SUMMARY
Present: Lianne Almughirah, Ashley Cowan, Kristopher Gutierrez, Amy Kinsel, Alex Koval, Stian
Myraas, Jerry Owens, Leslie Potter-Henderson, Cheryl Roberts, Stephen Smith, Terry Taylor,
Kira Wennstrom
Not in Attendance: Rosie Bellert, Kim Cambern Heather Ellis, Jim Hills, Victor Mach
Co-Chairs: Ashley Cowan and Amy Kinsel
(March 3, 2015 Meeting: Chaired by Amy Kinsel)
Recorder: Jamie Smith
STANDING ITEMS
1.
REVIEW MEETING SUMMARY – FEBRUARY 3, 2015
A change to the summary of February 3, 2015 was identified and discussed. The change to the
February 3, 2015 summary will be made.
By a thumbs-up consensus, the Council approved the February 3, 2015 meeting
summary as amended.
2.
CHANGES TO THE FEBRUARY 3, 2015 COUNCIL AGENDA
By a thumbs-up consensus, the Council approved the March 3, 2015 meeting
agenda as written.
3.
OPEN COMMENT PERIOD
Stephen introduced Jamie Smith to the College Council Committee. Jamie will provide the staff
support to/for the College Council through June 2015.
Students mentioned they now have access to lynda.com
Ashley announced she will be sitting on the Washington Community and Technical Executive
Board for students.
NEW BUSINESS
4.
GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE
Cheryl presented a discussion on the governance structure at SCC addressing the Council’s role
at the college, her goal for the College as a whole and some areas she proposes the College
Council consider changing.
Cheryl discussed the current decision making process of policy and procedures and how different
groups can bring discussions on policies forward. She introduced the idea of a charter for each
committee on campus—a way to have a set of rules in place before problems arise. Use of
charters would address items such as: purpose, scope, terms of membership and membership
composition and working agreements.
Discussion was raised as to how such a change would involve the current by-laws of the Faculty
Senate.
Council members said it would be a positive movement to have operational and working
agreements in place for committees. Amy mentioned there is a current model regarding the
conduct of the group, but it may not be well known since the committee has been a congenial
group.
Cheryl mentioned her goal is to have a set of clear goals for all governance committees in order
to support intent and efficiency. There is currently no monitoring system/dash board in place to
evaluate and keep accountable effectiveness. How can the College governance structure
continually keep the campus informed?
Some changes Cheryl would like the College Council to consider is a chair and chair elect, so
there is more consistency from year to year. Cheryl also spoke of bringing items to the Council
from the ELT (Executive Leadership Team) in order to obtain feedback from the Council.
Next steps: Cheryl will meet with the College Council co-chairs to set College Council agendas,
including the work for the Council in future meetings.
5.
ACADEMIC CALENDARS
Bob Francis and Amy passed out a draft of the 2016/17 and 2017/18 academic calendar(s).
Bob Francis discussed the parameters for developing the academic calendar (Policy 6000) and
gave some background on the flow of input from different campus groups.
In a survey of the faculty, it was apparent that Faculty would like to add a professional
development day and would like to see more of a break between Winter Quarter and Spring
Quarter. Registration and ESL are also affected by this short turnaround between quarters.
Bob mentioned the Calendar Committee will be reviewing a suggested change to add days
between the two quarters before the drafts are presented at the March 18th Board Meeting within
the scope of Policy 6000. Since College Council is not meeting before a change could be made
Bob wanted to keep College Council in the loop that is may happen and ask how could
communication take place with this short time window.
Chris Melton of Enrollment Service and the Calendar Committee was present to answer
questions. She said the Calendar Committee will be meeting regarding the proposed change and
will get back to College Council if they are going to move forward with a new draft of the 2017/18
academic calendar to the Board of Trustees.
Some comments from the group were to make 2016/17 a pilot year, but there was concern over
whether there would be enough time between determining what worked and making adjustments
for the following year.
Bob and Chris mentioned they wanted the College Council to have a chance to give feedback
and get information to the campus before it was presented to the Board.
6.
SCHEDULING OVERLAP
Amy asked the group if employees have raised concerns about the scheduling and attending of
meetings on campus. She mentioned that meetings are set back to back so it is difficult to start
meetings on time, especially if set-up is required
Some Council members expressed frustration regarding the frequency of meetings as well as the
overlap of meetings. A recommendation: for rooms to be booked with a 5 minute gap and to
include this in each committee’s charter.
Kira recommended that standing committee protocol should include that meetings not run until
the last second.
OLD BUSINESS
7.
POLICY REVIEW SUBCOMMITTEE FOLLOW-UP
Amy said in the review of the 5000 (Students) policies series there are three policies that were
updated and three that were eliminated.
Stephen mentioned he is reviewing an addendum to Policy 5030 (Student Conduct and Discipline)
and is working on a new model that will affect future policies and procedures to align with the
WAC’s (Washington Administrative Codes).
Amy asked the group for approval to send an email to remaining groups who have not provided
feedback on the policies there are to be reviewing.
There was discussion on how in-depth policy review needs to be and whose role is it to make
changes as opposed to bringing it to attention that a policy needs to be changed. It was
mentioned there is a lot of confusion around policy review and making changes. Is it a possible
topic that President Roberts could speak subject at the next College Council meeting?
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 3:30PM.
NEXT MEETING
Tuesday, April 7, 2015; 2:00 – 4:30 PM; Board Room