Greetings
from the Executive Committee of the Academic
Senate for California Community Colleges. Our
team of new and returning Exec
members welcomes each and every one of you
to our extended family—the seasoned veterans
of faculty leadership and the new local senate
presidents who are working hard to set their
own style and agenda. Consider this leadership
family the best support network you can imagine
and make good use of it this coming year.
More specifically we invite
you to join us in Pasadena on November 3 - 5,
for the Fall 2005 Plenary Session. We
will feature our usual rich mixture of activities
and topics: breakout sessions that range from
nuts-and-bolts training for new local senate
officers to explorations and updates for the
expert on arcane, recent developments at the
state level that will impact your daily life
in the classroom. You will have the opportunity
to talk with colleagues from around the state
as you craft resolutions in preparation for Saturday’s
voting session where we debate and adopt policy.
Our session theme is the day-to-day
conflict that many of you have described so eloquently
at our summer leadership institutes. As a faculty
leader you are the guardian of our principles
and ideals. On most issues you are perfectly
clear about the principled stance that will most
benefit our students, and ultimately improve
the civic fabric and the economic lifeblood of
the vibrant democracy that is California. But
it is also your duty as a faculty leader to ensure
meaningful communication with other leaders,
all the way from faculty who serve in alternative
roles such as division chairs or union leaders,
to administrative, trustee and community leaders.
Many of these leaders will have philosophies
and agendas that are very different from your
own. To be a successful leader you have to reach
out and cooperate with others. That is often
the only way you can achieve action. But you
have to be constantly vigilant that those very
actions do not sacrifice the principles that
you represent. You have to perform a perpetual
balancing act of small decisions as you are daily
buffeted by outside forces, and often with less
support from friends and colleagues than you
might wish for.
Our “Managing
Conflict by Balancing Principles with Pragmatism” session
will feature keynote speakers who will share
their experience of the theme from three
different viewpoints: at the national level
with historical but ongoing tension over
academic freedom, at the level of a former
college president now serving in the state
legislature and at the local level where
similar choices appear in every classroom.
You will also find the theme echoed in many
breakouts such as the presentation of the
new system strategic plan and, of course,
the perpetual debate over 75:25—perhaps
we could offer that faculty ratio as the
natural accountability measure for the quality
of the educational experience that our system
offers. We will also offer for adoption,
papers on recent issues in nursing education
and some fundamental questions around our
own associate degree structures.
I encourage you to participate
personally and to recruit several colleagues
from your campus. Remember that scholarships
are available to ensure that every local senate
is represented by a voting delegate (contact
the Senate Office for details).
On behalf of the Executive
Committee I can say that we are all eagerly looking
forward to joining you in Pasadena.
Cordially,
Ian Walton
President,
Academic Senate for California Community Colleges
Greetings
from the Executive Committee of the Academic
Senate for California Community Colleges. Our
team of new and returning