Attending: John M. Crisp, Mike Gadell, Homer Garza, Noe Guerra, Dolores Huerta, Mattie Marcum, William Mareth, Vickie Natale, Mary Peña, Jim Pierce (Chair), Lisa Welch.

Not Attending: None.

Open Forums: Chair Jim Pierce reminded the committee of the Open Forums scheduled for Thursday, April 22: 3:30--Student Development Services; 4:15--Special Educational Activities. Both are scheduled for Room 528 in the White Library.

Linda Ard, chair of the Student Development Services principal committee, and Pat Shufelt, chair of Special Educational Activities, in preparation for the forums, presented overviews of their committees' work, discussed highlights of their reports, and answered questions from the Steering Committee.

Principal Committee Reports: Pierce reported that the Educational Program subcommittee continues to meet weekly with committee chair Mary Ann Williams and that they had worked through "must" statement #66 out of 83; they should be able to finish the document in two or three more sessions. He said that he and John M. Crisp had met with Juan Flores, Noe Guerra, and Antonio David, chair of the Educational Support Services principal committee, on Monday and that the committee had produced a much improved draft. The group is scheduled to meet again on Monday, April 26. Pierce reported that Manuel Flores, chair of the Faculty Committee, had said that he would have a draft of his committee's report by the morning of Thursday, April 22. Pierce said that the subcommittee would convene shortly thereafter.

Mid-Point Progress Report: Pierce said that the Mid-Point Progress Report had been accepted by SACS liaison John Dwyer,and that it had been discussed at the I.S.D. Council meeting. He said that Dr. Armenta had asked him and Crisp to brief Regent Chris Adler next week on the progress of the SACS self-study.

Date of the SACS Visit: Pierce said that the date of the SACS visit is still being negotiated since the original dates were either already scheduled by other colleges or conflicted with Spring Break. The visit could be as early as mid-February, 2000.

Principles and Philosophy of Accreditation: Pierce distributed copies of the drafts that Steering Committee members have produced regarding SACS "Conditions of Eligibility," and reported that five of the six are posted on the self-study website. He said that the sixth concerns the section on Financial Resources and would require further information from the principal committee. He asked the Steering Committee to review the drafts, review the relevant section from DMC's Self-Study Report of ten years ago, review the relevant sections from self-studies at other institutions, and provide feedback at the next Steering Committee meeting.

Other Discussion: Pierce said that given the feedback thus far from the Open Forums and elsewhere, he believes that mosts drafts will need to go back to the principal committees for rewriting, and that those committees should understand that the Open Forum doesn't necessarily mark the end of their work.

Next Meeting: The next meeting of the Steering Committee will be held in VB-170 on Wednesday, April 28, 1999, at 1:30 p.m.

Minutes prepared by John M. Crisp.