OHLONE COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT

Wente Vineyards Meeting Facility

5050 Arroyo Road, Livermore

 

 

 

College Council RETREAT Notes

May 31, 2006 ADOPTED

 

MEMBERS PRESENT: Doug Treadway Dennis Keller

Kathleen Johnson Barbara Tull

Wayne Takakuwa Claire Ellis

Deanna Walston Dave Schurtz

Tom Holcomb Richard Grotegut

Elizabeth Silva Linda Evers

Jim Wright Stewart Dawson (for Jimmy Dempsey)

Cheryl Lambert Joanne Schultz

Sheldon Helms Susan Myers

 

MEMBERS ABSENT: Walt Birkedahl

Heta Desai

Debbie Trigg

Roxanna Guide

Carrie Dameron

Tim Roberts

 

OPEN MEETING:

 

1. Treadway Introduction / Role of College Council in LearningCollege Model
   
   

• Want more grassroots input. As members, be more proactive on issues (setting agendas, identifying issues). More active involvement, explore issues.
• Clarify role of council: advisory or governance? What's the balance?
• Council needs to be prepared for "crisis". Be more proactive.
• Feedback from constituencies more actively sought. How to get more people involved, capitalize on opportunity.
• Leadership of Council has been open to agenda items, but how do leaders of constituencies bring agenda items forward?
• Take responsibility to answer our own questions and not look to President to respond.
• Council commended on important accomplishments (16-week calendar, reorg, support of sale of surplus property).
• Suggestions:
• More communication
• Increase participation (including adjunct faculty)
• Need to make sure Council helps with budget process (Council or budget committee).
• Need to promote what Council is doing.
• Job shadowing with flex credit / new ways to work as opportunity to see how other people work. Reduces isolation and increases awareness. "Systems thinking"... how the parts work together.
• Promote what we do, encourage participation.
• Council opportunity to influence the Board, as well as opportunity to communicate campus-wide.
• Communication: information, process, goals, mission.
• Connector
• Facilitator
• Activate
• Articulate vision to Board & campus community
• Communicator
• ASOC (attend their meetings as well as having student representation on Council)

 

• Council as bridge between traditions and new learning culture. Does Council have roles in both? Evolution, and ways Council can integrate sense of evolution into college culture. Something that did not work did not "fail".
• Money - Funding as incentive, validator. One time funds may be available again, no strings attached.
• Two communities currently exist - creative dissonance for Council. Encourage growth.
• Board moving towards one meeting per month dedicated to business, the alternate meeting more conceptual, discussion. Maybe Council should consider that format.

 

• Structure discussion:
• Representitives of different groups
• Advisory to the President
• Advise the Board with consensus of governing groups
• How do we fashion our own structure right now? Now that we're in implementation cycle, does the role of the Council evolve?
• Are task forces early purposes satisfied and should they morph into something more "operational"? Out of Council's realm and into department/budget realm.
• Feedback loop? Think about is Council ought to reexamine task force structure.
• Operational vs advisory
• We seem to bypass the organizational structure as a way of communicating. Don't deans, departments communicate? Disconnect right now. Not Council's job to communicate to college, but structure should support Council's role. Need to further foster communication. Missing connection.
• Comment: Deans feeling pressed for time. 6 years ago there were 10 deans and now there are six. Have to make time.
• Few meetings in some departments / many meetings in other departments. Inconsistent.
• Unworkable for Council to take on responsibility for communicating to entire college. We need to enter the next year with improved communication structure.

 

• One-time money opportunity: temptation for people to apply and exercise wisdom to give out the money. What if decentralized? Every department gets money and they decide what to do? Goal related... Going forward, some resources available for decentralized decision making. Very carefully move into next cycle in deliberate way. Find way to actively let people make decisions and trust that they will make good ones.
• Infusion of money, allocate in equitable manner, put into fund 12 which will roll over and allow individual groups to make own decisions.
• Maybe guidelines for some funds set as standard for staff development, communication, leadership, systemic.
• Pros & cons re: decentralized budget.
• Money has come from State money being paid back that was "borrowed" and we got more money for growth than we spent. One-time money. Our general assumption is that we have been starved for so many years (supplies, classrooms, services), opportunity to catch up. Need process. Institutional priorities? Individual priorities?

 

2. Budget Process Survey

 

·       Joanne Schultz distributed and discussed recent budget process survey.

• Council's time better spent thinking about our role in conjunction with the budget, as opposed to receiving additional information. What is our participatory role?
• Provide feedback when suggestions are made.
• 85% of the budget spent on "people", which is where we should spend our time. What do our people do?
• Would a study of other community colleges be helpful? Joanne has already been collecting information -- requested and received ~25 responses. Most are even more structured than Ohlone. Joanne will summarize and report to Council.
• Biggest obstacle is sense of deprivation. Underlying current previously. Infuse money to move away from scarcity/constraint mentality. Government model does not encourage innovation.
• "Opportunity zone"

 

3. Fremont Police Department Proposal

 

• Review of options:
• As is option (improve current dept, fully staff, continue training, maintain liaison with Fremont PD)
• No Ohlone PD (security force only)
• ContractCity police
• No on-campus police
• Sub-committee of Board thinks we should "get out of police business". Conceptual idea that we should not have police at all.
• Management Contract / City proposal = study 6-9 months with Fremont PD. Chief position not filled at this point, with this option.
• Other options?
• All options are alive and well on other campuses. Conditions are different, which we should consider.
• Does the Council want to support one of these options?
• What do students want? What is the sense of security in the evening? Emergency preparedness?
• Deanna advocating independent study of our security staff/process. 80% of security staff's time is spent opening & closing classroom/building doors.
• Would it be a conflict of interest for Fremont PD to conduct the study if one of the options/outcomes is to hire Fremont PD as policel.
• What triggered this proposal? When vacancy occurred with current chief, Board asked Administration to explore options.
• Security input: The department feels "nothing is broken" and don't feel study would be fair while understaffed. Don't feel Fremont PD will mesh with Ohlone culture. Very "enforcement-oriented". Ohlone more service oriented, accountable to the college.
• No current campus security for Newark and Fremont hours reduced (no graveyard).
• Comment: Concern re: Fremont Pd, police officers carry weapons. Studies show that the presence of weapons increases violence. Mission area "placid".
• SEIU asking for competent leadership. Current staff familiar with students, staff.
• 50% of security staff is paid from parking funds. A certain amount of staff time is spent dealing with parking. Process can be made more efficient.
• Issue of arming sworn officers, disconnect between knowledge of Ohlone campus and their response time.
• Advocating stronger connection between Fremont PD/Ohlone, essential to college community.

 

• Suggestion that any internal study include Fremont PD for greater cooperation.
  
  
• Motion: Moved/Evers; Second/Tull; Passedto support current campus police and security model and request that the department be fully staffed. Council also does not feel that a study by the Fremont PD is warranted at this time.
• SEIU: invitation for anyone to ride along, job shadow.

 

4. IT Update

 

• Ralph Kindred distributed and discussed his handout detailing the following topics:
• IT Strategic Planning Process
• Apple Computer
• Experimental Classrooms
• Title III Projects
• Wireless Campus
• Datatel

 

5. Council Schedule
   
   

·       Council Fall retreat date: August 24 (9:00 – 4:00 p.m. / Wente Vineyards, Livermore). Note: Fall retreat changed to all day meeting.

·       Council summer schedule: 3:00 – 4:30 p.m. in Video Conference Room (6/14, 7/12, & 8/9), to coincide with Board meeting dates.

 

 

MEETING ENDS: Meeting ended at 1:15 p.m.