Local Senates

Whereas, Resolution 03.04 F21, “Develop Statewide Recommendation for Definition of Low-Cost Course Materials” tasked the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges to work with the Student Senate for California Community Colleges and the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office to identify a recommended definition of low-cost to be considered for adoption throughout the California Community College system; and

Whereas, The Student Senate for California Community Colleges Board of Directors has recommended $30 as the definition for “low-cost”;

Whereas, Funds have been allocated from the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office to California community colleges for Equal Employment Opportunity implementation;

Whereas, California community colleges need to move beyond performative statements and awareness to operational processes for hiring faculty to increase the diversity of candidates applying and being interviewed for full-time faculty positions;

Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges has urged local academic senates to identify an open educational resources (OER) liaison (Resolution F18 17.02) [1] and subsequently encouraged local colleges to identify and support a faculty OER coordinator because various opportunities for obtaining funding for local OER efforts require that a coordinator be identified to oversee the work and significant increases in OER usage are reported when a local advocate has dedicated time to support OER adoption (Resolution S19 13.02)

Whereas, Automatic billing or inclusive access strategies have been introduced by publishers and bookstore vendors as a mechanism to grant students access to course resources by billing them for those resources at the time of registration and requiring that a student opt out of the program for all courses if the student determines the program is not beneficial;

Whereas, After the passage of AB 705 (Irwin, 2017), [1] the November 2020 California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office “Validation of Practices Memo” [2] clarified specific guidance on how community colleges are to place students in English and mathematics, directing them in most cases to place students directly into transfer level English and mathematics;

Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) has established the creation of formal liaison positions, including Resolution 03.02 SP21 Inclusion Diversity Equity and Anti-racism Liaison, Resolution 17.02 FA18 Open Educational Resources Liaison,

Whereas, Previous Academic Senate for California Community Colleges presentations have recognized that course enrollment maximums are maximum student enrollment limits specified for each course, and course enrollment maximum determinations have sometimes been made inconsistently on the basis of classroom size and other arbitrary factors;

Whereas, Part-time faculty comprise the majority of the faculty on every community college campus [1] and are vital to the success and retention of students throughout the California Community Colleges system, and the representation of part-time faculty is crucial for the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) and California Community College Chancellor's Office to fulfill their respective missions;

Whereas, The COVID-19 pandemic forced a quick pivot, within weeks after California Governor Newsom’s March 19, 2020 Stay At Home Order, of most of California’s community colleges’ course offerings from in-person to online teaching and learning;

Whereas, Most of this online teaching and learning necessitated faculty and students quickly learning how to use and navigate learning management systems (LMS) and other online educational tools and services for course delivery and engagement;

Whereas, Faculty have both the academic freedom to select the course materials they deem most appropriate (Resolution 19.01 F04) and the responsibility to consider the cost burden as they do so (Title 5, § 59404);