LANE COMMUNITY COLLEGE
BOARD OF EDUCATION MINUTES
February 4, 2015

1. Attendance
Board members present: Bob Ackerman, Pat Albright, Gary LeClair, Matt Keating, Rosie Pryor, and Sharon Stiles. Tony McCown participated by telephone. Also present were: President Mary Spilde; Vice President Brian Kelly, Interim Vice President Dawn DeWolf; Lane Community College Education Association President Jim Salt; and Lane Community College Employees Federation President Bob Baldwin.

A. Chair Albright called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.

B. President's Report
This week we received our letter from the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities re-affirming our accreditation. They are requesting that we expand our fall 2015 report on mission and core themes to address recommendations 1 and 3 – planning and institutional effectiveness. Those were underway before the team's visit; we knew that institutional effectiveness would be a factor, and the committee had its first meeting yesterday. They are also calling for an ad hoc report without a visit in spring 2016 on recommendations 2, 4, 5, 6, and 7 – governance, program review, student learning outcomes, communication about the student complaint process, and implementing the cultural competence policy. On recommendations 2, 6, and 7 – governance, student complaint process, and the cultural competence policy – they said we were substantially in compliance, but they could use improvement. Recommendations 1, 3, 4, and 5 – planning, institutional effectiveness, program review, and student outcomes – do not meet the criteria of the standards, so those have to be addressed within two years. We identified this in the self-study and had already started the work, but there is a two-year timeline on that work. The good news is that there is no focused visit. What that tells me is that they are confident that we will take this seriously and address the recommendations they have made. It was a good report overall.

For winter term, as of Monday of the 5th week of classes, total registrations for all classes are down 20.9% compared to the same point last year. The Business Officers group reported on state enrollments at its last meeting. Most colleges have a decline and some are neutral. Lane's decline is the most severe.

This year's Martin Luther King, Jr., Day events were outstanding. Many members of the Lane community participated in the marches, presentations at the Shedd, and the evening celebration. Speaker Holly Robinson Peete delivered a targeted message about where society is today and how much we are at risk from complacency. Thanks to Rosie for your welcoming remarks, and heartfelt thanks to Greg Evans and the students for coordinating the vent. Congratulations to our award winners including Greg for the Social Justice Award; Michael Weed for the Community Leadership Award; Amiel Farfan for the Maddie Reynolds Award; and Shermel James for the BSU Scholarship.

On Monday, February 2, the Foundation hosted an opening reception for donors to celebrate the newly refurbished and re-opened Titan Store as part of our CLASS project. Students are going to love it. Tony and his team have done an incredible job.

Kudos to our on-campus Child and Family Center for achieving a five-star rating in Oregon's Quality Rating and Improvement System. In addition to that distinction, our center is the only one in Lane County accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
I also want to congratulate the Center for their award of a one-year grant of $6,315 to offer professional training and development for child care providers, and to thank the Cow Creek Indian Foundation for this generous donation.

In the past month I interviewed with KMTR about the MLK celebration, and with KVAL about President Obama's free community college proposal. Thanks to Pat for interviewing with KEZI about the board's Community Conversation on January 26.

I'm not going to say much about the legislature, because Andrea Henderson is here from the Oregon Community College Association (OCCA) today, and she will update you on that. I do want to point out that at your place is the response to the board from the Higher Education Coordinating Commission (HECC) on the letter that you wrote to them in December.

Last week, the Main-McVay Stakeholder Advisory Committee, which has spent the past year studying possible transit improvements for Main Street in Springfield and McVay Highway to LCC, forwarded recommendations to the City of Springfield Governance Team and the LTD Board. The group recommended more study of a possible EmX or enhanced bus route from Thurston High School to the Springfield (Downtown) Station and an enhanced route for the McVay corridor. A "no build" option was also forwarded for both, a requirement to apply for federal funding. LTD staff recommended removing EmX as an option on the McVay corridor due to construction costs, low ridership numbers, and uncertainty over future development. LCC's rep on the committee, Brett, had many questions on the federal funding for the McVay segment that staff were unable to answer, so the committee amended the final recommendation to encourage more future studies of a McVay EmX.

