2007

Faculty Access to Diversity and Equity Research

Whereas, A significantly high percentage of students from historically underrepresented populations are enrolled in the California Community College System;

Whereas, Faculty are seeking to increase their knowledge base regarding diversity curriculum infusion and teaching strategies for our diverse student population;

Whereas, Access to high quality, current, seminal research and resources helps foster greater cultural competency; and

Local Processes for Faculty Appointments

Whereas, There are multiple methods by which a faculty member can be assigned to short-term, non-teaching work such as Student Learning Outcomes or accreditation coordinator, or grant director;

Whereas, A recent Academic Senate survey indicated that districts and colleges employ different methods of assigning faculty to these tasks such as appointment by the local academic senates, or by the administration, or by a competitive process; and

Effective Practices for Student Equity

Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges has long supported student equity as a part of student success, but many colleges continue to have inequitable student success rates;

Whereas, Research into effective practices in student equity has been conducted since the Academic Senate's last review of such research; and

Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges is a key player in the Basic Skills Initiative, and extensive research has been done on basic skills inequities and effective practices that increase student success;

Using Data to Promote Equity and Diversity at the Program Level

Whereas, Many colleges focus their equity and diversity efforts at the institutional level;

Whereas, Current institutional research and information technologies provide faculty and staff access to detailed data at the program and course level for use in improving retention and success rates and addressing equity and diversity barriers; and

Whereas, Many faculty may find it difficult to use the data effectively in their equity and diversity decisions at the course, program, and curricular levels if they do not know how to interpret the data properly;

Academic Freedom "Free Exchange on Campus"

Whereas, There is a coalition that has existed for several years which was formed to protect the free exchange of speech and ideas on campus;

Whereas, This coalition, Free Exchange On Campus, has the following mission: "Free Exchange On Campus is committed to advocating for the rights of students and faculty to hear and express a full range of ideas unencumbered by political or ideological interference"; and

Resolution to Affirm Support for Local Curricular Autonomy

Whereas, The Consultation Council Assessment Task Force recommendations include the suggestion of a pilot project to explore the alignment across colleges of course outcomes for a sequence of composition courses "as a first step in researching the feasibility of implementing a common assessment";

Whereas, The Consultation Council Assessment Task Force lacked professional representation from composition and reading faculty, who are the experts in assessment in their discipline;

Improving Faculty Interest in Administrative Leadership

Whereas, Some estimates indicate in the next 10 years, 60% of current administrators will retire;

Whereas, Many colleges have difficulty developing adequate applicant pools for existing administrative positions;

Whereas, Many qualified faculty leaders may be so personally engaged in teaching that they would be reluctant to become administrators if that meant they had to abandon teaching entirely; and

Whereas, If this impediment were removed, more qualified applicants from the faculty ranks may consider moving into administrative roles;

Proposed Changes to Perkins Guidelines

Whereas, The federal government has drafted language requiring Perkins funding to be based upon new definitions and indicators, creating new and onerous requirements that will not improve teaching and learning for students enrolled in career technical education programs in California community colleges;

Whereas, These federally designed mandates impinge on areas of academic and professional matters, and such "oversight strategies" have, in the past, notoriously reduced and impeded the educational quality of the programs they have sought to improve;

Residency Requirements that Delay Credit in Occupational Programs

Whereas, Many California community colleges delay granting credit for articulated occupational courses that students have taken while in high school until they have completed some minimum number of units at the community college, a practice sometimes referred to as "credit in escrow";

Whereas, National research suggests that the students who do not immediately receive the credit they earned while still in high school never end up taking advantage of the credit, so the intended benefits of this credit are lost; and

Part-time Faculty Hiring Study

Whereas, The California Education Code 87360(b) explicitly specifies that local academic senates, working with representatives of the governing board, develop and agree to hiring criteria, policies, and procedures for new faculty members;

Whereas, Some community college districts have hiring policies or collective bargaining agreements that are designed to ensure that part-time faculty are given due consideration when full-time faculty hiring occurs;

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