Professional Standards

Whereas the collegial model of shared governance presumes the participation and involvement of the faculties in the development, implementation, and evaluation of academic policies and procedures, and

Whereas such involvement is a legitimate expectation for those who are part of the teaching profession, and

Whereas the preliminary report of the 3409 Task Force on Community College Faculty and Administrator qualifications, Hiring, Evaluation, and Tenure recommends "The articulation of clear, relevant criteria on which evaluation be based."

Resolved that the Executive Committee explore and pursue the establishment of a data base on the level and nature of faculty involvement in governance for use by local senate leaders.

Whereas the Master Plan Commission did not address the issue of the various college calendars in the state and the effect of this variety on students, and

Whereas there are pressures to have year-round schools in K-12, and

Whereas there are efforts to increase required general education units for community college students to 39, and

Whereas there may be advantages for community colleges to having a uniform calendar to accommodate students who transfer, and

Resolved that the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges reaffirm its past support for the position that California Community College faculty be authorized to issue grades of plus or minus on a campus-by-campus basis, thereby better following the University of California grading system.

Resolved that the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges encourage local senates to provide guidelines for search/selection committees to use in developing criteria for a clear determination of the most qualified candidate(s) for faculty and administrator positions, and

Resolved that the Executive Committee of the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges help local senates develop hiring processes that assist the search committee to clearly identify the most qualified candidate(s) for all staff positions.

Whereas several academic senates in the California Community Colleges have expressed an interest in adopting a code of professional ethics in order more clearly to assert and delineate the responsibilities faculty believe to be inherent in the teaching profession, and

Whereas the American Association of University Professors has developed such a statement on professional ethics,

Resolved that the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges urge the Accrediting Commission to establish policies and guidelines for preparing and submitting accreditation minority reports.

Resolved that the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges direct an appropriate committee to prepare a handbook on ways in which local senates can encourage the development and implementation of ethics policies.

Resolved that the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges recommend to the 1988 Fall Conference Planning Committee that there be a session (with collective bargaining agents, including independent agents) dealing with academic and professional concerns relating to teaching overload.

Whereas the requirement that the California Community Colleges have an academic calendar of 175 teaching days is a vestige of the K-12 system, and

Whereas the 175-day schedule is inconsistent with those of other segments of postsecondary education, and

Whereas the teaching time for courses in community colleges should be defined in terms of instructional hours rather than teaching days,

Resolved that the Academic Senate study regulations governing teaching days and instructional hours in California Community Colleges, and