October

Convergence of Diversity and Equity: Guiding Framework for the Hiring Processes

Faculty diversification efforts in the California Community Colleges and funding to address those efforts have been prioritized by multiple stakeholders, including the legislature, the Board of Governors, the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, and the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC). This issue is not new for the community colleges, but, with a recent additional allocation of funding, it is becoming a more realistic goal. In fact, in 2016 the legislature enacted Senate Bill 826, known as the Budget Act of 2016, which stated,

Votes of No-Confidence: An Academic Senate Perspective

The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) has received many questions regarding exactly what a vote of no-confidence means when directed at an individual administrator, a board or office, or an idea or plan. At a college or district, a vote of no confidence by the academic senate can have a variety of meanings. The reasons for such a vote should be clearly spelled out in the resolved statements of a resolution that explicitly indicates what the action is intended to convey—alarm, a concern, a broken trust, or a call for removal of an individual.

The Transformation of Counseling Along Guided Pathways Sidelines

California community colleges are committing to a guided pathways framework, and transformation is taking place college-wide at each campus. Across each of the major principles or pillars of guided pathways, counselors could likely attest that the strategies indicated are what they have been doing for decades in terms of helping students choose, enter, and stay on educational paths to achieve their intended outcomes.

Lowering CCC Costs: No-Cost Designation Mandates and Low-Cost Designation Options

One of the longest standing positions of the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges is to lower costs for community college students, particularly around textbooks.  As a result, the ASCCC was delighted when, in 2016, the governor signed Senate Bill 1359 (SB 1359; Block, 2016), which requires all segments of public higher education in California to “clearly highlight, by means that may include a symbol or logo in a conspicuous place on the online campus course schedule, the courses that exclusively use digital course materials that are free of charge to students and may have a lo

The California Online Community College and its Need for an Academic Senate

In April 2018, delegates to the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges’ Spring Plenary Session acted together to voice their opposition to a fully online, one hundred and fifteenth community college through Resolution 6.02 S18, which was adopted by acclamation.[1] Nonetheless, the 2018-2019 California state budget created the California Online Community College (COCC), with the budget trailer bill language amending and creating sections of the California Education Code.

Looking at Equivalency Differently: Rethinking Equivalency to General Education

Whether one thinks that colleges use equivalency effectively or not, the reality is that Education Code requires colleges to have a process that allows for applicants to demonstrate equivalency to the minimum qualifications: “The process, as well as criteria, and standards by which the governing board reaches its determination regarding faculty members shall be developed and agreed upon jointly by representatives of the governing board and the academic senate, and approved by the governing board” (Education Code §87359 (b)).

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