Union notes from Union / Management Meeting

Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Michael Abraham, Dennis Cecere, Peggy Codding, Peter Cokkinias, Rich Grudzinski, Danny Harrington, Margaret McAllister, Jeff Perry, Wendy Rolfe, David Scott, Jackson Schultz, and Jeri Sykes. 

Management – Larry Simpson, Jay Kennedy, Kari Juusela, Darla Hanley, Lori Johnson, Jeanine Cowen, Melinda Thomas

1.     Larry opened the meeting.

2.     Executive Immigration Order – Lori Johnson is here to discuss this very important topic. Seven countries have been identified and targeted with a 90-day ban. We have 5 students impacted by this. As long as the students stay here they are fine. Any student visa will now be renewed with an interview, in the past this has been waived. Optional practical training processing will slow as well. Travel on their Visa may be troublesome as well. The college has been working with a special Immigration lawyer locally to address all these very important issues.

Larry discussed the concept of not bringing these political issues into the classroom. Keep the classroom a safe place to discuss topics of the course.

One approach is to continue to view things through our vision statement.

3.     Completion of Core Music Courses Sequences. Some students are not taking the harmony classes in sequence 1-4. The students should have advisors helping the students choosing classes, etc.

Larry – it’s not just Harmony, we want the students to take the entire core in sequence.

Jeanine discussed the sequence of courses and the struggle with a small percentage of students (around 100). Lori Johnson is working on an advising plan.

Kari confirmed the issue with harmony classes; it affects graduation rates and many other issues. This year we started with 180 students and ended up with 100 students as outliers. It does become a faculty management issue.