For the first time this academic year, the Council on Academic and Professional Matters (CAPM) met after an ongoing dispute between President Mark Rocha and the Academic Senate about whether the meeting was subject to the Brown Act and thus open to the public.
“We only went back because the administration turned it into a Brown Act meeting,” Academic Senate Treasurer Daniel Haley said. “There were some issues put on the table and we are off to a good start.”
Mary Thompson, administrative assistant to the Board, explained that because CAPM was created by board policy it is covered by the Brown Act and is subject to public notice and open for all to attend. In an email to the senate, Rocha also said that he agrees the meeting must be open to the public.
CAPM is a forum for discussion and mutual agreement. It is the primary communication mechanism between the faculty, administration, and the Board of Trustees.
“I’m happy about the turnout,” Haley said. “A lot of faculty showed up to support the senate.”
Haley said he the next CAPM meeting would be on March 31.
Once the meeting started, the senate and Rocha debated the origins of $400,000 in funding now available to faculty under the Student Access to Success Initiative (SASI).
Rocha said during the meeting that the discussion of SASI funds goes back “into ancient history.” In Dec. 2010, on President Rocha’s recommendation to the administration, the Board of Trustees set aside $1 million for SASI grants. The board then authorized an additional $400,000 for SASI grants in a recommendation from President Rocha.
“We’d love to get this money out to work based on your recommendations,” Rocha said.
But Academic Senate President Eduardo Caíro said he is concerned about where the money came from and intimated that there might be “strings attached to the money.”
“Where did it come from?” Caíro asked. “Nobody from the senate asked the board for the money.”
Robert Miller, Senior Vice President and Assistant Superintendent of Business and College Services, has expressed concerns about the budget but tried to explain where the $400,000 came from.
“The original purpose [of SASI] was research and development innovations [such as] first year experience and pathways. Once these dollars are invested and if in fact they are successful, then we try to institutionalize these so we can see where we’re going in the budget.”
The board funded the additional money because they felt there was more leeway in the budget that would allow for extra allocations to help faculty work on worthy projects, Miller said.
“I don’t think anyone from the academic senate asked for the money. I don’t think the administration said here’s the money,” Robert Bell, Senior Vice President and Assistant Superintendent said. “Rocha recommended to the board [that they] allocate more money to the faculty for professional development and the best way to facilitate that is through the Academic Senate.”
“I’m still more than happy to get this money granted out to the faculty by the end of this year, so we can work on it for next year,” Rocha said.
- EDITORIAL: Why should the campus respect the board? - April 29, 2015
- The first years of a legacy - April 29, 2015
- Rocha’s $400,000 severance package nullified by court - April 29, 2015
So,
Every CAPM Meeting hosted by Rocha was held in violation of the Brown Act!