Professional Standards

Resolved that the Academic Senate reaffirm its resolution 19.0 S 96 that the Senate not take any action or positions that seem to encourage the employment of part-time faculty teachers, and

Resolved that the Academic Senate recommend to local senates that curriculum, planning, budget, and other college decisions should be based on the goals, vision, and mission of the college and not on the availability and use of part-time faculty.
Text of Resolution 19.0:

Whereas the full-time/part-time ratio was established using 1988 numbers of full-time and part-time teaching faculty,

Resolved that the Academic Senate request the Chancellor to recalculate the base year data (1988) by adding the full-time librarians and counselors to show each district's faculty requirements based on growth and program improvement dollars to establish the new minimum faculty requirements.

Whereas the position of college president is a unique and important position at all 107 California community colleges, and

Whereas unilateral "lateral transfers" into the presidency have occurred and such lateral transfers have been treated as merely administrative and thus not subject to any faculty input, and

Whereas the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges finds that such transfers violate both the spirit and the letter of AB 1725's insistence on shared governance, and

Whereas academic freedom has been, and continues to be, a cornerstone in all aspects of higher education, and

Whereas there is no recent, uniform documentation or definitions about what academic freedom comprises, and

Whereas individual instructors and individual community colleges may not have clear understandings of academic freedom,

Resolved that the Academic Senate direct the Executive Committee to develop a position paper on academic freedom, its scope and implementation.

Whereas many community colleges do not follow the consultative process in preparing schedules, and

Whereas there should be a consistent practice in consulting faculty in preparing their schedules, and

Whereas curricular issues are the primary responsibility of faculty;

Resolved that the Academic Senate urge local senates to create a consistent teaching schedule policy where faculty and administrators consult with each other in preparation of faculty schedules.

Whereas Academic Senate resolution 21.04 S94 supported the inclusion of full-time counseling and library faculty in the calculations of 75/25, and to implement the resolution the Academic Senate worked through the consultation process and the 75/25 Task Force to gain agreement for this inclusion, and

Whereas at the September 1994 task force meeting, all constituent groups in attendance agreed to such inclusion (CEO representative was not in attendance), and

Whereas an increasing number of students are coming to community colleges lacking the basic skills necessary to be successful. Although effective interactive computerized instructional materials are becoming available and affordable, most developmental students are not ready to deal with a computer as their sole source of instruction thus requiring the Learning Centers and Tutorial Centers to be called upon to provide basic skills remediation, and

Whereas a list of minimum qualifications has been established for disciplines requiring a master's degree, and

Whereas these minimum qualifications must be included on announcements of faculty positions, and

Whereas State law specifies minimum qualifications for community college faculty (AB 1725 Article 2, Minimum Qualifications and Hiring Criteria);

Resolved that the Academic Senate recommend to local senates that local academic senate presidents verify the minimum qualifications on all proposed faculty positions prior to publication, and

Whereas AB 2624 "would prohibit, during working hours, any employee of a state or local agency, as defined, from advocating or expressing support for or against any candidate for state or local public office or any proposed constitutional amendment or proposition in California," and,

Whereas such a prohibition is unconstitutional, violates the first amendment of the U. S. Constitution, violates free speech, and violates academic freedom,

Resolved that the Academic Senate of the California Community Colleges oppose the concepts in AB 2624.

Resolved that the Academic Senate urge local senates, when they revise or adopt new ethics statements and policies, to avoid issues relating to
1. collective bargaining contracts,
2. Affirmative Action regulations, and
3. other external regulations.