Applying the Brown Act to ASCCC Executive Committee Meetings

Spring
2014
Resolution Number
01.03
 
Contact
Assigned to
Standards and Practices Committee
Category
Academic Senate
Status
Completed
Status Report

Open Meetings Policy was approved by the Executive Committee at the March 2015 meeting and went into effect when the revised bylaws were adopted with the passage of resolutiono 1.01 S15.

Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges has always been a proponent and champion for ensuring the right of all persons to participate in academic discourse and democracy where the ability to participate in such discourse potentially affects them;

Whereas, Over the course of the last eight years the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges has received ambiguous, inconsistent, conflicting opinions from multiple legal representatives concerning the applicability of the laws requiring open meetings (Brown Act or Bagley-Keene Act); and

Whereas, These open-meeting laws are complex, difficult to interpret with respect to a variety of circumstances, and difficult to self impose without clear guidelines, all of which ultimately means there are no clear guiding parameters provided in law or by the body to its elected representatives that establishes expectations around open meeting requirements for Executive Committee meetings held by the Academic Senate;

Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges work to revise its bylaws at Fall Session 2014 to incorporate the requirements of the Brown Act for all its Executive Committee meetings.

MSC