Call to Order
The meeting was called to
order at 4:06 p.m.
Roll Call
Present: Brannan, Laverty,
Pelleran, Proctor, Rasmusson, Smith
Absent: Canady
Trustee Canady arrived at
4:19 p.m.
Limited Public Comment Regarding Agenda Items
There were no comments from
the public.
SUNGARD COLLEGIS REPORT
Chairperson Laverty stated
that the Ad Hoc Committee conducted an intensive inquiry into
the student system. He thanked Trustees Brannan, Rasmusson, and
Pelleran for their work. The inquiry began when students
suffered from problems with the Oracle student system and many
were denied financial aid last fall. Students' lives were
disrupted and computer problems continued. The only answer the
Board continuously received is that the computer problems have
been fixed as mentioned in a newspaper article on Monday. He
felt that many people at the College are in denial about the
facts and the truth about this system. The Board of Trustees has
a fiduciary responsibility to the community and the students and
its most important responsibility is student success. The
inquiry from the Ad Hoc Committee and the full report completed
by hi-tech experts is the truth. Collegis supplies computer
services to 66 campuses across America. The report today will
document that the College still has serious computer issues yet
to be resolved that have cost the College millions of dollars. A
solution is needed now, and today is about the truth and
complete disclosure. We will also focus on the future and moving
forward and fixing problems that face us in the future. He
introduced Mr. Steve Lasher from Foster, Swift, Collins and
Smith who will introduce the expert guests for the presentation.
Mr. Lasher shared that they
were retained in November 2005 by the Board of Trustees to
review the February 2002 Oracle contracts and respond to the
following questions: Did a valid contract exist with Oracle? If
one exists, what are Oracle's obligations under the contract?
What are the College's remedies if Oracle fails to perform?
After an extensive review of approximately two boxes of
documents, they concluded that they
have not been provided one single, executed, enforceable Oracle
contract. Numerous purchase orders issued by the College
reference an Oracle agreement with the State of Michigan;
however, they have not received a copy of said agreement. He
further stated that the position has been taken that the State
of Michigan contract with Oracle is the controlling document. He
knows that it's been amended more than 20 times and they have
yet to receive the amendments. Mr. Lasher said whether there is
a contract or not, they are concerned that the documents they
have seen do not hold Oracle accountable in anyway to the
College. The request for proposal issued by the College in
February 2002 provided that the final contract documents would
be the request for proposal, the proposal from the vendor, and
the purchase order. No mention was made of the State of Michigan
contract with Oracle at any time in the process. However, the
request for proposal provided minimal contractual language and
provided no substantial protection to the College. More
importantly, Oracle's response to the request for proposal said
the following: whatever attempt was made by the College in its
request for proposal to impose contract terms or conditions on
Oracle did not apply; Oracle stated that it expects that only
the terms and conditions set forth in a final agreement
negotiated between the customer and Oracle would be applicable.
Mr. Lasher was concerned with a disclaimer that Oracle included
in its request for proposal response and read it aloud: -The
information presented in this proposal is based upon current
information available regarding the development direction of the
Oracle Student System. Oracle reserves the right to determine in
its sole discretion whether or not to develop or market the
functionality identified in the next release of the Oracle
Student System program. Oracle hereby disclaims any warranty and
does not warrant that the functionality presented in this
proposal will be available in its next release of the Oracle
Student System program- Oracle can make no assurances that the
functionality identified in this proposal will meet any business
requirement or need of the customer.- Typical items in a
contract such as timelines, a scope of work, or detailed mile
stones were not found. With the approval of the Board, they
retained the services of Collegis, which was asked to perform an
assessment of the information technology functions at the
College with a particular focus on Oracle. He introduced Mr.
Bill Parsons from Collegis.
