October 2009 Minutes

Minutes for Board Meeting on Oct 10-11, 2009
Burbank, Calif.

Voting members present:
Jay Seidel, Fullerton College, Faculty President   
Danny Edwards, Bakersfield College, SoCal Faculty Vice President
Michelle Olson, Chabot College, Student President
Anttwan Stanberry, San Jose City College, NorCal Student Vice President
Brandon Hensley, Glendale College, SoCal Student Vice President

Staff Present:
Timi Poeppelman, Events Director

Attachments:

• JACC Web site connections
  
• JACC Web site map
• JACC Treasurer's Report

Minutes:

• Minutes of this meeting recorded by Michelle Olson because Secretary Cameron not present.
• Anttwan motioned to approve minutes from the May meeting. Michelle seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
• Note: Anttwan stated that his school has been changed since the last board meeting, and he is now representing San Jose City College, not Skyline College.

Additions to Agenda:
Timi added volunteer awards to the 2010 state conference update.

State Faculty Report: (Jay Seidel)

• Faculty is concerned about different schools in jeopardy with budget cuts.
• JACC is working with different associations to try to help to prevent these cuts.
• Recall the Cerritos College situation.

NorCal Student Report: (Anttwan Stanberry)

• Anttwan discussed his Editor’s Round Table event he held at Skyline College on Friday, Oct. 9.
• He described it as “productive.” At the meeting students discussed the issues within their publications.
• He also promoted the JACC NorCal Conference and the state conference.
• Anttwan's main goal for his term is trying to connect the NorCal schools.

SoCal Faculty Report: (Danny Edwards)

• During the SoCal meetings the biggest budget has been the budget.
• While the input has been minimal about the conference some things highlighted were:
• Food had been cut, except for lunch so JACC could make the budget for the conference.
• There are questions about whether some of the contests should change. Are there too many? Should there be less contests?

SoCal Student Report: (Brandon Hensley)

• Brandon had heard that the College of the Canyons newspaper was being downgraded. Possible discussion of making paper be more like a club.

Communication Director’s Report: (Richard Cameron)

• Also students have been asking for the Web site to be changed.
• Timi responded that the new Web site is almost ready.
• Rich is working with about 1,000 files on the old Web site that contradict each other. To make sure that the new Web site doesn’t have this same problem he is manually moving about 100 files that are needed to the new Web site.
• He is hoping to have the new site up and running by the SoCal conference, but will definitely have it up by the NorCal conference.

Secretary’s Report: (Rich Cameron)

• Rich passed out a Budget Watch Survey and 45 out of 70 schools participated.
• The survey shows the current, past and future of the budgets of journalism programs.
• The California College Media Association (CCMA) is inviting JACC students to compete in their contests. They have events in California twice a year. By extending their hand to community college students it allows students of different levels to compete with each other.
• Rich will e-mail students with information.

Events Director’s Report: (Timi Poeppelman)

• Student officers with any ideas for the state conference, such as a dance, or event, must implement them by Feb. 1.

NorCal Regional Conference Update: (Saturday, Nov. 7)

• Nancy is in charge of the program for the NorCal conference.
• A great keynote speaker has been planned.
• The headquarters will be moved to the plaza at San Jose State. This will help vendors who only have a two hour block of time. The plaza is near where the contests will be held.
• At lunch there will be a live band, vendors and food.
• Registration for the conference will take place between 7:30 and 9 a.m.
• Conference will start at 9:15 a.m.

SoCal Regional Conference Update: (Friday, Oct. 23 and Saturday, Oct. 24)

• California state universities are having mandatory furlough days. The president designates which dates these will take place. CSU Fullerton is having 4 furlough days on the week of the conference.
• For that reason the conference will be held at the Titan Student Union, located on the campus, both Friday and Saturday.
• Danny will bring past plaques that were not given out to the conference.
• The judging room will be ran by Pat McKean.

2010 Mid-Winter Faculty Conference Report: (Timi)
(Friday Jan. 23 and Saturday, Jan 24)

• DART, the center for journalism and trauma, will be at the pre-conference on Jan. 22.

2010 State Conference Update: (Timi) (Thursday, April 8 to Saturday, April 10)

• The event will be held at the Wilshire Grand in downtown Los Angeles.
• Timi is working on getting keynote speakers.
• It will start on Thursday night at 7 p.m. and end Saturday night around midnight.
• Next meeting the board will decide on volunteer(s) of the year and the award for distinguished service to journalism. The winner can’t be anyone on the board or anyone who is part of Timi’s team. Last year Beth Evans won for her help with community college journalism.
• Will also decide on Extra Mile Awards. These are for anybody who went above and beyond to help JACC.

JACC Web site update: (Rich)

• Rich is working on the new layout. He is working to make sure that the site is geared to all potential visitors such as: members, vendors, etc.
• As part of his written report, Rich submitted a visual and written web site map. The visual presentation shows the various Web tools integrated into the new site.
• The site now uses Eventbright to register students for conferences. There is a consideration to start using Wild Apricot instead.
• Both programs charge fees based on the number of registrants. Timi and Jay discussed the pro and cons of each.
• Want to try to change the program to make sure the new Web site is more attractive and efficient for JACC, outside people and vendors.
• Wild Apricot could keep better track of numbers and students registered for conferences.
• Eventbright will be used for NorCal and SoCal registration. But want to try to use Wild Apricot for Morro Bay. Will reevaluate the next board meeting.

