January 21, 2025

Attendance, Voting Members:

Mahder Aklilu, Sam Bliss, Jayme Brown, Sushini Chand, Adam Contreras, Alicia De Toro, Nazy Galoyan, Lydia Hearn, Michelle Hernandez, Adrienne Hypolite, Simon Kang’a, Andre Meggerson, Eric Mendoza, Rob Mieso, Matsuko Nakamatsu, Mallory Newell, Van Nguyen, Elvin Ramos, Aditya Sharma, Daniel Solomon, Tim Shively, Erik Woodbury

Absent: Zachary Ho, Martin Varela

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Welcome

Erik Woodbury welcomed everyone in the room and online.

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Approval of Minute from 1/14/2025

There was trouble with the MLC projector. People were instructed to view the documents on their own computers or devices.

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Review Prioritization process

Mallory Newell reviewed the process the committee will follow to complete their prioritization work in this and the next meeting. 

Consideration

This round between 10-20% of positions could be allocated to non-instructional or classified/admin positions (~ 1 to 2 in 10).

Process

In the last meeting the committee reviewed change requests submitted via email to the tri-chairs for positions to be re-ranked. The committee finalized 2 groups of only high positions. One for Instruction. The second for non-instructional/classified/administrators.

The committee was working on process #3: creating  first, second, and third priority buckets with about five positions in each bucket for instructional positions. Then, the committee will create one priority bucket with up to 3 positions comprising non-instructional, classified and administrator positions. The goal was to advance the 4 buckets to the College Council.

Goal

The committee will send to the College Council larger priority buckets with positions above the estimated funding. This will allow the College Council and the president some flexibility in their decision. Also, should additional funds become available the College Council and the president could approve unfilled recommended positions without going back to RAPP for further action.

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Ranking Instructional Positions

The committee will conduct a series of straw polls to identify and rank the positions for the instructional buckets. They started in the last meeting with members voting for their top 8 choices. Some members felt rushed with their decisions. Erik Woodbury asked members to submit their votes by email last Friday and did not receive many. 

Lydia Hearn led the committee to repeat the straw poll. There are 15 instructional positions in the high category. In alphabetical order, the committee members voted for their top 8. This time, members had a chance to get feedback from their constituency groups.

Members in the room voted by raised hands. Online members voted by a green check mark. The goal was to identify, discuss, and come to an agreement on putting these 15 points into 3 buckets of 5 positions per bucket.

Straw Poll Result:

• Biology - 13
• Business - 14
• Chemistry (1) - 19
• Chemistry (2) - 1
• Comparative Ethnic Studies - 13
• Computer Science and Information Systems (CIS) (1) - 8
• CIS (2) - 0
• Design & Manufacturing Technology (DMT) - 8
• Geography - 10
• Humanities - 13
• Math - 13
• Music - 11
• Political Science - 13
• Track and Field Coach - 14
• Visual Arts & Design - 7

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Identification and Discussion to reach consensus for the first bucket.

Chemistry with 19 votes was a clear choice. There was no dissension.

There were 2 positions with 14 votes and 5 with 13 votes.

There was a proposal for consensus to move the 2 14s, Business, Track and Field into the first bucket with Chemistry 

Discussions and questions followed with each constituency group (Administrators, Classified Professionals, Equity and Affinity Groups, Faculty, and Students) taking turns to speak on the positions.

There was a question and concern regarding the Track and Field position. Will it remain as a coaching position, or can people request reassignment to something different than what they are hired for?

When reassignment is requested, there has to be an actual class load for somebody to teach. 

What is the possibility of negotiating in their contract a certain amount of time they have to coach before asking for a reassignment.

There was a counter proposal to moving the14s automatically into the first bucket. The proposal was to reconsider the 14s and 13s together with a new straw poll.

Someone spoke up for Music which is not in the top 8. Currently, there are no full time instructors in Music. This position has significantly less support than the straw poll result from last week. The question was: Do we just not want to have a music program? Because that's the message we continue to send when we continue to leave this position vacant that we do not value our music program.

A few representatives explained their change of votes after consultation with their constituencies regarding the positions.

Lydia Hearn clarified that this round was to determine the first bucket of 5 positions. Then, there will be another straw poll with the remaining positions for the next bucket of 5.

