Approval of Agenda
The agenda was approved with two additional items: (1) Report from Policies and Procedures Committee, and (2) Discussion of Safety of Work Environment at Rio Grande Campus. Ten minutes were allotted for each additional item.

Approval of Minutes
The minutes were approved as written.

President's Report As President of the Senate, Laura Ore attended the following meetings and made the following reports:

• ACC Board meeting, November 5, 2001-The Senate President addressed the Board pointing out the Senate's position on the lack of self-governance and the limitations of the recently revised Board policy C-2.
• Academic Affairs Council, November 16, 2001-President Ore presented the Senate's position on the issue of the Master Syllabus.
• ACC Board Work Session, November 19, 2001-The Senate President listened to presentations from the library and student services staff.
• Ad Hoc Committee on Faculty Evaluations, November 26, 2001-The committee met with EVP Stephen Kinslow and Boyd Bush to discuss problems with the current evaluation materials and process. The group agreed upon many changes, and the evaluation documents will be revised accordingly.
• Ad Hoc Committee on Hiring Procedures, November 26, 2001-The committee met with EVP Kinslow and AVP Gerry Tucker to discuss concerns about the new hiring guidelines. All agreed that the faculty members have in their best interest to hire the best faculty for the job. The committee also agreed that the chair of each hiring committee must have ample input on the final decision; however, three names will need to be submitted for each position.
• Faculty Senate Officers and Administration, November 26, 2001-Senate Officers discussed at length the lack of self-governance at ACC. Administrators continued to insist that the full-time faculty has a big impact in many ways (e.g., serving on committees, addressing the Board, discussing problems with the administration, and reviewing programs). The Officers pointed out that faculty input was frequently ignored and faculty impact minimal.
• Special Called ACC Board Meeting, November 26, 2001-President-Elect Stacey Thompson attended the meeting, which was called for the purpose of evaluating President Fonte. The Board immediately went into a closed executive session and remained there for over two hours. The Board emerged, and Chair Lillian Davis reported that the results of the evaluation would be disclosed at the December 3, 2001 ACC Board Meeting.

Discussion of SACS Visit

Cary Sowell, Chair of the SACS Steering Committee, presented information regarding the SACS alternate self-study which was requested by Dr. Elva Allie in May, 2000. The focus of the study is to determine what the ACC student population will be ten years from now and then make appropriate plans for the changes in the population. The study will also require that ACC document its compliance with the "must" statements of the SACS "Criteria." The self-study is possible because ACC is in good standing with SACS. The Senate expressed appreciation that by planning for the future, ACC is being proactive rather than reactive. However, the Senate is apprehensive that the study is not looking at the College as a whole but instead is looking at the individual "must" statements. The Senate believes that ACC's current organizational and administrative structure is not working effectively and is still concerned that the SACS self-study will not fully examine this overall structure. The climate of bitterness at the College was discussed, and it was recommended that something be done to boost morale at the College. Since the self-study is not geared toward Senate concerns, the Senate will look into other possible ways to address those concerns. Information about the upcoming SACS visit is posted on the web at http://www2.austincc.edu/sacs/. For more information, please contact Cary Sowell at cary@austincc.edu or 223-7092.

Report from Salary and Benefits Committee

Chair John Cise distributed information and reported that the committee is still trying to acquire numbers of full-time teaching faculty on 9-month, 10.5-month and 12-month contracts, librarians, counselors, temporary counselors, and temporary full-time teaching faculty for fiscal years 1998-2002. They are also asking for the cost of each of these categories for the same years. The committee is concerned that ACC has lower taxes than other comparable colleges and that classes are being offered for half price, meaning even less income for ACC. It was also mentioned that ACC is losing income in the Early College Start Program and that ACC is losing potential international students due to the lack of manpower to process them. Other concerns are that counselors and librarians are included in the numbers of full-time faculty but not in the costs and that 12-month counselors and librarians may be hired (ACC counselors and librarians currently may choose either 9-month or 10.5-month contracts.) The committee wants ACC to find ways to close the salary gap this year and recommends targeting 9-month rather than 10.5-month contracts, but they need to acquire the numbers and costs first. To assist with this process, the following Resolution was passed: the Senate will ask the Administration to furnish as soon as possible the necessary numbers and costs (listed at the beginning of this paragraph.)

