Historical documents page

Governance Task Force update

TO:     Lane Faculty and Staff
FROM: Mary Spilde
RE:     College Governance System
DATE: April 14, 2004

This is to update you on the progress of the Governance Task Force since the review cycle ended on March 14. The Task Force reviewed all of the feedback received from the college community and identified 22 major issues that need consideration. The issues that emerged were as follows:

1. Membership of councils as a whole
2. Questions about naming specific members e.g. division chairs, student services directors, LCCEA president, Faculty Council representatives, as opposed to including them in the stakeholder representative or expertise categories.
3. The need for the Learning Council
4. Depending on the outcome above, the membership and scope of the Learning Council
5. Who can be chairs of councils?
6. Clarifying the authority of councils regarding operations
7. Clarifying definition of policy and planning
8. Unfinished charters
9. How to be inclusive of non union members given that unions are appointing bodies
10. The role of Classified Council
11. Are members appointed for expertise voting members?
12. Clarifying the relationship of councils to standing committees and appointment process for standing committees
13. Who may initiate issues?
14. Membership of Executive Team
15. Is it a 9 or 12 month system?
16. How will the system and councils be evaluated?
17. How will Councils work together?
18. Need for Organizational Development Council
19. Appropriate administrative support for councils
20. Communication and training issues
21. Schedule for implementation
22. Assuring full participation of all groups e.g. use of release time

Additional items that were deemed to be implementation issues will be referred to the newly constituted College Council for consideration. The Governance Task Force assigned a small group to discuss and make proposals to the entire Task Force on how to resolve these issues. The Task Force addressed issues #1-14 and the results are outlined at the end of this e-mail. Items 14-21 were referred for discussion to the new College Council. Item 22 was assigned for bargaining to LCCEA, LCCEF and the college.
The original draft report will be updated to reflect these changes but the Task Force thought it was important to share our progress while we finalize the report. As you can see there is still much work to be done. After eight months of work I believe we are in a good position to start the implementation phase. During that process and over the next year as we experiment with this system I am sure we will find many answers and even more questions. However, I do think it is important that we start. It is only through the doing that we will be able to experience what works and what needs to be improved.

We will work as quickly as possible to revise the draft report and make it available.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. I truly believe that if we can make this system work it will be in the best interests of the college and all of its stakeholders.

Thanks.

1. Council Membership: The Task Force generally agreed to maintain the membership as outlined in the initial report. (Also see #2 )
2. Naming specific members: The Task Force considered this issue but it remains unresolved due to lack of time and will be taken up during implementation.
3. Learning Council: The Task Force believes there is a need for the Learning Council and that it is not duplicative of other existing entities. The reasons are:
   •Learning is a fundamental part of what the college does and needs to be part of the governance system.
   • There needs to be a focus at the governance level just as there is for other major functions of the college.
   • The college needs a consistent mechanism for planning.
   • Students, classified staff, and managers are also stakeholders and have an interest in shaping policies and plans around learning.
   • The broader needs of the community need to be represented.
   • We don’t currently have a representational system for new programs; community needs assessment, developing instructional directions
   • Learning should be a focus of all planning.
4. Membership and Scope of Learning Council: We are proposing that we add to the purpose and scope of the Learning Council:
   “Learning Council will facilitate, coordinate and integrate instructional planning across the college within the parameters of the college planning system.”
   Under scope add: Responsible for establishing instructional plans based on the strategic directions in the college planning efforts.”
   We also concluded that the Learning Council should work with other existing entities.
   We are proposing changing the membership of the Learning Council to have equal numbers of faculty and administrators/managers. Faculty have such a central role in planning and policy related to learning that it makes sense to increase their representation on the council.
5. Chairs of the councils may be faculty, classified or student elected by the council membership. The Vice chair has been broadened to include VP’s/AVP’s or managers to be designated by management. This provides a balance in these leadership roles but does not exclude a particular group i.e. managers from serving in a leadership role.
6. Authority of the councils: It was agreed that the following language be added:
   Vice chairs or the administrator responsible for a particular area will consult with councils on implementation of policies and plans. It is understood that this is a consultative process.
   We also agreed that Councils will at least annually review their effectiveness as well as the outcomes of their policies and plans. Such reviews will assess whether council policies and plans are successful and achieving their stated goals, and if not, why not (e.g. budget or other resource shortages, lack of full implementation at the operations level, changing environment or needs, inadequate policies and plans, etc.). It is understood that this will not interfere with the agreed upon mechanisms for performance evaluation of individuals.
7. Definition of policy and planning: We agreed on further definition of “policy and planning” as policies being “ends” not means driven and “operations” the doing or acting. Policies and planning create decision parameters or a framework for action.
8. Unfinished charters: The three remaining charters of Technology, Diversity and Facilities Councils were reviewed. Some final work on aligning all of the charters is underway and the charters will be available by April 30.
9. Status of non union members: Since unions are the exclusive representative of members, they will have the responsibility for appointing classified and faculty representatives. Non union members will not be able to represent the faculty or classified as a whole on Councils. Non union faculty may be appointed to represent Faculty Council. Non union classified may be appointed on the basis of their expertise or position but would not be representing classified as a whole.
10. Classified Council will continue to exist as a forum and communication vehicle (not to include collective bargaining items) for classified staff. Classified Council will recruit classified staff based on expertise and interest for operational committees but may not appoint to Councils.
11. Expertise member voting: The Task Force was not able to reach agreement on this issue and so it is referred to the president.
12. Relationship of Councils and Standing Committees: The Task Force agreed to remove all standing committees from Council charters for the time being. The new College Council will review all existing committees and assign them to Councils as appropriate. One of the criteria will be whether an existing committee has a policy/planning or operational function. This will be one of the first tasks of the College Council.
13. Who initiates: Anyone may initiate issues.
14. Executive Team Membership: The membership of the Executive Team will remain the same for now. The president will review the membership concurrent with evaluation of the governance system.

Items 15 through 21 were viewed as implementation issues and will be taken up by College Council during spring term.

Item 21 is currently being discussed by the LCCEA. LCCEF and the college.