Mr. Parsons thanked the Board of
Trustees for the opportunity of having spent time on campus and with
College staff. He stated staff were very cooperative and helpful and
expressed appreciation for their efforts. Mr. Parsons shared that
the process began on December 13 and has continued in terms of
information flow and analysis up until last week. The Collegis team
came on site with 14 higher education specialists that represented
over 200 years of higher education expertise in areas of Oracle,
financial administrative areas, financial aid, networking, help
desk, infrastructure design, operation security, desktop technology
management, and user support. He stated that the team conducted 59
interviews with 63 different people that included trustees,
administrators, technology staff, faculty, and students. An on-line
survey was also provided and 289 responses were received. He further
stated that an analysis was conducted of the documentation provided
by college staff both before and after the on-site assessment visit
and Collegis received most of the information requested in its
standard pre-assessment questionnaire. Mr. Parsons introduced Dr.
Kenneth Wittig who will provide a more detailed analysis of their
findings.
Dr. Wittig stated that Collegis
is part of a larger group called SunGard Higher Education and that
includes the people that make and sell the software called Banner.
It includes the separate group called Collegis which offers only
services and does not sell software or hardware. Collegis is the
largest higher education technology services provider in the world.
They support every major software product in higher education
whether it's Oracle, Banner, PeopleSoft, etc., and are vendor
neutral. He further stated that they are experts in their field and
they are a vendor neutral services organization. Dr. Wittig provided
a PowerPoint presentation on the findings of the technology
assessment. (The presentation is on file with the official Board
materials.)
There was a question and answer
period throughout the presentation.
Trustee Canady expressed concern
with the way the Ad Hoc Committee operated. They never had an open
meeting. They hired someone without going through an open bid
process particularly by something that is not covered by the
exceptions of the Open Meetings Act.
Trustee Pelleran responded that
College was hired by the Board's attorney and not by the Ad Hoc
Committee.
Chairperson Laverty stated that
the approval for the attorneys and all consultants were approved by
the Board by a resolution.
Trustee Canady responded that he
was never told that the College was hiring a company that is a
subsidiary of a company that owned a competitor.
Trustee Pelleran stated that if
Trustee Canady had been at the meeting in 2005, he may have been
better informed on this issue.
Trustee Canady responded that he
was at that meeting where Collegis was hired; he voted for it.
Trustee Smith expressed concern
that no comparisons were provided in terms of other industries
regarding startup challenges and costs. She also expressed concern
that the report attacked the leadership and the vision. The College
has stated that it wanted to be the state-of-the-art institution and
that states vision and if you're trying to carry the institution to
that point that takes time. Trustee Smith did not feel that this was
the appropriate way of presenting their findings. She felt the
report should have been given to the department and not in this
setting. She was troubled that College staff were not given a chance
to respond prior to today. The Board has talked about the leadership
of the institution, but the Board should also look at the leadership
they are offering.
Chairperson Laverty felt that
whether we like what we're doing here or not is not the point. The
public demanded full and complete disclosure and this is the result.
There was discussion regarding
the Board and the administration not having received a copy of the
report. The Board did receive information in Closed Session at its
January 13 special meeting, but no hard copies were ever given to
the Trustees.
Trustee Canady felt that this
was a one-sided presentation because the administration did not
receive this prior to today and were not given the opportunity to
respond.
There was discussion regarding
the contract with the State of Michigan and Oracle. It was stated
again that no signed contract between the College and Oracle has
been furnished.
BOARD AD HOC COMMITTEE
SUMMARY REPORT
Trustee Rasmusson introduced Ms.
Beverly Baligad and Mr. Thomas Hirsbrunner who assisted the Ad Hoc
Committee.
Ms. Baligad presented the Ad Hoc
Committee report (it is on file with the official Board materials.)
Mr. Thomas Hirsbrunner read
aloud a statement from a concerned student, Ms. April Kenney, who
gave permission to read her statement. (The statement is on file
with the official Board materials.)
There was a question and answer
period after the presentation.
Chairperson Laverty thanked
everyone for their participation. He requested that both reports be
placed on the web page immediately.
Trustee Smith requested that
staff be given an opportunity at the February 20 Board meeting to
respond to these reports.
