Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges holds diversity as a value central to leadership and governance and, to that end, has partnered with the Chancellor’s Office to develop and promote best practices for recruiting, hiring, and retaining diverse faculty to better serve California’s diverse student populations;
Whereas, Assembly Bill 847 (Bocanegra as of April 18, 2017) would require local academic senates within the California community colleges to post their membership rosters on their college websites and provide demographic data on the gender and race or ethnicity of its members to the public upon request;
Whereas, In the current technological and political climate, many people, including faculty members who serve on local academic senates, are very protective of their privacy and personal information, and thus AB 847 (Bocanegra, as of April 18, 2017) would require the collection and possible publication of data that many individuals may be reluctant to disclose, resulting in an unwillingness to serve on their local academic senates; and
Whereas, Faculty participation in college governance is essential to effective educational programs and student success, and the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges is deeply concerned that AB 847(Bocanegra, as of April 18, 2017), contrary to its very positive intention of promoting diversity in faculty leadership, might in reality have a chilling effect on faculty participation due to the privacy concerns of individual faculty members and therefore could have a detrimental impact on the ability of community colleges to serve their students;
Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges affirm its commitment to diversity as a core value central to effective leadership and governance;
Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges oppose Assembly Bill 847 (Bocanegra, as of April 18, 2017) unless the bill is amended to provide sufficient protection for the privacy of faculty members regarding their demographic information; and
Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges express to Assembly member Bocanegra its eagerness to work with the legislature in efforts to promote diversity in faculty leadership and more generally in the faculty workforce of the California community colleges.
MSC