A student representative spoke up in support of Humanities, especially its association with the Mellon Scholars program. There was more support from faculty and classified for Music and Geography. In Visual Arts and Design they cannot honor 2 degrees due to the lack of full time faculty to teach required classes in sculpture and 3D design. There was also support for the Comparative Education CETH position due to the Cal-GETC requirement and the expansion in that field.

Lydia reminded members that while they are representing and voting on behalf of their constituencies, their mission as a committee was to make recommendations for the best of the college through the lens of their constituents. Committee members have a lot more information than their constituents. They have a reciprocated relationship with their constituents to give them information as well as bring information back. They represent their constituents but may override their wishes and desires. Their job was to consider the bigger picture, with a campus wide view to make informed recommendations. 

Someone mentioned having a hard time listening with so much back and forth in a discussion and different voices talking on top of each other. They believed that some people may be discouraged from being vocal if they were being shut down.

It could be the delay on Zoom. The tri-chair will pay more attention to avoid that situation.

Lydia Hearn highlighted the specific circumstances for some of the positions.

Business is at risk because there are 3 forthcoming retirements for a small department. Comparative Ethnic Studies has great demand due to the new ethnic studies requirement. Humanities, down by 3 positions, is a large department that offers many sections. Math is down 3 positions, that translates to 27 sections for the year. Music has no full time faculty and  has specific needs like putting on vocal concerts, putting on instrumental concerts and so forth that is a lot of work for part-timers. Departments with a lot of labs have safety concerns that are difficult for anyone who is not full time to manage. There are over 100 athletes in track and field that will contribute to the enrollment growth by 1,300 FTES to get the district out of the hold harmless zone.

Elvin Ramos proposed adding Business and Track and Field to the first bucket.

Motion for a Formal Vote

Tim Shively objected and called for a formal vote, after listening to the different perspectives on the different courses. 

Tim Shively motioned to consider all 15 positions and vote for the 10 that the committee will move forward. Daniel Solomon seconded.

The motion was to move ahead with a voting method instead of the consensus method.

Sam Bliss did not think it made sense to go to a vote of the whole list. Since they were going for buckets of 5, they should vote for 8 to determine the 5 for the first bucket. Then, move into a conversation and vote on the second bucket.

Someone pointed out that the motion was an abrupt switch from the process developed by tri-chairs.

The committee voted on the motion for a formal vote for the top 10 on all 15 positions. The motion failed.

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Discussion on the First Bucket, Continued

The committee continued with the consensus process.

For the first bucket, Chemistry has reached consensus. 

Erik Woodbury identified Business, Track and Field, and Comparative Ethnic Studies as the next three that had been highlighted by members with strong support. After that, Humanities and Math were tied with fewer comments.

There were additional comments in support of both Humanities and Math.

There was concern over excluding political science and biology that also received 13 votes but did not have as much discussion.

Simon Kang'a thought the process of having someone speak for a particular position is flawed because it favors positions with more vocal backing. He believed the voting process was better. For example, why didn't they include for consideration biology that also has 13 votes. It also has compelling challenges if people look at the 300 word summary. So why isn't it part of that group that's been considered. Members may not want to engage in the back and forth conversations which can be uncomfortable as someone else already mentioned.

Erik Woodbury: As representatives on a shared governance committee, it is that person's role to speak up. The chairs have been very deliberate about making sure everyone can speak and every voice be heard. Representatives may propose to put biology and political science into consideration for the first bucket.

Aditya Sharma, student representative, agreed with Simon that it can be quite intimidating when the committee is having a big discussion. He suggested taking a vote to consider the remaining four positions for the first bucket.

The chairs acknowledged the pressure and difficulty to engage, participate, and speak up in discussions. Please reach out with feedback on how they may improve and encourage more meaningful interaction.

The meeting ended with 4 positions in the first instructional bucket, with one more to be determined.

The chairs will message the voting members to complete straw polls for the remaining instructional positions and a separate one for the non-instructional positions. Members should submit their votes by Friday. The chair will tally and distribute the results. This will prepare committee members for discussion, reach consensus, and finalize in the next meeting their recommendation to the College Council. 

The goal will be to advance the 4 buckets to the College Council meeting scheduled for January 30, 2025.