DISCUSSION ON INTERIM
PRESIDENT
IT WAS MOVED by Trustee Pelleran
and supported by Trustee Proctor to appoint Dr. Judith Cardenas as
interim president of Lansing Community College until the Board
appoints a new president. Since 2003 Dr. Cardenas has served as Dean
of Student and Academic Support and Quality at Lansing Community
College. She earned a Doctorate in Education Administration from
Baylor University and is currently completing a second doctorate in
Training and Performance Improvement. Dr. Cardenas holds two Masters
degrees and earned her undergraduate degree from St. Mary's
University. She completed certificate training in leadership
management from Harvard University and earned a certificate in
E-Learning Management from the University of Phoenix. She has served
as Vice President of Teaching and Learning at Mountain View College
in Dallas, Texas. She served as an Executive to the President and
later as the Director of Corporate and Community Development at
Northwest Vista College in San Antonio, Texas. Dr. Cardenas was a
tenured Assistant Professor of Biology and served as the Chair of
the Science and Engineering Department at Palo Alto College in San
Antonio, Texas.
Trustee Canady stated that he
has nothing against Dr. Cardenas, but he is opposed to the process.
He would have preferred to have had an application process.
Trustee Pelleran recommended
having a national search for the next president.
Trustee Smith also would have
preferred a search for the interim president; however, she respects
Dr. Cardenas and feels she is qualified. She shared that the
Association of Community College Trustees provides assistance with
interim searches as well as presidential searches.
Chairperson Laverty stated that
in the past an interim president has been selected quite rapidly. He
assured the Board and the public that a national search for the
permanent presidency will be conducted and it will be an open
process.
Roll call vote:
Ayes: Brannan, Laverty, Pelleran, Proctor, Rasmusson
Nays: None
Absent: None
Trustee Canady abstained from
voting.
Trustee Smith abstained from
voting.
Motion carried.
IT WAS MOVED by Trustee Proctor
and supported by Trustee Brannan for President Cardenas to bring a
proposal to the Board to recognize and celebrate the many
contributions of President Paula Diane Cunningham during her tenure
at Lansing Community College, up to and including the naming of an
appropriate building in her honor.
Trustee Pelleran felt that the
motion is fitting and proper. She would be delighted for the Interim
President to make that one of her first priorities.
Roll call vote:
Ayes: Brannan, Canady, Laverty, Pelleran, Proctor, Rasmusson, Smith
Nays: None
Absent: None
Motion carried.
There was brief discussion
regarding the presidential search process. The process will include
trustees, students, staff, and community members.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Rich Howard - Good Evening. Rich
Howard, Vice President for Strategic Initiatives at Lansing
Community College. Been a couple of times this evening that an
article in the Lansing State Journal was referenced by Chairperson
Laverty then Ms. Baligad on behalf of the Ad hoc Committee. I want
to clarify a couple of things. It was not stated-Matt Miller is in
the front row, he can verify this I believe-it was not stated by
myself or by Vice President Borger that the system is fixed. It has
not been stated that way at all. What we have attempted to
communicate is that the process by which students receive their
financial aid in a timely manner is working. I want to clarify that
because that's a very important point. Nobody is saying it's fixed
because when you have folks on the front line dealing with students
that are having issues it's disrespectful to them. Nobody has
indicated that the system is fixed. We'll continue to make advances.
It was the process that we were referring to. I wanted to clarify
that. Also it was stated by Trustee Rasmusson yesterday to me as
well as Ms. Baligad on behalf of the Ad hoc committee that some of
those statements in the article were untrue. And that it is not in
the College's best interest to continue to mislead the public. I
take exception to the word "untrue" and to "continue to mislead the
public". You are welcome to question the accuracy of statements that
I've made or that Vice President Borger has made. You are not
welcome to question the integrity of this administration. Thank you.