Report from Policies and Procedures Committee

On behalf of the committee, Cary Sowell presented the following five items to the Senate:

• Draft Board Policy Revision - Adjunct Faculty Salary

The Senate defers to the Adjunct Faculty Association and has no comment on these recommended changes.

• Draft - Use of Telecommunication Resources
  • Under Telephone Use, add in second paragraph as first sentence, "Employees are responsible for having a voice mail greeting and are responsible for changing their voice mail greeting..."
  • Under Cell Phones, it was agreed that the sentence beginning "Upon receipt of a cell phone or pager, an employee..." was worded badly at the end of the sentence. It was suggested that parentheses be placed around the phrase "termination of employment" to help clarify the sentence.
  • Under Employment Termination, change the opening sentence to include the second bullet. The opening phrase should be, "Employees who separate from the college should clear existing email, messages and pages and will:" Then leave the first and third bullets under the opening phrase.
  • A few additional minor edits were made to the document.
    
• Connecting Devices to the College Network

"Guidelines" is not the appropriate word. The statements below "Guidelines" are mostly rules and a better word is needed. In the third bullet, change the word "may" to "shall."

• Contractors: Consultant Services, Professional Services & Honoraria

Three typographical errors were corrected, and it was pointed out that the last bubble on the flowchart was incomplete. It was agreed that the rule was OK, but it was recommended that the Senate President request that EVP Stephen Kinslow appoint an appropriate group of AVPs and Deans to develop guidelines for appropriate use of honoraria, standardize amount of honoraria and define where in the budget money comes from (pool of money under a Dean, in individual accounts, etc.).

• Purchasing

Changes to this document are underlined and begin on Page 5. No comments or concerns were expressed regarding the document itself, but issues were discussed which belong in the procedures. Deans need to be added to the responsibility list because items over $500 must be approved by the appropriate Dean.

The Senate approved all recommended changes with a few additional minor edits.

Discussion of Safety of Work Environment at Rio Grande Campus

The Senate discussed the possible chemical contamination of the Rio Grande Campus exposed in an article on the front page of the November 25, 2001, edition of the Austin-American Statesman. Faculty members expressed concerns about possible chemical contamination and mold problems at all ACC campuses. It was pointed out that when testing of possible chemical contamination and molds has occurred at ACC campuses, the results have not been shared with ACC employees. The Senate agreed for now to focus on the Rio Grande Campus and passed the following Resolution: Whereas the Full-Time Faculty Senate is concerned about the dangers that may exist to the health of faculty and students at the Rio Grande Campus of Austin Community College due to previous improper storage and leakage of hazardous materials, especially mercury and benzene, be it resolved that the Faculty Senate directs the Senate President to contact the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and make the agency aware of the faculty's concern and request comprehensive testing of the Rio Grande Campus.

Announcements The following announcements were made:

• A committee formed to deal with e-staffing issues has been asked to determine how e-staffing can be used to schedule full-time faculty. The Senate strongly believes that e-staffing should not be used to schedule full-time faculty. The Senate President will discuss this issue with the committee before any additional time and energy is spent on this matter.
• A Senator who is not in the Math Department expressed concerns to AVP Donetta Goodall that the Math Task Force is being allowed to use an evaluation process that is different from that of other departments. The AVP told the Senator that the Math Task Force has been given permission to continue a pilot three-year evaluation process. The Senator pointed out that the process to be used this year by the Math Task Force is not the same as last year. The AVP assured the Senator that the same process would be followed this year as last year. It was also reported that after this occurred, two Math faculty members asked Math Task Force Chair Bob Quigley about the differences between this year's evaluation process and last year's process. The Chair assured them that any differences between last year's process and this year's process were mistakes and would be corrected in the materials posted on the web.
• The next Senate meeting will be January 11th in HBC Room 411.

The meeting was adjourned.

The following Senators were absent: Daisy Diaz-Alemany and Steve Kirschner.