As you may have read in the Register-Guard last week, the City of Eugene is reconsidering its proposal to expand the Urban Growth Boundary into the Russell Creek Basin. Eugene city staff are going over their initial calculations to determine if there is sufficient need for expansion. On the other side of the highway, the City of Springfield has begun their work on possible UGB expansion into the area between Seavey Loop Road and Johnson Crusher. In January, Springfield held meetings with neighborhood residents and business owners to discuss their proposal.

President Obama released his blueprint for the 2016 federal budget on Monday. The $4 trillion budget included a number of reforms and new proposals for higher education and workforce training. New proposals impacting the community college sector include:
* $60 billion over 10 years for the America's College Promise proposal (federal free community college proposal).
* $200 million per year American Technical Training Fund, which would serve as a successor to the expired Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training Grant (TAACCCT) program.
* $7 billion over 10 years for a College Opportunity and Graduation Bonus program which would provide an annual grant to eligible institutions based on their number of on-time graduates that receive Pell Grants.
* Streamlining existing higher education tax credits to create a more robust and permanent American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC) with increased refundability, and excluding Pell Grants from taxable income.
* For the Pell Grant program, the budget proposes extending the annual consumer price index (CPI) increases to the Pell Grant maximum beyond 2017 and continuing Ability to Benefit students enrolled in career pathway programs.
It's unclear how many of these proposals have a future in a Republican Congress. We will find out more at next week's National Legislative Summit. Lane was mentioned in the budget due to the Senior Companion program.

Some of us are off to the Association of Community College Trustees National Legislative Session next week, and I'm sure that the free community college tuition proposal will be a big talking point there.

Let me mention three upcoming events for your consideration:
• This Friday, our Cultural Competency Professional Development Committee welcomes speaker Tricia Rose who will address "Educational Equality in an Unequal World" this Friday at 9:30 a.m. in the Longhouse
• Friday night and Saturday is KLCC's annual Microbrew Festival at the fairgrounds. It's a key fundraiser for KLCC as well as a great event.
• Our Faculty Professional Development Academic Colloquia Series will feature a lecture and book signing by Margaret Robertson on February 19 at 5:30 p.m. at our Downtown Campus. Margaret published the text, "Sustainability Principles and Practice" in 2014.
• The KLCC Brewfest will be held this Friday and Saturday at the Lane County Fairgrounds.

1) Personnel
The college's current personnel appointments were presented.

C. Board Agenda Review/Changes
No changes were made to the agenda.

D. Statements from Audience
Ellen Cloudin, student, asked that students who are taking online classes be allowed to use the Health Clinic. She also requested extended hours for computer labs.

Dennis Gilbert, Physics Instructor, noted that the gap between students from wealthy and low incomes has gotten wider since 1970. He is organizing a trip for STEM students to visit the UO science labs as part of a NASA scholarship. He commented that the budget blog on Lane's website is highly controlled and not transparent.

2A. Consent Agenda
Stiles moved, seconded by Keating, to approve the Consent Agenda consisting of:

• Approval of the January 14, 2015, minutes
• CLASS Project Phase 3 GMP
• Review of Board Policies:
o Communication and Support to the Board, BP330
o Community Outreach, BP335
o Contractual Authority, BP340

Motion passed unanimously.

3. Discussion/Action Items
A. OCCA Update
Andrea Henderson, Executive Director from OCCA, provided an update on legislative issues affecting community colleges. The Ways and Means Co-Chairs budget was released and gave community colleges $35 million above the Governor's budget, with a commitment for another $15 million if the revenues are there. The increase is appreciated but will not put us on a path to 40/40/20. Legislators are aware of the performance based funding issue; this is an area in which we need to tread carefully because there is not a unanimous position in Salem. Another issue on which to tread carefully is the notion of free community college tuition. While it is wonderful to highlight community colleges, if there is money available, free tuition may not be the best use.