Ava Mills - My name is Ava Mills
and I have been at the institution since we did it with paper and
pencil. This has been a difficult implementation there's no doubt
about it. I think that for some reason the institution in attempting
to ride the middle of the road and not point fingers in any
direction as stated has inadvertently dropped the ball on top of
those that sit on the front line and deal with students on a day to
day basis. When we talk about inaccuracies that students are told.
Being accurate with information with a system that is constantly
evolving and growing and changing, it's very tough to hit a moving
target. One day we say something is going to happen because we've
been told it will happen. The next day it isn't happening because
there's difficulties with the implementation. That isn't necessarily
anyone's fault. It's implementation, but I think by not saying those
things publicly it puts a bad light on our IT staff, on our
financial aid staff, on all staff at this campus. The IT staff here
has always been wonderful. I've worked with them for years. I helped
implement several systems at this institution and they are very good
at what they do, but I think there are many staff pushed into
situations that were not appropriate, were not at a level that they
were able to handle and what do you do? Do you walk away from your
job? No. You do what you can. And do our financial aid staff walk
away from their jobs at the end of the day because they haven't you
know been able to do it? No. They have sacrificed their families,
their heart and soul goes into serving students at this institution.
As well as the accounting staff, the Cashiers staff, our Registrars
staff, our Admissions staff. And to continually walk the middle of
the road with a system that is making it difficult for us to serve
our students and to serve other staff has not done us justice. And I
don't think it's fair to those of us who have worked here for years
and have done nothing but support this institution. I haven't said
anything and that's unusual for me because I have done this
institution apt and to be quiet but I don't think that you have done
a justice to this institution, to the staff and to the students by
staying quiet.
Barbara Larson - Good evening
I'm Barbara Larson, Vice President for Administrative Services.
Those who work with me know how much I love data, so I'm concerned
when data in the reports, some of which I provided has been, I think
presented in a way that could lead to false perceptions. So, I want
to just clarify some information in the Collegis report. One is that
the report acknowledges that Information Services and College
Development at this campus is much broader than that we normally see
in a central IT shop. It has included functions such as
institutional research, organizational development. And so then when
it goes on to compare FTE's to the 40-60 FTE's that you see in a
central IT shop at an institution this size to 110 FTE's. I think
that that leads to a false impression. We also provided information
to Collegis from the State of Michigan compiled community college
data that shows that our operational expenditures on IT at 7.8% of
the budget were very much in line with the other 28 community
colleges. Second, the $20 million transfer that is on page 8 is the
transfer for all technology replacement expenditures as well as
major software expenditures. I provided that information to Mr.
Moser from Collegis and he asked for details on what was in that 20
million of Board approved budget and so in that he, I'm sure saw
that that included many expenditures that were outside of Oracle. It
includes the replacement of all PC's in the computer lab; it
includes the additional PC's as we create new computer classrooms in
new construction. And finally I was just asked that the enrollment
data be checked in terms of the 2% drop at the main campus. That
refers to spring of 2005 and that was the first semester when we
were fully operational with the West Campus. So we would expect a
drop in enrollment at the downtown campus as 3,000 students moved to
the West Campus so I might ask that that be clarified for the
report. Thank you.
Evelyn Green - My name is Evelyn
Green. I don't want to minimize the effect that the implementation
of this Oracle system has had on the students and on the staff, but
it appears to me that the Board is attempting to politicize the
search for the questions and the answers to the problem. Or the
solutions to the Oracle system. I'm very uncomfortable with this
report. Now it may not be fair, but the perception out there is that
this company that you hired was not totally independent. I have a
ton of questions, but the first one that I would like to address is
the one that relates to finances. And it's in the report, page 11.
Oracle implementation has cost LCC between $10 million and $37
million over the past 5 years. Now, if my arithmetic is correct
that's a $27 million difference. I know LCC can find out how much
money they paid for Oracle in five years. So, I think they could
have done a better job giving us more exact and precise figures. We
are tax payers, I'm a tax payer I taught here, but I'm a tax payer.
And $27 million is not chump change to me. So, how much did LCC pay
over the last five years for Oracle? How much money was actually
paid?