Plagiarism Letter from Chancellor:

• Danny discussed the letter from December 2007. A teacher sent a letter to the state chancellor about giving an “F” to a student in the class for plagiarizing. The chancellor responded that she could give an “F” for the assignment, but not the class.
• But many wonder how this applies to journalism because of the high regard of ethics and original work in the field.
• The board has decided that this matter needs to be discussed between state faculty at the state convention. The board my revisit the response in the February meeting.

Board Strategies for Supporting/Defending Member Schools in Trouble:
Jay has been working with Rich and Timi to figure out what to do to help schools in trouble.

• Cerritos College and Lassen College are having budget, enrollment and First Amendment issues.
• Jay is considering rapid response teams to help with issues that pertain to JACC. He will send out an e-mail looking for people to be part of the teams.
• He also discussed creating a check list for publications in trouble. Also how it is important to spread the word through advisers and students.
• Timi and Jay look to meet with the new media journalism adviser at the College of the Canyons. The school is going online only in spring.

JACC Officer Terms:

• A new board will take over after the state convention in April. Due to the issues that need to be continually addressed and will turn over to the new board there is some discussion whether a faculty presidential position need to be staggered.

Outreach to Other College Journalism Associations:

• Texas and Florida both have a JACC.
• Jay is considering reaching out to their faculty presidents.


JACC Alumni Association:

• This new association will be acquired through the Web site through Wild Apricot. Former JACC students can network, donate and apply online.
• Danny made a motion to approve alumni membership. Anttwan seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
• Anttwan made a motion for a price range depending on membership levels:
  
  • Regular Membership $25 a year
  • Gold Membership $50 a year
  • Premium Membership $150 a yearMichelle seconded the motion.
  
  The motion passed unanimously.

Contest Proposals:

• Amara Aguilar submitted a contest proposal form for a video journalism category. If passed this would apply for the state convention entries.
• Danny discussed how about 35 percent of all entries are submitted incorrectly. Submission information is on the Web site.
• Danny explains that the video category should be broken up into different categories based on what they are portraying.
• Criteria needs to be changed slightly to define categories.
• As it stands broadcast news is under the new media category while online photo essay and online photo are under the photo category.
• Danny made a motion to rename the existing class Broadcast/ New Media Class to just be named Multimedia. Michelle seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. 
• Danny discussed that online photo essay, broadcast video journalism and suggested video journalism all be moved to the newly adopted multimedia class.
• Anttwan motioned to pass video journalism category proposal with the addition of distinct language to separate it from broadcast video journalism (renamed broadcast news journalism: see next motion). Danny seconded the motion. The motion passes unanimously.
• Danny motioned to move online photo essay to multimedia class. Brandon seconded the motion. The motion passeed unanimously.
• Anttwan motioned to change the category broadcast video journalism to broadcast news journalism. Danny seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
• There is discussion whether the online photo (by itself) is needed. The board wonders if the category should be moved to the multimedia category.
• Danny also discussed that the category is not largely recognized and if it should be erased. There were only 19 submissions for the SoCal conference.
• Danny contended we keep the category in the same organization, but allow submissions from print editions as well, not only allow pictures that were online.
• Jay responded that the board should keep online photo the same, but allow all categories of photos (i.e. News, Sports Action, Feature, Sports Feature) to allow submissions from print and online sources.
• Anttwan motioned to allow online photos in all four photo categories that only allowed print before. Danny seconded the motion. Michelle discussed why the board is still going to keep the online photo category. Danny replied that it opens up more opportunities for schools and may bring in more submissions. The motion passed unanimously.
• Jay discussed a photo bring-in issue from an adviser. The adviser contests the 8x10 mount for bring-in photo. The adviser would like the specifications for the mount to read, “the longest side has to be 10 inches.” This would allow the mount to be 10x10 or less. Danny motioned to change the specification for bring-in photo to read as above. Anttwan seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
• Jay spoke for Rich that more schools are using Facebook and Twitter, so eventually the board needs to start a conversation about social networking journalism.

Update/ Disclosure of Impact of Membership Fee Increase:

• As of Oct. 10, 37 schools had not made their membership payments, 26 schools had.
• As of Oct. 16 the payments were considered late. A $50 late fee will be applied to the membership fee as well as a $50 per delegate fee applied to each state convention delegate.
• Due to the recent increase to $500 an effort was made to inform schools early.
• Look at attachment for report on financial matters from JACC Treasurer Jacque Thomley.
• The board is making every effort possible to try to save money. For this meeting all the rooms were complimentary because it was negotiated into the contract as well as the meeting space. Also two of the flights were paid for by American Express Rewards through Southwest Airlines.
• The board saved:
  
  • $785 on hotel rooms
  • $500 on airline flights
  • Total savings: $1,285

Adjournment

• Brandon motioned to adjourn the meeting. Michelle seconded the motion. The motion passes unanimously. Meeting adjourned.