We continue to sort through both governance at the state level and what happens with HECC and OEIB and how the legislature is making decisions and its impact on local boards. As you know, OEIB is up for removal of the sunset. When they passed the OEIB originally, it was scheduled to go away next year unless the legislature proactively chooses to renew it. There is a bill and a hearing coming up to talk about it. We do have some concerns with the bill that removes the sunset for OEIB, because it at the same time expands the authority that OEIB has, and we are concerned about that. There are still questions about how OEIB works and what authority it should have. There are concerns about expanding that authority so that there is greater control at the OEIB level. The legislation gives it supervision and control over the HECC in a very direct line, and that is concerning to us, because as we worked to craft the HECC legislation we tried to be careful to very narrowly construct the role of HECC to key areas that needed to be done on the state level and to leave the rest of the authority at the local board level. We are continuing the conversation with HECC in terms of what its role is, what is the local board role, and how we interact. From my experience, HECC is trying hard to understand the community college mission and to build a good partnership with us.

There are a number of proposed bills that would require additional reporting and compliance from community colleges. There would be a cost associated with compliance and not necessarily the personnel to complete the reporting. If the focus is on student success, then we should be using our resources to work with and do what is necessary for students.

There are some issues regarding the relationships with community colleges and K-12. High school students are excluded for online classes, but it is a disservice in some areas to limit them. The funding structure is problematic. The biggest concern is the agreement between the colleges and high schools concerning the qualification of faculty.

Career technical education is a current focus at the state level. Task forces are being formed; the attention is appreciated, but we are hoping it turns into something constructive.

This is only day three of the legislative session. Approximately another 2,000 bills will be introduced.

The OCCA Legislative Summit will be held February 25 and 26.

B. Budget Update
Brian Kelly shared updated projections for FY16, with the tuition estimate based on current enrollment levels. A response to the information request on student fees was included in the board materials. A tuition comparison with the other Oregon community colleges was also provided.

Keating posed a question regarding the feasibility of establishing a parking fee. Kelly and other board members informed Keating that a recent study showed that the costs associated with establishing a fee would exceed revenues. The transportation fee provides a bus pass to all main campus credit students and parking lot maintenance. The discussion turned to the fulfillment of individual board member requests of staff. Spilde will bring information regarding board requests to the next meeting.

Special Projects Manager Don McNair provided an enrollment trend analysis. The biggest challenge is the current decrease in enrollment. There is a 16% decline in general education classes and 20% decline in career technical education. It may flatten out the year after next. A single digit decrease in enrollment is projected for next year, but it depends on what happens with the economy. Early Spring term registration information will be brought to the March meeting.

College Operations Project Manager Jennifer Steele shared budget assumptions with the board such as state funding scenarios, percentage allocation from the state, enrollment increase or decrease, tuition rate, and bargaining parameters. Planning scenarios will be brought to the board in March.

C. Tuition Rate
Stiles moved to approve the following tuition rates for 2015-16. Keating seconded.

• Resident Students: $99.50 per credit hour based upon HEPI inflationary adjustment.
• Non-Resident Students: $243.00 per credit hour based upon HEPI inflationary adjustment.
• International students: $233.00 per credit hour for fall, winter and spring terms and $153.00 per credit hour for summer term, maintaining current rates.
• Non-credit Students: $4.50 per contact hour, maintaining current rate.

Motion passed 4 – 2. Ackerman and Pryor dissented.

D. Warming Center Update
Kelly informed the board that Lane Community College is now an official Egan Warming Center thanks to the coordination of internal and external partners. Operating season for the warming centers is November 15 to March 31. The centers are activated when temperatures drop below 30 degrees.

E. ASOT: Computer Science Degree
Pryor moved to approve the Computer Science Associate of Science Oregon Transfer Degree. Keating seconded.

Motion passed unanimously.

F. Community Equity and Inclusion Committee
Spilde recommended that an advisory committee be created to provide advice on equity and inclusion. This is a committee that does not currently exist, and with the changing demographics, our efforts to attract more Latino students and staff, and achievement gaps, it is time this committee be established. Lane has good informal partnerships with community organizations, but it would be helpful to have a more formal relationship with people in the community.

Pryor moved to authorize the president to create an Equity and Inclusion Advisory Committee. Stiles seconded.

Motion passed unanimously.

G. Student of the Month
This issue was tabled until the March board meeting.

5. Accountability/Reports
A. Facilities Update
An update on the status of bond and facility projects was presented.

B. Financial Condition and Activities Quarterly Report
The Financial Condition and Activities quarterly report was presented to the board.

C. Financial Planning and Budgeting Monitoring Report
Financial Planning and Budgeting monitoring report was presented to the board.

