Meeting Minutes

November 15, 2018

Members Present:

• John Dunstan, AS Exec. Vice President
• Arden Childers, Student at Large (arrived when Gamboa left at 11:52am)
• Christina Gamboa, AS Vice President for Finance
• Stacy Heldman-Holguin, Designee for VP for Student Affairs, and Chair of FAC
• Fernando Mendoza, Student at Large
• Elizabeth O’Brien, as designee for Joyce Lopes, VP for Admin. & Finance
• Dr. Hollis Robbins, Dean, School of Arts & Humanities as designee for Provost, VP for Academic Affairs

Members Absent:

• Carley Chatterley, AS President
• Laura Watt, Chair of the Faculty

Staff Present:

• Susan Gutierrez, Director of Financial Aid
• Sue Hardisty, Staff Support to FAC
• Hayley Ross, University Budget Manager
• Hilary C. Smith, Research Services & User Experience Librarian; Student Affairs Committee Rep

Staff Absent:

• Erik Dickson, Executive Director, Associated Students

Gamboa called meeting to order at 11:05am.

Agenda

1. Approve Minutes.

   Holguin asked for corrections. Hearing none, minutes were unanimously approved.

2. Course Fee Review

• RT018 - Physical Assessment Lab fee

          FAC Decision: No objections

• RT019 -  Kin242

  Purchases for first aid supplies are bought in bulk so funds are carried over. Balance is $4200.

  FAC Decision: Request that they suspend or lower fee until they spend down by ½.

• RT121 – Bio 333

         $10 fee is shared among several courses but it was not disclosed which other courses utilize the funds. Funds are for field trips.

FAC Decision:  FAC requests more information

• Do the other courses also collect a fee?
• Are current students benefitting from the fees they are paying?
• What is the plan for the revised course?

   

• RT010 – PE Towel fund

This is an optional fee. Provides clean towel upon request for full semester. For KIN 101 class, for use by the pool area. Purchase the service at Seawolf Service Center. You get a receipt that allows you to sign up in the Central Issue Room. This is a fee for service.

They are building up funds to replace washer and dryer. Balance is $894. They appear to be utilizing the funds consistently. Fee was increased due to increase cost of detergent, cost of appliances, new towels. They have a plan for how they will use fees and they’ve been pretty consistent with sticking to their spending plan.

FAC Decision: No objections.

• RT029 – GEO FT 360

Had previously received funding from Provost’s Office to supplement costs for field trips, but that funding is no longer available effective with the 2018-19 academic year, so they are expecting that the balance of $844 will be spent this year on field trips and they plan to keep charging the same course fee.

FAC Decision: No objections.

FAC did not have time to discuss the following funds:

• RT030 – Social Science Field Trip
• RT042 – Nursing Skills lab 301
• RT076 – Special Topics Art 298-498 (multiple questions)
• RT088 – Monochrome print
• RT023 – Coms 385
• RT069 – Modern Languages (CLOSE)
• RT043 – Modern Languages Lab (CLOSE)
• RT111- Coms 340 (Close or suspend?) – question about type of expenditures

   

3. Sports Clubs/Primitivo

• Review AS grant fund and hear AS background on cancellation of funding
• Propose plan & justification:

  Choices:

  1) reopen funding to Sports Clubs and/or Primitivo;

  2) finalize cancellation of funding to sports clubs and/or Primitivo;

  3) stay for more questions

Gamboa provided some background on the 2014-15 FAC decision that Sports Clubs were no longer eligible for IRA funding because they were not tied to a class. Gamboa, Holguin and Reynolds-Smith discussed this issue separately and discovered there is a second tier group that is eligible for IRA funding which includes Sports Clubs.

When IRA was voted in, sports clubs were included as eligible instructional activities as they were tied to KIN 101 class. Then it was decided that sports clubs did not need to be tied to a class to become a club, and this made them ineligible for IRA funding. However, Category I.3. of Ed Code 89230 indicates sports clubs can be considered eligible. This “Other” category does allow for activities under the discretion of the campus to be deemed eligible for IRA funding.

Holguin explained that money that has not been allocated goes into a reserve at the end of the year. While it is prudent to have some reserve funds available, it is not necessary to hold a large reserve. Funds should be spent on student activities.

In an effort to allocate more money to eligible programs, the IRA committee did expansive outreach to request applications for funding.

Gamboa shared the AS Grant Policy as an example of a policy that could be created for IRA funding to resolve the issue of whether or not sports clubs are eligible. It could be a secondary consideration depending on how much is in the reserves. The thought is to align options so everyone can see what all their options are.

Regarding Primitivo there has been some variation in perception on what type of entity it is. In one discussion it was seen as an organization that needed start-up funds but intended to be self-supporting later on. In a later discussion it was presented as an internship opportunity and that it was not set up to be self-support or to take in revenue to pay the student’s salaries. The students take a class and through Primitivo they create PR materials. Dean Robbins puts Primitivo in the same category as Studio Blue, KSUN or Sonoma STAR. Gamboa says the issue then becomes that you can’t make money off student fees. Robbins clarified that the students do not receive “payment” from any of the clients they serve.

Smith asked why Primitivo is not spending down their money. It was noted that COMS 340 RT111 current balance will be discussed in the review of accounts more in depth. A simple answer is the faculty member was unaware of fee quidelines.

O’Brien asked if there is any information about instructional activities that receive IRA funding as well as collect a course fee? To Holguin’s knowledge, there has been no discussion about this.

Robbins raised a question about equity in funding between departments. Holguin answered that both sources are allowable and suggested courses apply for both so we can see the needs in totality.

For example, COMS 340 charges a $75 fee to students and they received $14,000 in IRA funds.

KSUN has a $100 fee.  These are long-standing fees.

COMS 385 (KSUN) has $10,849.16 balance. They can spend it on radio equipment, and technology needs.

Childers commented that it appeared to him that a lot of the courses are saving up money in course fees and it makes more sense to him that they apply for IRA funding instead. Holguin said faculty probably need more education on available and appropriate funding sources. The other thing that was discovered during the course of this review is that a lot of the courses have new faculty and they aren’t even aware that these funds exist.

The December meeting will start with the sports clubs and Primitivo discussion so FAC can move a President’s Decision Memo forward for approval. Then we’ll start course fee review discussions beginning with RT030.

The December meeting will likely have a large set of courses requesting course fee increases.

Meeting adjourned at 12:03pm.

Minutes submitted by Sue Hardisty.