The Discipline List Revision was approved for reconsideration by the delegates at the Fall 2012 Plenary Session and subsequently approved to move forward to the Board of Governors in April 2013. The revision will be included in the next iteration of the MQ document when published in 2014.
Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (Academic Senate) voted against a previous proposal for the creation of Peace Studies as a separate discipline on the 2010 Disciplines List, and the current Academic Senate process requires that resubmitted proposals provide substantively different rationale and come forward either as a resolution from a Senate Area meeting or as a resolution from the floor of the plenary session;
Whereas, The previous proposal failed because of the perceived impact on smaller colleges in assigning disciplines; however, adding Peace Studies to the Disciplines List does not require local senates to assign any course to the new discipline but, rather, allows local colleges with larger programs in Peace Studies to assign courses to that discipline and to hire, retain, and promote qualified faculty to develop and teach courses and degrees in Peace Studies at a level commensurate with other systems of higher education where students are likely to transfer upon completion of lower division major transfer preparation at a community college; Whereas, Peace Studies is a field that is recognized as an academic discipline around the world and one that has been in existence since 1948 in the United States, and the Peace and Justice Studies Association, the primary professional and academic association for Peace Studies, reports that there are over four hundred universities offering Peace Studies around the world; and
Whereas, Qualified instructors are required to teach Peace Studies courses at the community college level and there are an increasing number of candidates to fulfill the requirements of a master’s degree in Peace Studies, Peace and Justice Studies, Peace and Conflict Studies or the equivalent including an average of twenty graduates each year from the master’s degree program offered at the Joan B. Kroc Institute of Peace and Justice Studies at the University of San Diego;
Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges as part of its current Discipline List Revision process, add Peace Studies as a separate discipline for inclusion in the Minimum Qualifications for Faculty and Administrators in California Community Colleges based on the rationale outlined above.
MSC