COLLEGE OF MARIN
Academic Senate
Meeting Minutes
Thursday, April 5, 2007
12:45 -2:00 pm
Student Service Building,
Conference Rooms A & B
Senators Present: Yolanda Bellisimo, Barbara Bonander, Theo
Fung,
Ron Gaiz, Deborah
Graham, Erika
Harkins, Patrick
Kelly, Arthur Lutz, David Rollison, Ingrid Schreck,
John Sutherland
Senators Absent: Hank
Fearnley, Radica Portello, Sheri
Rollison, Blaze Woodlief
Approval of Agenda & Minutes
Motion made to approve the agenda
Motion made to approve the minutes
Officers’ Reports
The President reported the following:
- A written
report was submitted.
- The Disciplines List Revision Proposals were
submitted to the Senate. Senators were
asked to give comments or information that will be taken to the Plenary
Session n April 19, 2007.
The Vice President reported the following:
- Will meet with Swinerton regarding hazardous
waste sampling methodology.
The Treasurer reported the following:
- A written report was submitted.
- A discussion about honoring retirees ensued.
The treasurer will get a price for key chains and the cost will be
calculated in a future meeting for consent of the AS.
Standing Reports
Curriculum Committee
- A written report was submitted.
Academic Standards Committee
Budget Committee
- The budget committee will follow up on
the Instructional Equipment funding and distribution of funds that were
approved.
Action Items
Retreat Rights Policy Revisions
- AS approved of the Retreat Rights
policy as presented last week.
District Furnish Locked Mailboxes
Senator Lutz made the following motion with three parts:
- "that the district furnish locked mailboxes
for faculty;"
Improve Mailroom Security
- that "there shall be improved security of
the mailroom, for instance, to include video security."
No Censorship of Mail
- "that there be no censorship, except where
prohibited by law, of
delivery of mail;"
Discussion Items
Bolinas Lab
Guest Speaker: Joe Mueller
Joe Meuller asked the AS for support and help with the Bolinas Marine
Lab
issue. President White has appointed Dr. Soloman, head of the Point
Reyes
Bird Observatory as head of the Bolinas without asking for input
from faculty. White has also approved of taking funds from
the Al Molina endowment for
Bolinas to pay Dr. Soloman for his time. The
money ear-marked for heading the
task force is approximately $20,000-$30,000,
yet there are community leaders who would perform this
task on a volunteer basis. The concern is
that these types of decisions, like how to best spend the money from
the endowment fund and how to raise more money for the Bolinas Project
should be discussed among all of the members of the Task Force;
further, the Task Force leader and the Administration should consider the expertise of
faculty who work in the Bolinas Lab, who have raised money for
the Lab, and who have guided students into careers as a result of
learning
in this lab, into account when making decisions concerning the Bolinas
Lab.
Further concerns with how the money from the endowment is being handled
has arisen. First, this endowment money for the Bolinas Marine Lab was
raised by
faculty and is being spent by
Administration, without faculty input.
Second, the funding has not gone through
the budget
committee. Third, requests for use of this
money (since 1996) for classroom purposes has not been granted,
but the money was taken for the head of the task force, without faculty
consultation. Finally, the money for the endowment seems
to be shifting to different accounts. Margaret Elliot may have
information about how this fund was handled.
Other concerns surrounding the Bolinas Lab Another
include the erroneous statements that have
been given to the press regarding
how many students the lab serves and other misinformation. Meuller has
written a feasibly report
that has been given to the Board and to President White which outlines
the details of the Bolinas Lab accurately.
The feasibility report (written in 2001) includes the following data:
- Several different classes use the Bolinas
Lab for instruction: Ornithology, Mamology, Aquatic Biology,
Zoology, and many others--a far greater number of students than the 20
students that were reported using the Lab as stated in the press.
- We are the only Community College in
California that has a
Marine Lab and if the Administartion handled this differently, CoM
could develop
an Environmental Science program to attract students and community
connections.
- The Bolinas Lab has been used in connection
with community organizations such as Wild Care and other research
institutes that have rented the Lab.
- The summer program pays students for summer
work in Marine Biology, where students
teach the community via the Marine Lab, linking CoM closely to the
community. These student teachers
have gotten jobs in their field as a result of this work.
- The Lab is also used for professional
training such as the training of docents.
- Mueller started working with the Autobahn
Canyon Ranch in 2005 to set up a program to add a day to their 2 day
program with thousands inner-city kids to include the CoM Marine Lab to
study the Egrets and Heron in the area.
This issue of the Bolinas Lab has been on hold for
two years with promises to convene a
task force. Fundraising efforts should have already already started.
A resolution was already adopted at a past faculty at large meeting. The AS discussed the need to update the resolution
regarding the Marine Lab
and circulate it through the faculty once again.
The AS discussed the need for the The Task Force to develop ideas about
programming first, and then
look at realities of facilities and how to fix the most necessary
problems.
The AS requested a brief version of the feasibility report to get it to
the public
in a format that can be used to publicize this problem.
Senator Schreck made the following motion: "The AS recommends that Joe
Mueller serve as head of the Bolinas Task
force and that all funds spent on the make-up of the Task Force be put
on hold until the Task Force with Joe Meuller as head--can convene."
- Motion will be voted on next week.
Requests to Address the Senate on Non-Agenda
Items
Meeting adjourned at 2:00
Minutes submitted by Schreck