Equity and Diversity

Technical Advisory Committees

Whereas affirmative action is often ignored at community colleges, and

Whereas affirmative action is still the law, and

Whereas many local colleges need help implementing affirmative action,

Resolved that the Academic Senate urge the Chancellor to submit a Budget Change Proposal (BCP) to reinstate affirmative action technical advisory committees to assist colleges in developing and upgrading their affirmative action plan, affirmative action training and other affirmative action practices, and

Meeting ADA Requirements

Whereas the Office of Civil Rights, Region IX, San Francisco, issued a finding in January 1998 noting that most community colleges need to improve their compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act in providing, in a timely and effective way, material in alternate media for their blind and visually impaired students and faculty and staff, as well as for the blind and visually impaired general public who may use the college services, like the library, or who may attend college events like plays and concerts,

Affirmative Action Data

Resolved that the Academic Senate request that the Chancellor's Office require a report from each college indicating the progress that the college is making in meeting its affirmative action goals, including retention as well as hiring of diverse faculty, and that the Chancellor's Office share these affirmative action reports with the Academic Senate, and

Resolved that the Academic Senate direct the Executive Committee to review the data on affirmative action progress generated by each college and to identify colleges making progress with diversity in hiring, and

Model Affirmative Action Plans

Whereas there are inconsistencies in the affirmative action plans that community college districts are required to submit to the Chancellor's Office, and

Whereas it would be helpful for colleges and districts to be able to refer to a model affirmative action plan,

Resolved that the Academic Senate direct the Executive Committee to work with the Chancellor's Office in reviewing district affirmative action plans to identify possible model plans, and

Faculty/Student Demographics

Whereas 76.3% (see Appendix B) of community college full-time faculty are white and 81% of part-time faculty are white, and

Whereas the community college student population consists of a majority of historically underrepresented students, and

Whereas it is important that students identify culturally and demographically with their faculty,

Diversity Contact Person

Whereas there has been difficulty in the past in disseminating documents relating to diversity on local campuses, and

Whereas diversity coordinators on campus may not be faculty,

Resolved that the Academic Senate recommend that local senates identify a contact person at each college who is willing to receive and disseminate information about diversity issues to the faculty of his/her college.

Diverse Faculty

Whereas there have been great strides in increasing the overall number of women hired in community colleges, and

Whereas the California community colleges still have a very poor record of hiring ethnically diverse faculty, and

Whereas colleges may report gains in diversity that reflect more female hires but not more ethnically diverse hires,

Resolved that the Academic Senate urge local academic senates to intensify their efforts to improve hiring of ethnically diverse faculty.

Visiting Teams

Whereas the Association of Chief Human Resource Officers (ACHRO) has been given a grant by the Chancellor's Office to conduct technical advisory visits to colleges/districts regarding progress in affirmative action and diversity issues, and

Whereas it is essential that faculty be involved in such visits, since hiring, per Title 5 Regulations, primarily depends on faculty involvement and faculty hiring policies are a matter of joint agreement between local academic senates and boards of trustees,

Re-examine Multicultural Curriculum Issues

Whereas the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges has supported multicultural approaches to the curriculum through many resolutions including adopting a spring 1995 position paper "An Integrated Approach to Multicultural Education," and

Whereas it may be time to reaffirm our commitment to multiculturalism across the curriculum and to re-examine our teaching methodologies, assumptions, and stereotyping as our student population becomes more diverse and our classes more heterogenous, and

Human Rights for All

Whereas the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges has adopted many resolutions supporting equal rights for all people, including Resolutions 3.01 S97 and 3.05 F97, which ask that the Board of Governors work with the Legislature to add the words "sexual orientation" to the anti-discrimination statement for the California Community College system and to include "sexual orientation" in the Board's review of Title 5 and the Education Code in areas opposing discrimination, and

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