The President is working with local senates in the South Orange County District to address ongoing issues of governance. The President asked AAUP to review the policy. The District has withdrawn its proposed policy.
Whereas the Board of Trustees of the South Orange County Community College District has proposed a policy regarding the distribution of materials and speaking on campuses of the two district colleges aimed both at students and at faculty, a policy which would curtail both First Amendment and freedom of speech rights, and
Whereas this policy includes restrictions on the rights of faculty to distribute material in faculty boxes and would restrict posting of material on office doors, in hallways, and even in faculty offices if visible through the window and would prohibit faculty from distributing "written material" outside of their own classes and offices, a policy that would seriously abridge the ability of faculty and students to communicate and freely exchange ideas on campus, and
Whereas this proposed policy would require the presidents of the colleges to perform a minute examination of printed and spoken material and encourages all who see "violations" to report them to the college president, and
Whereas the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges has many resolutions as well as position papers in support of Academic Freedom as well as freedom of speech as fundamental elements of higher education enabling the full exploration and exchange of ideas and expression in teaching,
Resolved that the Academic Senate condemn the proposed policy being offered by the South Orange County Community College District as constituting a set of fundamentally unacceptable restrictions of free speech, academic freedom, and the First Amendment and a clear move to create a chilled climate for faculty and students, and
Resolved that the Academic Senate urge the South Orange County Community College District to withdraw the proposed policy immediately.