Diversity and Equity

Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges adopted resolution 3.03 F19, which approved a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement that acknowledges institutional discrimination and implicit bias exist and “Our commitment to diversity requires that we strive to eliminate those barriers to equity and that we act deliberately to create a safe and inclusive environment where individual and group differences are valued and leveraged for our growth and understanding as an educational community”;

Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges adopted Resolution 3.02 F19, Support Infusing Anti-Racism/No Hate Education in Community Colleges;

Whereas, Recognizing the national history of discriminatory laws and history of racial diversification and equity efforts in the California Community Colleges system informs current faculty diversification and anti-racism efforts; and

Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges adopted a new inclusivity statement in fall 2019—Resolution 3.03 F19, Replacing the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges Inclusivity Statement—that aligns with the Board of Governor’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement; [1]

Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges adopted at the Fall Plenary of 2019 resolution 3.02 F19, Support Infusing Anti-Racism/No Hate Education in Community Colleges; and

Whereas, Through the California Virtual Campus - Online Education Initiative, the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office has facilitated Canvas as the course management system for California’s community colleges, and participating colleges are using Canvas for online, hybrid and web-enhanced classes;

Whereas, Many LGBTQ+ students use a preferred name instead of their legal name and face discrimination or harm if forced to respond by their legal name;

Whereas, SB716 (2019, Mitchell) requires county probation departments across California to ensure that incarcerated youth with a high school diploma who are detained in a juvenile hall have access to public postsecondary academic and career technical courses and programs, and community colleges are the best equipped to offer the courses and provide programming on site at the juvenile detention facilities and on campus once students are released to continue their educational pathways;

Whereas, Amidst the struggle for civil rights and equality, California State Senate Bill 164 (Alquist) was put into law on September 4, 1969, establishing Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS);

Whereas, Extended Opportunity Programs and Services was established to “encourage local community colleges to establish and implement programs directed to identifying those students affected by language, social, and economic handicap…and to assist those students achieve their educational objectives and goals” (California Education Code §69640);

Whereas, Resolution 3.03 F17 directed the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges to “revise the 2002 paper Student Equity: Guidelines for Developing a Planand bring the revised paper to the Fall 2018 Plenary Session for discussion and possible adoption”;

Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) co-chaired the Board of Governors Vision for Success Faculty and Staff Diversity TaskForce and contributed to the creation of a system Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement;

Whereas, The ASCCC Executive Committee endorsed the California Community Colleges Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement at its August 2019 meeting to forward to the Board of Governors; and