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| Cabinet "determination": Senators will not consider the question of supporting the SC Ac. Senate resolution |
Whereas, Commencement is an important event for all members of the Saddleback College community…, andThe colleague wrote:
Whereas, the College Commencement Committee includes representatives from all of these groups to ensure that their voices are heard in planning this ceremony, and
Whereas, the principle of shared governance is that all constituent groups should have a real role in the decision-making process, and
Whereas, President Burnett’s decision in 2011 to override the Commencement Committee’s unanimous vote to offer a moment of silence instead of an invocation in that year’s ceremony is inconsistent with the principle of shared governance, and
Whereas, such top-down decision making has repeatedly caused problems for our College in the Accreditation process,
Therefore, be it resolved, that
The Saddleback College Academic Senate affirms that the College’s Commencement Committee is the best group to decide whether or not to include an invocation at the annual Commencement ceremony … [and] The Commencement Committee as a whole should be explicitly charged with making this decision and their decision should be final, …And, … This should go into effect beginning with the 2012-2013 academic year, as an invitation for a speaker to deliver an invocation has already been issued for the 2012 Commencement ceremony.
… I’m not 100% sure how the decision to invite a Rabbi for the invocation this year was made….
…Do you think there’s any chance that IVC’s Senate would consider a resolution backing up ours?
…Be aware that we tried to keep the focus on shared governance and not on the prayer issue itself….
Normally, our senate meets every two weeks, and the cabinet meets on the off weeks to put together the agenda for the next meeting. So, on Thursday of the 8th, hours before what I assumed was the cabinet’s biweekly “agenda” meeting, I wrote the Senate cabinet:
I request that we agendize the following item for the upcoming meeting of the IVC Academic Senate Rep Council: whether our senate should support SC Academic Senate's recent resolution re President Burnett's action to ignore or overturn the SC Commencement Committee decision re a prayer at commencement.A few minutes later, IVC Academic Senate President Lisa Davis Allen wrote me: “Roy, I will bring it to the cabinet. The agenda for the next meeting has already been set due to spring break. —L” (Note: Spring break was the week of March 11.)
. . .
Friends at Saddleback College tell me that, last week, the SC Academic Senate passed a resolution in response to President Burnett's action of overriding the decision by the Commencement Committee regarding whether there would be a prayer or invocation at SC Commencement. Here is that resolution….[see above]
. . .
I'm told that President Burnett has already arranged to have a rabbi give the prayer.
—Senator Roy Bauer, Humanities and Languages
I also heard from another cabinet member, who wrote me to say “I support this” for reasons echoing the Saddleback senate's reasoning.
I responded: “LDA has already responded that this [item] can't be agendized for the next meeting because the agenda has already been done—something about the Spring Break.”
The cabinet member then responded, indicating surprise that it had already been decided that my item was not to be included on the agenda. They said they would themselves request the item formally.
I didn’t hear back.
The item didn’t make it to the agenda.
And so, a week after the March 22 senate meeting, I requested yet again that the matter be agendized (for I was never told whether my item had been discussed by the cabinet; I assumed it hadn't been). LDA responded by writing: “Cabinet will consider it today when we create the 4-5-12 agenda.”
But then, again, I was never informed what the cabinet had decided, if anything.
So, on April 12, prior to the senate’s cabinet meeting, I once again wrote the senate cabinet, “asking that this matter [i.e., whether we should support the Saddleback College Ac. Senate resolution] be agendized for the next meeting.”
I soon got a response:
Roy,When this "determination" occurred—I have no idea. No one has informed me.
Your agenda item request concerning Saddleback Commencement plans has been considered by the IVC Academic Senate cabinet. The item will not be placed on the Senate Rep Council agenda because the cabinet has determined that it is not an IVC issue or a district issue, but rather a Saddleback College internal issue addressing their commencement plans.
—Lisa
And since when is an administrator's act of blowing off shared governance at Saddleback College not an IVC issue? If Saddleback’s Burnett can do it, then IVC’s Roquemore can do it too.
Good Lord do we ever need new leadership of the IVC Academic Senate.
15 comments:
Interesting that when Saddleback took a prayer amendment to the State Academic Senate in the mid 90s, IVC supported it at the Plenary Session. Of course, that was when IVC had a Senate President who supported faculty and students--Wendy.
What about the prayer at the IVC commencement last year? The first words the audience heard was not: Welcome to IVC or Congratulations Graduates or not even Please join us in the Pledge of Allegiance but instead it was LET US PRAY.
Can item be requested to be agendized form the floor?
It's too late to agendize that item (or anything else) for this week's Senate meeting. But if you have your rep (or you yourself) request an agenda item for consideration at the cabinet meeting for the 26th, they might put it on the agenda for the next meeting. But as things stand there is no reason to believe they'll make a different decision on the 26th. On the other hand, if enough faculty complain, they're likely to make some accomodation.
blah blah bleh
I do think you mean to write, "Blah, blah, blah"--oh brave and articulate Anonymous. Do me a favor and remove this blog from among your "favorites."
I am impressed that 11:40 managed to type out three syllables in a row, so let's give him some credit for that, at least.
You dtb folks are so full of yourselves
And why shouldn't DTB folks not be. After all they are the few who expose, highlight, question what goes on at our colleges and district and community. They don't always get it right. Some times the information they receive from "sources" are not accurate, true, vetted by the source giver.
I trust Roy.
Lisa Has never hidden the fact that she wants an administrative position. I doubt she wants to represent herslef as a "cause" oriented" person, especially if she can rationalize that the cause is not IVC's.
AH - another end run maneuver which takes advantage of the end of the semester to derail the democratic process. I've seen this one before. It's an ugly little thing. And they do it over and over again, sighing with relief at the power of the calendar. Now we won't have time to do anything before the semester ends and commencement commences - or so they will no doubt say.
Doesn't this go against one of the recommendations of that new Civility Initiative? You know, the one about airing all views, transparency, etc...?
I think it's important to consider such a request with the kind of respect and swift action that we would like and expect in return - that is true collegiality and solidarity.
Of course, the IVC representative Council could vote to NOT support Saddleback - that that should be the decision of the Rep Council and not the Cabinet. For them to deny us that opportunity is disgraceful.
Many have worked hard through the years to strengthen relationships between the colleges - this action - or lack of action - doesn't do that.
Shame.
Why did they change the meeting room?
Typical lack of action and hiding behind the calendar. No one can get anything on the calendar that is even a teensy bit controversial. So glad this cabinet is on the way out! Welcome to the new folks who have declared they will represent the faculty for a change.
The senate cabinet won't agendize anything without administative blessing, but the item can be requested from the floor. Rep's--speak up! It's a shame we can't support our colleagues to the south.
9:12 AM
... 'cause of interviews.
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