April

“Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.” [1] This statement reflects the need to redesign systems that are inefficient or are not producing the desired results. A good place to start is to critically reexamine local academic senate foundational documents with the specific purpose and intent to design a system that increases the representation of perspectives that are missing from shared governance and leadership spaces.

Accreditation is the method by which institutions of higher education ensure academic quality. General standards of accreditation are agreed upon by members of higher educational institutions across the country (U. S. Department of Education, n.d.). These generalized standards are then modified by the membership of regional accreditation bodies.

Since the first decade of the twenty-first century, California community colleges have struggled to find a solution to the easy access to information that the Internet has provided. In 2005, the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) passed two resolutions, 14.01 and 14.02 [1]. Both resolutions sought to increase faculty’s authority to fail a student who has cheated for a course, not just for the assignment in question.

In July 2021, the California Senate passed an important resolution: Senate Resolution 45 (“Relative to Academic Freedom”). In the supporting bill analysis, the senate affirmed that “academic freedom is an essential requisite for teaching and learning in California Community Colleges” (Senate Judiciary Committee, 2022).

New local academic senate presidents or president-elects may sometimes feel lost in endless acronyms and often feel overwhelmed by the scope and demands of their positions. The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) is here to help by providing local academic senate leaders with an incredible array of valuable resources.

Since SB 850 (Block, 2014) created the California Community Colleges Baccalaureate Degree Program Pilot, only the original fifteen pilot colleges have been allowed to offer a baccalaureate degree. The fact that “pilot” was in the title of the program also suggested that California community college baccalaureate degrees could be temporary. Fortunately, this status changed with the passing of AB 927 (Medina, 2021), which removed the word pilot from prior legislation and opened up opportunities for as many as thirty new baccalaureate degree programs annually.

The California Community Colleges system, or rather the California community colleges, is implementing or anticipating implementing changes in regard to curriculum such as curricular offerings, general education, major study preparation, associate degree opportunities, baccalaureate degree opportunities, transfer pathways, and teaching and learning technology.

When I first started thinking about this article, I tried to determine what it should be titled. “What a Long, Strange Trip It’s Been” immediately came to mind. Perhaps “The Long and Winding Road” or “The Never-Ending Story” would make sense as well, but nothing really stuck. It is difficult for me to believe that this is the last regular Rostrum article I will author as a member of the Executive Committee. For the last twelve years, I have served as a member of the board, going from North representative to Area B representative, and then secretary, vice president, and now president.