Whereas, In 1988, the California Legislature in AB1725 declared, "The Legislature is committed to an alternative vision in which California remains a place of opportunity and hope--where innovation and creativity mark our economy and our culture, and where the minds and spirits of all our communities contribute to our common future.
Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges has addressed issues with the 50% law in three previous resolutions of 6.07 F00, 8.03 S01 and 8.04 S01; and
Whereas, The System Office (previously known as the CCCCO) has only made minor attempts to address the 50% law issue, including minor adjustments made to the accounting practices;
Whereas, There are many college districts with faculty contract language that provides for seniority status of those part-time faculty who have taught some set amount of time, which gives them preferential teaching assignments over non-senior part-time faculty;
Whereas, AB 1972 (Daucher) is a bill recently introduced that provides for the Board of Governors to designate any area of study as critical without defining any criteria by which its critical nature is established;
Whereas, Once an area is designated as critical, AB 1972 then calls for the hiring of faculty in a non-tenure track position for up to three years if it is determined that there is an undefined "shortage" of qualified faculty in that area;
Whereas, The Academic Senate supported the delegation of approval of stand-alone courses by the California Community College System Office to the local districts in resolution 9.10 S00;
Whereas, The Academic Senate adopted the position paper Regional Curriculum Colloquia and Delegated Approval Authority (1997) instituting the mechanism for local approval of credit courses not part of approved programs; and
Whereas, AB 1943 (Nava) seeks to delegate approval of stand-alone courses to local districts;
Amend the final resolve:
Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges oppose changing the limitation of the teaching load for part-time faculty to 80% until such time as the ASCCC has researched the potential impact this effort may have upon our current positions and reported its findings to the body. MSR Disposition: Executive Committee to research and report at Spring 2006 Plenary Session.
Amend the first resolve to read:
Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges reaffirm its commitment to the 75:25 ratio and the desire to see more part-time faculty become full-time; and Strike final resolve. MSR Disposition: Executive Committee to research and report at Spring 2006 Plenary Session
Whereas, Full-time faculty are responsible for vital activities beyond the classroom such as writing curriculum, participating in governance, and responding to the needs of and interacting with the community (e.g. workforce advisory committees);
Whereas, The relationship between academic freedom and tenure is well established;
Whereas, The Academic Senate stands firmly behind the principles of academic freedom and the benefits of a 75:25 ratio, principles which have been attacked and threatened recently; and
Whereas, The Faculty Association of California Community Colleges (FACCC) in coalition with the Los Angeles College Faculty Guild and the Community College League of California (CCLC), known as Californians for Community Colleges, have developed a community college issues initiative for inclusion on the November 2006 general election ballot;
Whereas, Budget bill SB 77 (2005) provided much needed funding to community college nursing programs but based that funding upon a linkage to the use of the Advanced Degree in Nursing (ADN) Prerequisite Study formula;
Whereas, Title 5 is clear that community college faculty and the local academic senate have the responsibility for curriculum and validation of prerequisites needed to support student success; and