Intersegmental Issues

Whereas the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges has a long tradition of collegial collaboration with its University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) counterparts through the Intersegmental Committee of Academic Senates (ICAS), the Intersegmental Coordinating Council (ICC) and other similar venues; and the faculty in the UC, CSU, and California Community Colleges (CCC) share an ongoing commitment to effect the seamless transfer of students among the three segments, and have cooperated in many joint ventures and come to important understandings to that en

Whereas, the California Articulation Number (CAN) System has provided a numbering system for effective articulation and transfer;

Whereas, The draft of the new CAN Articulation Model indicates an expansion of CAN numbering to include not only required courses within a major or discipline but also elective courses and prerequisites for the completion of the major;

Whereas, The ASSIST project has successfully piloted an Online System for Curriculum and Articulation Review (OSCAR) to enable community colleges to submit course outlines electronically for review by UC and CSU faculty who evaluate them for IGETC and CSU Breadth compliance;

Whereas, These online submissions, if made available to other community college faculty, may be useful in designing and improving their own curricular offerings; and

Whereas the California State University Trustees proposed the elimination of remedial education at the CSU despite the fact that based on the CSU placement tests, an overwhelming majority of the State's CSU eligible students (top 1/3) are in need of at least one of the remedial education courses in English or mathematics, and

Whereas the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges prepared a paper identifying the issues and implications of such a policy complete with recommendations, and

Whereas, Many community college transfer students who have prepared for one set of transfer requirements are finding that these requirements have changed after it is too late for them to fulfill new ones; and

Whereas, This process is unfair to students and is counter-productive to our mutual goal of supporting transfer between our segments;

Whereas the IGETC and Joint Faculty Projects are examples of how intersegmental collaboration and cooperation have benefited California community college students and faculty, and

Whereas intersegmental forums such as Intersegmental Committee of Academic Senates have given the California Community College segment an opportunity to educate the California State University and University of California segments about the California Community College mission and special concerns, and

Whereas Goal 5.5 of the federal legislation. Goals 2000: Educate America Act calls upon states to engage in a grassroots reform process involving educational. occupational and public representatives establishing education standards that will ensure a future in which: "The proportion of college graduates who demonstrate an advanced ability to think critically, communicate effectively, and solve problems will increase substantially," and

Whereas the Legislature has identified the importance of Intersegmental Joint Faculty Projects (IJFP) to facilitate the dialogue, planning, and partnership among faculty in the California community colleges, CSU and UC, and

Whereas the Legislature specified a budget line item of $165,000 per year for IJFP that is monitored and disseminated by the Chancellor's Office, and

Whereas the IFJP are intended to result in the successful movement of students among the systems, and

Whereas funds are provided to the community colleges by the State of California to support joint intersegmental faculty projects, and

Whereas the amount of money allocated on a request for proposals and competitive process basis has dramatically decreased over the three years of this funding, and

Whereas this has significantly decreased the ability of local faculty to propose and be funded for such joint intersegmental projects, and

Whereas the Chancellor signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with CSU without consultation with the Academic Senates of the three higher education systems to establish a dedicated transfer degree for CSU, and the three academic senates have expressed concern that all three segments be included in discussions of potential changes to transfer degree structures,

Whereas the establishment of a "dedicated transfer degree" would have impact on and implications for other degrees and certificates being offered at the community colleges, and