April

When I first started thinking about this article, I tried to determine what it should be titled. “What a Long, Strange Trip It’s Been” immediately came to mind. Perhaps “The Long and Winding Road” or “The Never-Ending Story” would make sense as well, but nothing really stuck. It is difficult for me to believe that this is the last regular Rostrum article I will author as a member of the Executive Committee. For the last twelve years, I have served as a member of the board, going from North representative to Area B representative, and then secretary, vice president, and now president.

The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges’ mission statement, as published on the organization’s website, states that As the official voice of California community college faculty in academic and professional matters, the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) is committed to equity, student learning, and student success. The ASCCC acts to

Legislation impacting curriculum, teaching, and learning has become increasingly more common over the last decade. Legislators, elected by the people, are responding to calls for improvements to the California educational system. In response, legislators do what they were elected to do: write laws. Legislators propose bills, many of which are sponsored by special interest groups or advocacy agencies with resources to lobby for bill passage through public events, reports, and media coverage. However, these same legislators also need to be well-informed with all of the facts.

The April 2021 Rostrum article “Integrating Expectations for Cultural Competence into Faculty Evaluations” (Aschenbach, 2021) highlighted reasons that elements of diversity, equity, and inclusion are encouraged in personnel evaluations, including faculty tenure review.

The passage of AB 1725 (Vasconcellos) in 1988 was a significant milestone in the evolution of the California Community Colleges system. Among the many provisions of the bill that were enshrined in Education Code, AB 1725 defined the specific rights of academic administrators to become first-year probationary faculty under certain conditions or to return to a previously held tenured faculty position after satisfactory service. The parameters and conditions for this process are specified in California Education Code §§ 87454 and 87458.

Note: The following article is not an official statement of the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges. The article is intended to engender discussion and consideration by local colleges but should not be seen as the endorsement of any position or practice by the ASCCC.

The California Community Colleges Curriculum Committee, frequently referred to as 5C, plays an essential role in dialoguing about and supporting curricular change in the California Community Colleges system.
WHAT IS 5C?

Black, Hispanic, Native American, Asian, and Pacific Islander faculty account for 36% of California community colleges’ academic tenured and tenure-track faculty, while white faculty account for over 56% of the overall group statewide as of spring 2022 (California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, n.d.). The California Community Colleges system has been striving for diversity, equity, and inclusion for decades, and yet the diversity of the student population is still not represented in the professoriate.

Note: The following article is not an official statement of the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges. The article is intended to engender discussion and consideration by local colleges but should not be seen as the endorsement of any position or practice by the ASCCC.

One in seven women and one in sixteen men will be sexually assaulted while in college (National Sexual Violence Resource Center, 2015). Statistics also show that domestic violence is most common among women between the ages of 18 and 24 (WEAVE, 2022a). More than ever, colleges need to take seriously normalizing conversations on sexual violence, and they need to commit to action for education, support, and prevention. Sexual violence prevention programs should be established on every California community college campus.