April

“Self-care is never a selfish act—it is simply good stewardship of the only gift I have, the gift I was put on earth to offer to others.”
- Parker Palmer

“In June 2021, the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) released its Policy on Social Justice. Historically, institutions of higher learning have operated with firmly established policies and procedures that promote a climate of exclusion, racial inequity and racism towards Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC). The ACCJC understands that issues around inclusion, diversity, equity and racism are deeply rooted within systemic racists structures and policies that support the very foundation of society.

For faculty busy with teaching, grading, and supporting students, accreditation rarely ranks at the top of their list of concerns until they receive an email asking them to serve on their college’s accreditation writing team or to attend an accreditation planning meeting. Unfortunately, this situation creates a lost opportunity where faculty see accreditation as a compliance issue rather than as a framework of quality where the standards and mechanisms to improve student outcomes are supported.

Spring is in the air, and faculty are, as always, focused on providing the best experience possible for their students. Examples of amazing faculty work and dedication to students are recognized with submissions for statewide awards. The following recipients have been recognized for the 2022-23 academic year by the California Community Colleges Board of Governors and the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges, along with a legislator award for outstanding advocacy for the California Community Colleges system.

“Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.” [1] This statement reflects the need to redesign systems that are inefficient or are not producing the desired results. A good place to start is to critically reexamine local academic senate foundational documents with the specific purpose and intent to design a system that increases the representation of perspectives that are missing from shared governance and leadership spaces.

Accreditation is the method by which institutions of higher education ensure academic quality. General standards of accreditation are agreed upon by members of higher educational institutions across the country (U. S. Department of Education, n.d.). These generalized standards are then modified by the membership of regional accreditation bodies.

Since the first decade of the twenty-first century, California community colleges have struggled to find a solution to the easy access to information that the Internet has provided. In 2005, the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) passed two resolutions, 14.01 and 14.02 [1]. Both resolutions sought to increase faculty’s authority to fail a student who has cheated for a course, not just for the assignment in question.

In July 2021, the California Senate passed an important resolution: Senate Resolution 45 (“Relative to Academic Freedom”). In the supporting bill analysis, the senate affirmed that “academic freedom is an essential requisite for teaching and learning in California Community Colleges” (Senate Judiciary Committee, 2022).

New local academic senate presidents or president-elects may sometimes feel lost in endless acronyms and often feel overwhelmed by the scope and demands of their positions. The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) is here to help by providing local academic senate leaders with an incredible array of valuable resources.