Chairperson LLaverty - The Board would like to know the answer to that
question also. That's something we've been asking for for months.
There was no budget?
Evelyn Green - This should not
have been issued until that question was answered. Also, when I read
on page 12, "these and very likely a number of other issues we did
not uncover." You did not uncover the issues, will likely cost LCC
an excess of $1 million. Well, since you did not uncover the issues,
since you don't know exactly how much they're going to cost, since
you didn't give me a breakdown, why just $1 million? They might cost
$2 million. Where is the data to support this? We are tax payers. A
million dollars is not chump change. So, a company that was hired to
talk about the financial-maybe it would have been better to leave
this out altogether, since you didn't have the answers. But to put
this in here and then to give people the perception that all they're
swarmed with money here at LCC - it's $40 million, $10 million - we
deserve better data. The survey, just lots of things about the
survey and I'm going through it with a fine tooth comb, so I'll have
lots of questions. Survey population. The survey design accepts only
anonymous responses. Why? If I have a problem with Oracle, if I have
a problem with a staff, if I have a problem with the management, I
can say it. I can talk to them. I can say it publicly. Maybe that's
a nice way to hide behind some other exterior motive by being
anonymous. Also, the organizational structure. I didn't see anything
about the prior organizational structure in terms of Banner and in
terms of Oracle. I think we would be able to better interpret if we
had that information. Maybe some people think they can do this
without having that information, but I need to know, I want to know
what happened, why it happened, and how much it cost. And this
report that I heard from the representative I still haven't found
the answers. And you just told me that the Board couldn't find out
how much it cost. There was no budget. We got to have better answers
than that. One last question I want to know, are we going to get a
copy of the report from Oracle? This is Oracle system. We paid them
almost $40 million according to this. Somewhere between $10 million
and $37 million I'm going to round it off and say we paid them $40
million. If it didn't work-did they give a report? Do we have a
report from Oracle telling us why it didn't work? What they needed
to do? A company I paid $40 million to, almost. Did we? Did we talk
to Oracle? Am I going to get a copy of Oracle's report?
Chairperson Laverty - We've only
got what the College provided us with.
Evelyn Green - Do we have that?
I'll take the College's. But I think Oracle-you should have given
Oracle a chance to respond. I'll take the College's Oracle report.
Lyle Laylin - Hi, my name is
Lyle Laylin, I'm an employee here at the College. I would agree with
what Evelyn just said. You guys went out and hired another firm; you
managed to get information from somebody else. Did anybody call
Oracle? No. Nobody called Oracle. Why haven't we heard from them
what went wrong? That's all I got to say. It's the only question you
need.
Linda Uhler - My name is Linda
Uhler. I don't even know where to begin. I just am so appalled at
the report, but it goes far beyond this report. It has started a
long time ago. There's obviously something very deeper going on than
a financial aid problem that happened in the fall. I'm not
minimalizing the financial aid. I've worked with students for 21
years before I switched over to IT and I've been there for four
years. And I want to tell you all start asking questions of this
Board. What goes beyond the financial aid of fall? What is the axe
that somebody on-who's already left so I can't even look at him and
ask him. What's the axe he's has to grind? What is your goal? It's
far beyond this. And I am so terribly disappointed in you.
Chairperson Laverty - Lansing
Community College must move forward. Our students deserve the best
possible service from the administration of the College and the best
possible education from our faculty. Lansing Community College and
the Board have a lot of work to do. No more excuses. No more denial.
No more blaming others. Let's get the job of education done
together.
ADJOURNMENT
IT WAS MOVED by Trustee Pelleran
and supported by Trustee Rasmusson for the meeting to adjourn.
Ayes: Laverty, Pelleran,
Proctor, Rasmusson
Nays: None
Absent: None
Motion carried.
Trustee Brannan left at 5:51
p.m.
Trustee Smith left at 5:52 p.m.
Trustee Canady left at 5:55 p.m.
The meeting adjourned at 6:08
p.m.