McCown left the meeting at 8:15 p.m.

6. Reports
LCCEF President Bob Baldwin reported that the union has been engaged in a couple of different processes with the administration in which the topic of respect has come up – respectful communication versus respectful treatment. If classified staff are treated respectfully, they will have no reason to speak disrespectfully. Baldwin has witnessed managers treating staff disrespectfully, and that's a problem. Until the root cause is addressed, the symptomology will not change. There are two outstanding arbitrations. Bargaining will be begin next week.

LCCEA President Jim Salt commented on the high school/college dual credit efforts mentioned by Andrea Henderson. The OEA Council recently completed a paper on this topic which summarizes the issue and options available as a state if we want to increase high school students receiving college credit. The state is considering establishing a standard for minimum qualifications, which goes against the practice of faculty and administration establishing those standards. Salt encouraged the board to support the position that the state should not interfere. Regarding the performance based funding issue, Salt disagreed that we should be involved in designing a structure in case it goes through. It should not be supported at all. The arbitrator in a recent faculty vacancy arbitration ruled against the Association's position. The Association accepts the authority of the arbitrator but does not accept the arguments. The arbitrator ignored the essence of the case and held the Association to the standard of beyond a shadow of doubt, not preponderance of the evidence. The matter this addressed is as important today as when it was negotiated years ago. It is a bad model to replace full-time faculty with part-time faculty.

Interim Vice President Dawn DeWolf reported that over 300 attended "How to Pay for College." The event was sponsored by Northwest Community Credit Union and included financial aid basics and information on scholarships. She commended the work of Jackie Bryson, who organized the event this year and in previous years. With the restructuring of Career and Employment Services, this event will no longer be Jackie's responsibility; an appropriate venue has not yet been identified. DeWolf attended the Unconscious Bias training, which was a wonderful event and very engaging. The administration and LCCEF are continuing the facilitation process with Kevin Boyle.

Vice President Brian Kelly reported that a campus budget meeting was held earlier today. Over 30 people attended, and the meeting was also available online. The Foundation held a grand opening event for donors at the TitanStore. He commended Facilities for going 215 days without a workplace accident and the TitanStore for opening the new location with very little down time. Arbitron ratings are in, and KLCC has moved from position 4 to 2. The KLCC Brewfest will be held February 6 and 7.

Board Reports
Pryor thanked the college for allowing her to attend the Unconscious Bias training. It was one of the best she has had the opportunity to attend, and she looks forward to more trainings. She will attend the presentation by Tricia Rose on February 6. She attended the TitanStore Open House, and it was a great event.

LeClair stated that if the Affordable Care Act is dismantled, it will be worse thing that has happened to this country. Last week he had to tell a patient that she had breast cancer. She did not have health care until a few months ago when she enrolled in the Affordable Health Care Act. If it is dismantled, these types of things will continue to happen, and it will be tragic.

Keating thanked the Cottage Grove Center staff for inviting him to the Cottage Grove Chamber dinner. Lane's table was fourth in the room for raising scholarship funds. He thanked everyone who attended the Eugene Chamber Dinner, where he had a chance to connect with Representative Paul Holvey. Keating recently connected with Representative Phil Barnhart and Senator Lee Beyer regarding critical revenue raising opportunities. Keating was looking forward to attending the OCCA Legislative Summit and the ACCT National Legislative Summit.

Albright attended the TitanStore Open House. He attended the OCCA Board meeting where they reviewed legislative bills affecting community colleges. He will be attending the ACCT National Legislative Summit and the fifth community conversation in Springfield. People who have attended the community conversations have given meaningful responses. Responding to Bob Baldwin's comments, Albright responded that there is never an appropriate time for disrespectful behavior or communication. If union members have been inappropriately treated, there are avenues to deal with that which do not involve disrespectful communication.

7. Date, Place, and Proposed Agenda Items for the Next Regular Meeting
Wednesday, March 11, 2015, Lane Community College Main Campus, Boardroom

8. The board meeting unanimously adjourned at 8:46 p.m.

______________________________ _____________________________
Mary Spilde, President/District Clerk Pat Albright, Board Chair

Prepared by:
Donna Zmolek, Assistant to the Board