charity Navigator, a nonprofit that reviews disclosure forms and rates charities on their transparency and effectiveness.  Charity Navigator says the groups on its list are highly rated overall and have shown a clear, concentrated effort to respond to this earthquake and its aftermath. The list includes such major international groups as CARE, Doctors Without Borders and the International Rescue Committee, along with groups that have strong ties or experience in the affected region – such as the Embrace Relief Foundation, Islamic Relief USA and the Syrian American Medical Society.

Adjournment

Erik Woodbuery motioned, Jayanti Roy seconded, to adjourn, no objection.