Jennifer provided background on the development/approval process. Rachel and Jennifer provided context for the current iteration of the handbook, including how they gained feedback, highlights of new items and updates in the handbook.

Motion to approve the Participatory Governance Handbook: Brent Wilson

Second: Stephanie Branca

Sebastien DeClerck: Voiced concerns about inclusion of part-timers in governance.

Response (Jennifer): The handbook does not set rules for who can participate, that is per committee.

Response (Rachel): Some have representation per division and the division can put forth part-timers.

Sebastien: Does the senate receive these guidelines for each committee membership to approve?

Response (Jennifer): The committee makes decision and it goes through CPC. CPC discusses if there is an appropriate balance in representation and size.

Kenyon Callahan: What does participatory vs. shared mean?

Response (Jennifer): There is an understanding that they are used interchangeably. Participatory is preferred term. In CA CCs certain decisions must get input from other stakeholders on campus (faculty, classified, 10+1). Admin needs to use collegial consultation with VCAS.

Stephanie Branca: The inclusion of each committee and their charge in the handbook is a way to understand participatory governance.

Response (Jennifer): As an example: BRC includes a certain number of faculty seats, but does not identify where they come from, while Curriculum identifies 2 faculty from each division and does not designate FT vs PT.

Stephanie: The handbook is a catchall - you can see the difference in how participation happens. Some committees are Brown Act so there is a difference responsibilities and functions.

Rachel: You can see how committees interact with each other in the handbook.

Kenyon: There is a difference participatory versus shared and wanted to better understand before voting.

Eric Martinsen: There is a missed opportunity in the handbook - in the future maybe include ways make committees a safe space to handle productive disagreements for culture change, and include training for facilitators to handle conflict.

Stephanie: Committees set their own goals. For faculty in these roles, consider adding goal on campus culture.

Jamie Harmon: Faculty with a hybrid teaching model - offering additional modalities for committee meetings would allow those teaching from home to participate.

Response (Jennifer): Any Brown Act committee is required to be in person unless there is a virtual request. MC does a zoom broadcast of their AS meetings - is there interest? The VCAS Exec team can look into this.

Response (Rachel): Some committees offer hybrid or fully online.

Jamie: How do we find out which ones?
Response (Jennifer): An email will be sent out about committees including their times and modalities.

Jaclyn Walker: Grateful for the discussion. Even with experience on Senate, still have questions about the handbook and voting on it feels rushed.

Nays: None

Abstain: Rachel Johnson, Sharon Oxford, Tanya DeClerck, Gema Sanchez, Maria Reyes-Sanchez, SimHayKin Stensgar, Franky Ramirez, Julie Wood, Ricardo Rico, Sebastien DeClerck, Stephen Peluso, Jaclyn Walker, Nick Schooler, Lucy Capuano, Gardy Borromeo, Fernando Salinas

VC Academic Senate - Special Meeting

Meeting Information